Anthony Bourdain No Reservations

Monday, 18 February 2013

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 8x05 - Japan Cook It Raw

ANTHONY BOURDAIN NO RESERVATIONS -LIBERIA

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 4x06 - London and Edinburgh

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 1x01 - Why the French Don't Suck

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 4x10 - Into the Fire NY

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations S08E04 Lisbon

Greek Islands - Anthony Bourdain No Reservations

Dominican Republic-Anthony Bourdain No Reservations S08E17

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 5x10 - Vietnam - There's No Place Like Home

Rio De Janeiro----anthony bourdain no reservations s08e15

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Argentina
Argentina ⁱ/ˌɑrdʒənˈtiːnə/, officially the Argentine Republic (Spanish: República Argentina [reˈpuβlika aɾxenˈtina]), is a country in South America, the continent's second largest by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth-largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations.
Argentina's continental area is between the Andes mountain range in the west and the Atlantic Ocean in the east. It borders Paraguay and Bolivia to the north, Brazil and Uruguay to the northeast, and Chile to the west and south. Argentine claims over Antarctica, as well as overlapping claims made by Chile and the United Kingdom, are suspended by the Antarctic Treaty of 1961. Argentina also claims the Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which are administered by the United Kingdom as British Overseas Territories.
A recognised middle power, Argentina is Latin America's third-largest economy, with a "very high" rating on the Human development index. Within Latin America, Argentina has the fifth highest nominal GDP per capita and the highest in purchasing power terms. Analysts have argued that the country has a "foundation for future growth due to its market size, levels of foreign direct investment, and percentage of high-tech exports as share of total manufactured goods", and it is classed by investors as middle emerging economy. Argentina is a founding member of the United Nations, Mercosur, the Union of South American Nations, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the World Bank Group and the World Trade Organization, and is one of the G-15 and G-20 major economies.

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Arizona
Arizona (ⁱ/ɛrɪˈzoʊnə/; /ærɪˈzoʊnə/) (Navajo: Hoozdo Hahoodzo; O'odham: Alĭ ṣonak) is a state of the United States, located in the southwestern region of the country. Arizona is also part of the Western United States and of the Mountain West states. Arizona is the sixth most extensive and the 16th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. The second largest city is Tucson, followed in population by eight cities of the Phoenix metropolitan area: Mesa, Chandler, Glendale, Scottsdale, Gilbert, Tempe, Peoria, and Surprise.
Arizona is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states to be admitted to the Union, and it achieved statehood on February 14, 1912. Arizona is noted for its desert climate in its southern half, where there are very hot summers and quite mild winters. The northern half of Arizona also features forests of pine, Douglas fir, and spruce trees, a very large, high plateau (the Colorado Plateau) and some mountain ranges—such as the San Francisco Mountains—as well as large, deep canyons, where there is much more moderate weather for three seasons of the year, plus significant snowfalls. There are ski resorts in the areas of Flagstaff and Alpine.

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Arzak
Arzak is a restaurant in San Sebastián, Spain. It features New Basque Cuisine. In 2008, Arzak's owner and chef, Juan Mari Arzak, was awarded the Universal Basque award for "adapting gastronomy, one of the most important traditions of the Basque Country, to the new times and making of it one of the most innovative of the world".
Built as a house in 1897 by the current owner's grandparents (José Maria Arzak Etxabe and Escolastica Lete), they turned it into a wine inn and tavern. At the time, the village of Alza was separate from San Sebastián. When the next generation took over (Juan Ramon Arzak and Francisca Arratibel), it was turned into a restaurant. Kitchen duties are now shared between Juan Mari Arzak and his daughter Elena.
Coordinates: 43°19′16″N 1°56′57″W / 43.32111°N 1.94917°W / 43.32111; -1.94917

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Australia
Australia ( /əˈstreɪljə/), officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent as well as the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east.
For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups. After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established.

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Austria
Austria (ⁱ/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] ( listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.

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Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island. The province covers a few small neighbouring islands as well as the isle of Bali.
With a population recorded as 3,891,428 in the 2010 census, the island is home to most of Indonesia's Hindu minority. In the 2000 census about 92.29% of Bali's population adhered to Balinese Hinduism while most of the remainder follow Islam. It is also the largest tourist destination in the country and is renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music. Bali, a tourist haven for decades, has seen a further surge in tourist numbers in recent years.
Bali was inhabited by around 2000 BC by Austronesian peoples who migrated originally from Taiwan through Maritime Southeast Asia. Culturally and linguistically, the Balinese are thus closely related to the peoples of the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Oceania. Stone tools dating from this time have been found near the village of Cekik in the island's west.

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Baltimore
Baltimore ( /ˈbɒltɨmɔr/, colloquially /ˈbɔl.mɔr/) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is located in the central area of the state along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. The independent city is often referred to as Baltimore City to distinguish it from surrounding Baltimore County.
Founded in 1729, Baltimore is the largest seaport in the Mid-Atlantic United States and is situated closer to Midwestern markets than any other major seaport on the East Coast. Baltimore's Inner Harbor was once the second leading port of entry for immigrants to the United States and a major manufacturing center. After a decline in manufacturing, Baltimore shifted to a service-oriented economy.
At 620,961 residents in 2010, Baltimore's population has decreased by one-third since its peak in 1950. The Baltimore Metropolitan Area has grown steadily to approximately 2.7 million residents in 2010; the 20th largest in the country. Baltimore is also a principal city in the larger Baltimore–Washington combined statistical area of approximately 8.4 million residents.

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Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital city of and largest urban area in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (กรุงเทพมหานคร, pronounced [krūŋ tʰêːp máhǎː nákʰɔ̄ːn] ( listen)) or simply Krung Thep ( listen), meaning "city of angels". Bangkok is by far the most densely populated city in Thailand with about 12 million people. Bangkok was a small trading post near the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 15th century. It eventually grew in size and became the site of two capital cities: Thonburi in 1768 and Rattanakosin in 1782.
Because of its strategic location in Southeast Asia, Siam (later Thailand) acted as a buffer-zone between the French and British colonial empires. Bangkok itself has gained a reputation as an independent, dynamic and influential city. Bangkok is the political, social and economic centre of Thailand, and one of the leading cities in Southeast Asia.
Due to the 1980s and 1990s Asian investment boom, many multinational corporations make their regional headquarters in Bangkok and the city is a regional force in finance and business. Its increasing influence on global politics, culture, fashion and entertainment underlines its status as an Alpha global city. In 2009, it was the second most expensive city in South-East Asia behind Singapore. The city's many cultural landmarks and attractions in addition to its nightlife venues has made it synonymous with exoticism. Its rapid modernization, reflected in the cityscape and the urban society, has left untouched the historic Grand Palace, Wat Arun, Vimanmek Palace Complex and hundreds of Buddhist temples draw about 10 million international visitors each year, second only to London.

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Beirut
Coordinates: 33°53′13″N 35°30′47″E / 33.88694°N 35.51306°E / 33.88694; 35.51306
Beirut (Arabic: بيروت‎ Bayrūt, Greek: Βηρυττός, Latin: Berytus, French: Beyrouth, Hebrew: ביירות‎ Beyrut) is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. As there has been no recent population census, the exact population is unknown; estimates in 2007 ranged from slightly less than 1 million to slightly more than 2 million. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport. The Beirut metropolitan area consists of the city and its suburbs. The first mention of this metropolis is found in the ancient Egyptian Tell el Amarna letters, dating from the 15th century BC. The city has been inhabited continuously since then.
Beirut is Lebanon's seat of government and plays a central role in the Lebanese economy, with many banks and corporations based in its city centre, Hamra Street, Rue Verdun and Ashrafieh. The city is the focal point of the region's cultural life, renowned for its press, theatres, cultural activities and nightlife. After the destructive Lebanese Civil War, Beirut underwent major reconstruction, and the redesigned historic city centre, marina, pubs and nightlife districts have once again made it a tourist attraction. Beirut was named the top place to visit by The New York Times in 2009, and as one of the ten liveliest cities in the world by Lonely Planet in the same year.

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Belfast
Coordinates: 54°35′49″N 5°55′48″W / 54.597°N 5.930°W / 54.597; -5.930
Belfast (from Irish: Béal Feirste, meaning "mouth of the shoal") is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the fourteenth largest city in the United Kingdom and second largest on the island of Ireland. It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly. The city of Belfast has a population of 267,500 and lies at the heart of the Belfast urban area, which has a population of 579,276. The Larger Urban Zone, as defined by the European Union, has a total population 641,638. Belfast was granted city status in 1888.
Historically, Belfast has been a centre for the Irish linen industry (earning the nickname "Linenopolis"), tobacco production, rope-making and shipbuilding: the city's main shipbuilders, Harland and Wolff, which built the well-known RMS Titanic, propelled Belfast on to the global stage in the early 20th century as the biggest and most productive shipyard in the world. Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, establishing its place as a global industrial centre until the latter half of the 20th century. Industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast, if briefly, the biggest city in Ireland at the turn of the 20th century and the city's industrial and economic success was cited by Ulster unionist opponents of Home Rule as a reason why Ireland should shun devolution and later why Ulster in particular would fight to resist it.

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Belém
Belém (literally "Bethlehem") is a Brazilian city, the capital and largest city of state of Pará, in the country's north region. It is the entrance gate to the Amazon with a busy port, airport and bus/coach station. Belém lies approximately 100 km upriver from the Atlantic Ocean, on the Pará River, which is part of the greater Amazon River system, separated from the larger part of the Amazon delta by Ilha de Marajó (Marajo Island). With an estimated population of 1,402,056 people — 2,249,405, or considering its metropolitan area — is the 11th most populous city in Brazil (besides being the second largest in the North Region, second only Manaus, in Amazonas state) as well as be the 16th by economic relevance.
Founded in 1616 by the Kingdom of Portugal, Belém was the first European colony on the Amazon but did not become part of Brazil until 1775. The newer part of the city has modern buildings and skyscrapers. The colonial portion retains the charm of tree-filled squares, churches and traditional blue tiles. The city has a rich history and architecture from colonial times. Recently it witnessed a skyscraper boom. Its metropolitan area has over 2 million inhabitants.

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Boston
Boston (pronounced /ˈbɒstən/ or locally /ˈbɔstən/ ( listen)) is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper, covering only 48.43 square miles, had a population of 617,594 according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Boston is also the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Greater Boston as a commuting region is home to 7.6 million people, making it the fifth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.
In 1630, Puritan colonists from England founded the city on the Shawmut Peninsula. During the late 18th century, Boston was the location of several major events during the American Revolution, including the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Several early battles of the American Revolution, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston, occurred within the city and surrounding areas. Through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the peninsula. After American independence was attained Boston became a major shipping port and manufacturing center, and its rich history now helps attract many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone attracting over 20 million every year. The city was the site of several firsts, including America's first public school, Boston Latin School (1635), and the first subway system in the United States (1897).

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Brasserie Les Halles
Brasserie Les Halles is a French restaurant with locations in New York City and Miami, Florida. Previous locations were in Tokyo and Washington, D.C. Carlos Llaguno is the executive chef, his predecessor having been author and television host Anthony Bourdain.
The restaurant serves simple and classic French dishes such as escargot, foie gras, and steak tartare, which is prepared to order at tableside, and is renowned for its pommes frites. The Park Avenue location features a butcher shop that specializes in French cuts of meat. The restaurant is featured prominently in the book Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, who also detailed many of Les Halles's recipes in Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook. The Downtown New York branch occupies the site of the former John Street Theatre, "Birthplace of American Theatre." The restaurant is named after Les Halles, the historic central wholesale marketplace in Paris, France.
The Washington, D.C. location of Les Halles closed in mid-November 2008 following a fifteen-year run. Owner Philippe Lajaunie cited difficulty obtaining a new lease as the reason.

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Brazil
Brazil ⁱ/brəˈzɪl/ (Portuguese: Brasil, IPA: [bɾaˈziw]), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil, listen (help·info)), is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people. It is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas and the largest lusophone country in the world.
Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 km (4,655 mi). It is bordered on the north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas region of French Guiana; on the northwest by Colombia; on the west by Bolivia and Peru; on the southwest by Argentina and Paraguay and on the south by Uruguay. Numerous archipelagos form part of Brazilian territory, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, and Trindade and Martim Vaz. It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile.
Brazil was a colony of Portugal from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until 1815, when it was elevated to the rank of kingdom and the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was formed. The colonial bond was in fact broken in 1808, when the capital of the Portuguese colonial empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, after Napoleon invaded Portugal.Independence was achieved in 1822 with the formation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system. The country became a presidential republic in 1889, when a military coup d'état proclaimed the Republic, although the bicameral legislature, now called Congress, dates back to the ratification of the first constitution in 1824. Its current Constitution, formulated in 1988, defines Brazil as a Federal Republic. The Federation is formed by the union of the Federal District, the 26 States, and the 5,564 Municipalities.

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Brittany
Brittany (French: Bretagne [bʁətaɲ] ( listen); Breton: Breizh, pronounced [brɛjs]; Gallo: Bertaèyn) is a cultural region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain (as opposed to Great Britain). Brittany is considered as one of the six Celtic nations.
Brittany occupies the northwest peninsula of continental Europe in northwest France. It is bordered by the English Channel to the north, the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Bay of Biscay to the south. Its land area is 34,023 km² (13,136 sq mi). The historical province of Brittany is divided into five departments: Finistère in the west, Côtes-d'Armor in the north, Ille-et-Vilaine in the north east, Loire-Atlantique in the south east and Morbihan in the south on the Bay of Biscay.
In 1956, French regions were created by gathering departments between them. The Region of Brittany comprises, since then, four of the five Breton departments (80% of historical Brittany), while the remaining area of the old Brittany, the Loire-Atlantique department, around Nantes, forms part of the Pays de la Loire region. This territorial organisation is regularly contested. The Kingdom and the Duchy of Brittany, the province of Brittany, and the modern Region of Brittany cover the Western part of Armorica, as it was known during the period of Roman occupation.

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Brooklyn
Coordinates: 40°41′34″N 73°59′25″W / 40.69278°N 73.99028°W / 40.69278; -73.99028
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with approximately 2.5 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, after New York County (Manhattan). It is also the westernmost county on Long Island.
Brooklyn was an independent city until it was annexed by New York City in 1898. It continues to maintain a distinct culture. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves where particular ethnic groups and cultures predominate.
Brooklyn's official motto is Eendraght Maeckt Maght. Written in the (early modern spelling of the) Dutch language, it is inspired by the motto of the United Dutch Provinces and translated "Unity makes strength". The motto is displayed on the borough seal and flag, which also feature a young robed woman bearing fasces, a traditional emblem of republicanism. Brooklyn's official colors are blue and gold.

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California
California (pronounced ⁱ/kælɨˈfɔrnjə/) is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third most extensive (after Alaska and Texas). It is home to the nation's second- and sixth-largest census statistical areas (Los Angeles Metropolitan Area and San Francisco Bay Area), and eight of the nation's fifty most populated cities (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach and Oakland). The capital city is Sacramento.
California's diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast in the west, to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east – from the Redwood–Douglas-fir forests of the northwest, to the Mojave Desert areas in the southeast. The center of the state is dominated by Central Valley, a major agricultural area. California contains both the highest and lowest points in the contiguous United States (Mount Whitney and Death Valley), and has the third-longest coastline of all states (after Alaska and Florida). Earthquakes are a common occurrence due to the state's location along the Pacific Ring of Fire: about 37,000 are recorded annually.

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Cambodia
Cambodia (ⁱ/kæmˈboʊdiə/;Khmer: ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា, Kampuchea, IPA: [kɑmˈpuˈciə]), officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total landmass of 181,035 square kilometres (69,898 sq mi), it is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.
With a population of over 14.8 million, Cambodia is the 68th most populous country in the world. The official religion is Theravada Buddhism, which is practiced by around 95% of the Cambodian population. The country minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams and 30 various hill tribes. The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh; the political, economic, and cultural center of Cambodia. The kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with Norodom Sihamoni, a monarch chosen by the Royal Throne Council, as head of state. The head of government is Hun Sen, who is currently the longest serving leader in South East Asia and has ruled Cambodia for over 25 years.

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Canada
Canada ( /ˈkænədə/) is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean. Spanning over 9,900,000 km² (3,800,000 sq mi), Canada is the world's second-largest country by total area, and its common border with the United States is the longest land border in the world.
The land that is now Canada has been inhabited for millennia by various Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French colonial expeditions explored, and later settled, along the region's Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy; the Canada Act 1982 severed the vestiges of legal dependence on Britain.

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Cebu
Cebu (Cebuano: Sugbo) is a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu Island and 167 surrounding islands. It is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands. Cebu is a long narrow island stretching 225 kilometers from north to south, surrounded by 167 neighbouring, smaller islands, which include Mactan, Bantayan, Malapascua, Olango and the Camotes Islands. Cebu has narrow coastlines, limestone plateaus and coastal plains. It also has rolling hills and rugged mountain ranges traversing the northern and southern lengths of the island. Cebu's highest mountains are over 1000 meters high. Flat tracts of land can be found in the city of Bogo and in the towns of San Remigio, Medellin and Daanbantayan at the northern region of the province. Its capital is Cebu City, the oldest city in the Philippines, which forms part of the Cebu Metropolitan Area together with four neighboring cities which include Danao City, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City and Talisay City and eight other municipalities. Mactan-Cebu International Airport, located in Mactan island, is the second busiest airport in the Philippines.

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Chicago
Chicago (ⁱ/ʃɪˈkɑːɡoʊ/ or /ʃɪˈkɔːɡoʊ/) is the largest city in the US state of Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. The city has around 2.7 million residents. Its metropolitan area, sometimes called "Chicagoland", is the third largest in the United States, with an estimated 9.8 million people. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, though a small portion also extends into DuPage County.
Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. Today, Chicago is listed as an alpha+ global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, and ranks seventh in the world on the 2012 Global Cities Index. The city retains its status as an international hub for finance, industry, telecommunications and infrastructure, with O'Hare International Airport being the second busiest airport in the world in terms of traffic movements. In 2008^[update], the city hosted 45.6 million domestic and overseas visitors. Among metropolitan areas, Chicago has the 4th largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world, ranking just behind Tokyo, New York City, and Los Angeles. Chicago is one of the most important Worldwide Centers of Commerce and trade.

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Chile
Chile (ⁱ/ˈtʃɪliː/ or /ˈtʃɪleɪ/), officially the Republic of Chile (Spanish: República de Chile [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈtʃile] ( listen)), is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south. Along with Ecuador, it is one of two countries in South America that do not border Brazil. Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas and Easter Island. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica, although all claims are suspended under the Antarctic Treaty.
Chile's distinctive shape—4,300 kilometres (2,700 mi) long and on average 175 kilometres (109 mi) wide—makes it the longest country in the world, north to south, with the fifth lengthiest coastline at over 78 thousand kilometers. The diverse climate of Chile ranges from the world's driest desert in the north—the Atacama—through a Mediterranean climate in the centre, humid subtropical in Easter Island, to an Oceanic climate, including alpine tundra and glaciers in the east and south. The northern desert contains great mineral wealth, principally copper. The relatively small central area dominates in terms of population and agricultural resources, and is the cultural and political center from which Chile expanded in the late 19th century when it incorporated its northern and southern regions. Southern Chile is rich in forests and grazing lands, and features a string of volcanoes and lakes. The southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, inlets, canals, twisting peninsulas, and islands.

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China
China (ⁱ/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.

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Christchurch
Christchurch ( /ˈkraɪstʃɜrtʃ/, KRYS-church; Māori: Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's third-largest urban area. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of Christchurch.
The city was named by the Canterbury Association, which settled the surrounding province of Canterbury. The name of Christchurch was agreed on at the first meeting of the association on 27 March 1848. It was suggested by John Robert Godley, who had attended Christ Church, Oxford. Some early writers called the town Christ Church, but it was recorded as Christchurch in the minutes of the management committee of the association. Christchurch became a city by Royal Charter on 31 July 1856, making it officially the oldest established city in New Zealand.
The river that flows through the centre of the city (its banks now largely forming an urban park) was named Avon at the request of the pioneering Deans brothers to commemorate the Scottish Avon, which rises in the Ayrshire hills near what was their grandfathers' farm and flows into the Clyde.

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Cleveland
Cleveland ( /ˈkliːvlənd/) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles (97 km) west of the Pennsylvania border. It was founded in 1796 near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and became a manufacturing center owing to its location on the lake shore, as well as being connected to numerous canals and railroad lines. Cleveland's economy has diversified sectors that include manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, and biomedical. Cleveland is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
As of the 2010 Census, the city proper had a total population of 396,815 and was the 45th largest city in the United States, and the second largest city in Ohio. It is the center of Greater Cleveland, the largest metropolitan area in Ohio. The Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor Metropolitan Statistical Area in 2011 ranked as the 28th largest in the United States with 2,068,283 people. Cleveland is part of the larger Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area, which in 2011 had a population of 2,871,084, and ranked as the country's 15th largest.

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Colombia
Colombia ( /kəˈlʌmbiə/ kə-LUM-biə, or /kəˈlɒmbiə/ kə-LOM-biə), officially the Republic of Colombia (Spanish: República de Colombia [reˈpuβlika ðe koˈlombja]), is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the northwest by Panama; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia has maritime borders with Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Colombia is the 26th largest country by area and the fourth largest in South America after Brazil, Argentina and Peru. With over 46 million people, Colombia is the 27th largest country in the world by population and has the second largest population of any Spanish-speaking country in the world, after Mexico. Colombia is a middle power, with the fourth largest economy in Latin America, and the third largest in South America. Colombia is famous for the production of coffee, flowers, emeralds, coal, and oil. All of these products make up the primary sector of economy.

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Colombo
Colombo (Sinhala: කොළඹ, pronounced [ˈkoləmbə]; Tamil: கொழும்பு) is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo. Colombo is a busy and vibrant city with a mixture of modern life and colonial buildings and ruins and a population of 647,100. The Colombo Metropolitan Region, defined by the districts of Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara, has an estimated population of 5,648,000, and covers an area of 3,694.20 km². As per the Provincial Gross Domestic Product-2010, The Western Province, which includes the cities of Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara recorded GDP per capita of USD 3,808, the highest recorded GDP per capita for any region in South Asia. It was formerly the political capital of Sri Lanka, before Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte.
Due to its large harbour and its strategic position along the East-West sea trade routes, Colombo was known to ancient traders 2,000 years ago. It was made the capital of the island when Sri Lanka was ceded to the British Empire in 1815, and its status as capital was retained when the nation became independent in 1948. In 1978, when administrative functions were moved to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Colombo was designated as the commercial capital of Sri Lanka.

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Connecticut
Connecticut (ⁱ/kəˈnɛtɨkət/) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south (with which it shares a water boundary in Long Island Sound).
Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately bisects the state. Its capital city is Hartford. Much of southern and western Connecticut (along with the majority of the state's population) is part of the New York metropolitan area; three of Connecticut's eight counties are statistically included in the New York City combined statistical area, the same area is widely referred to as the Tri-State area. Connecticut's center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County, which is also located within the Tri-State area.
Connecticut is the 3rd least extensive, the 29th most populous, and 4th most densely populated of the 50 United States. Called the Constitution State, Nutmeg State, and "The Land of Steady Habits", Connecticut was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States.

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Crete
Crete (Greek: Κρήτη; [kriti]) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits (such as its own dialect, poetry, and music). Crete was the centre of the Minoan civilization (c. 2700–1420 BC), the earliest civilization in Europe, comprising the first palaces in Europe.
The island is first referred to as Kaptara in texts from the Syrian city of Mari dating from the 18th century BC, repeated later in Neo-Assyrian records and the Bible (Caphtor). It was also known in ancient Egyptian as Keftiu, strongly suggesting some form similar to both was the Minoan name for the island.
The Mycenaean Greek name for Crete is unknown; it is not mentioned in extant Linear B texts. The name Crete (Κρήτη) first appears in Homer's Odyssey. Its etymology is unknown. One speculative proposal derives it from a hypothetical Luvian word *kursatta (cf. kursawar "island", kursattar "cutting, sliver"). In Latin, it became Creta.

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Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, (ⁱ/ˈkjuːbə/; Spanish: República de Cuba, pronounced: [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈkuβa] ( listen)) is an island country in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. To the north of Cuba lies the United States (140 km or 90 mi away) and the Bahamas, Mexico is to the west, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica are to the south, and Haiti and the Dominican Republic are to the southeast.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on and claimed the island now occupied by Cuba, for the Kingdom of Spain. Cuba remained a territory of Spain until the Spanish–American War ended in 1898, and gained formal independence from the U.S. in 1902. A fragile democracy, increasingly dominated by radical politics eventually evolved, solidified by the Cuban Constitution of 1940, but was definitely quashed in 1952 by former president Fulgencio Batista, and an authoritarian regime was set up, intensifying and catalyzing already rampant corruption, political repression and crippling economic regulations.Batista was ousted in January 1959 by the July 26 movement, and a new administration under Fidel Castro established, which had by 1965 evolved into a single-party state under the revived Communist Party of Cuba, which holds power to date.

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Cusco
Cusco ( /ˈkuːzkoʊ/), often spelled Cuzco (Spanish: Cuzco, IPA: [ˈkuθko] or [ˈkusko]; Quechua: Qusqu or Qosqo, IPA: [ˈqɔsqɔ]), is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region as well as the Cuzco Province. In 2007, the city had a population of 358,935 which was triple the figure of 20 years ago. Located on the eastern end of the Knot of Cuzco, its elevation is around 3,400 m (11,200 ft).
Cusco was the site of the historic capital of the Inca Empire and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1983 by UNESCO. It is a major tourist destination and receives almost 2 million visitors a year. It is designated as the Historical Capital of Peru by the Constitution of Peru.
The aboriginal name of this city was Qusqu. Although it was used in Quechua, its origin has been found in the Aymara language. The word itself originated in the phrase qusqu wanka ('Rock of the owl'), attending to the foundational myth of the Ayar Siblings. According to this legend, Ayar Auca (Ayar Awqa) got wings and flew to the site of the future city and transformed into a rock to mark the possession of the land by his ayllu ('linage').

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Czech Republic
The Czech Republic (ⁱ/ˈtʃɛk/ CHEK;Czech: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka] ( listen), short form Česko Czech pronunciation: [ˈtʃɛskɔ]) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the north, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. Its capital and largest city, with 1.3 million inhabitants, is Prague.
It is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy, a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group.
The Czech state, formerly known as Bohemia, was formed in the late 9th century as a small duchy around Prague, at that time under dominance of the powerful Great Moravian Empire (which reached its greatest territorial extent during the reign of Svatopluk I from the House of Mojmír). After the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power was transferred from Moravia to Bohemia, under the Přemyslids. During the rule of Přemyslid dukes/kings and their successors, the Luxembourgs, the country reached its greatest territorial extent (13th–14th century). Life in the country was significantly affected by the Hussite wars, during which it faced economic embargo and crusades from all over Europe. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy as one of its three principal parts alongside the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Bohemian Revolt (1618–20) led to the further centralization of the monarchy including forced recatholization and Germanization. During radical reforms in the 18th century the Bohemian Crown was even de facto abolished (1749). In the 19th century the Czech lands became the industrial powerhouse of the monarchy and the core of the Republic of Czechoslovakia which was formed in 1918, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire after World War I.

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Da Lat
Đà Lạt (Vietnamese pronunciation: [ɗâː làːt] ( listen)), or Dalat, (pop. 206,105 as of 2009^[update], of which 185,509 are urban inhabitants) is the capital of Lam Dong province in Vietnam. The city is located 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above sea level on the Langbiang Plateau in the southern parts of the Central Highlands (in Vietnamese, Tây Nguyên). In Vietnam, Da Lat is a popular tourist destination.
Da Lat’s specific sights are pine wood (forming the name: “City of thousands of pine trees”) with twisting roads and tree marigold (Vietnamese: dã quỳ) blossom in the winter. The city’s temperate weather stands in contrast to Vietnam’s otherwise tropical climate. Mist covering the valleys almost year-round leads to its name “City of eternal spring”.
Da Lat is also known as an area for scientific research in the fields of biotechnology and nuclear physics.
With its year-round cool weather, Da Lat supplies temperate agriculture products for all over Vietnam, for example: cabbage and cauliflower. Its flower industry produces two typical flowers: hydrangea (Vietnamese: cẩm tú cầu) and golden everlasting (Vietnamese: hoa bất tử). The confectionery industry offers a wide range of mứt, a kind of fruit preserve made from strawberry, mulberry, sweet potato, and rose.

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Denver
Denver ( /ˈdɛnvər/) (Arapaho: Niinéniiniicíihéhe' ) is the largest city and the capital of the U.S. state of Colorado. As Denver County, it is the second most populous county in Colorado after El Paso County, which surpassed Denver County as of the 2010 Census. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is located immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, approximately 12 miles (19 km) east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile (1.6 km) or 5,280 feet (1,609.344 m) above sea level, which is defined by the elevation of the spot of a benchmark on the steps of the State Capital building. The elevation of the entire city ranges from 5,130 to 5,680 feet. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich passes through Union Station and is the temporal reference for the Mountain Time Zone.

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Detroit
Detroit ( /diˈtrɔɪt/) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan, and the seat of Wayne County. It is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people, and serves as a major port on the Detroit River connecting the Great Lakes system to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. It was founded on July 24, 1701, by the French explorer, adventurer, and nobleman Antoine de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac.
In 2010, the city had a population of 713,777 and ranked as the 18th most populous city in the United States. The name Detroit sometimes refers to the Metro Detroit area with a population of 4,296,250 for the six-county Metropolitan Statistical Area, the United States' eleventh-largest, and a population of 5,218,852 for the nine-county Combined Statistical Area as of the 2010 Census. The Detroit–Windsor area, a critical commercial link straddling the Canada–U.S. border, has a total population of about 5,700,000.
Known as the world's traditional automotive center, "Detroit" is a metonym for the American automobile industry and an important source of popular music legacies celebrated by the city's two familiar nicknames, the Motor City and Motown. Other nicknames arose in the 20th century, including City of Champions beginning in the 1930s for its successes in individual and team sport,The D, D-Town, Hockeytown (a trademark owned by the city's NHL club, the Red Wings), Rock City (after the Kiss song "Detroit Rock City"), and The 313 (its telephone area code) Detroit became known as the "great arsenal of democracy" for its support of the U.S. role among the Allied powers during World War II.

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Dubai
Dubai (/duːˈbaɪ/ doo-BY; Arabic: دبيّ‎ Dubeii; IPA: [du'beii]) is an emirate within the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A city within the emirate is also named Dubai. The emirate is located south east of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the only two emirates to have veto power over critical matters of national importance in the country's legislature. Dubai City is located on the emirate's northern coastline.
The earliest mention of Dubai is in 1095, and the earliest settlement known as Dubai town dates from 1799. Dubai was formally established in 1833 by Sheikh Maktoum bin Buti al Maktoum when he persuaded 800 members of the Bani Yas tribe, living in what is now part of Saudi Arabia, to follow him to the Dubai Creek by the Al Abu Falasa clan of Bani Yas. It remained under clan control when the United Kingdom assumed the protection of Dubai in 1892. Its geographical location made it an important trading hub and by the beginning of the 20th century, it was an important port.

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Dublin
Dublin ( /ˈdʌblɨn/; locally /ˈdʊbᵊlən/; Irish: Baile Átha Cliath, meaning "town of the hurdled ford", pronounced [blʲaˈklʲiə] or Áth Cliath, [aː klʲiə], occasionally Duibhlinn) is the capital and most populous city of Ireland. The English name for the city is derived from the Irish name Dubhlinn, meaning "black pool". Dublin is situated near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and the centre of the Dublin Region.
Originally founded as a Viking settlement, it evolved into the Kingdom of Dublin and became the island's principal city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century; it was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire and the fifth largest in Europe. Dublin entered a period of stagnation following the Act of Union of 1800, but it remained the economic centre for most of the island. Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, the new parliament, the Oireachtas, was located in Leinster House. Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State and later the Republic of Ireland.

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EA Canada
EA Canada is a video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened in January 1983 and is EA's largest and oldest studio. EA Canada alone employs more than 2000 people and houses the world's largest video game test operation.
The campus consists of a motion-capture studio, twenty-two rooms for composing, fourteen video editing suites, three production studios, a wing for audio compositions, and a quality assurance department. There are also facilities such as fitness rooms, two theatres, a cafeteria called EAt, coffee bars, and a video games room. The building is situated next to Discovery Park.
EA Canada is a major studio of the American gaming software giant Electronic Arts or EA, which has several other non-American studios around the globe. EA, based in Redwood City, California, acquired EA Canada in 1991 for $11 million when they were known as Distinctive Software. At the time of the business acquisition, Distinctive Software was noted for developing a number of racing and sporting games published under the Accolade brand. Since becoming EA Canada, it has developed many EA Games, EA Sports, and EA Sports BIG games.

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Ecuador
Ecuador (ⁱ/ˈɛkwədɔr/ E-kwə-dawr), officially the Republic of Ecuador (Spanish: República del Ecuador [reˈpuβlika ðel ekwaˈðor], which literally translates to the "Republic of the Equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, (along with Chile), that do not have a border with Brazil. The country also includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) west of the mainland.
The main spoken language in Ecuador is Spanish. Ecuador straddles the equator, from which it takes its name, and has an area of 275,830 km² (106,500 sq mi). Its capital city is Quito, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the 1970s for having the best preserved and least altered historic center in Latin America. The country's largest city is Guayaquil. The historic center of Cuenca, the third largest city in the country, was also declared a World Heritage Site in 1999, for being an outstanding example of a planned inland Spanish style colonial city in the Americas. Ecuador is also home—despite its size—to a great variety of species, many of them endemic, like those of the Galápagos islands. This species diversity makes Ecuador one of the 17 megadiverse countries in the world. The new constitution of 2008 is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, or ecosystem rights.

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Edinburgh
Edinburgh (ⁱ/ˈɛdɪnbʌrə/ ED-in-burr-ə; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann) is the capital city of Scotland and the seat of the Scottish Parliament. It is the second largest city in Scotland and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a 30 square miles (78 km²) rural area. Located in the south-east of Scotland, Edinburgh lies on the east coast of the Central Belt, along the Firth of Forth, near the North Sea.
The city was one of the historical major centres of the Enlightenment, led by the University of Edinburgh, helping to earn it the nickname Athens of the North. The Old Town and New Town districts of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 in recognition of the unique character of the Medieval Old Town and the planned Georgian New Town. It covers both the Old and New Towns together with the Dean Village and the Calton Hill areas. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city. In May 2010, it had a total of 40 conservation areas covering 23% of the building stock and 23% of the population, the highest such ratios of any major city in the UK. In the 2011 mid-year population estimates, Edinburgh had a total resident population of 495,360.

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Egypt
Egypt ⁱ/ˈiːdʒɪpt/ (Arabic: مصر, Miṣr, Egyptian Arabic: [mɑsˤɾ] ; Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, Kīmi ; Sahidic Coptic: ⲕⲏⲙⲉ, Kēme), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: جمهوريّة مصر العربيّة (help·info), is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Covering an area of about 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi), Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.
Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its over 81 million people live near the banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.

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ElBulli
elBulli (Catalan pronunciation: [əɫ ˈβuʎi]) was a Michelin 3-star restaurant near the town of Roses, Catalonia, Spain, run by chef Ferran Adrià. The small restaurant overlooked Cala Montjoi, a bay on Catalonia's Costa Brava, and was described as "the most imaginative generator of haute cuisine on the planet." The restaurant was also associated with molecular gastronomy. The restaurant closed on July 30, 2011. It will reopen as a creativity center in 2014.
The restaurant had a limited season: the 2010 season, for example, ran from June 15 to December 20. Bookings for the next year were taken on a single day after the closing of the current season. It accommodated only 8,000 diners a season, but got more than two million requests. The average cost of a meal was €250 (US$325). The restaurant itself operated at a loss since 2000, with operating profit coming from elBulli-related books and lectures by Adrià. As of April 2008, the restaurant employed 42 chefs.
Restaurant Magazine judged elBulli to be Number One on its Top 50 list of the world's best restaurants for a record five times—in 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, and #2 in 2010.

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Finland
Coordinates: 65°N 27°E / 65°N 027°E / 65; 027
Finland ⁱ/ˈfɪnlənd/ ( Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland (help·info)), officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.
Around 5.4 million people reside in Finland, with the majority concentrated in the southern region. It is the eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in Helsinki and local governments in 336 municipalities, and an autonomous region of the Åland Islands. About one million residents live in the Greater Helsinki area, which consists of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa, and a third of the country's GDP is produced there. Other larger cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Lahti and Kuopio.

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Florida
Florida (ⁱ/ˈflɒrɪdə/) is a state in the southeastern United States, bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Florida is the 22nd most extensive, the 4th most populous, and the 8th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state capital is Tallahassee, its largest city is Jacksonville, and the South Florida metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan area in the southeastern U.S.
Much of Florida is situated on a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Straits of Florida. Its geography is marked by a coastline, by the omnipresence of water and the threat of hurricanes. Florida has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States, encompassing approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km), and is the only state to border both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the state is at or near sea level and its terrain is characterized by sedimentary soils. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south. Its symbolic animals like the American alligator, Florida panther and the manatee, can be found in the Everglades, one of the most famous national parks in the world.

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France
France (English ⁱ/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km² (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km² / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.

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Ghana
Ghana ⁱ/ˈɡɑːnə/ is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. The word Ghana means "Warrior King" and is derived from the ancient Ghana Empire.
Ghana was inhabited in pre-colonial times by a number of ancient predominantly Akan kingdoms, including the inland Ashanti Empire, the Akwamu, the Akyem, the Bonoman, the Denkyira, and the Fante among others. Non-Akan states created by the Ga also existed as did states by the Dagomba. Prior to contact with Europeans trade between the Akan and various African states flourished due to Akan's gold wealth. Trade with European states began after contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the British established the Gold Coast Crown colony in 1874 over parts but not all of the country.
The Gold Coast achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, becoming the First sub-Saharan African nation to do so from European Colonialism. The name Ghana was chosen for the new nation to reflect the ancient Empire of Ghana, which once extended throughout much of west Africa.

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Guayaquil
Guayaquil (pronounced: [ɡwaʝaˈkil]), officially Santiago de Guayaquil (pronounced: [sanˈtjaɣo ðe ɣwaʝaˈkil]), is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador, with around 3.8 million residents in the city and nearly 4.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as the nation's main port. The city is the capital of the Ecuadorian province of Guayas and the seat of the namesake canton.
Guayaquil is located on the western bank of the Guayas River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Guayaquil. Because of its location, the city is the center of Ecuador's business and manufacturing industries.
Guayaquil was founded on July 25, 1538 with the name Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de Guayaquil (Most Noble and Most Loyal City of St. James of Guayaquil) by Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Orellana. Even before it was founded by the Spanish, it already existed as a native village.
In 1600 Guayaquil had a population of about 2,000 people; by 1700 the city had a population of over 10,000.^{[citation needed]}

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Haiti
Haiti ⁱ/ˈheɪti/ (French: Haïti [aiti]; Haitian Creole Ayiti [ajiti]), officially the Republic of Haiti (République d'Haïti; Repiblik Ayiti), is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti (land of high mountains) was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island. The country's highest point is Pic la Selle, at 2,680 metres (8,793 ft). The total area of Haiti is 27,750 square kilometres (10,714 sq mi) and its capital is Port-au-Prince. Haitian Creole and French are the official languages.
Haiti's regional, historical, and ethno-linguistic position is unique for several reasons. It was the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, the first black-led republic in the world, and the second republic in the Americas when it gained independence in 1804 as part of a successful slave revolution lasting nearly a decade. In 2012, Haiti announced its intention to seek associate membership status in the African Union. Haiti is the only predominantly Francophone independent nation in the Americas. It is one of only two independent nations in the Americas (along with Canada) to designate French as an official language; the other French-speaking areas are all overseas départements, or collectivités, of France.

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Hanoi
Hanoi (Hà Nội; listen), is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam. It was eclipsed by Huế during the Nguyen dynasty as the capital of Vietnam, but Hanoi served as the capital of French Indochina from 1902 to 1954. From 1954 to 1976, it was the capital of North Vietnam.
The city is located on the right bank of the Red River. Hanoi is located at 1,760 km (1,090 mi) north of Ho Chi Minh City.
October 2010 officially marked 1000 years since the establishment of the city.
Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake, in central Hanoi
Emperor Lý Thái Tổ made Thăng Long (Hanoi) his capital in the 11th century
Colonial Hanoi
Modern Hanoi
Hanoi has been inhabited since at least 3000 BC. One of the first known permanent settlements is the Co Loa citadel (Cổ Loa) founded around 200 BC.
Hanoi has had many names throughout history, all of them of Sino-Vietnamese origin. During the Chinese domination of Vietnam, it was known first as Long Biên, then Tống Bình (Chinese: 宋平, Sòngpíng, "Song Peace") and Long Đỗ (Chinese: 龍肚, Lóngdù, "Dragonbelly"). In 866, it was turned into a citadel and named Đại La (Chinese: 大羅, Dàluó, "Big Net").

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Harbin
Harbin (Chinese: 哈尔滨; pinyin: Hā'ěrbīn [xɑ́ɻpín]); Manchu language: 15px, Harbin; Russian: Харбин́ Kharbin listen (help·info)), is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, as well as the tenth most populated city in the People's Republic of China. According to the 2010 China census data, the city's municipal area has 5,878,939 inhabitants, while the total population of the sub-provincial city is 10,635,971. Harbin serves as a key political, economic, scientific, cultural and communications hub in Northeast China.
Harbin is originally a Manchu word meaning "a place for drying fishing nets." It is known for its bitterly cold winters and is often called the "Ice City." Lying on the southern bank of the Songhua River, Harbin is well known for its beautiful ice sculptures in winter and its Russian legacy and still plays an important part in Sino-Russian trade today. In the 1920s, the city was considered China's fashion capital as new designs from Paris and Moscow reached there first before arriving in Shanghai.

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Hawaii
Coordinates: 21°18′41″N 157°47′47″W / 21.31139°N 157.79639°W / 21.31139; -157.79639
Hawaii (ⁱ/həˈwaɪ.iː/ or /həˈwaɪʔiː/; Hawaiian: Hawaiʻi Hawaiian pronunciation: [hɐˈvɐiʔi]) is the most recent of the 50 U.S. states (August 21, 1959), and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean.
Hawaii’s diverse natural scenery, warm tropical climate, abundance of public beaches and oceanic surrounding, and active volcanoes make it a popular destination for tourists, surfers, biologists, and volcanologists alike. Due to its mid-Pacific location, Hawaii has many North American and Asian influences along with its own vibrant native culture. Hawaii has over a million permanent residents along with many visitors and U.S. military personnel. Its capital is Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu.
The state encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian Island chain, which comprises hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles (2,400 km). At the southeastern end of the archipelago, the eight "main islands" are (from the northwest to southeast) Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and the island of Hawaiʻi. The last is by far the largest and is often called "The Big Island" to avoid confusion with the state as a whole. The archipelago is physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania.

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Helsinki
Helsinki ( listen (help·info); Swedish: Helsingfors, listen (help·info)) is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is 596,233 (31 January 2012), making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is located some 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of St. Petersburg, Russia and 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia. Helsinki has close historical connections with these three cities.
The Helsinki Metropolitan Area includes the city of Helsinki and three other cities: Espoo and Vantaa, which immediately border Helsinki to the west and north, respectively; and Kauniainen, which is an enclave within the city of Espoo. The Helsinki metropolitan area is the world's northernmost urban area among those with a population of over one million people, and the city is the northernmost capital of a EU member state. Altogether 1.1 million people, approximately one in five Finns, live in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.

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Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City (Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh; listen), formerly named Saigon (Sài Gòn; listen) is the largest city in Vietnam. It was once known as Prey Nokor, an important Khmer sea port prior to annexation by the Vietnamese in the 17th century.
Under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colony of Cochin-china and later of the independent state of South Vietnam from 1955–75. South Vietnam, as an anti-communist state, fought against the communist North Vietnamese and Viet Cong during the Vietnam War, with aid from the United States of America and countries including Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. Saigon fell when it was captured by the communists on 30 April 1975, bringing an end to the War with its enemy's victory. Vietnam was then turned into a communist state with the South overtaken. On 2 July 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding Gia Định Province and was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City after Hồ Chí Minh (although the name Sài Gòn is still commonly used.)
The city center is situated on the banks of the Saigon River, 60 kilometers (37 mi) from the South China Sea and 1,760 kilometers (1,090 mi) south of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.

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Hokkaido
Hokkaido (help·info) (北海道, Hokkaidō^?, literally "Northern Sea Circuit"), formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectures. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel. The largest city on Hokkaido is its capital, Sapporo, which is also its only ordinance-designated city.
Hokkaido was settled by Ainu, Nivkh, and Orok 20,000 years ago. The Nihon Shoki, finished in 720, is often said to be the first mention of Hokkaido in recorded history. According to the text, Abe no Hirafu led a large navy and army to northern areas from 658 to 660 and came into contact with the Mishihase and Emishi. One of the places Hirafu went to was called Watarishima (渡島), which is often believed to be present-day Hokkaido. However, many theories exist in relation to the details of this event, including the location of Watarishima and the common belief that the Emishi in Watarishima were the ancestors of the present-day Ainu people.

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Hollywood
Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema. Today, much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as the Westside neighborhood, and the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys, but significant auxiliary industries, such as editing, effects, props, post-production, and lighting companies remain in Hollywood, as does the backlot of Paramount Pictures.
On February 16, 2005, California Assembly Members Jackie Goldberg and Paul Koretz introduced a bill to require California to keep specific records on Hollywood as if it were independent, although it is not the typical practice of the City of Los Angeles to establish specific boundaries for districts or neighborhoods. For this to be done, the boundaries were defined. The bill was unanimously supported by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles City Council. Assembly Bill 588 was approved by the Governor of California on August 28, 2006, and now the district of Hollywood has official borders. The border can be loosely described as the area east of West Hollywood, south of Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon, Cahuenga Boulevard, and Barham Boulevard, and the cities of Burbank and Glendale, north of Melrose Avenue and west of the Golden State Freeway and Hyperion Avenue. This includes all of Griffith Park and Los Feliz^{[citation needed]} – two areas that were hitherto considered separate from Hollywood by most Angelenos. The population of the district, including Los Feliz, as of the 2000 census was 123,436 and the median household income was $33,409 in 1999.

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Hong Kong
Coordinates: 22°16′42″N 114°09′32″E / 22.27833°N 114.15889°E / 22.27833; 114.15889
Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港) is one of two special administrative regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is known for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. With a land mass of 1,104 km² (426 sq mi) and a population of seven million people, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Hong Kong's population is 95 percent ethnic Chinese and 5 percent from other groups. Hong Kong's Han Chinese majority originate mainly from the cities of Guangzhou and Taishan in the neighbouring Guangdong province.
Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42). Originally confined to Hong Kong Island, the colony's boundaries were extended in stages to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and then the New Territories in 1898. It was occupied by Japan during the Pacific War, after which the British resumed control until 1997, when China resumed sovereignty. The region espoused minimum government intervention under the ethos of positive non-interventionism during the colonial era. The time period greatly influenced the current culture of Hong Kong, often described as "East meets West", and the educational system, which used to loosely follow the system in England until reforms implemented in 2009.

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Iceland
Iceland ⁱ/ˈaɪslənd/ (Icelandic: Ísland, IPA: [ˈislant]) is a Nordic European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The country has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km² (40,000 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Reykjavík, with the surrounding areas in the southwestern region of the country being home to two-thirds of the country's population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. The interior mainly consists of a plateau characterised by sand fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle.
According to Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in AD 874 when the chieftain Ingólfur Arnarson became the first permanent Norse settler on the island. Others had visited the island earlier and stayed over winter. Over the following centuries, Norsemen settled Iceland, bringing with them thralls (slaves) of Gaelic origin. From 1262 to 1918 Iceland was part of the Norwegian and later the Danish monarchies. Until the 20th century, the Icelandic population relied largely on fisheries and agriculture, and the country was one of the poorest and least developed in the world. Industrialisation of the fisheries and aid from the Marshall Plan brought prosperity in the years after World War II, and by the 1990s it was one of the world's wealthiest countries. In 1994, Iceland became party to the European Economic Area, which made it possible for the economy to diversify into economic and financial services.

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India
India (ⁱ/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.

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Indonesia
Indonesia (ⁱ/ˌɪndəˈniːʒə/ IN-də-NEE-zhə or /ˌɪndoʊˈniːziə/ IN-doh-NEE-zee-ə), officially the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia Indonesian pronunciation: [rɛpʊblɪk ɪndɔnɛsɪa]), is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 17,508 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature and president. The nation's capital city is Jakarta. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia. Other neighboring countries include Singapore, Philippines, Australia, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Indonesia is a founding member of ASEAN and a member of the G-20 major economies. The Indonesian economy is the world's 17th largest economy by nominal GDP.
The Indonesian archipelago has been an important trade region since at least the 7th century, when Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, and Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms flourished. Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Muslim traders brought Islam, and European powers brought Christianity and fought one another to monopolize trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku during the Age of Discovery. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia secured its independence after World War II. Indonesia's history has since been turbulent, with challenges posed by natural disasters, corruption, separatism, a democratization process, and periods of rapid economic change.

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Ireland
Coordinates: 53°20′N 08°00′W / 53.333°N 8°W / 53.333; -8
Ireland (pronounced [ˈaɪrlənd] ( listen); Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen); Ulster Scots: Airlann or Airlan) is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth. To its east is the larger island of Great Britain, from which it is separated by the Irish Sea.
Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers just under five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remainder and is located in the northeast of the island. The population of Ireland is approximately 6.4 million. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just under 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.
Relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain epitomise Ireland's geography with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable oceanic climate, which avoids extremes in temperature. Thick woodlands covered the island until the 17th century. Today, it is one of the most deforested areas in Europe. There are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland.

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Istanbul
Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul) is the largest city in Turkey, forming the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population of 13.4 million, the city is at the center of the second-largest urban area in Europe after Moscow, and among the world's largest cities by population within city limits. Istanbul's vast area of 5,343 square kilometers (2,063 sq mi) is coterminous with Istanbul Province, of which the city is considered capital. Straddling the Bosphorus—one of the world's busiest waterways—in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, Istanbul is a transcontinental city, with one third of its population living in Asia but its commercial and historical center in Europe.
Founded around 660 BC as Byzantium on the Seraglio Point, the city now known as Istanbul developed to become one of the most significant cities in history. For nearly sixteen centuries following its reestablishment as Constantinople in 330 AD, it served as the capital of four empires — the late classical Roman Empire (330–395), the Eastern Roman ("Byzantine") Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). It was instrumental in the advancement of Christianity during Roman and Byzantine times, before the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453 and transformed it into an Islamic stronghold from which the last caliphate ruled. Although the Republic of Turkey established its capital elsewhere, in Ankara, remnants of Istanbul's previous central role still remain highly visible across the city, with palaces and imperial mosques lining its hills.

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Italy
Italy ⁱ/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km² (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.

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Jaisalmer
Jaysalmar pronunciation (help·info) (Rajasthani: जैसलमेर), nicknamed "The Golden City", is a town in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located 575 kilometres (357 mi) west from the state capital Jaipur. It was once known as Jaisalmer state. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone, crowned by a fort, which contains the palace and several ornate Jain temples. Many of the houses and temples are finely sculptured. It lies in the heart of the Thar Desert and has a population of about 78,000. It is the administrative headquarters of Jaisalmer District.
Jaisalmer is named after its founder Maharawal Jaisal Singh, a Rajput king in 1156 AD. "Jaisalmer" means "the Hill Fort of Jaisal". Jaisalmer is sometimes called the "Golden City of India" because the yellow sand and the yellow sandstone used in every architecture of the city gives a yellowish-golden tinge to the city and its surrounding area.

District JAISALMER is located within a rectangle lying between 26°.4’ –28°.23' North parallel and 69°.20'-72°.42' east meridians. It is the largest district of Rajasthan and one of the largest in the country. The breadth (East-West) of the district is 270 km and the length (North-South) is 186 km. On the present map, district Jaisalmer is bounded on the north by Bikaner, on the west & south-west by the Pakistani border, on the south by Barmer and Jodhpur, and on the east by Jodhpur and Bikaner Districts. The length of international border attached to District JAISALMER is 471 km.

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Jakarta
Jakarta ( /dʒəˈkɑrtə/), officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta (Indonesian: Daerah Khusus Ibu Kota Jakarta), is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Located on the northwest coast of Java, Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre, and with a population of 10,187,595 as of November 2011, it is the most populous city in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia, and is the twelfth-largest city in the world. The official metropolitan area, known as Jabodetabekjur, is the second largest in the world, yet the city's suburbs still continue beyond it. Jakarta is listed as a global city in the 2008 Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) research. and has an area of 661 square kilometres (255 sq mi)
Based on Brooking Institute survey about growth, in 2011 Jakarta ranked 17th among the world's 200 largest cities, a significant jumps from 2007 when Jakarta ranked 171st. Jakarta has seen more rapid growth than Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and Bangkok.

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Jamaica
Coordinates: 18°10′57″N 77°19′18″W / 18.1823878°N 77.3217773°W / 18.1823878; -77.3217773
Jamaica (ⁱ/dʒəˈmeɪkə/), officially the Commonwealth of Jamaica, is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres (145 mi) in length, up to 80 kilometres (50 mi) in width, and 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi) in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 191 kilometres (119 mi) west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The indigenous Arawakan-speaking Taíno name for the island was Xaymaca, meaning the "Land of Wood and Water" or the "Land of Springs".
Once a Spanish possession known as Santiago, it became an English colony in 1655 under the name "Jamaica". It achieved full independence from Britain on August 6, 1962. With 2.8 million people, it is the third most populous anglophone country in the Americas, after the United States and Canada. It remains a Commonwealth realm in concert with the Monarchy of Jamaica holding ultimate executive power, where Queen Elizabeth II is the current head of state and Queen of Jamaica.Kingston is the country's largest city and the capital.

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Japan
Japan ⁱ/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.

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Jodhpur
Jodhpur /ˈdʒɒdpʊər/ (Rajasthani: जोधाणा Jodhpur.ogg (help·info); Hindi: जोधपुर) is the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located 335 kilometres (208 mi) west from the state capital, Jaipur and 200 kilometres (124 mi) from the city of Ajmer. It was formerly the seat of a princely state of the same name, the capital of the kingdom known as Marwar. Jodhpur is a popular tourist destination, featuring many palaces, forts and temples, set in the stark landscape of the Thar desert.
The city is known as the "Sun City" for the bright, sunny weather it enjoys all year. It is also referred to as the "Blue City" due to the blue-painted houses around the Mehrangarh Fort. The old city circles the fort and is bounded by a wall with several gates. However, the city has expanded greatly outside the wall over the past several decades. Jodhpur lies near the geographic centre of Rajasthan state, which makes it a convenient base for travel in a region much frequented by tourists.
According to Rajasthan district Gazetteers of Jodhpur and the Hindu epic Ramayana (composed up to 4th century AD), Abhiras were the original inhabitants of Jodhpur and later Aryans spread to this region.

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Kerala
Kerala or Keralam /ˈkɛrələ/ is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was formed on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions.
The state has an area of 38,863 km² (15,005 sq mi) and is bordered by Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to the east and south, and the Arabian Sea on the west. Thiruvananthapuram is the state capital. Kochi and Kozhikode are other major cities. According to a survey by The Economic Times, five out of ten best cities to live in India are located in Kerala.
Kerala has the highest Human Development Index in India, higher than that of most developed countries The state has the highest literacy rate in India with 93.91 percent. It hopes to be the first e-literate state in India through the state run Akshaya project. The state recently became and is currently the only one to have banking facilities in every village. A survey conducted in 2005 by Transparency International ranked Kerala as the least corrupt state in the country. Kerala is also ranked as India's cleanest state. Kerala has witnessed significant migration of its people, especially to the Persian Gulf countries during the Kerala Gulf boom and is heavily dependent on remittances from its large Malayali expatriate community.

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Kingstown
Kingstown is the chief port of Saint Vincent, and the capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. With a population of 25,418 (2005) Kingstown is the largest town in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and is the centre for the island's agricultural industry and a port of entry for tourists. The city lies within the parish of Saint George in the south-west corner of Saint Vincent. Exports include bananas which are shipped mainly to the United Kingdom, coconuts, and arrowroot. The city contains numerous shops, eating places and markets.
It is built partially on reclaimed land and is the location of many important buildings, including the Financial Complex which was built in 1991 and accommodates the Office of the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister as well as those of other departments of government, a Court Office of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and almost all of the governmental ministries.
France started a settlement here shortly after 1722.
The botanical garden, conceived in 1765, is the oldest in the Western hemisphere. William Bligh, made famous from the Mutiny on the Bounty, brought seeds of the Breadfruit tree here for planting, ca 1793.

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Kiwi
Kiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand, in the genus Apteryx and family Apterygidae. At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world. There are five recognised species, two of which are currently vulnerable, one of which is endangered, and one of which is critically endangered. All species have been adversely affected by historic deforestation but currently large areas of their forest habitat are well protected in reserves and national parks. At present, the greatest threat to their survival is predation by invasive mammalian predators.
The kiwi is a national symbol of New Zealand, and the association is so strong that the term Kiwi is used all over the world as the colloquial demonym for New Zealanders.
It was long presumed that the kiwi was closely related to the other New Zealand ratites, the moa. However, recent DNA studies indicate that the Ostrich is more closely related to the moa and the kiwi is more closely related to the Emu and the cassowaries. This theory suggests that the ancestors of the kiwi arrived in New Zealand from elsewhere in Australasia well after the moa. According to British scientists, the kiwi may be an ancient import from Australia. Researchers at Oxford University have found DNA evidence connected to Australia's Emu and the Ostrich of Africa. Upon examining DNA from the moa, they believe that the kiwi is more closely related to its Australian cousins.

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Kolkata
Kolkata /kɒlˈkætə/, or Calcutta /kælˈkʌtə/, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it is the principal commercial, cultural, and educational centre of East India, while the Port of Kolkata is India's oldest port as well as its sole major riverine port. As of 2011, the city had 4.5 million residents; the urban agglomeration, which comprises the city and its suburbs, was home to approximately 14.1 million, making it the third-most populous metropolitan area in India. As of 2008, its economic output as measured by gross domestic product ranked third among South Asian cities, behind Mumbai and Delhi. As a growing metropolitan city in a developing country, Kolkata confronts substantial urban pollution, traffic congestion, poverty, overpopulation, and other logistic and socioeconomic problems.
In the late 17th century, the three villages that predated Kolkata were ruled by the Nawab of Bengal under Mughal suzerainty. After the Nawab granted the East India Company a trading license in 1690, the area was developed by the Company into an increasingly fortified mercantile base. Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah occupied Kolkata in 1756, and the East India Company retook it in the following year and by 1772 assumed full sovereignty. Under East India Company and later under the British Raj, Kolkata served as the capital of India until 1911, when its perceived geographical disadvantages, combined with growing nationalism in Bengal, led to a shift of the capital to New Delhi. The city was a centre of the Indian independence movement; it remains a hotbed of contemporary state politics. Following Indian independence in 1947, Kolkata—which was once the centre of modern Indian education, science, culture, and politics—witnessed several decades of relative economic stagnation. Since the early 2000s, an economic rejuvenation has led to accelerated growth.

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Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the federal capital and most populous city in Malaysia. The city covers an area of 243 km² (94 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 1.6 million as of 2012.Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million. It is among the fastest growing metropolitan regions in the country, in terms of population and economy.
Kuala Lumpur is the seat of the Parliament of Malaysia. The city was once home to the executive and judicial branches of the federal government, but they were moved to Putrajaya in early 1999. Some sections of the judiciary still remains in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. The official residence of the Malaysian King, the Istana Negara, is also situated in Kuala Lumpur. Rated as an alpha world city, Kuala Lumpur is the cultural, financial and economic centre of Malaysia due to its position as the capital as well as being a key city. Kuala Lumpur was ranked 48th among global cities by Foreign Policy's 2010 Global Cities Index and was ranked 67th among global cities for economic and social innovation by the 2thinknow Innovation Cities Index in 2010.

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La Banquise
La Banquise is a restaurant in Montreal, Quebec, Canada which specializes in the dish of poutine. It serves twenty-five different kinds of poutine and is open 24 hours. Its address is 994 Rachel Street East in the borough of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal.
La Banquise was founded in 1968 by Pierre Barsalou a firefighter. It was originally an ice cream shop, although it became a snack bar later in the year and served mostly hot dogs and French fries. Poutine was not served at La Banquise until the beginning of the 1980s. Only two flavours were served at the beginning although due to customer demand, that number was increased to twenty five. Today the restaurant is owned by Barsalou's daughter Annie and her partner Marc Latendresse.
On his television program, No Reservations, American chef Anthony Bourdain recommended La Banquise as one of his favourite meals in Montreal.
In the Montreal Mirror's Best of Montreal Readers Poll 2011, La Banquise won the title of Best Late Night Eat in addition to Best Poutine.

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Liberia
Liberia ⁱ/laɪˈbɪəriə/, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Ivory Coast on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open to a plateau of drier grasslands. The country possesses 40% of the remaining Upper Guinean rainforest. Liberia has a hot equatorial climate, with significant rainfall during the May to October rainy season and harsh harmattan winds the remainder of the year. Liberia covers an area of 111,369 km² (43,000 sq mi) and is home to about 3.7 million people. English is the official language, while over 30 indigenous languages are spoken within the country.
Along with Ethiopia, Liberia is one of the two modern countries in Sub-Saharan Africa without roots in the European colonization of Africa. Beginning in 1820, the region was colonized by freed American slaves with the help of the American Colonization Society, a private organization that believed ex-slaves would have greater freedom and equality in Africa. Slaves freed from slave ships were also sent there instead of being repatriated to their countries of origin. In 1847, these colonists founded the Republic of Liberia, establishing a government modeled on that of the United States and naming the capital city Monrovia after James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States and a prominent supporter of the colonization. The colonists, known as Americo-Liberians, led the political and economic sectors of the country.

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Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima Metropolitan Area. With a population approaching 9 million, Lima is the fifth largest city in Latin America, behind Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. Lima is home to one of the largest financial hubs in Latin America. It has been defined as a beta world city by GaWC international ranking.
Lima was founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro on January 18, 1535, as la Ciudad de los Reyes, or "the City of Kings". It became the capital and most important city in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. Following the Peruvian War of Independence, it became the capital of the Republic of Peru. Today, around one-third of the Peruvian population lives in the metropolitan area.
Lima is home to one of the oldest higher learning institutions in the New World. The National University of San Marcos, founded on May 12, 1551 during Spanish colonial regime, is the oldest continuously functioning university in the Americas.

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London
London ⁱ/ˈlʌndən/ is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its square-mile mediaeval boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the name London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. The bulk of this conurbation forms the London region and the Greater London administrative area, governed by the elected Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
London is a leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transport all contributing to its prominence. It is the world's leading financial centre alongside New York City and has the fifth-largest city GDP in the world (and the largest in Europe). London has been described as a world cultural capital. It was the world's most visited city during 2011 and London Heathrow is the world's busiest airport by number of international passengers. London's 43 universities form the largest concentration of higher education in Europe. In 2012 London will become the first city to host the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.

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Los Angeles
Los Angeles (ⁱ/lɒs ˈændʒələs/ loss-AN-jə-ləs; Spanish: [los ˈaŋxeles], which is written Los Ángeles; British pronounciation /lɒs ˈændʒəliːz/ loss-AN-jə-leez) with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in the state of California, and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of 468.67 square miles (1,213.8 km²), and is located in Southern California. Often known by its initials L.A., the city is the focal point of the larger Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan statistical area and Greater Los Angeles Area region, which contain 12,828,837 and nearly 18 million people respectively as of 2010, making it one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world and the second largest in the United States. Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated and one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the United States, while the entire Los Angeles area itself has been recognized as the most diverse of the nation's largest cities. The city's inhabitants are referred to as "Angelenos".

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Macau
Coordinates: 22°10′N 113°33′E / 22.167°N 113.55°E / 22.167; 113.55
Macau (Chinese: 澳門), also spelled Macao ( /məˈkaʊ/), is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong. Macau lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta across from Hong-Kong which is to the east, bordering Guangdong province to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east and south.
The territory's economy is heavily dependent on gambling and tourism, but also includes manufacturing.
Macau is a former Portuguese colony, and is both the first and last European colony in China. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century and subsequently administered the region until the handover on 20 December 1999. The Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Macau stipulate that Macau operates with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2049, fifty years after the transfer. Macau was first lent by the Chinese empire as a trading port in the 16th century, and had to administer the city under Chinese authority and sovereignty. In 1887, Macau became a colony of the Portuguese empire and its sovereignty transferred to the Portuguese.

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Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmatʃu ˈpitʃu], Quechua: Machu Pikchu [ˈmɑtʃu ˈpixtʃu], "Old Peak") is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located 2,430 metres (7,970 ft) above sea level. Machu Picchu is located in the Cusco Region of Peru, South America. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Cusco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Often referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is perhaps the most familiar icon of the Inca World.
The Incas started building the "estate" around 1400, but abandoned it as an official site for the Inca rulers a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although known locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction. Most of the outlying buildings have been reconstructed in order to give tourists a better idea of what the structures originally looked like. By 1976, thirty percent of Machu Picchu had been restored. The restoration work continues to this day.

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Madrid
Madrid (English /məˈdrɪd/, Spanish: [ma'ðrid]) is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third largest in the European Union after London and Paris. The city spans a total of 604.3 km² (233.3 sq mi).
The city is located on the Manzanares river in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid (which comprises the city of Madrid, its conurbation and extended suburbs and villages); this community is bordered by the autonomous communities of Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political centre of Spain. The current mayor is Ana Botella from the People's Party (PP).
Madrid urban agglomeration has the 3rd largest GDP in the European Union and its influences in politics, education, entertainment, environment, media, fashion, science, culture, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. Due to its economic output, high standard of living, and market size, Madrid is considered the major financial centre of Southern Europe and the Iberian Peninsula; it hosts the head offices of the vast majority of the major Spanish companies, such as Telefónica, Iberia or Repsol. Madrid is the most touristic city of Spain, the fourth-most touristic of the continent, and is the 10th most livable city in the world according to Monocle magazine, in its 2010 index. Madrid also ranks among the 12 greenest European cities in 2010. Madrid is currently a Candidate City for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

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Maine
Maine (ⁱ/ˈmeɪn/) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost portion of New England. It is known for its scenery—its jagged, mostly rocky coastline, its low, rolling mountains, its heavily forested interior and picturesque waterways—as well as for its seafood cuisine, especially lobsters and clams.
For thousands of years, indigenous peoples were the only inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine. At the time of European encounter, several Algonquian-speaking peoples inhabited the area. The first European settlement in Maine was by the French in 1604 on Saint Croix Island, by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons. The first English settlement in Maine, the short-lived Popham Colony, was established by the Plymouth Company in 1607. A number of English settlements were established along the coast of Maine in the 1620s, although the rugged climate, deprivations, and conflict with the local peoples caused many to fail over the years. As Maine entered the 18th century, only a half dozen European settlements survived. Patriot and British forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Maine was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until 1820, when it voted to secede from Massachusetts. On March 15, 1820, it was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state under the Missouri Compromise. Maine is the 39th most extensive and the 41st most populous of the 50 United States.

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Malaysia
Malaysia (ⁱ/məˈleɪʒə/ mə-LAY-zhə or ⁱ/məˈleɪsiə/ mə-LAY-see-ə) is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories and has a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres (127,350 sq mi) separated by the South China Sea into two similarly sized regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Land borders are shared with Thailand, Indonesia, and Brunei, and maritime borders exist with Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. In 2010 the population exceeded 27.5 million, with over 20 million living on the Peninsula.
Malaysia has its origins in the Malay Kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, became subject to the British Empire. The first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946. Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963, with si being added to give the new country the name Malaysia. However, less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. Since independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with GDP growing an average 6.5% for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its natural resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce and medical tourism.

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Manhattan
Manhattan (/mænˈhætən/) is the most densely populated and the oldest of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the U.S. state of New York. The borough and county consist of Manhattan Island and several small adjacent islands: Roosevelt Island, Randall's Island, Wards Island, Governors Island, Liberty Island, part of Ellis Island,Mill Rock, and U Thant Island; as well as Marble Hill, a very small area on the mainland bordering the Bronx. The original city of New York began at the southern end of Manhattan, expanded northward, and then between 1874 and 1898, annexed land from surrounding counties.
The New York County is the most densely populated county in the United States, and one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with a 2010 population of 1,585,873 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles (59.5 km²), or 69,464 residents per square mile (26,924/km²), more dense than any individual American city. It is also one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, with a 2005 per capita income above $100,000. Manhattan is the third-largest of New York's five boroughs in population, and its smallest borough in land area.

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Manila
Manila (English: /məˈnɪlə/; Tagalog: Maynila, [majˈnilaʔ]) is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities (along with the smaller municipality of Pateros) that comprise Metro Manila.
Manila is located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north; Quezon City to the northeast; San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east; Makati to the southeast, and Pasay to the south.
Manila has a total population of more than 1,652,171 according to the 2010 census. Manila is the second most populous city in the Philippines, behind its neighbor, Quezon City. The populace inhabit an area of only 38.55 square kilometers, making Manila the most densely populated city in the world.Metro Manila is the most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines and the 11th in the world with an estimated population of 16,300,000. The greater urban area is the fifth-most populous in the world and has an estimated metropolitan population of 20,654,307 people.
The city is divided into six legislative districts and consists of sixteen geographical districts: Binondo, Ermita, Intramuros, Malate, Paco, Pandacan, Port Area, Quiapo, Sampaloc, San Andres, San Miguel, San Nicolas, Santa Ana, Santa Cruz, Santa Mesa and Tondo. Bustling commerce and some of the most historically and culturally significant iconic landmarks in the country, as well as the seat of the executive and judicial branches of the government are to be found in the city; and it is also home to many scientific and educational institutions, numerous sport facilities, a variety of other culturally and historically significant venues. As a primary transportation hub and with the larger capital region bearing its name, there is very little of a general nature to be found in cities anywhere that Manila is lacking.

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Maryland
Maryland (ⁱ/ˈmɛrɨlənd/) is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east. Maryland was the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution, and three nicknames for it (the Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State) are occasionally used. Maryland is the 9th smallest state by area, but the 19th most populous and the 5th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state's most populated city is Baltimore. Its capital is Annapolis. It was named after Queen Henrietta Maria.
Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles (32,133.2 km²) and is comparable in overall area with the European country of Belgium (11,787 square miles (30,530 km²)). It is the 42nd largest/9th smallest state, and is closest in size to Hawaii (10,930.98 square miles (28,311.1 km²)), the next smallest state. The next largest state, Maryland's neighbor West Virginia, is almost twice the size of Maryland (24,229.76 square miles (62,754.8 km²)).

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Medellín
Medellín (Spanish pronunciation: [meðeˈʝin]), officially the Municipio de Medellín (Spanish) or Municipality of Medellín, is the second-largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. To 2012, it has a population of 2.7 million. With its surrounding area, the metropolitan area of Medellín (área metropolitana de Medellín), composed by another nine cities, it is the second largest urban agglomeration in Colombia in terms of population and economy, with more than 3.5 million people.
Medellín was founded in 1616 by the Spaniard Francisco Herrera Campuzano as Poblado de San Lorenzo (Saint Lawrence Town) in present-day El Poblado. In 1675 the queen consort Mariana of Austria created the Villa de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Medellín (Town of Our Lady of Medellín).
In 1826 the city was named the capital of the Department of Antioquia by the National Congress of the young Republic of Greater Colombia (Gran Colombia), comprised by present day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama. After Colombia won its independence from Spain, Medellín became the capital of the Federal State of Antioquia until 1888, with the proclamation of the Colombian Constitution of 1886. During the 19th century, Medellín was a dynamic commercial center, first exporting gold, then producing and exporting coffee. After the Thousand Days War (1899–1902), Medellín was the first Colombian city to take part in the Industrial Revolution.

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Melbourne
Melbourne ([ˈmelbən, -bn̩, ˈmæl-],rhotically /ˈmɛlbərn/) is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2010, the greater geographical area had an approximate population of four million. Inhabitants of Melbourne are called Melburnians or Melbournians.
The metropolis is located on the large natural bay known as Port Phillip, with the city centre positioned at the estuary of the Yarra River (at the northernmost point of the bay). The metropolitan area then extends south from the city centre, along the eastern and western shorelines of Port Phillip, and expands into the hinterland. The city centre is situated in the municipality known as the City of Melbourne, and the metropolitan area consists of a further 30 municipalities.
Melbourne was founded in 1835 (47 years after the European settlement of Australia) by settlers from Launceston in Van Diemen's Land. It was named by governor Richard Bourke in 1837, in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb—the 2nd Viscount Melbourne. Melbourne was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria in 1847. In 1851, it became the capital city of the newly created colony of Victoria. During the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the world's largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it then served as the interim seat of government of the newly created nation of Australia until 1927.

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Mexico
Mexico (ⁱ/ˈmɛksɨkoʊ/; Spanish: México, IPA: [ˈmexiko] ( listen)), officially the United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos (help·info)), is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States of America; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometres (over 760,000 sq mi), Mexico is the fifth largest country in the Americas by total area and the thirteenth largest independent nation in the world. With an estimated population of over 113 million, it is the eleventh most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country. Mexico is a federation comprising thirty-one states and a Federal District, the capital city.
In Pre-Columbian Mexico many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before the first contact with Europeans. In 1521, Spain conquered and colonized the territory from its base in México-Tenochtitlan, which was administered as the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This territory would eventually become Mexico as the colony's independence was recognized in 1821. The post-independence period was characterized by economic instability, the Mexican-American War and territorial cession to the United States, a civil war, two empires and a domestic dictatorship. The latter led to the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the country's current political system. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time that an opposition party won the presidency from the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

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Mexico City
Mexico City ( /ˈmɛksɨkoʊ ˈsɪti/; Spanish: Ciudad de México [sjuˈðað ðe ˈmexiko], also known as México D.F., or simply D.F.) is the Federal District (Distrito Federal), capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole. Mexico City is the country's largest city as well as its most important political, cultural, educational and financial center.
As an "alpha" global city Mexico City is one of the most important financial centers in North America. It is located in the Valley of Mexico (Valle de México), a large valley in the high plateaus at the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 metres (7,350 ft). The city consists of sixteen boroughs.
The 2009 estimated population for the city proper was around 8.84 million people, and has a land area of 1,485 square kilometres (573 sq mi). According to the most recent definition agreed upon by the federal and state governments, the Mexico City metropolitan area population is 21.2 million people, making it the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere and the fifth largest agglomeration in the world.

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Miami
Miami ( /maɪˈæmi/ or /maɪˈæmə/) is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625. The 42nd largest city proper in the United States, with a population of 408,568, it is the principal, central, and most populous city of the South Florida metropolitan area, and the most populous metropolis in the Southeastern United States. According to the US Census Bureau, Miami's metro area is the seventh most populous and fifth-largest urban area in the United States, with a population of around 5.5 million.
Miami is a major center and a leader in finance, commerce, culture, media, entertainment, the arts, and international trade. In 2010, Miami was classified as a Alpha- World City in the World Cities Study Group’s inventory. In 2010, Miami ranked seventh in the United States in terms of finance, commerce, culture, entertainment, fashion, education, and other sectors. It ranked thirty-third among global cities. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Miami "America's Cleanest City", for its year-round good air quality, vast green spaces, clean drinking water, clean streets and city-wide recycling programs. According to a 2009 UBS study of 73 world cities, Miami was ranked as the richest city in the United States, and the world's fifth-richest city in terms of purchasing power. Miami is nicknamed the "Capital of Latin America", is the 2nd largest U.S. city (after El Paso) with a Spanish-speaking majority, and the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality.

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Michigan
Michigan (ⁱ/ˈmɪʃɨɡən/) is a state located in the Great Lakes region of the Midwestern United States. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake". Michigan is the 8th most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area. Its capital is Lansing, and the largest city is Detroit. Michigan was admitted into the Union on January 26, 1837 as the 26th state.
Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair. Michigan is one of the leading U.S. states for recreational boating. The state has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds. A person in the state is never more than six miles (9.7 km) from a natural water source or more than 85 miles (137 km) from a Great Lakes shoreline. It is the largest state by total area east of the Mississippi River.
Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is often noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula (often referred to as "the U.P.") is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile (8 km) channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge. The Upper Peninsula is economically important due to its status as a tourist destination. There is also a variety of natural resources to be found there, including a sizable amount of iron ore.

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Milwaukee
Milwaukee /mɪlˈwɔːkiː/ is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States, and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the City of Milwaukee has a population of 594,833. Milwaukee is the main cultural and economic center of the Milwaukee–Racine–Waukesha Metropolitan Area with a population of 1,751,316 as of 2010. Milwaukee is also the regional center of the seven county Greater Milwaukee Area, with an estimated population of 2,014,032 as of 2008.
The first Europeans to pass through the area were French missionaries and fur traders. In 1818, the French-Canadian explorer Solomon Juneau settled in the area, and in 1846 Juneau's town combined with two neighboring towns to incorporate as the City of Milwaukee. Large numbers of German and other immigrants helped increase the city's population during the 1840s and the following decades.

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Minneapolis
Minneapolis (pronunciation: ⁱ/ˌmɪniːˈæpəlɪs/), nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City", is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States. Its name is attributed to the city's first schoolteacher, who combined mni, the Dakota word for water, and polis, the Greek word for city.
As of the 2010 Census, the population of the city of Minneapolis is 382,578. Minneapolis lies on both banks of the Mississippi River, just north of the river's confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Saint Paul, the state's capital. Known as the Twin Cities, Minneapolis-Saint Paul is the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the U.S., with approximately 3.3 million residents. The city is abundantly rich in water, with over twenty lakes and wetlands, the Mississippi river, creeks and waterfalls, many connected by parkways in the Chain of Lakes and the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway. Among cities of similar densities, Minneapolis has the most dedicated parkland. It was once the world's flour milling capital and a hub for timber, and today is the primary business center between Chicago and Seattle, with Minneapolis proper containing the fifth highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies. It has cultural organizations that draw creative people and audiences to the city for theater, visual art, writing, and music. The community's diverse population has a long tradition of charitable support through progressive public social programs and VOLAGs, as well as private and corporate philanthropy.

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Montana
Montana (ⁱ/mɒnˈtænə/) is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges that are part of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name, derived from the Spanish word montaña (mountain). Montana has several nicknames, none official, including: "Big Sky Country" and "The Treasure State", and slogans that include "Land of the Shining Mountains" and more recently, "The Last Best Place". Montana is the 4th-most extensive, but the 7th-least populous and the 3rd-least densely populated of the 50 United States. The economy is primarily based on services, with ranching, wheat farming, oil and coal mining in the east, and lumber, tourism, and hard rock mining in the west. Millions of tourists annually visit Glacier National Park, the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, and three of the five entrances to Yellowstone National Park.

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Montreal
Montreal (ⁱ/ˌmʌntriːˈɒl/;French: Montréal; pronounced [mɔ̃ʁeal] ( listen)) is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the fifteenth largest in North America. Originally called Ville-Marie, or "City of Mary", the city takes its present name from Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, or Mont Réal as it was spelled in Middle French (Mont Royal in present French). The city is located on the Island of Montreal, which took its name from the same source as the city, and a few much smaller peripheral islands, the largest of which is Île Bizard.
As of May 10, 2011, Statistics Canada identifies Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) as Canada's second most populous with an estimated metropolitan area population of 3,824,221 and a population of 1,886,481 in the urban agglomeration of Montreal, which includes all of the municipalities on the Island of Montreal. The city of Montreal proper had a population of 1,649,519.

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Moscow
Moscow ( /ˈmɒskaʊ/ or /ˈmɒskoʊ/; Russian: Москва́, tr. Moskva; IPA: [mɐˈskva] ( listen)) is the capital and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural and scientific center of Russia and the continent. Moscow is the northernmost megacity on Earth, the most populous city in Europe, and the 6th largest city proper in the world. Its population, according to the results of the 2010 Census, is 11,503,501. Based on Forbes 2011, Moscow has the largest community of billionaires in the world.
Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia. In the course of its history the city has served as the capital of a progression of states, from the medieval Grand Duchy of Moscow and the subsequent Tsardom of Russia to the Soviet Union. Moscow is the site of the Moscow Kremlin, an ancient fortress that is today the residence of the Russian President and of the executive branch of the Government of Russia. The Kremlin is also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament (the State Duma and the Federation Council) also sit in Moscow.

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Mugaritz
Mugaritz is a restaurant in Errenteria, Spain with 2 Michelin stars.Chef Andoni Aduriz apprenticed at El Bulli. Mugaritz was voted 4th best restaurant in the world by Restaurant (magazine) in 2008, up from 7th place in 2007. In 2011 the restaurant had climbed to the 3rd place. Aduriz uses the term techno-emotional cuisine to describe applying science to cooking.
The name of the restaurant is from muga eta haritza, Basque language for "the oak at the border" between Astigarraga and Errenteria.

Coordinates: 43°16′20″N 1°55′01″W / 43.272222°N 1.917028°W / 43.272222; -1.917028

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Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia (Afrikaans: Republiek van Namibië, German: Republik Namibia (help·info)), is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek. Namibia is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the Commonwealth of Nations.
The dry lands of Namibia were inhabited since early times by Bushmen, Damara, and Namaqua, and since about the 14th century AD by immigrating Bantu who came with the Bantu expansion. It became a German Imperial protectorate in 1884 and remained a German colony until the end of World War I. In 1920, the League of Nations mandated the country to South Africa, which imposed its laws and, from 1948, its apartheid policy.

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Naples
Coordinates: 40°50′42″N 14°15′30″E / 40.845°N 14.25833°E / 40.845; 14.25833
Naples (Italian: Napoli [ˈnaːpoli] ( listen), Neapolitan: Napule; Latin: Neapolis; Ancient Greek: Νεάπολις, meaning "new city") is the capital of Campania and the third-largest city in Italy, after Rome and Milan. As of 2012^[update], around 960,000 people live within the city's administrative limits. The wider Naples urban area, covering 777 km² (300 sq mi), has a population of over 3 million, and is the 10th-most populous urban area in the European Union. Between 4.1 and 4.4 million people live in the overall Naples metropolitan area, one of the largest European cities on the Mediterranean Sea.
Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Greek settlements were established on the island of Megaride in the Gulf of Naples as early as the 9th century BC. A larger mainland colony – initially known as Parthenope (Παρθενόπη) – developed around the 7th century BC, and was refounded as Neápolis (Νεάπολις) in the 5th century BC. Naples became a lynchpin of Magna Graecia and played a key role in the merging of Greek culture into Roman society, eventually becoming a cultural centre of the Roman Republic. Naples remained influential after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, serving as the capital city of the Kingdom of Naples between 1282 and 1816. Thereafter, in union with Sicily, it became the capital of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861. During the Neapolitan War of 1815, Naples strongly promoted Italian unification.

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New Jersey
New Jersey (ⁱ/nuː ˈdʒɜrzi/) is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the U.S. state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania, and on the southwest by Delaware. New Jersey is the 4th least extensive, but the 11th most populous and the most densely populated of the 50 United States. New Jersey lies mostly within the sprawling metropolitan areas of New York City and Philadelphia. It is also the third wealthiest by 2009–2010 median household income.
The area was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, with historical tribes such as the Lenape along the coast. In the early 17th century, the Dutch and the Swedes made the first European settlements. The British later seized control of the region, naming it the Province of New Jersey. It was granted as a colony to Sir George Carteret and John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton. At this time, it was named after the largest of the British Channel Islands, Jersey, Carteret's birthplace. New Jersey was the site of several decisive battles during the American Revolutionary War.

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New Mexico
New Mexico (ⁱ/nuː ˈmɛksɨkoʊ/) is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. New Mexico is the 5th most extensive, the 36th most populous, and the 6th least densely populated of the 50 United States.
Inhabited by Native American populations for many centuries, New Mexico has also been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics, including descendants of Spanish colonists and recent immigrants from Latin America. It also has the second-highest percentage of Native Americans, after Alaska, and the fourth-highest total number of Native Americans after California, Oklahoma, and Arizona. The tribes in the state consist of mostly Navajo and Pueblo peoples. As a result, the demographics and culture of the state are unique for their strong Hispanic and Native American influences. The flag of New Mexico is represented by the red and gold colors, which represent Spain, as well as the Zia symbol, an ancient Native American symbol for the sun.

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New Orleans
New Orleans ( /nuː ˈɔrliənz/ or /ˈnuː ɔrˈliːnz/, locally /nuː ˈɔrlənz/ or /ˈnɔrlənz/; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃] ( listen)) is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city proper was 343,829 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. The New Orleans metropolitan area (New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area) had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States. The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a larger trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,214,932.
The city is named after Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, Regent of France, and is well known for its distinct French Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is also famous for its cuisine, music (particularly as the birthplace of jazz), and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The city is often referred to as the "most unique" in America.

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New York
New York (/njuː ˈjɔrk/; locally IPA: [nɪu ˈjɔək] or [nuː ˈjɔɹk] ( listen)) is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. New York is the 27th most extensive, the 3rd most populous, and the 7th most densely populated of the 50 United States. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border with Rhode Island east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Ontario to the west and north, and Quebec to the north. The state of New York is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City.
New York City, with a population of over 8.1 million, is the most populous city in the United States. Alone, it makes up over 40 percent of the population of New York state. It is known for its status as a center for finance and culture and for its status as the largest gateway for immigration to the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, New York City is also a destination of choice for many foreign visitors. Both the state and city were named for the 17th century Duke of York, James Stuart, future James II and VII of England and Scotland.

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New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. The city is referred to as New York City or The City of New York to distinguish it from the State of New York, of which it is a part. As a global power city, New York exerts a significant impact upon commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment. The home of the United Nations Headquarters, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural capital of the world.
Located on one of the world's largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, each of which comprises a state county. The five boroughs—The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island—were consolidated into a single city in 1898. With a Census-estimated 2011 population of 8,244,910 distributed over a land area of just 305 square miles (790 km²), New York is the most densely populated major city in the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. The New York City Metropolitan Area's population is the United States' largest, with 18.9 million people distributed over 6,720 square miles (17,400 km²), and is also part of the most populous combined statistical area in the United States, containing 22.1 million people as of the 2010 Census.

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New Zealand
New Zealand (Māori: Aotearoa) is an island country located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses ‒ that of the North and South Islands ‒ as well as numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans.
During its long isolation, New Zealand developed a distinctive biodiversity of both animal and plant life. Most notable are the large number of unique bird species, many of which became extinct after the arrival of humans and introduced mammals. With a mild maritime climate, the land was mostly covered in forest. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions caused by the Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates clashing beneath the earth's surface.

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Nicaragua
Nicaragua (ⁱ/ˌnɪkəˈrɑːɡwə/ nik-ə-RAH-gwə), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (Spanish: República de Nicaragua [reˈpuβlika ðe nikaˈɾaɣwa] ( listen)), is the largest country in the Central American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. The country's physical geography divides it into three major zones: Pacific lowlands; wet, cooler central highlands; and the Caribbean lowlands. On the Pacific side of the country are the two largest fresh water lakes in Central America—Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua. Surrounding these lakes and extending to their northwest along the rift valley of the Gulf of Fonseca are fertile lowland plains, with soil highly enriched by ash from nearby volcanoes of the central highlands. Nicaragua's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contribute to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot.

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Ohio
Ohio (ⁱ/oʊˈhaɪ.oʊ/) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Ohio is the 34th most extensive, the 7th most populous, and the 10th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state's capital and largest city is Columbus.
The name "Ohio" originated from Iroquois word ohi-yo’, meaning "great river". The state, originally partitioned from the Northwest Territory, was admitted to the Union as the 17th state (and the first under the Northwest Ordinance) on March 1, 1803. Although there are conflicting narratives regarding the origin of the nickname, Ohio is historically known as the "Buckeye State" (relating to the Ohio buckeye tree) and Ohioans are also known as "Buckeyes".
The government of Ohio is composed of the executive branch, led by the Governor; the legislative branch, which comprises the Ohio General Assembly; and the judicial branch, which is led by the Supreme Court. Currently, Ohio occupies 18 seats in the United States House of Representatives. Ohio is known for its status as both a swing state and a bellwether in national elections.

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Osaka
Osaka (大阪, Ōsaka^?) listen (help·info) is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe. Located at the mouth of the Yodo River on Osaka Bay, Osaka is the third largest city by population after Tokyo (special wards) and Yokohama.
Keihanshin is the second largest area in Japan by population and one of the largest metropolitan areas highly ranked in the world, with nearly 18 million people, and by GDP the second largest area in Japan and the seventh largest area in the world.
Historically the commercial centre of Japan, Osaka functions as one of the command centers for the Japanese economy. The ratio between daytime and night time population is 141%, the highest in Japan, highlighting its status as an economic center. Its nighttime population is 2.6 million, the third in the country, but in daytime the population surges to 3.7 million, second only after Tokyo (combining the Special wards of Tokyo, which is not a single incorporated city, for statistical purposes. See the Tokyo article for more information on the definition and makeup of Tokyo.) Osaka used to be referred to as the "nation's kitchen" (天下の台所, tenka no daidokoro^?) in feudal Edo period because it was the centre of trading for rice, creating the first modern futures exchange market in the world.

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Pampanga
Pampanga (PSGC: 035400000; ISO: PH-PAM; Kapampangan: Lalawigan ning Pampanga; Filipino: Lalawigan ng Pampanga) is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Pampanga is bordered by the provinces of Bataan and Zambales to the west, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija to the north, and Bulacan to the southeast. Pampanga also lies on the northern shore of Manila Bay. Angeles City, although within the geography of Pampanga, is classified as a first-class, highly urbanized city and has a government independent of Pampanga.
The name "La Pampanga" was given by the Spaniards who found the early natives living near the river banks. It also served as the capital of the archipelago for two years from 1762-1764 during the British invasion of Manila. However, history shows evidence of the province of Pampanga itself being a descendant of what was known back then as the Kingdom of Tondo, or the Luzon Empire. The word pampang, from which the province's name originates, means river bank. Its creation in 1571 makes it the first Spanish province in the Philippines. The Province of Pampanga is the culinary capital of the Philippines.

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Panama
Panama (ⁱ/ˈpænəmɑː/ PAN-ə-mah; Spanish: Panamá), officially the Republic of Panama (Spanish: República de Panamá [reˈpuβlika ðe panaˈma]), is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The capital is Panama City. Explored and settled by the Spanish in the 16th century, Panama broke with Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela, named the Republic of Gran Colombia.When Gran Colombia the dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada remained joined. Nueva Granada later became the Republic of Colombia.
With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the Panama Canal to be built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. In 1977, an agreement was signed for the complete transfer of the Canal from the United States to Panama by the end of the century.

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Paris
Coordinates: 48°51′24″N 2°21′03″E / 48.8567°N 2.3508°E / 48.8567; 2.3508
Paris (ⁱ/ˈpærɨs/; French: [paʁi] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of France. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region (or Paris Region, French: Région parisienne). As of January 2008 the city of Paris, within its administrative limits (the 20 arrondissements) largely unchanged since 1860, has an estimated population of 2,211,297 and a metropolitan population of 12,089,098, and is one of the most populated metropolitan areas in Europe. Paris was the largest city in the Western world for about 1,000 years, prior to the 19th century, and the largest in the entire world between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Paris is today one of the world's leading business and cultural centres, and its influences in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. It hosts the headquarters of many international organizations such as UNESCO, the OECD, the International Chamber of Commerce or the European Space Agency. Paris is considered one of the greenest and most liveable cities in Europe. It is also one of the most expensive.

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Patagonia
Patagonia is a region located at the southern end of South America, territory shared by Argentina and Chile, boasting some of the most dramatic landscapes on Earth. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the mountain range to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean. To the west, it includes the territory of Valdivia through Tierra del Fuego archipelago.
The name Patagonia comes from the word patagón used by Magellan in 1520 to describe the native people that his expedition thought to be giants. It is now believed the Patagons were actually Tehuelches with an average height of 180 cm (~5′11″) compared to the 155 cm (~5′1″) average for Spaniards of the time.
The Argentine portion of Patagonia includes the provinces of Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut and Santa Cruz, as well as the eastern portion of Tierra del Fuego archipelago and the southernmost department of Buenos Aires province: Patagones. The Argentine politico-economic Patagonic Region includes the Province of La Pampa.

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Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the eighth most populous. It is composed of two parts – Penang Island, where the seat of government is, and Seberang Perai (formerly, and occasionally Province Wellesley) on the Malay Peninsula. Highly urbanised and industrialised Penang is one of the most developed and economically important states in the country, as well as a thriving tourist destination. Its heterogeneous population is highly diverse in ethnicity, culture, language, and confessions. A resident of Penang is colloquially known as a Penangite.
The name "Penang" comes from the modern Malay name Pulau Pinang, which means island of the areca nut palm (Areca catechu, family Palmae). The name Penang may refer either to the island of Penang (Pulau Pinang) or the state of Penang (Negeri Pulau Pinang). In Malay, Penang's capital George Town was called and labelled in old maps as Tanjung Bidara (Cape Penaigre), named after the many ballnut trees (also known as Alexandrian laurels, Calophyllum inophyllum) on the coast, but now usually shortened as Tanjung (the Cape).

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Peru
Peru ⁱ/pəˈruː/ (Spanish: Perú; Quechua: Perú;Aymara: Piruw), officially the Republic of Peru (Spanish: República del Perú, pronounced: [reˈpuβlika ðel peˈɾu] ( listen)), is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.
Peruvian territory was home to ancient cultures, spanning from the Norte Chico civilization, one of the oldest in the world, to the Inca Empire, the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century and established a Viceroyalty, which included most of its South American colonies. After achieving independence in 1821, Peru has undergone periods of political unrest and fiscal crisis as well as periods of stability and economic upswing.
Peru is a representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions. Its geography varies from the arid plains of the Pacific coast to the peaks of the Andes Mountains and the tropical forests of the Amazon Basin. It is a developing country with a high Human Development Index score and a poverty level around 31%. Its main economic activities include agriculture, fishing, mining, and manufacturing of products such as textiles.

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Philippines
The Philippines ⁱ/ˈfɪlɨpiːnz/ FI-lə-peenz (Filipino: Pilipinas [ˌpɪlɪˈpinɐs]), officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas) is a sovereign country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam. The Sulu Sea to the southwest lies between the country and the island of Borneo, and to the south the Celebes Sea separates it from other islands of Indonesia. It is bounded on the east by the Philippine Sea. Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire and its tropical climate make the Philippines prone to earthquakes and typhoons but have also endowed the country with natural resources and made it one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. An archipelago comprising 7,107 islands, the Philippines is categorized broadly into three main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Its capital city is Manila.
With an estimated population of about 98 million people, the Philippines is the 7th most populated Asian country and the 12th most populated country in the world. An additional 12.5 million Filipinos live overseas. Multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants. They were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples who brought with them influences from Malay, Hindu, and Islamic societies. Trade introduced Chinese cultural influences which remain to this day.

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Phuket Province
Phuket Thai: ภูเก็ต [pʰūː.kèt]), formerly known as Thalang (Tha-Laang) and, in Western sources, Junk Ceylon (a corruption of the Malay Tanjung Salang, i.e. "Cape Salang"), is one of the southern provinces (changwat) of Thailand. Neighbouring provinces are (from north clockwise) Phang Nga and Krabi, but as Phuket is an island it has no land boundaries.
Phuket, which is approximately the size of Singapore, is Thailand’s largest island. The island is connected to mainland Thailand by two bridges. It is situated off the west coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea. Phuket formerly derived its wealth from tin and rubber, and enjoys a rich and colorful history. The island was on one of the major trading routes between India and China, and was frequently mentioned in foreign ship logs of Portuguese, French, Dutch and English traders. The region now derives much of its income from tourism.
The name Phuket (of which the ph sound is an aspirated p) is apparently derived from the word bukit (Jawi: بوكيت) in Malay which means "hill", as this is what the island appears like from a distance. The region was formerly referred to as "Thalang," derived from the old Malay "Telong" (Jawi: تلوڠ) which means "Cape". The northern district of the province, which was the location of the old capital, still uses this name.

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Portugal
Portugal ⁱ/ˈpɔrtʃʉɡəl/ (Portuguese: Portugal, IPA: [puɾtuˈɣaɫ]), officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa) is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula . Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are part of Portugal. The country is named after its second largest city, Porto, whose Latin name was Portus Cale.
The land within the borders of the current Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times: occupied by Celts like the Gallaeci and the Lusitanians, integrated into the Roman Republic and later settled by Germanic peoples such as the Suebi, Swabians, Vandals and the Visigoths. In the 8th century most of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Moorish invaders professing Islam, which were later expelled by the Knights Templar under the Order of Christ. During the Christian Reconquista, Portugal established itself as an independent kingdom from León in 1139, claiming to be the oldest European nation state.

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Prague
Prague ( /ˈprɑːɡ/; Czech: Praha pronounced [ˈpraɦa] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic and fourteenth largest city in European Union. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of nearly 2.0 million. The city has a temperate oceanic climate with warm summers and chilly winters.
Prague has been a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe with waxing and waning fortunes during its 1,100 year existence. Founded during the Romanesque and flourishing by the Gothic and Renaissance eras, Prague was the seat of two Holy Roman Emperors and thus then also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. It was an important city to the Habsburg Monarchy and its Austro-Hungarian Empire and after World War I became the capital of Czechoslovakia. The city played major roles in the Protestant Reformation, the Thirty Years' War, and in modern history generally as the principal conurbation in Bohemia and Moravia whose second city is Brno.

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Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (/ˌpɔrtə ˈriːkoʊ/ or /ˌpwɛərtə ˈriːkoʊ/), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, [esˈtaðo ˈlibɾe asoˈsjaðo ðe ˈpweɾto ˈriko]—literally, "Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"), is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.
Puerto Rico (Spanish for "rich port") comprises an archipelago that includes the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller islands, the largest of which are Vieques, Culebra, and Mona. The main island of Puerto Rico is the smallest by land area of the Greater Antilles. However, it ranks third in population amongst that group of four islands, which also include Cuba, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), and Jamaica. Due to its location, Puerto Rico enjoys a tropical climate and also experiences the Atlantic hurricane season.
Originally populated for centuries by indigenous aboriginal peoples known as Taínos, the island was claimed by Christopher Columbus for Spain during his second voyage to the Americas on November 19, 1493. Under Spanish rule, the island was colonized and the indigenous population was forced into slavery and nearly wiped out due to, among other things, European infectious diseases. The remaining population was emancipated by King Charles I in 1520. Spain possessed Puerto Rico for over 400 years, despite attempts at capture of the island by the French, Dutch, and British. The Spanish Crown, in an attempt to keep Puerto Rico from gaining its independence, revived the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815. The decree was printed in three languages — Spanish, English and French — and it fostered the immigration of hundreds of non-Spanish European families.

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Puget Sound
Puget Sound ( /ˈpjuːdʒɪt/) is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington and part of the Salish Sea. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and Deception Pass being the minor. Flow through Deception Pass accounts for about 2% of the total tidal exchange between Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Puget Sound extends approximately 100 miles (160 km) from Deception Pass in the north to Olympia, Washington in the south. Its average depth is 205 feet (62 m) and its maximum depth, off Point Jefferson between Indianola and Kingston, is 930 feet (280 m). The depth of the main basin, between the southern tip of Whidbey Island and Tacoma, Washington, is approximately 600 feet (180 m).
The term "Puget Sound" is used not just for the body of water but also the general region centered on the sound.
There are various definitions of the extent and boundaries of Puget Sound.

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Quebec
Coordinates: 53°45′N 071°59′W / 53.75°N 71.983°W / 53.75; -71.983 (Quebec)
Quebec /kwəˈbɛk/ or /kəˈbɛk/ (French: Québec [kebɛk] ( listen)) is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level.
Quebec is Canada's largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division; only the territory of Nunavut is larger. It is bordered to the west by the province of Ontario, James Bay and Hudson Bay, to the north by Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay, to the east by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick. It is bordered on the south by the US states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. It also shares maritime borders with Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.
Quebec is Canada's second most populous province, after Ontario. Most inhabitants live in urban areas near the Saint Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City, the capital. English-speaking communities and English-language institutions are concentrated in the west of the island of Montreal but are also significantly present in the Outaouais, Eastern Townships, and Gaspé regions. The Nord-du-Québec region, occupying the northern half of the province, is sparsely populated and inhabited primarily by Aboriginal peoples.

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Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City and the largest in area and the second-largest in population. Since 1899, Queens has had the same boundaries as Queens County, which is now the second most populous county in New York State and the fourth-most densely populated county in the United States. Queens, as well as neighboring borough Brooklyn, sits on the west end of geographic Long Island. Queens is the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world with a population of over 2.2 million, 46% of whom are foreign-born, representing over 100 different nations and speaking over 138 different languages.
Were each New York City borough an independent city, Queens would be the nation's fourth largest city, after Los Angeles, Chicago, and Brooklyn. Queens has the second-largest and most diversified economy of all the five boroughs of New York City.Long Island City, on the Queens waterfront across from Manhattan on the East River, is the site of the Citicorp Building, the tallest skyscraper in New York City outside of Manhattan and the tallest building on geographic Long Island.

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Quito
San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkito]), is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains. With a population of 2,197,698 according to the last census (2001), and, as estimated by the municipality, approximately 2,504,991 in 2005, Quito is the second most populous city in Ecuador, after Guayaquil. It is also the capital of the Pichincha province and the seat of Metropolitan District of Quito. The canton recorded a population of 1,842,201 residents in the 2001 national census. In 2008, the city was designated as the headquarters of the Union of South American Nations.
The elevation of the city's central square (Plaza de la Independencia or Plaza Grande) is 2,800 metres (9,200 ft), making Quito the second-highest administrative capital city in the world (after La Paz, Bolivia), and the highest legal capital (ahead of Sucre, also in Bolivia, and Bogotá, Colombia).

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Rajasthan
Rājasthān /ˈrɑːdʒəstæn/ (Hindustani pronunciation: [raːdʒəsˈt̪ʰaːn] ( listen)) the land of Rajasthanis, ("the land of kings"), is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert (Thar Desert), which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with Pakistan. The state is bordered by Pakistan to the west, Gujarat to the southwest, Madhya Pradesh to the southeast, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to the northeast and Punjab to the north. Rajasthan covers 10.4% of India, an area of 342,269 square kilometres (132,151 sq mi).
Jaipur is the capital and the largest city of the state. Geographical features include the Thar Desert along north-western Rajasthan and the termination of the Ghaggar River near the archaeological ruins at Kalibanga of the Indus Valley Civilization, which are the oldest in the Indian subcontinent discovered so far.
One of the world's oldest mountain ranges, the Aravalli Range, cradles the only hill station of Rajasthan, Mount Abu, famous for Dilwara Temples, a sacred pilgrimage for Jains. Eastern Rajasthan has the world famous Keoladeo National Park near Bharatpur, a World Heritage Site known for its bird life. It also has two national tiger reserves, Ranthambore and Sariska Tiger Reserve, and a famous temple in Khatu, Sikar district, dedicated to Khatu Shyam Ji. Rajasthan was formed on 30 March 1949, when the region known until then as Rajputana, consisting of erstwhile princely states ruled mainly by Rajputs.

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Reykjavík
Reykjavík (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈreiːcaˌviːk] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city in Iceland.
Its latitude, at 64°08' N, makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay. With a population of around 120,000 (and over 200,000 in the Greater Reykjavík Area), it is the heart of Iceland's economic and governmental activity.
Reykjavík is believed to be the location of the first permanent settlement in Iceland, which Ingólfur Arnarson is said to have established around 870 C.E. Until the 18th century, there was no urban development in the city location. The city was founded in 1786 as an official trading town and grew steadily over the next decades, as it transformed into a regional and later national centre of commerce, population, and governmental activities.
The first permanent settlement in Iceland by Norsemen is believed to have been established in Reykjavík by Ingólfur Arnarson around AD 870; this is described in Landnámabók, or the Book of Settlement. Ingólfur Arnarson is said to have decided the location of his settlement using a traditional Viking method; by casting his high seat pillars (Öndvegissúlur) into the ocean when he saw the coastline, then settled where the pillars came to shore. Steam from hot springs in the region is said to have inspired Reykjavík's name, which loosely translates to Smoke Cove (the city is often referred to as the Bay of Smokes or Bay of Smoke) The original name was Reykjarvík with an additional "r" that vanished around 1300.^{[citation needed]}

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Rome
Rome (/ˈroʊm/; Italian: Roma pronounced [ˈroːma] ( listen); Latin: Rōma) is a city and special comune ("Roma Capitale") in Italy. Rome is the capital of Italy and the capital of Lazio (Latin: Latium). With 2.8 million residents in 1,285.3 km² (496.3 sq mi), it is also the country's largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. Between 3.2 and 3.7 million people live in the Rome metropolitan area. The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.
Rome's history spans two and a half thousand years. It was the capital city of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, which was the dominant power in Western Europe and the lands bordering the Mediterranean for over seven hundred years from the 1st century BC until the 7th century AD and the city is regarded as one of the birthplaces of western civilization. Since the 1st century AD Rome has been the seat of the Papacy and, after the end of Byzantine domination, in the 8th century it became the capital of the Papal States, which lasted until 1870. In 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic.

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Russia
Russia ⁱ/ˈrʌʃə/ or /ˈrʊʃə/ (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation (Russian: Российская Федерация, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, and the US state of Alaska by the Bering Strait. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the eighth most populous nation with 143 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning nine time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources and is the largest producer of oil and natural gas globally. Russia has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's fresh water.

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Salango
Salango is a rural parish of Puerto López Canton, Manabí Province, Ecuador
Community venues Río Chico.
Natural Resources: Fishery, Flora, Fauna Marina
Factory :Fishery.
Tourism: Whale watching, beach, museum, crafts, diving, ecotourism trails, snorkeling, trekking, scenic beauty, flora and fauna, cultural events, archaeology.
The Salango community has deep ancestral roots that represent about 5,000 years of history and culture.
Salango is a pre-Columbian settlement that is located at the southern end of a sandy cove on the south coast of the province of Manabi. Salango Island is located just off the coast.
The worldview of the people has been developed through the different cultures that have existed here starting from the Valdivia culture, Machalilla, Engoroy- Chorrera, Bahia, Guangala and Manteños.
Through the archaeological remains found, it is surmised that their ancestors’ spirituality and understanding of the world around them was very large, but in particular, it was bound up with their environment as alive, of ocean and hilly forest, preserving and protecting it as well as transmitting their spiritual knowledge to new generations.

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Samarkand
Coordinates: 39°39′15″N 66°57′35″E / 39.65417°N 66.95972°E / 39.65417; 66.95972
Samarkand (Tajik: Самарқанд; Persian: سمرقند‎; Uzbek: Samarqand; from Sogdian: "Stone Fort" or "Rock Town") is the second-largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of Samarqand Province. The city is most noted for its central position on the Silk Road between China and the West, and for being an Islamic centre for scholarly study. In the 14th century it became the capital of the empire of Timur (Tamerlane) and is the site of his mausoleum (the Gur-e Amir). The Bibi-Khanym Mosque remains one of the city's most notable landmarks. The Registan was the ancient center of the city.
In 2001, UNESCO added the city to its World Heritage List as Samarkand – Crossroads of Cultures.
The city was known by an abbreviated name of Marakanda when Alexander the Great took it in 332BC. There are various theories of how Marakanda evolved into Samarkanda/Samarkan. One derives the name from the Old Persian asmara, "stone", "rock", and Sogdian kand, "fort", "town". Others less convincingly derive the name from the old Turkic "Semiz-Kent" meaning "Rich City".^{[citation needed]}. Since the name Marakanda was already in existence 2300 years ago and long before anyone had heard of Turks in that region of Transoxiana, this version is likely a folk etymology.

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San Francisco
San Francisco (/ˌsæn frənˈsɪskoʊ/), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.6 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland. The only consolidated city-county in California, it encompasses a land area of about 46.9 square miles (121 km²) on the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, giving it a density of about 17,179 people per square mile (6,632 people per km²). It is the most densely settled large city (population greater than 200,000) in the state of California and the second-most densely populated large city in the United States after New York City. San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 13th most populous city in the United States, with a population of 805,235 as of the 2010 Census. The San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metropolitan area has a population of 4,335,391.
In 1776, colonists from Spain established a fort at the Golden Gate and a mission named for Francis of Assisi a few miles away. The California Gold Rush of 1849 propelled the city into a period of rapid growth, increasing the population in one year from 1,000 to 25,000, and thus transforming it into the largest city on the West Coast at the time. After three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. During World War II, San Francisco was the port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. After the war, the confluence of returning servicemen, massive immigration, liberalizing attitudes, and other factors led to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement, cementing San Francisco as a center of liberal activism in the United States.

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San Sebastián
San Sebastián (Spanish: [san seβasˈtjan]) or Donostia (Basque: [doˈnos̺tia]) is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 (2011), and its metropolitan area reaches 413,617 (2010). Locals call themselves donostiarras, in Spanish, and donostiarrak, in Basque.
The main economic activities are commerce and tourism, being one of the most famous tourism destinations in Spain. Despite the city’s small size, international events such as the San Sebastián International Film Festival have given it an international dimension. San Sebastián, along with Wrocław, Poland, will be the European Capital of Culture in 2016.
In spite of the apparent difference, both the Basque form Donostia and the Spanish form San Sebastián share the same meaning of Saint Sebastian. The dona/dono/doni element in Basque place-names signifies "saint" and is derived from Latin domine; the second part of Donosti(a) contains a shortened form of the saint's name.

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Sardinia
Sardinia ( /sɑrˈdɪniə/, Italian: Sardegna [sarˈdeɲɲa], Sardinian: Sardigna [sarˈdinja]) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily and before Cyprus). It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are (clockwise from north) the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.
The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[], romanised as sardus (feminine sarda); that the name had a religious connotation is suggested from its use also as the adjective for the ancient Sardinian mythological hero-god Sardus Pater "Sardinian Father" (misunderstood by many modern Sardinians/Italians as being "Father Sardus"), as well as being the stem of the adjective "sardonic". Sardinia was called Ichnusa (the Latinised form of the Greek Hyknousa), Sandalion, Sardinia and Sardo by the ancient Greeks and the Romans.
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 23,821 km². It is situated between 38° 51' and 41° 15' latitude north and 8° 8' and 9° 50' east longitude. To the west of Sardinia is the Sea of Sardinia, a unit of the Mediterranean Sea; to Sardinia's east is the Tyrrhenian Sea, which is also an element of the Mediterranean Sea.

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Seattle
Seattle (pronounced /siːˈætɫ̩/ ( listen) see-AT-əl or /siːˈæɾɫ̩/) is the county seat of King County, in the U.S. state of Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country. The city is a major coastal seaport situated on a narrow isthmus between Puget Sound (an arm of the Pacific Ocean) and Lake Washington, about 114 miles (183 km) south of the Canada–United States border. In 2010, Seattle was the sixth busiest port in the United States, serving as a major gateway for trade with Asia.
The Seattle area had been inhabited by Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent white settlers.Arthur A. Denny and his group of travelers, subsequently known as the Denny Party, arrived at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. The settlement was moved to its current site and renamed "Seattle" in 1853, after Chief Seattle of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes.

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Seoul
Seoul (Korean pronunciation: [sʌ.ul] ( listen), English /soʊl/), officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world. The Seoul National Capital Area is the world's second largest metropolitan area with over 25 million inhabitants, which includes the surrounding Incheon metropolis and Gyeonggi province. Almost a quarter of South Koreans live in Seoul, half of South Koreans live in the metropolitan area, along with over 275,000 international residents.
Located in the Han River, Seoul has been a major settlement for over 2,000 years, with its foundation dating back to 18 B.C. when Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, established its capital in what is now south-east Seoul. It continued as the capital of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty and the Korean Empire. The Seoul National Capital Area is home to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeokgung, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty.

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Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the largest city proper by population in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities of the PRC, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010. It is a global city, with influence in commerce, culture, finance, media, fashion, technology, and transport. It is a major financial center and the busiest container port in the world.
Located in the Yangtze River Delta in eastern China, Shanghai sits at the mouth of the Yangtze River in the middle portion of the Chinese coast. The municipality borders Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces to the west, and is bounded to the east by the East China Sea.
Once a fishing and textiles town, Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th century due to European recognition of its favorable port location and economic potential. The city was one of several opened to foreign trade following the British victory over China in the first opium war and the subsequent 1842 Treaty of Nanking which allowed the establishment of the Shanghai International Settlement. The city then flourished as a center of commerce between east and west, and became the undisputed financial hub of the Asia Pacific in the 1930s. However, with the Communist Party takeover of the mainland in 1949, the city's international influence declined. In the 1990s, the economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping resulted in an intense re-development of the city, aiding the return of finance and foreign investment to the city.

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Sicily
Sicily (Italian and Sicilian: Sicilia, [siˈtʃiːlja]; [sɪˈɕilja]) is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea; along with surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana (Sicilian Autonomous Region).
Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean. It extends from the tip of the Apennine peninsula from which it is separated only by the narrow Strait of Messina, towards the North African coast. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, which is at 3,320 m (10,890 ft) the tallest active volcano in Europe and one of the most active in the world. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate.
The earliest archeological evidence of human dwelling on the island dates from 8000 BC. At around 750 BC, Sicily became a Greek colony and for the next 600 years it was the site of the Greek-Punic and Roman-Punic wars, which ended with the Roman destruction of Carthage. After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, Sicily often changed hands, and during the early Middle Ages it was ruled in turn by the Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Arabs and Normans. Later on, the Kingdom of Sicily lasted between 1130 and 1816, subordinated to the crowns of Aragon, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and finally the Bourbons, as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It was united with the rest of Italy in 1860, but a subsequent economic collapse led to a wave of emigration, separatism, and the emergence of the Mafia, whose criminal activities pose problems to this day. After the birth of the Italian Republic in 1946, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region.

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Singapore
Singapore (ⁱ/ˈsɪŋəpɔər/ SI-ngə-pohr), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. Singapore is highly urbanised but almost half of the country is covered by greenery. More land is being created for development through land reclamation.

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South Boston
South Boston is a densely populous neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. One of America's oldest and most historic neighborhoods, South Boston was formerly known as Dorchester Neck and is today called "Southie" by its residents. Long known as a working class Irish-American neighborhood, it is also home to the Boston area's small but vibrant Polish and Lithuanian communities. South Boston contains Dorchester Heights, where George Washington historically forced British troops to evacuate during the American Revolutionary War. In addition to being home to some of the oldest housing projects in the United States, South Boston has also more recently seen property values join the highest in the city.
Geographically, Dorchester Neck was an isthmus, a narrow strip of land that connected the mainland of the colonial settlement of Dorchester with Dorchester Heights. Landfill has since greatly increased the amount of land on the eastern side of the historical neck, and widened the connection to the mainland to the point that South Boston is no longer considered separate from it. South Boston gained an identity separate from Dorchester, but the two were annexed by Boston in pieces, from 1804 to 1870.

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South Carolina
South Carolina (ⁱ/ˌsaʊθ kærəˈlaɪnə/) is a state in the Southeastern United States. It is bordered to the north by North Carolina; to the south and west by Georgia, located across the Savannah River; and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown during the American Revolution. The colony was originally named by King Charles II of England in honor of his father Charles I (Carolus being Latin for Charles). South Carolina was the 8th state to ratify the US Constitution and become a state which it did on May 23, 1788. South Carolina later became the first state to vote to secede from the Union which it did on December 20, 1860. It was readmitted to the United States on June 25, 1868.
South Carolina is the 40th most extensive and the 24th most populous of the 50 United States. South Carolina comprises 46 counties. The capital and largest city of the state is Columbia.

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South Korea
South Korea ( listen), officially the Republic of Korea (Hangul: 대한민국; Hanja: 大韓民國; Daehan Minguk listen), is a sovereign state in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The name "Korea" is derived from Goryeo, a dynasty which ruled in the Middle Ages (an initial "G" in Korean is pronounced like an English "K").
Its neighbors are China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the Korea Strait to the south. South Korea lies in the north temperate zone with a predominantly mountainous terrain. It covers a total area of 99,392 square kilometers and has a population of almost 50 million. The capital and largest city is Seoul, with a population of 9,794,304.
Archaeological findings show that the Korean Peninsula was occupied by the Lower Paleolithic period.Korean history begins with the founding of Gojoseon in 2333 BC by the legendary Dan-gun. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea under Silla 668 AD, Korea went through the Goryeo Dynasty and Joseon Dynasty as one nation until the end of the Korean Empire in 1910, when it was annexed by Japan. After liberation and occupation by Soviet and U.S. forces at the end of World War II, the nation was divided into North and South Korea. The latter was established in 1948 as a democracy, though political turmoil and times of military rule and martial law characterized much of the period until the foundation of the Sixth Republic in 1987.

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Southern California
Southern California (SoCal) is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego. The United States - Mexico border makes up the southern border. Southern California is a major economic center for the state of California and the nation.
Southern California's population encompasses five metropolitan, or MSA, areas: Los Angeles County and Orange County together make up the Los Angeles metropolitan area; the Inland Empire consists of such cities as Riverside, Ontario, and San Bernardino; the San Diego metropolitan area; the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura metro area; and the El Centro area. Out of these, three are heavy populated areas; the Los Angeles area with over 12 million inhabitants, the Riverside-San Bernardino area with over 4 million inhabitants, and the San Diego area with over 3 million inhabitants. For CSA metropolitan purposes, the five counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura are all combined to make up the Los Angeles metropolitan area; with San Diego as Southern California's other CSA metropolitan area. With over 22 million people, roughly 60% of California's population resides in Southern California.

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Spain
Spain (ⁱ/ˈspeɪn/ SPAYN; Spanish: España, pronounced: [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a sovereign state and a member of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north and north east by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.
Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of 504,030 square kilometres (194,610 sq mi), it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France, and the fourth largest country in Europe after Russia, Ukraine and France.

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Spårakoff
Spårakoff is a HM V type tram converted into a bar in Helsinki, Finland. Known as the pub tram, the bright red vehicle does circular tours of Helsinki picking up passengers for an additional fee during summer months.
Claimed to be the only one of its kind in the world, the pub tram is immediately distinguishable in the Helsinki traffic by its vivid red colour and PUB destination board. Normal trams operated on the Helsinki tram network by Helsinki City Transport are green and cream. A tour ("pub crawl") takes approximately 40 minutes, travelling around the streets of Helsinki while its passengers enjoy their drinks.
The name "Spårakoff" comes from the Helsinki slang word spåra [tram] and the beer brand KOFF, produced by the Sinebrychoff Brewery—Finland's largest and most famous beer brewery. Spårakoff was given the number 175 to honour Sinebrychoff’s 175th Anniversary, and began operating as a pub tram on May Day Eve in 1995. Operation of the tram is by the Finnish restaurant chain S-Group.

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Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (ⁱ/ʃriː ˈlɑːŋkə/, /sriːˈlɑːŋkə/, or /sriːˈlæŋkə/;Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකාව, Tamil: இலங்கை), is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent in South Asia. Known until 1972 as Ceylon ( /sɨˈlɒn/, /seɪˈlɒn/, or /siːˈlɒn/), Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar, the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the Maldives.
As a result of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and South East Asia. It was an important stop on the ancient Silk Road. Sri Lanka has also been a center of the Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times, being the nation where the Buddhist teachings were first written down as well as the oldest continually Buddhist country. Sri Lanka boasts a diverse range of cultures, languages and religions. The Sinhalese people form the majority of the population; Tamils, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island, form the largest ethnic minority. Other communities include Moors, Burghers, Kaffirs, Malays and the aboriginal Vedda people.

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Staten Island
Staten Island /ˌstætən ˈaɪlənd/ is a borough of New York City, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay. With a population of 468,730, Staten Island is the least populated of the five boroughs but is the third-largest in area at 59 sq mi (153 km²). The Borough of Staten Island is coextensive with Richmond County, the southernmost county in the state of New York. Until 1975, the borough was officially named the Borough of Richmond. Staten Island has been sometimes called "the forgotten borough" by inhabitants who feel neglected by the city government.
Staten Island is overall the most suburban of the five boroughs of New York City. The North Shore — especially the neighborhoods of St. George, Tompkinsville, Clifton, and Stapleton — is the most urban part of the island; it contains the officially designated St. George Historic District and the St. Paul’s Avenue-Stapleton Heights Historic District, which feature large Victorian homes. The South Shore has more suburban-style residential neighborhoods. The East Shore (South Beach) is home to the 2.5-mile F.D.R. Boardwalk, the fourth-longest in the world. Historically, the central and southern sections of the island were dominated by dairy and poultry farms, almost all of which disappeared in the 20th century. Staten Island used to claim the largest landfill in the world. It was closed in 2001, then shortly afterward temporarily reopened to accept the debris from the September 11th attacks. The landfill is being made into what will be New York City's largest public park.

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Stockholm
Stockholm (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈstɔkːˈhɔlm, ˈstɔkːˈɔlm, ˈstɔkːɔlm]( listen to the second one)) is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 864,324 in the municipality (2010), 1.4 million in the urban area (2010), and around 2.1 million in the 6,519 km² (2,517.00 sq mi) metropolitan area (2010). As of 2010, the Stockholm metropolitan area is home to approximately 22% of Sweden's population.
Founded no later than c. 1250, possibly as early as 1187, Stockholm has long been one of Sweden's cultural, media, political, and economic centres. Its strategic location on 14 islands on the south-central east coast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago, has been historically important. Stockholm has been nominated by GaWC as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-. In The 2008 Global Cities Index, Stockholm ranked 24th in the world, 10th in Europe, and first in Scandinavia. Stockholm is known for its beauty, its buildings and architecture, its abundant clean and open water, and its many parks. It is sometimes referred to as Venice of the North.

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Sultan Ahmed Mosque
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Turkish: Sultanahmet Camii) is an historical mosque in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey and the capital of the Ottoman Empire (from 1453 to 1923). The mosque is popularly known as the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior.
It was built from 1609 to 1616, during the rule of Ahmed I. Like many other mosques, it also comprises a tomb of the founder, a madrasah and a hospice. While still used as a mosque, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque has also become a popular tourist attraction.
The design of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque is the culmination of two centuries of both Ottoman mosque and Byzantine church development. It incorporates some Byzantine elements of the neighboring Hagia Sophia with traditional Islamic architecture and is considered to be the last great mosque of the classical period. The architect has ably synthesized the ideas of his master Sinan, aiming for overwhelming size, majesty and splendour. It has 6 minarets along with 8 domes and 1 main one.

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Sweden
Sweden (ⁱ/ˈswiːdən/ SWEE-dən; Swedish: Sverige [ˈsværjɛ] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige (help·info)), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland, and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Øresund.
At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of about 9.4 million. Sweden has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54 /sq mi) with the population mostly concentrated to the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population live in urban areas. Sweden's capital city is Stockholm, which is also the largest city.
Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, the country expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire. The empire grew to be one of the great powers of Europe in the 17th and early 18th century. Most of the conquered territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were lost during the 18th and 19th centuries. The eastern half of Sweden, present-day Finland, was lost to Russia in 1809. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Sweden by military means forced Norway into a personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, practicing "non-participation in military alliances during peacetime and neutrality during wartime". However, Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1 January 1995 and is a member of the OECD.

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Tashkent
Tashkent (/ˌtæʃˈkɛnt/; Uzbek: Toshkent, Тошкент; Russian: Ташкент, [tɐʂˈkʲent]; literally "Stone City") is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.
During its long history, Tashkent has had various changes in names and political and religious affiliations.
Tashkent started as an oasis on the Chirchik River, near the foothills of the West Tian Shan Mountains. In ancient times, this area contained Beitian, probably the summer "capital" of the Kangju confederacy.
In pre-Islamic and early Islamic times the town and the province were known as "Chach". The Shahnameh of Ferdowsi also refers to the city as Chach. Later the town came to be known as Chachkand/Chashkand, meaning "Chach City".^{[citation needed]} The principality of Chach, whose main town had a square citadel built around the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, some 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south of the Syr Darya River. By the 7th century AD, Chach had over 30 towns and a network of over 50 canals, forming a trade center between the Sogdians and Turkic nomads. The Buddhist monk Xuánzàng 玄奘 (602/603? – 664 CE), who travelled from China to India through Central Asia, mentioned the name of the city as Zhěshí 赭時. The Chinese chronicles Suí shū 隋書 (Book of Suí), Běi shǐ 北史 (History of Northern Dynasties) and Táng shū 唐書 (Book of Táng) mention a possession called Shí 石 or Zhěshí 赭時 with a capital of the same name since the fifth century AD [Bichurin, 1950. v. II]. The region came under the sway of Islam in the early parts of the 8th century.

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Texas
Texas (ⁱ/ˈtɛksəs/) (Alibamu: Teksi ) is the second most populous and the second most extensive of the 50 United States, and the most extensive state of the 48 contiguous United States. The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in East Texas. Located in the South Central United States, Texas shares an international border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south, and borders the US states of New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east. Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km²), and a growing population of 25.7 million residents.
During the Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas: La Provincia de Texas. Antonio Margil de Jesús was known to be the first person to use the name in a letter to the Viceroy of Mexico in July 20, 1716. The name was not popularly used in daily speech but often appeared in legal documents until the end of the 1800s.

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Thailand
Thailand ( /ˈtaɪlænd/ TY-land or /ˈtaɪlənd/;Thai: ประเทศไทย, RTGS: Prathet Thai), officially the Kingdom of Thailand (Thai: ราชอาณาจักรไทย, RTGS: Ratcha Anachak Thai; IPA: [râːt.tɕʰā ʔāːnāːtɕàk tʰāj] ( listen)), formerly known as Siam (Thai: สยาม; RTGS: Sayam), is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and the southern extremity of Burma. Its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India in the Andaman Sea to the southwest.
The country is a constitutional monarchy, headed by King Rama IX, the ninth king of the House of Chakri, who, having reigned since 1946, is the world's longest-serving head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history. The king of Thailand is titled Head of State, Head of the Armed Forces, the Upholder of the Buddhist religion, and the Defender of all Faiths.

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Tijuana
Tijuana (/tiːəˈwɑːnə/ tee-ə-WAH-nə or /tiːˈwɑːnə/; Spanish: [tiˈxwana]) is the largest city on the Baja California Peninsula and center of the Tijuana metropolitan area, part of the international San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. An industrial and financial center of Mexico, Tijuana exerts a strong influence on economics, education, culture, art, and politics. As the city has become a leading center in the country, so has the surrounding metropolitan area, a major industrial and paramount metropolis in northwestern Mexico. Currently one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico, Tijuana maintains global city status.
On the Gold Coast of Baja California, Tijuana is the municipal seat, cultural, and commercial center of Tijuana Municipality. A dominant manufacturing center of the North American continent, the city maintains facilities of numerous multinational conglomerate companies. The 2000's saw Tijuana become the medical device manufacturing capital of North America. Also a growing cultural center, Tijuana has been recognized as one of most important new cultural meccas. The city is the most visited border city in the globe; sharing an approximate 24-kilometre-long border (15 mi) with its sister city San Diego, over fifty million people annually cross the border between these two cities. This metropolitan crossing makes the San Ysidro Port of Entry the busiest land-border crossing in the world. It is estimated that the two border crossing stations between the cities proper of San Diego and Tijuana account for 300,000 daily border crossings alone.

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Tobago Cays
The Tobago Cays are an archipelago comprising five small uninhabited islands - Petit Rameau, Petit Bateau, Baradol, Petit Tobac and Jamesby - located in the Southern Grenadines. The Tobago Cays are now the key element of the Tobago Cays Marine Park, a national park and wildlife preserve run by the St.Vincent and the Grenadines government. The Tobago Cays Marine Park consists of a 1,400-acre (5.7 km²) sand-bottom lagoon which encompasses four uninhabited cays and the 4 km Horseshoe Reef. While the cays are uninhabited, they are surrounded by the three larger inhabited islands of Union Island, Mayreau and Canouan.
The most extensive and well-developed coral reef complexes in St. Vincent & the Grenadines occur on shallow shelves around the windward sides of Mayreau and Union Islands and the Cays themselves. In addition, principal vegetation types include beach vegetation and dry forest. With the exception of a small mangrove in Petit Rameau and salt pond in Mayreau, there are no wetlands in the Cays.

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Tokyo
Tokyo (東京, Tōkyō^?, "Eastern Capital") [toːkʲoː], English /ˈtoʊki.oʊ/; officially Tokyo Metropolis (東京都, Tōkyō-to^?), is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of the world. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family. Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture (東京府, Tōkyō-fu^?) and the city of Tokyo (東京市, Tōkyō-shi^?).
The Tokyo Metropolitan government administers the 23 special wards of Tokyo (each governed as a city), which cover the area that was the city of Tokyo, as well as 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the special wards is over 8 million people, with the total population of the prefecture exceeding 13 million. The prefecture is part of the world's most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 35 million people and the world's largest urban agglomeration economy with a GDP of US$1.479 trillion at purchasing power parity in 2008, ahead of New York City metropolitan area, which ranks second on the list. The city hosts 47 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest amount of any city.

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Turkey
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.

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Udaipur
Udaipur pronunciation (help·info) (Rajasthani: उदैपर) (उदयपुर), also known as the City of Lakes, is a city, a Municipal Council and the administrative headquarters of the Udaipur district in the state of Rajasthan in western India. It is located 403 kilometres (250 mi) southwest of the state capital, Jaipur, 248 kilometres (154 mi) west of Kota, and 250 kilometres (155 mi) northeast from Ahmedabad. Udaipur is the historic capital of the kingdom of Mewar in the former Rajputana Agency. The Guhils (Sisodia) clan ruled the Mewar and its capital was shifted from Chittorgarh to Udaipur after founding city of Udaipur by Maharana Uday Singh. The Mewar province became part of Rajasthan after India became independent
Apart from its history, culture, and scenic locations, it is also known for its Rajput-era palaces. The Lake Palace, for instance, covers an entire island in the Pichola Lake. Many of the palaces have been converted into luxury hotels. It is often called the "Venice of the East", and is also nicknamed the "Lake City".Lake Pichola, Fateh Sagar Lake, Udai Sagar and Swaroop Sagar in this city are considered some of the most beautiful lakes in the state.

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Ukraine
Ukraine (ⁱ/juːˈkreɪn/ yew-KRAYN; Ukrainian: Україна, transliterated: Ukrayina, [ukrɑˈjinɑ]; Russian: Украина; Crimean Tatar: Ukraina) is a country in Central and Eastern Europe. Ukraine borders the Russian Federation to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after the Russian Federation.
According to a popular and well established theory, the medieval state of Kievan Rus was established by the Varangians in the 9th century as the first historically recorded East Slavic state which emerged as a powerful nation in the Middle Ages until it disintegrated in the 12th century. By the middle of the 14th century, Ukrainian territories were under the rule of three external powers—the Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Kingdom of Poland. After the Great Northern War (1700–1721) Ukraine was divided between a number of regional powers and, by the 19th century, the largest part of Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire with the rest under Austro-Hungarian control. A chaotic period of incessant warfare ensued, with several internationally recognized attempts at independence from 1917 to 1921, following World War I and the Russian Civil War. Ukraine emerged from its own civil war, and on December 30, 1922 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic became one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian SSR's territory was enlarged westward during the civil war shortly before, and after World War II, and further south in 1954 with the Crimea transfer. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the United Nations.

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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.

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United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.

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Uruguay
Uruguay ⁱ/ˈjʊərəɡwaɪ/, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; (Spanish: República Oriental del Uruguay pronounced: [re̞ˈpuβ̞lika o̞ɾje̞n̪ˈt̪al̪ d̪e̞l uɾuˈɰwai̯]) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88% of the population are of European ancestry.
Except for the recent union of Timoteo Domínguez Island and Argentina's Martín García Island, Uruguay's only land border is with Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to the north. To the west lies the Uruguay River and the estuary of the Río de la Plata to the southwest. To the southeast lies the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean. With an area of approximately 176,000 square kilometres (68,000 sq mi), Uruguay is the second-smallest nation in South America by area, after Suriname.
Colonia del Sacramento, one of the oldest European settlements in the country, was founded by the Portuguese in 1680. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1811–28 following a three-way struggle between the claims of Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, with a president who is both the head of state and the head of government.

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Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan ⁱ/ʊzˌbɛkɨˈstɑːn/, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan (Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi, Ўзбекистон Республикаси) is the only doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of only two such countries worldwide. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south. Before 1991, it was part of the Soviet Union.
Uzbekistan is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia.
Once part of the Persian Samanid and later Timurid empires, the region was conquered in the early 16th century by Uzbek nomads, who spoke an Eastern Turkic language. Most of Uzbekistan’s population today belong to the Uzbek ethnic group and speak the Uzbek language, one of the family of Turkic languages.
Uzbekistan was incorporated into the Russian Empire in the 19th century, and in 1924 became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, known as the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR). It became independent on 31 August 1991 (officially, from the following day).

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Vancouver
Vancouver (/vænˈkuːvər/) is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. The 2011 census recorded more than 603,000 people in the city, making it the eighth largest among Canadian cities. The metropolitan area, with more than 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country and the most populous in Western Canada. With 5,249 people per square kilometre (13,590 per sq mile), the City of Vancouver is the most densely populated Canadian municipality among those with 5,000 residents or more. Vancouver is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities in Canada, with 52% for whom English is not their first language.
The original settlement, named Gastown, grew around the Hastings Mill logging sawmill and a nearby tavern, both established in 1867. Enlarging to become the townsite of Granville, with the announcement that the railhead would reach the site it was renamed "Vancouver" and incorporated as a city in 1886. By 1887, the transcontinental railway was extended to the city to take advantage of its large natural seaport, which soon became a vital link in a trade route between the Orient, Eastern Canada, and London. As of 2009, Port Metro Vancouver is the busiest and largest port in Canada, and the most diversified port in North America. While forestry remains its largest industry, Vancouver is well known as an urban centre surrounded by nature, making tourism its second-largest industry. Major film production studios in Vancouver and Burnaby have turned Metro Vancouver into the third-largest film production centre in North America after Los Angeles and New York City, earning it the film industry nickname, Hollywood North.

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Venice
Venice (Italian: Venezia [veˈnɛttsja] ( listen), Venetian: Venexia [veˈnɛsja]; (Latin: Venetia) is a city in northeast Italy sited on a group of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by bridges. It is located in the marshy Venetian Lagoon which stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Venice is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. The city in its entirety is listed as World Heritage Site, along with its lagoon.
Venice is the capital of the Veneto region. In 2009, there were 270,098 people residing in Venice's comune (the population estimate of 272,000 inhabitants includes the population of the whole Comune of Venezia; around 60,000 in the historic city of Venice (Centro storico); 176,000 in Terraferma (the Mainland), mostly in the large frazioni of Mestre and Marghera; 31,000 live on other islands in the lagoon). Together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE) (population 1,600,000).

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Vietnam
Vietnam ( listen), formally the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam; listen), is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 91.5 million inhabitants as of 2012, it is the world's 13th-most-populous country, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country. The name Vietnam translates as "South Viet", and was officially adopted in 1945. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east.
The Vietnamese became independent from Imperial China in 938 AD, following the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive Vietnamese royal dynasties flourished as the nation expanded geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the Indochina Peninsula was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. The First Indochina War eventually led to the expulsion of the French in 1954, leaving Vietnam divided politically into two states, North and South Vietnam. Conflict between the two sides intensified, with heavy foreign intervention, during the Vietnam War, which ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975.

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Zakynthos
Zakynthos [ˈzakinθos] ( listen), also Zante, the other form often used in English and in Italian (Greek: Ζάκυνθος; Venetian: Zacinto), is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands. Zakynthos is a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and its only municipality. It covers an area of 410 km² (158 sq mi) and its coastline is roughly 123 km (76 mi) in length. The island is named after Zakynthos, the son of a legendary Arcadian chief Dardanus. The name, like all similar names ending in -nthos, is pre-Mycenaean or Pelasgian in origin. Zakynthos has a thriving tourism industry.
Zakynthos was inhabited from the Neolithic Age, as some archaeological excavations have proved.
The famous ancient Greek poet and writer, Homer, first mentioned the island in his masterpieces, the Iliad and the Odyssey, stating that the first inhabitants of it were the son of King Dardanos of Troy called Zakynthos and his men and that they first came on the island around 1500–1600 BC^{[citation needed]}.

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Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier; February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician whose career spans more than four decades. With a stage show that features guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, boa constrictors, and baby dolls, Cooper has drawn equally from horror movies, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a grandly theatrical and violent brand of heavy metal designed to shock.
Originating in Detroit in the late 1960s, Alice Cooper was originally a band consisting of Furnier on vocals and harmonica, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar, Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar, and drummer Neal Smith. The original Alice Cooper band broke into the international music mainstream with the 1971 hit "I'm Eighteen" from the album Love It to Death, which was followed by the even bigger single "School's Out" in 1972. The band reached their commercial peak with the 1973 album Billion Dollar Babies.
Furnier's solo career as Alice Cooper, adopting the band's name as his own name, began with the 1975 concept album Welcome to My Nightmare; in 2011 he released Welcome 2 My Nightmare, his 19th album as a solo artist, and his 26th album in total. Expanding from his Detroit rock roots, in his career Cooper has experimented with a number of musical styles, including conceptual rock, art rock, hard rock, New Wave, pop rock, experimental rock and industrial rock.

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Andrew Zimmern
Andrew Zimmern (born July 4, 1961 in New York City) is a television personality, chef, food writer, and teacher. He is the co-creator, host, and consulting producer of the Travel Channel series Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern and Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World. For his work on Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern he was presented the James Beard Foundation Award in 2010. He also hosts the show Dining with Death which explains some of the foods that could cause death.
Zimmern was born and raised in New York City to a Jewish family. He began his formal culinary training at the age of 14. He attended the Dalton School and graduated from Vassar College. Contributing to many of New York’s finest restaurants as either executive chef or general manager, he has also lectured on restaurant management and design at The New School for Social Research.
Due to severe drug and alcohol addiction, Zimmern was homeless for about one year. During this period, he survived by stealing purses from cafes and selling the contents. In 1992, Zimmern moved to Minnesota, where he checked into the Hazelden Treatment Center for drug and alcohol addiction treatment, where he now volunteers. He later gained wide acclaim during his four and a half year tenure as executive chef of Cafe Un Deux Trois in Minneapolis's Foshay Tower. His menus received the highest ratings from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota Monthly, Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, as well as national publications.^{[citation needed]} Zimmern left the daily restaurant operations in 1997.

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Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Michael "Tony" Bourdain (born June 25, 1956) is an American chef, author and television personality. He is well known for his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and is the host of Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure programs Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and The Layover.
A 1978 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and a veteran of numerous professional kitchens, Bourdain is currently a chef-at-large, whose home base is Brasserie Les Halles, New York where he was executive chef for many years.
Anthony Bourdain was born in New York City to Pierre (d.1987) and Gladys Bourdain, and grew up in Leonia, New Jersey. Bourdain has French ancestry on his father's side; his paternal grandfather emigrated from France to New York following World War I. Bourdain's mother worked for the New York Times as a staff editor. Bourdain was a student at Englewood School for Boys, graduating in 1973. He attended Vassar College before dropping out after two years, and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978.

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April Bloomfield
April Bloomfield (born 1974), is an American chef best known for holding a Michelin star at two restaurants, The Spotted Pig and The Breslin. She had previously worked at a number of restaurants in the United Kingdom, including The River Café and Bibendum.
Bloomfield was born in Birmingham, West Midlands in 1974. Her father was an engineer, while her mother worked from home for Halcyon Days Ltd, painting bomboniere. She originally wanted to become a Police officer, but changed her mind when she discovered that she had missed out on the Police cadet scheme. She decided to attend catering college alongside her sister and realised that it was a career she wanted.
Following college, she began working at the Holiday Inn in Birmingham, before moving to London to work first at Kensington Place and then at Bibendum. She moved to work in Northern Ireland but returned to London and after working at a couple of further restaurants, she started working at the The River Café after achieving a position there through a friend.

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Austria
Austria (ⁱ/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] ( listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.

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Bill Buford
Bill Buford (born 1954) is an American author and journalist. Buford is the author of the books Among the Thugs and Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany.
He was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and raised in Southern California, attending the University of California at Berkeley before moving to King's College, University of Cambridge, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar. He remained in England for most of the 1980s.
Buford was previously the fiction-editor for The New Yorker, where he is still on staff. For sixteen years he was the editor of Granta, which he relaunched in 1979.
1991's Among the Thugs is purportedly an "insider's" account of the world of (primarily) English football hooliganism. His chief thesis is that the traditional sociological account of crowd theory fails to understand the often complex problem of football violence as a particularly English working-class phenomenon. His years of exhaustive first-hand research as an 'outsider' both in terms of his background and position as a member of the journalistic community is considered by some as one of the great social research documents.

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Bill Murray
William James "Bill" Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor, comedian and golfer. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack (1980), Ghostbusters (1984), and Groundhog Day (1993). Murray gained additional critical acclaim later in his career, starring in Lost in Translation (2003), that earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination, and a series of films directed by Wes Anderson, including Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and Moonrise Kingdom (2012).
Murray was born and raised in Wilmette, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, the son of Lucille (née Collins), a mail room clerk, and Edward Joseph Murray II, a lumber salesman. Murray's father died in 1967 from complications of diabetes when Bill was 17 years old. Murray, along with his eight siblings, was raised in an Irish American family. Three of his siblings are actors: John Murray, Joel Murray and Brian Doyle-Murray. A sister, Nancy, is an Adrian Dominican nun in Michigan, who has traveled the United States in a one-woman programme, portraying St. Catherine of Siena.

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Bushmen
The indigenous people of Southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Barwa, Kung, or Khwe. The word Bushmen is sometimes associated with a negative meaning & they prefer to be called the San people. These people were traditionally hunter-gatherers, part of the Khoisan group and are related to the traditionally pastoral Khoikhoi. Starting in the 1950s, and lasting through the 1990s, they switched to farming as a result of government-mandated modernization programs as well as the increased risks of a hunting and gathering lifestyle in the face of technological development. There is a significant linguistic difference between the northern Bushmen living between Okavango (Botswana) and Etosha (Namibia), extending into southern Angola on the one hand and the southern group in the central Kalahari towards the Molopo, who are the last remnant of the extensive autochthonous San of South Africa.

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Chris Cosentino
Chris Cosentino is an American chef noted for his specialty, offal dishes, now considered haute cuisine by many, and his eco-consciousness. He is chef-partner at Incanto in San Francisco. He was a competitor on The Next Iron Chef and has appeared on Iron Chef America. As of September 2009, he is writing a book on offal cookery, and he maintains an offal-themed website, Offal Good. Forbes Traveler calls Incanto "perhaps America’s most adventurous nose-to-tail restaurant … On offer are lamb’s necks, pig trotters and a five-course nose-to-tail tasting menu perhaps including venison kidneys and chocolate-blood panna cotta."
Chris was raised in Rhode Island and is a 1994 graduate of Johnson & Wales University. Raised in an Italian American community, he has stated that he hated offal as a child, especially the tripe his Italian grandmother prepared. Since becoming a chef himself, however, he has embraced a "whole-animal" ethic. He explains, "What I try to do is make people understand a whole-animal ethic. When people realize that this is a whole animal, that there is more than just the skeletal meats, sometimes that makes people step back, and they might not order any meat. They might have a vegetable entrée. Putting a face on what you’re eating sometimes opens your eyes a lot."

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Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken (/ˈwɔːkən/; born March 31, 1943) is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including The Deer Hunter, Annie Hall, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New York, True Romance, Catch Me If You Can, Pulp Fiction, Wedding Crashers, The Rundown, Click, and Hairspray, as well as music videos by recording artists such as Madonna, Journey, Run DMC, The Left Rights and Fatboy Slim.
Walken's films have grossed more than $1.8 billion in the United States. He has also played the main role in the Shakespeare plays Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Coriolanus. He is also a popular guest-host of Saturday Night Live, having hosted 7 times as of April 2008. His most notable roles on the show include record producer Bruce Dickinson (no relation to the singer with the same name) in the "More Cowbell" sketch and his multiple appearances as The Continental.

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Chuck Palahniuk
Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk ( /ˈpɔːlənɪk/; born February 21, 1962) is an American transgressional fiction novelist and freelance journalist. He is best known for the award-winning novel Fight Club, which was later made into a feature film. He maintains homes in the states of Oregon and Washington.
Palahniuk was born in Pasco, Washington, the son of Carol and Fred Palahniuk, and grew up living in a mobile home in nearby Burbank, Washington with his family. His parents separated when he was 14 and subsequently divorced, often leaving him and his three siblings to live with their maternal grandparents at their cattle ranch in Eastern Washington. His paternal grandfather was Ukrainian and immigrated to New York from Canada in 1907. Palahniuk's father began a relationship with another woman; her ex-boyfriend murdered the couple. Palahniuk's mother died of cancer.
In his twenties, Palahniuk attended the University of Oregon's School of Journalism, graduating in 1986. While attending college he worked as an intern for National Public Radio member station KLCC in Eugene, Oregon. He moved to Portland soon afterwards. After writing for the local newspaper for a short while, he began working for Freightliner as a diesel mechanic, continuing in that job until his writing career took off. During that time, he also wrote manuals on fixing trucks and had a stint as a journalist (a job he did not return to until after he became a successful novelist). After casually attending a free, introductory seminar held by an organization called Landmark Education, Palahniuk quit his job as a journalist in 1988. Palahniuk performed volunteer work for a homeless shelter; later, he also volunteered at a hospice as an escort; he provided transportation for terminally ill people and brought them to support group meetings. He ceased volunteering upon the death of a patient to whom he had grown attached.

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Daniel Woodrell
Daniel Woodrell (born March 4, 1953) is an American writer of fiction. He has written eight novels, most of them set in the Missouri Ozarks. Woodrell coined the phrase "country noir" to describe his 1996 novel Give Us a Kiss. Reviewers have frequently since used the term to categorize his writing.
Woodrell was born in Springfield, Missouri, in the southwestern corner of the state. He grew up in Missouri and dropped out of high school to join the Marines. Later he earned a BA from the University of Kansas and an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
He lives in West Plains, Missouri in the Ozarks, and is married to the novelist Katie Estill.
Woodrell has set most of his eight novels in the Missouri Ozarks, a landscape which he knew from childhood. He has created novels based on crime, a style he termed "country noir", a phrase which has been adopted by commentators on his work.
In addition to finding readers for his fiction, Woodrell has had two novels adapted for films. Woodrell's second novel, Woe to Live On (1987), was adapted for the 1999 film Ride with the Devil, directed by Ang Lee.

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Danya Alhamrani
Danya M. Alhamrani (born c. 1975) is a managing partner in the Saudi company Eggdancer Productions. Born in Bismarck, North Dakota.She is most notable in the West for getting her hometown of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia selected for the "FAN-atic" episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.
Alhamrani—and her partner Dania Nassief—are the first women in Saudi Arabia allowed to own and manage a company without a male business partner. Alhamrani has a MA in TV and Film Production from San Diego State University, and worked on the Emmy Award winning television series The Short List.

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Dave Arnold
Dave Arnold is an American chef from New York City. He is a leader in molecular gastronomy.
Arnold grew up in the New York area and began tinkering with restaurant equipment after earning his MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts. For an art project that required a 360-degree view of the inside of an oven he re-fabricated a traditional range with glass walls. After meeting Chef Wylie Dufresne, Arnold became even more passionate about all things culinary - the high-tech cooking movement in particular - and focused his engineering and inventing skills on professional and home cooking.
In 2004, Arnold founded the Museum of Food and Drink to promote learning about the history and culture of food. In 2005 The French Culinary Institute tapped him to head its new Culinary Technology department. As director, Arnold is dedicated to helping chefs achieve their goals using new technologies, techniques, and ingredients. With The FCI's VP of Culinary Arts, Nils Norén, and Harold McGee, he also teaches tech classes, including those that cover sous vide, low-temperature cooking and hydrocolloids. Together with Nils Norén, Arnold also writes a blog on new Culinary Technology developments at The FCI, Cooking Issues.

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David Chang
David Chang (Korean language: 장석호, Chang Seok-ho) (August 5, 1977 -) is a noted Korean-American chef. He is chef/owner of the Momofuku restaurant group, which includes Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ssäm Bar, Má Pêche, Milk Bar and Momofuku Ko in New York City, and Momofuku Seiōbo in Sydney, Australia. In 2009 Ko was awarded 2 Michelin stars, which it still maintains. Chang attended Georgetown Prep and then Trinity College, where he majored in religious studies. Chang later attended the French Culinary Institute (FCI).
As a child, Chang was a competitive golfer who participated in a number of junior tournaments, several of which Tiger Woods was also a participant in. After graduating college with no particular plan, Chang pursued a variety of jobs, including teaching English in Japan, then bussing tables and holding finance positions in New York City. He worked at Mercer Kitchen in Manhattan and in the year 2000, got a job answering phones at Tom Colicchio's Craft restaurant. Chang stayed at Craft for two years and then moved back to Japan to work at a small soba shop, followed by a restaurant in Tokyo's Park Hyatt Hotel. Upon returning to the U.S. Chang worked at Café Boulud, but soon grew "completely dissatisfied with the whole fine dining scene".

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David Johansen
David Roger Johansen (born January 9, 1950) is an American rock, protopunk, blues, and pop singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal protopunk band The New York Dolls. He is also known for his work under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter.
Johansen was born in the New York City borough of Staten Island, New York to a librarian mother and an insurance sales representative father. Johansen's family was Catholic. His mother was Irish American and his father was Norwegian American.
Johansen began his career in the late 1960s as a lead singer in the local Staten Island band the Vagabond Missionaries and later in the early 1970s as the singer/songwriter in the protopunk band the New York Dolls. The New York Dolls released two albums, the eponymous New York Dolls (1973), and Too Much Too Soon (1974). The bulk of the material was written by Johansen and guitarist Johnny Thunders. The Dolls were well received critically, but failed to succeed commercially.
In 1975, Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan left the band. Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain, along with Peter Jordan, Chris Robison, and Tony Machine, continued playing as the New York Dolls, until 1977, after which Johansen embarked on a solo career. His first two albums, David Johansen and In Style, featured several enduring originals. Sylvain Sylvain frequently performed with him, and his band covered many Dolls songs in concert; his live albums Live It Up and The David Johansen Group Live document Johansen's reputation as an exceptional concert performer. The studio releases Here Comes the Night (which includes a signature number, "Heart of Gold") and Sweet Revenge again showcased his strengths as a writer of new material and featured a guest appearance by jazz saxophone player Big Jay McNeely. A number of the songs on "Here Comes the Night" were co-written with South African musician Blondie Chaplin. In 1982 Johansen was the opening act for The Who at Byrne Meadowlands Arena.

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Elena Arzak
Elena Arzak (born 4 July 1969) is a Spanish chef. She is joint head chef of three Michelin starred restaurant Arzak alongside her father, Juan Mari Arzak, and was named best Female Chef in the World in 2012.
She first started working at her family's restaurant, Arzak, at the age of 11, becoming the fourth generation of her family to work there. She would work two hours a day during the summer holidays from school. At the time her grandmother was the head chef. Her father is Juan Mari Arzak, who initially worked under his mother at the restaurant, but went on to become head chef himself.
Her father sent her abroad to train at other restaurants after she attended hotel school in Lucerne in Switzerland. She worked at Le Gavroche in London for six months in 1989 under Albert Roux, and alongside Michel Roux, Jr. who was also training at the time. She also trained at La Maison Troisgros, Le Louis XV under Alain Ducasse, Restaurant Pierre Gagnaire and returned to Spain when she worked at elBulli.

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Emeril Lagasse
Emeril John Lagasse (pronounced /ˈɛmərəl ləˈɡɑːsi/ EM-ər-əl lə-GAH-see; born October 15, 1959) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, television personality, and cookbook author. A regional James Beard Award winner, he is perhaps most notable for his Food Network shows Emeril Live and Essence of Emeril as well as catchphrases such as “Kick it up a notch!” and “Bam!” The "Emeril Empire" of media, products and restaurants generates an estimated US$150 million annually in revenue.
Lagasse was born on October 15, 1959, in Fall River, Massachusetts to a Canadian Québécois father, John, and Portuguese mother, Hilda. He worked in a Portuguese bakery as a teenager where he discovered his talent for cooking and subsequently enrolled in a culinary arts program at Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School. His talents as a percussionist earned him a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music but he chose instead to attend Johnson & Wales University in hopes of becoming a chef. He met his first wife, Elizabeth Kief, while working at a restaurant called "Venus De Milo" to pay his way through school. He graduated from Johnson and Wales in 1978 and the school later awarded him a honorary doctorate.

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Eric Ripert
Éric Ripert (rih-pair) (born 1965 in Antibes) is a French chef, author and television personality specializing in modern French cuisine and renowned for his work with seafood.
Ripert's flagship restaurant, Le Bernardin, located in New York City, has been ranked among the best restaurants in the world by culinary magazines and S. Pellegrino's annual "Worlds 50 Best Restaurants" list. It holds the maximum ratings of four stars from The New York Times and three stars from the Michelin Guide.
Eric Ripert was born in France and learned to cook at a young age from his grandmother. When he was young, his family moved to Andorra, where he was raised. He later returned to France and attended culinary school in Perpignan.
At the age of 17 in 1982 he moved to Paris where he worked for two years at La Tour d'Argent, a famous restaurant more than 400 years old. Ripert next worked at Jamin under Joël Robuchon and was soon promoted to Assistant Chef de Partie. In 1985 Ripert left to fulfill his military service, after which he returned to Jamin as Chef Poissonier.

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Fergus Henderson
Fergus Henderson (born 1963) is an English chef who founded St John restaurant on St John Street in London. He is often noted for his use of offal and other neglected cuts of meat as a consequence of his philosophy of nose to tail eating. Following in the footsteps of his parents, Brian and Elizabeth Henderson, he trained as an architect at the Architectural Association in London. Most of his dishes are derived from traditional British cuisine and the wines are all French.
Chefs Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali have both praised Henderson for his dishes, which optimise British food while making full use of the whole animal. A. A. Gill famously retracted his initial hostility to St John in the Sunday Times.
Henderson had no formal training in cooking, and has never worked under any other chef. Before opening the St John restaurant that made his name, he and his wife ran the French House in Soho for some years.
In 1994, Henderson opened St John restaurant in London. The menu changes daily, but always includes Roast Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad. In 2003 he opened St John Bread and Wine in Spitalfields, London.

wn.com/Fergus_Henderson
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (Spanish: [fiˈðel ˈkastro]; born August 13, 1926) is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011. Politically a Marxist-Leninist, under his administration the Republic of Cuba was converted into a one-party socialist state, with industry and business being nationalized under state ownership and socialist reforms implemented in all areas of society. On the international stage, he also served as the Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1979 to 1983 and 2006 to 2008.

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Gary Shteyngart
Gary Shteyngart (born Igor Shteyngart; July 5, 1972) is an American writer born in Leningrad, USSR. Much of his work is satirical and relies on the invention of elaborately fictitious yet somehow familiar places and times.
Shteyngart spent the first seven years of his childhood living in a square dominated by a huge statue of Vladimir Lenin in what is now St. Petersburg, Russia; (he alternately calls it "St. Leningrad" or "St. Leninsburg"). He comes from a Jewish family and describes his family as typically Soviet. His father worked as an engineer in a LOMO camera factory; his mother was a pianist. Shteyngart emigrated to the United States in 1979 and was brought up with no television in the apartment in which he lived, where English was not the household language. He did not shed his thick Russian accent until the age of 14.
Shteyngart took a trip to Prague, and this experience helped spawn his first novel, set in the fictitious European city of Prava. He is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School in New York City, Oberlin College in Ohio, where he earned a degree in politics, and Hunter College of the City University of New York, where he earned an MFA in Creative Writing.

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Gastón Acurio
Gastón Acurio Jaramillo (born October 30, 1967) is a Peruvian chef and ambassador of Peruvian cuisine. He is owner of international restaurants and author of several books. In Peru he's the host of his own television program and contributes to several magazines.
Gastón Acurio Jaramillo was born the only son of Gastón Acurio Velarde, a career politician with Acción Popular party and Senator in the 1980s, and Jesúsa Jaramillo Razuri. He has 4 older sisters.
He studied law (expecting to succeed his father in a political career) at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru in Lima and then transfer to the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain. After dropping his law studies in Spain, he studied cooking at the hotel trade school Sol de Madrid in Spain and the Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, where he met his future wife Astrid Gutsche, originally from Germany.
In 1994, he returned to Peru with new knowledge of international cuisine and applied it in a Gourmet level to Peruvian cuisine, contributing to the development of the so-called Cocina Novoandina. Acurio is currently recognized as one of the most important chefs in the world.^{[citation needed]}

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George Pelecanos
George P. Pelecanos (born 1957 in Washington, D.C.) is a Greek-American author. Many of his works are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. He is also a film and television producer and a television writer. He worked extensively on the HBO series The Wire.
Pelecanos's early novels were written in the first person voice of Nick Stefanos, a Greek D.C. resident and some-time private investigator.
After the success of his first four novels, the Stefanos-narrated A Firing Offense, Nick's Trip, and Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go, and the non-series (though some characters do cross over) Shoedog, Pelecanos switched his narrative style considerably and expanded the scope of his fiction with his D.C. Quartet. He has commented that he did not feel he had the ability to be this ambitious earlier in his career. The quartet, often compared to James Ellroy's L.A. Quartet, spanned several decades and communities within the changing population of Washington. Now writing in the third person, Pelecanos relegated Stefanos to a supporting character and introduced his first "salt and pepper" team of crime fighters, Dimitri Karras and Marcus Clay.

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Gregor Gysi
Dr. Gregor Gysi (German pronunciation: [ˈɡiːzi]; born 16 January 1948) is a German attorney and key politician of the socialist left-wing political party The Left (Die Linke). He played an important role in the end of communist rule in East Germany in 1989^{[citation needed]}, and was a main figure in the post-reunification Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS). He is well known for his rhetoric talent and is considered one of the best German public speakers.
Gysi was born in East Berlin, Soviet Zone of Germany. His father, Klaus Gysi, was a high-ranking official in East Germany, and had been Minister of Culture from 1966 to 1973. His mother, Irene, was the sister of political activist Gottfried Lessing, who was married to the British writer Doris Lessing during his exile in Southern Rhodesia. The surname "Gysi" is of Swiss-German origin. Both of his parents were of part Jewish ancestry; his paternal grandmother was Jewish, as was one of his maternal great-grandfathers. One of his maternal great-grandmothers was Russian.

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Harvey Pekar
Harvey Lawrence Pekar ( /ˈpiːkɑr/; October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic and media personality, best known for his autobiographical American Splendor comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a critically acclaimed film adaptation of the same name.
Pekar described American Splendor as "an autobiography written as it's happening. The theme is about staying alive. Getting a job, finding a mate, having a place to live, finding a creative outlet. Life is a war of attrition. You have to stay active on all fronts. It's one thing after another. I've tried to control a chaotic universe. And it's a losing battle. But I can't let go. I've tried, but I can't."
Harvey Pekar and his younger brother Allen were born in Cleveland, Ohio to Saul and Dora Pekar, immigrants from Białystok, Poland. Saul Pekar was a Talmudic scholar who owned a grocery store on Kinsman Avenue, with the family living above the store. As a child, Harvey's first language was Yiddish, and he learned to read and appreciate novels in the dialect.

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Homaro Cantu
Homaro Cantu is an inventor, entrepreneur, chef, and molecular gastronomer. He owns and operates the Cantu Designs Firm in Chicago, Illinois, United States as well as Moto Restaurant in Chicago.
Cantu was born on September 23, 1976 in Tacoma, Washington.
From when he was six to when he was nine, he lived homeless with his mother Laurie Cantu and sister Angela Cantu. It is this experience that led him to want to fight world hunger and poverty and to become a social entrepreneur.
Cantu graduated from Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon.
Chef Cantu graduated from Western Culinary Institute (now a Le Cordon Bleu School). Shortly after graduating Cantu began working for free in nearly 50 top restaurants on the west coast of the United States. He moved to Chicago in 1999 to work for world renowned Chef Charlie Trotter. After leaving Charlie Trotter's in 2004, he was unemployed for one year while waiting for his restaurant Moto to open. During this unemployment period, Cantu spent hundreds of hours researching new technologies that he would patent and eventually integrate into his new restaurant. Chef Cantu has been approached by numerous Fortune 500 companies to assist in creative ideation and product development.

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Howie Carr
Howard Louis "Howie" Carr, Jr. (born January 17, 1952) is an American journalist, author, and conservative radio talk-show host based in Boston with a listening audience rooted in New England.
Howie Carr has hosted a weekday radio talk-show on Boston's WRKO (AM 680) since 1994. The show, titled The Howie Carr Show, is syndicated to stations throughout northern and central New England and can be heard elsewhere via live streaming on Carr's official website.
In 2007, Carr reached an agreement to move his show to Boston's WTKK, to appear during morning drive-time. This was litigated and Carr remained on WRKO under a new contract that expires in 2012.
In June 2009, Carr filled in for Dennis Miller on The Dennis Miller Show.
In 2010, WRKO suspended Carr for a week for repeated on-air criticism of station management.
Carr has worked as a reporter and commentator for Boston television stations WGBH and WLVI.
Carr is a columnist for the Boston Herald.
In early 2006, Carr also became a book author with the publication of his New York Times-rated best-selling book, The Brothers Bulger, about Billy Bulger and James "Whitey" Bulger. Carr's second book, titled Hitman, was released in April 2011. About Johnny Martorano, the book also was rated a best-seller by the New York Times. A third book, titled Hard Knocks, was released in January 2012.

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Ian Rankin
Ian Rankin, OBE, DL (born 28 April 1960 in Cardenden, Fife), is a Scottish crime writer. His best known books are the Inspector Rebus novels. He has also written several pieces of literary criticism.
He attended Beath High School, Cowdenbeath. After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, he moved to Tottenham, London for four years and then rural France for six while he developed his career as a novelist. He was a Literature tutor at the University of Edinburgh, where he retains an involvement with the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
The 'standard biography' of Rankin, a Scot, states that before becoming a full-time novelist he worked as a grape-picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist, college secretary and punk musician.
He lives in Edinburgh with his wife Miranda and their two sons Jack and Kit.
Rankin did not set out to be a crime writer. He thought his first novels Knots and Crosses and Hide and Seek were mainstream books, more in keeping with the Scottish traditions of Robert Louis Stevenson and even Muriel Spark (the subject of Rankin's uncompleted Ph.D. thesis). He was disconcerted by their classification as genre fiction. Scottish novelist Allan Massie, who tutored Rankin while Massie was writer-in-residence at the University of Edinburgh, reassured him by saying, who would want to be a dry academic writer when "they could be John Buchan?"^{[citation needed]}

wn.com/Ian_Rankin
Inuit
The Inuit (Inuktitut: ᐃᓄᐃᑦ, "People") are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Greenland, Canada, the United States, and Russia. Inuit is a collective noun; the singular is "Inuk". The Inuit language is grouped under the Eskimo-Aleut family.
In the United States, the term Eskimo is commonly used in reference to these groups, because it includes both of Alaska's Yupik and Inupiat peoples while "Inuit" is not proper or accepted as a term for the Inupiat. No collective term exists for both peoples other than "Eskimo". However, natives in Canada and Greenland view the name as pejorative and "Inuit" has become more common. In Canada, sections 25 and 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982 named the "Inuit" as a distinctive group of aboriginal Canadians who are not included under either the First Nations or the Métis.
The Inuit live throughout most of the Canadian Arctic and subarctic in the territory of Nunavut; "Nunavik" in the northern third of Quebec; "Nunatsiavut" and "Nunatukavut" in Labrador; and in various parts of the Northwest Territories, particularly around the Arctic Ocean. These areas are known in Inuktitut as the "Inuit Nunangat". In the United States, Inupiat live on the North Slope in Alaska and on Little Diomede Island. In Russia, they live on Big Diomede Island. The Kalaallit and other natives of Greenland are the descendants of migrations from Canada and are citizens of Denmark, although not of the European Union.

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Jacques Pépin
Jacques Pépin (born December 18, 1935) is an internationally recognized French chef, television personality, and author working in the United States. At the end of the 1980s and the start of the 1990s, he appeared on French and American T.V. and wrote an array of cookbooks that became best sellers.
Pépin, the second of three sons, was born in 1935 in Bourg-en-Bresse, near Lyon in France. After World War II, his parents, Jeanne and Jean-Victor Pépin, owned the restaurant, Le Pelican, where Pépin worked and later became known for his love for food. He went on to work in Paris, training under Lucien Diat at the Plaza Athénée. From 1956 to 1958, Pépin was the personal chef to three French heads of state, including Charles de Gaulle. In 1959 Pépin came to the United States to work at the restaurant Le Pavillon. Eight months later, In 1961, Howard Johnson, a regular Le Pavillon customer, hired Pépin to work along side fellow Frenchman Pierre Franey to develop food lines for his chain of Howard Johnson's restaurants, while Pépin was attending Columbia University. Pépin received his B.A. degree from Columbia’s School of General Studies in 1970 and went on to earn a master’s degree in French literature at Columbia in 1972.

wn.com/Jacques_Pépin
Jerry Stahl
Jerry Stahl (born September 28, 1953) is an American novelist and screenwriter, He is best known for his memoir of addiction Permanent Midnight. A film adaptation followed with Ben Stiller in the lead role.
Stahl has worked extensively in film and television. He has one daughter named Stella, who is a senior at Northwestern University and is studying theater and political science.
Stahl grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, became a federal judge, though his working-class roots include a stint as a coal miner.
After the untimely loss of his father, Stahl’s education proved to be a commanding culture shock. He moved from being a kid educated in a lower class of Pittsburgh neighborhood, to a fish out of water, suddenly shipped away to a private boarding school and a world far removed from anything he had ever known. He is a graduate of Columbia University. Post-college found Stahl living abroad in Greece – in caves outside of Matala, on Crete. He also traveled the streets of Paris, then London, where he landed a job as a bartender at a working-class Irish pub. Once stateside, Jerry found himself in New York with a burgeoning career as a writer.

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Jim Harrison
James "Jim" Harrison (born December 11, 1937) is an American author known for his poetry, fiction, essays, reviews, and writings about food. He has been called "a force of nature", and his work has been compared to that of William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. Harrison's characters tend to be rural by birth and to have retained some qualities of their agrarian pioneer heritage by dint of their intelligence and some formal education. They attune themselves to both the natural and the civilized world, surrounded by excesses but determined to live their lives as well as possible.
Harrison was born in Grayling, Michigan, to Winfield Sprague Harrison, a county agricultural agent, and Norma Olivia (Wahlgren) Harrison, both avid readers.
He became blind in one eye after a childhood accident ("My left eye is blind and jogs like/a milky sparrow in its socket"). When he was 21 his father and sister died in an automobile accident. He was educated at Michigan State University where he received his B.A. (1960) and M.A. (1964) in comparative literature. In 1959, he married Linda King, with whom he has two daughters. After a short stint as assistant professor of English at State University of New York, Stony Brook (1965–66), he became a full-time writer. His awards include National Academy of Arts grants (1967, 1968, and 1969), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1969–70), the Spirit of the West Award from the Mountain & Plains Booksellers Association, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2007).

wn.com/Jim_Harrison
Joel Rose
Joel Rose is an American journalist and novelist.
His novels include The Blackest Bird, Kill the Poor, and Kill Kill Faster Faster (published in the UK by Rebel Inc.). He is also the author of the urban historical, New York Sawed in Half
His journalism has appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine, New York Newsday, Marie Claire, Paper, Details, Bomb, Los Angeles Times, and Black Book, among others. He established and co-edited (with Catherine Texier) the literary magazine Between C & D. He has written for several television shows including Kojak and Miami Vice.
Both Kill the Poor and Kill Kill Faster Faster have been made into films and Rose participated in the screen adaptation of the latter. Kill Kill Faster Faster won 'Best International Feature' at the 2008 London Independent Film Festival, won 'Best Editing in a HD Feature Film' and 2nd place in 'Best High-Definition Feature' at the 2008 HDFest, and won 'Best Independent Feature Film' at 2008 Charity Erotic Awards.
Rose has co-authored and edited graphic novels for DC Comics.

wn.com/Joel_Rose
Josh Homme
Joshua Michael Homme ( /ˈhɒ.mi/ HO-mee, see below; born May 17, 1973) is an American rock musician, and record producer. He was the guitarist and a former member of the stoner rock band Kyuss, as well as the founding and only continuous member of the hard rock band Queens of the Stone Age (aka QOTSA), in which he sings, plays guitar, and serves as the band's primary songwriter. He co-founded and occasionally performs with Eagles of Death Metal as its drummer, and continues to produce and release a musical improv series with other musicians, mostly from the Palm Desert Scene, known as The Desert Sessions. In 2009, he appeared in a new project called Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones. Them Crooked Vultures released their debut album in 2009. In 2010, Homme concentrated his efforts on Them Crooked Vultures over all other projects.
Homme was born in Joshua Tree, California and grew up in Palm Desert. He began playing guitar at age 9 after his parents denied his wishes for a drum kit. He joined his first band, Autocracy, in his youth at age 12.

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Joshua Ozersky
Joshua Ozersky (born August 22, 1967) is an American food writer and historian. He first came to prominence as a founding editor of New York magazine's food blog,Grub Street, for which he received a James Beard Foundation Award (with co-editor Daniel Maurer) in 2008. He is the author of several books, including "The Hamburger: A History" (2008 ISBN 0-300-11758-2), "Meat Me In Manhattan: A Carnivore's Guide to New York" (2003 ISBN 0-9703125-7-1) (as "Mr. Cutlets") and "Archie Bunker's America: TV in an Era of Change, 1968-1978" (March 2003 ISBN 0-8093-2507-1). Currently, he writes for Time, hosts a video website, Ozersky.TV and has a column on home cooking on television host Rachael Ray's website. He is especially well-known^{[weasel words]} for his expertise in the area of meat and meat cookery, and is often referred to^{[by whom?]} by the sobriquet "Mr. Cutlets," after a minor character in Herman Melville's story, "Bartleby, the Scrivener." He is known^{[by whom?]} for his sometimes grandiloquent pronouncements and strongly held, sometimes controversial opinions^{[peacock term]}. Although read primarily as a food writer, he has said in numerous public appearances that he disliked "food writing" as such, and that his strongest influences have been G.K. Chesterton, Thomas Babington Macaulay, and A.J. Liebling.

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Joël Robuchon
Joël Robuchon (born 7 April 1945 in Poitiers, France) is a French chef and restaurateur. He was titled "Chef of the Century" by the guide Gault Millau in 1989 and also awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (France's Best Craftsman) in cuisine in 1976. He has published several cookbooks in French, two of which have been translated into English, has chaired the committee for the current edition of the Larousse Gastronomique, and has hosted culinary television shows in France. He operates a dozen restaurants in Hong Kong, Las Vegas, London, Macau, Monaco, New York City, Paris, Taipei, and Tokyo, with a total of 27 Michelin Guide stars among them – the most of any chef in the world.
Robuchon was born in Poitiers, France, one of four children. He worked as a cook in the Mauléon-sur-Sèvre seminary in the Deux-Sèvres. At the age of 15, he became an apprentice chef at the Relais of Poitiers hotel, starting off as a pastry chef. In 1966, Robuchon became the official chef of Le Tour de France namely "Compagnon du Tour de France", enabling him to travel throughout the country, learning a variety of diverse regional techniques. At 28, he was appointed as head chef at the hotel Harmony-Lafayette. In 1989, he was awarded "Chef of the Century" by Gault Millau. He later started his own restaurant in Paris. He has mentored Gordon Ramsay,Eric Ripert and Michael Caines. At 31, he won the Meilleur Ouvrier de France for his craftsmanship in Culinary Arts.

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Juan Mari Arzak
Juan Mari Arzak (born July 31, 1942) is the owner and chef for Arzak restaurant. He is considered to be one of the great masters of New Basque cuisine. He describes his cooking as "signature cuisine, Basque cuisine that's evolutionary, investigatory, and avant-garde."
Juan Mari Arzak was an only child born to Juan Ramon Arzak and Francisca Arratibel in San Sebastián, Spain. He spent much of his childhood in his grandparents' restaurant. Later, Juan Mari Arzak's parents took over control of the restaurant. Juan Mari Arzak's father died in 1951, after which time his mother continued to run the restaurant until he took over control of the restaurant. Juan Mari Arzak has two daughters, Marta and Elena, with Maite Espina.
Arzak said that his interest in cooking began at birth, and that in his childhood he would help in his family's restaurant. However, his real interest in cuisine didn't begin until his time at a hotel management school in Madrid. After Arzak's mandatory time in the military, he returned to his family's restaurant and began training as a chef, during which time he was responsible for roasting meat. Since he took over the restaurant, the restaurant has garnered much praise, and received 3 Michelin stars in 1989. In 2008, Arzak received the "Universal Basque" award for "adapting gastronomy, one of the most important traditions of the Basque Country, to the new times and making of it one of the most innovative of the world". He is currently training his daughter Elena, who has won the "Veuve Clicquot World's Best Female Chef" at the "World's 50 Best Restaurant Awards", to take over the restaurant.

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Lidia Bastianich
Lidia Matticchio Bastianich (born Lidia Motika on February 21, 1947, in Pula, then part of Italian Kingdom) is an Italo-American chef, author, and restaurateur.
Specializing in Italian cuisine, she has been a regular contributor to public television cooking show lineups since 1998. In 2007, she launched her third TV series, Lidia's Italy. She also owns several Italian restaurants in the U.S. in partnership with her daughter Tanya Bastianich Manuali and her son, Joe Bastianich: including Felidia (founded with her ex-husband, Felice), Del Posto, Esca, and Becco in Manhattan; Lidia's Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Lidia's Kansas City in Kansas City, Missouri.
Lidia Matticchio Bastianich was born on February 21, 1947, in the town of Pula, then part of Italian Kingdom, now region of Croatia. Living nine years under Tito's Communist regime, her father, Vittorio, in 1956 sent his wife and their two children to visit relatives in Trieste, Italy, while he remained in Istria to comply with the government's mandate that one member of a family remain in Yugoslavia to ensure that the rest would return. Hours later, Vittorio himself left Yugoslavia under cover of darkness and crossed the border into Italy.

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Mammootty
Mammootty (born Muhammadkutty Ismail Panaparambil on 7 September 1951) is an Indian film actor and producer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. He has also acted in a few Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada films. During a career spanning more than three decades, he has acted in more than 360 films, and is only next to Prem Nazir in the number of lead roles in Indian films. He also appeared in the highest number of dual roles (nine) in Malayalam films.
Mammootty was awarded the National Film Award for Best Actor three times, a record shared with Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Hassan. He also won five Kerala State Film Awards, and eleven Filmfare Awards. He was the first (1998) Malayali actor to be honoured with the state honour Padma Shri for contributions toward Indian cinema. He was honoured a Doctor of Letters by University of Kerala in Jan 2010 and by University of Calicut in Dec 2010.Vanitha, a leading women's magazine in Malayalam, in 2004, chose Mammootty as the actor with the highest sex appeal in Kerala, following a survey among its readers.

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Mancow Muller
Matthew Erich "Mancow" Muller (born 21 June 1966) is an American radio and television personality. He is best known for Mancow's Morning Madhouse, formerly on Rock 103.5 and WKQX-FM (Q101), both Chicago-based radio shows that have been nationally syndicated mostly in small markets by Talk Radio Network. Muller's career with Q101 was ended in July 2006, when Marv Nyren, Vice President and General Manager of Emmis Radio, in Chicago, announced, "We've decided that the time has come for us to develop a morning show that will better serve the needs and sensibilities of this audience." On October 22, 2008, WLS in Chicago announced that Muller would join that station as a weekday radio talk show host, in the 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. time slot, beginning on 27 October 2008. Muller continued to host his nationally syndicated morning radio program. However Robert Feder reported that Muller was fired on February 10, 2010. Muller hosted a Sunday night show on WABC-AM from September 2010 until October 2011, when he was let go following Cumulus Media's acquisition of WABC-AM parent Citadel Broadcasting.

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Manuel Noriega
Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno (Spanish pronunciation: [maˈnwel noˈɾjeɣa]; born February 11, 1934) is a former Panamanian politician and soldier. He was military governor of Panama from 1983 to 1989.
In the 1989 invasion of Panama by the United States he was removed from power, captured, detained as a prisoner of war, and flown to the United States. Noriega was tried on eight counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering in April 1992. Noriega's U.S. prison sentence ended in September 2007; pending the outcome of extradition requests by both Panama and France, for convictions in absentia for murder in 1995 and money laundering in 1999. France was granted its extradition request in April 2010. He arrived in Paris on April 27, 2010, and after a re-trial as a condition of the extradition, he was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in jail in July 2010. A conditional release was granted on September 23, 2011 for Noriega to be extradited to serve 20 years in Panama. He arrived in Panama on December 11, 2011.

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Marco Pierre White
Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality. He is noted for his contributions to contemporary international cuisine, and his exceptional culinary skills.
White has been dubbed the first celebrity chef, the enfant terrible of the UK restaurant scene and the Godfather of modern cooking. White was, at the time, the youngest chef ever to have been awarded three Michelin stars. He has trained chefs such as Gordon Ramsay.
Marco Pierre White was the third of four boys born to Italian mother Maria-Rosa Gallina, who had come to Britain to learn English, and chef Frank White, who had struck up a conversation with Maria at the Griffin Hotel in Leeds while he was playing cards.
After marrying in 1954, they lived in a council house in East Leeds, and had sons Graham (1955), Clive (1957) (also a chef) and Marco. Six years later, Maria gave birth to a fourth son, Craig Simon. Two days afterwards, she collapsed and was taken back to St James's University Hospital, Leeds, where she died of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 38.

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Mario Batali
Mario Batali (born September 19, 1960) is an American chef, writer, restaurateur and media personality. In addition to his classical culinary training, he is an expert on the history and culture of Italian cuisine, including regional and local variations. Batali co-owns restaurants in New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Singapore and Hong Kong Batali's signature clothing style includes shorts and orange Crocs.
Batali was born in Seattle, Washington, the son of Marilyn (née LaFramboise) and Armandino Batali. His family moved to Yakima, Washington shortly thereafter. When Batali was about 8, his family moved back to Seattle when his father got a job as an engineer for Boeing. His father worked for Boeing for thirty years, then, after retirement, opened a meat-curing shop, Salumi, in Seattle.
He is of Italian ancestry on his father's side, and French Canadian ancestry on his mother's side.
According to research done by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (of Harvard University, in 2010 for the PBS series Faces of America), his maternal great-great grandparents opened an Italian foods store in 1903. Batali's family roots are found almost entirely in the Western United States. Mario’s great-great-grandfather left Italy in 1899, going to Butte, Montana to work in the copper mines, but later moved west to settle in Seattle.

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Marky Ramone
Marky Ramone (born Marc Steven Bell; July 15, 1956) is an American musician. He is best known for being the drummer for the Ramones, but has also played in other notable bands like Dust, Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, and the Misfits.
Although he is not the original drummer (Tommy Ramone), Marky is the only living member of the longest-running Ramones line-up (15 years) which featured Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, and himself.
Marc Bell started playing drums in 1971 for hard rock band Dust, which included Kenny Aaronson on bass and Richie Wise on guitar, and was produced by Kenny Kerner. Bell recorded two albums with the band, before getting into the punk scene. In late 1972, following the death of New York Dolls original drummer Billy Murcia, Bell auditioned as a replacement and was the only seriously considered alternative to the eventual chosen candidate, Jerry Nolan. In the mid-70s he played with Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys. Wayne County would go on to become rock's first transsexual singer. In the late 1970s, he joined Richard Hell & The Voidoids. He played on the Voidoid's first album, Blank Generation.

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Martin Picard
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Masaharu Morimoto
Masaharu Morimoto (森本正治, Morimoto Masaharu^?, born May 26, 1955 in Hiroshima, Japan) is a well-known Japanese chef, best known as an Iron Chef on the Japanese TV cooking show Iron Chef and its spinoff, Iron Chef America. He is also known for his unique style of presenting food.
Morimoto received practical training in sushi and traditional Kaiseki cuisine in Hiroshima, and opened his own restaurant in that city in 1980. Influenced by Western cooking styles, he decided to sell his restaurant in 1985 to travel around the United States. His travels further influenced his fusion style of cuisine. He established himself in New York City and worked in some of Manhattan's prestigious restaurants, including the dining area for Sony Corporation's executive staff and visiting VIPs, the Sony Club, where he was executive chef, and the exclusive Japanese restaurant Nobu, where he was head chef.
While at Nobu he got his start on the Iron Chef television show. Several months after the weekly run of Iron Chef ended in 1999, he left Nobu, eventually opening his own Morimoto restaurant in Philadelphia in 2001. He now has a Morimoto restaurant in the Chelsea in New York City, as well as restaurants in Mumbai & New Delhi, named Wasabi and another Morimoto in Boca Raton, Florida. He also partnered with businessmen Paul Ardaji Jr. and Paul Ardaji Sr. in an Asian bistro venture called Pauli Moto's; the initial branch opened in Tyson's Corner, Virginia but has since closed. Morimoto also owns Morimoto XEX in Tokyo that has a Teppanyaki and a sushi floor. Morimoto XEX received a Michelin star in the recent Tokyo Michelin Guide.

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Michael Batterberry
Michael Carver Batterberry (April 8, 1932 – July 28, 2010) was an American food writer who founded and edited Food & Wine and Food Arts together with his wife.
Batterberry was born on April 8, 1932, in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, his American parents having relocated there while his father was working for Procter & Gamble. He relocated to the United States with his family upon the outbreak of World War II. Batterberry attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology, but dropped to move to Venezuela with his family, where his father was establishing P&G's presence in Latin America. Batterberry worked as a painter and interior designer in Venezuela and Rome.
After his return to the U.S. in the 1950s, Batterberry worked as a freelance food writer. He married writer Ariane Ruskin, and the two of them were arts editors at Harper's Bazaar. They co-authored On the Town in New York, From 1776 to the Present, a historical gastronomic survey that covered the city's food history from banquets to Chinese takeout which was described by The Washington Post as being "considered the authoritative history of dining in the country's culinary capital". In November 1998, the publishing firm Routledge issued a new edition of the book on its 25th anniversary.

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Michael Lomonaco
Michael Lomonaco is an American chef, restaurateur, and television personality. He is best known as the Chef/Director for Windows on the World, the restaurant located atop the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The restaurant was destroyed in the September 11th attacks and many staff members, who were working at the time, died. Lomonaco has rebounded with the opening of Porter House, which was named by Esquire magazine one of America's Best New Restaurants in October 2006.
Lomonaco started his culinary education at New York City Technical College's Hotel and Restaurant Management program, graduating in 1984. He quickly rose to fame during the 1980s at New York's famed restaurant Le Cirque, working under renown chefs Alain Sailhac and Daniel Boulud. Later that decade, Lomonaco moved on the another legendary New York institution, 21 Club. He revitalized the restaurant, known for its storied history as a Prohibition-era speakeasy and celebrity patrons, by revamping the menu by eliminating some old the Continental standbys in favor of updated American fare. Lomonaco remained at 21 until 1996. While at the restaurant, he published a book of recipes from the restaurant.

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Michael Ruhlman
Michael Carl Ruhlman (born July 28, 1963 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American author. He has written 12 books of mostly nonfiction, the best known of which have been in collaboration with American chefs.
Ruhlman grew up in Cleveland and was educated at University School, a private boys' day school in Cleveland's suburbs, and at Duke University, from which he graduated in 1985.
Ruhlman worked a series of odd jobs (including a brief stint at The New York Times) and traveled before returning to his hometown in 1991, to work for a local magazine.
While working at the magazine, Ruhlman wrote an article about his old high school and its new headmaster, which he expanded into his first book, Boys Themselves: A Return to Single-Sex Education (1996).
For his second book, The Making of a Chef (1997), Ruhlman enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America, taking a variety of classes but not graduating, to produce a first-person account—of the techniques, personalities, and mindsets—of culinary education at the prestigious chef's school. The success of this book produced two follow-ups, The Soul of a Chef (2000) and The Reach of a Chef (2006).

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Michael Symon
Michael D. Symon (born September 19, 1969) is a James Beard Foundation Award-winning American chef,restaurateur, television personality, and author. He is seen regularly on Food Network on shows such as Iron Chef America, Food Feuds, and The Best Thing I Ever Ate, as well as Cook Like an Iron Chef on the Cooking Channel and The Chew on ABC. He has also made numerous contributions to magazines and periodicals such as Bon Appétit, Esquire, Food Arts, Gourmet, Saveur and O, The Oprah Magazine.
Symon is credited as helping to "save" the restaurant scene in Downtown Cleveland. He is the chef and owner of number of restaurants in the Greater Cleveland area, including his flagship Lola, Lolita, and The B Spot. Additionally, he owns Michael Symon's Roast (also known as Roast) in Detroit, Michigan. Symon describes his cooking as "meat-centric."
Symon was born in Cleveland, Ohio and is of Greek, Italian, and Eastern European ancestry. He was raised in North Olmsted, Ohio, attending St. Richard School in North Olmsted and St. Edward High School in Lakewood, graduating in 1987. A wrestler, he broke an arm during practice and was unable to continue competing. He took a part time job at Gepetto's Ribs on Warren Rd. as a cook.

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Miguel Cotto
Miguel Ángel Cotto (born on October 29, 1980) is a Puerto Rican professional boxer. Cotto is a former WBA (Super) Light Middleweight Champion. He is the younger brother of contender Jose Miguel Cotto and cousin of Abner Cotto and Carlos Cotto. He is a four-time world champion in three weight divisions (light welterweight, welterweight and light middleweight).
On September 11, 2004, Cotto faced Kelson Pinto from Brazil, for the vacant WBO Light Welterweight title. This represented the third fight between them, with Pinto being victorious in their two previous encounters, both of which took place while they were still amateurs. Many fight fans feel this was due to the training from Edward Bemis in Puerto Rico. The fight was televised by HBO from San Juan, Puerto Rico. During this card, Cotto utilized a defensive stance with his hands in a high position instead of his usual aggressive orthodox stance. Over the course of the fight Cotto scored three knockdowns and won the fight by knockout in the sixth round.

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Morcheeba
Morcheeba are a British band, mixing influences from trip hop, rock, R&B, and pop. They have produced 7 albums since 1995, two of which reached the UK top ten.
At some point in the mid-1990s, the Godfrey brothers (DJ Paul Godfrey and multi-instrumentalist Ross Godfrey) recruited Skye Edwards as vocalist, during a chance meeting at a party in which both brothers were introduced to Edwards. This led to the formation of Morcheeba.
The band's debut album, Who Can You Trust? was released on China Records in April 1996 and fitted smoothly into the then-modish trip hop genre, with instrumentation based predominantly around Rhodes piano, electric guitar and DJ scratching, with the songs carried by Edwards' relaxed soul-styled vocals.
The follow-up, 1998's Big Calm, moved slightly away from trip-hop towards a more pop-oriented, song-based sound. This was exemplified by the band's remaking of "Moog Island" (a song from the previous album) in a more summery, upbeat style, with the new title of "The Music That We Hear". One of the album's singles, "The Sea", became a hit and a radio favourite. The album proved to be a big seller and ensured Morcheeba's success as a breakthrough act. In 1998, Morcheeba collaborated with Hubert Laws to record for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody, a tribute to George Gershwin, which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease.

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Nick Tosches
Nick Tosches (born 1949) (pronounced ˈtɑːʃəs) is an American journalist, novelist, biographer, and poet of Albanian and Italian descent.
After different odd-jobs, Tosches started writing with poetry and rock-'n'-roll magazines, including Creem, Fusion, and Rolling Stone.
Tosches' second book, a biography of Jerry Lee Lewis named Hellfire was published in 1982. Subsequent biographies have covered the lives of Dean Martin, Michele Sindona, Sonny Liston, Emmett Miller, and Arnold Rothstein.
Tosches has also published a collection of poetry, and three novels. He has been published in Vanity Fair, Esquire and Open City. The Nick Tosches Reader collects writings from over the course of his career.
Tosches was featured on the popular Travel Channel show Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations in the episode "Disappearing Manhattan". He and Bourdain shared a drink at Sophie's in the East Village, a Manhattan dive bar, and they discussed the changing nature of the city.

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Norah Jones
Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress. She is the daughter of Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar. She is also the paternal half-sister of Anoushka Shankar.
In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, a fusion of jazz, pop, and country music, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies. The record earned Jones five Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist. Her subsequent studio albums, Feels Like Home, released in 2004, Not Too Late, released in 2007, the same year she made her film debut in My Blueberry Nights, and her 2009 release The Fall all gained Platinum status after selling over a million copies and were generally well received by critics. Jones' fifth studio album, Little Broken Hearts was released on April 27, 2012.
Jones has won nine Grammy Awards and was Billboard magazine's 60th-best-selling music artist of the 2000–2009 decade. Throughout her career, Jones has won numerous awards and has sold over 40 million albums worldwide.Billboard named her the top jazz artist of the 2000–2009 decade, establishing herself as one of the best-selling artists of her time.

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Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, plays and the circumstances of his imprisonment, followed by his early death.
Wilde's parents were successful Dublin intellectuals. Their son became fluent in French and German early in life. At university Wilde read Greats; he proved himself to be an outstanding classicist, first at Dublin, then at Oxford. He became known for his involvement in the rising philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles. As a spokesman for aestheticism, he tried his hand at various literary activities: he published a book of poems, lectured in the United States of America and Canada on the new "English Renaissance in Art", and then returned to London where he worked prolifically as a journalist. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress, and glittering conversation, Wilde had become one of the most well-known personalities of his day.

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Paul Rankin
Paul Rankin (born 1 October 1959) is a Scottish born, Northern Irish celebrity chef from Ballywalter, County Down, Northern Ireland. Born in Glasgow, Scotland his parents moved back to Ballywater, where he grew up. This was stated when he was the subject of an episode of a short programme named Proud Parents on Channel 4, made in 2006. On the episode of Ready Steady Cook first broadcast on Tuesday 26 February 2008, he himself stated he was born in Scotland.
In 1989 Paul Rankin changed the face of culinary Northern Ireland when he opened Roscoff, the restaurant that was to become the first to win a Michelin Star in the country. Soon after opening, it became the favourite meeting place for the Belfast business and arts community, and people travelled from Dublin simply to experience what was considered to be the best cooking in Northern Ireland at the time. The influence of Paul and Jeanne Rankin on Irish cuisine continues today, with many of the chefs in restaurants in Belfast and the rest of Northern Ireland having started their careers in the kitchen of Roscoff.

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Ron Jeremy
Ronald Jeremy Hyatt (born March 12, 1953), usually called Ron Jeremy, is an American adult film actor. Nicknamed "The Hedgehog", he was ranked by AVN at number one in their "The 50 Top Porn Stars of All Time" list. Jeremy has also appeared in non-pornographic films, such as The Chase, Orgazmo, They Bite, The Boondock Saints and 54.
He is noted for his 9.75 inches (24.8 cm) penis (self-reported)—and he has gained some notoriety for being capable of autofellatio (which he first demonstrated on-screen in Inside Seka).
Ron Jeremy was born in Queens, New York to a middle-class Jewish family; his father, Arnold, was a physicist and his mother a book editor who served in the O.S.S. during World War II, as she spoke fluent German and French.
Jeremy attended Cardozo High School in Bayside, Queens, where former CIA director George Tenet and actor Reginald VelJohnson were his classmates. He earned a bachelor's degree in education and theatre and a master's degree in special education from Queens College in New York. He taught special-education classes in the New York City area and was a substitute teacher for regular classes.

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Salvatore Cuffaro
Salvatore "Totò" Cuffaro (born February 21, 1958 in Raffadali, Agrigento) is an Italian politician, former President of Sicily, currently serving a 7 years sentence for aiding the Mafia. His nickname is "Vasa Vasa" [Kiss Kiss] for his tendency to kiss all and sundry - he claims that he has kissed a quarter of all the people on the island.
A graduate of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Palermo, with a specialization in radiology, Cuffaro joined the Christian Democrat (DC) party during his student days. Then, after having served as City Councillor in his native city, Raffadali, and Palermo, Cuffaro was first elected Member of the Sicilian Regional Assembly in 1991; in 1996 he served as Regional Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries.
His political career began under the wing of former minister Calogero Mannino, who in the past was suspected of having ties with the Mafia. Following the demise of the DC, he became a member of ex-DC splinter parties before joining the party Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC). He first became known nationally in September 1991, when he defended his political patron Mannino, accused of being a witness at a Mafia wedding, live on television in a joint broadcasting of the Maurizio Costanzo show and Michele Santoro’s Samarcanda, accusing the presenters that their journalism was Mafia journalism. In the presence of Antimafia judge Giovanni Falcone he accused the Sicilian prosecutors of manipulating state witnesses (pentiti). In october 2009, Cuffaro denounced for "defamation and threats" the 5000 and above YouTube users who commented the video of the TV show.

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Samantha Brown
Samantha Elizabeth Brown (born March 31, 1969) is an American television host, notable for her work as the host of several Travel Channel shows including Girl Meets Hawaii, Great Vacation Homes, Great Hotels, Passport to Europe, Passport to Latin America, Great Weekends, Passport to China, and Samantha Brown's Asia. As of 2012 Samantha Brown has made her own travel luggage called Samantha Brown: Travel America. Ms. Brown is known for her perky disposition. She is currently a resident of Brooklyn, New York.
Brown was born in Dallas, Texas. Her family soon moved to New Castle, New Hampshire, where she grew up and graduated from Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire. She performed with Music and Drama Company with award winning designer Brian Sidney Bembridge. She took 12 years of voice lessons, attended Chapman University, and transferred to Syracuse University to study musical theater. As stated in one of her episodes in Passport to Europe, she is of Scottish and German descent.
Brown's early career included working in commercials, notably playing the spokesperson "Wendy Wire" for a company called Century Cable. She is involved in the comedy sketch group "Mouth", based in New York, where she has lived for ten years. Brown has appeared in the HP Pavilion "Computer is Personal Again" commercials. Additionally, she is the spokesperson for ECCO shoes. Brown is also a spokesperson in a 2009 commercial for Cedar Point amusement park.

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Sami Yaffa
Sami Yaffa (born Sami Takamäki September 4, 1963 in Finland) is a bass guitarist best known for his time in Hanoi Rocks during the 1980s. He is currently the bassist for the Michael Monroe band. He also plays guitar in his own band "Mad Juana".
Yaffa first began playing music when only fourteen years old in 1977 with a band called Babblers.^{[citation needed]} He went along with another member of the Babblers (Pepe Seivo) and formed a punk rock band, Suopo, in 1979. They did not record any material and stayed relatively unknown even in the Finnish punk rock scene. Around this time Yaffa also played with another Finnish punk rock band, Pohjanoteeraus.^{[citation needed]}
In 1980 Yaffa joined future Hanoi Rocks bandmate Andy McCoy in Pelle Miljoona Oy. The two of them took part in the band's most successful album "Moottoritie On Kuuma". Before the group toured they both decided to leave and to join Hanoi Rocks.^{[citation needed]}
Hanoi Rocks became the biggest band in Finland at the time, releasing a string of successful albums.^{[citation needed]} The group moved from Stockholm to London and continued to gain fans and influence the music scene there. In London, Yaffa, along with Hanoi Rocks bandmates Nasty Suicide and Razzle, as well as Knox of the Vibrators, recorded an album under the name Fallen Angels. Knox continued to perform as Fallen Angels after, though the Hanoi Rocks members including Yaffa never played with the band onstage.^{[citation needed]}

wn.com/Sami_Yaffa
Scott Conant
Scott Conant (born February 19, 1971) is an American chef, restaurateur, food personality, and cookbook author.
Conant was born in Waterbury, Connecticut. Scott is of Italian descent on his mother's side. He began cooking at a young age, taking cooking classes at the local community college at age 11. At 15, he enrolled in a trade school for culinary arts, and then attended the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). He has since opened a number of very popular restaurants in North America, written numerous cookbooks, and appeared on or starred in many food-related television shows.
A distant relative of Conant's is Roger Conant, the founder of Salem, Massachusetts.
While at the CIA, Conant interned at the famous New York City restaurant San Domenico, an experience that had a decisive impact on the young chef. After graduation, he spent a year in Munich, Germany mastering the art of pastry at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof. He returned to the United States and San Domenico, working as a sous chef and helping the restaurant garner three stars from The New York Times.

wn.com/Scott_Conant
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his left-wing political and social activism (including humanitarian work). He is a two-time Academy Award winner for his roles in Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008), as well as the recipient of a Golden Globe Award for the former and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the latter.
Penn began his acting career in television with a brief appearance in a 1974 episode of Little House on the Prairie, directed by his father Leo Penn. Following his film debut in 1981's Taps and a diverse range of film roles in the 1980s, Penn emerged as a prominent leading actor with the 1995 drama film Dead Man Walking, for which he earned his first Academy Award nomination and the Best Actor Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Penn received another two Oscar nominations for Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and I Am Sam (2001), before winning his first Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 for Mystic River and a second one in 2008 for Milk. He has also won a Best Actor Award of the Cannes Film Festival for She's So Lovely (1997), and two Best Actor Awards at the Venice Film Festival for Hurlyburly (1998) and 21 Grams (2003).

wn.com/Sean_Penn
Ted Allen
Edward R. "Ted" Allen is an American writer, cookbook author, and television personality. His newest cookbook, In My Kitchen, comes out from Clarkson-Potter publishers on May 1, 2012. He was the food and wine connoisseur on the American Bravo network's Emmy-winning television program Queer Eye. He now is the host of the prime-time series Chopped, a culinary competition called "the crown jewel of Food Network" by the New York Post, in which four chefs per episode attempt to cook their way through three courses to win a $10,000 prize. He is a longtime contributing writer to Esquire magazine, the author of two cookbooks, and regularly appears on the Food Network's show The Best Thing I Ever Ate and other television cooking shows.
Ted Allen was born in Columbus, Ohio, but grew up in Carmel, Indiana. His Southern-born mother instilled in him a love of food and cooking. Allen is openly gay and lives in New York City with his partner, Barry Rice, who runs the interior design firm Barry Rice Design, and who is a former journalism department chair and professor at Columbia College Chicago.

wn.com/Ted_Allen
Ted Nugent
Theodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent ( /tɛd ˈnuːdʒɨnt/; born December 13, 1948) is an American musician. From Detroit, Michigan, he gained fame as the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes before embarking on a solo career. He is noted for his conservative political views and his defense of hunting and gun ownership rights.
Nugent was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Marion Dorothy (née Johnson) and Warren Henry Nugent. Nugent's father was an Army staff sergeant, and he was raised in a very strict household. He moved to Palatine, Illinois, as a teenager, and has two brothers: John and Jeffrey. Raised Catholic, Nugent has mentioned his ties with the Christian faith many times during interviews, and has stated that he regularly attends church. He attended St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights, IL.
Nugent has released more than 34 albums and has sold a career total of 30 million records. He was known throughout his early career in the 1970s for using Fender amps, a large part of his signature sound, and for playing the hollow-body Gibson Byrdland guitar.

wn.com/Ted_Nugent
Thomas Keller
Thomas Keller (born October 14, 1955) is an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook writer. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation, notably the Best California Chef in 1996, and the Best Chef in America in 1997. The restaurant is a perennial winner in the annual Restaurant Magazine list of the Top 50 Restaurants of the World.
In 2005, he was awarded the three star rating in the inaugural Michelin Guide for New York for his restaurant Per Se, and in 2006, he was awarded three stars in the inaugural Michelin Guide to the Bay Area for The French Laundry. He is the only American chef to have been awarded simultaneous three star Michelin ratings for two different restaurants.
Born at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California to Edward, a Marine drill instructor, and Betty Keller, a restaurateur, Thomas was the youngest of five boys. Four years after his parents divorced, the family moved east and settled in Palm Beach, Florida. In his teenage summers, he worked at the Palm Beach Yacht Club starting as a dishwasher and quickly moving up to cook. It was here he discovered his passion for cooking and perfection in a hollandaise sauce.

wn.com/Thomas_Keller
Tom Kitchin
Tom Kitchin, is a Scottish chef and owner of restaurant The Kitchin, where he became the youngest winner of a Michelin star. He had previously worked with several Michelin starred chefs including Alain Ducasse and Pierre Koffmann.
Born in Edinburgh, Kitchin attended Dollar Academy, a boarding school in Dollar, Clackmannanshire. After leaving school, he studied catering at Perth College before beginning an apprenticeship at the Gleneagles Hotel, near Auchterarder, Perth and Kinross. He has worked with Pierre Koffmann, Alain Ducasse and Guy Savoy, all of whom have been awarded three Michelin stars.
At the age of 29, he was awarded his first Michelin star, after The Kitchin had been in business for six months. This made Kitchin the youngest Michelin star recipient in the world.Albert Roux is reported to have said that Tom is the chef in Scotland most likely to win three Michelin stars. His cooking style is to combine French techniques with seasonal Scottish ingredients, a style discussed in depth in his 2010 book From Nature to Plate.

wn.com/Tom_Kitchin
Uwe Boll
Uwe Boll (German pronunciation: [ˈuːvə ˈbɔl]; born June 22, 1965) is a German director, producer and screenwriter, whose work includes several films adapted from video games. He finances his own films through his Boll KG production company. Many of his films are based on video game franchises, produced on a low budget and are direct-to-video which has caused derision from the gaming community.
Boll was born in Wermelskirchen. He studied at the University of Cologne and the University of Siegen, and holds a doctorate in literature.
He first decided to go into the movie business at ten years old, after seeing Marlon Brando's Mutiny on the Bounty.
Boll's first two major releases were the horror movie Blackwoods and the drama Heart of America, both of which he directed and co-wrote.
Boll is best-known for adapting video games into movies, having directed and produced a number of such adaptations, including House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, Alone in the Dark II, BloodRayne, BloodRayne II: Deliverance,BloodRayne: The Third Reich, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, Postal and Far Cry.

wn.com/Uwe_Boll
Vikram Vij
Vikram Vij (born 1964) is a chef and co-owner, with his wife Meeru Dhalwala, of the Indian cuisine restaurants Vij's and Rangoli in Vancouver, British Columbia.
He grew up in India in Amritsar, Delhi and Mumbai. He studied Hotel Management in Salzburg, Austria.
After working in Salzburg and Vienna for a few years, he moved to Canada in 1989, when he joined the Banff Springs Hotel, Alberta, Canada. Eventually in 1994, at the age of 30 he opened a fine-dining restaurant, Vij’s, in Vancouver, soon to be joined by his wife Meeru Dhalwala. Here his parents would make the curry at their home and deliver it by bus to the restaurant. A decade later in 2004 he opened his second restaurant, the casual-style Rangoli.
He also sells a packaged line of Indian food called Vij's Inspired Indian cuisine in grocery stores. He and his wife, Meeru, have co-authored two cookbooks, Vij’s: Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine and Vij’s at Home: Relax, Honey. Both restaurants are known to have an all female kitchen staff.

wn.com/Vikram_Vij
Wylie Dufresne
Wylie Dufresne is the chef and owner of wd~50 restaurant in Manhattan. Dufresne is a leading American proponent of molecular gastronomy, the movement to incorporate science and new techniques in the preparation and presentation of food.
Born in 1970 in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S., Dufresne is a graduate of The French Culinary Institute in New York. In 1992, Wylie completed a B.A. in philosophy at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
From 1994 through 1999, he worked for Jean-Georges Vongerichten, where he was eventually named sous chef at Vongerichten's eponymous Jean Georges. In 1998 he was chef de cuisine at Vongerichten's Prime in The Bellagio, Las Vegas. In 1999, he left to become the first chef at 71 Clinton Fresh Food. In April 2003, he opened his 70-seat restaurant, wd~50 (named for the chef's initials and the street address, as well as a pun on WD-40) on Clinton Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Dufresne was a James Beard Foundation nominee for Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2000 and chosen the same year by New York Magazine for their New York Awards. Food & Wine magazine named him one of 2001 America's Ten Best Chefs award and, in 2006, New York Magazine's Adam Platt placed wd-50 fourth in his list of New York's 101 best restaurants. He was awarded a star in Michelin's New York City Guide, 2006, 2007, 2008, the first Red Guide for North America, and was nominated for Best Chef New York by the James Beard Foundation. Wd-50 has also been recognized as one of the Top 10 Molecular Gastronomy Restaurants in the U.S. by GAYOT.com.

wn.com/Wylie_Dufresne
Zamir Gotta
Iazamir "Zamir" Gotta (Russian: Язамир Готта) is a Russian producer and broadcaster. He is best known as the traveling companion of American chef Anthony Bourdain in his Travel Channel TV show Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, when they traveled to Uzbekistan, Russia and Romania and later in the U.S. Rust Belt, Ukraine, and Kansas City. They originally met during a two part episode in Saint Petersburg, Russia for Bourdain's earlier series, A Cook's Tour which aired on the Food Network in 2000.
Gotta received his education from the Moscow State Linguistic University (majoring in English). He worked as a military interpreter until the 1990s. During the Ukraine show, first aired in August, 2011, Gotta revealed that his heritage is a mix of Turkic and Jewish from the Crimea.
Gotta started as a freelance film producer, working on American film productions in Russia. Since 2006 he has been a consultant at the Trident Media Group in New York. He was associate producer for the episode of the American documentary television series Cities of the Underworld titled "Stalin's Secret Lair," which first aired on the History Channel in 2008. He was also an associate producer for the Nova TV series documentary titled "Astrospies" (2008).

wn.com/Zamir_Gotta

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 8x05 - Japan Cook It Raw

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 8x05 - Japan Cook It Raw...

published: 05 Oct 2012

author: Documentariesvids

anthony bourdain no reservations paris

...

published: 21 Jun 2012

author: Bright Star

ANTHONY BOURDAIN NO RESERVATIONS -LIBERIA

ANTHONY BOURDAIN NO RESERVATIONS -LIBERIA 2010...

published: 13 Nov 2012

author: Flylibone

anthony bourdain no reservations Brazil

Brazil...

published: 21 Jun 2012

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Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 4x06 - London and Edinburgh

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 4x06 - London and Edinburgh...

published: 05 Oct 2012

author: Documentariesvids

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 1x01 - Why the French Don't Suck

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 1x01 - Why the French Don't Suck...

published: 05 Oct 2012

author: Documentariesvids

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 4x10 - Into the Fire NY

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 4x10 - Into the Fire NY...

published: 05 Oct 2012

author: Documentariesvids

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations S08E04 Lisbon

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations S08E04 Lisbon...

published: 03 May 2012

author: lisbonsoccer1

Greek Islands - Anthony Bourdain No Reservations

Greece has the world's healthiest diet. From Crete to Ithaca, Tony heads off on a culinary...

published: 03 Dec 2011

author: gt68100

Dominican Republic-Anthony Bourdain No Reservations S08E17

...

published: 02 Nov 2012

author: MASTERNCS

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 5x10 - Vietnam - There's No Place Like Home

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 5x10 - Vietnam - There's No Place Like Home...

published: 05 Oct 2012

author: Documentariesvids

Rio De Janeiro----anthony bourdain no reservations s08e15

...

published: 17 Oct 2012

author: MASTERNCS

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 4x07 - Jamaica

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations 4x07 - Jamaica...

published: 05 Oct 2012

author: Documentariesvids

anthony.bourdain.no.reservations japan

...

published: 20 Jun 2012

author: Bright Star

No Reservations Desert Roll

Finally! I been itchin' for the show to air so I can share these. Here's some of the ext...

published: 08 Aug 2011

author: Adam Lupsha

Cool Hunting Rough Cut: Kitchen Tools

We were recently invited down to check out the Cayman Cookout taking place at the Ritz-Car...

published: 27 Jan 2012

author: Cool Hunting

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations

İstanbul Episode...

published: 17 Aug 2010

author: Elif aksayan

anthony.bourdain.no.reservations

published: 21 Oct 2010

author: ChipEstimate.tv Studios

Bizarre Foods - Sardinia - Visit us with www.sardiniatouristguide.it

Bizarre Foods - Sardinia...

published: 08 May 2012

author: rudgarcia

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern - A Taste of the Tropics (HD) Whole Episode

A Taste of the Tropics, Tijuana Zona Norte...

published: 08 May 2012

author: rudgarcia

Bizarre Foods - Chengdu

Copy rights reserved for Bizarre Foods...

published: 08 May 2012

author: rudgarcia

Bizarre.Foods from Uganda.

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern: Andrew visits with the friendly locals in the pearl of ...

published: 03 Jun 2012

author: rudgarcia

Ethiopia on Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern

While traveling through Ethiopia, Andrew samples a cultural delicacy: raw meat dipped in l...

published: 03 Jun 2012

author: rudgarcia

Greek Islands - Anthony Bourdain No Reservations

Greece has the world's healthiest diet. From Crete to Ithaca, Tony heads off on a culinary...

published: 03 Jun 2012

author: rudgarcia

Anthony Bourdain - No Reservations - Viet nam Full

Travel Vietnam, Vietnam Tours, Vietnam Destination, Tour in Vietnam "Anthony Bourdain: No ...

published: 25 Jun 2012

author: rudgarcia

Anthony Bourdain Mozambique Full

Mozambique...

published: 15 Aug 2012

author: rudgarcia

Anthony bourdain haiti

Haiti...

published: 15 Aug 2012

author: rudgarcia

Anthony Bourdain cuba

Cuba...

published: 15 Aug 2012

author: rudgarcia

anthony.bourdain naples

...

published: 16 Aug 2012

author: rudgarcia

anthony bourdain no reservations india

India...

published: 04 Sep 2012

author: rudgarcia

anthony.bourdain.no.reservations japan

...

published: 04 Sep 2012

author: rudgarcia

anthony bourdain no reservations Brazil

Brazil...

published: 01 Oct 2012

author: rudgarcia

No Reservations Desert Roll

Finally! I been itchin' for the show to air so I can share these. Here's some of the ext...

published: 08 Aug 2011

author: Adam Lupsha

Cool Hunting Rough Cut: Kitchen Tools

We were recently invited down to check out the Cayman Cookout taking place at the Ritz-Car...

published: 27 Jan 2012

author: Cool Hunting

Anthony Bourdain No Reservations

İstanbul Episode...

published: 17 Aug 2010

author: Elif aksayan

anthony.bourdain.no.reservations

published: 21 Oct 2010

author: ChipEstimate.tv Studios

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photo: AP

A circular hole in the ice of Chebarkul Lake where a meteor reportedly struck the lake near Chelyabinsk, about 1500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Friday, Feb. 15, 2013.

Russian meteor blast injures at least 1,000 people, authorities say

CNN

16 Feb 2013

February 16, 2013 -- Updated 0115 GMT (0915 HKT). Did you see the meteor? Share your images with CNN iReport. Moscow (CNN) -- A meteor streaked through the skies above Russia's Urals region Friday morning before exploding with a flash and boom that shattered glass in buildings and left about 1,000 people hurt, authorities said ... The injured included more than 200 children ... The meteor leaves a white streak through the sky ... HIDE CAPTION ... 1. 2....(size: 14.9Kb)

photo: AP / Office of the Supreme Leader

In this photo released by an official website of the Iranian supreme leader's office, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, waves to the crowd at the conclusion of his speech in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013.

Ayatollah Says Iran Will Control Nuclear Aims

The New York Times

17 Feb 2013

TEHRAN — Iran’s supreme leader said Saturday that his country was not seeking nuclear weapons but added that if Iran ever decided to build them, no “global power” could stop it. Related. Nuclear Watchdog Says No Deal Reached With Iran (February 15, 2013). Connect With Us on Twitter. Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. Twitter List. Reporters and Editors ... Mr ... During the same session, Mr....(size: 5.9Kb)

photo: UN / Mark Garten

US Representative Briefs Press on DPRK Nuclear Test Susan Rice, Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, speaks to journalists following the Security Council urgent consultations on the nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

N Korea warned against 'provocative actions'

Al Jazeera

16 Feb 2013

The United States has called on North Korea not to take any further provocative actions after report of plans for more nuclear tests. Friday's statement came after the North conducted its third nuclear test on Tuesday, drawing global condemnation ... Meanwhile, North Korea's leader has made his first public appearance since Tuesday's controversial nuclear test. ... Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett, reporting from Seoul, said ... 479 Source .....(size: 7.5Kb)

photo: AP / Andrew Brownbill

The tombstone of Ben Zygier stands at Chevra Kadisha Jewish Cemetery in Melbourne, Australia Friday, Feb 15. 2013.

Israel Prisoner X: Ben Zygier 'leaked Mossad secrets'

BBC News

18 Feb 2013

Israel secretly imprisoned an Australian man who worked for its Mossad spy agency because it believed he had divulged details of his work, an Australian news programme has reported. ABC News said Ben Zygier was suspected by Israel of informing Australia's security agency of Mossad operations. Last week, ABC identified Mr Zygier as Israel's so-called Prisoner X, whose existence Israel never acknowledged ... Italy mission ... ....(size: 2.6Kb)

photo: AP / Pavel Rahman

A Bangladeshi activist shouts slogans during the funeral procession of blogger Rajib Haider, 30, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013. Haidar had been critical of the Islamic group Jamaat-e-Islami

Tensions rise over Bangladesh war crimes law

Al Jazeera

18 Feb 2013

One man has died in a crash after activists with Bangladesh's largest Islamist party chased a vehicle carrying passengers during a nationwide general strike to denounce a war crimes trial. The Jamaat-e-Islami party enforced Monday's strike in Dhaka to oppose an ongoing war-crimes trial ... One man died and another passenger was injured ... Authorities have kept schools and colleges open, and many businesses have reopened ... 605 Source .. Agencies....(size: 8.6Kb)

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New York chef sensation Eddie Huang

The News & Observer

18 Feb 2013

SEATTLE — So, this is what it's like to be the "It" boy in the New York food scene for 15 minutes. Eddie Huang, restaurateur, enfant terrible and now author, has gone shark fishing off Montauk with "Top Chef's" Tom Colicchio, rolled with Anthony Bourdain on "The Layover" and been named a TED Fellow ... Carolina Blue Jordan XIVs ... Bourdain is a big fan of his writing, which is laced with rap lyrics and pop-culture references ... ....(size: 3.4Kb)

Young Foodies: Culinary Hipsterism

RoadRunner

17 Feb 2013

Celebrity chefs such as Anthony Bourdain,Mario Batali, and Nigella Lawson, among many others, are practically household names, and there are countless websites, blogs, and television shows delivering the experience of eating and cooking to millions every hour and day of the week. We are obsessed with the pursuit of preparing or finding the perfect meal. Where Does The Money Come From?. The question has to be asked, however ... ....(size: 2.1Kb)

Christopher Dorner: What made a police officer kill?

BBC News

16 Feb 2013

Former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner shocked the world when he took up arms against ex-colleagues and their families. This week, after a nine-day manhunt, the college graduate was cornered and died in a remote cabin. What made him go bad remains hard to understand ... Labels Off On ... In addition, he hailed Piers Morgan, Ellen DeGeneres, Larry David, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock and the celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain....(size: 21.4Kb)

THE TASTE: Seduction (3/5) (Disney-ABC Television Group)

noodls

15 Feb 2013

"Seduction" - The battle to make it to the finals begins as seven semi-finalists must seduce the taste buds of mentors Bourdain, ... "The Taste" is from Kinetic Content and is executive-produced by Chris Coelen, Matilda Zoltowski, Emma Conway, Anthony Bourdain and Nigella Lawson....(size: 1.5Kb)

CNN Reporter Slapped Down For Trying To Compare Cruise Ship Ordeal To Hurricane Katrina (VIDEO)

Huffington Post

15 Feb 2013

CNN's controversial coverage of the Carnival Triumph cruise ship story continued well into Thursday night -- but the network's efforts to inject a high level of gravity into the situation kept getting undermined by the network's own guests ... "I know a lot of people ... "It's not a disaster." ... Rep ... TV personality Anthony Bourdain speaks at the Great Googa Mooga 2012 at Prospect Park on May 20, 2012 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City....(size: 7.8Kb)

Liz vs. Jim: Is reality TV all bad?

Toronto Sun

15 Feb 2013

2 sec. 3 sec. 4 sec. 5 sec. 6 sec. Buy Sun Media photos. Kourtney Kardashian spends the day at the beach in Miami, Florida, October 3, 2012. (WENN.COM). Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend the Angel Ball 2012 at Cirpiani Wall Street in New York City, October 22, 2012. (WENN.COM). Kim Kardashian posted this image on Instagram with the caption. 'Sisterly Love' Credit ... (WENN.COM) ... Mr ... Anthony Bourdain teaches the true meaning of joie de vivre ... ....(size: 8.8Kb)

Julianne Hough: Ryan Seacrest Used To Call Me 'Future Mrs. Seacrest' Before They Were Dating (VIDEO)

Huffington Post

15 Feb 2013

Anthony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson, Ludo Lefebvre, Brian Malarkey <strong>What's It About</strong> ... Anthony Edwards, Carmen Ejogo, Scott Michael Foster, Addison Timlin, Jacinda Barrett and Michael Nyqvist <strong>What's It About</strong> ... stars Jeffrey Tambor and Anthony Michael Hall, as well."All-Star Celebrity Apprentice"....(size: 22.9Kb)

Valentine's Day Cards From Your Favorite Eligible Post 50s

Huffington Post

15 Feb 2013

Way back when, Valentine's Day was all about getting Valentine's Day cards ... We thought we'd pay homage to those cards from our past with an assortment of Valentine's Day cards featuring eligible post 50 bachelors and bachelorettes like Anthony Bourdain and Susan Sarandon ... Loading Slideshow ... Be mine! ... Be mine! ... ....(size: 1.8Kb)

Google, Apple-Samsung, Harvard Law: Intellectual Property

Bloomberg

15 Feb 2013

A federal judge in New York ruled that the Fox Entertainment Group series “Touch” doesn’t violate the copyright of author Everette Hallford ... U.S. District Judge William H ... obtained the U.K ... Anthony Bourdain and Jamie Oliver were among chefs who criticized the application. Bourdain said the attempt to use the name was shameful. “Gordon Ramsay registers name ‘Spotted Pig’ in England?” Bourdain said in a message posted on Twitter on Nov ... v ... v ... ....(size: 10.2Kb)

Gordon Ramsay Succeeds in ‘Spotted Pig’ U.K. Application

Bloomberg

14 Feb 2013

Gordon Ramsay Holdings International Ltd. has successfully registered the U.K ... Anthony Bourdain and Jamie Oliver were among chefs who criticized the application after Bloomberg News reported it on Nov. 20. Bourdain said the attempt to use the name was shameful. “Gordon Ramsay registers name ‘Spotted Pig’ in England?” Bourdain said in a message posted on Twitter on Nov ... ....(size: 1.7Kb)

ABC Moves Happy Endings to Fridays

IMDb

14 Feb 2013

Replacing the sitcom in its current Tuesdays at 9/8c timeslot, will be Anthony ......(size: 0.4Kb)

10 Celebrity Valentine's Day Cards

IMDb

14 Feb 2013

... Day cards featuring eligible post 50 bachelors and bachelorettes like Anthony Bourdain and Susan Sarandon....(size: 0.6Kb)

THE TASTE (2/26; NEW AIRTIME) (Disney-ABC Television Group)

noodls

14 Feb 2013

(Source. Disney-ABC Television Group). *** AIRTIME CHANGE ***. THE JUDGES ARE FIERCELY DIVIDED AS NINE CONTESTANTS . ARE GIVEN THEIR MOST UNCONVENTIONAL CHALLENGE YET, ... "The Taste" is from Kinetic Content and is executive-produced by Chris Coelen, Matilda Zoltowski, Emma Conway, Anthony Bourdain and Nigella Lawson. Brian Smith is the director. ... (noodl....(size: 1.7Kb)

timeline:
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Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations
250px
Format	Travel, Food
Created by	Zero Point Zero Production Inc.
Starring	Anthony Bourdain (host)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	127 (to date)
Production
Running time	domestic: one hour (approx. 0:42 per episode); international: approx. 0:48 per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	Travel Channel Arts Central (Singapore)
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	July 25, 2005 – present

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations is an ongoing American travel and food show on the Travel Channel; it also airs on the Discovery Travel & Living channel around the world. Host Anthony Bourdain visits overseas countries, cities worldwide, and places within the U.S., where hosts treat him to local culture and cuisine. The series premiered in 2005 on the Travel Channel. The format and content of the show is similar to Bourdain's 2001–2002 Food Network series, A Cook's Tour.

The special episode Anthony Bourdain in Beirut that aired between Seasons 2 and 3 was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming in 2007.^[1] In 2009 the series won the Emmy for "Outstanding Cinematography For Nonfiction Programming".^[2]

1 Episodes
2 Notable guests
3 References
4 External links

Episodes [link]

Countries in green have been visited on the show at least once as of episode 139.

Season 1 [link]

Ep.Num.	Overall	Title	Airdate
1-01	1	"France: Why the French Don't Suck"	July 25, 2005 (2005-07-25)
Tony's debut episode of this new series has him visiting Paris. He explores the city's famous catacombs, tries out some absinthe, checks out one of the city's major meat markets, and spends the night in the room where Oscar Wilde died.
1-02	2	"Iceland: Hello Darkness My Old Friend"	August 1, 2005 (2005-08-01)
This week Anthony travels to Reykjavík, Iceland, where in winter the volcanic islands see only about four hours of sunlight a day. Anthony finds the darkness comforting and learns how the Icelanders contend with the dark days - eating, drinking, and pumping iron!
1-03	3	"New Jersey"	August 8, 2005 (2005-08-08)
Tony visits the state of New Jersey. He takes us on a trip through his birthplace trying to dispel some common misconceptions of the garden state. We learn about The Sopranos and other NJ landmarks as Tony reminisces.
1-04	4	"Vietnam: The Island of Mr. Sang"	August 15, 2005 (2005-08-15)
Responding to an invitation from an old friend. Tony travels to Hanoi, Mai Chau and Tuần Châu, Vietnam with the definite feeling of James Bond-ish intrigue. Discovering food, customs and the not so sinister plans for international tourism.
1-05	5	"Malaysia: Into the Jungle"	August 22, 2005 (2005-08-22)
Tony has always had an interest in "natural fusion" or the way cuisines intertwine with cultures over the course of history. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this is particularly true as a variety of cultures have blended.
1-06	6	"Sicily"	October 10, 2005 (2005-10-10)
While on the island of Sicily, Tony is treated to tripe at the II Capo Market. He tries a spleen sandwich with the Governor of Sicily (Salvatore Cuffaro). And, Tony attempts to determine where you can find the greatest cannoli.
1-07	7	"Las Vegas"	October 17, 2005 (2005-10-17)
Given an assignment to write about Las Vegas food by a food magazine, Tony spends four days exploring the city and learns how it's transforming into a mecca for chefs.
1-08	8	"Uzbekistan"	October 24, 2005 (2005-10-24)
Tashkent to Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Tony explores the 2000-year-old city of Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan with his friend Zamir Gotta. He partakes in local culture, attends a wedding, and also receives a traumatizing full-body massage at a sauna.
1-09	9	"New Zealand: Down Under the Down Under"	November 7, 2005 (2005-11-07)
Tony is invited to New Zealand to lecture at a gourmet food convention. But after receiving a lukewarm reception from the crowd, he decides to search for real Kiwi culture outside the city of Christchurch.

Season 2 [link]

Three special episodes were aired in 2006, one before the season, and two after.

Ep.Num.	Overall	Title	Airdate
Special	10	"Leftovers"	March 27, 2006 (2006-03-27)
2-01	11	"Asia Special: China & Japan"	March 27, 2006 (2006-03-27)
China and Japan
2-02	12	"South Florida"	April 3, 2006 (2006-04-03)
Miami, Florida, US
2-03	13	"Peru"	April 10, 2006 (2006-04-10)
Lima, Cusco, Tambopata and Machu Picchu, Peru
2-04	14	"Quebec"	April 17, 2006 (2006-04-17)
Tony visits the province of Quebec in Canada. He visits a duck farm in with famed chef Martin Picard, then enjoys a decadent, foie gras-heavy meal at Picard's restaurant, Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal. He flies north to go seal hunting with Inuits. He also enjoys poutine at La Banquise, sausages with maple syrup at a sugar house, and Montreal-style bagels.
2-05	15	"Sweden"	April 24, 2006 (2006-04-24)
Tony visits Stockholm, Sweden and tries local specialties like fläsklägg (pig knuckles) and tunnbrödsrulle (Swedish flatbread).^[3]
2-06	16	"Puerto Rico"	May 1, 2006 (2006-05-01)
Tony visits Puerto Rico and tries to see the less-touristic side of the island. After a bad start drinking a piña colada at the bar where the drink was invented, he enjoys roast pork at a lechonera, as well as mofongo, goes scuba-diving in an unsuccessful attempt to catch a giant lobster, and tries horseback riding. He also searches for the mythical chupacabra, and goes sparring with boxing champion Miguel Cotto. He visits a music festival, and enjoys chicharrón in Bayamón.
2-07	17	"Japan"	May 8, 2006 (2006-05-08)
Osaka, Japan [Note: This episode is the same as part one of "Asia Special: China & Japan"]
2-08	18	"US/Mexico Border"	May 22, 2006 (2006-05-22)
Tony visits Piedras Negras, Mexico and border towns in Texas, where he sees the influences that the two countries have had on each other. He also visits the Mexican restaurant credited with inventing nachos.
2-09	19	"India (Rajasthan)"	May 29, 2006 (2006-05-29)
Tony visits the state of Rajasthan in India. He visits the city of Udaipur and enjoys a vegetarian thali. He then attends a dinner and lavish party hosted by the Maharana of Udaipur. He visits a local chef for a home-cooked meal. He visits a guru in an ashram in the city of Jodhpur. He takes a long bus ride to the city of Jaisalmer, and experiences the Jaisalmer Desert Festival.
2-10	20	"India (Kolkata/Bombay)"	June 5, 2006 (2006-06-05)
Tony visits Kolkata and Bombay, India, where he learns how to play cricket.
2-11	21	"Korea"	June 12, 2006 (2006-06-12)
Tony visits Seoul in South Korea, as well as a town near the Korean Demilitarized Zone, accompanied by Nari Kye, an assistant on No Reservations. They visit a martial arts class and a spa, and try live octopus, kimchi, Korean barbecue and soju. They also meet Kye's family.
2-12	22	"Indonesia"	June 19, 2006 (2006-06-19)
Bali and Jakarta, Indonesia
Special	23	"Decoding Ferran Adria"	July 03, 2006
Bourdain travels to Spain and visits the research laboratory of Ferran Adria, renowned chef of el Bulli.
Special	24	"Anthony Bourdain in Beirut"	August 21, 2006 (2006-08-21)
Documentary of a week in July 2006 when Bourdain and his crew were trapped in Beirut, Lebanon due to the Lebanon War. This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming in 2007.

Season 3 [link]

Season 3 was aired in two parts: six episodes in the winter of 2007, and nine in the summer/autumn of 2007. Two special episodes were also aired in 2007, book-ending the regular episodes.

Ep.Num.	Overall	Title	Airdate
Special	25	"Leftovers 2"	January 1, 2007 (2007-01-01)
3-01	26	"Ireland"	January 1, 2007 (2007-01-01)
Tony visits Dublin and Belfast in Ireland, where he explores the legacy of the Troubles. He samples Irish stew, Guinness and some high-end restaurants, including those of chefs Paul Rankin and Seamus O'Connell.
3-02	27	"Ghana"	January 8, 2007 (2007-01-08)
Ghana
3-03	28	"Pacific Northwest"	January 15, 2007 (2007-01-15)
In Portland, Tony samples unique donuts and pizza, explores the history of the underground, and goes camping with some old friends. Tony takes in the sights of Pike Place Market, enjoys a Gypsy dinner, tries some Puget Sound geoduck, and spends some time with a meat curer friend in Seattle.
3-04	29	"Namibia"	January 22, 2007 (2007-01-22)
Tony visits Namibia and eats some of the local specialties, including, most memorably, the rectum of a recently-killed warthog, prepared by local Bushmen.
3-05	30	"Russia"	January 29, 2007 (2007-01-29)
Tony visits Moscow, Russia, accompanied by Zamir Gotta. They explore Moscow's Soviet history, including lunch with a former KGB chief, as well as some of the hangouts of Moscow's newly-rich. Tony then arranges for Zamir to get a painful spa treatment, as payback for the massage Tony got in Uzbekistan.
3-06	31	"Los Angeles"	February 5, 2007 (2007-02-05)
Tony visits Los Angeles, California, in search of the local culture, away from the glitz and glamor of Hollywood. He dines at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles with writer and screenwriter Jerry Stahl. He meets a women's roller derby team, and has French dip sandwiches with them at Philippe's, which claims to have invented the French dip sandwich. He eats at a Mexican restaurant with a mariachi band, and visits the neighborhood of Thai Town.
3-07	32	"Shanghai"	July 30, 2007 (2007-07-30)
Shanghai to Shangri-La, China
3-08	33	"New York City"	August 6, 2007 (2007-08-06)
New York City
3-09	34	"Brazil"	August 13, 2007 (2007-08-13)
São Paulo, Brazil
3-10	35	"French Polynesia"	August 20, 2007 (2007-08-20)
Tahiti
3-11	36	"Cleveland"	August 27, 2007 (2007-08-27)
Tony travels with food writer Michael Ruhlman to Cleveland, Ohio, Ruhlman's home town. They have Cincinnati chili at Skyline Chili. Tony meets comic-book artist Harvey Pekar. He also visits the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Marky Ramone, and spends time with chef Michael Symon, both at Symon's restaurant Lola and at a soul food restaurant. Parts of the episode are illustrated in Pekar's comic book style.
3-12	37	"Hong Kong"	September 3, 2007 (2007-09-03)
Tony visits Hong Kong and samples the food, like noodles and soup, with a local food blogger. He also films a fight scene with members of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team.
3-13	38	"Argentina"	September 10, 2007 (2007-09-10)
Patagonia, Argentina
3-14	39	"South Carolina"	September 17, 2007 (2007-09-17)
Tony visits South Carolina, where he enjoys local favorites like shrimp, grits and barbecue. He also participates in a Civil War reenactment.^[4]
3-15	40	"Tuscany"	September 24, 2007 (2007-09-24)
Tony visits Tuscany, Italy, and samples the local wine and cheese. He also clashes with the episode's director, the Italian auteur Vincenzo Tripodo, who dreams of making the episode an homage to Dante's Inferno.
Special	41	"Holiday Special"	December 10, 2007 (2007-12-10)
Bourdain visits his brother's family in Connecticut for the holidays, with special guests Queens of the Stone Age.

Season 4 [link]

As with Season 3, Season 4 was aired in two parts: nine episodes in the winter of 2008, and ten in the summer of 2008. Various sources have referred to the summer episodes as Season 5, but in a post on his blog regarding the September 1, 2008 episode, Bourdain refers to it as the final episode of Season 4.^[5] One special episode followed the regular 2008 episodes.

Ep.Num.	Overall	Title	Airdate
4-01	42	"Singapore"	January 7, 2008 (2008-01-07)
Singapore, featuring the local specialty chicken rice.
4-02	43	"Berlin"	January 14, 2008 (2008-01-14)
Tony visits Berlin, Germany and gets introduced to the city's Cold War past by a former British intelligence agent who stayed on in Berlin.
4-03	44	"Vancouver, BC"	January 21, 2008 (2008-01-21)
Tony visits Vancouver, Canada and explores the city's restaurant culture with three chef friends of his: Pino Posteraro, Hidekazu Tojo, and Vikram Vij. He also attempts to ski at Whistler, visits with the video gaming developers at EA Canada, and films a small role in the Uwe Boll action movie Far Cry.^[6]
4-04	45	"Greek Islands"	January 28, 2008 (2008-01-28)
Tony travels through the Greek Islands, from Crete to Zakynthos, and tries sardines, sweetbread, lamb, snails, sea urchins and rakı. He also hunts, and eats, quail.
4-05	46	"New Orleans"	February 4, 2008 (2008-02-04)
New Orleans, Louisiana, with emphasis on post-Katrina recovery, both by locals generally and also by the local food industry in particular. Includes a visit with Emeril Lagasse, who is acknowledged in the episode as a favorite target of ridicule in Bourdain's early career. Local writer Chris Rose offers commentary on the city's conditions.
4-06	47	"London/Edinburgh"	February 11, 2008 (2008-02-11)
Tony visits London, and Edinburgh, United Kingdom and meets with local chefs and raconteurs, including chefs Fergus Henderson, Marco Pierre White and Tom Kitchin. He also records a spoken-word track with the band Morcheeba.^[7]
4-07	48	"Jamaica"	February 18, 2008 (2008-02-18)
Tony visits Jamaica and meets a dancehall artist, as well as a Rastafarian.
4-08	49	"Romania"	February 25, 2008 (2008-02-25)
Tony visits Transylvania and Bucharest, Romania, accompanied by Zamir Gotta. They attend a tourist-oriented Dracula-themed Halloween dinner at a castle in Transylvania, which Tony hates.
4-09	50	"Hawaii"	March 3, 2008 (2008-03-03)
Hawaii
4-10	51	"Into the Fire NY"	March 10, 2008 (2008-03-10)
Tony and his friend, renowned chef Eric Ripert, spend a night as line cooks at Tony's old restaurant of Brasserie Les Halles in New York City to see if they still have the skills necessary to work in a restaurant.
4-11	52	"Laos"	July 7, 2008 (2008-07-07)
Tony travels to Vientiane, Laos, where he meets a man who was a victim of an unexploded American bomb, an takes part in a Baci ceremony.
4-12	53	"Colombia"	July 14, 2008 (2008-07-14)
Tony visits the cities of Medellín and Cartagena in Colombia, and learns about its tragic past as a drug capital, as well as its more hopeful future.^[8]
4-13	54	"Saudi Arabia"	July 21, 2008 (2008-07-21)
In a special episode of No Reservations, the show ran a "FANatic contest", in which viewers were asked to submit a tape nominating their home town or country as a destination for a future episode of the show. The winner of the contest was Danya Alhamrani, and in this episode Bourdain and crew visit her hometown of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
4-14	55	"Uruguay"	July 28, 2008 (2008-07-28)
Tony travels to Uruguay with his brother to research their roots, after learning that they have family connections there. They enjoy chivitos, and other local specialties.^[9]
4-15	56	"U.S. Southwest"	August 4, 2008 (2008-08-04)
Tony travels through the US states of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. In Phoenix, Arizona, Tony meets with rock legend Alice Cooper at Cooper's restaurant. In Texas, he shoots machine guns and dines with another rock legend, Ted Nugent.
4-16	57	"Tokyo"	August 11, 2008 (2008-08-11)
Tony visits Tokyo, Japan, where he enjoys snacks like takoyaki, as well as sushi and sake. He also meets with famed chef Masaharu Morimoto, and tries to learn the martial art of kendo.
4-17	58	"Spain"	August 18, 2008 (2008-08-18)
Tony re-visits Spain, which he calls the most important food destination in the world. He visits the test kitchen of pastry chef Albert Adrià, Ferran's brother, and the factory of pioneering chocolate maker Enric Rovira. At a farm, he enjoys roasted calçots during a "calçotada". He has bar tapas with chefs Juan Mari Arzak and his daughter, Elena, of the restaurant Arzak, in San Sebastián. He eats at the molecular gastronomy restaurant Mugaritz, the grill-based restaurant Etxebarri, and Arzak.
4-18	59	"Egypt"	August 25, 2008 (2008-08-25)
Egypt
4-19	60	"So Long, Summer"	September 1, 2008 (2008-09-01)
Various clips and outtakes
Special	61	"At the Table with Anthony Bourdain"	October 20, 2008 (2008-10-20)
Bourdain with guests Amy Sacco, Bill Buford, Ted Allen and Chris Wilson dine at NYC restaurant wd~50 and discuss various topics related to food and restaurants.

Season 5 [link]

Season 5 is another split season, with 10 episodes aired in the winter of 2009, and 10 episodes following in the summer.

Ep.Num.	Overall	Title	Airdate
5-01	62	"Mexico"	January 5, 2009 (2009-01-05)
Tony travels to Mexico with Carlos, the Mexican executive chef of Les Halles, and the two visit Puebla, Carlos's home town, and Mexico City. Tony eats Mexican foods like tortillas and roast pork and drinks pulque, an alcoholic beverage. He also attends a lucha libre school.^[10]
5-02	63	"Venice"	January 12, 2009 (2009-01-12)
Tony goes in search of the less-touristic side of Venice, Italy, and meets locals and enjoys deep-fried crabs, bacala and boiled calves' heads.^[11]
5-03	64	"Washington, D.C."	January 19, 2009 (2009-01-19)
Tony visits Washington, D.C. and explores the diversity of its culinary options, including Irish, Mexican and Ethiopian food, as well as local landmark Ben's Chili Bowl. He also visits the International Spy Museum and practices one espionage technique, the dead drop.^[12]
5-04	65	"Azores"	January 26, 2009 (2009-01-26)
Tony travels to the Portuguese islands of the Azores, and visits a boiling geyser.^[13]
5-05	66	"Chicago"	February 2, 2009 (2009-02-02)
Tony visits Chicago and samples local favorites like sausages and deep-dish pizza, as well as upscale dining. He also enjoys a giant "Three Little Piggies" sandwich with radio personality Mancow Muller.
5-06	67	"Food Porn"	February 9, 2009 (2009-02-09)
The episode shows various clips from previous shows of appetizing-looking meals. It also includes new footage of various chefs talking about food, including an extended conversation between Bourdain and chef David Chang while they eat at Chang's restaurant Momofuku Ssäm Bar.
5-07	68	"Philippines"	February 16, 2009 (2009-02-16)
Tony visits Manila, Pampanga, and Cebu in the Philippines, traveling around with one of the runners-up of his "FANatic" contest. After tasting Cebu's famous Lechon, he considered it as the "Best Pig Ever."
5-08	69	"Disappearing Manhattan"	February 23, 2009 (2009-02-23)
Tony visits old establishments in Manhattan that are becoming a rarity in the city. He visits several old food stores in Hell's Kitchen with chef Michael Lomonaco, Keens Steakhouse with food writer Joshua Ozersky, Russ & Daughters and Katz's Delicatessen with novelist Joel Rose, Eisenberg's Sandwich and some of the German establishments in the Yorkville neighborhood with tour guide "Famous Fat Dave", Hop Kee in Chinatown with chef Chris Cheung, Le Veau d'Or with food writer Michael Batterberry, and dive bar Sophie's with writer Nick Tosches.
5-09	70	"Sri Lanka"	March 2, 2009 (2009-03-02)
Tony visits Colombo, Sri Lanka, samples the local food, and discusses the aftermath of the Sri Lankan Civil War and the 2004 tsunami.
5-10	71	"Vietnam: There's No Place Like Home"	March 9, 2009 (2009-03-09)
Tony visits Vietnam, accompanied by his former boss, Les Halles owner Philippe Lajaunie, and visits the countryside, street markets and newly upscale areas of Ho Chi Minh City. At the end of the episode, he considers moving there.
5-11	72	"Chile"	July 13, 2009 (2009-07-13)
Tony visits Santiago and Patagonia in Chile. He attends a Chilean rodeo event, and enjoys sopaipillas and beef braised in wine.
5-12	73	"Australia"	July 20, 2009 (2009-07-20)
Tony visits Melbourne, Australia, and samples food from the city's diverse ethnic communities, as well as at high-end restaurants. He also learns how to play Trugo.
5-13	74	"Rust Belt"	July 27, 2009 (2009-07-27)
Tony visits the "Rust Belt" cities of Baltimore, Maryland; Detroit, Michigan and Buffalo, New York, accompanied by Zamir Gotta. In Baltimore they meet with several of the cast members of the television show The Wire. In Buffalo they meet one of the other runners-up of the "FANatic" contest, Nelson Starr, and see his rock band perform. Zamir is discovered to have become a celebrity in the US in his own right, as a result of his previous No Reservations appearances.^[14]
5-14	75	"Down on the Street"	August 3, 2009 (2009-08-03)
A collection of street food clips from past shows, mostly in Asia.
5-15	76	"San Francisco"	August 10, 2009 (2009-08-10)
Tony dines at various restaurants in San Francisco, California.
5-16	77	"Thailand"	August 17, 2009 (2009-08-17)
Tony travels to Thailand, and catches the beginning of the 2009 political unrest there. He also enjoys street food in Bangkok and explores Phuket.
5-17	78	"Montana"	August 24, 2009 (2009-08-24)
Tony travels to the state of Montana in the United States, where he visits a ranch, eats local specialties like beef and buffalo, and meets with writer and local legend Jim Harrison.
5-18	79	"Burning Questions"	August 31, 2009 (2009-08-31)
Tony answers the top 10 questions from viewers, submitted and voted on at the Travel Channel's website. His answers are illustrated with clips from the show.
5-19	80	"New York Outer Boroughs"	September 7, 2009 (2009-09-07)
Tony visits the "outer boroughs" of New York City: Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. In Staten Island, Tony meets with musical pioneer David Johansen at a tiki bar. He visits ethnic Queens restaurants with chefs David Chang and Chris Cheung.
5-20	81	"Sardinia"	September 14, 2009 (2009-09-14)
Bourdain travels with his wife Ottavia Busia to her ancestral home of Sardinia, Italy.

Season 6 [link]

Some episodes of Season 6 included in-show product placement for the Chase Sapphire credit card.^[15]

Ep.Num.	Overall	Title	Airdate
6-01	82	"Panama"	January 11, 2010 (2010-01-11)
Tony visits Panama, including a trip to Manuel Noriega's old house, and a trip into the rainforest, where he meets some local tribespeople. He also watches as the police set fire to a multi-million-dollar seized stash of cocaine.^[16]
6-02	83	"Istanbul"	January 18, 2010 (2010-01-18)
Tony visits Istanbul, Turkey and samples lahmacun, doner kebab, islak burger, midye dolma, börek and rakı. He also visits the Blue Mosque.
6-03	84	"Brittany"	January 25, 2010 (2010-01-25)
Tony travels to Brittany, France and enjoys some of the local specialties, like crepes, cider and oysters.
6-04	85	"Prague"	February 1, 2010 (2010-02-01)
Tony enjoys the old-world charms of Prague in the Czech Republic, and travels with local Michelin-awarded chef Zdenek Pohlreich.
6-05	86	"Hudson Valley, NY"	February 8, 2010 (2010-02-08)
Tony visits cities in Hudson Valley in New York State, accompanied at times by food writer Michael Ruhlman. He enjoys local crabs, visits his alma mater The Culinary Institute of America and Mohonk Mountain House, and has lunch with actor Bill Murray in Yonkers.
6-06	87	"Ecuador"	March 1, 2010 (2010-03-01)
Tony visits Ecuador's Andean capital Quito to try some street food and local soups. He tries guinea pig in Sangolqui. Then he goes to the coast of Ecuador to try local seafood in Puerto Lopez, Salango, Montañita, and Manglaralto. Finally he tries some local stews in Guayaquil and experiences a crab party.
6-07	88	"Obsessed"	March 8, 2010 (2010-03-08)
Anthony talks to chefs and bloggers whose obsessive love for food drives them to noteworthy feats.
6-08	89	"Harbin, China"	March 15, 2010 (2010-03-15)
Tony visits the city of Harbin in northeastern China and experiences the mix of Chinese and Russian cultures there. He also visits an eccentric local entrepreneur who enjoys karaoke and all things American.^[17]
6-09	90	"Provence"	March 22, 2010 (2010-03-22)
Tony and crew stay at a villa in Provence, France, and Tony tries daube, aioli, terrine and Ricard Pastis, and plays pétanque. He then attempts to cook a provençal meal for some of the locals.
6-10	91	"Vietnam: Central Highlands"	March 29, 2010 (2010-03-29)
Da Lat and Hanoi, Vietnam
6-11	92	"Techniques Special"	April 5, 2010 (2010-04-05)
Bourdain and various chefs illustrate basic cooking techniques.
6-12	93	"Maine"	April 12, 2010 (2010-04-12)
Tony travels to Maine, guided by one of his cameramen, Maine native Zach Zamboni.^[18]
6-13	94	"Food Porn 2"	April 19, 2010 (2010-04-19)
Like the first "Food Porn" episode, this episode features a mix of previous clips and new footage. The episode is introduced by porn actor Ron Jeremy.
6-14	95	"Caribbean Island Hopping"	July 5, 2010 (2010-07-05)
Tony visits St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He meets with chef Norman van Aken, a fusion pioneer, and they visit the Tobago Cays. He also participates in an opossum hunt, and eats the resulting stew. He goes scuba diving, and eats at a cafeteria-style restaurant in the capital city, Kingstown.
6-15	96	"US Heartland"	July 12, 2010 (2010-07-12)
While on a speaking tour through the United States, Tony visits the cities Livonia, Michigan, Columbus, Ohio, Minneapolis, Denver, Austin and Milwaukee and searches out high-end and innovative dining, to counter a perception that some have that the middle of the United States represents a culinary wasteland.
6-16	97	"Liberia"	July 19, 2010 (2010-07-19)
Liberia
6-17	98	"Kerala, India"	July 26, 2010 (2010-07-26)
Tony visits the state of Kerala in India, where he enjoys the local cuisine such as malabar matthi curry, and meets local film star Mammootty on the set of the film Pokkiri Raja.^[19]
6-18	99	"Where It All Began"	August 2, 2010 (2010-08-02)
Tony introduces footage taken by a documentary crew who were filming Bourdain in 2001 immediately after the publishing success of his book Kitchen Confidential.
6-19	100	"Dubai"	August 9, 2010 (2010-08-09)
Tony visits Dubai and samples some of the local highlights, including fine dining and the indoor ski resort Ski Dubai. He also meets and eats with some of the locals, including some young sheiks and foreign workers.
6-20	101	"Rome"	August 16, 2010 (2010-08-16)
Tony visits Rome, Italy and meets artisans of pasta, cheese and other local specialties. The episode was filmed entirely in black and white, and is intended as an homage to Frederico Fellini's films, especially La Dolce Vita.^[20]
6-21	102	"Back to Beirut"	August 23, 2010 (2010-08-23)
Tony and crew return to Beirut after their last attempt was derailed by the 2006 Lebanon War.
6-22	103	"Making of India"	August 30, 2010 (2010-08-30)
The Zero Point Zero crew's behind-the-scenes look at the making of the Kerala episode
6-23	104	"What Were We Thinking Special"	September 6, 2010 (2010-09-06)
Tony and the crew of No Reservations discuss the making of the show, from its beginning to the present.
6-24	105	"100th Episode - Paris"	September 6, 2010 (2010-09-06)
For the 100th episode, Tony travels to Paris and meets with Eric Ripert and various local chefs, and they discuss the past and future of French cooking.
6-25	106	"Madrid"	September 13, 2010 (2010-09-13)
Tony visits Madrid, Spain and enjoys local delicacies like jamón ibérico and black pudding.
6-26	107	"Holiday Special"	December 6, 2010 (2010-12-06)
Tony and his friends plan a huge potluck holiday dinner. The episode includes holiday-inspired music videos from the band Das Racist.

Season 7 [link]

Ep.Num.	Overall	Title	Airdate
7-01	108	"Haiti"	February 28, 2011 (2011-02-28)
Tony visits Haiti, a country still recovering from the 2010 earthquake and dealing with a cholera epidemic in and an impending hurricane. He visits a relief camp run by Sean Penn's J/P Haitian Relief Organization.
7-02	109	"Cambodia"	March 7, 2011 (2011-03-07)
Tony seeks to reconnect with the historically rich country of Cambodia. While sampling local seafood, Tony sits down with politicians to discuss the country's difficult Khmer Rouge past.
7-03	110	"Nicaragua"	March 14, 2011 (2011-03-14)
Tony visits Nicaragua to sample the cuisine, and in the process examines the cultural extremes in the country.
7-04	111	"Vienna"	March 21, 2011 (2011-03-21)
Tony visits Vienna, Austria.
7-05	112	"Ozarks"	March 28, 2011 (2011-03-28)
Tony visits West Plains, Missouri, backdrop of the book and film Winter's Bone, and eats at Fred and Red's.^[21]
7-06	113	"Brazil (the Amazon)"	April 11, 2011 (2011-04-11)
Tony visits the city of Belém and the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil,^[22]
7-07	114	"Boston"	April 18, 2011 (2011-04-18)
Tony visits the South Boston section of Boston, the neighborhood known as "Southie", and meets with local celebrities like journalist Howie Carr.^[23]
7-08	115	"Japan"	April 25, 2011 (2011-04-25)
Weeks before the March 2011 quake, Tony visits Hokkaido, Japan.
7-09	116	"Cuba"	July 11, 2011 (2011-07-11)
Tony travels to Cuba in the search of the island's heart and soul where beauty abounds in the people, the food and the architecture and streets that are riddled with cars hobbling from before Fidel Castro's coup d'etat.
7-10	117	"Macau"	July 18, 2011 (2011-07-18)
Tony visits the island nation of Macau, now known as the "Vegas of Asia", and tries his hand at some casino games. He also visits the Macau Tower bungee jump, the largest in the world, and takes the ultimate plunge.
7-11	118	"Naples"	July 25, 2011 (2011-07-25)
Tony travels to Naples, Italy, considered to be the root of Italian-American cuisine, to find out the differences and similarites between the original and its American counterpart.
7-12	119	"El Bulli"	August 1, 2011 (2011-08-01)
Tony visits elBulli, a renowned restaurant in Spain, and gets to cook and dine with chef Ferran Adria.
7-13	120	"US Desert"	August 8, 2011 (2011-08-08)
Tony explores the Mojave Desert of southern California with Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age.
7-14	121	"Ukraine"	August 15, 2011 (2011-08-15)
Tony and Zamir travel through the abandoned city of Chernobyl in Ukraine, site of a nuclear accident 25 years earlier. They then travel elsewhere in Ukraine and sample local food like green borscht.
7-15	122	"Kurdish Culture"	August 22, 2011 (2011-08-22)
Tony and his crew venture to the war zone of in Iraq, as well as the Turkish side in Turkey, to explore the tragic history and hopeful future of the Kurds.
7-16	123	"Cajun Country"	August 29, 2011 (2011-08-29)
Tony goes to New Orleans and meets up with some of the crew of TV show Treme. He then continues east into the bayou and Cajun country.
Special	124	"Holiday Special 2011"	December 12, 2011 (2011-12-12)
Tony's Christmas takes a turn towards the bizarre. Norah Jones sings, Tony seeks answers from chef Dave Arnold, Tony cooks with Lidia Bastianich and Christopher Walken, and Samantha Brown shoots a gun.

Season 8 [link]

Ep.Num.	Overall	Title	Airdate
8-01	125	"Mozambique"	April 9, 2012 (2012-04-09)
Tony travels to Mozambique and finds himself in a mysterious, post-colonial Africa. From Portuguese ruins on Mozambique Island, to the vibrant metropolis of Maputo, Mozambique doesn't look like anywhere Tony has been so far.
8-02	126	"Kansas City"	April 16, 2012 (2012-04-16)
Tony travels to Kansas City, the BBQ capital of the world, with pal Zamir Gotta, in search of the best barbecue. While there, Tony meets up with musicians Dan and Patrick of The Black Keys for some serious finger licking meat. Zamir has his own adventures, visiting Leila's Hair Museum and attending his first-ever tailgate party.
8-03	127	"Croatian Coast"	April 23, 2012 (2012-04-23)
Tony visits the Croatian coast to swim with bluefin tuna, hunt for a prized white truffle, and literally gets knocked off his feet as he is treated to the finest Mediterranean cuisine.
8-04	128	"Lisbon"	April 30, 2012 (2012-04-30)
Once the center of the richest empire in Europe, Lisbon now faces one of the worst financial crises in the EU. But even as it struggles with rising debt and unemployment, Tony finds out that Lisbon is experiencing a cultural and culinary renaissance.
8-05	129	"Japan: Cook It Raw"	May 7, 2012 (2012-05-07)
Tony heads to Japan for the gastronomic event that is "Cook it Raw", which brings together some of the best chefs in the world to forage for local ingredients and serve the results to culinary experts.
8-06	130	"Finland"	May 14, 2012 (2012-05-14)
Anthony Bourdain heeds the calls of his Finnish Facebook fans and takes a trip to Helsinki, Finland. Tony joins musician Sami Yaffa for a liquored-up tour of the world's only pub tram, a bloody sauna and an unexpectedly exciting dinner with a cabbie's mother.
8-07	131	"Baja"	May 28, 2012 (2012-05-28)
Tony travels to the Baja Peninsula and Tijuana, Mexico.
8-08	132	"Penang"	June 4, 2012 (2012-06-04)
Tony travels to Penang, Malaysia, where he experiences the local seafood.

Related [link]

Title	Airdate
"No Reservations: Iceland: Special Edition"	March 20, 2006 (2006-03-20)^[24]
Bourdain and show producer Chris Collins re-view Season 1's "Iceland" episode with DVD-style behind-the-scenes commentary.
"What's Your Trip with Anthony Bourdain"	May 21, 2007 (2007-05-21)
Pilot episode for a proposed new series with Bourdain presenting travel videos submitted by viewers.

Future episodes/specials [link]

Future Season 8 episode destinations include Austin, Penang, Oman, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rio De Janerio, and Israel.^[25]

Home video releases [link]

As of October 2011, Travel Channel has released five collections of the series on DVD with a sixth collection to be released on November 29, 2011.^{[dated info]} As of September 2010, collections 1-4 and 6-8 are available to view on Netflix's "Watch Instantly" feature. Despite that the series has been shot mostly with high definition video cameras, it is not available for purchase in high definition format like Blu-ray Disc. However, many episodes from Collection 4 and later can be streamed from Netflix in high definition. ( Travel Channel HD was launched in Jan. 2008, but repeat episodes from early 2008, such as New Orleans, are shown in zoomed SD. Tokyo appears to have a mixture of SD and HD scenes, so it seems likely that production shifted gradually to HD during 2008, due to the launch of Travel Channel HD. This would also explain why some of Collection 4 is streamed in HD from Netflix, but not all. )

The DVD releases do not have subtitles enabled for the hearing impaired. (Broadcast episodes do have closed-captioning available.)

Collection 1 (4 discs) (2005)
- Disc 1- Paris, New Jersey
- Disc 2- Sicily, Las Vegas
- Disc 3- New Zealand, Malaysia
- Disc 4- Iceland, Vietnam
Collection 2 (3 discs) (2006)
- Disc 1- Sweden, Puerto Rico, Quebec, U.S./Mexico Border
- Disc 2- India (Rajasthan), India (Kolkata/Mumbai), Korea, Indonesia, Ireland
- Disc 3- Ghana, Namibia, Lebanon, Pacific Northwest
Collection 3 (3 discs) (2007)
- Disc 1- Russia, Los Angeles, New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong
- Disc 2- French Polynesia, Cleveland, Brazil, Argentina
- Disc 3- Singapore, South Carolina, Berlin, Tuscany
Collection 4 (3 discs) (2008)
- Disc 1- Vancouver, New Orleans, London/Edinburgh, Greek Islands, Jamaica, Hawaii
- Disc 2- Into the Fire, Laos, Tokyo, Uruguay, Colombia
- Disc 3- Spain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Washington D.C., US Southwest, Bonus Features
Collection 5 - Part 1 (3 discs) (2010)
- Disc 1- Romania, So Long Summer, Mexico, Venice
- Disc 2- Azores, Chicago, Food Porn, Philippines
- Disc 3- Disappearing Manhattan, Sri Lanka, Sardinia, Chile, Bonus Materials (Alternate Universe)
Collection 5 - Part 2 (3 discs) (2011)
- Disc 1- Australia, Buffalo/Baltimore/Detroit, Down on the Street, San Francisco
- Disc 2- Thailand, Montana, NYC Outer Boroughs, Vietnam: No Place Like Home
- Disc 3- Brittany, Obsessed, Provence, Bonus Materials (Alternate Universe)
Collection 6 - Part 1 (3 discs) (November 29, 2011)
- Disc 1- Panama, Istanbul, Prague, New York Hudson Valley, Ecuador
- Disc 2- Harbin China, Maine, Food Porn 2, Caribbean Island Hopping, Heartland
- Disc 3- Bonus Features: Burning Questions, Techniques Special, Holiday Special
Collection 6 - Part 2 (2 discs) (2012)
- Disc 1- Where it all Began, Liberia, Dubai, Rome, Madrid
- Disc 2- Kerala,India, Paris 100, Back to Beirut, Bonus Features(What were we thinking, Making of India)

Notable guests [link]

On the Season 3 New York City episode, Andrew Zimmern appeared in one segment. Bourdain appeared as a guest on the New York City episode of Zimmern's Travel Channel show Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, which aired the same day. The two shows were edited such that one show led nearly seamlessly into the other.

Bourdain's wife Ottavia Busia, who is a native of Sardinia, Italy, appeared anonymously on the Season 3 Tuscany episode, as one of the disgruntled diners eating the food he prepares.^[26] She is also featured prominently in the Season 5 episode when the Bourdains visit Sardinia. Also featured in the Season 6 Rome and Season 7 Naples episodes.

In the Berlin episode (Season 4) he has lunch with German politician Gregor Gysi.

In the Sicilian episode Bourdain meets Sicily's Governor Salvatore Cuffaro.

Bourdain's brother Chris was his companion on the Season 4 Uruguay episode.^[27]

Both Alice Cooper and Ted Nugent appear in the U.S. Southwest episode. Other musicians who have appeared on the show include Queens of the Stone Age, Black Keys, Marky Ramone, David Johansen, Das Racist, and Paul Godfrey from Morcheeba.

In the Puerto Rico episode he boxed with and had lunch with boxer Miguel Cotto

Bill Murray was a guest in the Hudson Valley episode.

In the Haiti episode (Season 7) Tony meets with Sean Penn in the tent city built by his relief group, J/P Haitian Relief Organization.

Authors Jim Harrison, Chuck Palahniuk, Jerry Stahl, Harvey Pekar, George Pelecanos, Daniel Woodrell, Ian Rankin, Michael Ruhlman, Gary Shteyngart, Evan Rail and Nick Tosches have all appeared on the program.

The many chefs who have appeared include Ferran and Albert Adrià, Eric Ripert, Gastón Acurio, Thomas Keller, Jacques Pépin, Mario Batali, Masaharu Morimoto, José Andrés, David Chang, Marco Pierre White, Jun Sakamoto, Wylie Dufresne, Homaro Cantu, Michael Symon, Juan Mari Arzak and Elena Arzak, Andoni Aduriz, April Bloomfield, Fergus Henderson, Gabrielle Hamilton, Jiro Ono, Scott Conant, Chris Cosentino, Pino Posteraro, Hidekazu Tojo, Vikram Vij, Edward Tuson, Martin Picard, Joël Robuchon, Alvin Leung, David Munoz, Olivier Rollinger, Paul Kahan, Michael Lomonaco and Emeril Lagasse.

References [link]

^ Nominees for the News & Documentary Emmy Awards In 32 Categories Announced By NATAS (PDF), p. 21. Emmys.tv, July 17, 2007. Press release. Retrieved 2011-03-13.
^ 61st Annual Creative Arts Primetime Emmy Awards (PDF), p. 16. Emmys.tv, November 12, 2009. Press release. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
^ "Sweden : Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations". Travel Channel. http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/anthony-bourdain/episodes/sweden. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
^ [1]
^ Bourdain, Anthony (1 September 2008). Goodbye to all that. Travel Channel.
^ film.com (2008-01-23). "No Reservations: Bourdain’s Vancouver Is a Cool City". Film.com. http://www.film.com/tv/no-reservations-bourdains-vancouver-is-a-cool-city. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
^ "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations: London and Edinburgh". Travelchannel.com. http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/Episodes_Travel_Guides/Episode_London_And_Edinburgh. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
^ "Colombia : Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations". Travel Channel. http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/anthony-bourdain/episodes/colombia. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
^ "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations: Uruguay". Travelchannel.com. 2012-02-11. http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/Episodes_Travel_Guides/Episode_Uruguay. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
^ Monez, Mindy (2009-01-06). "Anthony Bourdain Visits Mexico, Eats His Weight in Pork - The Telefile Blog - TV Shows & TV News - TV Reviews | TWoP". Televisionwithoutpity.com. http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2009/01/anthony-bourdain-visits-mexico.php. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
^ BS (2009-01-13). "Anthony Bourdain Uncovers Non-Sucky Venice". Jaunted. http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/1/13/9555/63898/travel/Anthony+Bourdain+Uncovers+Non-Sucky+Venice. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
^ "Washington DC : Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations". Travel Channel. http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/anthony-bourdain/episodes/washington-dc. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
^ BS. "Anthony Bourdain Smells Something Funny in the Azores". Jaunted. http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/1/26/233527/559/travel/Anthony+Bourdain+Smells+Something+Funny+in+the+Azores. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
^ Mondays at 10 E/P. "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations". Travelchannel.com. http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/Episodes_Travel_Guides/ci.BuffaloBaltimoreDetroit.map. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
^ Chase Kicks Off Push for Sapphire, Anthony Crupi, Adweek, September 1, 2009
^ "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations Episode Guide - Zap2it". Tvlistings.zap2it.com. 2011-04-08. http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tv/anthony-bourdain-no-reservations/episode-guide/EP00800366. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
^ "Anthony Bourdain Visits Harbin, China on Monday, March 15th | Reality TV @ Real Television". Realtelevision.net. 2010-03-13. http://www.realtelevision.net/2010/03/13/anthony-bourdain-visits-harbin-china-on-monday-march-15th/. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
^ "Soup to Nuts: Boeuf de Bourdain | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram". Pressherald.com. 2011-10-19. http://www.pressherald.com/life/boeuf-de-bourdain_2011-10-19.html. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
^ R Gopakumar, March 30, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DHNS:. "Foodie Bourdain gets taste of Kerala cuisine". Deccanherald.com. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/61167/foodie-bourdain-gets-taste-kerala.html. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
^ USA Today. 16 August 2010. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/popcandy/post/2010/08/tonight-on-tv-anthony-bourdain-goes-to-rome-pays-tribute-to-fellini/1.
^ "Ozarks - Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations". Travel Channel. http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/Episodes_Travel_Guides/Ozarks. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
^ "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations". Travel Channel. http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain?intcmp=hp_nav_shows. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
^ "Boston - Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations". Travel Channel. http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/Episodes_Travel_Guides/Boston. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
^ Iceland: Special Edition. No Reservations, TVGuide.com.
^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBi1oThD_qE&feature=g-all-u&context=G2ce3da1FAAAAAHgAVAA
^ "Authors@Google: Anthony Bourdain" interview (Flash Video). Google Talks, November 21, 2007. YouTube.
^ Bourdain, Chris (July 20, 2008). "No Reservations Uruguay: A Brother’s Diary". No Reservations Crew blog. Travel Channel.

External links [link]

Official website
Series schedule
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations at the Internet Movie Database
TV.com Homepage
Bourdain's quail of a time. February 7, 2009.

v t e Anthony Bourdain

Non-fiction	Kitchen Confidential A Cook's Tour Typhoid Mary Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook The Nasty Bits No Reservations Medium Raw

Fiction	Bone in the Throat Gone Bamboo Bobby Gold A Chef's Christmas

Television	A Cook's Tour Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations Treme The Layover

Related articles	Brasserie Les Halles Kitchen Confidential (television series) Top Chef

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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Bourdain:_No_Reservations

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Anthony Bourdain
Bourdain in June 2006
Born	Anthony Michael Bourdain (1956-06-25) June 25, 1956 (age 56) New York City
Cooking style	French
Education	Vassar College Culinary Institute of America
Spouse	Nancy Putkoski (1980s–2000s) Ottavia Busia (April 20, 2007–present)
Television show(s) A Cook's Tour Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations The Layover

Anthony Michael "Tony" Bourdain (born June 25, 1956) is an American chef, author and television personality. He is well known for his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and is the host of Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure programs Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and The Layover.

A 1978 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and a veteran of numerous professional kitchens,^[1] Bourdain is currently a chef-at-large, whose home base is Brasserie Les Halles, New York^[2] where he was executive chef for many years.

1 Early life and family
2 Culinary training and career
3 Media career
4 Public persona
5 Interests and advocacy
6 Awards and nominations
7 Bibliography
8 References
9 Sources
10 External links

Early life and family [link]

Anthony Bourdain was born in New York City to Pierre (d.1987)^[3] and Gladys Bourdain, and grew up in Leonia, New Jersey.^[4] Bourdain has French ancestry on his father's side; his paternal grandfather emigrated from France to New York following World War I.^[5] Bourdain's mother worked for the New York Times as a staff editor^[6]. Bourdain was a student at Englewood School for Boys, graduating in 1973.^[7] He attended Vassar College before dropping out after two years, and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978.

Bourdain married his high-school girlfriend, Nancy Putkoski, in the 1980s, remaining together for two decades before divorcing; Bourdain has cited the irrevocable changes that come from traveling widely as the cause of the split.^[8] He currently lives with his second wife, Ottavia Busia. Together, they have a daughter, Ariane, born on April 9, 2007; the couple wed on April 20, 2007.^[9] Busia has appeared in several episodes of No Reservations – notably the episode on Sardinia, her birthplace; the Tuscany episode, in which she plays a disgruntled Italian diner; the Rome episode, and the Naples episode.

Culinary training and career [link]

In Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain describes how his love of food was kindled in France when he tried his first oyster on an oyster fisherman's boat as a youth while on a family vacation. Later, while attending Vassar College, he worked in the seafood restaurants of Provincetown, Massachusetts, which sparked his decision to pursue cooking as a career. Bourdain graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978, and went on to run various restaurant kitchens in New York City – including the Supper Club, One Fifth Avenue, and Sullivan's – culminating in the position of executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles beginning in 1998. Brasserie Les Halles is based in Manhattan, with additional locations in Miami and, at the time of Bourdain's tenure, Washington, D.C. and Tokyo, Japan.

Media career [link]

Writing [link]

Bourdain gained immediate popularity from his 2000 New York Times bestselling book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, an outgrowth of his now famous article in The New Yorker called "Don't Eat Before Reading This".^[10] The book is a witty and rambunctious exposé of the hidden and darker side of the culinary world, and is a memoir of Bourdain's professional life as well.

Bourdain subsequently wrote two more New York Times bestselling nonfiction books: A Cook's Tour (2001), an exotic account of his food and travel exploits across the world, written in conjunction with his first television series; and The Nasty Bits (2006), another collection of exotic, provocative, and humorous anecdotes and essays mainly centered on food. Bourdain's additional books include Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook; the culinary mysteries Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo; a hypothetical historical investigation, Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical; and No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach. His latest book, Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook, the sequel to Kitchen Confidential, was published in 2010.

Bourdain's articles and essays have appeared many places, including in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Observer, Gourmet, Maxim, Esquire (UK), Scotland on Sunday, The Face, Food Arts, Limb by Limb, BlackBook, The Independent, Best Life, the Financial Times, and Town & Country. On the Internet, Bourdain's blog for Season 3 of Top Chef^[11] was nominated for a Webby Award for best Blog – Cultural/Personal in 2008.^[12]

Television [link]

The acclaim surrounding Bourdain's racy memoir, Kitchen Confidential, led to an offer by the Food Network to host his own food and world-travel show, A Cook's Tour, which premiered in January 2002. In July 2005, he premiered a new, somewhat similar television series, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, on the Travel Channel. As a further result of the immense popularity of Kitchen Confidential, the Fox sitcom Kitchen Confidential aired in 2005, in which the character "Jack Bourdain" is based loosely on the biography and persona of Anthony Bourdain.

In July 2006, Bourdain was in Beirut filming an episode of No Reservations when the Israel-Lebanon conflict broke out. Bourdain and his crew were evacuated with other American citizens on the morning of July 20 by the United States Marines.^[13] Because of the unexpected conflict only a few hours of footage were available from the first restaurant on their agenda. Bourdain's producers compiled the Beirut footage into a No Reservations episode which aired on August 21, 2006. Uncharacteristically, the episode included footage of both Bourdain and his production staff, and included not only their initial attempts to film the episode, but also their firsthand encounters with Hezbollah supporters, their days of waiting for news with other expatriates in a Beirut hotel, and their eventual escape aided by a "cleaner" (unseen in the footage), whom Bourdain dubbed "Mr. Wolf" after the character portrayed by Harvey Keitel in the movie, Pulp Fiction. The episode was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2007.^[14]

Bourdain has appeared five times as guest judge on Bravo's Top Chef reality cooking competition program: first in the November 2006 "Thanksgiving" episode of Season 2; and then again in June 2007 in the first episode of Season 3, judging the "exotic surf and turf" competition featuring ingredients including abalone, alligator, black chicken, geoduck and eel. His third appearance was also in Season 3, as an expert on air travel, judging the competitors' airplane meals. Bourdain also wrote weekly blog commentaries for many of the Season 3 episodes, filling in as a guest blogger while Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio was busy opening a new restaurant. Bourdain next appeared as a guest judge for the opening episode of Season 4, in which pairs of chefs competed head-to-head in the preparation of various classic dishes; and again in the Season 4 Restaurant Wars episode, temporarily taking the place of head judge Tom Colicchio, was at a charity event. He is also one of the main judges on the Top Chef All-Stars Season 8.

Bourdain appeared in an episode of TLC's reality show Miami Ink which aired August 28, 2006. Artist Chris Garver tattooed a skull on Bourdain's right shoulder. Bourdain, who noted it was his fourth tattoo, said that one reason for the skull was that he wished to balance the ouroboros tattoo he had done on his opposite shoulder in Malaysia while filming Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.

Bourdain made a guest appearance on the August 6, 2007 New York City episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern; Zimmern appeared as a guest on the New York City episode of Bourdain's No Reservations airing the same day. On October 20, 2008 Bourdain hosted a special, "At the Table with Anthony Bourdain," on the Travel Channel. Bourdain also has a brief cameo appearance in the 2008 movie Far Cry.^[15]

In 2010, Bourdain appeared on Nick, Jr.'s Yo Gabba Gabba! as Dr. Tony. He is currently consulting and writing for the HBO series, Treme.^[16]^[17]

Travel Channel announced in July 2011 that it would be adding a second one-hour ten-episode Bourdain show to be titled The Layover, premiering November 21, 2011.^[18] The show's concept is that each episode features an exploration of a city that can be undertaken within an air travel layover of 24 to 48 hours.

Also in 2011, Bourdain voiced himself in a cameo on an episode of The Simpsons entitled "The Food Wife" in which Marge, Lisa, and Bart start a food blog called "The Three Mouthkateers" and Homer winds up in a meth lab.^[19]

In May 2012, Bourdain announced that he would be leaving the Travel Channel to host a show for CNN focusing on other cuisines and cultures.^[20]

Publishing [link]

Ecco Press, a division of HarperCollins, announced in September 2011 that Bourdain would have his own publishing line, which would include acquiring three to five titles per year that "reflect his remarkably eclectic tastes".^[21] The first books that the imprint will publish, to be released in 2013, will include Spaghetti Junction: Riding Shotgun with an L.A. Chef by Roy Choi, Prophets of Smoked Meat by Daniel Vaughn, and Fight Shark by Mark Miller.^[22] Bourdain has also announced plans to publish a book by Marilyn Hagerty.^[23]

In describing the line, Bourdain said, "This will be a line of books for people with strong voices who are good at something – who speak with authority. Discern nothing from this initial list – other than a general affection for people who cook food and like food. The ability to kick people in the head is just as compelling to us – as long as that's coupled with an ability to vividly describe the experience. We are just as intent on crossing genres as we are enthusiastic about our first three authors. It only gets weirder from here."^[24]

Public persona [link]

Bourdain in Chicago in 2007

Because of Bourdain's liberal use of profanity and sexual references in his television show No Reservations, the network has placed viewer discretion advisories on each segment of each episode. In recent seasons, the advisories include animation that is related in some way to the episode.

Known for consuming exotic ethnic dishes, Bourdain is famous for eating sheep testicles in Morocco, ant eggs in Puebla, Mexico, a raw seal eyeball as part of a traditional Inuit seal hunt, and a whole cobra – beating heart, blood, bile, and meat – in Vietnam. According to Bourdain, the most disgusting thing he has ever eaten is a Chicken McNugget,^[25] though he has also declared that the unwashed warthog rectum he ate in Namibia^[26] and the fermented shark he ate in Iceland^[27] are among "the worst meals of [his] life."

He has been known for being an unrepentant drinker and smoker. In a nod to Bourdain's (at the time) two-pack-a-day cigarette habit, renowned chef Thomas Keller once served him a 20-course tasting menu which included a mid-meal "coffee and cigarette": a coffee custard infused with tobacco, together with a foie gras mousse.^[28] Bourdain stopped cigarette smoking in the summer of 2007 because of the birth of his daughter.^[29] He is also a former user of cocaine, heroin, and LSD. In Kitchen Confidential he writes of his experience in a trendy SoHo restaurant in 1981: "We were high all the time, sneaking off to the walk-in refrigerator at every opportunity to 'conceptualize.' Hardly a decision was made without drugs. Cannabis, methaqualone, cocaine, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms soaked in honey and used to sweeten tea, secobarbital, tuinal, amphetamine, codeine and, increasingly, heroin, which we'd send a Spanish-speaking busboy over to Alphabet City to get."^[30] In the same book, Bourdain frankly describes his former addiction, including how he once resorted to selling his record collection on the street in order to raise enough money to purchase drugs.

Bourdain is also noted for his put-downs of celebrity chefs, such as Paula Deen, Bobby Flay, Sandra Lee, and Rachael Ray, and appears to be irritated by both the overt commercialism of the celebrity cooking industry and its lack of culinary authenticity. He has voiced a "serious disdain for food demigods like Alan Richman, Alice Waters, and Alain Ducasse."^[31] Bourdain has recognized the irony of his transformation into a celebrity chef and has, to some extent, begun to qualify his insults. He has been consistently outspoken in his praise for chefs he admires, particularly Thomas Keller, Gordon Ramsay, Eric Ripert, Ferran Adrià, Fergus Henderson, Marco Pierre White, and Mario Batali.^[32] Bourdain has also spoken very highly of Julia Child, saying that she "influenced the way I grew up and my entire value system."^[33]

Bourdain is also known for his sarcastic comments about vegan and vegetarian activists, saying that their lifestyle is rude to the inhabitants of many countries he visits. Bourdain says he considers vegetarianism, except in the case of religious strictures as in India, a "First World luxury."^[34] He has clarified that he believes Americans eat too much meat, and admires vegetarians who allow themselves to put aside their vegetarianism when they travel in order to be respectful of their hosts.^[35]

Bourdain's taste in music is also a matter of public record. His book, The Nasty Bits, is dedicated to "Joey, Johnny, and Dee Dee" of the Ramones. Bourdain has declared fond appreciation for their music, as well that of other early punk bands such as The Stooges, Dead Boys, Television, The New York Dolls, and The Voidoids. Additionally, Bourdain writes in Kitchen Confidential that the playing of music by Billy Joel in his kitchen was grounds for immediate firing (coincidentally, Joel is a fan of his and has subsequently visited the restaurant^[36]). In the 2006 No Reservations episode in Sweden, Bourdain proclaimed that his all-time favorite album (his "desert island disc") is the groundbreaking punk record Fun House by The Stooges; he also made it clear that he despises the Swedish pop group ABBA. On his 2007 No Reservations Holiday Special episode, the rock band Queens of the Stone Age were the featured dinner guests, adding food-inspired holiday songs to the episode's soundtrack.

Interests and advocacy [link]

Bourdain is an advocate for communicating the value and tastiness of traditional or "peasant" foods, including specifically all of the varietal bits and unused animal parts not usually eaten by affluent 21st-century US citizens.^[37] Bourdain has also consistently noted and championed the high quality and deliciousness of freshly prepared street food in other countries – especially developing countries – as compared to fast food chains in the U.S.^[38]

Bourdain often acknowledges and champions the industrious Spanish-speaking immigrants – often from Mexico or Ecuador – who make up a majority of the chefs and cooks in many U.S. restaurants, including upscale restaurants, regardless of cuisine.^[39]^[40] Bourdain considers them to be talented chefs and invaluable cooks, underpaid and unrecognized even though they have become the backbone of the U.S. restaurant industry.^[41]^[42]

Awards and nominations [link]

Bourdain was named Food Writer of the Year in 2001 by Bon Appétit magazine for Kitchen Confidential.^[43]

A Cook's Tour was named Food Book of the Year in 2002 by the British Guild of Food Writers.^[44]

The Beirut episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, which documented the experiences of Bourdain and his crew during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming in 2007.^[14]

Bourdain's blog for the reality competition show Top Chef^[11] was nominated for a Webby Award for best Blog – Culture / Personal in 2008.^[12]

In 2008, Bourdain was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America.

In 2009 and 2011, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations won a Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming.

In 2010, Anthony Bourdain was nominated for a Creative Arts Emmy for non-fiction writing.

In 2010, Anthony Bourdain was awarded an Honorary CLIO Awards, which is given to individuals who are changing the world by encouraging people to think differently.

Bibliography [link]

Nonfiction

Bourdain, Anthony (2000). Kitchen Confidential. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 1-58234-082-X.
Bourdain, Anthony (2001). A Cook's Tour. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 1-58234-140-0.
Bourdain, Anthony (2001). Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/1-58234-133-9|1-58234-133-9]].
Bourdain, Anthony (2004). Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-58234-180-4.
Bourdain, Anthony (2006). The Nasty Bits. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-59691-360-8.
Bourdain, Anthony (2007). No Reservations. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-59691-447-6.
Bourdain, Anthony (2010). Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook. Ecco/HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-171894-7.

Fiction

Bourdain, Anthony (1995). Bone in the Throat. New York: Villard Books. ISBN 0-679-43552-2.
Bourdain, Anthony (1997). Gone Bamboo. New York: Villard Books. ISBN 0-679-44880-2.
Bourdain, Anthony (2001). Bobby Gold. Edinburgh: Canongate Crime. ISBN 1-84195-145-5.

References [link]

^ Bourdain's biography on TravelChannel.com
^ "Les Halles Homepage". Brasserie Les Halles. http://www.leshalles.net/. Retrieved June 18, 2007.
^ "PIERRE BOURDAIN". The New York Times. April 30, 1987. http://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/30/obituaries/pierre-bourdain.html.
^ Mack, Patricia. "THE COOK, THE THIEF...", The Record (Bergen County), October 25, 2000. Accessed March 30, 2011. "Anthony Bourdain, the Leonia native with the French-sounding name, took a leave from his job as executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in New York City."
^ Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, episode 5.4: "Uruguay"; July 28, 2008
^ "My Oscar Picks: Anthony Bourdain". New York Times. http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/my-oscar-picks-anthony-bourdain/. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
^ "Anthony Bourdain". Nndb.com. http://www.nndb.com/people/783/000028699/. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
^ The Observer (April 30, 2006). "Regrets? He's had a few ...". The Guardian (London). http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,,1761844,00.html. Retrieved June 16, 2007.
^ Lindsay Soll (May 11, 2007). "Monitor". Celebrity Baby Blog. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20037733,00.html.
^ Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink – full text
^ ^a ^b Anthony's Blog: Read Anthony Bourdain's Online Blog – Top Chef TV Show – Official Bravo TV Site^{[dead link]}
^ ^a ^b "Webby Nominees". Webbyawards.com. http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=12#webby_entry_blog_culture. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
^ Anthony Bourdain (July 23, 2006). Twelve Days of Conflict Between Israel and Hezbollah. Interview with Larry King. Larry King Live. CNN. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0607/23/lkl.01.html. Retrieved June 16, 2007.
^ ^a ^b Nominees for the News & Documentary Emmy Awards In 32 Categories Announced By NATAS (PDF), p. 21. Emmys.tv, July 17, 2007. Press release. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
^ Far Cry (2008)
^ Ram, Archana (February 17, 2011). "Anthony Bourdain dishes on writing for 'Treme' | Inside TV | EW.com". Entertainment Weekly. http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/03/01/anthony-bourdain-dishes-on-writing-for-treme/. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
^ Peter Kramer / Associated Press. "Today in 'Treme': Anthony Bourdain is writing restaurant scenes for season two". NOLA.com. http://www.nola.com/treme-hbo/index.ssf/2011/02/today_in_treme_anthony_bourdai.html. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
^ "Coming Soon: The Layover". travelchannel.com. http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/Special_Features/Coming_November_21_The_Layover. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
^ Gunnison, Elizabeth. "14 In Which Marge Simpson Becomes a Food Blogger". Esquire. http://www.esquire.com/blogs/food-for-men/simpsons-food-wife-6560087. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
^ http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/bal-anthony-bourdain-to-cnn-20120529,0,2460257.story
^ "Anthony Bourdain Adds 'Book Publisher' To Resume". Huffington Post. September 12, 2011. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/12/anthony-bourdain-book-publisher_n_958866.html. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
^ Satran, Joe (February 22, 2012). "Imprint Announces First Titles, Authors". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/anthony-bourdains-ecco_n_1294908.html. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
^ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57411703/bourdain-to-work-with-viral-olive-garden-reviewer/
^ Forbes, Paula. "The Lineup For Anthony Bourdain's Ecco Imprint: Roy Choi, Texas Barbecue, Kickboxing". Eater. http://eater.com/archives/2012/02/22/bourdains-ecco-books-roy-choi-texas-bbq-more.php. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
^ O'Neal, Sean (January 8, 2008). "Anthony Bourdain". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/anthony_bourdain. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
^ Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, episode 3.4: "Namibia"; January 22, 2007
^ Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, episode 1.2: "Iceland"; August 1, 2005
^ Bourdain, Anthony (2001). A Cook's Tour. New York: Bloomsbury. pp. 248–9. ISBN 1-58234-140-0.
^ Hudak, Joseph (January 7, 2008). "Anthony Bourdain Speaks His Mind with No Reservations". TV Guide. http://www.tvguide.com/news/anthony-bourdain-reservations/080107-02. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
^ Bourdain, Anthony (2000). Kitchen Confidential. New York: Bloomsbury. p. 123. ISBN 1-58234-082-X.
^ Jeffrey, Clara, The Omnivore's Agenda: An Interview with Anthony Bourdain, Mother Jones (November/December 2010)
^ The Serious Eats Team (March 2, 2007). "Meet & Eat: Anthony Bourdain". Serious Eats. http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/03/qa-anthony-bourdain.html. Retrieved June 16, 2007.
^ Squires, Kathleen (August 3, 2009). "Dish from the Julie & Julia Premiere". Zagat.com. http://www.zagat.com/Blog/Detail.aspx?SNP=NC&SCID=35&BLGID=22666.
^ AtGoogleTalks. "Authors@Google". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfyxJifcAX8. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
^ Jeffrey, Clara, The Omnivore's Agenda: An Interview with Anthony Bourdain, Mother Jones (November/December 2010)
^ "Sound Opinions". American Public Media. June 26, 2009. http://soundopinions.org/shownotes/2009/062609/shownotes.html.
^ Bourdain, Anthony (2006). The Nasty Bits. New York: Bloomsbury.
^ Bourdain, Anthony (2001). A Cook's Tour. New York: Bloomsbury.
^ Bourdain, Anthony (2000). Kitchen Confidential. New York: Bloomsbury.
^ Master chef Douglas Rodriguez, on the July 8, 2009 episode of Top Chef Masters, stated that 60% of restaurant kitchen workers in the U.S. are Latinos.
^ Bourdain, Anthony (2001). A Cook's Tour. New York: Bloomsbury, pp. 200–217.
^ Bourdain, Anthony (2006). The Nasty Bits. New York: Bloomsbury, pp. 42–46.
^ "''Bon Appetit'' names award winners". Findarticles.com. September 24, 2001. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_39_35/ai_78804595. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
^ "Guild Of Food Writers". Gfw.co.uk. http://www.gfw.co.uk/awards/?sub=17#contentrow5. Retrieved April 27, 2011.

Sources [link]

Bourdain, Anthony. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, Updated ed., New York: Harper Perennial (January 9, 2007).
Bourdain's biography on TravelChannel.com

External links [link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Anthony Bourdain

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain official Travel Channel website
Anthony Bourdain at the Internet Movie Database
Anthony Bourdain at the Chef and Restaurant Database
One-hour video interview from Authors@Google (2007)

v t e Anthony Bourdain

Non-fiction	Kitchen Confidential A Cook's Tour Typhoid Mary Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook The Nasty Bits No Reservations Medium Raw

Fiction	Bone in the Throat Gone Bamboo Bobby Gold A Chef's Christmas

Television	A Cook's Tour Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations Treme The Layover

Related articles	Brasserie Les Halles Kitchen Confidential (television series) Top Chef

Persondata
Name	Bourdain, Anthony
Alternative names
Short description	Chef and food writer
Date of birth	June 25, 1956
Place of birth	New York City, U.S.
Date of death
Place of death

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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

No Reservations may refer to:

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, a television series hosted by Anthony Bourdain
- No Reservations (book), a 2007 book by Anthony Bourdain based on his TV series
No Reservations (film), a 2007 film starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart
No Reservations (Blackfoot album), 1975
No Reservations (Apache Indian album), 1993
No Reservations – The Best of The Motels, a 1988 compilation album by The Motels
No Reservations (talk show), a program on the Pakistani news channel Dawn News

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title.
If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

http://wn.com/No_Reservations

http://pt.wn.com/No Reservations

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Reservations

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

Norah Jones
Jones at Bright Eyes at Town Hall, May 29, 2007
Background information
Birth name	Geethali Norah Jones Shankar
Born	(1979-03-30) March 30, 1979 (age 33) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Genres	Jazz, blues, pop, folk, country, vocal jazz, soul, roots rock, alternative rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, actress
Instruments	Vocals, piano/keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, saxophone
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Blue Note
Associated acts	The Little Willies, El Madmo, Liberation Prophecy, Wax Poetic, Peter Malick, Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, Q-Tip, Peeping Tom
Website	norahjones.com

Norah Jones^[1] (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress. She is the daughter of Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar. She is also the paternal half-sister of Anoushka Shankar.^[2]

In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, a fusion of jazz, pop, and country music, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies.^[3]^[4]^[5] The record earned Jones five Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist.^[6] Her subsequent studio albums, Feels Like Home, released in 2004, Not Too Late, released in 2007, the same year she made her film debut in My Blueberry Nights, and her 2009 release The Fall all gained Platinum status after selling over a million copies^[4] and were generally well received by critics.^[3] Jones' fifth studio album, Little Broken Hearts was released on April 27, 2012.

Jones has won nine Grammy Awards and was Billboard magazine's 60th-best-selling music artist of the 2000–2009 decade.^[7] Throughout her career, Jones has won numerous awards and has sold over 40 million albums worldwide.^[8] Billboard named her the top jazz artist of the 2000–2009 decade, establishing herself as one of the best-selling artists of her time.

1 Early life
2 Musical career
3 Additional projects and collaborations
4 Hank Williams project
5 Tours
6 Special appearances
7 Personal life
8 Filmography
9 Discography
10 Awards
11 See also
12 References
13 External links

Early life [link]

Born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York to Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar and American concert producer Sue Jones.^[5] After her parents' separation in 1986, Jones spent her childhood with her mother in the Fort Worth suburb of Grapevine, Texas. She attended Colleyville Middle School and Grapevine High School before transferring to Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas. While in high school, Jones sang in the school choir, participated in band and played the alto saxophone. At the age of sixteen, with her parents' consent, she officially changed her name to Norah Jones.^[1]^[9]

Jones always had an affinity for the music of Bill Evans and Billie Holiday, among other 'oldies'. She once said, "My mom had this eight-album Billie Holiday set; I picked out one disc that I liked and played that over and over again."

She began singing in church choirs and took piano lessons as a child. She still attends church. She considers herself spiritual and appreciates the rituals of her church but does not consider herself the religious type.^[10]

She attended Interlochen Center for the Arts during the summers. While at high school, she won the DownBeat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist (twice, in 1996 and 1997) and Best Original Composition (1996).^[11]

Jones attended the University of North Texas (UNT), where she majored in jazz piano and sang with the UNT Jazz Singers. During this time, she had a chance meeting with future collaborator Jesse Harris. She gave a ride to a band playing at the university whose members happened to be friends of Harris. He was on a cross-country road-trip with friend and future Little Willies member, Richard Julian, and stopped to see the band play. After meeting Jones, Harris started sending her lead sheets of his songs. In 1999, she left for New York City. Less than a year later, she started a band with Harris, which made her famous.^[12]

Musical career [link]

[edit] 2001–2004: First Sessions and Come Away with Me

Main articles: First Sessions and Come Away with Me

Jones moved to New York City and signed to Blue Note Records, a label owned by EMI Group. The signing came as an indirect result of Jones performing background vocals for singer-songwriter Victoria Williams.^[13] Shell White, the wife of Williams' producer JC Hopkins, worked in Blue Note's royalties department and passed Jones's 3-track demo on to the label's president Bruce Lundvall and its A&R Brian Bacchus. The demo featured two jazz standards and a song by Jesse Harris.^[13] Lundvall and Bacchus immediately agreed Jones had great potential and although initially unsure about what direction her music would follow, particularly since Blue Note was a jazz label, they nevertheless decided to sign Jones. Bacchus told HitQuarters: "We let her find her own direction ... We knew that if she could develop her songwriting and we could find great songs, it would work."^[13]

Jones was first teamed up with experienced producer and engineer Jay Newland. Bacchus thought that Newland's experience in jazz, blues, rock, country and folk would give him a "feeling for her sound".^[13] Together they cut around nine demo tracks, of which six formed her debut Blue Note release, the sampler First Sessions, while the rest were set aside for her debut album.^[13] "First Sessions" was released in 2001.

Jones was a lounge singer before becoming a recording artist.^[14] Prior to releasing her first album, she performed with Wax Poetic, Peter Malick and jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter.^[15]^[16]^[17]

Released in February 2002 debut album, Jones' Come Away with Me, was celebrated for its blending of mellow, acoustic pop with soul and jazz. Debuting at #139, it reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard 200. The single "Don't Know Why" hit #1 on the Top 40 Adult Recurrents in 2003 and #30 in the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart.

In 2003, she won five Grammy Awards, which were Best New Artist, Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for the album and Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Don't Know Why" at the 45th Grammy Awards. This matched the record for most Grammy wins by a female artist in a single night (tying with Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys). That night, Jesse Harris won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for composing "Don't Know Why", Arif Mardin won Producer of the Year, primarily for his work on Come Away With Me, and the album also received the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.^[5]^[6]

The album received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America on August 22, 2002, and went on to become a diamond album on February 15, 2005.^[18] It remains Blue Note's biggest-selling album.^[5]

[edit] 2004–2006: Feels Like Home and collaboration with Ray Charles

Main article: Feels Like Home (Norah Jones album)

Jones released her second album, Feels Like Home, on February 9, 2004. It was influenced by country music. Within a week of its release, Feels Like Home had sold over a million copies. It sold 4 million copies in the United States and reached quadruple Platinum status, selling ten million copies worldwide. Jones toured globally, promoting the album with the Handsome Band, and backing singer Daru Oda.

Time magazine included Jones on the Time 100, a list of the most influential people of 2004.^[19] The album debuted at number one in at least 16 countries around the world.^[20]

In 2005, at the 47th Grammy Awards, Feels Like Home was nominated for three Grammys. It won for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Sunrise", and had nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for her duet with Dolly Parton, "Creepin 'In".^[21]

She won two more Grammy Awards that year, for Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for her collaboration with Ray Charles, "Here We Go Again", which was the first track on Charles' last album, Genius Loves Company. Genius Loves Company won the Album of the Year award.^[22]

[edit] 2007–2008: Not Too Late and Film debut

Main article: Not Too Late

Jones in 2007

Jones released her third album, Not Too Late, on January 30, 2007. The album was her first for which she wrote or co-wrote every song, and according to her, some of them are much darker than those on her previous albums.^[23] Not Too Late was mostly recorded at Jones's home studio and is her first album without producer Arif Mardin, who had died in the summer of 2006. Jones described the sessions as "fun, relaxed and easy" and without a deadline; Blue Note executives reportedly did not know she was recording an album. The song "My Dear Country" is political commentary; she wrote it before the United States Presidential election day in 2004.

Not Too Late reached the #1 position in twenty countries. Not Too Late had the third-best first week of sales in 2007, behind Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing and Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight. It reached #1 in the U.S., selling 405,000 copies. EMI announced that Not Too Late reached gold, platinum or multi-platinum in 21 countries as of February 2007.^[24] The album has sold 4 million copies worldwide.

By 2007, Jones had sold over 36 million albums worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

Jones made her film debut in 2007 in the romance/drama film My Blueberry Nights, directed by Wong Kar Wai, co-starring Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman. Jones as Elizabeth is a young woman who goes on a soul-searching journey across America to resolve her questions about love, and finds along the way a series of curious characters. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2007 and United States in April 2008, It went on to gross more than $21,967,587 worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 2009–2011: The Fall and ...Featuring

File:Norahjonesongma.jpg

Norah Jones performing on an electric piano in 2010.

Main article: The Fall (Norah Jones album)

Jones's fourth studio album, The Fall, debuted at number three in November 2009, selling 180,000 copies in its first week. It was Jones's first album to not reach #1 in the United States. The album received critical acclaim.^[25] As part of the promotional drive for the album, she performed on Dancing with the Stars, Late Show with David Letterman, Good Morning America and other television programs.

"The Fall," featured the Saint Bernard, Ben, on the cover.

The album's lead single, "Chasing Pirates", peaked at #13 on Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks and #7 on Jazz Songs.

Billboard's 2000–2009 decade awards ranked her as the top Jazz recording artist, at #60 best Artist. Come Away With Me was elected the #4 album and #1 jazz album. Jones earned a platinum certification by the RIAA for sales of 1 million copies of The Fall. The album sold 1.5 million copies worldwide and was certified gold or platinum in 14 countries as of 2010. "Baby, It's Cold Outside", a duet with Willie Nelson, was nominated in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category.

Her fourth world tour began March 5, 2010.

Jones released ...Featuring, a compilation album of collaborations she has done with well-known musicians, including the Foo Fighters, Willie Nelson, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Outkast, Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, Belle and Sebastian, Ray Charles, Ryan Adams, Dolly Parton, Herbie Hancock, M. Ward, and others. Jones said, “It's so exciting and flattering and fun when I get asked to sing with somebody that I admire...It takes you a little bit out of your comfort zone when you're doing something with another artist. You don't know what to expect—it's kind of like being a little kid and having a playdate.” The 18-track Blue Note disc was released on November 16, 2010.^[26]

Jones recorded a Christmas duet Home for the Holidays^{[disambiguation needed ]} with Cyndi Lauper.

[edit] 2012–present: Little Broken Hearts

After working with Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi on some of the tracks of their album, Rome, Jones teamed up with Danger Mouse for her fifth studio album Little Broken Hearts, which was released on May 1, 2012.^[27] Jones played the album at SXSW 2012 in its entirety.^[28] American Songwriter has referred to Little Broken Hearts as the "most dramatic and rewarding departure she’s made in her career."^[29]

Additional projects and collaborations [link]

Jones and jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter covered the Roxy Music song More Than This for Hunter's 2001 album Songs from the Analog Playground.^[30]

Jones made a cameo appearance as herself in the 2002 movie Two Weeks Notice which starred Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock. The film shows her briefly at the piano, singing for a charity benefit.^[31]

Jones appears on the track "Ruler of My Heart" (a cover of an Irma Thomas song), on the 2002 Dirty Dozen Brass Band album, Medicated Magic.^[32]

Norah Jones playing at the Blaisdell Arena.

In the latter part of 2003, rumors emerged that veteran Indian filmmaker Dev Anand was planning to make the film Song of Life, inspired by Jones's troubled relationship with her father, Ravi Shankar. Both Jones and Shankar were enraged by the rumors. Jones commented, "[Anand] has no idea of our story, and he's not going to represent it in a truthful way, I'm sure. It's sad because it's personal stuff and nobody's business but ours."^[5]

Jones appeared on OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below album, on "Take Off Your Cool". This album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year (Jones was not credited).

Jones appeared in the 2004 special Sesame Street Presents: The Street We Live On.^[33]

Jones appeared on Ray Charles' final album, Genius Loves Company, in 2004, on "Here We Go Again".

Jones formed The Little Willies in 2003 alongside Richard Julian on vocals, Jim Campilongo on guitar, Lee Alexander on bass, and Dan Rieser on drums. The alt country band released its eponymous first album in 2006 and a sophomore set, "For the Good Times" in 2012.^[34]

Jones has done three Grammy-nominated duets with Willie Nelson: "Wurlitzer Prize (I Don't Want To Get Over You)" in 2003,^[35] "Dreams Come True" in 2005^[36] and "Baby, It's Cold Outside" in 2009.^[37]

In 2005, Jones appeared on the Foo Fighters' album In Your Honor, performing piano and vocals on the song "Virginia Moon".^[38] The track was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, in 2006.

Jones appeared on Ryan Adams' & The Cardinals' 2005 album, Jacksonville City Nights on the track, which she co-wrote with Adams, "Dear John".^[39]

Jones worked with Mike Patton in 2006 providing vocals on the track "Sucker" on the Peeping Tom project. The song attracted attention as it was the first time Jones used profanity in a recording.^[40]

In 2007, Jones made her acting debut as the protagonist in a film directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film, My Blueberry Nights, opened for the 2007 Cannes Film Festival as one of the 22 films in competition.^[41] She wrote and performed a song, "The Story", for the movie.^[42]

In January 2007, Jones recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios for Live from Abbey Road. The episode, on which John Mayer and Richard Ashcroft also appeared, was aired on UK Channel 4 and on the Sundance Channel. She appeared twice on the PBS series Austin City Limits, on November 2, 2002 and October 6, 2007. The latter appearance was the season opener.

Jones performing at Parque Independência in 2010

In a change of direction predating The Fall, Jones (referring to herself as "Maddie" and virtually anonymous in a blond wig) sang and played guitar with rock band El Madmo. The band consists of Jones, Daru Oda and Richard Julian and released an eponymous album on May 20, 2007.^[43]

Jones appears in Herbie Hancock's 2007 release River: The Joni Letters singing the first track, "Court and Spark". This album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008; Jones was credited as a featured artist, her ninth Grammy win.^[44]

Jones appeared on the comedy track "Dreamgirl", on the 2009 debut album from The Lonely Island, Incredibad (featuring SNL performer Andy Samberg).^[45]

In 2008, Jones made another appearance in hip hop with an appearance on a track named "Life Is Better", on the critically acclaimed album The Renaissance by rapper Q-tip.^[46]

In 2009, Jones made a cameo appearance in the independent film, Wah Do Dem,^[47] co-starring Sean Bones and written by Ben Chace and Sam Fleischner.

Jones was a judge for the 5th annual Independent Music Awards, supporting independent artists' careers.^[48]

In 2010, Jones contributed "World of Trouble" to the Enough Project and Downtown Records' Raise Hope for Congo compilation. Proceeds from the compilation fund efforts to make the protection and empowerment of Congo’s women a priority, as well as inspire individuals around the world to raise their voice for peace in Congo.^{[citation needed]}

For the documentary Wretchers and Jabbers, Jones contributed a song on the soundtrack, "A Change is Gonna Come".

In 2011, Jones provided vocals to the songs "Season's Trees", "Black" and "Problem Queen" on the album Rome by Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi.^[49]

Jones collaborated with "Family Guy" celebrity Seth MacFarlane on his Grammy-nominated 2011 debut studio album "Music Is Better Than Words" on the song "Two Sleepy People".

In 2011, Jones appeared on Duets II by Tony Bennett on the track Speak Low.

Jones sang "It Came Upon Midnight Clear", "Silent Night", and "Pooping Log (Caga Tió)" on the Holiday Special 2011 of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.^[50]

Jones also played piano and vocals on numerous tracks on Ryan Adams' 2011 studio album Ashes & Fire.

Hank Williams project [link]

Jones is one of the participants in the so-called 'Hank Williams Project' overseen by Bob Dylan, and reportedly including contributions from Willie Nelson, Jack White, Lucinda Williams, and Alan Jackson.^[51]^[52]^[53] On March 31, 2008, Jones commemorated the 10th anniversary of The Living Room with a midnight performance at the intimate Manhattan music venue where the singer got her start. She played a new song titled "How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart" and explained that it originated from newly-found Hank Williams lyrics she was asked to put to music.^[52] Jones also performed the song in late 2008 on Elvis Costello's talk/music television series, Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...^[54]^[55]^[56]

Tours [link]

Main article: Norah Jones concert tours

Throughout 2002 and 2003, Jones appeared on stages globally, on her first tour with the Handsome Band, travelling throughout Asia, America, Europe and Oceania, with numerous sold-out concerts and critical acclaim. Jones tour to promote her third album, Not Too Late, began in Wallingford, Connecticut, on April 13, 2007, and featured a free concert in New York City on July 6, 2007.The European phase began on July 9, 2007 in Paris, concluding in Reykjavík, Iceland on September 2, 2007.^[57] Jones and band play typically several album hits, modified with guitar solos and additional percussion. Additionally, shows may also feature several covers of country, jazz, blues, or folk songs, ranging from the ubiquitous to the obscure. Artists covered have included, among others, Willie Nelson, Gram Parsons, Johnny Cash, John Prine, Randy Newman, Patsy Cline, Elvis Presley, and Tom Waits.

Jones worked with Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, for her 2007 summer tour.^[58] She also performed at Bryant Park on July 6 as part of Good Morning America's Summer Concert Series.^[59]

2002/2004: Come Away with Me Tour
2004/2005: Norah Jones & The Handsome Band Tour
2007/2008: Not Too Late Tour
2010: The Fall Tour

Special appearances [link]

On September 9, 2009, Jones performed the songs Come Away With Me and Young Blood at the end of the Apple Inc.'s 'It's Only Rock and Roll' press conference in San Francisco, for the release of iTunes 9 and video camera-equipped iPods, among other items.^[60]
She appeared on Sesame Street performing alongside Elmo to the song "Don't Know Why".^[61]
On May 14, 2009, Jones made a guest appearance and performed with many other music icons on the season finale of the NBC series 30 Rock.^[62]
Jones sang "Maybe I'm Amazed" with Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters at the Kennedy Center Honors Paul McCartney concert with Paul in attendance. December 28, 2010.
As a tribute to Steve Jobs, Norah Jones appeared on the Apple Campus October 19, 2011, performing her songs "Nearness of You" and "Painter Song." She finished her live, three song set by performing "Forever young," by Bob Dylan in honor of Steve, because "I know he liked Bob Dylan.".^[63]
On November 16, 2011, Jones sang 'America the Beautiful' at the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony for astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and John Glenn.^[64]
On May 2, 2012 Jones performed "Happy Pills" on Late Show With David Letterman.

Personal life [link]

Jones was in a long-term relationship with Lee Alexander^[65] from 2000 until they split at Christmas 2007.^[66]

Filmography [link]

List of television and films credits
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002–2004	Saturday Night Live	Herself / Musical Guest	"Robert De Niro/Norah Jones" (Season 28, Episode 7) "Colin Firth/Norah Jones" (Season 29, Episode 14)
2002	Two Weeks Notice	Herself	Cameo
2003	Dolly Parton: Platinum Blonde	Herself	Cameo / TV documentary
2003	100% NYC: Tribeca Film Festival	Herself	Cameo / TV documentary
2004	Sesame Street	Herself	"Snuffy's Invisible, Part 1" (Season 35, Episode 13)
2007	My Blueberry Nights	Elizabeth (Lizzie/Beth)	Film Debut Nominated - Cannes Film Festival for ZPalme d'Or
2007	Elvis: Viva Las Vegas	Herself	Cameo / TV documentary
2008	Life. Support. Music.	Herself	Cameo
2009	Wah Do Dem	Willow
2009	30 Rock	Herself	"Kidney Now!" (Season 3, Episode 22)
2009	Tony Bennett: Duets II	Herself	Cameo / TV movie

Discography [link]

Main article: Norah Jones discography

Come Away with Me (2002)
Feels Like Home (2004)
Not Too Late (2007)
The Fall (2009)
Little Broken Hearts (2012)

Awards [link]

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Norah Jones

References [link]

^ ^a ^b Dilworth, Thomas J. (July 6, 2007). "What's Next for Norah Jones?". ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/SummerConcert/story?id=3342169. Retrieved November 19, 2009. "Shankar officially changed her name to Norah Jones when she was 16, and has been using it ever since."
^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1289528/bio
^ ^a ^b "Come Away With Me Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. 2002-02-26. http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/jonesnorah/comeawaywithme. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ ^a ^b "Gold & Platinum – August 19, 2010". RIAA. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=tblDiamond. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Norah Jones - Biography
^ ^a ^b "CNN.com – Norah Jones sweeps Grammy Awards – Mar. 10, 2003". Edition.cnn.com. 2003-02-28. http://edition.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/28/mroom.norah.jones/. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ "Billboard Charts – Decade-end Artists – Artists Of The Decade". Billboard.biz. http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/charts/decadeendcharts/chart_display.jsp?&f=Artists+Of+The+Decade&g=Decade-end+Artists. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ "Music Review: Norah Jones ...Featuring - Blogcritics Music". Blogcritics.org. http://blogcritics.org/music/article/music-review-norah-jones-featuring/. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
^ "Hard to say no to free love: Ravi Shankar". Press Trust of India. Rediff.com. May 13, 2003. http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/13ravi.htm. Retrieved November 19, 2009.
^ "5 minutes with: Norah Jones". BBC. 2009-11-14. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8359542.stm. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
^ "Norah Jones". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/bio/index.jsp?pid=466959. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
^ Wood Songs Old Time Radio Hour. "Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour Episode 318". http://128.163.130.14/woodsongs-318.wmv. Retrieved 2009-01-04.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Interview With Brian Bacchus". HitQuarters. Sep 3, 2002. http://www.hitquarters.com/index.php3?page=intrview/opar/intrview_BBacchus.html. Retrieved April 10, 2011.
^ Piccolo, Brian (2003-06-29). "Norah Jones 5/28/2003". Glide Magazine. http://www.glidemagazine.com/index.php?task=Articles&section=94&id=46253&issue=1&PHPSESSID=53031. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
^ "CharlieHunter.com". CharlieHunter.com. http://www.charliehunter.com/discs/analogplayground.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ "The Peter Malick Group Featuring Norah Jones: New York City (PVG) at Musicroom.com – Sheet Music & Songbooks". Musicroom.com. 2003-10-23. http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/057413/details.html. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ "WAX POETIC – SET TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM, NUBLU SESSIONS – 02/12/04". Contactmusic.com. http://www.contactmusic.com/new/home.nsf/webpages/waxpoeticx23x02x04. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ "RIAA Searchable Database". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
^ Farley, Christopher John (April 19, 2003). "Norah Jones". Time. http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/2004/time100/artists/100jones.html. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
^ "Norah Jones' follow-up ‘Feels Like Home’ becomes million-seller – biggest first week for an album since 2001 (2004)". EMI. http://www.emigroup.com/Press/2004/press3.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-08. ^{[dead link]}
^ "2005 Grammy Awards". Metrolyrics.com. 2005-02-13. http://www.metrolyrics.com/2005-grammy-awards.html. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ Font size Print E-mail Share By Tricia McDermott (2005-02-13). "2005 Grammy Award Winners". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/14/in_depth_showbiz/main673822.shtml. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ "Interview". 60 Minutes. 2007-02-11.
^ "Norah Jones' Not Too Late debuts at #1 in the world's key markets". EMI. 2007-02-07. Archived from the original on 2007-12-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20071211055309/http://www.emigroup.com/Press/2007/press6.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
^ [MetaCritic.com] gave it a score of 73/100 based on 17 professional reviews.
^ "Blue Note Records". Blue Note Records. http://www.bluenote.com/ArtistMain.aspx?ArtistId=908633. Retrieved 2010-12-28.
^ "Norah Jones Sets May 1 Release Date". Fmqb.com. http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=2398944. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
^ Associated Press (2012-03-18). "Listening party: Norah Jones plays entire new album Little Broken Hearts at SXSW". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/listening-party-norah-jones-plays-entire-new-album-little-broken-hearts-at-sxsw/2012/03/17/gIQAkGuhJS_story.html. Retrieved 2012-03-23. ^{[dead link]}
^ "Norah Jones: Little Broken Hearts". American Songwriter. http://www.americansongwriter.com/2012/04/norah-jones-little-broken-hearts/. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
^ Songs from the analog playground, Blue Note (2001) OCLC 48070963, 401661879 and 767807503 OCLC 471515167, 725657178 and 610629773 OCLC 566624333
^ "IMDB: Full cast and crew for Two Weeks Notice". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0313737/fullcredits#cast.
^ "Norah Jones – Ruler of My Heart – Listening & stats at". Last.fm. 2008-11-21. http://www.last.fm/music/Norah+Jones/_/Ruler+of+My+Heart. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ "Sesame Street Presents: The Street We Live On (2004) (TV)". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0438410/. Retrieved 2007-12-11.
^ Thomas, Stephen. "((( The Little Willies > Overview )))". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r817856. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ "2004 Grammy Awards". Metrolyrics.com. 2004-02-08. http://www.metrolyrics.com/2004-grammy-awards.html. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ "2006 Grammy Awards". Metrolyrics.com. 2006-02-08. http://www.metrolyrics.com/2006-grammy-awards.html. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ "2010 Grammy Awards". Metrolyrics.com. http://www.metrolyrics.com/2010-grammy-awards.html. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ By&Nbsp;Barry Walters. "In Your Honor by Foo Fighters | Rolling Stone Music | Music Reviews". Rollingstone.com. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/reviews/album/7733/38678. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ By&Nbsp;Jenny Eliscu. "Jacksonville City Nights by Ryan Adams | Rolling Stone Music | Music Reviews". Rollingstone.com. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/reviews/album/7733/38763. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ Harris, Chris (2006-02-10). "Norah Jones Curses Up A Storm For New Mike Patton Project – News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News". Mtv.com. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1523855/20060207/jones_norah.jhtml. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ My Blueberry Nights (2007) - IMDb
^ My Blueberry Nights (2007) - Soundtracks
^ "Music Review: El Madmo". Blogcritics.org. http://blogcritics.org/music/article/music-review-el-madmo-el-madmo/. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
^ "A Grammy First For Herbie Hancock". CBS News. 2008-02-04. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/29/entertainment/main3767308.shtml. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ By Rolling Stone (2009-01-22). "The Lonely Island: Inside Andy Samberg's Mind Squad | Rolling Stone Music". Rollingstone.com. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/15765/91160. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ "New Q-Tip (Feat. Norah Jones) – "Life Is Better"". Stereogum. http://stereogum.com/32321/new_qtip_feat_noah_jones_life_is_better/mp3s/. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ "Wah Do Dem (2009)". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1506990/. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
^ "Independent Music Awards – Past Judges". Independentmusicawards.com. http://www.independentmusicawards.com/ima_new/pastjudges.asp. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
^ "Danger Mouse's Jack White-starring 'Rome' album out in May". NME. 10 February 2011. http://www.nme.com/news/danger-mouse/54917. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
^ "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations: Holiday Special 2011". http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/anthony-bourdain/episodes/holiday. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
^ "The Hank Williams project". Expecting Rain. http://www.expectingrain.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=26474. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
^ ^a ^b "Bob Dylan, Norah Jones put tunes to Hank Williams' lyrics". Hollywood Insider. http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/04/dylan-jones-and.html. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
^ "Dreamtime – Commentary on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour". Dreamtime. http://www.dreamtimepodcast.com/2008/01/episode-48-that-fateful-day-lost-songs.html. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
^ deerfried (2009-02-03). "How Many Times Have You Broke My Heart: Norah Jones". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWubsD8ZVNg. Retrieved 2011-12-04.
^ "TV 2008-09-15 Spectacle (Rosanne Cash, Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson & John Mellencamp) - The Elvis Costello Wiki". Elviscostello.info. http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/TV_2008-09-15_Spectacle_(Rosanne_Cash,_Norah_Jones,_Kris_Kristofferson_%26_John_Mellencamp). Retrieved 2011-12-04.
^ "Elvis Costello with Kristofferson, Cash, Jones and Mellencamp". Monsters and Critics. 2009-01-21. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/smallscreen/news/article_1454756.php/Elvis_Costello_with_Kristofferson_Cash_Jones_and_Mellencamp. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
^ "Norah Jones". Norah Jones. http://www.norahjones.com/. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
^ "Reverb". Reverb. http://www.reverbrock.org/site/. Retrieved 2008-05-21. ^{[dead link]}
^ "GMA Concert: Norah Jones". ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/SummerConcert/popup?id=3351991. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
^ "Live Update: Apple’s Rock & Roll Event". PCWorld. http://www.pcworld.com/article/171596/live_update_apples_rock_and_roll_event.html. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ “”. "Norah Jones Sings "Don't Know Why" on Sesame Street". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c3fvqNlFvc. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ Itzkoff, Dave (2009-05-15). "The Most Important ‘30 Rock’ Clip Ever - ArtsBeat Blog - NYTimes.com". Artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/the-most-important-30-rock-clip-ever/. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
^ "Norah Jones and Coldplay Help Apple Celebrate Steve Jobs' Life". MacRumours. http://www.macrumors.com/2011/10/19/norah-jones-and-coldplay-help-apple-celebrate-steve-jobs-life/. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
^ JohnBoehner. "Kanaal van JohnBoehner". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/user/JohnBoehner#p/u/2/OGNRg4_fEiA. Retrieved 2011-12-04.
^ "Norah Jones : Lee is my partner in everything". Contact Music. http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/story/norah-jones.-lee-is-my-partner-in-everything. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
^ "Norah Jones and Lee Alexander Call it Quits". theinsider.com. http://www.theinsider.com/news/568056_Norah_Jones_breaks_up_with_boyfriend_Lee_Alexander. Retrieved 2009-11-14. ^{[dead link]}

External links [link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Norah Jones

Media related to Norah Jones at Wikimedia Commons
Official website
Norah Jones performs and is interviewed on Radio Happy Hour
Norah Jones at the Internet Movie Database

v t e Norah Jones

Studio albums	Come Away with Me (2002) Feels Like Home (2004) Not Too Late (2007) The Fall (2009) ...Little Broken Hearts (2012)

Compilation album	...Featuring

Other albums	First Sessions (EP) New York City The Little Willies El Madmo For the Good Times Rome

Singles	"Don't Know Why" "Feelin' the Same Way" "Come Away with Me" "Turn Me On" "Here We Go Again" "Sunrise" "What Am I to You?" "Those Sweet Words" "Thinking About You" "Not Too Late" "Sinkin' Soon" "Until the End" "Chasing Pirates" "Young Blood" "It's Gonna Be" "Happy Pills"

Related articles	Discography Tour Awards The Little Willies Ravi Shankar Anoushka Shankar My Blueberry Nights

Book

v t e Grammy Award for Best New Artist

1950s	Bobby Darin (1959)

1960s	No award given (1960) Bob Newhart (1961) Peter Nero (1962) Robert Goulet (1963) The Swingle Singers (1964) The Beatles (1965) Tom Jones (1966) No award given (1967) Bobbie Gentry (1968) José Feliciano (1969)

1970s	Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1970) The Carpenters (1971) Carly Simon (1972) America (1973) Bette Midler (1974) Marvin Hamlisch (1975) Natalie Cole (1976) Starland Vocal Band (1977) Debby Boone (1978) A Taste of Honey (1979)

1980s	Rickie Lee Jones (1980) Christopher Cross (1981) Sheena Easton (1982) Men at Work (1983) Culture Club (1984) Cyndi Lauper (1985) Sade (1986) Bruce Hornsby and the Range (1987) Jody Watley (1988) Tracy Chapman (1989)

1990s	Milli Vanilli (1990) Mariah Carey (1991) Marc Cohn (1992) Arrested Development (1993) Toni Braxton (1994) Sheryl Crow (1995) Hootie & the Blowfish (1996) LeAnn Rimes (1997) Paula Cole (1998) Lauryn Hill (1999)

2000s	Christina Aguilera (2000) Shelby Lynne (2001) Alicia Keys (2002) Norah Jones (2003) Evanescence (2004) Maroon 5 (2005) John Legend (2006) Carrie Underwood (2007) Amy Winehouse (2008) Adele (2009)

2010s	Zac Brown Band (2010) Esperanza Spalding (2011) Bon Iver (2012)

Grammy Award Record of the Year Song of the Year Album of the Year Best New Artist National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

Grammy Award for Record of the Year (2000s)

"Smooth"* by Santana (Rodney Holmes, Tony Lindsay, Karl Perazzo, Raul Rekow, Benny Rietveld, Carlos Santana, Chester Thompson) featuring Rob Thomas engineered/mixed by David Thoener, produced by Matt Serletic (2000)	"Beautiful Day"* by U2 (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr.) engineered/mixed by Richard Rainey & Steve Lillywhite; produced by Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois (2001)
"Walk On" by U2 (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr.) engineered/mixed by Richard Rainey & Steve Lillywhite; produced by Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois (2002)	"Don't Know Why"* by Norah Jones; engineered/mixed by Jay Newland; produced by Arif Mardin, Jay Newland & Norah Jones (2003)
"Clocks" by Coldplay (Guy Berryman, Jon Buckland, Will Champion, Phil Harvey, Chris Martin) engineered/mixed by Coldplay, Ken Nelson & Mark Phythian; produced by Coldplay & Ken Nelson (2004)	"Here We Go Again" by Ray Charles and Norah Jones engineered/mixed by Al Schmitt, Mark Fleming, & Terry Howard; produced by John R. Burk (2005)
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day (Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Frank Edwin Wright III) engineered/mixed by Chris Lord-Alge & Doug McKean, produced by Green Day & Rob Cavallo (2006)	"Not Ready to Make Nice"* by Dixie Chicks (Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Emily Robison) engineered/mixed by Chris Testa, Jim Scott & Richard Dodd; produced by Rick Rubin (2007)
"Rehab"* by Amy Winehouse engineered/mixed by Tom Elmhirst, Vaughan Merrick, Dom Morley, Mark Ronson & Gabriel Roth; produced by Mark Ronson (2008)	"Please Read the Letter" by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant engineered/mixed by Mike Piersante; produced by T-Bone Burnett (2009)

v t e Grammy Award for Song of the Year (2000s)

2000 Itaal Shur & Rob Thomas - "Smooth" 2001 Adam Clayton, David Evans, Larry Mullen, Jr. & Paul Hewson - "Beautiful Day" 2002 Alicia Keys - "Fallin'" 2003 Jesse Harris - "Don't Know Why" 2004 Richard Marx & Luther Vandross - "Dance with My Father" 2005 John Mayer - "Daughters" 2006 Adam Clayton, David Evans, Larry Mullen, Jr. & Paul Hewson - "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" 2007 Emily Burns Irwin, Martha Maguire, Natalie Maines Pasdar & Dan Wilson - "Not Ready to Make Nice" 2008 Amy Winehouse - "Rehab" 2009 Guy Berryman, Jonathan Buckland, William Champion & Christopher Martin - "Viva la Vida"

Complete list (1960s) (1970s) (1980s) (1990s) (2000s) (2010s)

Grammy Award for Album of the Year (2000s)

Supernatural performed by Santana (Rodney Holmes, Tony Lindsay, Karl Perazzo, Raul Rekow, Benny Rietveld, Carlos Santana, Chester Thompson); engineered/mixed by Alvaro Villagra, Andy Grassi, Anton Pukshansky, Benny Faccone, Chris Theis, Commissioner Gordon, David Frazer, David Thoener, Glenn Kolotkin, Jeff Poe, Jim Gaines, Jim Scott, John Gamble, John Karpowich, John Seymour, Matty Spindel, Mike Couzzi, Steve Farrone, Steve Fontano, T-Ray, Tom Lord-Alge, Tony Prendatt & Warren Riker; produced by Alex Gonzales, Art Hodge, Charles Goodan, Clive Davis, Dante Ross, Dust Brothers, Fher Olvera, Jerry 'Wonder' Duplessis, K. C. Porter, Lauryn Hill, Matt Serletic, Stephen M. Harris & Wyclef Jean (2000)	Two Against Nature performed by Steely Dan (Walter Becker, Donald Fagen); engineered/mixed by Dave Russell, Elliot Scheiner, Phil Burnett & Roger Nichols; produced by Donald Fagen & Walter Becker (2001)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack performed by Alison Krauss & Union Station (Barry Bales, Ron Block, Jerry Douglas, Alison Krauss, Dan Tyminski), Chris Sharp, Chris Thomas King, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Harley Allen, John Hartford, Mike Compton, Norman Blake, Pat Enright, Peasall Sisters (Hannah Peasall, Leah Peasall, Sarah Peasall), Ralph Stanley, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, The Cox Family (Evelyn Cox, Sidney Cox, Suzanne Cox, Willard Cox), The Fairfield Four (Nathan Best, Isaac Freeman, Robert Hamlett, James Hill, Joseph Rice, Wilson Waters, Jr.), The Whites (Buck White, Cheryl White, Sharon White) & Tim Blake Nelson; engineered/mixed by Mike Piersante & Peter Kurland; master engineered by Gavin Lurssen; produced by T-Bone Burnett (2002)	Come Away with Me performed by Norah Jones; engineered/mixed by Jay Newland & S. Husky Höskulds; master engineered by Ted Jensen; produced by Arif Mardin, Craig Street, Jay Newland & Norah Jones (2003)
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below performed by OutKast (André 3000, Big Boi); engineered/mixed by Brian Paturalski, Chris Carmouche, Darrell Thorp, Dexter Simmons, John Frye, Kevin Davis, Matt Still, Moka Nagatani, Neal H. Pogue, Padraic Kernin, Pete Novak, Reggie Dozier, Robert Hannon, Terrence Cash & Vincent Alexander; master engineered by Bernie Grundman & Brian Gardner; produced by André 3000, Big Boi & Carl Mo (2004)	Genius Loves Company performed by Ray Charles and Various Artists; engineered/mixed by Al Schmitt, Ed Thacker, Joel W. Moss, John Harris, Mark Fleming, Pete Karam, Robert Fernandez, Seth Presant & Terry Howard; master engineered by Doug Sax & Robert Hadley; produced by Don Mizell, Herbert Waltl, John R. Burk, Phil Ramone & Terry Howard (2005)
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb performed by U2 (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr.); engineered/mixed by Carl Glanville, Flood, Greg Collins, Jacknife Lee, Nellee Hooper, Simon Gogerly & Steve Lillywhite; master engineered by Arnie Acosta; produced by Brian Eno, Chris Thomas, Daniel Lanois, Flood, Jacknife Lee & Steve Lillywhite (2006)	Taking the Long Way performed by Dixie Chicks (Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Emily Robison); engineered/mixed by Chris Testa, Jim Scott & Richard Dodd; master engineered by Richard Dodd; produced by Rick Rubin (2007)
River: The Joni Letters performed by Herbie Hancock; featuring Norah Jones, Joni Mitchell, Corinne Bailey Rae , Tina Turner ; produced by Herbie Hancock & Larry Klein; engineered/mixed by Helik Hadar; master engeineered by Bernie Grundman (2008)	Raising Sand performed by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss; produced by T-Bone Burnett; engineered/mixed by Mike Piersante; master engeineered by Gavin Lurssen (2009)

Persondata
Name	Jones, Norah
Alternative names	Shankar, Geethali Norah Jones
Short description	American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
Date of birth	March 30, 1979
Place of birth	New York City, New York, United States
Date of death
Place of death

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