Robert Ludlum (May 25 1927 - March 12 2001) was an American writer. He is best known as the author of "The Bourne Identity" from 1980, which was made into a movie in 2001.
1170s
Arab people
The Arabs ( ʻarab) are an ethnic group widespread in the Middle East and North Africa. Arabic is one of the Semitic languages, which is also the name of the ethnic family which they belong to.
There are three points which decide whether someone is considered Arab or not:
There are many people who can be called Arabs by these points, but who do not think of themselves as Arab. Examples include modern Egyptians (Coptics) and the Syriacs (Aramaics/Assyrians). Although they live in countries like Syria or Egypt which is part of the Arab League and speak the official language-Arabic, they are different cultural groups. They have their own languages, culture, identity and churches, such as the Coptic Church and the Syriac Catholic and Orthodox churches. Even though many have assimilated to Arab society, they have their own heritage that spans 3,000 years.
In Islamic and Jewish tradition, Arabs are a Semitic people who trace their ancestry from Ishmael, a son of the ancient patriarch Abraham and Hagar. Medieval Arab genealogists separate the Arabs into two groups: the "original Arabs" of South Arabia, descending from Qahtan (identified with the biblical Joktan) and the "Arabized Arabs" (musta`ribah) of North Arabia, descending from Adnan who is descended from Ishmael.
Most Arabs today follow the religion of Islam, whose greatest prophet is Muhammad. Christianity makes up the largest religious minority - most of the Christians that do consider themselves Arabs belong to the Greek Orthodox Church with smaller numbers of Roman Catholics.
While Coptic and Maronite Catholic Christians are native Arabic-speakers, many reject the Arab pan-ethnicity, but are still considered Arab by outsider sources.
There are some small communities practicing Judaism and polytheism (the worship of many gods). Yazidis are sometimes counted as Arabs.
Mebibyte
A mebibyte is a unit of measure. It represents 1024 * 1024 bytes.
A mebibyte (a contraction of mega binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage, symbol MiB.
The mebibyte is closely related to the megabyte (MB). This can either be a synonym for mebibyte, or refer to 10 bytes = 1,000,000 bytes, depending on context (see binary prefix for background). The two numbers are relatively close together, but mistaking the two has nevertheless led to problems.
The unit MiB was defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in December 1998. Use of mebibyte and related units is strongly endorsed by IEEE and CIPM and is becoming more common.
One mebibyte equals 1024 (= 2) kibibytes, and 1024 mebibytes equal one gibibyte.
Mibibyte is a common misspelling, presumably from the "i" in the abbreviation or confusion about how the surrounding prefixes (i.e. "kibi" and "gibi") were actually formed. The "i" is actually from the end of the prefix. Tebi- and pebi- are similarly abbreviated Ti- and Pi-, but they are not usually misspelled, as storage sizes (and corresponding terms) currently are only this large in specialized situations.
Clergy
Clergy are people who have an office in a Christian church or other religion such as a rabbi or a priest. Clergy are often ordained before they are allowed to do their work.
Acre (state)
Acre is a state in the Northern Region of Brazil. It borders other two states, Amazonas and Rondônia. It also borders two countries, Bolivia and Peru. Its capital city is Rio Branco. Other important cities are: Cruzeiro do Sul, Tarauacá, Sena Madureira, and Brasiléia.
The state is mostly covered by the Amazon Rainforest. There are many rivers in Acre. Some of the rivers are the Juruá, Purus River, Acre River, Tarauacá, Muru, Embirá, and Xapuri.
The economy is based on agriculture, cattle animal husbandry, and rubber production.
Until the start of the 20th century, Acre was a territory of Bolivia. Since the 19th century, most people from Acre were Brazilian people, and they created an independent state.
In 1889, the Bolivians tried to control the area again and there were fights.
On November 17, 1903, Acre become a Brazilian territory. On June 15, 1962, it was unified and became a state.
Roller coaster
The roller coaster (some people say the simple form coaster) is a kind of theme park ride. A roller coaster is usually a small train. It has a number of carriages that travel on a track. This track has hills that go up and valleys that go down. Sometimes it has other features that will turn the train upside-down. The track can be made from wood or steel. Some roller coasters are made for children, so they do not travel very fast. Other roller coasters are made very tall and they travel very fast. Riders are generally held in place with a bar, a belt, or something similar.
Scientifically, a roller coaster works because of gravity, a force that pulls things down to the ground. Most roller coaster trains are pulled to the top of a hill on a chain. The train will slide down the track, which has a number of hills and valleys. As it slides downhill it goes faster, and it slows down when climbing.
In the United States, LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first roller coaster on January 20, 1865. He named his ride the "Switchback Railway," and workers pulled the carriage to the top of the track. The first modern steel roller coaster was the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland. It opened in 1959.
Roller coaster rails are made of wood or steel.
Steel roller coasters can be separated into many more types. On a Wing Coaster riders sit on either side of a roller coaster track and nothing is above or below the riders.
On a flying roller coaster riders lie face down so they feel like they are flying. Cars hang below the track.
On a Floorless Coaster riders sit with no floor underneath them, so their feet can swing freely just above the track.
Some roller coasters spin riders.
Both steel and wooden roller coasters can turn riders upside down. This is called an inversion.
Son of Beast was the only wooden roller coaster to have an inversion. However the loop was removed after an incident and after another incident, the ride was torn down. In 2013, Hades 360 and Outlaw Run have inversions. The Smiler has the world record for the most inversions.
Zimbabwean dollar
The Zimbabwe dollar was a currency for Zimbabwe from 1980 to 2009. Zimbabwe had the highest rate of inflation in the world. The rate of inflation grew to 231,150,888.87% in July 2008.
Because of hyperinflation, or inflation that is out of control, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe had to print banknotes with higher values to cope with the rising cost of living. In January 2009, Zimbabwe released a banknote for one hundred trillion dollars, or $100,000,000,000,000.
The Zimbabwe dollar had to be revalued three times due to the rising cost of living: in August 2006, August 2008 and February 2009. In August 2006, the first revaluation dollar was violent and too quick, meaning that many people lost their savings because they were unable to convert it into the new currency without fear of violence and corruption.
Since 12 April 2009, Zimbabwe stopped using the Zimbabwean dollar and adopted currencies from other countries, such as the United States Dollar and the Euro.
Bahia
Bahia is a state in the northeast area of Brazil on the Atlantic Ocean coast.
The capital city of Bahia is Salvador. Other cities where many people live are Feira de Santana, Vitória da Conquista, Itabuna, Ilhéus, and Juazeiro. Almost all of Bahia is 200 m above the sea level. The São Francisco River is the longest river in Bahia. Salvador was the capital of Brazil from 1549 until 1763.
Bahia is the sixth richest Brazilian state. The economy of Bahia is based on industry, agriculture, animal husbandry, tourism, mining and services.