In natural populations there are a number of forces acting. There are forces which add heritable variation to the population, such as mutation and recombination. There are also factors which remove variation from the population, and drift is one of these.
In a species, or an interbreeding population, there is usually a great deal of genetic variation. This genetic variation is in the form of different alleles at many loci (gene positions) on the chromosomes.
Changes in allele frequency are mainly caused by natural selection, that is, by differential survival, and contribution to the next generation. But as populations get smaller, there is a tendency for each generation to become more homozygous, with less variety of alleles. This is an effect similar to inbreeding: it leads to genetic uniformity.
Genetic drift is the name given to this loss of variation. It can affect evolution in surprisingly big ways, but "only when populations are quite small". What 'small' means would depend on the organism. 50 individuals is small, 5000 is not, 500 is maybe. The basic mechanism of drift is that genetic variety is reduced by chance, making the individuals more similar to each other, and hence more vulnerable.
1956 Winter Olympics
The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games, were held in 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The USSR debuted in these Winter Olympics. They immediately showed their strength by winning more medals than any other nation.
A total of 32 nations sent athletes to Cortina d'Ampezzo. Bolivia, Iran, and the USSR competed at the Winter Games for the first time. Korea, Liechtenstein, and Turkey returned after having missed the 1952 Winter Olympics. Argentina, Denmark, New Zealand, and Portugal did not compete at these Games, after participating in 1952.
Athletes from West Germany (FRG) and East Germany (GDR) competed together as the United Team of Germany at these Games, an arrangement that would continue for the next two Olympiads.
Duster
A Duster can be:
Feather duster
A feather duster is a tool used for cleaning. It consists typically of a handle and a segment composed of natural or artificial feathers which form the cleaning-contact surface. It is particularly useful for removing dust from surfaces.
Feather dusters use the principles of static electricity to take up small debris such as dander.
Electrostatics
Electrostatics (also known as "static electricity") is the branch of physics that deals with apparently stationary electric charges.
Electrostatics involves the buildup of charge on the surface of objects due to contact with other surfaces.
Although charge exchange happens whenever any two surfaces contact and separate, the effects of charge exchange are usually only noticed when at least one of the surfaces has a high resistance to electrical flow. This is because the charges that transfer to or from the highly resistive surface are more or less trapped there for a long enough time for their effects to be observed.
These charges then remain on the object until they either bleed off to the ground or are quickly neutralized by a discharge: e.g., the familiar phenomenon of a static 'shock' is caused by the neutralization of charge built up in the body from contact with non-conductive surfaces.
Coat of arms of Dominican Republic
The coat of arms of the Dominican Republic, as described by Article 96 of the Dominican Constitution, has a shield supported by an olive branch (left) and a palm leaf (right); above the shield, a blue ribbon displays the national motto: "Dios, Patria, Libertad" ("God, Fatherland, Freedom"). Below the shield, there is a red ribbon with the words "República Dominicana" ("Dominican Republic").
In the center of the shield there is an opened Bible with a small cross above it, and on each side flanked by three spears, two of them holding Dominican flags. The Constitution does not specify in what page should be opened the Bible; only that is the "Book of Gospels, opened". In fact, only the 1916 Constitution said "opened in John, Chapter XIII" but that constitution was not valid because of the occupation of the country by United States.
The National Flag of Dominican Republic has a small coat of arms in the center of the white cross.
The first Dominican coat of arms was created by the first Dominican Constitution of 6 November 1844 but it was frequently changed until 1913; sometimes, two different coats of arms were used at the same time.
The official Dominican coat of arms, or "Great Seal of the Nation", was established in 1913, when Adolfo Nouel was the President of the Dominican Republic.
Eustis, Florida
Eustis is a city in Lake County, Florida, United States. Its current population as of 2005 is 17,683.
Fort Walton Beach, Florida
Fort Walton Beach is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. As of 2005, the population is estimated to be 19,817.
Notes
Supercell
A supercell is a strong type of thunderstorm with a thick, rotating updraft (a mesocyclone). Supercell thunderstorms are the largest, most dangerous type of thunderstorms. There are really only two types of thunderstorms: supercell and ordinary, but some have four classifications: single-cell, multi-cell, squall line, and supercell.
Kathleen Blanco
Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (December 15, 1942 – August 18, 2019) was an American politician. She served as Governor of Louisiana from 2004 through 2008 until being replaced by Bobby Jindal. She was born in New Iberia, Louisiana. Blanco is a member of the Democratic Party.
In December 2017, Blanco was diagnosed with an incurable form of eye melanoma and liver cancer. On April 19, 2019, it was announced that she was in hospice care. Blanco died on August 18, 2019 under hospice care in Lafayette, Louisiana at the age of 76.
Armenian hypothesis
The Armenian hypothesis suggests that the Proto-Indo-European languages was spoken in the Armenian Highland in the 3rd millennium BC. Scholars Tamaz Gamkrelidze and Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov place the homeland in Armenia.
Wilsonian Armenia
Wilsonian Armenia is used for the borders that were drawn by Woodrow Wilson at the Treaty of Sèvres. The area was to the north and to the west side of Trabzon Province to provide the DRA an area to the Black Sea. The Armenian national fight for "Western Armenia" being somewhat part of the newly established Turkish republic dropped from the table.
Yasuo Fukuda
Yasuo Fukuda () (born 16 July 1936) was Prime Minister of Japan from 2007 to 2008. He was born in Gunma, Japan. The prime minister before him was Shinzo Abe. He hosted the G8 meeting in Hokkaido in July 2008, but resigned on September 1, 2008, due to low approval ratings and political deadlock. He was succeeded by Taro Aso.
Mercenary
Mercenaries are soldiers who fight mainly for money, rather than for their country or for their political beliefs.
Mercenaries are a very old phenomenon. They are mentioned in the Old Testament, and King David had a bodyguard of Cretan and Philistine mercenaries. The Carthaginians often used mercenaries. The so-called Free Companies in the Middle Ages were mercenary companies of rogue knights and archers. The Japanese "ronin" were mercenary samurai.
For many years in the Middle Ages, soldiers from Switzerland fought battles for whoever paid them. The popes would hire soldiers from Switzerland to fight for them. The Swiss Guard is all that is left of Switzerland's mercenary tradition, but it is no longer a mercenary force because all its members are Catholic, and they are prepared to fight not for their country but for their beliefs.
Soldiers of professional volunteer armies, like the US Army, are not considered as mercenaries since they fight for their country and fatherland. Likewise, foreign volunteers in standing armies, such as French Foreign Legion, are not considered as mercenaries since they are loyal to the country that they serve. However, various private military contractors are considered as mercenaries.