Harry Frederick Oppenheimer (28 October 1908 – 19 August 2000) was a famous South African businessman of Jewish descent. Oppenheimer was the chairman of Anglo American Corporation for a quarter of a century. He was also the chairman of De Beers Consolidated Mines for 27 years until he retired from those positions in 1982 and 1984. He was close friends with President of South Africa Nelson Mandela.
Oppenheimer was born in Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa. He studied at Charterhouse School and at Christ Church, Oxford University. Oppenheimer was raised in Johannesburg.
The Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award Africa's premier research prize, is awarded every year by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, in memory of Harry Oppenheimer's commitment to an ideal of "unambiguous excellence."
Oppenheimer was married to Bridget Oppenheimer until his death in 2000. They had two children. Bridget died in October 2013.
Oppenheimer died in Johannesburg, South Africa from cancer, aged 92.
Shock site
A shock site is a website that wants to be offensive and to shock people that see it. Shock sites usually show pictures that are meant to make people feel disgusted. These pictures are often violent, or pornographic. For example, in 2004 Goatse.cx showed a picture of a man stretching his anus. Often these sites are mentioned in emails, or online discussions, which tries to trick users into following links to another website.
Armillaria gallica
Armillaria gallica (synonymous with "A. bulbosa" and "A. lutea") is a species of "honey mushroom" in the Agaricales order.
The species is common and ecologically important: it decays wood. It can live as a saprophyte, or as an opportunistic parasite in weakened tree hosts to cause root or butt rot. It is found in temperate regions of Asia, North America, and Europe. The species forms fruit bodies singly or in groups in soil or rotting wood. The fungus has been accidentally introduced to South Africa.
"Armillaria gallica" is a largely subterranean fungus, and it produces fruit bodies that are up to about in diameter, yellow-brown, and covered with small scales. On the underside of the caps are gills that are white to creamy or pale orange.
The fungus develops an extensive system of underground root-like structures, called rhizomorphs which help it to decompose dead wood in temperate broadleaf and mixed forests. It has been the subject of considerable scientific research. Its ability to bioluminesce and its ability to form large and long-lived colonies are especially interesting.
Researchers reported finding "Armillaria gallica" in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the early 1990s. In one forest stand, "Armillaria"-infected oak trees had been harvested, and their stumps were left to rot in the field. Later, when red pines were planted in the same location, the seedlings were killed by the fungus "A. gallica" (then known as "A. bulbosa").
Using sequence analysis, they found that the underground mycelia of one individual fungal colony covered , weighing over , with an estimated age of 1,500 years. The analysis examined genetic samples collected in the forest from fruit bodies and rhizomorphs. Samples from the 15-hectare area had identical mating type alleles and mitochondrial DNA fragments. This showed the samples were all from a single genetic individual, or clone, which reached its size through vegetative growth. The authors noted: "This is the first report estimating the minimum size, mass, and age of an unambiguously defined fungal individual. Although the number of observations for plants and animals is much greater, members of the fungal kingdom should now be recognized as among the oldest and largest organisms on earth". After the "Nature" paper was published, media outlets from around the world visited the site where the specimens were found. As a result of this publicity, the individual acquired the common name "humongous fungus". There was afterward some scholarly debate as to whether the fungus qualified to be considered in the same category as other large organisms such as the blue whale or the giant redwood.
Affirmative action
Affirmative action (known as positive discrimination in the United Kingdom) is a policy where members of minority groups are given preference over members of more common or bigger groups. This is usually done to try to obtain some equality or balance. Positive discrimination is illegal in many countries.
It is most often found in education, employment and welfare.
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is a novel written by Daniel Defoe. It was first published on 25 April 1719 by William Taylor.
The novel's full title is "The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates".
The book is a fictional autobiography of the title character, Robinson Crusoe. Crusoe leaves the safety of his comfortable middle-class home in England and goes to sea. He is shipwrecked and becomes a castaway who spends years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad. He meets cannibals, captives and mutineers, and is eventually rescued.
For the first edition, Defoe pretended that the novel was a true story. He said the fictional protagonist Robinson Crusoe was the author and he pretended to be the editor of Crusoe's autobiography. This led many readers to believe that Crusoe was a real person and the book a true account of his life.
Many people think the story was influenced by the life of Alexander Selkirk. Selkirk was a Scottish castaway who lived for over four years on a Pacific island belonging to Chile called Más a Tierra. (In 1966, the island was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island.) However, there are other possible sources. For example, Ibn Tufail's earlier novel "Hayy ibn Yaqdhan", also set on a desert island, may have inspired Defoe.
Critical response to "Robinson Crusoe" has been diverse and argumentative. There has been widespread disagreement about the novel's nature and origin, values, structure, and meaning. Literary historians have not agreed on Defoe's sincerity, exact intentions, and achievement in the book.
"Robinson Crusoe" was very popular as soon as it was published. Before the end of 1719, it had already run through four editions. The novel's popularity has continued and it has become one of the most widely published books in history. It has prompted many imitations and adaptations for stage, film, and television.
Cloaking device
A cloaking device or invisibility cloak has long been featured in science fiction. Attempts have been made to devise a way to do it with objects, but results were disappointing until now. A paper in "Nature Communications" for September 2013 announces a new approach.
From reference 1, the two "supplementary movies" show the successful cloaking of a goldfish and a cat so far as they are within the experimental space.
A recent review said these methods were possible:
Mehit
Mehit is a goddess of lions and war in Egyptian mythology. She is the wife of the god Anhur, also a god of war.
She represented the full moon. Also called The Completed one (Eye of Horus)
Mandela and de Klerk
Mandela and de Klerk is a 1997 British television movie about the relationship between President of South Africa Nelson Mandela and former State-Governor F. W. de Klerk. Sidney Poitier played Mandela and Michael Caine played de Klerk. It was released on February 16, 1997.
Dennis Haysbert
Dennis Dexter Haysbert (born 2 June 1954 in San Mateo, California) is an American movie and television actor. He is known for appearing in the Allstate commercials. He also starred in many movies such as "Major League". He also starred in the television show "24".
Nelson Mandela Bridge