community-datasets/selqa huggingface dataset:
Article: Russia
Section: Grand Duchy of Moscow

Question: What allowed for less population loss in Russia during plagues compared to other nations?

The most powerful successor state to Kievan Rus' was the Grand Duchy of Moscow ("Moscovy" in the Western chronicles), initially a part of Vladimir-Suzdal.
While still under the domain of the Mongol-Tatars and with their connivance, Moscow began to assert its influence in the Central Rus' in the early 14th century, gradually becoming the main leading force in the process of the Rus' lands' reunification and expansion of Russia.
Those were hard times, with frequent Mongol-Tatar raids and agriculture suffering from the beginning of the Little Ice Age.
As in the rest of Europe, plagues hit Russia somewhere once every five or six years from 1350 to 1490.
However, because of the lower population density and better hygiene (widespread practicing of banya, the wet steam bath), the population loss caused by plagues was not so severe as in the Western Europe, and the pre-Plague populations were reached in Russia as early as 1500.
Led by Prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow and helped by the Russian Orthodox Church, the united army of Russian principalities inflicted a milestone defeat on the Mongol-Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380.
Moscow gradually absorbed the surrounding principalities, including the formerly strong rivals, such as Tver and Novgorod.
Ivan III ("the Great") finally threw off the control of the Golden Horde, consolidated the whole of Central and Northern Rus' under Moscow's dominion, and was the first to take the title "Grand Duke of all the Russias".
After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Moscow claimed succession to the legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Ivan III married Sophia Palaiologina, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, and made the Byzantine double-headed eagle his own, and eventually Russian, coat-of-arms.
Article: The New Normal (TV series)
Section: Critical reception

Question: Did Ken Tucker have a positve impression of the series?

"The New Normal" received a 60 out of 100 aggregate score, based on 32 critics' responses, indicating "mixed or average" reception at Metacritic.
Robert Bianco of "USA Today" called it a "surprisingly touching comedy," adding "For the most part, "Normal" plays like a lovely, small movie, mixing humorous moments with sweet, gentle grace notes.
At its best, it plays like a Woody Allen film, something you may notice most when secondary characters stop and explain themselves to the camera."
Linda Stasi of the "New York Post" thought the series was "pretty darned good," adding ""The New Normal" finds its game when it's funny without trying so hard and sweet when it should be.
At times "Normal" is so touching you might pull out a tissue, or maybe a diaper."
Ken Tucker of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the series a B grade, saying it contains "a mixture of sarcasm and sentimentality that isn't remotely realistic, but can be funny."
David Hinckley of the "New York Daily News" called the series "a bumpy ride," adding ""The New Normal" wants what "Modern Family" is having.
But if we're going to catapult from "South Park" to a Hallmark movie, we need a smoother ride.
"On August 24, 2012, representatives from KSL-TV, the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, Utah, announced the station, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, would not carry "The New Normal", citing content they believed to be inappropriate for broadcast during the family hour.
KUCW, the state's CW affiliate, picked up the series and aired it on Saturday nights.
The show has been criticised for perpetuating racial stereotypes and using a person born intersex as an object of derision.
Article: Computer science
Section: Major achievements

Question: Who won World War II due, in part, to the contributions of breaking the Enigma code?

Despite its short history as a formal academic discipline, computer science has made a number of fundamental contributions to science and society - in fact, along with electronics, it is a founding science of the current epoch of human history called the Information Age and a driver of the Information Revolution, seen as the third major leap in human technological progress after the Industrial Revolution (1750-1850 CE) and the Agricultural Revolution (8000-5000 BCE).
These contributions include:
 The start of the "digital revolution", which includes the current Information Age and the Internet.
 A formal definition of computation and computability, and proof that there are computationally unsolvable and intractable problems.
 The concept of a programming language, a tool for the precise expression of methodological information at various levels of abstraction.
 In cryptography, breaking the Enigma code was an important factor contributing to the Allied victory in World War II.
 Scientific computing enabled practical evaluation of processes and situations of great complexity, as well as experimentation entirely by software.
It also enabled advanced study of the mind, and mapping of the human genome became possible with the Human Genome Project.
Distributed computing projects such as Folding@home explore protein folding.
 Algorithmic trading has increased the efficiency and liquidity of financial markets by using artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other statistical and numerical techniques on a large scale.
High frequency algorithmic trading can also exacerbate volatility.
 Computer graphics and computer-generated imagery have become ubiquitous in modern entertainment, particularly in television, cinema, advertising, animation and video games.
Even films that feature no explicit CGI are usually "filmed" now on digital cameras, or edited or postprocessed using a digital video editor.
 Simulation of various processes, including computational fluid dynamics, physical, electrical, and electronic systems and circuits, as well as societies and social situations (notably war games) along with their habitats, among many others.
Modern computers enable optimization of such designs as complete aircraft.
Notable in electrical and electronic circuit design are SPICE, as well as software for physical realization of new (or modified) designs.
The latter includes essential design software for integrated circuits.
 Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly important as it gets more efficient and complex.
There are many applications of the AI, some of which can be seen at home, such as robotic vacuum cleaners.
It is also present in video games and on the modern battlefield in drones, anti-missile systems, and squad support robots.
Article: Mexico
Section: Science and technology

Question: who provides world class education in science, medicine, and engineering

The National Autonomous University of Mexico was officially established in 1910, and the university become one of the most important institutes of higher learning in Mexico.
UNAM provides world class education in science, medicine, and engineering.
Many scientific institutes and new institutes of higher learning, such as National Polytechnic Institute (founded in 1936), were established during the first half of the 20th century.
Most of the new research institutes were created within UNAM.
Twelve institutes were integrated into UNAM from 1929 to 1973.
In 1959, the Mexican Academy of Sciences was created to coordinate scientific efforts between academics.
In 1995 the Mexican chemist Mario J. Molina shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Paul J. Crutzen and F. Sherwood Rowland for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone.
Molina, an alumnus of UNAM, became the first Mexican citizen to win the Nobel Prize in science.
In recent years, the largest scientific project being developed in Mexico was the construction of the Large Millimeter Telescope (Gran Telescopio Milimétrico, GMT), the world's largest and most sensitive single-aperture telescope in its frequency range.
It was designed to observe regions of space obscured by stellar dust.
Article: Greece
Section: Maritime industry

Question: How many ships currently fly the Greek flag?

The shipping industry is a key element of Greek economic activity dating back to ancient times.
Today, shipping is one of the country's most important industries.
It accounts for 4.5% of GDP, employs about 160,000 people (4% of the workforce), and represents 1/3 of the country's trade deficit.
During the 1960s, the size of the Greek fleet nearly doubled, primarily through the investment undertaken by the shipping magnates, Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos.
The basis of the modern Greek maritime industry was formed after World War II when Greek shipping businessmen were able to amass surplus ships sold to them by the U.S. government through the Ship Sales Act of the 1940s.
According to a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report in 2011, the Greek merchant navy is the largest in the world at 16.2% of the world's total capacity, up from 15.96% in 2010.
This is a drop from the equivalent number in 2006, which was 18.2%.
The total tonnage of the country's merchant fleet is 202 million dwt, ranked 1st in the world.
In terms of total number of ships, the Greek Merchant Navy stands at 4th worldwide, with 3,150 ships (741 of which are registered in Greece whereas the rest 2,409 in other ports).
In terms of ship categories, Greece ranks first in both tankers and dry bulk carriers, fourth in the number of containers, and fifth in other ships.
However, today's fleet roster is smaller than an all-time high of 5,000 ships in the late 1970s.
Additionally, the total number of ships flying a Greek flag (includes non-Greek fleets) is 1,517, or 5.3% of the world's dwt (ranked 5th).
Article: The Motto
Section: Chart performance

Question: What was the first week sales of The Motto?

The song debuted at #18 on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100 chart with first-week sales of 124,000.
In its 22nd week, it ascended to #14.
On the week of February 18, 2012, "The Motto" reached No.
1 on the U.S. Rap Chart making it his 12th No.
1 on the chart and extending his lead as the artist with the most No.
1 hits since the chart began.
The song has sold 3,113,000 copies in the US as of April 2013.
Article: Leaning Tower of Pisa
Section: Alternative candidates

Question: What is the degree of slope of the Capital Gate Tower

Two German churches have challenged the tower's status as the world's most lop-sided building: the 15th-century square Leaning Tower of Suurhusen and the 14th-century bell tower in the town of Bad Frankenhausen.
"Guinness World Records" measured the Pisa and Suurhusen towers, finding the former's tilt to be 3.97 degrees.
In June 2010, "Guinness World Records" certified the Capital Gate building in Abu Dhabi, UAE as the "World's Furthest Leaning Man-made Tower".
The Capital Gate tower has an 18-degree slope, almost five times more than the Pisa Tower; however the Capital Gate tower has been deliberately engineered to slant.
The Leaning Tower of Wanaka in New Zealand, also deliberately built, leans at 53 degrees to the ground.
Article: Palace of Versailles
Section: History

Question: In what year did de Gondi buy the seigneury of Versailles?

The earliest mention of the name of Versailles is in a document dated 1038, relating to the village of Versailles.
In 1575, the seigneury of Versailles was bought by Albert de Gondi, a naturalized Florentine, who invited Louis XIII on several hunting trips in the forests surrounding Versailles.
Pleased with the location, Louis ordered the construction of a hunting lodge in 1624.
Eight years later, Louis obtained the seigneury of Versailles from the Gondi family and began to make enlargements to the château.
This structure would become the core of the new palace.
Louis XIII's successor, Louis XIV, had it expanded into one of the largest palaces in the world.
Following the Treaties of Nijmegen in 1678, he began to gradually move the court to Versailles.
The court was officially established there on 6 May 1682.
After the disgrace of Nicolas Fouquet in 1661, Louis confiscated Fouquet's estate and employed the talents of Le Vau, Le Nôtre, and Le Brun, who all had worked on Fouquet's grand château Vaux-le-Vicomte, for his building campaigns at Versailles and elsewhere.
For Versailles, there were four distinct building campaigns.
Article: Breaking Bad
Section: Season 3 (2010)

Question: Who does Gus order to take over the lab?

Season 3 (2010).
On April 2, 2009, AMC announced that "Breaking Bad" was renewed for a third, 13-episode season.
It premiered on March 21, 2010, and concluded on June 13, 2010.
The complete third season was released on Region 1 DVD and Region A Blu-ray on June 7, 2011.
Walter wishes to reunite his family, but Skyler is still suspicious of Walter's second life.
Walter believes he can mend the tension between them by confessing to her that he has been producing meth.
Skyler is appalled by the confession and demands a formal divorce.
Meanwhile, Gus offers to pay Walter US$3M for three months of his service.
He even offers to provide Walter with a state-of-the-art production facility and a brilliant lab assistant, Gale (David Costabile).
Jesse is continuing to produce and sell meth by himself.
Hank is working with the DEA to investigate Jesse and is slowly gathering evidence to make an arrest.
Jesse threatens to report Walter to the police if he is arrested, but Walter offers him Gale's position at the lab.
After obtaining the position, Jesse begins stealing meth from the lab and selling it in secret on the side.
Jesse gets romantically involved with a woman he meets in his rehab group and learns her kid brother, age 11, was put up by Gus and his street dealers to kill Combo.
Jesse decides to avenge Combo.
Walter aids Jesse in escaping from Gus's wrath.
Gus begins to lose trust in Walter and asks Gale to take over the lab.
He orders his henchmen to kill Walter and Jesse.
After he is abducted by the henchmen, Walter instructs Jesse over the phone to kill Gale in order to force Gus not to kill Walter (and, by extension, Jesse) lest he eliminate his only remaining trained chemist.
Article: Gossip Girl
Section: Product placement

Question: When were the executives of VitaminWater approached for a placement deal?

"Gossip Girl" is known for its product placement.
The show had a contract with Verizon Wireless for its first five seasons; all the characters were seen with phones chosen by the brand until the deal ended by the sixth season.
During their contract, Verizon Wireless offered exclusive "Gossip Girl" content and created a website where ringtones of the songs featured on the show could be downloaded.
In the summer of 2008, executives of VitaminWater approached The CW for a placement deal.
During the second season, the drinks were mentioned several times in dialogues.
The partnership helped pay the costs of shooting on location in the Hamptons.
An HP TouchPad was prominently displayed in an episode of the sixth season.
According to OneNewsNow.com, other sponsors have included Procter & Gamble, L'Oreal, Target and Johnson & Johnson, which allowed the series to earn $28.2 million in ad dollars in 2007.
Article: Grand Central Terminal
Section: Abstract

Question: What is the location of the Grand Terminal?

Grand Central Terminal (GCT) is a commuter (and former intercity) railroad terminal at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States.
Built by and named for the New York Central Railroad in the heyday of American long-distance passenger rail travel, it is the largest such facility in the world by number of platforms with 44 serving 67 tracks along them.
They are on two levels, both below ground, with 41 tracks on the upper level and 26 on the lower, though the total number of tracks along platforms and in rail yards exceeds 100.
The terminal covers an area of .
The terminal serves commuters traveling on the Metro-North Railroad to Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties in New York State, and Fairfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut.
Until 1991 the terminal served Amtrak, which moved to nearby Pennsylvania Station upon completion of the Empire Connection.
Although the terminal has been properly called “Grand Central Terminal” since 1913, many people continue to refer to it wrongly as “Grand Central Station,” the name of the previous rail station on the same site, and of the U.S. Post Office station next door, which is not part of the terminal.
It is also sometimes used to refer to the Grand Central – 42nd Street subway station, which serves the terminal.
It has been described as "the world's loveliest station".
According to the travel magazine "Travel + Leisure" in its October 2011 survey, Grand Central Terminal is "the world's number six most visited tourist attraction", bringing in approximately 21,600,000 visitors annually.
The enduring appeal of the station is thought to be related to its monumental spaces and meticulously crafted detail.
Article: It Will Rain
Section: Credits and personnel

Question: Charlie Bisharat played violin for what songs?

 Recording
Engineered at: Levcon Studios in Los Angeles, California; mixed at Larrabee Sound Studios in North Hollywood, California.
Personnel
Songwriting – Ari Levine, Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence 
Production – The Smeezingtons
Engineer – Ari Levine
Arrangement by (string arrangement)– Phredley Brown
Mixing – Manny Marroquin 
 Mixed By (assisted by)– Chris Galland, Erik Madrid
Mastering – David Kutch 
Bass– Oscar Hidalgo
Conductor– Suzie Katayama
Viola– Andrew Duckles
Violin– Charlie Bisharat, Josefina Vergara
Article: Curling
Section: Shoes

Question: Sliding shoes are worn by curlers during what activity?

Curling shoes are similar to ordinary athletic shoes except that they have dissimilar soles; the "slider shoe" is designed for the off foot (or sliding foot) and the "non-sliding shoe" for the hack foot.
The "slider shoe" is designed to slide and typically has a Teflon sole.
It is worn by the thrower during delivery from the hack and by sweepers or the skip to glide down the ice when sweeping or otherwise traveling down the sheet quickly.
Stainless steel was once common for slider soles, and "red brick" sliders with lateral blocks of PVC on the sole are also available.
Most shoes have a full-sole sliding surface, but some shoes have a sliding surface covering only the outline of the shoe and other enhancements with the full-sole slider.
Some shoes have small disc sliders covering the front and heel portions or only the front portion of the foot, which allow more flexibility in the sliding foot for curlers playing with tuck deliveries.
When a player is not throwing, the player's slider shoe can be temporarily rendered non-slippery by using a slip-on gripper.
Ordinary athletic shoes may be converted to sliders by using a step-on or slip-on Teflon slider or by applying electrical or gaffer tape directly to the sole or over a piece of cardboard.
This arrangement often suits casual or beginning players.
The "non-sliding shoe", or "hack foot shoe," is worn by the thrower on the hack foot during delivery and is designed to grip.
It may have a normal athletic shoe sole or a special layer of rubbery material applied to the sole of a thickness to match the sliding shoe.
The toe of the hack foot shoe may also have a rubberised coating on the top surface or a flap that hangs over the toe to reduce wear on the top of the shoe as it drags on the ice behind the thrower.
Article: Table tennis
Section: Chop

Question: What is the objective of the defensive chop?

A chop is the defensive, backspin counterpart to the offensive loop drive.
A chop is essentially a bigger, heavier push, taken well back from the table.
The racket face points primarily horizontally, perhaps a little bit upward, and the direction of the stroke is straight down.
The object of a defensive chop is to match the topspin of the opponent's shot with backspin.
A good chop will float nearly horizontally back to the table, in some cases having so much backspin that the ball actually "rises".
Such a chop can be "extremely" difficult to return due to its enormous amount of backspin.
Some defensive players can also impart no-spin or sidespin variations of the chop.
Article: The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)
Section: Reception and expurgation

Question: Were objectionable opinions about Michelangelo's "The Last Judgement" ever expressed?

"The Last Judgment" was an object of a heavy dispute between critics within the Catholic Counter-Reformation and those who appreciated the genius of the artist and the Mannerist style of the painting.
Michelangelo was accused of being insensitive to proper decorum, and of flaunting personal style over appropriate depictions of content.
A few years after the fresco was completed, the decrees of the Council of Trent urged a tightening-up of church control of "unusual" sacred images.
In response to certain accusers, when the Pope's own Master of Ceremonies Biagio da Cesena said of the painting "it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully," and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather "for the public baths and taverns," Michelangelo worked Cesena's face into the scene as Minos, judge of the underworld (far bottom-right corner of the painting) with Donkey ears (i.e.
indicating foolishness), while his nudity is covered by a coiled snake.
It is said that when Cesena complained to the Pope, the pontiff joked that his jurisdiction did not extend to hell, so the portrait would have to remain.
The genitalia in the fresco, referred to as 'objectionable,' were painted over with drapery after Michelangelo died in 1564 by the Mannerist artist Daniele da Volterra, when the Council of Trent condemned nudity in religious art.
The Council's decree in part reads:
Article: Great Sphinx of Giza
Section: Modern dissenting hypotheses

Question: When did the Pharaoh Khufu live?

Rainer Stadelmann, former director of the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo, examined the distinct iconography of the "nemes" (headdress) and the now-detached beard of the Sphinx and concluded that the style is more indicative of the Pharaoh Khufu (2589–2566 BC), builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza and Khafra's father.
He supports this by suggesting that Khafra's Causeway was built to conform to a pre-existing structure, which, he concludes, given its location, could only have been the Sphinx.
Colin Reader, an English geologist who independently conducted a more recent survey of the enclosure, agrees that the various quarries on the site have been excavated around the Causeway.
Because these quarries are known to have been used by Khufu, Reader concludes that the Causeway (and the temples on either end thereof) must predate Khufu, thereby casting doubt on the conventional Egyptian chronology.
In 2004, Vassil Dobrev of the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale in Cairo announced that he had uncovered new evidence that the Great Sphinx may have been the work of the little-known Pharaoh Djedefre (2528–2520 BC), Khafra's half brother and a son of Khufu.
Dobrev suggests that Djedefre built the Sphinx in the image of his father Khufu, identifying him with the sun god Ra in order to restore respect for their dynasty.
Dobrev also notes, like Stadelmann and others, that the causeway connecting Khafre's pyramid to the temples was built around the Sphinx suggesting it was already in existence at the time.