title: African National Congress

text: Some ANC members were upset by the actions of the MK, and refused to accept violence as necessary for the ending of Apartheid, but these individuals became a minority as the militant leaders such as Nelson Mandela gained significant popularity. Many consider their actions to be criminal, but the MK said violence was justified by the goal of ending apartheid. Some members of MK committed terrorist acts to achieve their aims, and MK was responsible for the deaths of both civilians and members of the military.


title: African National Congress

text: The ANC calls itself a force of national liberation in the post-apartheid era; it officially defines its umbrella agenda as the "National Democratic Revolution". The ANC is a member of the Socialist International. It also sets forth the redressing of socio-economic differences stemming from colonial- and apartheid-era policies as a central focus of ANC policy.


title: African National Congress

text: The National Democratic Revolution (NDR) is how the National Democratic Society (NDS) can be achieved; a society in which people are intellectually, socially, economically and politically empowered.


title: African National Congress

text: The ANC holds a historic alliance with the South African Communist Party (SACP) and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), known as the "Tripartite Alliance". The SACP and COSATU have not contested any election in South Africa, but field candidates through the ANC, hold senior positions in the ANC, and influence party policy and dialogue. During Mbeki's presidency, the government took a more pro-capitalist stance, often running counter to the demands of the SACP and COSATU.


title: African National Congress

text: Following Zuma's accession to the ANC leadership in 2007 and Mbeki's resignation as president in 2008, the Mbeki faction of former ministers led by Mosiuoa Lekota split away from the ANC to form the Congress of the People.


title: African National Congress

text: The ANC flag is composed of three stripes – black, green and gold. Black symbolizes the native people of South Africa, green represents the land and gold represents the mineral and other natural wealth of South Africa. This flag was also the battle flag of the Umkhonto we Sizwe. The official party flag also has the emblem of the party incorporated onto the flag.


title: African National Congress

text: Politicians in the party win a place in parliament by being on the "Party List", which is drawn up before the elections and enumerates, in order, the party's preferred MPs. The number of seats allocated is proportional to the popular national vote, and this determines the cut-off point.


title: African National Congress

text: Although most South African parties announced their candidate list for provincial premierships in the 2009 election, the ANC did not. It is not required for parties to do so.


title: African National Congress

text: The ANC was the main opposition to the government during apartheid and played a major role in resolving the conflict through the peacemaking and peace-building processes. Initially members of the National Party met in secret with ANC leaders, including Nelson Mandela, to see if peace was possible. Discussions and negotiations took place leading to the eventual unbanning of the ANC and other opposing political parties by then President de Klerk on 2 February 1990. These initial meetings were the first crucial steps towards resolution.


title: African National Congress

text: The next official step towards rebuilding South Africa was the Groote Schuur Minute where the government and the ANC agreed on a common commitment towards the end of violence and intimidation, as well as a commitment to stability and to a peaceful process of negotiations. The ANC negotiated the release of political prisoners and the immunity from prosecution for returning exiles and moreover channels of communication were established between the Government and the ANC.


title: African National Congress

text: Later the Pretoria Minute was another step towards resolution where agreements at Groote Schuur were reconsolidated and steps towards setting up an interim government and drafting a new constitution were established as well as suspension of the military wing of the ANC – the Umkhonto we Sizwe. This step helped end much of the violence within South Africa. Another agreement that came out of the Pretoria Minute was that both parties would try and raise awareness that a new way of governing was being created for South Africa, and that further violence would only hinder this process. However violence still continued in Kwazulu-Natal, which violated the trust between Mandela and de Klerk. Moreover, internal disputes in the ANC prolonged the war as consensus on peace was not reached.


title: African National Congress

text: In December 1991 the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) was held with the aim of establishing an interim government. But in June 1992 there was the Boipatong massacre. Negotiations stopped as the ANC pulled out. Only Cyril Ramaphosa of the ANC, and Roelf Meyer of the National Party carried on talking. In over 40 meetings the two men discussed and negotiated over many issues including the nature of the future political system, the fate of over 40,000 government employees and if/how the country would be divided. The result of these negotiations was a temporary constitution that meant the transition from apartheid to democracy was a constitutional continuation and that the rule of law and state sovereignty remained intact during the change, which was vital for stability within the country. A date was set for the first democratic elections on 27 April 1994. The ANC won 62.5% of the votes and has been in power ever since.


title: African National Congress

text: The most prominent corruption case involving the ANC relates to a series of bribes paid to companies involved in the ongoing R55 billion Arms Deal saga, which resulted in a long term jail sentence to former Deputy President Jacob Zuma's legal adviser Schabir Shaik. Zuma, now the State president, currently faces 7 813 charges relating to alleged fraud, bribery and corruption in the Arms Deal. The ANC has also been criticised for its subsequent abolishment of the Scorpions, the multidisciplinary agency that investigated and prosecuted organised crime and corruption, and was heavily involved in the investigation into Zuma and Shaik.


title: African National Congress

text: Other recent corruption issues include the sexual misconduct and criminal charges of Beaufort West municipal manager Truman Prince, and the Oilgate scandal, in which millions of Rand in funds from a state-owned company were allegedly funneled into ANC coffers. Links between factions in the ANC, specifically the ANC Youth League leadership, and businessman Brett Kebble gained media attention following Kebble's murder in September 2005.


title: African National Congress

text: In December 2007 the ANC elected their new National Executive Committee (NEC), the highest structure in the party. Out of the 80 member committee, 9% are (post-apartheid) convicted criminals. Most of these members have been convicted of fraud, while one member, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, was convicted of the kidnapping of a 14-year-old boy, James Seipei (1974–1988), also known as Stompie Moeketsi (who was also murdered). According to an article in the "Mail & Guardian", "by adding those who have been disciplined or moved, and those with dark clouds of unanswered questions hanging over their heads, the figure shifts to 29%."


title: African National Congress

text: The ANC has also been accused of using government and civil society to fight its political battles against opposition parties such as the Democratic Alliance. The result has been a number of complaints and allegations that none of the political parties truly represent the interests of the poor. This has resulted in the "No Land! No House! No Vote!" Campaign which becomes very prominent each time the country holds elections.


title: African National Congress

text: The ANC has reportedly wasted over R1 billion of taxpayers' money over the past eight months on luxury vehicles, expensive hotels, banquets, advertising and other "wasteful expenditure"


title: African National Congress

text: The main thrust behind this reporting is the official opposition in the country, the Democratic Alliance (DA). They have kept a tally of the expenditure called 'The Wasteful Expenditure Monitor'


title: Provinces of Iraq

text: Iraq is divided into 18 provinces ("muhafazah"). also the Iraqi Constitution has recognized only one autonomous federal region inside Iraq, the name of the region is Iraqi Kurdistan Region, this region consists of the three provinces of Dahuk ( دهوك ), Arbil ( اربيل ) and As-Sulaymaniyyah (السليمانية )


title: French and Indian War

text: The French and Indian War was fought between 1754 and 1763 in British North America and French North America. They fought over land which is now in the United States and Canada. The French had some Native American allies and the British had other allies.


title: French and Indian War

text: The conflict was a part of the Seven Years' War among the European great powers which took place in various parts of the world. France was already fighting Prussia and so did not send many troops to Canada.


title: French and Indian War

text: The French built a new fort in the disputed territory, and the British decided to expel them. After failing in a small battle in 1754 they tried again with the Battle of Monongahela in 1755. The British commander, General Edward Braddock, died with many of his men in a failed attack against the French in what later became Pittsburgh. A militia officer, George Washington, led the defeated survivors home.


title: French and Indian War

text: The fighting in North America stopped on September 8, 1760, with the French surrender of Montreal and the rest of Canada to the British.


title: French and Indian War

text: The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763. France lost all of its North American lands east of the Mississippi River to Britain except the small islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, near Newfoundland. Britain offered France the choice to give up its Canadian land or the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, which British troops had taken during the war. France chose to keep the islands, which were valuable for their sugar plantations.


title: French and Indian War

text: With the Royal Proclamation of 1763, colonists in British North America became unhappy over their share of the winnings. That became a cause for the American Revolution.


title: Biplane

text: A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft that has two fixed wings. The lower wing is often attached to the body of the aircraft and the top wing is raised above. Most early airplanes were biplanes because they have a stronger structure than a monoplane. When engineers found how to makes strong monoplanes, biplanes became rare because they produce more drag.


title: Biplane

text: Famous biplanes include the Polikarpov Po-2, Sopwith Camel, Avro Tutor, Antonov An-2, Beechcraft Staggerwing, Boeing Stearman, Bristol Bulldog, Curtiss JN-4, de Havilland Tiger Moth, Fairey Swordfish, Hawker Hart, Pitts Special and the Wright Flyer. The Stearman is particularly associated with stunt flying with wing-walkers.


title: Ellora Caves

text: The Ellora Caves is the name for a number of caves in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The 34 caves are about north of Aurangabad. They are some of the most visited cave sites in India. They were made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983.


title: Bob Backlund

text: Robert Lee "Bob" Backlund (born August 14, 1949) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for working for the World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Federation from 1977 to 1984. He is known for holding the record for the second longest reign as WWE Champion in history which is ahead of Hulk Hogan's first reign and behind Bruno Sammartino's first. Signature move known as the cross face chicken wing was said to be inescapable once fully applied.


title: Bob Backlund

text: Before becoming a professional wrestler, Backlund started as an accomplished amateur wrestler and wrestled for the North Dakota State University Bison during the late 1960s to early 1970s. He also ran for a Connecticut seat in Congress on a Republican ticket in 2000 but was unsuccessful. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Maria Menounos on April 6, 2013.


title: Manipuri dance

text: Manipuri dance, originally known as Manipuri Rasa Leela Dance is a classical dance form originated from the Manipuri culture of the Indian state of Manipur. The classical style of the dance is described as being the most graceful of all the Indian classical dances. Rabindranath Tagore used the style for his female characters in his famous dance dramas.


title: Manipuri dance

text: Manipur shares a border with Burma. The people of Manipur are part of the Mongoloid group, with a very rich and artistic culture.


title: Manipuri dance

text: The "Rasalila" of Manipur is said to be one of the highlights of India culture. It is through the Rasalila that the people of Manipur reach the highest bliss of worship. Following the "Srimadbhagavata", the core text of Chaitanite Vaishnavism, the first "Rasalila Maharas" was composed in 1779. The story as laid down in the Bhagavata was performed in the temple. A "Rasamandali", a circular dance area, was built outside the temple and people sat around it to watch the "Rasalila". This still happens in the Govindaji temple beside the Palace of the Kings. The success of this "Rasalila" made Raja Bhagyachandra (ruler from 1755 to 1789) try composing other Rasalilas such as the "Vasantarasa" and "Kunjarasa". The "Nityaras" and "Divarasa" are later developments of the Rasalila. The performances of the "Maharasa", "Vasantarasa" and "Kunjarasa" are fixed in the year, but "Nityarasa" can be performed at anytime of the year. Later kings continued to develop and compose dances. Raja Gambhir Singh (1781–1833) introduced acting the stories of child Krishna in Goparasa and Udukhalrasa. The time of Raja Chandrakirti (1831–1886) can claim to be the golden age of the evolution of Manipuri dance.


title: Manipuri dance

text: Other dances of Manipur are performed during festivals like "Rathayatra", "Holi", and "Kwakjatra". All these dances are about religious devotion. The songs that are sung with these dances speak of the glory of Radha & Krishna. The main instruments are the Pung and flute.


title: Manipuri dance

text: The technique of Manipuri dance is probably the most graceful of all the classical dances of India. The body follows the path of 8 and the feet movements generate light touch on the ground. The face has a subdued expression while the eyes mostly express the "bhaktirasa" or the emotion of devotion. There are two styles of this dance form: the "tandava" and the "lasya". In "tandava", we have the "Cholom tandava" done by men and the Krishna "tandava", which is a counterpart of the "lasya" technique in "Rasalila". The lasya is a very graceful style in Manipur. Rabindranath Tagore used this technique for the female characters in his dance dramas.


title: Manipuri dance

text: The emotional part of this dance form follows the rasa theory as written in the Vaishnava texts. The "pancharasa"- "shanta", "dasya", "sakhya", "vatsalya" and "madhura"- are the main emotions on which the Vaishnavite Manipuri Dance is based.


title: Manipuri dance

text: Manipur stands apart from all the Indian Classical dances for the beautiful costumes of the Rasalila, which is a unique creation of the people of Manipur. Religion and art have merged completely in the making of dance in Manipur. Even today one cannot identify Manipuri dance without the presence of the gods Krishna and Radha.


title: Manipuri dance

text: The oldest form of dance is found in the Lai Haraoba festival. The word "Lai" means God, and the word "Haraoba" means merrymaking. Lai Haraoba means merrymaking of the gods. The festival generally lasts for a month and is held every year in the months of May and June. The Maibi community holds the Lai Haraoba festival. Maibis are female priests, although there a some male priests too. There are specific rituals that the maibis follow during the festival. They dance and worship the forest gods, called the "Umang Lai". There are also household gods, for example the "Sanamahi" or "Panthoibi". All these gods are worshipped in the Lai Haraoba festival. The Maibis dance and show the formation of earth and life. They use 364 hand gestures to show this. During the festival the people of Manipur sing, dance, act, play instruments and play sports. The rituals are pre-determined and all the village people participate.


title: Manipuri dance

text: The instrument used in Lai Haraoba is called the "Pena (musical instrument)". It is a very special instrument of Manipur. It is played by the "Pena Khongba", and the tune is believed to put the Lai to sleep or used to wake him up. Other tunes are also played for the dances. The story of Khuman Khamba and Moirang Thoibi are played here. The other stories have characters such as the Nongpok Ningthou and Panthoibi. These are basically love stories. The characters are often identified with the Hindu Gods Shiva and Parvati. Though mostly based on nature worship, according to the Manipuri scholars, this festival has elements of Tantric Cults.


title: Manipuri dance

text: The very popular martial art of Manipur, "Thangpak", is also a part of this festival, with performances of sword and spear play. Many movements of "Thangpak" are also part of the dances of Manipur. For example, the popular "Khujengleibi" movement in dance is found in the sword technique.


title: Manipuri dance

text: In the 18th century, Manipur came under the influence of Chaitanite Vaishnavism which was a branch of Hinduism. Vaishnavism made its entry in Manipur during the reign of King Charairongba. During the rule of Raja Bhagyachandra, Chaitanite Vaishnavism became a permanent part of Manipur's culture. The Raja joined this religion and his subjects followed him. Many parts of daily life changed with Vaishnavism; the rituals of Vaishnavism were followed very closely by the community. The gods of the religion, Krishna and Radha were worshipped and temples were built all over Manipur. The people started worshipping the gods with dance. There were two kinds of dance that developed with the influence of this religion: the "Samkirtana" and the "Rasalila".


title: Manipuri dance

text: "Samkirtana" is basically a male dance form in which the performers play instruments, sing and dance. This follows the lines of the Samkirtana as shown by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Bengal. In Manipur it has a very rich dance element along with singing and playing instruments. It is an energetic and acrobatic dance. The main instrument is a wooden drum, the "Pung", which looks like the clay "Khol" of Bengal. The sounds naturally vary. The dance with the "Pung", called the "Pung Cholom", is part of the "Samkirtana" in Manipur. The "Cholom" is a male dance form of Manipur. The name probably comes from the word "Chalan", meaning way of movement. There is also the "Kartal Cholom", where the movements are more grand and follow the sound and playing of the big cymbals, the "Kartalas". The singing, called the "ishei", follows the kirtana style of Bengal. Singers use a trembling tone which is typical of the Manipuri style of singing. The talas (rhythm patterns) used have an immense variety. There are 64 different talas for the Pung. These rhythmic patterns are also used in interesting combinations. The costumes are white, but the turbans vary with the instrument players. The "Samkirtana" is performed at all major occasions in the society, such as birth ceremonies, weddings, and funerals. It is even performed before the beginning of the "Rasalila".


title: Mitt Romney

text: Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947), usually called Mitt Romney, is an American businessman. Romney is the junior United States senator from Utah since January 3, 2019. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts serving from 2003 to 2007. He ran for the Republican Party nomination in the 2008 election, but lost the nomination to United States senator John McCain of Arizona.


title: Mitt Romney

text: Romney would run again for the nomination only this time winning the nomination beating former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and former Speaker Newt Gingrich. His running mate was U.S. Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. He ran against the incumbent President Barack Obama. He lost the election winning 206 of the electoral college to Obama's 332.


title: Mitt Romney

text: In the aftermath of the election, Romney remained low in politics and in the 2016 presidential election, Romney was a critic of Donald Trump and would endorse former Governor Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party. After the election of Trump, it was thought that Trump would pick Romney as Secretary of State, but the position went to businessman Rex Tillerson.


title: Mitt Romney

text: After Utah Senator Orrin Hatch retired on February 16, 2018, Romney became a candidate for the United States senate in the 2018 election. In June 2018, Romney won the Republican nomination for the Senate seat. He won the general election in a landslide victory replacing retiring Senator Orrin Hatch.


title: Mitt Romney

text: Romney was born in Detroit. His father, George Romney, was an auto executive and Governor of Michigan and his mother Lenore Romney, was an actress and politician. When Mitt was young, he served a Mormon mission in France. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University, in 1971, and later went to Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School. In the 1980s, Romney was one of the leaders of Bain Capital, a company that bought other companies and tried to make them more profitable. In 1994, Romney ran for the United States Senate against Ted Kennedy, but lost. Romney was in charge of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, which helped run the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Romney took over the committee after a scandal where some people were being bribed.


title: Mitt Romney

text: After success with the Olympics, Romney became Governor of Massachusetts. While Governor, he was one of the supporters of Massachusetts' health care plan though he now opposes Barack Obama's health care plan. Both plans are very similar.


title: Mitt Romney

text: He ran for President in 2008, but the Republican Party nominated John McCain instead. He ran again in 2012 and was nominated to be the main Republican candidate against President Barack Obama, but lost the election.


title: Mitt Romney

text: After winning the Republican Party presidential primaries in 2012, Mitt Romney took part of the United States presidential election. He won the primaries against its major rivals Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich. Right after his winning in the republican primaries and access to the 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney has been critiqued by the Democratic Party (United States) for being part in the board of directors for the company Bain Capital Inc. from 1999 to 2002. During these three years, purchases of different companies by Bain Capital led to relocation of high-tech jobs in the United States to Mexico and China. In these uncertain economic times, this charge was unpopular with the average American. The Democratic Party (United States) also revealed with the help of the American Broadcasting Company that Mitt Romney has bank accounts in the Cayman Islands which would allow him to stare money over U.S. tax laws . About this guilt, Mitt Romney said during his campaign in New Hampshire :"{…} if there's an opportunity to save taxes, we like anybody else in this country will follow that opportunity.”.


title: Mitt Romney

text: During the first televised debate of the presidential campaign, Mitt Romney accused President Obama of having plunged America into the deepest economic crisis since the 1930s. He also suggests that President Barack Obama had not met its promises during his presidential previous mandate like increase the real income of the average American family. Mitt Romney made a provision to which pleased many American citizens during the debate that allowed him to gain some points to national survey and even surpass Barack Obama in the voting intentions of Americans.


title: Mitt Romney

text: After the first debate, an internet site named www.motherjones.com revealed on Monday September. 17, 2012 a YouTube video of Mitt Romney talking about some people of the United States who live at the expense of the state.


title: Mitt Romney

text: In this video he said: "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it -- that that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ... These are people who pay no income tax. ... [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."


title: Mitt Romney

text: On the night of November 6, 2012, he announced that Barack Obama was re-elected as President of the United States of America and by extension Mitt Romney lost his chance to become president. He had received 206 votes against the 270 required to win.


title: Mitt Romney

text: His niece, Ronna Romney McDaniel, became the new Chair of the Republican Party after President Donald Trump nominated the then-Chairman Reince Priebus to White House Chief of Staff.


title: Mitt Romney

text: On January 2, 2018, after Orrin Hatch announced he would retire, Romney changed his Twitter location from Massachusetts to Holladay, Utah opening the long speculation of Romney running for the Senate seat.


title: Mitt Romney

text: On February 16, 2018, Romney formally launched his campaign through a video message posted on Facebook and Twitter. He won the Republican nomination on June 26, 2018.


title: Mitt Romney

text: On February 13, 2021 Romney voted that Republican nominated President Donald Trump was guilty of starting the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol. He and six other Republican senators also voted that Trump was guilty. This was after the House of Representatives Second impeachment of Donald Trump.


title: Bagpuss

text: Bagpuss is a popular children's television series shown on BBC television. It was shown in 1974. Although only 13 episodes were made, it was so popular that it was repeated regularly until 1987. The series was made by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate through their company Smallfilms.


title: Bagpuss

text: The character Bagpuss was a toy cat. Bagpuss was described in each programme as "an old, saggy cloth cat, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams".


title: Bagpuss

text: Each programme began in the same way. It started by looking through old sepia photographs as these words were spoken:


title: Bagpuss

text: There was a shop called “Bagpuss & Co”. The cat sat in the shop window. The owner of the shop was a little girl named Emily. The shop did not sell anything. Instead, Emily would find things that were broken and lost. She fixed them and put them in the shop window. Emily hoping that the owners of the things would come and get them. She would leave the fixed thing in front of her favourite toy: the stuffed cat Bagpuss. Each programme began with these words:


title: Bagpuss

text: When Emily had left, Bagpuss would wake up. The programme changed from sepia to colour film, and the toys in the shop would come to life. There was Gabriel the toad, a rag doll called Madeleine, and a wooden woodpecker which was a bookend (something to stop a row of books falling over) called Professor Yaffle. Professor Yaffle spoke like a clever professor. He had a German accent and wore a pince-nez. He would look at the object and tell the audience what it was used for. There were also some mice. They lived in the “mouse organ” (a pun on the word mouthorgan). The mouse organ played music and the mice squeaked in high voices. All the voices except those of Madeleine and Gabriel were done by Oliver Postgate who also wrote the stories.


title: Bagpuss

text: At the end of the programme, Bagpuss would yawn again and fall asleep. The colour changed back to sepia and the toys became toys again as these words were spoken:


title: Oxymoron

text: An oxymoron is a term for a figure of speech. It is made up of two or more words that seem to be opposite to each other, or actually are opposite.


title: Oxymoron

text: For example, the phrases "Wise fool", "Warm freezer", and "Legal murder" all have two words. In each one, the one word looks like the opposite of the other word.


title: Oxymoron

text: You can have words that look opposite, but are right. For example, a "warm freezer" could be right. A freezer could be warm if it was turned off or left open.


title: Oxymoron

text: The word oxymoron is an oxymoron; 'oxy' comes from the Greek word that means 'sharp', while 'moron' comes from the Greek word that means 'dull'.


title: Oxymoron

text: Words that really are opposite to each other, would be words that just cannot be put together. For example, a "round square" could not happen because squares are not round.


title: Oxymoron

text: Oxymorons sometimes appear in jokes. Sometimes, the joke is just to say that a pair of words are an oxymoron. For example, a joke that says that "glutted peasant" is an oxymoron. This means that peasants are usually hungry, if the word 'peasant' is opposite to 'glutted'


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli is a city in the southern part of Tamil Nadu, India. It is also called Nellai. Thamirabarani River flows through Tirunelveli.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli is famous for a sweet that is generally referred to as 'Alwa' in Tamil. There are tiny villages in and around Tirunelveli like Alwarkurichi, Kalidaikurichi, Rangasamudram, Cheran Mahadevi.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli is a city in Tamil Nadu state of southern India. It is the headquarters of Tirunelveli District. Tirunelveli is about 2000 years old and is a town of old tradition. Tirunelveli was the capital of the Pandya Kingdom for some time, next to Madurai.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli is on the banks of the river Thamiraparani; it is on the way to Kanniyakumari from Madurai. It is a twin town - Thirunelveli and Palayamkottai. The town is about 650kilometers away from Chennai.


title: Tirunelveli

text: The temple of Nellaiappar and Kanthimathi is in the centre of Tirunelveli. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and worshipped as Nellaiappar. Thiru-Nel-Veli (Thiru - Shri, Nel = Paddy, Veli = Fence). It is believed that food grains collected for worship at the temple were protected from the floods by the fence, hence the name Nel Veli came.


title: Tirunelveli

text: The famous Courtallam Waterfalls are in Tirunelveli District. Tirunelveli is famous for Tirunelveli halwa.


title: Cyrillic script

text: The Cyrillic alphabet () is a native Slavic alphabet. It is now used to write Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Rusyn, Bulgarian, Macedonian and for most South Slavic languages. It was developed in the Bulgarian empire in Tzar Samoil's raign in the 10th century. The Soviet Union made many non-Slavic languages in the Caucasus, Siberia, Central Asia and in northern Russia to be written in Cyrillic.


title: Cyrillic script

text: Old Church Slavonic was the original language of the Slavic people, and it was used for Russian Orthodox Church. In the 9th century, two monks, St. Cyril and St. Methodius, were missionaries in Eastern Europe. When they preached to the Slavic peoples, they invented the Glagolitic alphabet, an early form of Cyrillic.


title: Cyrillic script

text: In 1991, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan decided to drop the Cyrillic script and to adopt the Latin script.


title: Fingering

text: Fingering means: choosing which finger to use for each note when playing a piece on a musical instrument. When learning to play a piece it is important to try to find a good fingering. Once a good fingering has been found it should always be used so that the piece is always played in the same way and the fingers learn “where to go”. Sometimes printed music has some fingering printed above the notes. This can be helpful to the player, but it is not always necessary to use the printed fingering. People’s hands are different and a fingering that is good for one player may not be good for another.


title: Fingering

text: When playing keyboard instruments the fingers are numbered from 1 to 5 on each hand: the thumb is 1, the index finger is 2, the middle finger is 3, the ring finger is 4 and the little finger is 5. The fingers were not always numbered like that. In Britain in the 19th century the thumb was shown by a cross (+) and the fingers were numbered from 1 to 4. This was known as “English fingering” while the other way (from 1 to 5) was known as “Continental fingering”. However, from the beginning of the 20th century the British used the normal 1 to 5 (Continental) fingering.


title: Fingering

text: Ideas about fingering have changed during the history of music. In the Baroque times (17th and early 18th centuries) French composers writing for the harpsichord often fingered scale passages 2 3 2 3 etc. so that the notes were grouped (slurred) in twos. Later this idea went out of fashion. In the early 19th century Carl Czerny wrote lots of studies for piano which helped to exercise all the fingers equally. This is how we learn to play the piano today.


title: Fingering

text: Fingering for the organ is similar to fingering for the piano. However, organists use a lot of “finger substitution” which means: changing to a different finger while a note is held down. This is useful in music such as hymn tunes which have lots of chords. It helps to make the music legato (smooth): (a pianist can use the right pedal to make chords legato.) An organist playing on the pedals also needs to decide which foot to use for each note. This is called “footing”. A v sign means: play with the toe, a square u sign means: play with the heel. When these signs are placed above the note it means the right foot, below means for the left foot.


title: Fingering

text: Fingering on string instruments will show which position to play in (i.e. how far down the fingerboard the hand is held). The fingers are numbered from 1 to 4 because the thumb is behind the neck of the instrument. The number 0 means: play an open string (not using the finger). It is only the left hand which fingers the notes because the right hand is either plucking or bowing. Bowed instruments like the violin have no markings on the fingerboard, so the player has to get used to the exact place to put the fingers, otherwise it will not be in tune. Plucked instruments such as guitars and banjos have frets (little bumps on the fingerboard) which show where to put the fingers.


title: Fingering

text: Sometimes the fingering printed or written in the music may also need to show which string to play on. A tune that could be played in first position on a D string on the violin could also be played on the G string in fifth position (with the hand much higher up the fingerboard). This is harder to do, but a good player can make it sound particularly warm and beautiful. Sometimes notes can be fingered as harmonics instead of as ordinary stopped notes. This makes them sound very light and airy.


title: Fingering

text: Cellists can also play in “thumb position” if they have several notes which are high and quite near one another. This means putting the thumb high up on the fingerboard, often across two strings.


title: Fingering

text: The double bass is so big that the distances between the notes are very big too. To go up from one note to the next (in semitones) they use finger 1, then 2, then 4. Finger 3 is just helping finger 4 to press down on the string. There are a few players who use a different fingering system: using fingers 1, 2, 3, 4. This means that the hand has to stretch a lot. It is difficult to play in tune like this, although it saves having to change the hand position so much.


title: Fingering

text: Harp music looks like piano music: there are two staves, one which usually has a treble clef for the right hand, the other with a bass clef for the left hand. Some piano music can be played on the harp, but the piano fingering will not work. On a piano, starting with the thumb and going along the fingers to the little finger means going to higher notes in the right hand and to lower notes in the left hand. On the harp it is the other way round (the harpist sits with the high notes nearest to his body). The thumb is numbered 1 and the fingers are 2, 3 and 4. The little finger is not used in harp playing.


title: Fingering

text: In woodwind instruments there is normally one basic fingering, each note is a particular combination of fingers. However at more advanced levels different fingerings can be used in order to create different effects. Beginners’ books may have a fingering chart to show how to get the different notes. A low F sharp on a descant recorder will be fingered 1 2 3 0 2 3. This means: fingers 1, 2 and 3 of the left hand and fingers 2 and 3 of the right hand. The first hole of the right hand position is left open.


title: Fingering

text: On the recorder some of the notes, especially sharps and flats, have complicated fingering. This is called “cross fingering”. The flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon all have metal keys to help reach the low holes and to make it easier to play the sharps and flats. The usual system for these keys was invented in the 19th century by Theobald Böhm.


title: Fingering

text: Sometimes there is an “alternative fingering” for some notes. This can be used to make it easier to play fast trills, but the usual fingering will sound better for normal notes.


title: Fingering

text: Good fingering is fingering which avoids moving the hand up and down unnecessarily. It should also help the music to sound good e.g. legato music for smooth tunes, clear music for fast repeated notes.


title: CNN

text: The Cable News Network (CNN) is an American cable news television channel. It was founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. The Cable News Network first aired on television on June 1, 1980. The Cable News Network's first newscast was anchored (hosted) by David Walker and his wife Lois Hart. In its first year CNN hired many political analysts, including Rowland Evans and Robert Novak. On January 1, 1982 CNN launched a 24-hour sister newscast channel with no talk shows or commentary shows called . CNN broadcasts programs from its headquarters at the CNN Center in Atlanta, or from the Deutsche Bank Center in New York City, or from studios in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, and the U.S. news channel is a part of the CNN Global.


title: CNN

text: The hosts of its opinion shows are Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo, Fredricka Whitfield, Erin Burnett, Brianna Keiler and Brooke Baldwin.


title: CNN

text: CNN has been criticized by the right-wing Media Research Center for having a left-wing bias. According to that same Center, it is less to the left than the news divisions of ABC, NBC, and CBS. It has been criticized by Arabs for having a pro-American bias.


title: Kanyakumari

text: Kanyakumari (); "The Virgin Princess" (also known as Cape Comorin) is a town in Kanyakumari District in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The town is at the southern tip of Indian subcontinent. The As southernmost town in India, it is sometimes called 'The Land's End'.


title: Kanyakumari

text: Kanyakumari is a popular tourist destination in India. It is famous for its ocean sunrise, sunset and moonrise. It also has the Thiruvalluvar Statue and Vivekananda Rock Memorial off the coast. The town is a pilgrimage centre. Kanyakumari is bordered on the west, south and east by the Laccadive Sea. It has a coastal line of  stretched on the three sides.


title: Kanyakumari

text: The town is  km south of Thiruvananthapuram city. It is about south of Nagercoil, the headquarters of Kanyakumari District.


title: Kanyakumari

text: On the shores of the town is a temple dedicated to Goddess Kanyakumari (the virgin Goddess). That is how the town got its name. Kanyakumari has been a city since the Sangam period. It and has been referred to in old Malayalam literature and in the writings of Ptolemy and Marco Polo.


title: Cosmology

text: Cosmology is the branch of astronomy that deals with the origin, structure, evolution and space-time relationships of the universe. NASA defines cosmology as "The study of the structure and changes in the present universe". Another definition of cosmology is "the study of the universe, and humanity's place in it".


title: Cosmology

text: Modern cosmology is dominated by the Big Bang theory, which brings together observational astronomy and particle physics.


title: Cosmology

text: Though the word "cosmology" is recent (first used in 1730 in Christian Wolff's "Cosmologia Generalis"), the study of the universe has a long history.


title: Cosmology

text: Until recently, people thought that the universe was only the Milky Way galaxy. They thought this because they could only see the planets up to Saturn and stars. With the invention of the telescope, we could see more of the universe. Even in the 20th century, people thought that the Milky Way was the entire universe. With the Hubble Space Telescope, people could see things far away.


title: Cosmology

text: Modern cosmology is considered to have started in 1917 with the final paper of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. This paper was known as "Cosmological Considerations of the General Theory of Relativity" which made physicists start to change the assumption that the Universe never changed. When a scientific discipline begins to change an idea that is believed by many people, it is known as a paradigm shift. During this paradigm shift, the Great Debate took place. Many scientists debated if there were other galaxies. The debate ended when Edwin Hubble found Cepheid Variables in the Andromeda Galaxy in 1926.


title: Cosmology

text: The Big Bang model was then created by Belgian priest, Georges Lemaître in 1927. This was supported by Edwin Hubble's discovery of the redshift in 1929 and later by the discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation. This was found by Arzo Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson in 1964.


title: Cosmology

text: All of these discoveries have been further supported throughout the 20th century. Some more observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation were found by the COBE, WMAP, and Planck satellites. Some more observations of the redshift were found by the 2dfGRS and SDSS. These are known as redshift surveys. Survey is this context refers to an astronomical survey. An astronomical survey is a place in space. A redshift survey is a survey that looks for redshifts.


title: Cosmology

text: On 1 December 2014, at the "Planck 2014" meeting in Ferrara, Italy, astronomers reported that the universe is 13.8 billion years old and is composed of 4.9% regular matter, 26.6% dark matter and 68.5% dark energy.


title: Foreign relations of Bangladesh

text: The foreign relations of Bangladesh are the Bangladeshi government's policies in its relations with other countries. Since independence in 1971, Bangladesh has officially followed a principle of being friendly with all nations and not being enemies with any. As a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, Bangladesh has tended to not take sides with major powers. Since the end of the Cold War, the country has pursued better relations with its neighbours. It has strong relations with other Muslim countries. It does not recognise Israel.


title: Foreign relations of Bangladesh

text: Myanmar is Bangladesh's eastern neighbour. Bilateral ties with Myanmar are generally good, but some tensions exist between the two countries. This is due to border disputes and the presence of over 270,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh from mainly-Buddhist Myanmar. As a result of bilateral discussions, and with the cooperation and assistance of the UNHCR, most of the Rohingya refugees have now returned to Burma. As of 2000, about 22,000 refugees remain in camps in southern Bangladesh.


title: Foreign relations of Bangladesh

text: At the 2008 ASEAN Regional forum summit in Singapore, Bangladesh and Myanmar have pledged to solve their Maritime boundary disputes as quickly as possible especially that a UN deadline in claiming maritime territories will expire in three years time. Both countries discussed the possibility of linking the two countries together in an attempt to boost their trade and commerce relations. The estimate to complete the 25 km highway is three years and at the cost of $20 million. Another aspect of this plan is to connect the highway to the Asian Superhighway which would connect the two countries to China.


title: Foreign relations of Bangladesh

text: The relations between the two are historical, because the English started their conquest of British India from present-day Bengal region of Bangladesh. Today Bangladesh is in the Commonwealth since 1972 and the there is a sizeable Bengali-speakers within the community of Great Britain


title: Friedrich Engels

text: Friedrich Engels II (28 November 1820 – 5 August 1895) was a German political thinker. With his best friend Karl Marx, Engels wrote about Communism. They wrote the famous book "The Communist Manifesto" together.


title: Friedrich Engels

text: Friedrich Engels II was born in Barmen, Germany in 1820. His father was a very rich factory owner, and he sent Friedrich to England to run one of the factories. The way the workers were living at his father's factories made Engels upset with the class system. At about this time, he began to write about politics and workers' struggles.


title: Friedrich Engels

text: In 1844 he met Karl Marx in France and the two became friends and began to write together. The two men worked together until Marx's death in 1883.


title: Friedrich Engels

text: After Marx died, Engels spent the rest of his life editing and translating Marx' writings. He also wrote about women and marriage. He died of throat cancer in London in 1895.


title: Synthetic fabric

text: Synthetic fabrics are fabrics manufactured in factories using chemical synthesis. They are also known as artificial or man-made fabrics. These include nylon, polyester, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and rayon. Synthetic fibers are made by the joining of monomers into polymers, by the process of polymerization.


title: RNA

text: RNA is physically different from DNA: DNA contains two intercoiled strands, but RNA only contains one single strand. RNA also contains different bases from DNA. These bases are the following:


title: RNA

text: Adenine forms bonds with uracil, and guanine forms bonds with cytosine. In this way, we say that adenine is complementary to uracil and that guanine is complementary to cytosine. The first three bases are also found in DNA, but uracil replaces thymine as a complement to adenine.


title: RNA

text: RNA also contains ribose as opposed to deoxyribose found in DNA. These differences result in RNA being chemically more reactive than DNA. This makes it the more suitable molecule to take part in cell reactions.


title: RNA

text: RNA is the carrier of genetic information in certain viruses, especially the retroviruses like the HIV virus. This is the only exception to the general rule that DNA is the hereditary substance.


title: RNA

text: The main function of RNA is to carry information of amino acid sequence from the genes to where proteins are assembled on ribosomes in the cytoplasm.


title: RNA

text: This is done by messenger RNA (mRNA). A single strand of DNA is the blueprint for the mRNA which is transcribed from that DNA strand. The sequence of base pairs is transcribed from DNA by an enzyme called RNA polymerase. Then the mRNA moves from the nucleus to the ribosomes in the cytoplasm to form proteins. The mRNA translates the sequence of base pairs into a sequence of amino acids to form proteins. This process is called translation.


title: RNA

text: DNA does not leave the nucleus for various reasons. DNA is a "very" long molecule, and is bound in with proteins, called histones, in the chromosomes. mRNA, on the other hand is able to move and to react with various cell enzymes. Once transcribed, the mRNA leaves the nucleus and moves to the ribosomes.


title: RNA

text: Two kinds of non-coding RNAs help in the process of building proteins in the cell. They are transfer RNA (tRNA) and ribosomal RNA (rRNA).


title: RNA

text: Transfer RNA (tRNA) is a short molecule of about 80 nucleotides which carries a specific amino acid to the polypeptide chain at a ribosome. There is a different tRNA for each amino acid. Each one has a site for the amino acid to attach, and an anti-codon to match the codon on the mRNA. For example, codons UUU or UUC code for the amino acid phenylalanine.


title: RNA

text: Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) is the catalytic component of the ribosomes. Eukaryotic ribosomes contain four different rRNA molecules: 18S, 5.8S, 28S and 5S rRNA. Three of the rRNA molecules are synthesized in the nucleolus, and one is synthesized elsewhere. In the cytoplasm, ribosomal RNA and protein combine to form a nucleoprotein called a ribosome. The ribosome binds mRNA and carries out protein synthesis. Several ribosomes may be attached to a single mRNA at any time. rRNA is extremely abundant and makes up 80% of the 10 mg/ml RNA found in a typical eukaryotic cytoplasm.


title: RNA

text: Small nuclear RNAs (snRNA) join with proteins to form spliceosomes. The spliceosomes govern alternative splicing.


title: RNA

text: Genes code for proteins in bits called exons. The bits can be joined together in different ways to make different mRNAs. Thus, from one gene many proteins can be made. This is the process of alternative splicing. Any unwanted versions of the protein get chopped up by proteases, and the chemical bits re-used.


title: RNA

text: There are a number of RNAs which regulate genes, that is, they regulate the rate at which genes are transcribed or translated.


title: RNA

text: Micro RNAs (miRNA) act by joining an enzyme and blocking mRNA, or speeding its breakdown. This is called RNA interference.


title: RNA

text: Small interfering RNAs (sometimes called silencing RNAs) interfere with the expression of a specific gene. They are quite small (20/25 nucleotides) double-stranded molecules. Their discovery has caused a surge in biomedical research and drug development.


title: RNA

text: Retrotransposons copy themselves in two stages: first from DNA to RNA by transcription, then from RNA back to DNA by reverse transcription. The DNA copy is then inserted into the genome in a new position. Retrotransposons behave very similarly to retroviruses, such as HIV.


title: RNA

text: Viral genomes, which are usually RNA, take over the cell machinery and make both new viral RNA and the protein coat of the virus.


title: RNA

text: Phage genomes are quite varied. The genetic material can be ssRNA (single-stranded RNA), dsRNA (double-stranded RNA), ssDNA (single-stranded DNA), or dsDNA (double-stranded DNA). It may be between 5 and 500 kilo base pairs long with either circular or linear arrangement. Bacteriophages are usually between 20 and 200 nanometers in size.


title: RNA

text: Some scientists and doctors have used messenger RNA in vaccines to treat cancer and prevent people from becoming sick.


title: Taxicab number

text: A taxicab number is the name given by mathematicians to a sequence of special numbers: 2, 1729 etc. A taxicab number is the smallest number that can be expressed as the sum of two positive cubes in "n" distinct ways. It has nothing to do with taxis, but the name comes from a well-known conversation that took place between two famous mathematicians: Godfrey Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan.


title: Taxicab number

text: Godfrey Hardy was a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University. One day he went to visit a friend, the brilliant young Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, who was ill. Both men were mathematicians and liked to think about numbers.


title: Taxicab number

text: When Ramanujan heard that Hardy had come in a taxi he asked him what the number of the taxi was. Hardy said that it was just a boring number: 1729. Ramanujan replied that 1729 was not a boring number at all: it was a very interesting one. He explained that it was the smallest number that could be expressed by the sum of two cubes in two different ways.


title: Taxicab number

text: This story is very famous among mathematicians. 1729 is sometimes called the “Hardy-Ramanujan number”.


title: Taxicab number

text: There are other numbers that can be shown to be the sum of two cubes in more than one way, but 1729 is the smallest of them.


title: Taxicab number

text: Since the famous conversation between Hardy and Ramanujan, mathematicians have tried to find other interesting numbers that are the smallest number that can be expressed by the sum of two cubes in three/four/five etc. different ways. These numbers are very, very big, and have been found by computers.


title: State Anthem of the Soviet Union

text: The State Anthem of the Soviet Union , ) was the national anthem of the Soviet Union from 1944 until 1991. It replaced the old one, which was a Russian translation of "The Internationale".


title: State Anthem of the Soviet Union

text: The music was created around 1938 by Alexander Alexandrov, a great Russian composer who earlier started the Alexandrov Ensemble. The original lyrics were by Sergey Mikhalkov and Gabriel El-Registan and were first written in 1943. They mentioned Joseph Stalin by his name as well as the Great Patriotic War. When Stalin died in 1953, the lyrics were no longer appropriate and so the music was performed without them. For the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution in 1977, the lyrics were brought back, but changed so that they do not mention Stalin or the war.


title: State Anthem of the Soviet Union

text: This song was in use until the Soviet Union broke down in 1991. Until then, most of the republics of the Soviet Union also had their anthem, but the Russian SSR did not until 1990. After Russia became independent, the Russian SSR anthem, which used a melody by Mikhail Glinka and had no official words, became the Russian national anthem. But in 2000, the newly elected president, Vladimir Putin, decided to bring back the melody of the Soviet anthem. He had new words written to it by Sergey Mikhalkov, the same person who wrote the original Soviet anthem.


title: State Anthem of the Soviet Union

text: Below are the Russian and the English versions of the lyrics; both can be sung to the music. Like "The Internationale", there are also other versions of the Soviet anthem in different languages.


title: State Anthem of the Soviet Union

text: The 1944 text had three different refrains following three different stanzas; in each refrain, the second line was consequently modified with references to friendship, then happiness and finally the glory. In 1977, these refrains were replaced by a uniform refrain following all stanzas.


title: State Anthem of the Soviet Union

text: The Hymn of the Bolshevik Party (Гимн партии большевиков / "Gimn partii boljševikov") uses the same melody as the Soviet anthem, but with different lyrics by Vasily Lebedev-Kumach.


title: State Anthem of the Soviet Union

text: Because the Soviet Union had several minority languages, the anthem was translated into several different languages, including all of the official languages of each SSR and several other minority languages (especially those of Russia), including Avar, Bashkir, Karachay-Balkar, Komi, Tatar and Sakha (Yakut).


title: Roulette

text: Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for "little wheel". In the game, players may choose to place bets on fields which include one or more numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even.


title: Roulette

text: To determine the winning number and color, the game wheel is spun in one direction, then a ball is spun in the opposite direction around a track running around the wheel. The ball eventually slows down and falls on to the wheel and into one of 37 (in French/European roulette) or 38 (in American roulette) colored and numbered pockets on the wheel.


title: Ocean pollution

text: Ocean pollution is pollution in the sea. It is a form of water pollution. "Ocean pollution" and "marine pollution" mean the same thing.


title: Ocean pollution

text: Marine pollution occurs when harmful effects result from the entry into the ocean of chemicals, particles, industrial, agricultural and residential waste, noise, or the spread of invasive organisms. Most sources of marine pollution are land based. The pollution often comes from nonpoint sources such as agricultural runoff, wind-blown debris and dust. Nutrient pollution, a form of water pollution, refers to contamination by excessive inputs of nutrients. It is a primary cause of eutrophication of surface waters, in which excess nutrients, usually nitrogen or phosphorus, stimulate algae growth.


title: Ocean pollution

text: Many potentially toxic chemicals adhere to tiny particles which are then taken up by plankton and benthos animals, most of which are either deposit or filter feeders. In this way, the toxins are concentrated upward within ocean food chains.


title: Ocean pollution

text: When pesticides are incorporated into the marine ecosystem, they quickly become absorbed into marine food webs. Once in the food webs, these pesticides can cause mutations, as well as diseases, which can be harmful to humans as well as the entire food web.


title: Ocean pollution

text: Toxic metals can also be introduced into marine food webs. These can cause a change to tissue matter, biochemistry, behaviour, reproduction, and suppress growth in marine life. Also, many animal feeds have a high fish meal or fish hydrolysate content. In this way, marine toxins can be transferred to land animals, and appear later in meat and dairy products.


title: Ocean pollution

text: Every time we wash a car or use fertilizer on our lawns we are polluting the ocean. People often think that water pollution comes from big factories, but most of the pollution comes from everyday people doing everyday things. This kind of pollution is called "nonpoint-source pollution" because we cannot point out where it came from directly. All waste water, in time, enters a body of water (usually a stream). Every stream leads to a river, and every river leads to an ocean.


title: Ocean pollution

text: Because so many people use oil, large ships must take billions of barrels of it across the oceans. If it is not handled carefully, these trips can be very bad. In 1989, the United States experienced a large oil spill in Prince William Sound, a waterway on the Alaskan coast. The "Exxon Valdez", a very big ship, hit a reef and spilled more than 260,000 barrels of oil. The results were very bad. A great number of animals were covered in oil and began dying immediately. Animals that ate these oil-filled animals also died. Many Alaskans who lived by fishing these animals lost their businesses. Even though many animals were saved, and the Exxon Oil Company spent 2.5 billion dollars trying to clean up the oil, Alaska's wildlife still suffers.


title: Ivana Trump

text: Ivana Trump (born Ivana Marie Zelníčková; (); February 20, 1949 – July 14, 2022) was a Czech-American businesswoman, former Olympic skiier and model. She was best known for her marriage to Donald Trump, which ended in divorce. They had three children together, Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump.


title: Ivana Trump

text: Trump died on July 14, 2022 in her Manhattan, New York City home at the age of 73. The next day, it was revealed that Trump died of "blunt impact injuries to the torso" after falling on her staircase.


title: Jane Fonda

text: Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, writer, political activist and former fashion model. She is the daughter of Henry Fonda, the sister of Peter Fonda and the aunt of Bridget Fonda, both of whom are actors. She won two Academy Awards. Fonda made instructional videos on exercise and aerobics.


title: Jane Fonda

text: Fonda was born on December 21, 1937 in New York City. She is the daughter of actor Henry Fonda (1905–1982) and the Canadian-born socialite Frances Ford Seymour (1908–1950). According to her father, their surname comes from Italian ancestors who immigrated to the Netherlands. There they intermarried and began to use Dutch given names. She is also of English, Scottish, French-Canadian, German, and Norwegian ancestry. She was named after the third wife of English king Henry VIII, Jane Seymour. Her mother is distantly related to Jane Seymour. Her brother was actor Peter Fonda (1940–2019) and through him, her niece was his daughter Bridget. In 1950, her mother committed suicide when Jane was 13.


title: Jane Fonda

text: In the early 1950s, Fonda taught dance at Fire Island Pines, New York. She attended the Emma Willard School in Troy, New York, and Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, but dropped out to become a fashion model.


title: Jane Fonda

text: Fonda was diagnosed with breast cancer and osteoporosis in her later years. She had a lumpectomy in November 2010, and has recovered. In April 2019, Fonda revealed she had a cancerous growth removed from her lower lip in March 2018 and had pre-melanoma growths removed from her skin.


title: Mesothelioma

text: Mesothelioma is a cancer of the "mesothelial" tissue, a membrane that surrounds several cavities inside of the human body, including the lungs. Although mesothelioma has many possible causes, most cases can be traced to asbestos exposure.


title: Mesothelioma

text: Mesothelioma is a deadly form of cancer. Most patients are diagnosed in their 60s and die at around age 70. It is different from asbestosis, another disease caused by asbestos. Mesothelioma has been the subject of many lawsuits.


title: Golda Meir

text: Golda Meir (; , , born Golda Mabovitch, May 3 1898 - December 8 1978, known as Golda Myerson from 1917 to 1956) was the fourth prime minister of the State of Israel.


title: Golda Meir

text: Golda Meir became Prime Minister of Israel on March 17 1969 after serving as Minister of Labour and Foreign Minister. She was said to be the "Iron Lady" "(a strong-minded woman)" of Israel's politics years before that name became said about the British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Meir was Israel's first and so far only female prime minister. She was the world's third female prime minister. The two biggest events of her time as prime minister were the murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. After questions about her handling of the war, Meir left her job even though she had been found to be not to blame for problems with the war.


title: Golda Meir

text: Her birth name was Golda Mabovitch (). She was born in Kiev in the former Russian Empire (today Ukraine), and her parents were Blume Naidich and Moshe Mabovitch, a carpenter. The family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States. Her father found a job as a carpenter, and her mother ran a grocery store. At the age of eight, she was already put in charge of watching the store when her mother went to the market for supplies.


title: Golda Meir

text: When she was 14 years old, Golda went to North Division High School and worked part-time. Her mother wanted her to leave school and marry, but she did not. She ran away from home and bought a train ticket to Denver, Colorado, and went to live with her married sister, Sheyna Korngold. The Korngolds held evening meetings at their home where Meir learned about the Jews' desire for a country of their own, literature, women's rights, trade unions and more. In Denver, she also met Morris Meyerson, a sign painter, whom she married when she was 19.


title: Golda Meir

text: The two biggest things to happen during her time as prime minister were the murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games by the terrorist group Black September, and the twenty-day war called the Yom Kippur War between Israel and the Arab states led by Egypt and Syria in October 1973.


title: Golda Meir

text: The Yom Kippur War was from October 6 to October 26, 1973 and was between a group of Arab countries led by Syria and Egypt against Israel. Israel was surprised by the attack and after the Yom Kippur War, the government was asked questions about Israel's not being ready for the war. A group of people who were asked to look into the war decided that it was not Meir's fault. Her political party won the elections in December 1973, but Meir stopped being prime minister on April 11, 1974, because she felt that was what the people of Israel wanted. Yitzhak Rabin became prime minister after her on June 3, 1974.


title: Golda Meir

text: On December 8, 1978, Golda Meir died of cancer in Jerusalem at the age of 80. She was buried Helkat Gdolei Ha'uma in Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on December 12 1978.


title: Antigua and Barbuda

text: Antigua and Barbuda is an island nation in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Antigua and Barbuda are part of the Lesser Antilles archipelago. In 2011, about 81,800 people lived there. The capital and largest port and city is St. John's, on Antigua. The country used to be a part of the British Empire. The nation still belongs to the British Commonwealth.


title: Antigua and Barbuda

text: Note: Though Barbuda and Redonda are called dependencies, they are important parts of the state. Dependency is simply a title.


title: Antigua and Barbuda

text: Below is a list of the ten largest cities. For other cities see List of cities in Antigua and Barbuda.


title: Antigua and Barbuda

text: Tourism is the main part of the economy. It is more than half of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Antigua is famous for its many luxury resorts. Investment banking and financial services are also important.


title: Antigua and Barbuda

text: English is the official language, but many of the locals speak Antiguan Creole. The Barbudan accent is slightly different from the Antiguan.


title: Autonomy

text: Autonomy means being able to rule without having to obey some other higher authority. Autonomy is something that philosophers often talk about. The idea occurs in moral, political, and bioethical philosophy. It means that someone is able to make a sensible decision without being forced to do so by someone else. They are able to make a "free" decision.


title: Autonomy

text: In moral and political philosophy, autonomy is often used when discussing whether someone has a moral responsibility for what he does. One of best known philosophical theories of autonomy was developed by Kant. In medicine, doctors have to respect the autonomy of the patient, i.e. the patient has been given good information about their illness, they should be able to decide whether they want treatment. The doctor cannot force it on them.


title: Autonomy

text: In politics, autonomy means self-determination that people can govern themselves instead of being ruled by someone else.


title: Ellipse

text: In geometry, an ellipse is a plane curve which results from the intersection of a cone by a plane in a way that produces a closed curve.


title: Ellipse

text: Circles are special cases of ellipses, created when the cutting plane is perpendicular to the cone's axis.


title: Ellipse

text: An ellipse is simply all points on a graph that the sum of the distances from 2 points are the same. For example, an ellipse can be made by putting two pins into cardboard and a circle of string around those two, then putting a pencil in the loop and pulling as far as possible without breaking the string in all directions. The orbits of the planets are ellipses, with the sun at one focus.


title: Ellipse

text: formula_1 where the center of the ellipse is (h,k). 2A is the length from each end of the longer skinnier side. 2b is the length of the 2 ends of the short side. A²-B²=C² for c is the length between the foci and the center.


title: Ponzi scheme

text: A Ponzi scheme is a special kind of fraud. It is based on a fake investment that one schemer (or group of schemers) gets other people to give money to.


title: Ponzi scheme

text: In Ponzi schemes, the schemer basically says, "I found a great way to make money fast. The more you give me, the more I can invest in that cause, and the more I can earn for us all". But a Ponzi scheme doesn't actually "earn money". Instead, "all" of the scheme's money comes from the investors.


title: Ponzi scheme

text: Once a Ponzi scheme gets too many investors, the system will always crash. This is because the investors all expect more money than they invested, and they will get impatient.


title: Ponzi scheme

text: The scheme was named after a man named Charles Ponzi. He used the scheme after moving from Italy to the United States in 1903. (Ponzi didn't invent the scheme, though. In 1857, Charles Dickens wrote a book called "Little Dorrit" about a scheme like this. The scheme is a simple idea, and probably very old.) However, Ponzi's scheme was so big that it became the most popular. His original scheme was based on using countries' money-exchange rates to make money, based on international postage stamps. But money soon stopped being invested in coupons, and went to early investors, and a lot to Ponzi himself.


title: Ponzi scheme

text: People advertising Ponzi schemes often use impressive words, that are actually very vague. Examples are:


title: Ponzi scheme

text: Schemers often depend on investors "not actually knowing" about economics. The Madoff scandal of 2008 showed that even sophisticated people like bankers can fall for them. People are fooled by the schemer seeming to have financial skill or reputation.


title: Ponzi scheme

text: Sometimes, the schemers claim that money can only be made if the investment is kept a secret (away from the authorities or public). For example, Bernard Madoff only allowed the accounting firm run by his brother-in-law to perform audits on his "hedge fund", claiming it had to be kept a secret to earn money.


title: Ponzi scheme

text: Since the investment is very vague, not many investors come very fast. But the scheme often gets speed like this:


title: Ponzi scheme

text: Schemers often try to tempt the early investors to "re-invest" the money they've "earned". Schemers sometimes send investors "invoices", showing investors how much they've "earned" and how much they'll keep "earning" if they keep "investing".


title: Ponzi scheme

text: Schemers also try to make sure new investors can't take their money back, by making the rules tighter. In this case, the schemer will often have a few investors say they kept their money, making the investment still look productive enough to be good.


title: Greek shield

text: The "Greek shield" of Ancient Greece was called a hoplon or aspis. It was from this word that hoplite (a Greek soldier) is derived.


title: Greek shield

text: A hoplon was a deeply-dished shield made of wood. Some shields had a thin sheet of bronze on the outer face. This was placed just around the rim. In some periods, the shield was decorated. At other times, it remained undecorated. These large shields were designed for a mass of hoplites to push forward into the opposing army, and it was their most essential equipment. The shield was carried in the left hand. It was used by Spartans as a weapon of attack.


title: Greek shield

text: Probably the most famous decoration is the Spartan. This was a capital lambda (Λ). From the late 5th century BC onward, Athenian hoplites usually used the Little Owl (Athena's sacred bird). The shields of Theban hoplites were sometimes decorated with a sphinx, or the club of Herakles.


title: Cher

text: Cherilyn Sarkisian, better known as Cher, (born May 20, 1946) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and television personality. She has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award and three Golden Globe Awards. She is well known for her deep contralto vocal range.


title: Cher

text: Cher first became well known in 1965 as one half of the pop rock duo Sonny & Cher. She has also released 25 albums as a solo artist, and has 22 "Billboard" Top 40 entries over her career. These include twelve Top 10 singles and five number one singles.


title: Cher

text: She became a successful television star in the 1970s and a movie actress in the 1980s. In 1987, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the romantic comedy Moonstruck.


title: Driveshaft

text: A driveshaft, drive shaft, driving shaft, propeller shaft, or Cardan shaft is a part of a machine that takes power from the engine or motor to a place where useful work can be done.


title: Driveshaft

text: Most engines or motors create power as torque by making something rotate. This can be from an internal combustion engine (as in a car), water driving a water wheel, or gas or water going through a turbine. This rotating power is called torque. The load that is turned creates torsion and shear stress. Drive shafts need to be strong enough to take this stress. A light drive shaft will more efficiently move the power to the load, so there needs to be a balance between strength and weight.


title: Driveshaft

text: Most automobiles today use drive shafts to deliver power from the engine to the wheels. Most cars made today are front wheel drive (the front wheels have the power to move the car). In this case, the drive shafts are between the transaxle and each front wheels.


title: Driveshaft

text: In rear wheel drive cars, there are drive shafts between the differential and each rear wheel. There is also a drive shaft running the length of the car, from the transmission up front to the differential in the back - in British English this is not called a drive shaft, but a propeller shaft, or prop-shaft, and the drive shafts may be called half shafts (since there are two that make one axle).


title: Driveshaft

text: The Slip in Tube Drive shaft is the new type which helps absorb energy in a crash, protecting the people in the car or truck. It is also known as a collapsible drive shaft.


title: Driveshaft

text: Drive shafts have been used on motorcycles almost as long as there have been motorcycles. Many motorcycles use a simpler chain or belt drive instead, but drive shafts need less care, and have a long life. A problem with using drive shafts on a motorcycle is that gearing is needed to turn the power 90° from the shaft to the rear wheel, losing some power in the process.


title: Driveshaft

text: Farm tractors use a type of drive shaft called a Power Take-off shaft, or PTO shaft. This is a shaft that comes out the back of the tractor. It can be connected to any farm equipment that needs power from the tractor engine, such as a hay baler or corn chopper.


title: Driveshaft

text: The drive shaft can also be used in a bicycle instead of chain-drive. They have been used for the past century, although never becoming very popular. When used on a bicycle, a drive shaft has several advantages and disadvantages:


title: Bays of Canada

text: A bay is a large body of water. It is in the land next to a sea or lake between two headlands. Canada is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Arctic Ocean. There are also hundreds of lakes larger than 100 km2 (38.6 sq mi). Canada is also the second largest country by area. All of these factors mean that Canada has hundreds of bays.


title: Padmavati

text: Padmini, also known as Padmavati, was a legendary 13th–14th century Indian queen (Rani). Several 16th-century texts mention her, of which the earliest source is "Padmavat". "Padmavat" is an epic fictionalized poem written by Malik Muhammad Jayasi in 1540 CE. The Jayasi text describes her story as follows: Padmavati was an exceptionally beautiful princess of the Singhal kingdom (Sri Lanka). Ratan Sen, the Rajput ruler of Chittor Fort, heard about her beauty from a talking parrot named Hiraman. After an adventurous quest, he won her hand in marriage and brought her to Chittor. Alauddin Khalji, the Sultan of Delhi, also heard about her beauty, and laid siege to Chittor to obtain her. Many events occurred during the period of the siege, till the fort was finally taken. Meanwhile, Ratan Sen was killed in a duel with Devpal, the king of Kumbhalner, who was also enamoured with Padmavati's beauty. Before Alauddin Khalji could capture Chittor, Padmavati and her companions committed Jauhar (self-immolation) to protect their honour. After her sacrifice, the Rajput men died fighting on the battlefield. There is also a Bollywood movie called " Padmavati " which explains the story very well.


title: Padmavati

text: Many other written and oral tradition versions of her life exist in Hindu and Jain traditions. These versions differ from the Sufi poet Jayasi's version. For example, Rani Padmani's husband Ratan Sen dies fighting the siege of Alauddin Khalji, and thereafter she leads a jauhar. In these versions, she is characterised as a Hindu Rajput queen, who defended her honour against a Muslim invader. Over the years, she came to be seen as a historical figure, and appeared in several novels, plays, television serials and movies. However, while Khalji's siege of Chittor in 1303 CE is a historical event, many modern historians question the authenticity of the Padmini legends.


title: Ron Jeremy

text: Ronald Jeremy "Ron" Hyatt (born March 12, 1953) who is known professionally by his credited stage name as Ron Jeremy is an American former pornographic actor, movie actor, filmmaker, businessman, stand-up comedian, television personality and convicted sex offender. He is known for his pornographic movies, and he was listed as one of the "Top 50 Best Porno Actors of All Time" as of 2007.


title: Ron Jeremy

text: Jeremy was born on March 12, 1953 in Queens, New York City to a Jewish family. He was raised in New York City. He studied at the Queens College in New York. He was a teacher before he became a porn star. He is wellknown for his large circumcised Penis.


title: Ron Jeremy

text: On January 30, 2013, Jeremy went to the hospital in Los Angeles, California after he had an heart aneurysm. The next day he had a surgery. He recovered from the surgery on February 7. He eventually left the hospital on February 19.


title: Ron Jeremy

text: More than a twelve women have publicly accused Jeremy of sexual assault. In June 2020, Jeremy was charged with 4 counts of rape and sexual assault involving four women. In August 2020, he was charged with another 20 counts of either rape or sexual assault between 2004 and 2020 respectively. He could originally be sentenced to 250 years in prison.


title: Thapki Pyar Ki

text: Thapki Pyar Ki ("Pat of Love and Support") is an Indian television drama series that premiered on Colors TV on 25 May 2015. The Show initialy started with the Story of a Girl called "Thapki" who had a stammer. The Lead Actors in the Show were Jigyasa Singh and Manish Goplani who played the roles of Thapki and Bihaan respectively. The show culminated on 14 July 2017, showing the Happy Family of Thapki and Aryan, Look-alike of Bihaan, whom Thapki married after Bihaan's Death. It's an indian soap opera filled with drama and romance


title: Thapki Pyar Ki

text: Vani Chaturvedi (nicknamed "Thapki") (Jigyasa Singh) has a stutter but is a cheerful and intelligent girl. She never loses hope and doesn't let her stuttering become an obstacle in her life. Because of her stutter, Thapki receives no marriage proposals. Then she is introduced to Diwakar Mishra, who is short. He too refusesto marry Thapki because of her stutter and she is left heartbroken.


title: Thapki Pyar Ki

text: After a while, Thapki finds employment at a television channel called "News 365" which is owned by Dhruv Pandey (Ankit Bathla). Dhruv is a well educated and gentle man. When Thapki and her family migrate to Noida, Thapki handles the move well and impresses Dhruv. A co-worker becomes jealous and unsuccessfully tries to cause trouble. Meanwhile, Thapki and Dhruv fall in love.


title: Thapki Pyar Ki

text: Dhruv tells his family that he wishes to marry Thapki. The family agree but Dhruv's mother, Vasundhara, does not like Thapke because of her stutter. On the day of the marriage, Vasundhara asks her adopted son, Bihaan (Manish Goplani), to poison Dhruv's food. Dhruv falls unconscious. To Thapki's horror, she is then married to Bihaan. Vasu wants Dhruv to marry a girl called Shraddha (Monica Khanna). Shradda does not like Thapki and schemes against her.


title: Thapki Pyar Ki

text: One day, Thapki saves Vasundhara from a falling deity. Vasundhara regrets her attitude to Thapki. Meanwhile, Bihaan is falling in love with Thapki. Vasundhara asks Thapki to leave Bihaan for his own good. She does not and they are properly married. For a time, dhruv is jealous and trties to break up the marriage before realising the error of his ways.


title: Thapki Pyar Ki

text: Bihaan's biological family consisting of his mother,Kosi and his paternal uncle,Naman arrive. They want a kidney from Bihaan for their son, John. They discover that Bihaan was born with one kidney. Thapki tells Bihaan that his family will want the kidney anyway but Bihaan does not believe her. Thapki is pregnant and writes to tell Bihaan but the letter is intercepted by Bihaan's family. Thapki has an accident and loses the baby.


title: Thapki Pyar Ki

text: Thapki returns as a business tycoon called Vaani Oberoi. With the help of Kabir, she exposes Kosi Devi and he is removed from the house. Kabir takes revenge on Bihaan for setting alight the house of his sister, Neha. Thapki believes that Bihaan is innocent and soon Kabir does too. Thapki, Vasu and Neha expose Sankar as the true arsonist. The police come but Sankar escapes. Dhruv divorces Shraddha and marries Aditi (Sheena Bajaj), Thapki's sister. In a drunken state, he impregnates Aditi as well as Shraddha.


title: Thapki Pyar Ki

text: Then, Thapki falls pregnant. Sankar fakes her own death. The police arrest Bihaan for murdering Sankar. Sankar blackmails Thapki by saying she will save Bihaan from hanging if Thapki leaves. Thapki leaves and later gives birth to twin daughters. Sankar tries to kill one of the daughters but she is saved by Bihaan who adopts her. Everyone thinks that one of the twins is dead. Thapki leaves with Kabir. Bihaan tries to stop her. Shraddha tells Sankar that she knows that she had blackmail Thapki and they form an alliance. Aditi overhears them and tells Bihaan. They go to Thapki but on the way are injured when Sharddha runs them over.


title: Thapki Pyar Ki

text: Aditi is found dead. Dhruv blames Thapki and is very angry. Bihaan has lost his memory. Shraddha and Sankar mistreat Tina. Thapki is living with Bani. Thapki and Bihaan meet at their daughters' school. Thapki returns in order to help Bihaan's amnesia. Shraddha blackmails Tina into pressuring Bihaan and Sankar to marry. Bihaan's memory returns when Thapki reminds him of Sankar's behaviour. Sankar implicates Shraddha.


title: Thapki Pyar Ki

text: When Vasu takes Bihaan and his family to a famous temple, a gangster called Amma Mai kidnaps Bani. Amma Mai wants Bani to marry his son. Shraddha tries to make an alliance with Amma Mai. Shraddha's plan is revealed by Thapki. When Bihaan tries to save Bani, he is shot by Amma Mai. Amma Mai and her son are arrested. Bani blames Thapki for he father's death and leaves home. Kosi takes Bani in. Thapki is then kidnapped by Shraddha. Vasu rescues Thapki and defeats Shraddha.


title: Thapki Pyar Ki

text: Tina is to marry Samar. Bani and Kosi arrive to take revenge on Thapki. Thapki asks Aryan, who looks like Bihaan, to impersonate Bihaan. Aryan is the brother of Bani's fiancé, Manav. On the day of marriage, Kosi creates mayhem. Bani apologises to Thapki and Kosi is arrested.


title: Thapki Pyar Ki

text: Aryan is told that Bani has died in an accident and Thapki's face has been completely changed by surgery after the accident. In fact, Thapki and Bani have been kidnapped by "Lovely", a bar dancer, who is impersonating Thapki. Thapki escapes but is blackmailed into silence by Lovely, who threatens to kill Bani. Mohini is Thapki's long lost twin sister who was separated from her family when Thapki pushed her. Mohini disguises Thapki with a veil and introduces her as Rajjo. However, the family are not fooled. Samar rescues Bani. Mohini apologises for her actions.


title: Thapki Pyar Ki

text: Tina and Vasu have not yet forgiven Thapki for messing up her daughters life. Vasu learns of Aryan and Balvinder tries to kill him. Before he does, Bani explains all. Thapki is forgiven. Aryan is invited to stay with the family to take Bihaan's place. Aryan marries Thapki and everyone lives happily ever after.


title: Thapki Pyar Ki

text: On 12 February 2016, an episode called "Ishq Ka Rang Safed" was broadcast. Dhaani goes to the temple to make amends for drinking. She falls on the temple stairs but Bihaan saves her. Thapki arrives at the temple but hides from Bihaan. Dhaani helps Thapki and they pray together and become friends.


title: Thapki Pyar Ki

text: The series was broadcast in Pakistan by Filmazia and Colors TV, until October 2016. It was dubbed into Tamil as "Indira – Puthumai Penn" ("Indira – A Girl of Innovation") and broadcast on Raj TV. The show was dubbed into Indonesian language as "Thapki" and was broadcast from 18 July 2016 on ANTV. In Vietnam, the series was broadcast as "Tôi, Thapki" in Vietnamese on HTV3. "Thapki" was translated to Persian and broadcast on the Gem Bollywood channel.


title: Isaac Asimov

text: Isaac Asimov ( – April 6, 1992) was a writer of science fiction. He was also a biochemist with a PhD from Columbia University.


title: Isaac Asimov

text: Asimov was born in Petrovichi, Smolensk Oblast, Russian SFSR to a Jewish family, on an unknown date between October 4, 1919 and January 2, 1920. Asimov celebrated his birthday on January 2. He was taken to the United States when he was three, and learned English and Yiddish as his native languages. He wrote many books. People know about Isaac Asimov because of his science fiction books and his science books for non-scientists.


title: Isaac Asimov

text: Asimov's most famous books were the Foundation series. He also wrote the "Galactic Empire," the "Robot" Series, mystery, fantasy, and non-fiction books. He wrote or edited over 500 books and about 90,000 letters. Other subjects he wrote about were history, the Bible, literature, and sexuality.


title: Isaac Asimov

text: Many of Asimov's early writings were short stories published in cheap science fiction and fantasy magazines. Years later, most of them were collected and republished as collections. Well-known collections include "I, Robot", "The Rest of the Robots", "Earth is Room Enough" and "The Early Asimov".


title: Isaac Asimov

text: Asimov made a list of 15 of his science fiction books, which he advised should be read in this order:


title: Isaac Asimov

text: Asimov's novels have influenced science fiction on television and movie. Especially his 'Three Laws of Robotics' is a lasting contribution to our thinking.


title: Isaac Asimov

text: When he had heart surgery in 1983, he received blood infected with HIV. He developed AIDS, and died of the effects of the medical condition in 1992. His widow did not speak of this until years later.


title: Paladin

text: A paladin or paladine was a person with a lot of power in many countries during the medieval and in early modern Europe.


title: Paladin

text: The word paladin was first used in Ancient Rome for a chamberlain of the Emperor, and also for the imperial palace guard, called the Scholae Palatinae by Constantine. In the early Middle Ages, the meaning changed and the word was used for one of the highest officials of the Catholic Church in the pope's service and also for one of the big nobles of the Holy Roman Empire, who was then named Count Palatine. The word paladin was also used in 19th century Hungary and in the German Empire and United Kingdom during the early 20th century.


title: Paladin

text: In medieval literature, the paladins or Twelve Peers were known in the Matter of France as the retainers of Charlemagne. Because of the way that this word was used in books, paladin was then known to be a knight with honor.


title: Paladin

text: In the beginning, the word paladin was applied to the Chamberlains and to some soldiers guarding the palace of the Roman emperor. In Constantine's time, the word was also used for the best infantry of the army, the Praetorian Guard, that might guard the Roman Emperor during wars.


title: Paladin

text: After the Middle Ages, the word palatine was put onto many different people of power across Europe. The most important of these was the "comes palatinus", the count palatine, who in Merovingian and Carolingian times, was an official of the lords' household and court of law.


title: Paladin

text: During the 800s, Carolingean rule came to an end and the title of Holy Roman emperor with it. About a century later, the title was made alive again by Otto I, though the new empire was now centered in Germany rather than France. The term palatine is found again under Charles IV, but they were less powerful than the previous palatines.


title: Paladin

text: In the early days of England, the word "palatinate", or county palatine, was also used in counties of lords who could use powers normally used by the crown.


title: Paladin

text: In Britain and Germany, paladin was an official rank and was a very good title for one in the service of the emperors. It was a Knight with additional honours, they were allowed to use powers normally used by the crown.


title: Paladin

text: Some role playing games now use paladins as a character class that you can choose when starting a new game.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Yo-Yo Ma (born 7 October 1955) is a French-born Chinese American cellist. His family name is “Ma”, so his full Chinese name is “Ma Yo-yo”. Yo-Yo Ma is one of the world’s greatest cellists. He plays many kinds of music, not just classical, and he has performed for three presidents of the United States.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Yo-Yo Ma was born in Paris. His parents were Chinese. His mother, Marina Lu, was a singer, and his father, Hiao-Tsiun Ma, was a professor of music. His family moved to New York when he was four years old.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma began studying violin when he was very small. He also played the viola for a short while, then, at the age of four, he started the cello. He was a child prodigy and began performing to audiences at the age of five. When he was seven he performed for President John F. Kennedy . At the age of eight he appeared on American television in a concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein. By the time he was fifteen, Ma had graduated from Trinity School in New York and appeared as a soloist with the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra playing Tchaikovsky’s 'Variations on a Rococo Theme".


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma studied at the Juilliard School of Music. His teacher was Leonard Rose. He went to Columbia University and then Harvard University. At one time he had doubts about whether he should continue his studies, but in the 1970s he was inspired by the recordings of Pablo Casals.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: By this time he had played with several of the world's great orchestras. His recordings and performances of the "Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Suites" recorded in 1983 and again in 1994-1997 have been particularly praised. He has also played lots of chamber music, often with the pianist Emanuel Ax whom he had met at the Julliard School of Music.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma is interested in music from different cultures. He has a group called Silk Road Ensemble which tries to bring together musicians from different countries which are historically linked by the Silk Road. H records on the Sony Classical label.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Yo-Yo Ma has owned several beautiful cellos. The cello called "Domenico Montagnana 1733" cello (nicknamed "Petunia") was made in 1733 in Venice. It is worth more than US$2.5 million. In 1999 he accidentally left it in a taxi but fortunately it was found again. Another of Ma's cellos, the "Davidov Stradivarius", was once owned by Jacqueline du Pré who left it to him when she died.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Yo-Yo Ma has played for the soundtracks of many famous movies. He also has made over 75 albums, 15 of which are Grammy Award winners.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma has appeared in an episode of the animated children's television series, "Arthur" (in which D.W. kept calling him "Yo Ma-Ma") as well as several other television programmes including "The Simpsons". Ma performed a duet with Condoleezza Rice at the presentation of the 2001 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal Awards. He made a programme about "Bach: Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello".


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On 11 September, 2002, a year after the attack on the World Trade Center, he played his cello on the site of the building while the first of the names of the dead were read in remembrance. Ma was named Peace Ambassador by the United Nations in January 2006.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: He performed John Williams' "Air and Simple Gifts" at the inauguration ceremony for Barack Obama on January 20, 2009 together with the violinist Itzhak Perlman, the pianist Gabriela Montero and the clarinettist Anthony McGill.


title: Mall of America

text: Mall of America (also MOA, MoA, the Megamall) is a large shopping mall in the Twin Cities suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota, USA. The mall is southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north of the Minnesota River and is across the interstate from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. In the United States, it is the second-largest inside mall in terms of retail space but is largest in terms of total enclosed floor area. Opened in 1992, the mall received 40 million visitors in 2006.


title: Mall of America

text: "Triple Five Group", owned by the Ghermezian family of Canada, fully owns and manages the property, and has also owned West Edmonton Mall in Canada.


title: Mall of America

text: Mall of America (founded by John Scott & Benjamin Clark) has a gross area of 4.2 million square feet (390,000 m²), with 2.5 million sq ft. (230,000 m²) available as retail space. The mall is a nearly symmetric building, with a roughly rectangular floor plan. Over 520 stores are arranged along three levels of pedestrian walkways on the sides of the rectangle, with a fourth level on the East side. An addition planned north of the mall will allow for up to 900 stores. Four "anchor" department stores are at the corners. The Mall is organized into four different zones, each with its own decorative style.


title: Mall of America

text: Despite Minnesota's often cold temperatures in the winter, only the mall's entrances are heated. Heat is allowed in through skylights above Nickelodeon Universe. Heat is produced by lighting fixtures, other electric devices and also by employees and guests of the mall in sufficient amounts to keep it comfortable. In fact, even during the winter, air conditioning systems need to be run nonstop during peak hours to ensure a comfortable shopping environment.


title: Mall of America

text: Two nearly identical seven story parking ramps on east and west sides provide 12,550 parking spaces. Parking lots on the north and south of the building, along with nearby overflow parking, bring the total number of spaces up to approximately 20,000.


title: Mall of America

text: The mall was designed and built by "Triple Five Group", owned by the Ghermezian brothers of Canada, who also own the biggest shopping mall in North America, the West Edmonton Mall. Mall of America is on the past site of Metropolitan Stadium, where the Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Twins played until the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome opened. The teams left Metropolitan Stadium in 1982. A plaque in the amusement park is where home plate used to be in that stadium. One seat from Met Stadium was placed in Mall of America at its exact location (including elevation) in the stadium, to recognize a 520 foot home run hit by hall-of-famer Harmon Killebrew on June 3, 1967.


title: Mall of America

text: In 1986, The Bloomington Port Authority signed an agreement with the Ghermezian Organization. Groundbreaking for the mall took place on June 14, 1989. Organizations involved include Melvin Simon and Associates, Teachers Insurance and Annuity (a.k.a. TIAA), the Triple Five Group, and the office of architect Jon Jerde.


title: Mall of America

text: The mall opened its doors to the public August 11, 1992. Even before opening, Mall of America had earned several nicknames, including "The Megamall" (or "The Megamess" during construction), "Sprawl of America", "Hugedale" (in reference to the four major "Dale" shopping malls within the Twin Cities, Rosedale, Southdale, Ridgedale and Brookdale) and, simply, "The Mall".


title: Mall of America

text: It became the second largest shopping mall in total area and largest in total store vendors in the United States when it opened, however, the mall has never been the largest in the world (the West Edmonton Mall, opened in 1991, is larger). Mall of America is the most visited shopping mall in the world with more than 40 million visitors annually (or roughly eight times the population of the state of Minnesota). The mall employs over 12,000 workers.


title: Mall of America

text: Starting on September 4, 1995, The Mall had an event for live television for the first time. Time-Warner owned professional wrestling company World Championship Wrestling set up in the building for the Inaugural edition of WCW Monday Nitro - also the WCW debut of Lex Luger, under his "The Narcissist" gimmick. This first broadcast on Turner Network Television, along with later editions broadcast from the Mall, would become a well known part of the federation's competition with The World Wrestling Federation.