The Mara is effectively the northern continuation of the Serengeti National Park game reserve in Tanzania.
This natural event is famous for involving a great population of large mammals. Huge numbers of herbivores migrate each year, followed by the big cats. The zebra, Thomson's gazelle, wildebeest, African buffalo, giraffe, elephants and others arrive to eat fresh grass after the rain, and later move on. Lions, leopards, cheetahs follow, and also vultures and hyaenas. hippos and Nile crocodiles are in the rivers. It is called "The Great Migration".
The Great Migration is one of the most impressive natural events worldwide. Taking part each year are some 1,300,000 wildebeest, 500,000 Thomson's gazelles, 97,000 Topi, 18,000 eland, and 200,000 zebra. These plant-eating migrants are followed along their annual, circular route by hungry predators, most notably lions and hyena.
More than 470 species of birds have been identified in the park, many of which are migrants. Almost 60 species are raptors (birds of prey). Birds that call this area home for at least part of the year include: vultures, marabou storks, secretary birds, hornbills, crowned cranes, ostriches, long-crested Eagles, African pygmy-falcons and the lilac-breasted roller, which is the national bird of Kenya
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes Brown (October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress. Her career lasted for almost 70 years. Known as the "First Lady of the American Theatre", she is one of only thirteen people to win all four main American entertainment awards - Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. Hayes also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1986, the National Medal of Arts in 1988 and was awarded at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1981. Two Broadway theaters are named after her.
Hayes was born in Washington D.C. on October 10, 1890. She was an only child. Her mother, Catherine Estelle Hayes, was an actress of Irish ancestry. Her father, Francis van Arnum Brown, was a meat salesman.
Hayes was an accomplished child. She went to a dancing school and sang very well. She began a stage career at the age of five, pushed by her mother. She also took her mother's maiden name as her stage name. By the age of ten, she had made a short movie. In 1917 Hayes graduated from the Academy of the Sacred Heart Convent in Washington.
Her first sound movie "The Sin of Madelon Claudet" (1931) brought her Academy Award for Best Actress. The part she played in it was written by her husband, Charles MacArthur. Among her other successful movies of that time were "Arrowsmith" (1931), "A Farewell to Arms" (1932), "What Every Woman Knows" (1934).
Hayes liked working in theatre. Her most famous performance on Broadway was the role of Queen Victoria in a play "Victoria Regina" (1938). She played leading parts in "Coquette" (1928) and "Mary Of Scotland" (1933) as well. "Harvey" (1970) became her last hit on stage. Hayes had to retire from theatre because of her asthma condition.
She continued her work in movies. Hayes won her second Academy Award in 1970 for "Airport". This time for Supporting role. During the later part of her career she was often in series and movies made for television. She successfully portrayed legendary character Miss Marple in several movies in 80s.
Hayes met her husband, Charles MacArthur, a playwright, in 1927. They married in August of 1928. They had a daughter, Mary, born in 1930. She became involved in acting, but died from polio at age 19. In 1938 Hayes and Charles adopted a son, James MacArthur, who grew up to be an actor.
Charles MacArthur died in 1956. He had many years of illness and grief caused by his daughter's untimely death. Hayes never married again.
She published four autobiographies: "A Gift of Joy" (1965), "On Reflection" (1968), "Twice Over Lightly" (1972), and "My Life in Three Acts" (1990).
Hayes died on March 17, 1993 from heart failure in the hospital of Nyack, New York. She was 92. She was buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery, next to her husband and daughter.
Ray Crawford
Ray Crawford (October 26, 1915 - February 1, 1996) was an American racecar driver.
Crawford was born in Roswell, New Mexico. He died in Los Angeles, California. He drove in the American Automobile Association and United States Automobile Club Championship Car series, racing in the 1954-1959 seasons with 13 starts, including the Indianapolis 500 races in 1955-1956, and 1959. He finished in the top ten 6 times.
Baryon
Baryons are composite subatomic particles made of an odd number of valence quarks (at least three quarks). The most familiar baryons are the protons and neutrons which make up most of the visible matter in the universe. Electrons (the other major component of the atom) are leptons.
Since all quarks have a spin of 1/2, all baryons have a spin of 1/2 or 3/2 (the spins can cancel out). 1/2 spin baryons have the lowest energy state. 3/2 spin baryons are extremely unstable, and only live for 10 seconds. After that, they jump down to a lower energy state by releasing photons containing energy. These 3/2 spin baryons are known as higher energy resonances.
All particles with 1/2 spin (or 3/2 spin) are called fermions, and obey Fermi-Dirac statistics. This means that no two fermions can be in the same point in space at the same time. This is not true for the other type of subatomic particle, called a boson. More than one boson—like a photon—can exist in the same point in space at the same time.
Baryons are one of two types of hadrons, which are particles made of quarks. The other type of hadron is called a meson.
The name baryon comes from Greek "barys," meaning heavy.
Upper Triassic
The Upper Triassic is the last epoch in the Triassic period. It began 237 million years ago, and ended 201.3 million years ago. It came after the Middle Triassic epoch, and came before the Lower Jurassic epoch.
The other two epochs of the Triassic were the Lower Triassic epoch and the Middle Triassic epoch.
Many early dinosaur species appeared for the first time during the Upper Triassic, including "Plateosaurus", "Coelophysis", and "Eoraptor". Pterosaurs were common in the air, and Ichthyosaurs dominated the seas.
At the end of the Upper Triassic some event or events caused the extinction of many animal species worldwide. Known as the end–Triassic extinction event, it was similar to the more famous event that lead to the extinction of the dinosaurs, except no one knows for sure what caused the event. There are many theories as to what caused the event such as meteorite impact, tsunamis, or coronal mass ejections from the sun.
Although the Triassic period was, in general, a dry period with inland areas (often deserts), the Upper Triassic epoch saw a big change.
The Carnian Pluvial Event (CPE) was a major global climate change and biotic turnover (many extinctions) early in the Upper Triassic, about 230 million years ago. Shifts in carbon and oxygen isotopes suggest a global warming.
Major changes in organisms responsible for calcium carbonate production occurred during the CPE. Carbonate sedimentation stopped in deep water settings of Southern Italy. High extinction rates occurred among ammonoids, conodonts, bryozoa and crinoids. Major evolutionary innovations followed the CPE, as the first occurrence of dinosaurs, calcareous nannofossils and scleractinian corals.
Fondue
Originally, Fondue was a dish where pieces of bread, potatos, or other vegetables were dipped into hot, molten cheese. Fondue is common in Switzerland, Piedmont, and Savoie. With the time, the meaning of fondue was extended: With Fondue bourguinonne, pieces of meat (usually beef) are dipped into hot oil. Fondue chinoise uses stripes of meat which are cooked.
Fondue chinoise and Fondue bouriginonne are served with different sauces or dips. The cheese-based variety uses a mixture of cheese, white wine, and starch to prepare the molten cheese.