FINCA International, nongovernmental organization (NGO) that provides financial services for the world’s poorest populations. FINCA International offers banking services, insurance, and small loans to poor individuals at relatively modest interest rates and fees (microcredit). FINCA was founded in

Tom Hanks: In 2021 Hanks starred in Finch, a postapocalyptic drama about an ailing man who builds a robot to look after his dog. The following year he played Colonel Tom Parker in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, a biopic about the legendary performer. His other credits from 2022 include A Man Called Otto,…

finch, any of several hundred species of small conical-billed seed-eating songbirds (order Passeriformes). Well-known or interesting birds called finches include the bunting, canary, cardinal, chaffinch, crossbill, Galapagos finch, goldfinch, grass finch, grosbeak, sparrow, euphonia, and weaver.

Aaron Sorkin: …Jeff Daniels portraying the lead, Atticus Finch. In 2020 Sorkin returned to the big screen with The Trial of the Chicago 7, which he wrote and directed. Based on true events, the drama centres on a group of political activists who were tried for their antiwar activities during the 1968…

Peter Finch was an English actor who was noted for his ability to portray complex characters with subtlety and warmth. While Finch was a toddler, his parents divorced owing to his mother’s extramarital affair, and it was not until decades later that Peter discovered that George Ingle Finch, a

Peter Finch was an English actor who was noted for his ability to portray complex characters with subtlety and warmth. While Finch was a toddler, his parents divorced owing to his mother’s extramarital affair, and it was not until decades later that Peter discovered that George Ingle Finch, a

Robert Finch was an American-born Canadian poet whose gift for satire found an outlet in lyrics characterized by irony, metaphysical wit, complex imagery, and a strong sense of form. Finch was educated at the University of Toronto, to which he returned as a professor of French after three years in

Robert Finch was an American-born Canadian poet whose gift for satire found an outlet in lyrics characterized by irony, metaphysical wit, complex imagery, and a strong sense of form. Finch was educated at the University of Toronto, to which he returned as a professor of French after three years in

September 11 attacks: One World Trade Center and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum: …blue watercolour with which artist Spencer Finch attempted to capture the colour of the sky on the day of the September 11 attacks. At the centre of the tiles is a quote from Virgil’s Aeneid:

David Fincher is an American music video and film director known for his stylish movies, which usually trend towards the dark and atmospheric. Fincher was raised in San Anselmo, California, where he became interested in movies at a young age, in part because he was a neighbour of filmmaker George

David Fincher is an American music video and film director known for his stylish movies, which usually trend towards the dark and atmospheric. Fincher was raised in San Anselmo, California, where he became interested in movies at a young age, in part because he was a neighbour of filmmaker George

Flora Finching, fictional character in the novel Little Dorrit (1855–57) by Charles Dickens. Flora, the daughter of mean-spirited Christopher Casby, is a widow who was once a sweetheart of Arthur Clennam and still cherishes a passion for him. Now middle-aged, Flora retains a fluttery girlishness;

Earth sciences: Cloud physics: …theory of Tor Bergson and Walter Findeisen, vapour freezing on ice crystals in the clouds enlarges the crystals until they fall. What finally hits the ground depends on the temperature of air below the cloud—if below freezing, snow; if above, rain.

Stephen King: Serial novels: Mercedes (2014), Finders Keepers (2015), and End of Watch (2016) form a trilogy of hard-boiled crime novels centering on retired detective Bill Hodges. The trilogy was adapted into a TV series in 2017–19, starring Brendan Gleeson as Hodges. King also wrote a serial novel, The Dark Tower,…

New Age movement: Origins: For example, Scotland’s Findhorn Foundation believed that its purported contact with a variety of nature spirits produced spectacular agricultural feats, despite the poor soil and climate of the group’s settlement.

Albert Brooks: …the role in the sequel Finding Dory (2016).

Deepika Padukone: Actress and producer: The slightly offbeat Finding Fanny (2014) showed her in the role of a young widow who sets off on a road trip to help a friend. Padukone starred in Piku (2015) opposite popular Bollywood actor Amitabh Bacchan, playing a daughter who tries to figure out life with an…

Anna Paquin: …films included Gus Van Sant’s Finding Forrester (2000), the dark satire Buffalo Soldiers (2001), Spike Lee’s 25th Hour (2002), and Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale (2005). Paquin also appeared in the horror film Scream 4 (2011), Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret (2011), and

Disney Company: Continuing expansion: ABC, Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, and Lucasfilm: …number of their films, including Finding Nemo (2003), Ratatouille (2007), WALL∙E (2008), Up (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), Inside Out (2015), Coco (2017), Toy Story 4 (2019), and Soul (2020), won Academy

Johnny Depp: Pirates of the Caribbean and Academy Award nominations: Barrie in Finding Neverland (2004). Depp reprised the role of Sparrow in later installments of the Pirates of the Caribbean series: Dead Man’s Chest (2006), At World’s End (2007), On Stranger Tides (2011), and Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), which were among the highest-grossing films ever.…

W.S. Merwin: The Compass Flower (1977) and Finding the Islands (1982) diverge into more positive territory, though many critics dismissed the love poems that heralded the change in tone as unsuccessful. The love poems in The Rain in the Trees (1988), however, were lauded as more realistic. Travels (1993) turns to the…

Vanessa Redgrave: Movies from the 21st century: …grifter, and the romantic drama Finding You (2021).

Joanna Lumley: …Street (2013), Paddington 2 (2017), Finding Your Feet (2017), and The Picture of Dorian Gray (2021). In addition, she lent her voice to various projects, including Corpse Bride (2005).

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: Documentaries and other projects: …Faces of America (2010), and Finding Your Roots (2012– ). The latter, tracing the ancestral history of contemporary figures, is especially popular and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 2024. Other TV credits include the documentary miniseries Wonders of the African World (1999), Black in Latin America (2011),…

Findlay, city, seat (1828) of Hancock county, northwestern Ohio, U.S. It lies along the Blanchard River, 47 miles (76 km) south of Toledo. The site was laid out by Joseph Vance and Elnathan Corry in 1821 and named for Col. James Findlay, who had built Fort Findlay, a local outpost in the War of

Cincinnati Arch: …north-northeast, is known as the Findlay Arch.

Timothy Findley was a Canadian author known for his intelligent writing and storytelling. His subject matter often focused on the lives of troubled individuals. Poor health caused Findley to abandon formal education after the ninth grade. At age 17 he began a 15-year acting career that led to roles

Timothy Findley was a Canadian author known for his intelligent writing and storytelling. His subject matter often focused on the lives of troubled individuals. Poor health caused Findley to abandon formal education after the ninth grade. At age 17 he began a 15-year acting career that led to roles

fair trade: History: …an informal working group called FINE (an acronym of the names of the member organizations). FINE was dedicated to increasing worldwide awareness of the fair trade movement through active campaigning in political circles and organizing public events.

prison: Fines: The most common penalty is the fine. For example, in the 1980s in England, about four-fifths of all defendants found guilty of crimes were fined. The imposition of a fine acts as a simple penalty that avoids the disadvantages of many other forms of…

Morley Callaghan: …Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, and A Fine and Private Place (1975), the story of an author who wants artistic recognition in his own country. The critic Edmund Wilson referred to Callaghan as the most unjustly neglected writer in the English language.

art market: The 21st century: …the £214 million ($350 million) Fine Art Fund was the first investment vehicle to experiment with the art market on a scale comparable to that undertaken by the British Rail Trust nearly 30 years before. Its inception was soon followed by the creation of several other funds with portfolios centred…

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), institute in San Francisco, California, comprising two separate museums, the de Young and the Legion of Honor. Together the museums contain the city’s largest art collection. The de Young, located in Golden Gate Park and founded in 1895, is the older of

Paul Cézanne: Early life and work: …Gustave Courbet, and the official Académie des Beaux-Arts, which rejected from its annual exhibition—and thus from public acceptance—all paintings not in the academic Neoclassical or Romantic styles. In 1863 the emperor Napoleon III decreed the opening of a Salon des Refusés to counter the growing agitation in artistic circles over…

Western painting: Russia: In 1757 the Academy of Fine Arts was founded in St. Petersburg, and foreign artists—mostly French—were invited to direct the new school. These trained some remarkable native portraitists, such as Ivan Argunov, Anton Losenko, and Fyodor Rokotov. Their works reflected the ceremonial character of Elizabeth’s tastes and showed…

James Turrell: …The Light Inside at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1999), fill interior spaces with a luminous coloured haze and seemingly palpable planes of light. As a result, his illusory works sometimes created a sense of disorientation.

Valenciennes: …University of Valenciennes and the Museum of Fine Arts, which displays works by such masters as Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony Van Dyck, as well as notable local painters, including Antoine Watteau and Henri Harpignies. Pop. (1999) 41,278; (2014 est.) 43,787.

Museum of Fine Arts, cultural centre in Boston whose balanced collection has made it one of the world’s most comprehensive art museums. The museum was founded in 1870 with the art holdings of the Boston Athenaeum library as the nucleus of its collection. By the 21st century the collection had grown

Museum of Fine Arts, museum in Caracas, Venezuela, containing a variety of international and Venezuelan art and artifacts—namely, ancient Egyptian objects, Chinese ceramics, and Cubist pieces. Founded in 1917, the museum was initially housed in the Central University of Venezuela (later the Palace

Brussels: Cultural life: The Palace of Fine Arts, designed by Horta and opened in 1928, provides a cultural centre for those interested in the visual arts, film, music, literature, and the theatre. Most of the city’s large-scale art exhibitions are presented there, and it is also the headquarters of…

Palacio de Bellas Artes, cultural centre in Mexico City that was built between 1904 and 1934. The palace includes a large theatre, a concert hall, the Museo Nacional de Arquitectura (National Museum of Architecture), and the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes (Museum of the Palace of Fine Arts). The

A Fine Balance, sweeping historical novel by Indian-born Canadian writer Rohinton Mistry. Published in 1995, it was Mistry’s second novel, and it garnered the Giller Prize for best Canadian novel as well as the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. A Fine Balance is set in India in the mid-1970s, during the

advanced ceramics, substances and processes used in the development and manufacture of ceramic materials that exhibit special properties. Ceramics, as is pointed out in the article ceramic composition and properties, are traditionally described as inorganic, nonmetallic solids that are prepared

whiteware: Products: …suiting it to commercial use; fine china (including bone china), a highly vitreous, translucent tableware; and sanitary plumbing fixtures.

Langston Hughes: Creating a uniquely Black literature: …a second collection of poetry, Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927), which was criticized by some for its title and for its frankness, though Hughes himself felt that it represented another step forward in his writing.

coal mining: Levels of cleaning: 5 millimetres) and fine coal (less than 12.5 millimetres); the coarse coal is cleaned to remove impurities; the fine coal is added to the cleaned coarse coal or marketed as a separate product.

Fine Gael, centrist political party that has provided the major political opposition to the Fianna Fáil party in Ireland. Fine Gael was founded in September 1933 in the amalgamation of Cumann na nGaedheal (“Party of the Irish”)—the party of William Thomas Cosgrave, first president of the Irish Free

Harry Styles: His second solo album, Fine Line, was released in 2019, and it broke U.S. sales records for a British male singer. In addition, the song “Watermelon Sugar” won the Grammy Award for best pop solo performance and the BRIT Award for British single of the year. His follow-up, Harry’s…

Irvin Kershner: From B-24s to Laura Mars: … as husband and wife; and A Fine Madness (1966) featured Sean Connery as an irreverent poet whose outbursts of violence earn him a lobotomy. In 1967 Kershner directed The Flim-Flam Man, a profile of a Southern con man played by George C. Scott.

Blake Edwards: Later films: …philandering husband, and the disappointing A Fine Mess (1986) followed.

air pollution: Fine particulates: Very small fragments of solid materials or liquid droplets suspended in air are called particulates. Except for airborne lead, which is treated as a separate category (see below), they are characterized on the basis of size and phase (i.e., solid or liquid) rather…

printmaking, an art form consisting of the production of images, usually on paper but occasionally on fabric, parchment, plastic, or other support, by various techniques of multiplication, under the direct supervision of or by the hand of the artist. Such fine prints, as they are known

fine structure, in spectroscopy, the splitting of the main spectral lines of an atom into two or more components, each representing a slightly different wavelength. Fine structure is produced when an atom emits light in making the transition from one energy state to another. The split lines, which

television: Controls: …touch-button control that sets the fine tuning and also adjusts the hue, saturation, contrast, and brightness to preset ranges. These automatic adjustments override the settings of the corresponding separate controls, which then function over narrow ranges only. Such refinements permit reception of acceptable quality by viewers who might otherwise be…

philosophy of science: The antirealism of van Fraassen, Laudan, and Fine: …formulated by both Laudan and Arthur Fine, charges that the popular defenses of realism beg the question. Realists try to convince their opponents by suggesting that only a realist view of unobservables will explain the success of science. In doing so, however, they presuppose that the fact that a certain…

the Three Stooges: May 4, 1975, Los Angeles), Larry Fine (original name Louis Feinberg; b. October 5, 1902, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania—d. January 24, 1975, Woodland Hills, California), Curly Howard (original name Jerome Horwitz; b. October 22, 1903, New York City—d. January 18, 1952, San Gabriel, California), Joe Besser (b. August 12, 1907, St. Louis,…

cancer: Biopsy: Another type of biopsy, called fine-needle aspiration biopsy, yields cells rather than a tissue sample, so the pathologist is able to assess only cellular features and not the architectural characteristics of the tissue suspected of harboring a tumor. Nevertheless, fine-needle aspiration has many positive qualities. It is relatively painless and…

fine structure: …a dimensionless constant called the fine-structure constant. This constant is given by the equation α = ke2/hc, where k is Coulomb’s constant, e is the charge of the electron, h is Planck’s constant, and c is the speed of light. The value of the constant α is 7.29735254 × 10−3,…

dark energy: …is known as the “coincidence problem” or the “fine-tuning problem.” Understanding the nature of dark energy and its many related problems is one of the most formidable challenges in modern physics.

gold processing: Assaying: “Fineness” refers to parts per thousand of gold in an alloy; e.g., three-nines fine would correspond to gold of 99.9 percent purity.

cement: Fineness: Fineness was long controlled by sieve tests, but more sophisticated methods are now largely used. The most common method, used both for control of the grinding process and for testing the finished cement, measures the surface area per unit weight of the cement by…

Alexander McCall Smith: …produced in 1997—and progressed with The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs (2003), At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances (2003), Unusual Uses for Olive Oil (2011), and Your Inner Hedgehog (2021).

finery process, Early method of converting cast iron to wrought iron, superseding the bloomery process after blast furnaces became widespread. Pieces of cast iron (see pig iron) were placed on a finery hearth, on which charcoal was being burned with a plentiful supply of air, so that carbon in the

iron processing: Lumps and fines: As-mined iron ore contains lumps of varying size, the biggest being more than 1 metre (40 inches) across and the smallest about 1 millimetre (0.04 inch). The blast furnace, however, requires lumps between 7 and 25 millimetres, so the ore must be crushed…

burnet: …used as an ingredient in fines herbes, a mixture of herbs commonly used in French cuisine. The dried leaves are also used to make tea.

Casey Affleck: …appeared in the action films The Finest Hours and Triple 9 (both 2016) and played one of the lead roles (opposite Rooney Mara) in A Ghost Story (2017). He then portrayed a detective on the trail of a charming bank robber (played by Robert Redford) in The Old Man &…

finfoot, (family Heliornithidae), any of three species of medium-sized lobe-footed, semiaquatic birds found in tropical regions around the world. They constitute a family that superficially resembles cormorants but are actually members of the crane order (Gruiformes). Finfoots are named for the

Fingal, county in the province of Leinster, eastern Ireland. The county of Fingal was created in 1994 when the geographic county of Dublin was split administratively into three separate units. Fingal now constitutes the northern component of the Greater Dublin metropolitan area. Swords is the

James Macpherson: …Gallic or Erse Language (1760), Fingal (1762), and Temora (1763), claiming that much of their content was based on a 3rd-century Gaelic poet, Ossian. No Gaelic manuscripts date back beyond the 10th century. The authenticity of Ossian was supported by Blair, looked on with skepticism by the Scottish philosopher David…

The Hebrides, Op. 26, concert overture (resembling an operatic overture, though intended for concert performance rather than as a prelude to a theatrical work) by German composer Felix Mendelssohn, a tempestuous one-movement work in sonata form, inspired by the composer’s visit to the Hebrides

Fingal’s Cave, most famous of the sea caves in the basalt southwest coast of Staffa, an island of the Inner Hebrides, western Scotland. Estimates of its length vary between 227 feet (69 metres) and 270 feet (82 metres), and its arched roof is said to reach between 66 feet (20 metres) and 72 feet

finger, ancient and medieval measure of 18yard, or 4 12inches (11.4 cm), used primarily to measure lengths of cloth. The finger derives ultimately from the digitus, the smallest of the basic Roman linear measures. From the digitus came the English nail, which equaled 34inch, or 116foot. The nail

aye-aye: …hands are large, and its fingers, especially the third, are long and slender. The species possesses five fingers on each hand and a pseudo-thumb, a distinct bony digit that does not occur in any other primate. All the fingers have pointed claws, as do the toes except for the large…

human nervous system: Hemispheric asymmetry, handedness, and cerebral dominance: Finger agnosia is a condition in which the individual does not appear to “know” which finger is which and is unable to indicate which one the examiner touches without the aid of vision. The phenomenon of the phantom limb, whereby patients “feel” sensations in amputated…

mathematics: Mathematics in the 10th century: …one of which was the finger arithmetic used by the scribes and treasury officials. This ancient arithmetic system, which became known throughout the East and Europe, employed mental arithmetic and a system of storing intermediate results on the fingers as an aid to memory. (Its use of unit fractions recalls…

french fries, side dish or snack typically made from deep-fried potatoes that have been cut into various shapes, especially thin strips. Fries are often salted and served with other items, including ketchup, mayonnaise, or vinegar. In addition, they can be topped with more substantial fare, such as

percussion instrument: Idiophones: …to Greece and Rome, and finger cymbals were introduced from the East, chiefly for dancers, a pair being attached to the thumb and middle finger of each hand.

carpal tunnel syndrome: …several blood vessels, and nine finger flexor tendons. The tendons are rodlike structures that transmit forces from muscles in the forearm to the fingers and enable the fingers to close, as when making a fist.

hors d’oeuvre: Types of hors d’oeuvres: These “finger foods” are often served while guests are standing and socializing, such as during a reception before a sit-down dinner. They can be passed out to guests by a server holding a tray or arranged on a table for guests to select on their own.

formation flying: Finger four, with four planes spaced like fingers on a hand, one on one side of the leader and two on the other side, is a popular combat formation.

windmill grass, (genus Chloris), genus of about 55 species of annual and perennial grasses of the family Poaceae, distributed throughout warm regions of the world. Several are used as forage and hay grasses, and a number are considered weeds or invasive species in areas outside their native range.

crabgrass, (genus Digitaria), genus of about 220 species of grasses in the family Poaceae. Several species, notably hairy crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis) and smooth crabgrass (D. ischaemum), are very troublesome weeds in lawns, fields, and waste spaces because they have decumbent stems that root

Finger Lakes, group of narrow, glacial lakes in west-central New York state, U.S. They lie in north-south valleys between the vicinity of Syracuse (east) and Geneseo (west). The region, which embraces more than a dozen state parks, is noted for its scenery, many resorts, fruits (especially grapes),

lime: Types: Finger limes (C. australasica), native to Australia, are a developing crop noted for their discrete juice vesicles, sometimes called “lime caviar.”

drawing: Brush, pen, and dyestuffs: To be sure, finger painting, as found in prehistoric cave paintings, has occasionally been practiced since the late Renaissance and increasingly so in more recent times. For drawing as such, however, the method is irrelevant. Similarly, the use of pieces of fur, frayed pieces of wood, bundles of…

puppetry: Other types: …minor puppet form is the finger puppet, in which the manipulator’s two fingers constitute the limbs of a puppet, whose body is attached over the manipulator’s hand. An even simpler finger puppet is a small, hollow figure that fits over a single finger.

George Gervin: …for his signature move, the finger roll, as for his nickname. The finger roll—an underhand shot in which a player rolls the ball off the tips of the fingers while approaching the basket—was a basketball staple that few could pull off with as much elegance or precision as Gervin. Even…

table tennis: Equipment, rules, and play of the game: Finger spin, especially in the United States, reached a stage where the experts could produce untakable services and the game became farcical. Finger spin was universally banned in 1937.

Batman: …for DC Comics by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane. Batman debuted in May 1939 in Detective Comics no. 27 and has since appeared in numerous comic books, comic strips, and graphic novels; on television in a camp live-action series and a critically acclaimed animated program; in

stringed instrument: Morphology: …this is glued the curved fingerboard, which projects beyond the shoulder and over the belly toward the bridge. At the top of the neck is the nut, which is grooved to take the strings, keeping them correctly spaced apart and slightly raised over the fingerboard. The neck is raked back…

fingerfish, any of the half dozen species of fishes in the family Monodactylidae (order Perciformes), found from the Atlantic coast of western Africa to the Indo-Pacific region and usually inhabiting inshore or estuarine waters. They are extremely compressed and deep-bodied and are often greater in

wind instrument: Flutes and reeds: …in most cultures, as are fingering systems. Typical of such systems in the West is the six-hole system, so named because the six finger holes of the Baroque transverse flute and oboe—there were no thumbholes—were controlled by the first, second, and third fingers of both hands. (The left hand normally…

Jeremy Allen White: The Iron Claw, Calvin Klein ad, and other projects from the early 2020s: …on the big screen, including Fingernails, opposite Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed, and The Iron Claw (both 2023), alongside Zac Efron. The latter recounts the tragedies of the Von Erich wrestling family. White and his costars trained rigorously and practiced wrestling with professionals. In 2024 White became the latest hunk…

chemical compound: Infrared (IR) spectroscopy: …IR spectra is called the fingerprint region, because the absorption pattern is highly complex but unique to each organic structure. The stretching vibrations for both the carbon-carbon and carbon-oxygen double bonds are easily identified at 6.1 and 5.8 μm, respectively. Most of the functional groups have characteristic IR absorptions similar…

fingerprint, impression made by the papillary ridges on the ends of the fingers and thumbs. Fingerprints afford an infallible means of personal identification, because the ridge arrangement on every finger of every human being is unique and does not alter with growth or age. Fingerprints serve to

Oakland Athletics: …Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, and Rollie Fingers, the A’s quickly turned the franchise’s fortunes around in their new home, winning three consecutive World Series titles from 1972 to 1974. The small-market A’s lost most of their big stars with the advent of free agency at the end of the 1976…

Stevie Wonder: …his first hit single, “Fingertips (Part 2),” recorded during a show at Chicago’s Regal Theatre in 1963. But Wonder was much more than a prepubescent imitation of Ray Charles, as audiences discovered when he demonstrated his prowess with piano, organ, harmonica, and drums. By 1964 he was no longer…

Mfengu, people living in Eastern Cape province of South Africa and traditionally speaking a Xhosa language (one of the Bantu languages). The Mfengu are descendants of refugees from the Mfecane (massive migrations of Nguni peoples) in Natal, largely of Hlubi, Bhele, and Zizi origin, who made their

Leonor Fini was an Argentine-born Surrealist artist known for her Gothic paintings that explore female sexuality and identity. The use of symbolic, mythological imagery, in particular that of a sphinx (a creature with a lion’s body and a human head), became the trademark of her work. Fini’s parents

fascism: Italy: …illustrated by the declaration of Fini, elected party secretary in 1987: “Fascism was part of the history of Italy and the expression of permanent values.” At a campaign rally in October 1992, Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of the duce, stood in the balcony of the 15th-century Palazzo Venezia (Venice Palace)…