AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Judith Barsi (June 6, 1978 – July 25, 1988) was an American child actress. She was born in Los Angeles, California and started her acting in commercials. She also played Thea Brody in the movie "Jaws 4: The Revenge" in 1987 and voiced "Ducky" in "The Land before Time" and Annie-Marie in "All Dogs Go to Heaven" in June 1988. Her father, Jozef, was jealous and paranoid. He abused Judith and her mother for some years.
Barsi was the daughter of Hungarian immigrants József Barsi and Maria Barsi (née Benkő). Her parents fled the 1956 Soviet occupation of Hungary and then immigrated to Los Angeles. Maria Barsi wanted to be an actress herself, but later hoped that her daughter would be one, instead. Judith was discovered at a skating rink when she was five years old, but could still pass for age three. She went on to appear in over 70 commercials and soon appeared in movies. Later in her life, Barsi had growth hormone injections to help her growth.
On July 25, 1988 at 8:30 pm, her father shot Judith in the head. She was killed instantly. Her mother ran down the hall to see what was going on and was also shot. Jozsef later went down to the garage and killed himself. Judith was only 10 years old at the time of her death.
Judith's parents met at a restaurant in Los Angeles that was well known as a meeting place for immigrants. Maria worked there as a waitress. Jozsef was a plumber. He had problems with alcohol and was arrested three times for driving drunk. In the first years of their marriage, they were a happy couple. Soon Jozsef became jealous of the success of Maria's daughter. When Judith was getting ready to go to the Bahamas for the movie "", her father entered her bedroom. He locked the door and put a kitchen knife to her neck saying: "If you do not return after finished shooting, I'll slit your throat." She came back after two months, but the atmosphere at the house was not better. Over time, there were more problems. Judith's father called her a "spoiled brat". Judith's mood began to get bad. She didn't do anything wrong and was not "full of life, a happy girl." Unable to deal with the problems at home, Judith pulled the eyebrows and mustache off of her own cats. Jozsef had said many times that he would kill his wife. Sometimes he said he would kill himself and his daughter. In December 1986, Maria made a report to the police. She said he was abusing her mentally and physically. The police saw no injuries. In May 1988, Ruth Hansen saw the poor condition of the girl. Because Judit cried a lot and could not speak, Hansen told Maria to take Judith to a psychologist. She was taken to Children's Services. They could get no help from government organizations. Maria rented an apartment in Panorama City, where she wanted to move with Judith. Hansen told her to get a divorce from her husband. In July, Maria said she did not want to lose the house purchased with the money from her daughter's career.
Judith was seen riding her bike in the morning of July 25, 1988. On the same day, she had an audition for the role in a new production studio, Hanna-Barbera. When Judith was sleeping, her father shot Judith in the head. She was killed instantly. Her mother ran down the hall to see what was going on. She was also shot. Jozef later went down to the garage and took his own life.
The funeral was held on August 9, 1988. Judith was buried with her mother in unmarked graves in the cemetery Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles. The short ceremony was attended by about 75 people. Many of these people were children.
The Judith Barsi Memorial was dedicated the song "Love Survives" from the movie "All Dogs Go to Heaven". The movie premiered over a year after the death of the girl. Judith Barsi's tombstone was placed on August 23, 2004. It says: "In Memory of the lovely Judith Eva Barsi "Our Concrete Angel Yep! Yep! Yep!". A similar plate was mounted at January 25, 2005 commemorating her mother Mary."
Lego minifigure
A Lego minifigure (a.k.a. Lego person) is a small figure as part of Lego toys. Minifigures are found in Lego sets, although they are also sold separately as keychains and magnets. Minifigures in 1975 were the same size as minifigures today, but did not have any moving arms or legs. They had a small variety of headpieces, including caps, pigtail hair and cowboy hats. Since 1978, Lego minifigures have had more clothing, hats, shirts and pants to choose from. They started packing them in sets, including Star Wars.
Minifigures are still used in many Lego sets we know today. There are many minifigures such as mermaid with a identical tail to the ocean king and many shorter characters such as the evil dwarf.
Chilean Spanish
Pacific Electric Railway
The Pacific Electric Railway Company was a private transportation system in Los Angeles, California. It started when Henry E. Huntington began building and buying streetcar railroads in and around Los Angeles to help people reach his properties.
Most of its lines carried people but there was also some freight. Pacific Electric also owned a mountain tourist attraction called the Mount Lowe Railway.
In the 1920s, with hundreds of miles of track, it was the largest system in the world. While Huntington lost money running Pacific Electric, he made money by selling the land it reached.
After Henry Huntington died and the land was all sold, the system started to break down and there was no money coming in to repair it. The city of Los Angeles decided it would be cheaper to move passengers with buses and close the whole system.
And so the last Pacific Electric train ran in 1961. The tracks were all ripped up and all of the old trains were either destroyed or sold to other countries.
Almost thirty years after the last train, with traffic becoming worse and buses becoming slower, the city remembered the old system. They decided to start rebuilding it because they realized trains do not slow down when there is a traffic jam.
Today, a small part of the old Pacific Electric rail network is now part of the new and growing Los Angeles Metro and people are riding trains again.
The Pacific Electric ran lines from Los Angeles to the following cities:
Brickfilm
A Brickfilm is a stop-motion movie using Legos, Mega Blocks, or other Lego-like products. Brickfilms are often used to help the Lego Group advertise more sets and themes. The first known Brickfilm was called "The Magic Portal". It was made 1980–1989 in Perth, Western Australia by Lindsay Fleay.
A brickfilm can be made by taking a Lego character, and placing it on a board. The creator takes a picture, and slightly moves the character, and Repeats this step many times. The easiest way to stream the pictures together, is to use video editing software, adding the pictures, and finally, setting them to a very short time. Fifteen frames per second (15 fps) is common, if a video editor only uses fps instead of changing time length.
Extreme Rules (2011)
Extreme Rules was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event made by WWE. The event took place May 1, 2011 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida. It was the third Extreme Rules event. Nine matches overall took place, with eight airing live on PPV.
On the April 11th edition of Raw held a 5-man gauntlet match which would decide the number one contender to face The Miz for the WWE Championship. This match featured John Cena, Randy Orton, John Morrison, R-Truth and Dolph Ziggler. The last two men in the final round were John Cena and R-Truth. After The Miz and Alex Riley beat down both wrestlers, the match was resulted in a double disqualification, which would then lead to the anonymous Raw general manager stating that both John Cena and R-Truth would compete for the WWE Championship against The Miz in a Triple Threat match. The following week on "Raw", John Morrison challenged R-Truth for Truth's spot in the match and won, but Truth turned heel and attacked Morrison after the match. Later in the night, it was revealed that the match would be contested inside a steel cage.
Also on Raw, commentators Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler are also continuing their rivalry from WrestleMania XXVII. At the event, Lawler made Cole submit to the ankle lock, but the anonymous Raw General Manager reversed special guest referee Stone Cold Steve Austin's decision, thus making Cole the winner via disqualification. On the April 11 edition of Raw, Lawler defeated Cole's trainer, Jack Swagger, allowing him to announce that he would team up with his former broadcast partner, Jim Ross, to face Cole and Swagger at Extreme Rules. Two weeks later, the Raw General Manager declared that the teams would face each other in a Country Whipping match.
Meanwhile on "SmackDown", Edge was scheduled to defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Alberto Del Rio in a ladder match at Extreme Rules after Del Rio won a number one contendership match against Christian on the April 8 edition of SmackDown. But less than a week later, on the April 11 edition of "Raw", Edge announced he was being forced to retire due to a real injury to his neck. That Friday, on the April 15 edition of SmackDown, Del Rio demanded to be crowned champion as he was the number one contender. SmackDown general manager Teddy Long didn't see it that way and announced that the match would still happen but that it would now be for the vacant title. Del Rio would be one contender. He also announced his opponent would be the winner of a 20-man over-the-top-rope Battle Royal. Later in the final match of the evening, Edge's real best friend for the past 20 years Christian won. Following this, on the April 25 edition of Raw, Del Rio was drafted to Raw as part of the year's draft. As such if Del Rio wins, he will bring the title to Raw, making the title a "Raw only" title.
Another feud from the SmackDown brand is between Layla and Michelle McCool, formerly known together as LayCool. Disagreement between the two divas started on the April 8 edition of SmackDown when McCool refused to tag Layla in a tag team match against Beth Phoenix and Kelly Kelly. The following two weeks, the two attended couple's therapy sessions, but the latter session ended with McCool attacking Layla, making their break up official. During the 2011 WWE Draft, after Layla lost her match against Eve, she attacked McCool for distracting her. On the April 29 edition of SmackDown, after fighting to a double count-out in their match, Layla and McCool agreed to have a No Count-out, No Disqualification match at Extreme Rules with the loser leaving WWE.
Dorgon
Dorgon (, 1612 - 1650) was the Prince empire of Qing Dynasty. His surname was Aisin Gioro. His reign names were Sing Cong and Chong De.
Dorgon was the 4th illegitimate son of Taizu Emperor (Nurhaci). Half brother of Huang Taiji, Half Uncle of Shunzhi Emperor.
A slingshot is a kind of projectile weapon which is used to launch small things. It is small and made to be handheld. It is made of a Y-shaped body with an elastic band such as rubber tied to the two top ends of the Y. The projectile is placed in the band, which is pulled back and let go of.
How strong and dangerous the slingshot is depends on how it is made and especially the elastic band. Although a slingshot is a type of weapon and a strong one can hurt people, they are not often used in modern war because there are many better weapons. Strong slingshots may be used to hunt small animals, or weaker ones may be used as toys.
In some places, a slingshot may be illegal because it can be a weapon.
Mortal Kombat (1995 movie)
Mortal Kombat is an 1995 live-action/adventure movie that was produced by Lauri Apelian and Lawrence Kasanoff and was directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. It is based on the video game franchise, "Mortal Kombat". "Mortal Kombat" was released on July 13, 1995 in Argentina & Israel, August 18, 1995 in North America, October 20, 1995 in the United Kingdom and on December 26, 1995 in Australia. The movie received mixed reviews with a 35% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic gave it a 58 out of 100. The movie gained a sequel called "" and it was released in 1997.
X-wing
The X-wing is a starfighter from the "Star Wars" fictional universe. It is seen in the original trilogy movies and many books, games, toys, and other things. It is shown as a main starfighter for the Rebellion and later the New Republic.
The X-wing was first made for the movie "" by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Joe Johnston drew and Colin Cantwell made models that became the final X-wing fighter in "". ILM made miniatures in different sizes, with wing markings showing which prop was for each pilot. Each X-wing model was built around a hollow core to hold parts for effects such as lighting.
Besides the models, the crew made one full-size X-wing for scenes in the Rebels' Yavin IV base hangar; they used editing and cardboard cutouts to make it seem as if there are dozens of fighters. The crew also made a full-size X-wing cockpit that was used for all actors; the astromech droid behind each actor was changed for each starfighter.
According to "Star Wars" backstory, the X-wing was designed by Incom Corporation, who left the Empire and gave the X-wing design to the rebels. It is a one-man starfighter which also has a socket for a droid.
The starfighter has four laser cannons and two proton torpedo launchers. Its four wings (called s-foils) can fold open or closed. It has four engines and can use hyperspace travel. It also has energy shields for defense.
"One Step Closer" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released as the first single and second track off the band's first album, "Hybrid Theory".
All songs are written by Linkin Park except for "High Voltage", which is written by Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson and Joe Hahn; and "My December", which is also written by Shinoda.
US promo:
10" vinyl:
The video starts out with a group of teenage friends hanging out around a dark alley. Two of them follow a strange man wearing a black hooded robe into a door which leads them to an underground room where the band is playing. Strange figures are around doing martial-arts moves. Midway through the song, they knock over a box, and run away when the martial arts people notice them. Towards the end of the song, lead singer Chester Bennington is upside-down.
Joe Hahn, the band's DJ, made the story of the video. Since bassist Dave Farrell has not returned to the band yet, Scott Koziol plays the bass. Gregory Dark directed the video.
"One Step Closer" is the ending song the band's concerts until 2007, where the song was always performed first. In 2008, the band's concerts ended with either the song or "Bleed It Out". From 2003 to 2007, the performances of the song has the verse of Jonathan Davis from his remix of the song in "Reanimation". In their recent concert tour, "A Thousand Suns World Tour", the song is either the final song of the concert or the final song of the main set.
Áras an Uachtaráin
Áras an Uachtaráin (), is the official home of the President of Ireland. The name means "House of the President" in Irish. It is in the Phoenix Park on the northside of Dublin. It used to be known as the Viceregal Lodge.
The original house was designed by park ranger and amateur architect, Nathaniel Clements in the mid eighteenth century. It was bought by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. His official residence was in the Viceregal Apartments in Dublin Castle. The house in the park then became the "Viceregal Lodge", the "out of season" residence of the Lord Lieutenant (also known as the Viceroy), where he lived for most of the year from the 1820s onwards. During the Social Season (January to St. Patrick's Day in March) he lived in Dublin Castle.
In 1882, the grounds around the house became the location for a famous murder. Two men were stabbed to death with surgical knives while walking back to the residence from Dublin Castle. They were the Lord Frederick Cavendish, the British Cabinet minister with responsibility for Irish affairs, and Thomas Henry Burke, chief civil servant. A small insurgent group called the Invincibles was responsible for the deed. The Lord Lieutenant, the 5th Earl Spencer, heard the victims screams from a ground floor window in the drawing room.
In 1911, the house got a large extension for the visit of King George V and Queen Mary. After the Irish Free State was established in 1922, it became the home of the Governor-General of the Irish Free State until 1932. After that the new Governor-General, Domhnall Ua Buachalla, personally leased a private mansion in the southside of Dublin.
The house was left empty for some years, until the office of President of Ireland was created in 1937. In 1938, the first President, Douglas Hyde lived there temporarily while plans were made to build a new presidential palace on the grounds. The outbreak of World War II saved the building, which had been renamed "Áras an Uachtaráin" as plans were put on hold. By 1945 it had become too closely identified with the presidency of Ireland to be demolished. But because it had not been lived in, a lot of work was needed to rebuild and improve it, especially to the kitchens, servants' quarters and chapel.
The first President, Douglas Hyde lived in the residential quarters on the first floor of the main building. Later presidents moved to the new wing attached to the main house that had been built on for the visit of King George V in 1911. However, in 1990 Mary Robinson moved back to the older main building. Mary McAleese lived in the 1911 wing. The current occupant is Michael D.Higgans
Beside it being the home of the president, it has a few state rooms for official occasions. Áras an Uachtaráin also houses the headquarters of the Garda Mounted Unit.
Various visiting British kings and queens stayed at the Viceregal Lodge, notably Queen Victoria and George V. American presidents that visited include Presidents John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, who are all of Irish descent. Other famous visitors to the Áras an Uachtaráin have been Princess Grace of Monaco and her husband, Prince Rainier III; King Baudouin of the Belgians; King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia; Pope John Paul II; Prince Charles, and Prince Philip.
Guests do not normally stay at Áras an Uachtaráin. Although it has ninety-two rooms, many of these are used for storage of presidential files, for household staff and official staff, including military "aides-de-camp", a Secretary to the President and a press office. In 2001, the Irish state opened a guest residence nearby in Farmleigh, a former Guinness mansion.
On 1 May 2004, during Ireland's six-month presidency of the European Union, Áras an Uachtarain was the Venue for the "European Day of Welcomes" (Accession Day) in which ten new members joined the EU. All 25 heads of government attended the flag raising ceremony in the gardens of the palace.
Áras an Uachtaráin is now open for free tours every Saturday.
A hangar is a closed structure made to hold an aircraft while it is on the ground. It is like a garage but for aircraft instead of cars. A hanger is most often metal, but may be made of other things like wood and concrete. It protects the aircraft from weather and sun damage.
Phoenix Park Murders
The Phoenix Park Murders were the fatal stabbings on 6 May 1882 in the Phoenix Park in Dublin. Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke were killed. Cavendish was the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Burke was the Permanent Undersecretary, the most senior Irish civil servant. The assassination was carried out by members of the "Irish National Invincibles".
Cavendish and Burke were attacked as they walked through Phoenix Park to the Viceregal Lodge. This was the "out of season" residence of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ("the King's representative and head of the Irish affairs"). Thomas Myles, surgeon at the nearby Dr Steevens' Hospital, was called to help the victims.
The Lord Lieutenant, Lord Spencer, described suddenly hearing screams, before seeing a man running to the Lodge grounds shouting "Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke are killed." Responsibility for the political murders was claimed by a small, until then unknown Republican organisation called the "Irish National Invincibles".
The hunt for the murderers was led by Superintendent John Mallon, a Catholic who came from Armagh. Mallon had a pretty good idea of who was involved. He suspected a number of former Fenian activists. A large number of suspects were arrested and kept in prison by claiming they were connected with other crimes. Mallon got several of them to reveal what they knew about the murders.
The Invincibles' leader James Carey, Michael Kavanagh and Joe Hanlon agreed to testify against the others. Joe Brady, Michael Fagan, Thomas Caffrey, Dan Curley and Tim Kelly were convicted of the murder. They were hanged in Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin between 14 May and 4 June 1883. Others were sentenced to serve long prison terms.
Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell made a speech condemning the murders in 1882. This increased his popularity in both Britain and Ireland.
In March 1887, "The Times" printed letters that said they were written by Parnell. The letters said that he agreed with the murderers of the English politicians, and that his speech saying otherwise was not true. It later came to light that the letters were not written by Parnell. They were forgeries written by journalist Richard Pigott. Parnell was personally shown to be innocent by the Parnell Commission in 1888-89.
A garage is a place for storing cars. There are many kinds of garages used for different things.
A residential garage is a garage that is part of a house or similar building. Some garages are directly connected (called "attached") to the house, while others are separate and called a "detached" garage". The garage will have a large garage door that opens to let cars in and out, which is often opened by a motor.
A parking garage is a large covered structure, often made of concrete, which is used for holding many cars. Parking garages may have more than one level.
An automobile repair shop may also be called a garage, although it is for repairing cars rather than just storing them.
Melatonin is a hormone found in animals, plants, and microbes. In animals, levels of melatonin have a daily cycle. It drives the circadian rhythms of several biological functions.
Melatonin is produced in the pineal gland which is outside of the blood–brain barrier. It acts as a hormone, and is released into the blood.
Melatonin acts on melatonin receptors. It also acts directly because it is a powerful antioxidant, which protects DNA.
Melatonin supplements for humans can be given. Melatonin is categorized by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a dietary supplement, not a drug. A prescription-only, timed release melatonin product for people aged 55 and over was approved for use by the European Medicines Agency in 2007, despite having shown only small effects, and in Australia in 2009.
Luria–Delbrück experiment
The Luria–Delbrück experiment, 1943, also called the 'Fluctuation Test', asks the question: are mutations independent of natural selection? Or are they directed by the selection?
Max Delbrück and Salvador Luria showed that in bacteria, DNA mutations happen randomly. This means they happen at any time, rather than being a response to selection.
So, Darwin's theory of natural selection acting on random mutations applies to bacteria as well as to more complex organisms.
Delbrück and Luria won the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine partly for this work.
In their experiment, Luria and Delbrück grew bacteria in tubes. After a period of growth, they split up the bacteria into separate cultures and put them onto agar containing phage (virus). If virus resistance were not due to random gene mutations, then each plate should contain roughly the same number of resistant colonies. This, however was not what Delbrück and Luria found. Instead, the number of resistant colonies on each plate varied to a great extent.
Luria and Delbrück proposed that these results could be explained by the occurrence of a constant rate of random mutations in each generation of bacteria growing in the initial culture tubes.
Polydactyly
Polydactyly is a birth defect which may affects the hands, feet, or both. It causes one or more extra fingers or toes. It can affect people, and other mammals such as dogs, and cats.
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide. According to SAG's Mission Statement, the Guild was created to negotiate and enforce reasonable salaries, benefits, and working conditions for its performers; collect compensation for exploitation of recorded performances by its members, and provide protection against unauthorized use of those performances; and preserve and expand work opportunities for its members.
The Guild was founded in 1933 in an effort to end exploitation of actors in Hollywood who were being forced into oppressive multi-year contracts with the major movie studios that did not include restrictions on work hours or minimum rest periods, and often had clauses that automatically renewed at the studios' discretion. These contracts were notorious for allowing the studios to dictate the public and private lives of the performers who signed them, and most did not have provisions to allow the performer to end the deal.
In addition to its main offices in Hollywood, SAG also maintains local branches in several major US cities, including: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC.
Since 1995, the guild has annually awarded the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which are considered an indicator of success at the Academy Awards.
The membership of the Screen Actors Guild voted to merge with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists on March 30, 2012. It was later renamed as SAG-AFTRA.
"Later merged as SAG-AFTRA"
A Screen Actors Guild Award is an award given by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) to recognize outstanding performances by its members. The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called "The Actor". It is 16 inches tall, weighs over 12 pounds, cast in solid bronze, and produced by the American Fine Arts Foundry in Burbank, California.
SAG Awards have been one of the major awards events in Hollywood since 1995. Nominations for the awards come from 4200 randomly selected members of the union, with the full membership (120,000 as of 2007) available to vote for the winners. The awards have been televised for the past several years on TNT, but now also airs on TBS.
The first SAG Awards aired live on February 25, 1995 from Stage 12, Universal Studios. The second SAG awards aired live from the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, while later awards have been held at the Shrine Exposition Center. Bob Hope was given the first award.
Machair
Machair or machar is a Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) word used to describe a fertile low-lying grassy plain found on some of the north-west coastlines of Ireland and Scotland, in particular the Outer Hebrides. There are machairs in the Isle of Skye, The Isle of Barra, the Isle of Harris and all throughout the west coast and islands.
Max Delbrück
Max Ludwig Henning Delbrück (September 4, 1906 – March 9, 1981) was a German-American biophysicist and Nobel laureate.
Delbrück was one of the most influential people in the movement of physical scientists into biology during the 20th century.
Delbrück's big idea was to explore genetics by means of the bacteriophage viruses which infect bacteria. This was important in the early development of molecular biology.
Delbrück was born in Berlin, German Empire. Trained as a physicist, he got his Ph.D. in 1930. he traveled through England, Denmark, and Switzerland. He met Wolfgang Pauli and Niels Bohr, who got him interested in biology.
In 1937, he moved to the United States to pursue his interests in biology, taking up research in the Biology Division at Caltech on genetics of the fruit fly "Drosophila melanogaster". While at Caltech Delbrück became acquainted with bacteria and their viruses (bacteriophage or 'phage').
Delbrück remained in the US during World War II, teaching physics at Vanderbilt University in Nashville while pursuing his genetic research. In 1942, he and Salvador Luria of Indiana University demonstrated that bacterial resistance to virus infection is caused by random mutation and not adaptive change. This research, known as the Luria-Delbrück experiment, was also significant for its use of mathematics to make quantitative predictions for the results to be expected from alternative models. For that work, they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1969, sharing it with Alfred Hershey.
During the 1940s Delbrück developed a course in bacteriophage genetics at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to encourage interest in the field. In 1947, Delbrück returned to Caltech as a professor of biology where he remained until 1977.
Salvador Luria
Salvador Edward Luria (Turin, Italy, August 13, 1912 – Lexington, Massachusetts, February 6, 1991) was an Italian microbiologist.
He won the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering work with Max Delbrück and Alfred Hershey on phages in molecular biology.
Luria was born Salvatore Edoardo Luria in Turin, Italy to an influential Italian Sephardic Jewish family. He attended the medical school at the University of Turin. There, he met two other future Nobel laureates: Rita Levi-Montalcini and Renato Dulbecco.
In Rome, he was introduced to Max Delbrück's theories on the gene as a molecule and began to formulate methods for testing genetic theory with bacteriophages, which are viruses that infect bacteria.
In 1938, he received a fellowship to study in the United States, where he intended to work with Delbrück. Soon after Luria received the award Benito Mussolini's fascist regime banned Jews from academic research fellowships.
Without funding sources for work in the U.S. or Italy, Luria left his home country for Paris, France in 1938. As the Nazi German armies invaded France in 1940, Luria fled on bicycle to Marseilles where he received an immigration visa to the United States.
Luria arrived in New York City on September 12, 1940 and soon changed his first and middle names. With the help of physicist Enrico Fermi, whom he knew from his time at the University of Rome, Luria received a fellowship at Columbia University. He soon met Delbrück and Hershey, and they collaborated on experiments at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and in Delbrück's lab at Vanderbilt University.
His famous experiment with Delbrück in 1943, known as the Luria-Delbrück experiment, demonstrated that inheritance in bacteria follows Darwinian rather than Lamarckian principles and that mutant genes occurring randomly can still give viral resistance without the virus being present. The idea that natural selection affects bacteria has profound consequences, for example, it explains how bacteria develop antibiotic resistance.
From 1943 to 1950, he worked at Indiana University, Bloomington. His first graduate student was James D. Watson, who went on to discover the structure of DNA with Francis Crick. In January 1947, Luria became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
In 1950, Luria moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While investigating how a culture of "E. coli" was able to stop the production of phages, Luria discovered that specific bacterial strains produce enzymes that cut DNA at certain sequences. These enzymes became known as restriction enzymes and developed into one of the main molecular tools in molecular biology.
Maya calendar
The Maya calendar is a system of calendars and almanacs used in the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and in some modern Maya communities in highland Guatemala.
It shares many aspects with calendars employed by other earlier Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Zapotec and Olmec, and contemporary or later ones such as the Mixtec and Aztec calendars. Although the Mesoamerican calendar did not originate with the Maya, their subsequent extensions and refinements of it were the most sophisticated. Along with those of the Aztecs, the Maya calendars are the best-documented and most completely understood.
There are three main Maya calendars: the 260 day ritual calendar called "Tzolk'in", the 365 day "Haab"', and the "Long Count". Approximately 52 years pass before the Haab and Tzolkin calendars converge and are back in the same alignment. This is called the Calendar round. The Tzolk'in is still in use today by the Ixil, Kek'chi and Quiche peoples of the Guatemalan highlands.
Here is an example of a Maya calendar date: 12.18.16.2.6, 3 Cimi 4 Zotz. The “12.18.16.2.6” is the Long Count. Going from right to left, the units are: kin (1 day), uinal (20 kin = 20 days), tun (18 uinal = 360 days), katun (20 tun = approximately 20 years), baktun (20 katun =394 years). The Long Count was used to track periods of time longer than the 52 years of the Calendar Round. The mythical starting date of the current creation was August 11, 3114 BCE (Gregorian). “3 Cimi” is the Tzolkin date. The Tzolkin date is a combination of thirteen days numbered one-thirteen and twenty day-names. “4 Zotz” is the Haab' date. The Haab' year contains 18 months (each named) with 20 days each. The number before the word is the day of that month. The Maya then added five days to the calendar after the last month, Cumku, ends, in order to make the year 365 days long. Those five days, called "Uayeb," were considered to be unlucky.
A common myth about the Maya calendar was that it predicted that the world would end on December 21, 2012. This belief was mistaken. According to the Maya, there were three previous worlds. The first began with “the creation of the Earth, and it had upon it vegetation and living beings. Unfortunately, because they lacked speech, the birds and animals were unable to pay homage to the gods and were destroyed. In the second and third Ages the gods created humans of mud and then wood, but these also failed to please and were wiped out. The "zero date" 13.0.0.0.0 on the Long Count was when, according to the Maya, the third world ended and the fourth one, the current world, began. Another 13.0.0.0.0 would occur on December 21, 2012. There is no evidence that the Long Count would end on 13.0.0.0.0 or that the Maya believed that this would be the date of the apocalypse. Still, a variety of popular books and movies have contributed to the publicity surrounding the Maya calendar's supposed prediction of the end of the world in 2012. Some believershave taken advantage of this publicity to sell guides to surviving the apocalypse.
Mexican coat of arms
The flag of Mexico contains a coat of arms which is derived from an Aztec symbol depicting an eagle with a snake in its mouth.
In the early 14th century, the Mexica people were a wandering tribe looking for a permanent settlement in modern day central Mexico. They survived by hunting and gathering and were often hired to fight as mercenaries for the city-states scattered throughout the region. According to legend, their god, Huitzilopochtli, told them to establish a city of their own at a site where they would find an eagle eating a snake on top of a cactus. The legend relates that the people saw the eagle on a small, swampy island in the middle of the shallow Texcoco lake. The Mexica invented a resourceful system of gardening, called chinampas, which allowed them to grow small gardens, eventually drying out the lake. In 1325, they completed construction of a city there. That city, which they called Tenochtitlan, became the capital of the Aztec Empire, which dominated central Mexico until its destruction by Spanish Conquistadores led by Hernando Cortes.
After winning its independence from Spain in 1810, the newly created nation of Mexico–whose capital was built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan–adopted the symbol of the eagle and the snake to commemorate its Aztec heritage. The symbol can be found at the center of the Mexican flag.
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan started out as an agricultural and population center for the Olmec civilization, which inhabited a region of what is today southeastern Mexico. The Olmecs emerged as early as 1500 BC as the earliest complex society in the Americas. San Lorenzo is best known as the first city established in the Americas.
The main reason San Lorenzo flourished at such an early period is its location within the Coatzacoalcos flood plain, which provided fertile land for farming. Thus, the settlement of San Lorenzo follows the pattern of settlement of the world’s very first urban centers, which emerged in the fertile river valleys of Mesopotamia. Because of the high farming value of the surrounding land, San Lorenzo ranked as the Olmecs’ most populous settlement from 1200-900 BC. During that period, San Lorenzo had the biggest trade market in all of the Olmec Heartland.
For unknown reasons, many people migrated out of San Lorenzo in 800 BC to the nearby city of La Venta. However, San Lorenzo was repopulated in 600 BC, when it became a center for Olmec ritual sacrifices until the population faded away in 400 BC along with the Olmec civilization. Today, San Lorenzo remains a significant archaeological site because the artifacts found there–including the famous Colossal Heads and jade masks–shed some light on Olmec culture and its profound influence on later Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Aztec and Maya.
Terrace farming
Terrace farming (also called step farming) is a method of farming that consists of different "steps" or terraces that were developed in various places around the world. The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras (hills and mountains) is a World Heritage Site. It dates back two thousand years.
This method of farming uses "steps" that are built into the side of a mountain or hill. On each level, various crops are planted. When it rains, instead of washing away all of the nutrients in the soil, the nutrients are carried down to the next level. These steps prevent water from washing away the soil and plants. This system also allowed them to build aqueducts, which carried water to each level.
The idea was also independently developed by the Inca people. The Incas built their aqueduct system so well that it is still used today.
Sapa Inca
Sapa Inca was the Inca emperor. "" means "The Great Inca" or "The Only Inca" in Quechua, the Inca language. According to legend, the first Sapa Inca, Manco Cápac (c. 1200 CE- 1230) was the son of the sun god, Inti. Manco Cápac became Sapa Inca by founding the city of Cuzco after he was sent on a quest by a god to find a good location for a city and build one. He also united the tribes around Cuzco.
The position of Sapa Inca was hereditary, which means that it passed from father to son. The Sapa Inca was the sole and absolute ruler over the Incas. His word was law, and he was the supreme commander of the military. The Sapa Inca lived in great luxury with many wives, slaves, and riches. Another privilege that he had was that he was allowed to (and usually would) marry his sister even though it was prohibited for common people. When the Sapa Inca died he would be mummified.
The Inca Empire reached its height under Huayna Capac (1493–1527) when it stretched from modern day Argentina to Ecuador, although Tupac Inca Yupanqui (1471-1493) was responsible for expanding much of the empire to those borders. Tupac Yupanqui conquered the Kingdom of Chimor, the biggest rival to the Inca. He expanded the empire into modern day Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Atahualpa was the last pre-conquest Sapa Inca. He was killed by the invading Spaniards in 1533 and after that there were several Sapa Inca who were installed by the Spanish. The last person to hold the title was Tupac Amaru who was killed by the Spanish in 1572.
STS-1 was the first flight of the space shuttle. It launched on April 12, 1981 and landed on April 14. It was launched 20 years after the first manned space flight. The space shuttle used was "Columbia". Space Shuttle Columbia orbited the Earth 37 times in this mission.
STS-1 was the first of two missions with a painted external tank. The paint was put to protect the external tank from ultraviolet light when it was standing on the launch pad. After STS-2, the paint was removed
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir
Regression (psychology)
Regression is a word used in psychology on defense mechanism. It means the act of reversing the ego into an earlier state which allows one to avoid dealing with impulses in a mature manner.
A common example of regression is “curling up into a ball” (also known as the fetal position) when stressed, ill, or wounded.
Displacement (psychology)
Displacement is a word used in Freudian psychology for is an unconscious defence mechanism. Example: the mind redirects thoughts, emotions, desires from an object or person felt to be dangerous or unacceptable to an object or person felt to be safe or acceptable.
More generally, the substitute of one response by another, when the original response is blocked: displaced aggression.
Ego depletion
Central dogma of molecular biology
The central dogma of molecular biology is a phrase by Francis Crick, who proposed the double helix structure of DNA.
It means that information passes from DNA to proteins via RNA, but proteins cannot pass the information back to DNA.
Crick first wrote it in 1958, and repeated it in 1970.
The dogma is a framework for understanding the transfer of sequence information.
There are 3 major classes of such biopolymers: DNA and RNA (both nucleic acids), and protein. There are 3×3 = 9 conceivable direct transfers of information that can occur between these. The dogma classes these into 3 groups of 3:
The general transfers describe the normal flow of biological information: DNA can be copied to DNA (DNA replication), DNA information can be copied into mRNA, (transcription), and proteins can be synthesized using the information in mRNA as a template (translation).
The dogma is a modern version of the Weismann barrier (after August Weismann). This is the principle that hereditary information moves only from genes to body cells, and never in reverse. Hereditary information moves only from germline cells to somatic cells.
Ubar
Ubar is a ruined city in Oman. English adventurer Ranulph Fiennes discovered the city in 1992. According to Nicolas Clapp, this probably is the lost city Iram of the Pillars the Qu'ran talks about.
Today, ruins are left, which can be reached in a four-wheel drive. Part of the area forms the ceiling to underground vaults, which have collapsed. These vaults hold water supplies for a nearby settlement, which houses a small museum.
Wavves
Daniel Catán
Daniel Catán Porteny (3 April 1949 in Mexico City - 9 April 2011 in Austin, Texas) was a Mexican opera composer of Jewish descent. He is best known for turning the Italian movie, "Il Postino", into an opera. He was working at the University of Texas at Austin on a new opera based on the Frank Capra movie, "Meet John Doe".
Rick Perry
James Richard "Rick" Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American former politician. He was the 14th United States Secretary of Energy from March 2, 2017 through December 1, 2019. He was the Governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. He is a Republican. He became governor when George W. Bush became President, and has been elected three more times. Perry was the longest governor in the United States for 14 years.
On December 13, 2016, then-President-elect Donald Trump nominated Perry to serve as United States Secretary of Energy during his administration. He was confirmed by the United States senate on March 2, 2017.
Perry was born in Haskell, Texas. His parents were Joseph Perry and Amelia Holt. He grew up in West Texas and studied at Texas A&M University. During his early years, he was a farmer and a pilot.
In 1984, Perry was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat from district 64, which included his home county of Haskell. He served on the House Appropriations and Calendars committees during his three two-year terms in office.
In 1990, as a newly Republican, Perry challenged Jim Hightower, the incumbent Democratic Agriculture Commissioner. Karl Rove was Perry’s campaign manager. Perry won the election.
In April 1993, Perry, while serving as Texas agriculture commissioner, expressed support for the effort to reform the nation's health care, describing it as "most commendable".
In 1994, Perry was reelected Agriculture Commissioner by a large margin.
In 1998, Perry chose not to seek a third term as Agriculture Commissioner, running instead for Lieutenant Governor to succeed the retiring Democrat Bob Bullock. He won the election.
Perry assumed the office of governor on December 21, 2000, following the resignation of George W. Bush – who was preparing to become President of the United States. In the 2001 legislative session, Perry set a record for his use of the veto, rejecting 82 acts, more than
any other governor in any single legislative session in the history of the state since Reconstruction.
Perry's campaigns for lieutenant governor and governor focused on a tough stance on crime. He has supported block grants for crime programs. In 2007, Perry signed a law ending automatic arrest for cannabis possession.
Perry supports the death penalty. In June 2002, he vetoed a ban on the execution of mentally retarded inmates. As of September 18, 2014, there have been 278 executions since Perry first took office in December 2000.
Perry was re-elected in 2006 and in 2010. In 2014, Perry announced that he would not run for a fourth term.
On August 15, 2014, Perry was indicted by a grand jury on felony charges for abuse of power. He was accused of threatening a Democratic District Attorney who had been convicted of drunk driving to resign by threatening to veto funding for state public corruption prosecutors. The indictment received some support and also wide criticism from all sides of the political parties, and editorial criticism from major US newspapers.
Perry also ran for President of the United States in the 2012 Republican primaries. He was one of the last candidates to enter the race. He was a frontrunner for the nomination during the first month of his campaign, but he did not do well in many of the debates. On January 19, 2012, Perry withdrew his campaign and endorsed Newt Gingrich.
On June 4, 2015, Perry officially announced his bid with a new web site and a press conference at Addison Airport outside Dallas, Texas. Perry then announced his candidacy at the scheduled press conference. On September 11, 2015, Perry dropped out of the race after poor polling after the first debate. He later announced his support for Ted Cruz and later Donald Trump for president.
Perry has been mentioned as a possible challenger to U.S. Senator and fellow 2016 Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz in 2018. Speculation about Cruz being challenged in the Republican primary arose during the 2016 Republican National Convention, when Cruz refused to endorse Donald Trump, the eventual Republican presidential nominee, whom Perry had endorsed after Cruz suspended his campaign. In a poll conducted from August 12 to 14 of that year by "Public Policy Polling", Perry had a 46%-37% lead over Cruz. In November 2016, Perry declined to enter the senate race and endorsed Cruz in the elections.
On December 12, 2016, multiple sources reported that Perry is to be nominated by President-elect of the United States Trump to serve as Secretary of the United States Department of Energy. His nomination was approved by a 16-7 vote from the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on January 31, 2017.
On March 2, 2017, Perry was confirmed by the United States Senate in a 62-37 vote.
On October 17, 2019, Perry told Trump he would resign by the end of the year. He officially stepped down on December 1, 2019.
A July 25, 2019 telephone call between Trump and Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky led in September to a whistleblower complaint and an impeachment inquiry against Trump. Two weeks after the inquiry was launched, Trump claimed in a conference call with Congressional Republican leaders that he had only made the telephone call at Perry's urging. Perry denied ever mentioning Joe Biden in his discussions with Trump or Ukrainian officials.