community-datasets/selqa huggingface dataset:
Article: Girl with a Pearl Earring
Section: Background

Question: Who commissioned the painting of the Girl with a Pearl Earring?

The painting is signed "IVMeer" but not dated.
It is unclear whether this work was commissioned, and, if so, by whom.
In any case, it is probably not meant as a conventional portrait.
The image is a tronie, the Dutch 17th-century description of a ‘head’ that was not meant to be a portrait.
After the most recent restoration of the painting in 1994, the subtle color scheme and the intimacy of the girl’s gaze toward the viewer have been greatly enhanced.
During the restoration, it was discovered that the dark background, today somewhat mottled, was initially intended by the painter to be a deep enamel-like green.
This effect was produced by applying a thin transparent layer of paint, called a glaze, over the present-day black background.
However, the two organic pigments of the green glaze, indigo and weld, have faded.
On the advice of Victor de Stuers, who for years tried to prevent Vermeer's rare works from being sold to parties abroad, Arnoldus Andries des Tombe purchased the work at an auction in The Hague in 1881, for only two guilders and thirty cents.
At the time, it was in poor condition.
Des Tombe had no heirs and donated this and other paintings to the Mauritshuis in 1902.
In 1937, a very similar painting, "Smiling Girl", at the time also thought to be by Vermeer, was donated by collector Andrew W. Mellon to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Now widely considered to be a fake, the painting was claimed by Vermeer expert Arthur Wheelock in a 1995 study to be by 20th-century artist and forger Theo van Wijngaarden, a friend of Han van Meegeren.
As part of a traveling exhibition while the Mauritshuis undertook construction, in 2012 the painting was exhibited in Japan at the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, and in 2013-2014 the United States, where it was shown at the High Museum in Atlanta, the de Young Museum in San Francisco and in New York City at the Frick Collection.
Later in 2014 it was exhibited in Bologna, Italy.
Article: Man at the Crossroads
Section: Cultural significance

Question: What poem was inspired by the Rockefeller-Rivera dispute?

The Rockefeller-Rivera dispute has become an emblem of the relationship of politics, aesthetics, creative freedom and economic power.
The American poet Archibald MacLeish's 1933 collection "Frescoes for Mr. Rockefeller's City" was inspired by the incident.
It included six "irony-laden" poems about the mural in which both Rockefeller and Rivera were criticised.
"The New Yorker" magazine published E. B.
White's poem "I paint what I see: A ballad of artistic integrity" on May 20, 1933, an imaginary debate between Rockefeller and Rivera.
It has been discussed or dramatized in a number of films dealing with the politics of art.
The events are dramatized in the American films "Cradle Will Rock" and "Frida", both set in the 1930s.
In "Cradle Will Rock", the painting we see is identical to the Mexican version.
When it is smashed, only the fragment of plaster containing the depiction of syphilis remains.
It is also discussed in the Tamil film "Anbe Sivam", in which an Indian Communist argues with a supporter of the capitalist system.
Article: I Want to Hold Your Hand
Section: Personnel

Question: Who performed the vocals for I Want to Hold Your Hand?

John Lennon – vocal, rhythm guitar, handclaps
Paul McCartney – vocal, bass guitar, handclaps
George Harrison – lead guitar, handclaps
Ringo Starr – drums, handclaps
Personnel per Ian MacDonald
Article: Germany
Section: Constituent states

Question: How many districts are there in Germany ?

Germany comprises sixteen states which are collectively referred to as "Länder".
</ref>Each state has its own state constitution and is largely autonomous in regard to its internal organisation.
Because of differences in size and population the subdivisions of these states vary, especially as between city states ("Stadtstaaten") and states with larger territories ("Flächenländer").
For regional administrative purposes five states, namely Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony, consist of a total of 22 Government Districts ("Regierungsbezirke").
Germany is divided into 403 districts ("Kreise") at a municipal level; these consist of 301 rural districts and 102 urban districts.
Article: China
Section: Territorial disputes

Question: What territories and countries do China claim?

In addition to claiming all of Taiwan, China has been involved in a number of other international territorial disputes.
Since the 1990s, China has been involved in negotiations to resolve its disputed land borders, including a disputed border with India and an undefined border with Bhutan.
China is additionally involved in multilateral disputes over the ownership of several small islands in the East and South China Seas, such as the Senkaku Islands and the Scarborough Shoal.
Article: Bathsheba
Section: Abstract

Question: Bathsheba was the mother of what king?

According to the Hebrew Bible, Bathsheba (, "Bat Sheva", "daughter of the oath") (, "ابنة القسم") was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah.
She is most known for the Bible story in which King David took her to sleep with him.
Bathsheba was a daughter of Eliam, one of David's "thirty" (2 Sam.
23:34; cf 1 Chr.
3:5); Eliam was the son of Ahitophel, one of David's chief advisors.
Ahitophel was from Giloh (Josh.
15:51;cf 2 Sam.
15:12), a city of Judah, and thus Bathsheba was from David's own tribe and the granddaughter of one of David's closest advisors (2 Sam.15:12)."
She was the mother of Solomon, who succeeded David as king, making her the Queen Mother.
Article: The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)
Section: Reception and expurgation

Question: What happened with the decrees of the Council of Trent after the fresco was completed?

"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: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Section: Abstract

Question: What year did Judy Garland release "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"?

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical "Meet Me in St. Louis".
Frank Sinatra later recorded a version with modified lyrics.
The song was written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane.
In 2007, ASCAP ranked "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" the third most performed Christmas song during the preceding five years that had been written by ASCAP members.
Article: Wrestling
Section: Sambo

Question: Where did Sambo originate?

Sambo is a martial art that originated in the Soviet Union (specifically Russia) in the 20th century.
It is an acronym for "self-defence without weapons" in Russian and had its origins in the Soviet armed forces.
Its influences are varied, with techniques borrowed from sports ranging from the two international wrestling styles of Greco-Roman and freestyle to judo, jujitsu, European styles of folk wrestling, and even fencing.
The rules for sport sambo are similar to those in competitive judo, with a variety of leg locks and defense holds from the various national wrestling styles in the Soviet Union, while not allowing chokeholds.
Article: Rolling in the Deep
Section: Personnel

Question: Who played the piano in the song "Rolling in the Deep"?

Vocals – Adele
Songwriting - Paul Epworth & Adele Adkins
Production, bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, percussion and backing vocals – Paul Epworth 
Mixing – Tom Elmhirst
Mixing assistant – Dan Parry
Recording – Mark Rankin
Piano – Neil Cowley
Drums – Leo Taylor
Mastering – Tom Coyne
Credits adapted from liner notes:
Article: Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
Section: Abstract

Question: How many copies were sold of the sheet music the next day?

"Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (also known as "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town") is a Christmas song.
It was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie and was first sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in November 1934.
It became an instant hit with orders for 100,000 copies of sheet music the next day and more than 400,000 copies sold by Christmas.
Article: Sistine Chapel ceiling
Section: Story of Noah

Question: Who is farming in the background?

As with the first sequence of pictures, the three panels concerning Noah, taken from the sixth to ninth chapters of Genesis are thematic rather than chronological.
In the first scene is shown the sacrifice of a sheep.
Vasari, in writing about this scene mistakes it for the sacrifices by Cain and Abel, in which Abel's sacrifice was acceptable to God and Cain's was not.
What this image almost certainly depicts is the sacrifice made by the family of Noah, after their safe deliverance from the Great Flood which destroyed the rest of Humankind.
The central, larger, scene shows the Great Flood.
The Ark in which Noah's family escaped floats at the rear of the picture while the rest of humanity tries frantically to scramble to some point of safety.
This picture, which has a large number of figures, conforms the most closely to the format of the paintings that had been done around the walls.
The final scene is the story of Noah's drunkenness.
After the Flood, Noah tills the soil and grows vines.
He is shown doing so, in the background of the picture.
He becomes drunk and inadvertently exposes himself.
His youngest son, Ham, brings his two brothers Shem and Japheth to see the sight but they discreetly cover their father with a cloak.
Ham is later cursed by Noah and told that the descendants of Ham's son Canaan will serve Shem and Japheth's descendants forever.
Taken together, these three pictures serve to show that Humankind had moved a long way from God's perfect creation.
However, it is through Shem and his descendants, the Israelites, that Salvation will come to the world.
Since Michelangelo executed the nine Biblical scenes in reverse chronological order, some analyses of the frescoes of the vault commence with the "Drunkenness of Noah".
Tolnay's Neoplatonic interpretation sees the story of Noah at the beginning and the act of Creation by God as the conclusion of the process of "deificatio" and the return from physical to spiritual being.
Article: Forrest Gump
Section: Feather

Question: What did Ralston compare a feather to?

Various interpretations have been suggested for the feather present at the opening and conclusion of the film.
Sarah Lyall of "The New York Times" noted several opinions that were made about the feather: "Does the white feather symbolize the unbearable lightness of being?
Forrest Gump's impaired intellect?
The randomness of experience?"
Hanks interpreted the feather as: "Our destiny is only defined by how we deal with the chance elements to our life and that's kind of the embodiment of the feather as it comes in.
Here is this thing that can land anywhere and that it lands at your feet.
It has theological implications that are really huge."
Sally Field compared the feather to fate, saying: "It blows in the wind and just touches down here or there.
Was it planned or was it just perchance?"
Visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston compared the feather to an abstract painting: "It can mean so many things to so many different people.
"The feather is stored in a book titled "Curious George", Forrest's favorite book, which his mother read to him, connecting the scene's present time with his childhood in the 1940s.
The placement of the feather in the book is directly on a picture of the monkey walking on a tightrope.
Whether that was intentional or not, it is very symbolic.
The feather also has a correlation with Jenny's constant obsession with "becoming a bird and flying far far away" due to the abuse (sexual and physical) she endured from her father.
She goes as far in the film as to ask Forrest "if jumped off the bridge, could [she fly?"
Article: Fruit
Section: Seedless fruits

Question: Name one important feature of many fruits of commerce.

Seedlessness is an important feature of some fruits of commerce.
Commercial cultivars of bananas and pineapples are examples of seedless fruits.
Some cultivars of citrus fruits (especially navel oranges), satsumas, mandarin oranges, table grapes, grapefruit, and watermelons are valued for their seedlessness.
In some species, seedlessness is the result of "parthenocarpy", where fruits set without fertilization.
Parthenocarpic fruit set may or may not require pollination but most seedless citrus fruits require stimulus from pollination to produce fruit.
Seedless bananas and grapes are triploids, and seedlessness results from the abortion of the embryonic plant that is produced by fertilization, a phenomenon known as "stenospermocarpy" which requires normal pollination and fertilization.
Article: Amélie
Section: Abstract

Question: who was The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain directed by?

Amélie ( (); "The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain") is a 2001 romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
Written by Jeunet with Guillaume Laurant, the film is a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre.
It tells the story of a shy waitress, played by Audrey Tautou, who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better, while struggling with her own isolation.
The film was an international co-production between companies in France and Germany.
Grossing over $33 million in limited theatrical release, it is still the highest-grossing French-language film released in the United States.
The film met with critical acclaim and was a major box-office success.
"Amélie" won Best Film at the European Film Awards; it won four César Awards (including Best Film and Best Director), two BAFTA Awards (including Best Original Screenplay), and was nominated for five Academy Awards.
A Broadway adaptation is in development.
Article: Lacrosse
Section: Box lacrosse

Question: explain box lacrosse

Box lacrosse is played by teams of six on a hockey rink where the ice has been removed or covered by artificial turf, or in an indoor soccer or lacrosse field.
The enclosed playing area is called a box, in contrast to the open playing field of the traditional game.
This version of the game was introduced in the 1930s to promote business for hockey arenas, and within several years had nearly supplanted field lacrosse in Canada.
Box lacrosse is played at the highest level by the "Senior A" divisions of the Canadian Lacrosse Association and the National Lacrosse League (NLL).
The National Lacrosse League employs some minor rule changes from the Canadien Lacrosse Association (CLA) rules.
Notably, the games are played during the winter.
The NLL games consist of four fifteen-minute quarters compared with three periods of twenty minutes each (similar to ice hockey) in CLA games (multiple 15-minute OT periods for tied games, until whoever scores first).
NLL players may use only sticks with hollow shafts, while CLA permits solid wooden sticks.
:The goals in box lacrosse are much smaller than field lacrosse, traditionally wide by tall in box, and wide by tall in the NLL.
Also, the goaltender wears much more protective padding, including a massive chest protector and armguard combination known as "uppers", large shin guards known as leg pads (both of which must follow strict measurement guidelines), and ice hockey-style masks or lacrosse helmets.
Also, at the professional level, box lacrosse goaltenders often use traditional wooden sticks outside of the NLL, which does not allow wooden sticks.
This makes Box Lacrosse faster and rougher than the traditional Field Lacrosse.
The style of the game is quick, accelerated by the close confines of the floor and a shot clock.
The shot clock requires the attacking team to take a shot on goal within 30 seconds of gaining possession of the ball.
In addition, players must advance the ball from their own defensive end to the offensive side of the floor within 10 seconds.
Box lacrosse is also a much more physical game.
Since cross checking is legal in box lacrosse, players wear rib pads in addition to the shoulder and elbow pads that field lacrosse players wear.
Box lacrosse players wear a different type of helmet as well, a hockey helmet with a box lacrosse cage.
For most penalties, the offending player is sent to the penalty box and his team has to play without him (thus lacking one player) for a short amount of time.
Most penalties last for two minutes, unless a five-minute major penalty has been assessed.
What separates box lacrosse (and ice hockey) from other sports is that at the top levels of professional and junior lacrosse, a five-minute major penalty is given and the players are not ejected for participating in a fight.
Article: Israel
Section: Museums

Question: Where are both the Rockefeller Museum and the L.A. Mayer Institute for Islamic Art located?

The Israel Museum in Jerusalem is one of Israel's most important cultural institutions and houses the Dead Sea scrolls, along with an extensive collection of Judaica and European art.
Israel's national Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, is the world central archive of Holocaust-related information.
Beth Hatefutsoth (the Diaspora Museum), on the campus of Tel Aviv University, is an interactive museum devoted to the history of Jewish communities around the world.
Apart from the major museums in large cities, there are high-quality artspaces in many towns and "kibbutzim".
"Mishkan Le'Omanut" on Kibbutz Ein Harod Meuhad is the largest art museum in the north of the country.
Several Israeli museums are devoted to Islamic culture, including the Rockefeller Museum and the L. A. Mayer Institute for Islamic Art, both in Jerusalem.
The Rockefeller specializes in archaeological remains from the Ottoman and other periods of Middle East history.
It is also the home of the first hominid fossil skull found in Western Asia called Galilee Man.
A cast of the skull is on display at the Israel Museum.
Article: Germany
Section: Languages

Question: What alphabet is used for German language?

German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany.
It is one of 23 official languages in the European Union, and one of the three working languages of the European Commission.
Recognised native minority languages in Germany are Danish, Low German, Sorbian, Romany, and Frisian; they are officially protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
The most used immigrant languages are Turkish, Kurdish, Polish, the Balkan languages, and Russian.
67% of German citizens claim to be able to communicate in at least one foreign language and 27% in at least two languages other than their own.</ref>Standard German is a West Germanic language and is closely related to and classified alongside English, Low German, Dutch, and the Frisian languages.
To a lesser extent, it is also related to the East (extinct) and North Germanic languages.
Most German vocabulary is derived from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family.
Significant minorities of words are derived from Latin and Greek, with a smaller amount from French and most recently English (known as Denglisch).
German is written using the Latin alphabet.
German dialects, traditional local varieties traced back to the Germanic tribes, are distinguished from varieties of standard German by their lexicon, phonology, and syntax.
Article: Johannes Vermeer
Section: Theories of mechanical aid

Question: What is the Hockney-Falco postulation?

Vermeer's painting techniques have long been a source of debate, given their almost photorealistic attention to detail, despite Vermeer having had no formal training, and despite only limited evidence that Vermeer had created any preparatory sketches or traces for his paintings.
In 2001, British artist David Hockney published the book "Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters", in which he argued that Vermeer - among other Renaissance artists including Hans Holbein and Diego Velázquez - used optics, and specifically some combination of curved mirrors, camera obscura and camera lucida, to achieve precise positioning in their compositions.
This became known as the Hockney–Falco thesis, named after Hockney and Charles M. Falco, another proponent of the theory.
Working independently, in 2001 British architecture professor Philip Steadman published the book "Vermeer's Camera: Uncovering the Truth behind the Masterpieces", which specifically claimed that Vermeer had used a camera obscura to create his paintings.
Noting that many of Vermeer's paintings had been painted in the same room, Steadman found six of his paintings that are precisely the right size if they had been painted from inside a camera obscura in the room's back wall.
Supporters of these theories have pointed to evidence in some of Vermeer's paintings, such as the often-discussed sparkling pearly highlights in Vermeer's paintings, which they argue are the result of the primitive lens of a camera obscura producing halation.
It was also postulated that a camera obscura was the mechanical cause of the "exaggerated" perspective seen in "Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman" (London, Royal Collection).
In 2008, American entrepreneur and inventor Tim Jenison developed the theory that Vermeer had used a camera obscura along with a "comparator mirror", which is similar in concept to a camera lucida but much simpler, and allows for easily matching color values.
He later modified the theory to simply involve a concave mirror and a comparator mirror.
He spent the next five years testing his theory by attempting to re-create "The Music Lesson" himself using these tools, a process captured in the 2013 documentary film "Tim's Vermeer".
This theory remains disputed.
Aside from the accurately observed mirror reflection above the lady at the virginals, there is no historical evidence regarding Vermeer's interest in optics.
The detailed inventory of the artist's belongings drawn up after his death does not include a camera obscura or any similar device.