In June 2001, a Komodo dragon seriously hurt Phil Bronstein—executive editor of the "San Francisco Chronicle". Bronstein had entered the dragon's cage at the Los Angeles Zoo after being invited in by its keeper. The zoo keeper had told him to take off his white shoes, which could have excited the Komodo dragon. Bronstein was bitten on his bare foot. Although he escaped, he needed surgery to repair his foot.
On June 4, 2007, a Komodo dragon attacked an eight-year-old boy on Komodo Island. The boy later died because he lost too much blood. This was the first time that people know a dragon had killed a human in 33 years. Local people blamed the attack on environmentalists. People from outside the island had stopped local people from killing goats and leaving them for the dragons. The Komodo dragons no longer found the food they needed, so they came into places where humans lived in search of food. Many natives of Komodo Island believe that Komodo dragons are actually the reincarnation of relatives and should be treated with respect.
On March 24, 2009, two Komodo dragons attacked and killed fisherman Muhamad Anwar on Komodo Island. They attacked Anwar after he fell out of a sugar-apple tree. He was bleeding badly from bites on his hands, body, legs, and neck. He was taken to a clinic on the nearby island of Flores, but doctors said he was dead when he arrived.
There are very few Komodo dragons, and they may not survive. The lizards are on the IUCN Red List of animals in danger. Not many Komodo dragons still live on their home islands.
However, there may now be only 352 females having babies in the wild. The Komodo National Park was founded in 1980 to protect the Komodo dragon on its home islands.
Many things have reduced the number of dragons, including: volcanoes, earthquakes, loss of good places to live, fire, not enough animals to eat, tourism, and illegal hunting.
Buying or selling Komodo dragons or their skins is illegal as part of an international law called CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).
Organized crime
Organized crime is an act committed by a group or groups of people, usually mobsters and other criminals, who work to make money or achieve certain motive illegally.
The Singles 1992-2003
The Singles 1992-2003 is a greatest hits album by the American alternative rock band No Doubt. It was released on November 25, 2003 (the same day as "Boom Box", a box set album by No Doubt.) The album contained all of the singles the band had released at the time, except for "Squeal" and "Doghouse" (two singles from their album "The Beacon Street Collection" that never became popular.) However, it also included two songs that were not singles: "Trapped in a Box" from their first album "No Doubt", and a cover version of the song "It's My Life" by Talk Talk.
Nathan Kress
Nathan Karl Kress also Nate Kress (born November 18, 1992) is an American teen actor and voice actor.
Nathan Kress was born in Glendale, California and resides in Southern California. He acts on the hit Nickelodeon show "iCarly as Freddie Benson."
When Kress was young, he would quote lines and monologues from television and perform for his family and friends. He began modeling, acting and voiceover work at 3 years old. At age 6, he took a break from acting, and at about age 10, asked his mom to begin homeschooling him so that he could pursue acting again. He voiced the role of Eizan Kaburagi from Nickelodeon's animated series, Shuriken School. He has also guest starred in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody as Jamie. Kress has enjoyed playing dramatic roles in "House", "Standoff", and "Without a Trace".
In early 2007, Nathan performed in a short film, "Bag", for which he won a Jury Honorable Mention Award at the 168 Hour Film Festival for the role of Albert. "Bag" also won the Festival award for Best Comedy.
On "iCarly", Nathan's role is that of Freddie Benson, the technical producer for Carly's webshow, iCarly. Freddie is a computer whiz kid who has a crush on Carly (Miranda Cosgrove) and an ongoing feud with Sam (Jennette McCurdy). "It's weird," says Kress, "I have to pretend to love Carly and kiss Sam when actually we are just all really good friends." He co-stars with Miranda Cosgrove, Jennette McCurdy, and Jerry Trainor on iCarly.
Monster truck
A monster truck is a vehicle usually styled after a pickup truck. It is changed or purposely built with very big wheels and suspension. Monster trucks are used for competition and popular entertainment.
Usually, a monster truck show involves the truck crushing smaller cars under its huge tires.
Harlem Globetrotters
The Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism and comedy. They are a "barnstorming" team, which means they travel around the world playing basketball in many different places. Sometimes they play college or pro teams, but usually they play a team called the Washington Generals.
They were founded in 1925 in Chicago. Almost all their players are African-American, which was unusual at the time of their founding (at that time, most professional basketball players were white). In the 1930s and 1940s, they were one of the best basketball teams in the country, along with the New York Rens, another African-American basketball team. By the 1950s, a lot of black players started playing in the NBA, and the Globetrobbers became a clown team.
The best-known Globetrotter is Meadowlark Lemon. Wilt Chamberlain played for the Globetrotters for a while. They were placed in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a team in 2001.
Burt Ward
Burt Ward (born Bert John Gervis, Jr., on July 6, 1945) is an American television actor. He is best known for his work as Robin, the "Boy Wonder," in the 1960s television series "Batman". In 1992 he wrote a book called “Burt Ward: My life in tights.”
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Batman (TV series)
Batman is a 1960s American television series, based on the DC comic book character Batman. It aired on the ABC network for two and a half seasons from 1966 to 1968. Even though it was on TV for such a short time, the series had two new episodes each week, giving the show a total of 120 episodes (the equivalent of roughly five regular seasons).
The Big Four Supervillains:
Graduate school
A graduate school (or grad school) is a school that gives advanced academic degrees, such as Master's degrees (M.S. or M.B.A.) and Doctoral degrees (Ph.D. or L.L.D. or D.D.S. etc.). A graduate student (or grad student) is a student who has earned a Bachelor's degree and is pursuing additional education in a specific field, though this is not always the case. In British English, the term "postgraduate student" is more common.
A graduate school is not always a separate school.
The term "graduate school" could be confusing because the verb "graduate" is also used to mean completing high school education or earning a Bachelor's degree. The verb is used for all those types of schools, but the meaning of the adjective "graduate" is changed to mean "postgraduate" in the term "graduate school". The small change in meaning can be viewed with an air of sophistication, where experienced students are often more aware of the issue, while novice students might not be aware, as being more naive.
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test (used to be called Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test) is a test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and created by the College Board, a non-profit organization in the United States, and was once owned by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). ETS now administers the exam. The SAT is usually taken by high school juniors and seniors.
As of March 5, 2016, the College Board has begun using a new SAT, which has four sections (reading, writing, math without calculator, math with calculator) plus an optional essay.