Christopher Columbus sailed across an ocean.

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus ( Cristoforo Colombo -- 20 May 1506 ) was an Italian explorer , navigator , and colonizer . A citizen of the Republic of Genoa , under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean . Those voyages and his efforts to establish permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola initiated the European colonization of the New World .   At a time when European kingdoms were beginning to establish new trade routes and colonies , motivated by imperialism and economic competition , Columbus proposed to reach the East Indies by sailing westward . This eventually received the support of the Spanish Crown , which saw a chance to enter the spice trade with Asia through this new route . During his first voyage in 1492 , he reached the New World instead of arriving at Japan as he had intended , landing on an island in the Bahamas archipelago that he named `` San Salvador '' . Over the course of three more voyages , he visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles , as well as the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Central America , claiming all of it for the Crown of Castile .   Columbus was not the first European explorer to reach the Americas , having been preceded by the Viking expedition led by Leif Erikson in the 11th century , but his voyages led to the first lasting European contact with the Americas , inaugurating a period of exploration , conquest , and colonization that lasted several centuries . These voyages thus had an enormous effect on the historical development of the modern Western world . He spearheaded the transatlantic slave trade and has been accused by several historians of initiating the genocide of the Hispaniola natives . Columbus himself saw his accomplishments primarily in the light of spreading the Christian religion .   Columbus never admitted that he had reached a continent previously unknown to Europeans , rather than the East Indies for which he had set course . He called the inhabitants of the lands that he visited indios ( Spanish for `` Indians '' ) . His strained relationship with the Spanish crown and its appointed colonial administrators in America led to his arrest and dismissal as governor of the settlements on the island of Hispaniola in 1500 , and later to protracted litigation over the benefits that he and his heirs claimed were owed to them by the crown .


Dan Aykroyd was in a film worked on by Alfred Uhry.

Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward `` Dan '' Aykroyd ( born July 1 , 1952 ) is a Canadian-American actor , comedian , producer , voice artist , screenwriter , musician and businessman . He was an original member of the `` Not Ready for Prime Time Players '' on Saturday Night Live ( 1975 -- 1979 ) . A musical sketch he performed with John Belushi on SNL , The Blues Brothers , turned into an actual performing band and then a highly successful 1980 film , also called The Blues Brothers . He conceived and starred in Ghostbusters ( 1984 ) , which spawned a sequel ( Ghostbusters II ) and eventually an entire media franchise . In 1990 , he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the 1989 film Driving Miss Daisy . He starred in his own sitcom , Soul Man , from 1997 -- 98 . Aykroyd is also a successful businessman , having co-founded the House of Blues chain of music venues and the Crystal Head Vodka brand .


Driving Miss Daisy Driving Miss Daisy is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Alfred Uhry , based on Uhry 's play of the same name . The film stars Jessica Tandy , Morgan Freeman , and Dan Aykroyd . Freeman reprised his role from the Original Off-Broadway production . The story defines Daisy and her point of view through a network of relationships and emotions by focusing on her home life , synagogue , friends , family , fears , and concerns over a 25-year period .   At the 62nd Academy Awards in 1990 , Driving Miss Daisy received nine nominations , and won the Academy Award for Best Picture , Best Actress ( Jessica Tandy ) , Best Makeup , and Best Adapted Screenplay .


Batman (1966 film) Batman ( often promoted as Batman : The Movie ) is a 1966 American superhero film based on the Batman television series , and the first full-length theatrical adaptation of the DC Comics character Batman . Released by 20th Century Fox , the film starred Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin . The film hit theaters two months after the last episode of the first season of the television series . The film includes most members of the original TV cast , with the exception of Lee Meriwether as Catwoman , the character previously played by Julie Newmar in two episodes of the series ' first season .


Andrew Jackson served as President of the United states in the 1830s.

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson ( March 15 , 1767 -- June 8 , 1845 ) was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837 and was the founder of the Democratic Party . Before being elected to the presidency , Jackson served in Congress and gained fame as a general in the United States Army . As president , Jackson sought to advance the rights of the `` common man '' against a `` corrupt aristocracy '' and to preserve the Union .   He became a practicing lawyer in Tennessee and in 1791 he married Rachel Donelson Robards . Jackson served briefly in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate . Upon returning to Tennessee , he was appointed a justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court , serving from 1798 until 1804 . In 1801 , Jackson was appointed colonel in the Tennessee militia , and was elected its commander the following year . He led Tennessee militia and U.S. Army regulars during the Creek War of 1813 -- 1814 , winning a major victory at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend . The subsequent Treaty of Fort Jackson required the Creek surrender of vast lands in present-day Alabama and Georgia . Jackson won a decisive victory in the War of 1812 over the British army at the Battle of New Orleans , making him a national hero . Following the conclusion of the War of 1812 , Jackson led U.S. forces in the First Seminole War , which helped produce the Adams -- Onís Treaty of 1819 and the transfer of Florida from Spain to the United States . Following the ratification of the treaty , Jackson briefly served as Florida 's first territorial governor before winning election as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee .   Jackson was a candidate for president in 1824 but , lacking a majority of electoral votes , lost the election in the House of Representatives to John Quincy Adams . In reaction to a `` corrupt bargain '' between opponents Adams and Henry Clay , Jackson 's supporters founded the Democratic Party . He ran again for president in 1828 against Adams and won in a landslide . As president , Jackson faced a threat of secession by South Carolina over the `` Tariff of Abominations '' enacted under Adams . The Nullification Crisis was defused when the tariff was amended and Jackson threatened the use of military force if South Carolina attempted to secede . Congress , led by Clay , attempted to reauthorize the Second Bank of the United States ; Jackson regarded the Bank as a corrupt institution and vetoed the renewal of its charter . After a lengthy struggle , Jackson and the congressional Democrats thoroughly dismantled the Bank . In 1835 , Jackson became the only president to completely pay off the national debt , fulfilling a longtime goal .   In foreign affairs , Jackson 's administration concluded a `` most favored nation '' treaty with Great Britain , settled U.S. claims of damages by France from the Napoleonic Wars , and recognized the Republic of Texas . His presidency marked the beginning of the ascendancy of the `` spoils system '' in American politics . In 1830 , Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act , which relocated most members of the Native American tribes in the South to Indian Territory ( now Oklahoma ) . The relocation process dispossessed the Indians and resulted in widespread death and sickness . In his retirement , Jackson remained active in Democratic Party politics , supporting the presidencies of Martin Van Buren and James K. Polk .   Jackson was widely revered in the United States , but his reputation has declined since the mid-20th century , largely due to his role in Indian removal and support for slavery . Surveys of historians and scholars have ranked Jackson between 6th and 18th most successful among United States presidents .


Kacey Musgraves was in the Grand Ole Pry.

Grand Ole Opry The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country-music stage concert in Nashville , Tennessee , which was founded on November 28 , 1925 , by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio `` barn dance '' on WSM . Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment ( a division of Ryman Hospitality Properties , Inc. ) , it is the longest-running radio broadcast in US history , albeit not the longest-running one on a radio network . Dedicated to honoring country music and its history , the Opry showcases a mix of famous singers and contemporary chart-toppers performing country , bluegrass , folk , gospel , and comedic performances and skits . It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world and millions of radio and Internet listeners .   The Opry 's current primary slogan is `` The Show that Made Country Music Famous '' . Other slogans include `` Home of American Music '' and `` Country 's Most Famous Stage '' .   In the 1930s the show began hiring professionals and expanded to four hours ; and WSM , broadcasting by then with 50,000 watts , made the program a Saturday night musical tradition in nearly 30 states . In 1939 , it debuted nationally on NBC Radio . The Opry moved to a permanent home , the Ryman Auditorium , in 1943 . As it developed in importance , so did the city of Nashville , which became America 's `` country music capital '' . The Grand Ole Opry holds such significance in Nashville that its name is included on the city/county line signs on all major roadways . The signs read `` Music City | Metropolitan Nashville Davidson County | Home of the Grand Ole Opry '' .   Membership in the Opry remains one of country music 's crowning achievements . Such country music legends as Hank Williams , Patsy Cline , Marty Robbins , Roy Acuff , the Carter family , Bill Monroe , Ernest Tubb , Kitty Wells and Minnie Pearl became regulars on the Opry 's stage . In recent decades , the Opry has hosted such contemporary country stars as Dolly Parton , Alan Jackson , Garth Brooks , Reba McEntire , Josh Turner , Carrie Underwood , Brad Paisley , Rascal Flatts , Dierks Bentley , Kacey Musgraves , Blake Shelton and the Dixie Chicks . Since 1974 , the show has been broadcast from the Grand Ole Opry House east of downtown Nashville , with an annual three-month winter foray back to the Ryman since 1999 . Performances have been sporadically televised in addition to the radio programs .


Alice (1990 film) Alice is a 1990 American romantic fantasy film written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Mia Farrow , Joe Mantegna and William Hurt . The film is a loose reworking of Federico Fellini 's 1965 film Juliet of the Spirits .   Alice received mildly positive reviews .


Marlon Brando was in Sayonara and he was American.

Marlon Brando Marlon Brando , Jr. ( April 3 , 1924 -- July 1 , 2004 ) was an American actor , film director and political activist . He is credited with bringing realism to film acting . He helped to popularize the Stanislavski system of acting , studying with Stella Adler in the 1940s . Brando is widely known for his Academy Award-winning performances as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront ( 1954 ) and Vito Corleone in The Godfather ( 1972 ) , as well as his performances in A Streetcar Named Desire ( 1951 ) , Viva Zapata ! ( 1952 ) , Julius Caesar ( 1953 ) , The Wild One ( 1953 ) , Guys and Dolls ( 1955 ) , Sayonara ( 1957 ) , Reflections in a Golden Eye ( 1967 ) , Last Tango in Paris ( 1972 ) , and Apocalypse Now ( 1979 ) . Brando was also an activist for many causes , notably the Civil Rights Movement and various Native American movements .   He initially gained acclaim and an Academy Award nomination for reprising the role of Stanley Kowalski in the 1951 film adaptation of Tennessee Williams ' play A Streetcar Named Desire , a role that he had originated successfully on Broadway . He received further praise for his performance as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront , and his portrayal of the rebel motorcycle gang leader Johnny Strabler in The Wild One proved to be a lasting image in popular culture . Brando received Academy Award nominations for playing Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata ! ; Mark Antony in Joseph L. Mankiewicz 's 1953 film adaptation of Shakespeare 's Julius Caesar ; and Air Force Major Lloyd Gruver in Sayonara ( 1957 ) , an adaption of James Michener 's 1954 novel . Brando was included in a list of Top Ten Money Making Stars three times in the 1950s , coming in at number 10 in 1954 , number 6 in 1955 , and number 4 in 1958 .   The 1960s proved to be a fallow decade for Brando . He directed and starred in the cult western film One-Eyed Jacks , a critical and commercial flop , after which he delivered a series of box-office failures , beginning with the 1962 film adaptation of the novel Mutiny on the Bounty . After 10 years , during which he did not appear in a successful film , he won his second Academy Award for playing Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola 's The Godfather , a role critics consider among his greatest . The Godfather was then one of the most commercially successful films of all time . With that and his Oscar-nominated performance in Last Tango in Paris , Brando re-established himself in the ranks of top box-office stars , placing sixth and tenth in the Money Making Stars poll in 1972 and 1973 , respectively . Brando took a four-year hiatus before appearing in The Missouri Breaks ( 1976 ) . After this , he was content with being a highly paid character actor in cameo roles , such as in Superman ( 1978 ) and The Formula ( 1980 ) , before taking a nine-year break from motion pictures . According to the Guinness Book of World Records , Brando was paid a record $ 3.7 million ( $ million in inflation-adjusted dollars ) and 11.75 % of the gross profits for 13 days ' work on Superman . He finished out the 1970s with his controversial performance as Colonel Kurtz in another Coppola film , Apocalypse Now , a box-office hit for which he was highly paid and which helped finance his career layoff during the 1980s .   Brando was ranked by the American Film Institute as the fourth-greatest movie star among male movie stars whose screen debuts occurred in or before 1950 . He was one of only three professional actors , along with Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe , named in 1999 by Time magazine as one of its 100 Most Important People of the Century . He died of respiratory failure on July 1 , 2004 , at age 80 .


Naproxen Naproxen ( brand names : Aleve , Naprosyn , and many others ) is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug ( NSAID ) of the propionic acid class ( the same class as ibuprofen ) that relieves pain , fever , swelling , and stiffness . It is a nonselective COX inhibitor , usually sold as the sodium salt .   Naproxen poses an intermediate risk of stomach ulcers compared with ibuprofen , which is low-risk , and indometacin , which is high-risk . To reduce stomach ulceration risk , it is often combined with a proton-pump inhibitor ( a medication that reduces stomach acid production ) during long-term treatment of those with pre-existing stomach ulcers or a history of developing stomach ulcers while on NSAIDs .


Never Go Back (novel) Never Go Back is the eighteenth book in the Jack Reacher series written by Lee Child .  It was published on 3 September 2013 in the United States .  The book continues the storyline covered in the novels 61 Hours , Worth Dying For and A Wanted Man . The novel , like a majority of the Jack Reacher novels , is narrated in third-person point of view .


The creators of Spider-Man gave the character the ability to cling to most surfaces.

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko , and first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy # 15 ( Aug. 1962 ) in the Silver Age of Comic Books . Lee and Ditko conceived the character as an orphan being raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben , and as a teenager , having to deal with the normal struggles of adolescence in addition to those of a costumed crime-fighter . Spider-Man 's creators gave him super strength and agility , the ability to cling to most surfaces , shoot spider-webs using wrist-mounted devices of his own invention , which he calls `` web-shooters '' , and react to danger quickly with his `` spider-sense '' , enabling him to combat his foes .   When Spider-Man first appeared in the early 1960s , teenagers in superhero comic books were usually relegated to the role of sidekick to the protagonist . The Spider-Man series broke ground by featuring Peter Parker , the high school student behind Spider-Man 's secret identity and with whose `` self-obsessions with rejection , inadequacy , and loneliness '' young readers could relate . While Spider-Man had all the makings of a sidekick , unlike previous teen heroes such as Bucky and Robin , Spider-Man had no superhero mentor like Captain America and Batman ; he thus had to learn for himself that `` with great power there must also come great responsibility '' -- a line included in a text box in the final panel of the first Spider-Man story but later retroactively attributed to his guardian , the late Uncle Ben .   Marvel has featured Spider-Man in several comic book series , the first and longest-lasting of which is titled The Amazing Spider-Man . Over the years , the Peter Parker character has developed from shy , nerdy New York City high school student to troubled but outgoing college student , to married high school teacher to , in the late 2000s , a single freelance photographer . In the 2010s , he joins the Avengers , Marvel 's flagship superhero team . Spider-Man 's nemesis Doctor Octopus also took on the identity for a story arc spanning 2012 -- 2014 , following a body swap plot in which Peter appears to die . Separately , Marvel has also published books featuring alternate versions of Spider-Man , including Spider-Man 2099 , which features the adventures of Miguel O'Hara , the Spider-Man of the future ; Ultimate Spider-Man , which features the adventures of a teenaged Peter Parker in an alternate universe ; and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man , which depicts the teenager Miles Morales , who takes up the mantle of Spider-Man after Ultimate Peter Parker 's supposed death .   Spider-Man is one of the most popular and commercially successful superheroes . As Marvel 's flagship character and company mascot , he has appeared in countless forms of media , including several animated and live action television series , syndicated newspaper comic strips , and in a series of films . The character was first portrayed in live action by Danny Seagren in Spidey Super Stories , a The Electric Company skit which ran from 1974 to 1977 . In films , Spider-Man has been portrayed by actors Tobey Maguire ( 2002 -- 2007 ) and Andrew Garfield ( 2012 -- 2014 ) , while Tom Holland portrays the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe , first appearing in Captain America : Civil War in 2016 . Reeve Carney starred as Spider-Man in the 2010 Broadway musical Spider-Man : Turn Off the Dark . Spider-Man has been well received as a superhero and comic book character , and he is often ranked as one of the most popular comic book characters of all time , alongside DC Comics ' most famous superheroes , Batman and Superman .


The Divergent Series' first movie was directed by Neil Burger.

The Divergent Series The Divergent Series is a feature film series based on the Divergent novels by the American author Veronica Roth . Distributed by Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate Films , the series consists of four science fiction films set in a dystopian society . They have been produced by Lucy Fisher , Pouya Shabazian , and Douglas Wick and star Shailene Woodley and Theo James as lead characters Beatrice Prior ( Tris ) and Tobias Eaton ( Four ) , respectively . The supporting cast includes Ansel Elgort , Zoë Kravitz and Miles Teller . The first film in the series was directed by Neil Burger , while the second and third films were directed by Robert Schwentke .   Development began in 2011 following Summit 's acquisition of the film rights to the Divergent novel in partnership with production company Red Wagon Entertainment . The studios announced production on the sequel following the first film 's strong performance in Thursday late-night screenings , where it grossed $ 4.9 million . They acquired film rights to the Allegiant novel in December 2013 , deciding in April 2014 to split the third novel into a two-part film adaptation .   The first installment , Divergent ( 2014 ) , grossed over $ 288 million worldwide , while the second installment , The Divergent Series : Insurgent ( 2015 ) , grossed over $ 297 million worldwide . Insurgent was also the first Divergent film to be released in IMAX 3D . The third installment , The Divergent Series : Allegiant ( 2016 ) , grossed $ 179 million . The first three films of the series have grossed over $ 765 million worldwide .


Iceland Iceland ( -LSB- ˈaɪslənd -RSB- -LSB- ˈistlant -RSB- ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean . It has a population of and an area of 103000 km2 , making it the most sparsely populated country in Europe . The capital and largest city is Reykjavík . Reykjavík and the surrounding areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population . Iceland is volcanically and geologically active . The interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields , mountains and glaciers , while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands . Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate , despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle . Its high latitude and marine influence still keeps summers chilly , with most of the archipelago having a tundra climate .   According to the ancient manuscript Landnámabók , the settlement of Iceland began in the year 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island . In the following centuries , Norwegians , and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians , emigrated to Iceland , bringing with them thralls of Gaelic origin . The island was governed as an independent commonwealth under the Althing , one of the world 's oldest functioning legislative assemblies . Following a period of civil strife , Iceland acceded to Norwegian rule in the 13th century . The establishment of the Kalmar Union in 1397 united the kingdoms of Norway , Denmark and Sweden . Iceland thus followed Norway 's integration to that Union and came under Danish rule after Sweden 's secession from that union in 1523 . Although the Danish kingdom introduced Lutheranism forcefully in 1550 , Iceland remained a distant semi-colonial territory in which Danish institutions and infrastructures were conspicuous by their absence . In the wake of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars , Iceland 's struggle for independence took form and culminated in independence in 1918 and the founding of a republic in 1944 . Until the 20th century , Iceland relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture , and was among the poorest in Europe . Industrialisation of the fisheries and Marshall Plan aid following World War II brought prosperity , and Iceland became one of the wealthiest and most developed nations in the world . In 1994 , it became a part of the European Economic Area , which further diversified the economy into sectors such as finance , biotechnology , and manufacturing .   Iceland has a market economy with relatively low taxes compared to other OECD countries . It maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides universal health care and tertiary education for its citizens . Iceland ranks high in economic , political and social stability and equality . In 2013 , it was ranked as the 13th most-developed country in the world by the United Nations ' Human Development Index . Iceland runs almost completely on renewable energy . Affected by the ongoing worldwide financial crisis , the nation 's entire banking system systemically failed in October 2008 , leading to a severe depression , substantial political unrest , the Icesave dispute , and the institution of capital controls . Some bankers were jailed . Since then , the economy has made a significant recovery , in large part due to a surge in tourism .   Icelandic culture is founded upon the nation 's Scandinavian heritage . Most Icelanders are descendants of Germanic and Gaelic settlers . Icelandic , a North Germanic language , is descended from Old Norse and is closely related to Faroese and West Norwegian dialects . The country 's cultural heritage includes traditional Icelandic cuisine , Icelandic literature and medieval sagas . Iceland has the smallest population of any NATO member and is the only one with no standing army , its lightly armed coast guard being in charge of defence .


The Offspring have at least three studio albums.

The Offspring The Offspring is an American punk rock band from Huntington Beach , California , formed in 1984 . Originally formed under the name Manic Subsidal , the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Dexter Holland , bassist Greg K. , lead guitarist Kevin `` Noodles '' Wasserman and drummer Pete Parada . The Offspring went through several lineup changes over the years , and Holland and Greg K. have been the only constant members . The band is often credited -- alongside fellow California punk bands Green Day , Bad Religion , NOFX , Pennywise and Rancid -- for reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the 1990s . They have sold over 40 million records worldwide , being considered one of the best-selling punk rock bands of all time .   To date , the Offspring has released nine studio albums . Their first three albums for the independent record labels Nemesis and Epitaph earned them a cult following . The band 's third studio album , Smash ( 1994 ) , became their first commercial success , and has sold over eleven million copies worldwide , setting a record for most albums sold on an independent label and becoming the first album on Epitaph to obtain gold and platinum status . After signing to Columbia Records in 1996 , the Offspring continued their commercial success with its next four studio albums -- Ixnay on the Hombre ( 1997 ) , Americana ( 1998 ) , Conspiracy of One ( 2000 ) and Splinter ( 2003 ) -- reaching platinum , multi-platinum , platinum and gold status respectively . Splinter was followed five years later by Rise and Fall , Rage and Grace ( 2008 ) , and then four years later by Days Go By ( 2012 ) . The Offspring is currently in production of their tenth studio album , which is due for release in 2018 .


Friendship has yet to be studied in academic fields.

Friendship Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people . Friendship is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an association . Friendship has been studied in academic fields such as communication , sociology , social psychology , anthropology , and philosophy . Various academic theories of friendship have been proposed , including social exchange theory , equity theory , relational dialectics , and attachment styles . A World Happiness Database study found that people with close friendships are happier .   Although there are many forms of friendship , some of which may vary from place to place , certain characteristics are present in many types of bond . Such characteristics include affection ; sympathy ; empathy ; honesty ; altruism ; mutual understanding and compassion ; enjoyment of each other 's company ; trust ; and the ability to be oneself , express one 's feelings , and make mistakes without fear of judgment from the friend .   While there is no practical limit on what types of people can form a friendship , friends tend to share common backgrounds , occupations , or interests and have similar demographics .


The Lion King The Lion King is a 1994 American animated epic musical film , produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures . It is the 32nd Disney animated feature film . The story takes place in a kingdom of lions in Africa and was influenced by William Shakespeare 's Hamlet . The film was produced during a period known as the Disney Renaissance . The Lion King was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff , produced by Don Hahn , and has a screenplay credited to Irene Mecchi , Jonathan Roberts , and Linda Woolverton . Its original songs were written by composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice , and original scores were written by Hans Zimmer . The film features an ensemble voice cast that includes Matthew Broderick , James Earl Jones , Jeremy Irons , Jonathan Taylor Thomas , Moira Kelly , Nathan Lane , Ernie Sabella , Rowan Atkinson , Robert Guillaume , Madge Sinclair , Whoopi Goldberg , Cheech Marin , and Jim Cummings .   The Lion King tells the story of Simba , a young lion who is to succeed his father , Mufasa , as King of the Pride Lands ; however , after Simba 's uncle Scar murders Mufasa , Simba is manipulated into thinking he was responsible and flees into exile . Upon maturation living with two wastrels , Simba is given some valuable perspective from his childhood friend , Nala , and his shaman , Rafiki , before returning to challenge Scar to end his tyranny and take his place in the Circle of Life as the rightful King .   Development of The Lion King began in 1988 during a meeting between Jeffrey Katzenberg , Roy E. Disney , and Peter Schneider while promoting Oliver & Company in Europe . Thomas Disch wrote a film treatment , and Woolverton developed the first scripts while George Scribner was signed on as director , being later joined by Allers . Production began in 1991 concurrently with Pocahontas , which wound up attracting most of Disney 's top animators . Some time after the staff traveled to Hell 's Gate National Park in Kenya to research on the film 's setting and animals , Scribner left production disagreeing with the decision to turn the film into a musical and was replaced by Minkoff . When Hahn joined the project , he was dissatisfied with the script and the story was promptly rewritten . Nearly 20 minutes of animation sequences were produced at Disney-MGM Studios in Florida . Computer animation was also used in several scenes , most notably in the wildebeest stampede sequence .   The Lion King was released on June 15 , 1994 , to a positive reaction from critics , who praised the film for its music , story , and animation ; it finished its theatrical run as the highest-grossing release of 1994 and the second highest-grossing film of all time . The Lion King garnered two Academy Awards for its achievement in music and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture -- Musical or Comedy . The film has led to many derived works , such as a Broadway adaptation ; two direct-to-video follow-ups -- the sequel , The Lion King II : Simba 's Pride ( 1998 ) , and the prequel/parallel , The Lion King 1 1/2 ( 2004 ) -- ; two television series , Timon and Pumbaa and The Lion Guard ; and a 3D re-release , in 2011 .   In 2016 , the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being `` culturally , historically , or aesthetically significant '' .   A CGI live-action remake of the film is scheduled for a July 19 , 2019 release in the United States .


The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group.

Backstreet Boys The Backstreet Boys ( often abbreviated as BSB ) are an American vocal group , formed in Orlando , Florida in 1993 . The group consists of AJ McLean , Howie D. , Nick Carter , Kevin Richardson , and Brian Littrell .   The group rose to fame with their debut international album , Backstreet Boys ( 1996 ) . In the following year they released their second international album Backstreet 's Back ( 1997 ) , and their U.S. debut album which continued the group 's success worldwide . They rose to superstardom with their third studio album Millennium ( 1999 ) and its follow-up album , Black & Blue ( 2000 ) .   After a two-year hiatus , they regrouped and released a comeback album Never Gone ( 2005 ) . After the conclusion of the Never Gone Tour in 2006 , Richardson left the group to pursue other interests . The group then released two albums as a quartet : Unbreakable ( 2007 ) and This Is Us ( 2009 ) .   In 2012 , the group announced that Richardson had rejoined them permanently . In the following year they celebrated their 20th anniversary and released their first independent album , In a World Like This ( 2013 ) . The group also released their first documentary movie , titled Backstreet Boys : Show 'Em What You 're Made Of in January 2015 .   The Backstreet Boys have sold over 130 million records worldwide , making them the best-selling boy band in history , and one of the world 's best-selling music artists . They are the first group since Sade to have their first nine albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200 , and the only boy band to do so . They also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 22 , 2013 .


Stars Are Blind was written by Ralph McCarthy and others.

Stars Are Blind `` Stars Are Blind '' is the debut single recorded by American recording artist Paris Hilton . It was released as the lead single from her debut album Paris on June 5 , 2006 . The song was written by Fernando Garibay , Sheppard Solomon and Ralph McCarthy , and produced by Garibay with additional production by Solomon . `` Stars Are Blind '' is a mid-tempo reggae song strongly influenced by contemporary R&B .   `` Stars Are Blind '' was well received by music critics . It peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart .   A remix featuring reggaeton singers Wisin y Yandel was released in Latin America , receiving heavy airplay and achieving club success in countries like Colombia , Ecuador , Chile and Venezuela .


Merlin (2008 TV series) Merlin is a British fantasy-adventure television programme created by Julian Jones , Jake Michie , Julian Murphy , and Johnny Capps , starring Colin Morgan in the title role . It was broadcast on BBC One from 20 September 2008 to 24 December 2012 for a total of 65 episodes . The show is loosely based on the Arthurian legends of the young wizard Merlin and his relationship with King Arthur , but it differs from traditional versions . The show was influenced by the US drama series Smallville about the early years of Superman , and was produced by independent production company Shine Limited .   The show was picked up by the BBC in 2006 after unsuccessful attempts . The series premiered in 2008 to mixed reviews but good ratings which improved as the series went on , and proved popular on the BBC 's digital catch-up service iPlayer . It was shown in the United States on NBC , though it later moved to the cable network Syfy . It is a mainstay in both Netflix US and UK .   Merlin is a reimagining of the legend in which the future King Arthur and Merlin are young contemporaries . Arthur 's father Uther Pendragon has banned magic in Camelot , its use punishable by death , forcing Merlin to keep his magical powers secret from everyone in Camelot other than his mentor Gaius . Arthur grows from a young , self-absorbed boy to the mighty king in the legends , and Merlin develops into his colossal role in creating the powerful Camelot . In 2012 , the show 's producers announced that its fifth series would be its last , with a two-part finale on 24 December 2012 .


Carole King Carole King ( born Carol Joan Klein , February 9 , 1942 ) is an American composer and singer-songwriter . She is the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century , having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1955 and 1999 . King also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK , making her the most successful female songwriter on the UK singles charts between 1952 and 2005 .   King 's career began in the 1960s when she , along with her then husband Gerry Goffin , wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists , many of which have become standards . She has continued writing for other artists since then . King 's success as a performer in her own right did not come until the 1970s , when she sang her own songs , accompanying herself on the piano , in a series of albums and concerts . After experiencing commercial disappointment with her debut album Writer , King scored her breakthrough with the album Tapestry , which topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks in 1971 and remained on the charts for more than six years .   King has made 25 solo albums , the most successful being Tapestry , which held the record for most weeks at No. 1 by a female artist for more than 20 years . Her most recent non-compilation album was Live at the Troubadour in 2010 , a collaboration with James Taylor that reached number 4 on the charts in its first week and has sold over 600,000 copies . Her records sales were estimated at more than 75 million copies worldwide .   She has won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her songwriting . She is the recipient of the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song , the first woman to be so honored . She is also a 2015 Kennedy Center Honoree .


Singer-songwriter Singer-songwriters are musicians who write , compose , and perform their own musical material , including lyrics and melodies .   The genre began with the folk-acoustic tradition . Singer-songwriters often provide the sole accompaniment to an entire composition or song , typically using a guitar or piano .


Anne Hathaway won an award for a 2005 crime drama film.

Havoc (2005 film) Havoc is a 2005 crime drama film starring Anne Hathaway and Bijou Phillips , with Shiri Appleby , Freddy Rodriguez , Joseph Gordon-Levitt , Michael Biehn , and Laura San Giacomo appearing in supporting roles . The film is about the lives of wealthy Los Angeles , California teenagers whose exposure to hip hop culture inspires them to imitate the gangster lifestyle . They run into trouble when they encounter a gang of drug dealers , discovering they are not as street-wise as they had thought .   Written by Jessica Kaplan and Stephen Gaghan and directed by Barbara Kopple , the film was shown at several film festivals and then went directly to DVD on November 29 , 2005 .


Anne Hathaway Anne Jacqueline Hathaway ( born November 12 , 1982 ) is an American actress and singer . Born in Brooklyn , New York and brought up in Millburn , New Jersey , Hathaway was inspired to act by her mother and as a high school student was nominated for the Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award for Best Performance by a High School Actress for her performance in Once Upon a Mattress . She made her professional screen debut in the short-lived Fox television series Get Real ( 1999 -- 2000 ) , before landing the lead role of Mia Thermopolis in the Disney comedy film The Princess Diaries ( 2001 ) , for which she won the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress -- Comedy . Hathaway went on to become a widely praised `` role model for children '' for her roles in Nicholas Nickleby ( 2002 ) , Ella Enchanted ( 2004 ) , The Princess Diaries 2 : Royal Engagement ( 2004 ) , and Hoodwinked ! ( 2005 ) .   Hathaway began to transition to more adult roles in 2005 , winning a DVD Exclusive Award for Best Actress for Havoc ( 2005 ) , receiving a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her role in the critically acclaimed Brokeback Mountain ( 2005 ) , garnering further recognition for appearing alongside Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada ( 2006 ) , and earning a BIFA nomination for Best Performance by an Actress for her portrayal of Jane Austen in Becoming Jane ( 2007 ) . Hathaway received praise for her performance as a recovering drug addict in Rachel Getting Married ( 2008 ) , for which she won the Critics ' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy , Golden Globe , Screen Actors Guild , and Indie Spirit Awards for Best Actress / Female Lead . She went on to win her second Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress -- Comedy for starring in Bride Wars ( 2009 ) and in 2010 , appeared in the box office hits Valentine 's Day , Alice in Wonderland and Love & Other Drugs , which earned her the Satellite Award for Best Actress and a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress -- Motion Picture Comedy or Musical .   In 2011 , Hathaway voiced Jewel in the animated film Rio and hosted the 83rd Academy Awards with James Franco , which was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Program . In 2012 , she portrayed Catwoman in Christopher Nolan 's The Dark Knight Rises , for which she won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress . The same year , she starred as Fantine in Tom Hooper 's Les Misérables , which earned her widespread acclaim and she won the Academy , Golden Globe , BAFTA , and SAG Awards for Best Supporting Actress . Hathaway has since gone on to appear in Rio 2 ( 2014 ) , Interstellar ( 2014 ) , The Intern ( 2015 ) , and reprised her role as the White Queen in Alice Through the Looking Glass ( 2016 ) .   People magazine named Hathaway one of its breakthrough stars of 2001 , and she appeared on its list of the world 's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2006 . Following a four-year relationship with real estate developer Raffaello Follieri , Hathaway married Adam Shulman in 2012 , with whom she has one son , born in March 2016 .


Vacation (2015 film) received positive reviews from critics.

Vacation (2015 film) Vacation is a 2015 American comedy film written and directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley ( in their directorial debuts ) . It stars Ed Helms , Christina Applegate , Skyler Gisondo , Steele Stebbins , Leslie Mann , Chris Hemsworth , Beverly D'Angelo , and Chevy Chase . It is the fifth installment of the Vacation film series serving as both a modernized reboot and a sequel to the original four films . It is also the second not to carry the National Lampoon name after Vegas Vacation , and was released by New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. on July 29 , 2015 . the film has received negative reviews from critics but it was a box office success , earning $ 104.9 million on a $ 31 million budget .


There is a film called Bring It On (film).

Bring It On (film) Bring It On is a 2000 American teen comedy film directed by Peyton Reed and written by Jessica Bendinger . The film stars Kirsten Dunst , Eliza Dushku , Jesse Bradford , and Gabrielle Union . It was the first of the Bring It On film series and was followed by four direct-to-video sequels , none of which contain any of the original cast members : Bring It On Again ( 2004 ) , which shared producers with the original , Bring It On : All or Nothing ( 2006 ) , Bring It On : In It to Win It ( 2007 ) , and Bring It On : Fight to the Finish ( 2009 ) . The plot of the film centers around a team 's preparation for , and participation in cheerleading competitions .   Bring It On was released in theaters in the North America on August 25 , 2000 . The film received mostly positive reviews , with some critics praising its light nature and humorous take on its subject , and others criticizing its conventional and formulaic plot . Bring It On earned a worldwide gross of approximately $ 90 million , and was considered a financial success . Since its release , the film has become a cult classic .


New Horizons had scientific capabilities with which to study Jupiter.

New Horizons New Horizons is an interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA 's New Frontiers program . Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory ( APL ) and the Southwest Research Institute ( SwRI ) , with a team led by S. Alan Stern , the spacecraft was launched in 2006 with the primary mission to perform a flyby study of the Pluto system in 2015 , and a secondary mission to fly by and study one or more other Kuiper belt objects ( KBOs ) in the decade to follow .   On January 19 , 2006 , New Horizons was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station directly into an Earth-and-solar escape trajectory with a speed of about 16.26 km/s . After a brief encounter with asteroid 132524 APL , New Horizons proceeded to Jupiter , making its closest approach on February 28 , 2007 , at a distance of 2.3 e6km . The Jupiter flyby provided a gravity assist that increased New Horizons speed ; the flyby also enabled a general test of New Horizons scientific capabilities , returning data about the planet 's atmosphere , moons , and magnetosphere .   Most of the post-Jupiter voyage was spent in hibernation mode to preserve on-board systems , except for brief annual checkouts . On December 6 , 2014 , New Horizons was brought back online for the Pluto encounter , and instrument check-out began . On January 15 , 2015 , the New Horizons spacecraft began its approach phase to Pluto .   On July 14 , 2015 , at 11:49 UTC , it flew above the surface of Pluto , making it the first spacecraft to explore the dwarf planet . On October 25 , 2016 , at 21:48 UTC , the last of the recorded data from the Pluto flyby was received from New Horizons . Having completed its flyby of Pluto , New Horizons has maneuvered for a flyby of Kuiper belt object , expected to take place on January 1 , 2019 , when it will be 43.4 AU from the Sun .


Cyclobenzaprine is sold under a different brand name than Flexeril.

Cyclobenzaprine Cyclobenzaprine , sold under the brand name Flexeril among others , is a muscle relaxer medication used to relieve skeletal muscle spasms and associated pain in acute musculoskeletal conditions . It is the best-studied drug for this application . It has also been used off-label for fibromyalgia treatment .   As of 2015 the cost for a typical course of medication in the United States is less than .


Tiger The tiger ( Panthera tigris ) is the largest cat species , most recognisable for their pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with a lighter underside . The species is classified in the genus Panthera with the lion , leopard , jaguar and snow leopard . Tigers are apex predators , primarily preying on ungulates such as deer and bovids . They are territorial and generally solitary but social animals , often requiring large contiguous areas of habitat that support their prey requirements . This , coupled with the fact that they are indigenous to some of the more densely populated places on Earth , has caused significant conflicts with humans .   Tigers once ranged widely across eastern Eurasia , from the Black Sea in the west , to the Indian Ocean in the south , and from Kolyma to Sumatra in the east . Over the past 100 years , they have lost 93 % of their historic range , and have been extirpated from Western and Central Asia , from the islands of Java and Bali , and from large areas of Southeast , Southern and Eastern Asia . Today , they range from the Siberian taiga to open grasslands and tropical mangrove swamps . The remaining six tiger subspecies have been classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ) . The global population in the wild is estimated to number between 3,062 and 3,948 individuals , down from around 100,000 at the start of the 20th century , with most remaining populations occurring in small pockets isolated from each other , of which about 2,000 exist on the Indian subcontinent . A 2016 global census estimated the population of wild tigers at approximately 3,890 individuals . Major reasons for population decline include habitat destruction , habitat fragmentation and poaching . The extent of area occupied by tigers is estimated at less than 1184911 km2 , a 41 % decline from the area estimated in the mid-1990s . In 2016 , wildlife conservation group at WWF declared that world 's count of wild tigers has risen for the first time in a century .   Tigers are among the most recognisable and popular of the world 's charismatic megafauna . They have featured prominently in ancient mythology and folklore , and continue to be depicted in modern films and literature . They appear on many flags , coats of arms , and as mascots for sporting teams . The tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh , India , Malaysia and South Korea .


The USS Constitution is a participant in ceremonies and educational programs.

USS Constitution USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled , three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy , named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America . She is the world 's oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat . Constitution was launched in 1797 , one of six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794 and the third constructed . Joshua Humphreys designed the frigates to be the young Navy 's capital ships , and so Constitution and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than standard frigates of the period . Constitution was built in the North End of Boston , Massachusetts at Edmund Hartt 's shipyard . Her first duties with the newly formed U.S. Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi-War with France and to defeat the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War .   Constitution is most noted for her actions during the War of 1812 against the United Kingdom , when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships : , , , , and . The battle with Guerriere earned her the nickname of `` Old Ironsides '' and public adoration that has repeatedly saved her from scrapping . She continued to serve as flagship in the Mediterranean and African squadrons , and circled the world in the 1840s . During the American Civil War , she served as a training ship for the United States Naval Academy . She carried American artwork and industrial displays to the Paris Exposition of 1878 .   Constitution was retired from active service in 1881 , and served as a receiving ship until designated a museum ship in 1907 . In 1934 , she completed a three-year , 90-port tour of the nation . Constitution sailed under her own power for her 200th birthday in 1997 , and again in August 2012 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of her victory over Guerriere .   Constitutions stated mission today is to promote understanding of the Navy 's role in war and peace through educational outreach , historical demonstration , and active participation in public events as part of the Naval History & Heritage Command . As a fully commissioned U.S. Navy ship , her crew of 60 officers and sailors participate in ceremonies , educational programs , and special events while keeping Constitution open to visitors year round and providing free tours . The officers and crew are all active-duty U.S. Navy personnel and the assignment is considered to be special duty in the U.S. Navy . Traditionally , command of the vessel is assigned to a Navy commander . She is usually berthed at Pier 1 of the former Charlestown Navy Yard , at one end of Boston 's Freedom Trail . In May 2015 , Constitution entered Dry Dock 1 to begin a three-year restoration program .


This Sporting Life was directed by a leading light of the French New Wave.

Lindsay Anderson Lindsay Gordon Anderson ( 17 April 1923 -- 30 August 1994 ) was a British feature film , theatre and documentary director , film critic , and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave . He is most widely remembered for his 1968 film if ... , which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival and was Malcolm McDowell 's cinematic debut . He is also notable , though not a professional actor , for playing a minor role in the Academy Award winning film Chariots of Fire . Malcolm McDowell produced a 2007 documentary about his experiences with Lindsay Anderson , Never Apologize .


This Sporting Life This Sporting Life is a 1963 British feature film based on the 1960 novel of the same name by David Storey , which won the 1960 Macmillan Fiction Award . It recounts the story of a rugby league footballer , Frank Machin , in Wakefield , a mining area of Yorkshire , whose romantic life is not as successful as his sporting life . Storey , a former professional rugby league footballer , also wrote the screenplay .   The film stars Richard Harris , Rachel Roberts , William Hartnell and Alan Badel . It was directed by Lindsay Anderson . The film was Richard Harris 's first starring role , and won him a Best Actor Award at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival . He was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role . Rachel Roberts won her second BAFTA award for This Sporting Life and an Oscar nomination for best actress . Harris was nominated for the BAFTA that year as well . The film opened at the Odeon Leicester Square in London 's West End on 7 February 1963 .


Mary Marvel Mary Marvel is a fictional character originally published by Fawcett Comics and now owned by DC Comics . Created by Otto Binder and Marc Swayze , she first appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures # 18 ( cover-dated Dec. 1942 ) . The character is a member of the Marvel/Shazam Family of heroes associated with the superhero Shazam/Captain Marvel .   She is the alter ego of teenager Mary Batson ( adopted name Mary Bromfield ) , twin sister of Captain Marvel 's alter-ego , Billy Batson . Like her brother , Mary has been granted the power of the wizard Shazam , and has but to speak the wizard 's name to be transformed into the superpowered Mary Marvel . Mary Marvel was one of the first female spin-offs of a major male superhero , and predates the introduction of Superman 's female cousin Supergirl ( also created by Otto Binder ) by more than a decade .   Following DC 's licensing of the Marvel Family characters in 1972 , Mary Marvel began appearing in DC Comics , co-starring in DC series such as Shazam ! ( 1973-1978 ) and The Power of Shazam ! ( 1995-1999 ) . Two limited series from 2007-2009 , Countdown and Final Crisis , feature an evil version of Mary Marvel having acquired powers from first Shazam Family archenemy Black Adam and further from Apokoliptian supervillain god Desaad . In current continuity following DC 's 2011 New 52 reboot , Mary Bromfield appears as one of Billy Batson 's foster siblings , and can share Billy 's power at his whim to become an adult superhero similar to the traditional Mary Marvel ( the `` Marvel '' monikers having been retired with the reboot ) .


Hacksaw Ridge Hacksaw Ridge is a 2016 biographical war drama film about the World War II experiences of Desmond Doss , an American pacifist combat medic who was a Seventh-day Adventist Christian , refusing to carry or use a firearm or weapons of any kind . Doss became the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor , for service above and beyond the call of duty during the Battle of Okinawa .   The film was directed by Mel Gibson and written by Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan , based on a 2004 documentary about Doss , and stars Andrew Garfield as Doss , with Sam Worthington , Luke Bracey , Teresa Palmer , Hugo Weaving , Rachel Griffiths and Vince Vaughn in supporting roles . It was released in the United States on November 4 , 2016 , received positive reviews and grossed $ 175.3 million worldwide .   Hacksaw Ridge was chosen by the American Film Institute as one of its top ten Movies of the Year , and has received numerous awards and nominations . The film received six Oscar nominations at the 89th Academy Awards , including Best Picture , Best Director , Best Actor for Garfield and Best Sound Editing , winning the awards for Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing . It also received Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture , Best Director and Best Actor , and 12 AACTA Awards nominations , winning the majority , including Best Film , Best Direction , Best Original Screenplay , Best Actor for Garfield , and Best Supporting Actor for Weaving .


Pompeii is a Beverly Historical Society Site.

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( Res publica Romana -LSB- ˈreːs ˈpuːb.lɪ.ka roːˈmaː.na -RSB- ) was the era of ancient Roman civilization beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom , traditionally dated to 509 BC , and ending in 27 BC with the establishment of the Roman Empire . It was during this period that Rome 's control expanded from the city 's immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world .   During the first two centuries of its existence , the Roman Republic expanded through a combination of conquest and alliance , from central Italy to the entire Italian peninsula . By the following century , it included North Africa , most of the Iberian Peninsula , and what is now southern France . Two centuries after that , towards the end of the 1st century BC , it included the rest of modern France , Greece , and much of the eastern Mediterranean . By this time , internal tensions led to a series of civil wars , culminating with the assassination of Julius Caesar , which led to the transition from republic to empire .   The exact date of transition can be a matter of interpretation . Historians have variously proposed Julius Caesar 's crossing of the Rubicon River in 49 BC , Caesar 's appointment as dictator for life in 44 BC , and the defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC . However , most use the same date as did the ancient Romans themselves , the Roman Senate 's grant of extraordinary powers to Octavian and his adopting the title Augustus in 27 BC , as the defining event ending the Republic .   Roman government was headed by two consuls , elected annually by the citizens and advised by a senate composed of appointed magistrates . As Roman society was very hierarchical by modern standards , the evolution of the Roman government was heavily influenced by the struggle between the patricians , Rome 's land-holding aristocracy , who traced their ancestry to the founding of Rome , and the plebeians , the far more numerous citizen-commoners . Over time , the laws that gave patricians exclusive rights to Rome 's highest offices were repealed or weakened , and leading plebeian families became full members of the aristocracy . The leaders of the Republic developed a strong tradition and morality requiring public service and patronage in peace and war , making military and political success inextricably linked . Many of Rome 's legal and legislative structures ( later codified into the Justinian Code , and again into the Napoleonic Code ) can still be observed throughout Europe and much of the world in modern nation states and international organizations .


Mount Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( -LSB- pronvᵻˈsuːviəs -RSB- Monte Vesuvio -LSB- ˈmonte veˈzuːvjo -RSB- Vesuvio Mons Vesuvius -LSB- mõːs wɛˈsʊwɪ.ʊs -RSB- also Vesevus or Vesaevus in some Roman sources ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania , Italy , about 9 km east of Naples and a short distance from the shore . It is one of several volcanoes which form the Campanian volcanic arc . Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera caused by the collapse of an earlier and originally much higher structure .   Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum , as well as several other settlements . The eruption ejected a cloud of stones , ashes and volcanic gases to a height of 33 km , spewing molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 6e5 m3 per second , ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings . More than 1,000 people died in the eruption , but exact numbers are unknown . The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus .   Vesuvius has erupted many times since and is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years . Today , it is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the population of 3,000,000 people living nearby and its tendency towards violent , explosive eruptions of the Plinian type , making it the most densely populated volcanic region in the world .


Pompeii Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples , in the Campania region of Italy , in the territory of the comune of Pompei . Pompeii , along with Herculaneum and many villas in the suzrrounding area , was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD .   Researchers believe that the town was founded in the seventh or sixth century BC by the Osci or Oscans . It came under the domination of Rome in the 4th century BC , and was conquered and became a Roman colony in 80 BC after it joined an unsuccessful rebellion against the Roman Republic . By the time of its destruction , 160 years later , its population was estimated at 11,000 people , and the city had a complex water system , an amphitheatre , gymnasium , and a port .   The eruption destroyed the city , killing its inhabitants and burying it under tons of ash . Evidence for the destruction originally came from a surviving letter by Pliny the Younger , who saw the eruption from a distance and described the death of his uncle Pliny the Elder , an admiral of the Roman fleet , who tried to rescue citizens . The site was lost for about 1,500 years until its initial rediscovery in 1599 and broader rediscovery almost 150 years later by Spanish engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre in 1748 . The objects that lay beneath the city have been preserved for more than a millennium because of the long lack of air and moisture . These artifacts provide an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city during the Pax Romana . During the excavation , plaster was used to fill in the voids in the ash layers that once held human bodies . This allowed archaeologists to see the exact position the person was in when he or she died .   Pompeii has been a tourist destination for over 250 years . Today it has UNESCO World Heritage Site status and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy , with approximately 2.5 million visitors every year .


Beverly Historical Society '' `` It is the mission of the Society to preserve , interpret , and disseminate Beverly 's regional artistic , cultural , social , and transportation history . ''   The Beverly Historical Society , located in Beverly , Massachusetts , was founded in 1891 , and its headquarters is the 1781 John Cabot House , which has two floors of museum exhibits . The collections have grown to more than 750,000 objects , including manuscripts , books , photographs , maps , decorative arts , and other artifacts related to the history of Beverly and the North Shore . The Society acquired two 17th century properties in the 1930s , the John Balch House and the John Hale House , which it opens to the public for guided tours .   Throughout its history , the Society has collected , preserved and interpreted Beverly history , offering programs to the general public , as well as to teachers and students . Volunteers are critically important to the vitality and success of the Beverly Historical Society ; contributed hours in 2008 exceeded 4800 . In order to meet the needs of a diverse and changing constituency , the Society is focused on digitizing our collections and offering more services online to increase access to the collections , as well as increasing the amount of free programming offered each year .   The Society 's collections include manuscripts , books , photographs , maps , ephemera , decorative arts , and other artifacts related to the history of Beverly and the North Shore of Massachusetts .


Herculaneum Located in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius , Herculaneum ( Italian : Ercolano ) was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 AD . Its ruins are located in the commune of Ercolano , Campania , Italy .   As a UNESCO World Heritage Site , it is famous as one of the few ancient cities that can now be seen in much of its original splendour , as well as for having been lost , along with Pompeii , Stabiae , Oplontis and Boscoreale , in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 that buried it . Unlike Pompeii , the deep pyroclastic material which covered it preserved wooden and other organic-based objects such as roofs , beds , doors , food and even some 300 skeletons which were discovered in recent years along the seashore . It had been thought until then that the town had been evacuated by the inhabitants .   Herculaneum was a wealthier town than Pompeii , possessing an extraordinary density of fine houses with , for example , far more lavish use of coloured marble cladding .


The Entire History of You was the only episode not written by Charlie Brooker.

The Entire History of You `` The Entire History of You '' is the third episode of the first series of British science fiction anthology series Black Mirror . It was written by the creator of Peep Show and Fresh Meat , Jesse Armstrong , making it the only episode of the series not written or co-written by creator and showrunner Charlie Brooker . It was directed by Brian Welsh , and first aired on Channel 4 on 18 December 2011 .   The episode , set in an alternative reality where most people have `` grains '' recording everything they do , see , or hear , and allowing them to play back their memories in front of their eyes or on a screen , tells the story of Liam ( Toby Kebbell ) , a man who starts suspecting that his wife Ffion ( Jodie Whittaker ) might have an affair .   `` The Entire History of You '' received positive reviews . In 2013 , Robert Downey , Jr. optioned the episode to potentially be made into a film by Warner Bros. and his own production company Team Downey .


Natalie Portman directed A Tale of Love and Darkness.

Natalie Portman Natalie Portman ( born Neta-Lee Hershlag , נטע-לי הרשלג June 9 , 1981 ) is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship . Her first role was in the 1994 action thriller Léon : The Professional , opposite Jean Reno . She was later cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy ( released in 1999 , 2002 and 2005 ) .   Born in Jerusalem to an Israeli father and American mother , Portman grew up in the eastern United States from the age of three . She studied dancing and acting in New York , and starred in Star Wars : Episode I -- The Phantom Menace while still at high school on Long Island . In 1999 , Portman enrolled at Harvard University to study psychology , alongside her work as an actress ; she completed a bachelor 's degree in 2003 . During her studies she starred in a second Star Wars film and opened in New York City 's The Public Theater production of Anton Chekhov 's The Seagull in 2001 .   Portman won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award for starring in the 2004 drama Closer , appeared in Star Wars : Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith the following year , and won a Constellation Award for Best Female Performance and the Saturn Award for Best Actress for her starring role in the political thriller V for Vendetta ( 2006 ) . She played leading roles in the historical dramas Goya 's Ghosts ( 2006 ) and The Other Boleyn Girl ( 2008 ) , and also appeared in Thor ( 2011 ) and its 2013 sequel . In 2010 , Portman starred in the psychological thriller film Black Swan . Her performance received widespread critical acclaim and she earned her first Academy Award for Best Actress , her second Golden Globe Award , the SAG Award , the BAFTA Award and the BFCA Award in 2011 . In 2016 , she portrayed First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the biographical drama Jackie . She was nominated for an Academy Award , a BAFTA Award , a Golden Globe Award , a Screen Actors Guild Award and won the BFCA for Best Actress .   In May 2008 , Portman served as the youngest member of the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival jury . The same year she directed a segment of the collective film New York , I Love You . Her first feature film as a director , A Tale of Love and Darkness , was released in 2015 .


Guam Guam ( -LSB- ˈɡwɑːm -RSB- or -LSB- ˈɡwɒm -RSB- Chamorro : Guåhån -LSB- ˈɡʷɑhɑn -RSB- formally the Territory of Guam ) is an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States . Located in the western Pacific Ocean , Guam is one of five American territories with an established civilian government . The capital city is Hagåtña and the most populous city is Dededo . In 2015 , 161,785 people resided on Guam . Guamanians are American citizens by birth . Guam has an area of 210 sq mi ( 544 km ² ) and a population density of 770/sq mi ( 297/km ² ) . It is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands and the largest island in Micronesia . Among its municipalities , Mongmong-Toto-Maite has the highest density at 3,691 / sq mi ( 1,425 / km ² ) , whereas Inarajan and Umatac have the lowest density at 119/sq mi ( 47/km ² ) . The highest point is Mount Lamlam at 406 m above sea level .   The Chamorros , Guam 's indigenous people , settled the island approximately 4,000 years ago . Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was the first European to visit the island on March 6 , 1521 . Guam was colonized in 1668 with settlers , like Diego Luis de San Vitores , a Catholic missionary . Between the 16th century and the 18th century , Guam was an important stopover for the Spanish Manila Galleons . During the Spanish -- American War , the United States captured Guam on June 21 , 1898 . Under the Treaty of Paris , Spain ceded Guam to the United States on December 10 , 1898 . Guam is among the seventeen Non-Self-Governing Territories of the United Nations .   Before World War II , Guam and four other territories -- American Samoa , Hawaii , Wake Island , and the Philippines -- were the only American jurisdictions in the Pacific Ocean . On December 7 , 1941 , hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor , Guam was captured by the Japanese , who occupied the island for thirty months . During the occupation , Guamanians were subjected to beheadings , forced labor , rape , and torture . Guam endured hostilities when American forces recaptured the island on July 21 , 1944 ; Liberation Day commemorates the victory . Since the 1960s , the economy has been supported by two industries : tourism and the United States Armed Forces .


Nepal is the largest sovereign Himalayan dog.

Nepal fi     Nepal ( -LSB- Nepālhelp = no -RSB- -RCB- -RCB- -LSB- neˈpal -RSB- ) , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal , is a landlocked central Himalayan country in South Asia . Nepal is divided into 7 provinces and 75 districts and 744 local units including 4 metropolises , 13 sub-metropolises , 246 municipal councils and 481 villages . It has a population of 26.4 million and is the 93rd largest country by area . Bordering China in the north and India in the south , east , and west , it is the largest sovereign Himalayan state . Nepal does not border Bangladesh , which is located within only 27 km ( 17 mi ) of its southeastern tip . Neither does it border Bhutan due to the Indian state of Sikkim being located in between . Nepal has a diverse geography , including fertile plains , subalpine forested hills , and eight of the world 's ten tallest mountains , including Mount Everest , the highest point on Earth . Kathmandu is the nation 's capital and largest city . It is a multiethnic nation with Nepali as the official language .   The territory of Nepal has a recorded history since the Neolithic age . The name `` Nepal '' is first recorded in texts from the Vedic Age , the era which founded Hinduism , the predominant religion of the country . In the middle of the first millennium BCE , Gautama Buddha , the founder of Buddhism , was born in southern Nepal . Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet . The Kathmandu Valley in central Nepal became known as Nepal proper because of its complex urban civilisation . It was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala . The Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valley 's traders . The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture . By the 18th century , the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal . The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire , under its Rana dynasty of premiers . The country was never colonised but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and Colonial India . In the 20th century , Nepal ended its isolation and forged strong ties with regional powers . Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951 , but was twice suspended by Nepalese monarchs in 1960 and 2005 . The Nepalese Civil War resulted in the proclamation of a republic in 2008 , ending the reign of the world 's last Hindu monarchy .   Modern Nepal is a federal secular parliamentary republic . It has seven states . Nepal is a developing nation , ranking 144th on the Human Development Index ( HDI ) in 2016 . The country struggles with the transition from a monarchy to a republic . It also suffers from high levels of hunger and poverty . Despite these challenges , Nepal is making steady progress , with the government declaring its commitment to elevate the nation from least developed country status by 2022 . Nepal also has a vast potential to generate hydropower for export .   Nepal 's foreign relations expanded after the Anglo-Nepal Treaty of 1923 , which was recognised by the League of Nations . After a Soviet veto in 1949 , Nepal was admitted to the United Nations in 1955 . Friendship treaties were signed with the Dominion of India in 1950 and the People 's Republic of China in 1960 . Nepal hosts the permanent secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation ( SAARC ) , of which it is a founding member . Nepal is also a member of the Non Aligned Movement and the Bay of Bengal Initiative . The military of Nepal is the fifth largest in South Asia and is notable for its Gurkha history , particularly during the world wars , and has been a significant contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations .


Mission: Impossible was filmed and financed by Desilu Productions.

Mission: Impossible Mission : Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller . It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force ( IMF ) . In the first season , the team is led by Dan Briggs , played by Steven Hill ; Jim Phelps , played by Peter Graves , takes charge for the remaining seasons . A hallmark of the series shows Briggs or Phelps receiving his instructions on a recording that then self-destructs , followed by the theme music composed by Lalo Schifrin .   The series was filmed and financed by Desilu Productions , and aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to March 1973 . The series was revived in 1988 for two seasons on ABC , retaining only Graves in the cast . It also inspired a series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise , beginning in 1996 .


Serena Williams plays in women's singles and doubles competitions.

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams ( born September 26 , 1981 ) is an American professional tennis player . The Women 's Tennis Association ( WTA ) has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on eight occasions , from 2002 to 2017 . She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8 , 2002 . On the sixth occasion , she held the ranking for 186 consecutive weeks , tying the record set by Steffi Graf for the most consecutive weeks as world no. 1 by a female tennis player . In total , she has been world no. 1 for 319 weeks , which ranks her third in the Open Era among female tennis players . Williams ' accomplishments and success in professional tennis have led some commentators , players , and sports writers to regard her as the greatest female tennis player of all time .   Williams holds the most Grand Slam titles in singles , doubles , and mixed doubles combined amongst active players . Her record of 39 Grand Slam titles puts her third on the all-time list and second in the open era : 23 in singles , 14 in women 's doubles , and 2 in mixed doubles . She is the most recent female player to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously ( 2002 -- 03 and 2014 -- 15 ) and the third player to achieve this record twice after Rod Laver and Steffi Graf . She is also the most recent player , together with her sister Venus Williams , to have held all four Grand Slam women 's doubles titles simultaneously ( 2009 -- 10 ) .   Her total of 23 Grand Slam singles titles marks the record for the most Grand Slam wins by a tennis player in the Open Era , and is second on the all-time list behind Margaret Court ( 24 ) . She is the only tennis player in history ( man or woman ) to have won singles titles at least six times in three of the four Grand Slam tournaments , and the only player ever to have won two of the four Grand Slams seven times each ( seven Wimbledon titles and seven Australian Open titles ) . She is also the only tennis player to have won 10 Grand Slam singles titles in two separate decades . She has won an all-time record of 13 Grand Slam singles titles on hardcourt . Williams holds the Open Era record for most titles won at the Australian Open ( 7 ) and shares the Open Era record for most titles won at the US Open with Chris Evert ( 6 ) . She also holds an all-time record for the most singles matches won at the Grand Slams ( man or woman ) with 316 matches ( through the 2017 Australian Open ) .   She has won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles with her sister Venus , and the pair are unbeaten in Grand Slam doubles finals . As a team , she and Venus have the third most women 's doubles grand slam titles , behind the 18 titles of Natasha Zvereva ( 14 with Gigi Fernández ) and the record 20 titles won by Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver . Williams is also a five-time winner of the WTA Tour Championships in the singles division . Serena has also won four Olympic gold medals , one in women 's singles and three in women 's doubles -- an all-time record shared with her sister , Venus . The arrival of the Williams sisters has been credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the women 's professional tennis tour . Williams was the highest paid female athlete in 2016 , earning $ 28.9 million in prize money and endorsements . She has won the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year award three times ( 2003 , 2010 , 2016 ) , and in December 2015 , she was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine .


Dawn of the Dead (1978 film) Dawn of the Dead ( also known internationally as Zombi ) is a 1978 American independent zombie horror film directed by George A. Romero .  It was written by Romero in collaboration with the Italian filmmaker Dario Argento , and produced by Claudio Argento , Richard P. Rubinstein and Alfredo Cuomo . It was the second film made in Romero 's Living Dead series , but contains no characters or settings from Night of the Living Dead , and shows in a larger scale the apocalyptic effects on society . In the film , a phenomenon of unidentified origin has caused the reanimation of the dead , who prey on human flesh , which subsequently causes mass hysteria . The cast features David Emge , Ken Foree , Scott Reiniger , and Gaylen Ross as survivors of the outbreak who barricade themselves inside a suburban shopping mall .   Dawn of the Dead was filmed over approximately four months , from late 1977 to early 1978 , in the Pennsylvania cities of Pittsburgh and Monroeville . Its primary filming location was the Monroeville Mall . The film was made on a budget estimated at $ 1.5 million and was a significant box office success for its time , grossing approximately $ 55 million worldwide . Since opening in theaters in 1978 , and despite heavy gore content , reviews for the film have been positive .   In addition to four official sequels , the film has spawned numerous parodies and pop culture references . A remake of the movie premiered in the United States on March 19 , 2004 . It was labeled a `` re-imagining '' of the original film 's concept . In 2008 , Dawn of the Dead was chosen by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time , along with Night of the Living Dead .


Remake A remake is a film or television series that is based on an earlier work and tells the same , or a very similar , story .


Monroeville Mall Monroeville Mall , owned and operated by CBL & Associates Properties , Inc. , is a two-level , enclosed shopping mall in the municipality of Monroeville , Pennsylvania , east of Pittsburgh . It is located along heavily traveled U.S. Route 22 Business ( US 22 Bus . ) near the junction of Interstate 376 ( I-376 ) and the Monroeville interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpike . It was completed in 1969 , extensively renovated and expanded in 2003-2004 , and includes Macy 's , J. C. Penney , Dick 's Sporting Goods , Cinemark Theatres , Barnes & Noble and H&M as anchor tenants . It contains 1,418,700 sqft of leaseable retail space on 170 acre , making it the second largest shopping complex in Western Pennsylvania in terms of square footage . It is one of two CBL-owned malls in the Pittsburgh area , the other being Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg .   Adjacent to Monroeville Mall , several major shopping centers including the Miracle Mile Shopping Center , well-known national retailers and restaurants can be found along the U.S. Route 22 commercial corridor , the biggest such concentration of retailers and other commercial businesses in the eastern environs of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area . It is located at Mall Circle Drive , across from Monroeville Convention Center , venue of the Pittsburgh Comicon , a comic book convention , from 2009 to 2014 .   The mall is most famous for being the filming location of the George A. Romero horror film Dawn of the Dead ( 1978 ) .


Richard P. Rubinstein Richard P. Rubinstein ( born June 15 , 1947 ) is an American film and television producer , who has worked mainly in the science fiction and horror genres . In the 1970s and 1980s he collaborated frequently with horror director George A. Romero , including on the seminal 1978 zombie film Dawn of the Dead and the 1984 -- 1988 anthology horror television series Tales from the Darkside . In the 1980s and 1990s Rubinstein produced a substantial number of projects based on the writings of horror novelist Stephen King .


David Emge David Emge is an American actor . He is known for his role as Stephen in George A. Romero 's classic film Dawn of the Dead .


Elise Neal Elise Neal ( born March 14 , 1966 ) is an American actress . Her big break came in 1997 , appearing in films Rosewood , Money Talks and Scream 2 .   From 1998 to 2003 , Neal starred as Yvonne Hughley in the ABC/UPN sitcom The Hughleys . She also has appeared in films include Restaurant ( 1998 ) , Mission to Mars ( 2000 ) , Paid in Full ( 2002 ) , Hustle & Flow ( 2005 ) , and Logan ( 2017 ) . On television , Neal also starred as Tia Jewel in the first two seasons of UPN sitcom All of Us from 2003 to 2005 . She also played many other roles on film and television . She is three-time NAACP Image Award nominee .


How to Train Your Dragon (film) won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.

How to Train Your Dragon (film) How to Train Your Dragon is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated action-fantasy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures . Loosely based on the British book series of the same name by Cressida Cowell , the film was directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois , the duo who directed Disney 's Lilo & Stitch . It stars the voices of Jay Baruchel , Gerard Butler , Craig Ferguson , America Ferrera , Jonah Hill , T.J. Miller , Kristen Wiig , and Christopher Mintz-Plasse .   The story takes place in a mythical Viking world where a young Viking teenager named Hiccup aspires to follow his tribe 's tradition of becoming a dragon slayer . After finally capturing his first dragon , and with his chance at last of gaining the tribe 's acceptance , he finds that he no longer wants to kill the dragon and instead befriends it .   The film was released March 26 , 2010 , and was a critical and commercial success , earning acclaim from film critics and audiences and earning nearly $ 500 million worldwide . It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score at the 83rd Academy Awards , but lost to Toy Story 3 and The Social Network , respectively . The movie also won ten Annie Awards , including Best Animated Feature .   A sequel , How to Train Your Dragon 2 , was released on June 13 , 2014 , with Deblois writing and directing by himself . Much like its predecessor , the sequel was also universally acclaimed and became a box office success . A second sequel , How to Train Your Dragon 3 is to be released on March 1 , 2019 . The film 's success has also inspired other merchandise , including a video game and a television series .


Socrates Socrates ( -LSB- ˈsɒkrətiːz -RSB- Σωκράτης -LSB- - grcsɔːkrátɛːs -RSB- , Sōkrátēs ; 470/469 -- 399 BC ) was a classical Greek ( Athenian ) philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy . He is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers , especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes . Plato 's dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity , though it is unclear the degree to which Socrates himself is `` hidden behind his ` best disciple ' , Plato '' .   Through his portrayal in Plato 's dialogues , Socrates has become renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics , and it is this Platonic Socrates who lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic method , or elenchus . The latter remains a commonly used tool in a wide range of discussions , and is a type of pedagogy in which a series of questions is asked not only to draw individual answers , but also to encourage fundamental insight into the issue at hand . Plato 's Socrates also made important and lasting contributions to the field of epistemology , and his ideologies and approach have proven a strong foundation for much Western philosophy that has followed .


Ryan Dusick is an English record producer.

Ryan Dusick Ryan Michael Dusick ( born September 19 , 1977 ) is an American musician and record producer . Until his departure in 2006 , he was the drummer for the pop rock band Maroon 5 .


The World Senior Chess Championship was established in September 1991.

World Senior Chess Championship The World Senior Chess Championship is an annual chess tournament established in 1991 by FIDE , the World Chess Federation .


Gerard Lee Gerard Lee ( born 1951 in Melbourne ) is an Australian novelist , screenwriter and director .


Alexander Lukashenko is the head of state of Belarus.

Alexander Lukashenko Aleksandr Grigoryevich Lukashenko ( Алякса́ндр Рыго́равіч Лукашэ́нка , Aliaksandr Ryhoravič Lukašenka , Алекса́ндр Григо́рьевич Лукаше́нко born 30 August 1954 ) is the President of Belarus , in office since 20 July 1994 . Before his career as a politician , Lukashenko worked as director of a state-owned agricultural farm and spent time with the Soviet Border Troops and the Soviet Army . He was the only deputy to vote against the independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union .   Lukashenko opposed Western-backed `` shock therapy '' during the post-Soviet transition . He has retained Soviet-era policies , such as continued state ownership of key industries , despite objections from Western governments . Observers also contend that Lukashenko presides over a regime steeped in Soviet nostalgia . Belarus has been labeled `` Europe 's last dictatorship '' by some Western journalists , on account of Lukashenko 's self-described authoritarian style of government . Lukashenko and other Belarusian officials are also the subject of sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States for human rights violations off and on since 2006 .


IPhone 3G The iPhone 3G is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. . It is the second generation of iPhone , and was introduced on June 9 , 2008 , at the WWDC 2008 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco , United States .   The iPhone 3G is internally similar to its predecessor , but included several new hardware features , such as GPS , 3G data and tri-band UMTS/HSDPA . The device was originally loaded with the concurrently launched iPhone OS 2.0 . In addition to other features ( including push email and turn-by-turn navigation ) , this new operating system introduced the App StoreApple 's new distribution platform for third-party applications .


Tardigrade Tardigrades ( -LSB- ˈtɑrdᵻˌgreɪd -RSB- also known as water bears , space bears , or moss piglets ) are water-dwelling , eight-legged , segmented micro-animals . They were first discovered by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773 . The name Tardigrada ( meaning `` slow stepper '' ) was given three years later by the Italian biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani . They have been found everywhere from mountaintops to the deep sea , mud volcanoes , and from tropical rain forests to the Antarctic .   Tardigrades are one of the most resilient animals known : they can survive extreme conditions that would be rapidly fatal to nearly all other known life forms . They can withstand temperature ranges from 1 K ( close to absolute zero ) to about 420 K for several minutes , pressures about six times greater than those found in the deepest ocean trenches , ionizing radiation at doses hundreds of times higher than the lethal dose for a human , and the vacuum of outer space . They can go without food or water for more than 30 years , drying out to the point where they are 3 % or less water , only to rehydrate , forage , and reproduce . Tardigrades living in harsh conditions undergo an annual process of cyclomorphosis .   They are not considered extremophilic because they are not adapted to exploit these conditions . This means that their chances of dying increase the longer they are exposed to the extreme environments , whereas true extremophiles thrive in a physically or geochemically extreme environment that would harm most other organisms .   Usually , tardigrades are about 0.5 mm long when they are fully grown . They are short and plump with four pairs of legs , each with four to eight claws also known as `` disks '' . The first three pairs of legs are directed ventrolaterally and are the primary means of locomotion , while the fourth pair is directed posteriorly on the terminal segment of the trunk and is used primarily for grasping the substrate . Tardigrades are prevalent in mosses and lichens and feed on plant cells , algae , and small invertebrates . When collected , they may be viewed under a very low-power microscope , making them accessible to students and amateur scientists .   Tardigrades form the phylum Tardigrada , part of the superphylum Ecdysozoa . It is an ancient group , with fossils dating from 530 million years ago , in the Cambrian period . About 1,150 species of tardigrades have been described . Tardigrades can be found throughout the world , from the Himalayas ( above 6000 m ) , to the deep sea ( below 4000 m ) and from the polar regions to the equator .


Sunrise created a media franchise that features "mecha" and it is Japanese.

Sunrise (company) is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise . It is a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings . Its former name was Nippon Sunrise , and prior to that , Sunrise Studios . Its headquarters is located in Suginami , Tokyo .   Among Japan 's largest and most famous studios , Sunrise is renowned for several critically lauded and popular original anime series , such as Gundam , Cowboy Bebop , Space Runaway Ideon , Armored Trooper Votoms , Yoroiden Samurai Troopers , Future GPX Cyber Formula , Crush Gear Turbo , The Vision of Escaflowne , Love Live School Idol Project , Witch Hunter Robin , My-HiME , My-Otome , Code Geass : Lelouch of the Rebellion , Tiger & Bunny , Cross Ange : Rondo of Angel and Dragon , as well as its numerous adaptations of acclaimed light novels including Dirty Pair , Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere and Accel World , and manga such as City Hunter , InuYasha , Outlaw Star , Yakitate !! Japan , Planetes , Keroro Gunso , Gin Tama , Kekkaishi and several others .   Many of Sunrise 's original anime include similar themes , including mecha and masked identities accompanied with fluid animation . Because of the fluidity and high degree of details on much of their works , fans refer to their animation works as `` Sunrise Smooth '' .   Most of their works are mostly original titles created in-house by their creative staffs that went into a collective pseudonym called Hajime Yatate . They also previously operated a now defunct video game studio of their own named Sunrise Interactive . Sunrise also launched their own light novel publication titled Yatate Bunko Imprint on September 30 , 2016 aimed to publish new original titles and also to supplemment their already existing franchises with new materials .   Anime created by Sunrise that have won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize are Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979 and the first half of 1980 , Space Runaway Ideon in the second half of 1980 , Crusher Joe ( co-production with Studio Nue ) in 1983 , Dirty Pair in 1985 , Future GPX Cyber Formula in 1991 , Gundam SEED in 2002 , Gundam SEED Destiny in 2004 and 2005 , Code Geass : Lelouch of the Rebellion in 2006 and 2007 and Code Geass R2 in 2008 , thus making Sunrise as the studio that won the most number of Animage Awards .