Japanese - Ask questions thread

Basically if you have a question about the language, ask it and fellow 4channers might see it and answer it for you.

To start it off. When an animate object (iru) dies, is it considered inanimate(aru)?

Kanji Help please!
I've come across a kanji that doesn't seem to be in my dictionary.  The radical looks like 'shi' (the character to rule/to manage) while the other half looks like the character "Mi" (the character to see).
Anyone know what it is?
Thanks