Ashton Baldwin "Ash" Carter (born September 24, 1954) is the former United States Secretary of Defense. He is also a physicist and a former Harvard University professor of Science and International Affairs. He was nominated by President Barack Obama, and confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 93–5, to replace Chuck Hagel as the US Secretary of Defense.
William McIlvanney
William McIlvanney (25 November 1936 – 5 December 2015) was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, and poet. McIlvanney was known for his works "Laidlaw", "The Papers of Tony Veitch", and "Walking Wounded". They are all known for their portrayal of Glasgow in the 1970s. He is thought to be as "the father of 'Tartan Noir’" and Scotland's Camus.
Marília Pêra
Marília Pêra (22 January 1943 – 5 December 2015) was a Brazilian actress. She was called "one of the decade's [1980s] ten best actresses" by Pauline Kael.
Pêra won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress in 1982 for her role in Hector Babenco's famous movie "Pixote". She received the Best Actress awards at the Gramado Film Festival (Triple Award Winner) and at the Cartegena Film Festival for Carlos Diegues' "Better Days Ahead". Her other movies include "Bar Esperanza", "Angels of the Night", and Diegues' "Tieta".
Abel Pêra, also an actor from Brazil, was her uncle.
Pêra died in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from lung cancer, aged 72.
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American movie critic who wrote for "The New Yorker" magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in "City Lights", "McCall's" and "The New Republic".
Kael was known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated, and sharply focused" reviews. Legendary critic Roger Ebert said that Kael "had a more positive influence on the climate for film in America than any other single person over the last three decades".
Kael was born in Petaluma, California. She studied at the University of California, Berkeley. Kael died in Great Barrington, Massachusetts from Parkinson's disease at the age of 82.
Quinnipiac University
Quinnipiac University is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational university. It is in Hamden, Connecticut, United States.
The university grants undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees through its College of Arts and Sciences; School of Business and Engineering; School of Communications; School of Health Sciences; School of Law; School of Medicine; School of Nursing and School of Education. Quinnipiac is home to the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant." The population was 60,960 at the 2010 census. Hamden is a suburb of the city of New Haven.
Siddhi Savetsila
Siddhi Savetsila (, , , 7 January 1919 – 5 December 2015) was a Thai air force officer and politician. He served as the foreign minister of Thailand from 1980 to 1990. He was the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand serving from January through August 1986. He has been a member of the Privy Council of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Savetsila died at the age of 96 in Bangkok on 5 December 2015.
Mohel
A mohel is a person who circumcises Jewish baby boys eight days after they are born. This is a practice of Jewish law ("Halakha").
A knife is traditionally used for this, but a clamp is now sometimes used instead. In Orthodox Judaism the mohel is male. However, some more progressive types of Judaism allow women to serve as a mohel.
The event of the circumcision is called a "Brit milah", sometimes pronounced "bris" especially by Jews of European heritage whose ancestors spoke Yiddish. The mohel says prayers with the infant's family and guests, to welcome the baby boy into the Jewish religion.
Farina, South Australia
Farina is a ghost town in South Australia. It is on the edge of the desert, with an unpredictable annual rainfall of 163.6 mm. It was a farming and railway town, part of the Ghan railway, 26 km north of Lyndhurst and 55 km south of Marree. In 2006 there were 55 people living near Farina.
Before 1878 Farina was called The Gums or Government Gums, It was an important waterhole in a dry desert. Farina was settled in 1878 by farmers who thought that if they ploughed the land and planted crops it would rain. It was named Farina after the Latin word for flour. The town was the railhead until 1884 when the railway reached Marree. During the wet years of the 1880s, plans were laid out for a town with 432 ¼-acre blocks. It was believed that it would be good for growing wheat and barley, however normal rainfall is not enough to grow these crops. Several silver and copper mines were dug in the surrounding area.
Farina grew to 600 people in the late 1800s. The town had two hotels (the Transcontinental and the Exchange) and an underground bakery, a bank, two breweries, a general store, an Anglican church, five blacksmiths, a school and a brothel. In 1909, a 1143 kg iron meteorite was discovered north-east of the town.
Today all that is left are stone ruins and the elevated railway water tank. The post office closed in the 1960s and the railway line closed in the 1980s.
No one lives in the town, the closest people live at Farina station, a farm, west of the town. A bush camping area has been set up by the owners of Farina station.
Volunteers have repaired the bakery and put up information signs.
The town's cemetery is a few kilometres from the town. It has an Afghan corner with several headstones, some with both English and Arabic writing. These mark the graves of former Farina residents of Afghan origin who were part of the Afghan camel trains which used to provide transport services before the railway. All the gravestones face Mecca in the Islamic tradition.
Abortion in Azerbaijan
Abortion in Azerbaijan is legal upon request within the first twenty-eight weeks of pregnancy.
After twenty-eight weeks, it is legal when:
Additionally, a physician may approve any other reason to carry out an abortion.
Onomatopoeia
An onomatopoeia is a word that sounds like the sound it means: words that imitate particular sounds.
Examples:
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller (March 1, 1904 – missing in action December 15, 1944) was an American big band musician, arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known big bands. Miller's notable recordings include "In the Mood", "Moonlight Serenade", "Pennsylvania 6-5000", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "A String of Pearls", "At Last", "(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo", "American Patrol", "Tuxedo Junction", "Elmer's Tune", and "Little Brown Jug". During World War II, he led bands in the U.S. Army. While he was traveling in France during World War II, Glenn Miller's airplane disappeared over the English Channel.
Miller was born in Clarinda, Iowa. His parents were Mattie Lou (née Cavender) and Lewis Elmer Miller. In 1915, Miller's family moved to Grant City, Missouri, and he started playing in the town orchestra. At first, he played cornet and mandolin, but he switched to trombone by 1916. In 1918, the Miller family moved to Fort Morgan, Colorado, where Miller went to high school. During his senior year, he started a band with some classmates. They played "dance band music". By the time Miller graduated from high school in 1921, he had decided to become a professional musician.