Vodka is either drunk pure, or cocktails are made with it. The simplest form of cocktail is to mix it with orange or lemon juice. Usually, vodka is drunk during a longer meal. Usually salty or sour things (not sweets) are served. In Poland and Russia (as well as some of their neighbours, such as Ukraine or Lithuania), vodka is drunk from glasses that can hold about 100 grams (0,1 litres) of vodka. The glass is usually emptied in one draught, while holding the breath. Directly afterwards something small is eaten. In most Eastern European countries it is consumed with pickled cucumbers. Before drinking, a toast is given.
Vodka is a key element of Slavic tradition in some countries of Eastern Europe (especially Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia). It has also spread to become a part of national culture in Baltic countries like Lithuania and Nordic countries like Sweden. It's traditional in Russia and other Slavic countries (as well as some Roma communities in Eastern Europe) to put a glass of vodka with a slice of bread (usually black bread) on top on graves or near photos of the deceased in their memory. This is similar to what people in Western countries do with flowers.
Sexual reproduction
Sexual reproduction is how most animals and plants reproduce. Some protists and fungi also reproduce this way. Organisms that reproduce sexually have two different sexes: male and female.
In sexual reproduction, offspring are produced when sperms fertilise eggs from the female. Various steps are involved in this process.
The cells of an animal or higher plant have two sets of chromosomes: they are diploid. When gametes (sex cells) are produced, they have only one set of chromosomes: they are haploid. They have undergone a process of cell division called meiosis. Two things happen during meiosis, each of which makes the offspring more variable. That means they are different from the parents and from each other.
Assortment is when the double set of chromosomes becomes a single set in each gamete. Of each pair of chromosomes, "which one goes into a single gamete is random". Because the gene alleles on each chromosome are not always the same, this means that there is genetic variation between gametes. This process was Mendel's 'first law', the law of segregation.
Because crossing over occurs during meiosis, this increases the variety of the chromosomes. This makes recombination possible.
The consequence of assortment and crossing over makes it certain that no two offspring of the same mother and father are identical. Identical twins are the exception. They are identical genetically because they developed from the same fertilised egg.
There are advantages and disadvantages of sexual reproduction, compared to asexual reproduction. The main issues are:
Leprosy
Leprosy is a contagious disease. It has been known for a very long time. Today, it is mostly called Hansen's disease, named after the person who discovered the bacterium, Gerhard Armauer Hansen. It is caused by a bacterium, Mycobacterium leprae. A person with leprosy is called a leper.
As of 2004, the estimated number of new infections was about 400,000.
Getting the disease is hard, since it requires close contact with someone who has it, over a long period of time. In addition, about 95% of people seem to be naturally immune to it.
Most cases of leprosy occur in India, and other developing countries. It has known to have been in the US before. There are practically no cases of leprosy in the developed world. This is because there are excellent drugs and people regularly take antibiotics which will kill the leprosy bacteria.
In former times, leprosy was seen as a divine punishment for sins committed.
The symptoms of leprosy are irregular spots and patches on the skin. These are either lighter colored than the surrounding skin, or reddish in color. On those patches, hair will fall out, and they will feel numb to the patient. Nerves will form knots there.
With the illness progressing the sense of touch will become less and less (until the patient feels completely numb). So called leptomes and ulcers will eat away the skin, the flesh and the organs on the patches.
Usually people do not die of leprosy, but of secondary infections and diseases they get.
For many years there was a leprosy colony on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai called Kalaupapa. Tens of thousands of people from the United States that had the disease were sent there.
Dolley Madison
Dolley Payne Todd Madison (May 20, 1768 – July 12, 1849) was the wife of US President James Madison. James Madison was president from 1809 to 1817 while Dolley Madison was the First Lady of the United States. She is best known for saving Washington's portrait when the British burned the White House in the War of 1814. Though she is also a famous entertainer, the first to serve ice cream in the White House.
Dolley was born in New Garden. Now the place is known as Guilford County. It is in North Carolina. Some other account tells that she was born in a village named Payne’s Tavern. It is in Person County, North Carolina.
Her father’s name was John Payne. As an unsuccessful farmer, he always faced shortage of money. Dolley’s mother was Mary Coles.
Dolley spent her teenage years in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On January 7, 1790, she married John Todd, Jr. (1764-1793). Todd was a lawyer. They had two sons. Their names were John Payne (1792-1852) and William Temple (born and died in 1793). William died in a yellow fever epidemic. In the same year, her husband also died of the same yellow fever epidemic.
Dolley Todd married James Madison on September 14, 1794. They had no children, but they raised Dolley's son from her first marriage, John Payne Todd. John Payne Todd was a notorious drunkard and gambler, which caused his mother many financial problems, especially after Madison died.
In 1814, the British army had burnt the White House. Fleeing from her burning home, Dolley saved many records and papers. Legend states she also saved a painting of George Washington, though had to break it out of its frame.
On the National First Lady Library she says, "There is one secret, and that is the power we have in forming our own destinies."
Elizabeth Monroe
Elizabeth Kortright Monroe (1768 - September 23, 1830) was the wife of James Monroe. James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States.
Elizabeth Monroe was born in an old family of New York. When she was a girl of 17 years, she married James Monroe. At that time, Monroe was a lawyer. He was aged 27 years. Once, the government sent Monroe as an envoy to Versailles. She also went along with her husband.
During her last years, Elizabeth Monroe became very sick. She could not take part in social functions. She became more distant from people. Some persons thought her to be a snob. But, her husband always understood her problems. After a long illness, she died on September 23, 1830 at her home in Oak Hill at age 62.
Celestia
Celestia is a free 3D astronomy program for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It was created by Chris Laurel and is licensed under the GPL.
The program is based on the Hipparcos Catalogue (120,000 Stars) and allows users to display objects from artificial satellites to entire galaxies in three dimensions in OpenGL. Different from other planetarium software, the user is free to travel in the universe.
NASA and ESA have used Celestia, but it is not to be confused with Celestia 2000, ESA's own program.
Bill Cullen
Bill Cullen (February 18, 1920 – July 7, 1990) was an American television game show host. His full name was William Lawrence Cullen.
Cullen was originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He suffered from polio as a child. He had a limp for the remainder of his life.