He speaks Latvian, English, German, French, and Russian, and some Estonian.
Before he was made a European Commissioner Piebalgs worked for Sandra Kalniete, a member of the last Commission.
Augusto Pinochet
General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (November 25, 1915 – December 10, 2006) was a Chilean army general who led Chile from 1973 to 1990, who came to power after he overthrew Salvador Allende, a socialist president.
Pinochet was born in Valparaíso, Chile.
Pinochet was a high ranking general in the Chilean Army in the early 1970s. In 1970, Allende was narrowly elected in a close three way race. Western countries like the United States were concerned about Allende. There was discontent in Chile in 1973, with some groups trying to destabilize the government of Allende.
On September 11th, 1973, the Chilean military led a coup d'état against Allende in which they attacked the Presidential Palace in Santiago. Allende committed suicide, and Pinochet took power as the leader of a military council known as a junta. The junta began cracking down on Allende supporters.
About 3,000 Chilean people died because of Pinochet's rule and many other people were tortured. Most of the people that died during Pinochet's rule were communists. The first days of his rule saw the most deaths, and in the weeks after the coup, Allende supporters were arrested and locked in a football stadium in Santiago. Many were released a few months later, but some were imprisoned for years.
Pinochet introduced many neoliberal free market policies bringing growth and great economic progress to Chile." In economic affairs, Pinochet's rule was influenced by the ideas of Milton Friedman. In 1980, a plebiscite (without electoral registries) was held and Pinochet was kept in power.
The coup d'état that was launched to overthrow Allende and put Pinochet in power was supported by the United States, as was Pinochet's regime. The US government has never admitted being involved, but they did support Pinochet while he was in power. The government of the United Kingdom was also pro-Pinochet.
In 1988, there was a plebiscite in Chile. The people were asked whether Pinochet should rule for another eight and a half years. About 56% of the people did not want that. Pinochet, under pressure from other countries was forced to accept the results, and stepped down from power in 1990. Patricio Aylwin became the next president. Pinochet kept his responsibilities as head of the military until 1998. After this, he became a senator for life, but had to leave senate in 2002. He was not arrested because the Supreme Court of Chile said he suffered from dementia. In May 2004, judges said that was not true. On December 13 he was placed under house arrest. Judges in Spain tried to put him on trial for the many crimes against the human rights he committed while leader of Chile.
Pinochet died from congestive heart failure and pulmonary edema on December 10, 2006 in Santiago, Chile, a week after a heart attack, aged 91. His remains were later cremated (Pinochet's request) to avoid vandalism on his tomb.
Plasma (physics)
Plasma is a 4th state of matter.
Plasma is created by adding energy to a gas so that some of its electrons leave its atoms. This is called ionization. It results in negatively charged electrons, and positively charged ions. Unlike the other states of matter, the charged particles in a plasma will react strongly to electric and magnetic fields (i.e. electromagnetic fields). If a plasma loses heat, the ions will re-form into a gas, emitting the energy which had caused them to ionize.
Over 99% of the matter in the visible universe is believed to be plasma. When the atoms in a gas are broken up, the pieces are called electrons and ions. Because they have an electric charge, they are pulled together or pushed apart by electric fields and magnetic fields. This makes a plasma act differently than a gas. For example, magnetic fields can be used to hold a plasma, but not to hold a gas. Plasma is a better conductor of electricity than copper.
Plasma is usually very hot, because it takes very high temperatures to break the bonds between electrons and the nuclei of the atoms. Sometimes plasmas can have very high pressure, like in stars. Stars (including the Sun) are mostly made of plasma. Plasmas can also have very low pressure, like in outer space.
On Earth, lightning makes plasma. Artificial (man-made) uses of plasma include fluorescent lightbulbs, neon signs, and plasma displays used for television or computer screens, as well as plasma lamps and globes which are a popular children's toy and room decoration. Scientists are experimenting with plasma to make a new kind of nuclear power, called fusion, which would be much better and safer than ordinary nuclear power, and would produce much less radioactive waste.
Puebla (state)
Puebla is a state of Mexico. The capital of Puebla is also called Puebla. The volcanos Malinche, Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl are in the state of Puebla.
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward Aykroyd (born in Ottawa on July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor in theater and motion pictures. He also is a script writer, director and producer
Aykroyd was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His parents were Peter and Lorraine Aykroyd. He studied criminology and social science at Carleton University. He dropped out to join a Toronto acting company. Later he went to the United States to pursue his acting career in movies.
Dan Aykroyd is a dedicated Blues fan. For some time he hosted a radio program. He used the alias Elwood Blues. This alias he would later use in the motion pictures The Blues Brothers and Blues Brothers 2000. The first of these movies was co-starred by John Belushi, the second one by John Goodman.
Aykroyd is married to Donna Dixon. They are parents of 3 daughters. Dan's brother Peter Ayrkroyd is a researcher.
John Belushi
John Belushi (January 24, 1949 - March 5, 1982) was an American actor in movies and television shows.
Belushi was born in Chicago, Illinois. His mother was the daughter of Albanian immigrants; his father was an immigrant from Albania. His brother is James Belushi, who is also an actor.
John was co-captain of the football team in high school as well as homecoming king in his senior year. In school he was already active in acting, but wanted to become a baseball-coach. His drama-teacher persuaded him to pursue becoming a professional actor.
He appeared mainly in TV shows, and was one of the founders of "Saturday Night Live". His "Blues Brothers" act with Dan Aykroyd was famous, long before "The Blues Brothers" movie (1980).
Unfortunately Belushi became a drug addict. He used both heroin and cocaine, and a lot of both. When "The Blues Brothers" was made, he spent about US$40,000 to $75,000 a month on drugs.
John Belushi died in 1982 from a drug overdose injected by Cathy Smith. She was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers (Elwood Blues and Joliet "Jake" Blues) are fictional characters which became well known from the TV show "Saturday Night Live".
Elwood Blues was first played by Dan Aykroyd, in his radio program on Blues music. Jake Blues was played by John Belushi.
In 1980, Aykroyd and Belushi starred in the movie called "The Blues Brothers", playing again the same characters from TV. Unfortunately, Belushi died only two years later, due to a drug overdose. A sequel called "Blues Brothers 2000" (1998) starred John Goodman as new partner to Dan Aykroyd but it was not as successful as the first movie.
Both movies were made by Universal Pictures.
The movie version of the popular characters was directed by John Landis.
Jake and Elwood are sent off by Sister Mary Stigmata of the orphanage to raise money. The money is needed to pay taxes, otherwise the orphanage will be shut down. They try to do this by getting their band back together again.