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what is petrified wood | Petrified wood, also known as petrified tree (from Ancient Greek πέτρα meaning 'rock' or 'stone'; literally 'wood turned into stone'), is the name given to a special type of fossilized wood, the fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. Petrifaction is the result of a tree or tree-like plants having been replaced by stone via a mineralization process that often includes permineralization and replacement. The organic materials making up cell walls have been replicated with minerals (mostly silica in the form of opal, chalcedony, or quartz). In some instances, the original structure of the stem tissue may be partially retained. Unlike other plant fossils, which are typically impressions or compressions, petrified wood is a three-dimensional representation of the original organic material.
The petrifaction process occurs underground, when wood becomes buried in water or volcanic ash. The presence of water reduces the availability of oxygen which inhibits aerobic decomposition by bacteria and fungi. Mineral-laden water flowing through the sediments may lead to permineralization, which occurs when minerals precipitate out of solution filling the interiors of cells and other empty spaces. During replacement, the plant's cell walls act as a template for mineralization. There needs to be a balance between the decay of cellulose and lignin and mineral templating for cellular detail to be preserved with fidelity. Most of the organic matter often decomposes, however some of the lignin may remain. Silica in the form of opal-A, can encrust and permeate wood relatively quickly in hot spring environments. However, petrified wood is most commonly associated with trees that were buried in fine grained sediments of deltas and floodplains or volcanic lahars and ash beds. A forest where such material has petrified becomes known as a petrified forest. | Petrified wood is one of fossils, it is a plant which the inner part has been replaced by stone by compressions and impressions through millions of years |
What is photosynthesis? | Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored in carbohydrate molecules, such as sugars and starches, which are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water – hence the name photosynthesis, from the Greek phōs (φῶς), "light", and synthesis (σύνθεσις), "putting together". Most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria perform photosynthesis; such organisms are called photoautotrophs. Photosynthesis is largely responsible for producing and maintaining the oxygen content of the Earth's atmosphere, and supplies most of the energy necessary for life on Earth.
Although photosynthesis is performed differently by different species, the process always begins when energy from light is absorbed by proteins called reaction centers that contain green chlorophyll (and other colored) pigments/chromophores. In plants, these proteins are held inside organelles called chloroplasts, which are most abundant in leaf cells, while in bacteria they are embedded in the plasma membrane. In these light-dependent reactions, some energy is used to strip electrons from suitable substances, such as water, producing oxygen gas. The hydrogen freed by the splitting of water is used in the creation of two further compounds that serve as short-term stores of energy, enabling its transfer to drive other reactions: these compounds are reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the "energy currency" of cells. | Photosynthesis is
- a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy
- a word derived from the Greek phōs (φῶς), "light", and synthesis (σύνθεσις), "putting together"
- a process that always begins when energy from light is absorbed by proteins called reaction centers
- performed differently by different species
- largely responsible for producing and maintaining the oxygen content of the Earth's atmosphere |
What is "Disko"? | "Disko" (Slovene pronunciation: [ˈdíːskɔ]) is a 2022 song by Slovenian pop band Last Pizza Slice. The song represented Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, after winning EMA 2022, Slovenia's national final.
Release
The song was released on 26 November 2021, along with all other songs competing in EMA 2022. It was officially released to streaming services on 1 April.
Music video
An animated music video of "Disko" would come out on 11 April, with artwork by Manca Matelič, a school classmate of the band, and Matevž Bervar. The video features a man getting dumped by his girlfriend at a nightclub. The man ends up being depressed, drinking at the nightclub. One day, while seeing his ex-girlfriend kiss her boyfriend at a bridge, the man falls over into a river. While it is unknown if the man drowned or hallucinated, underwater, he eventually meets another girl, and becomes happy again.[citation needed]
The music video is inspired by the lead singer, Filip Vidušin, having a real life experience of getting dumped at a disco and watching his ex-girlfriend dance with another man. | "Disko" is a 2022 song by Slovenian pop band Last Pizza Slice. |
Based on the reference text, please provide a short bulleted list of 4 popular Halloween activities. | Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed.
One theory holds that many Halloween traditions were influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain, which are believed to have pagan roots. Some go further and suggest that Samhain may have been Christianized as All Hallow's Day, along with its eve, by the early Church. Other academics believe Halloween began solely as a Christian holiday, being the vigil of All Hallow's Day. Celebrated in Ireland and Scotland for centuries, Irish and Scottish immigrants took many Halloween customs to North America in the 19th century, and then through American influence Halloween had spread to other countries by the late 20th and early 21st century.
Popular Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related guising and souling), attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins or turnips into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, and watching horror or Halloween-themed films. Some people practice the Christian religious observances of All Hallows' Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, although it is a secular celebration for others. Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows' Eve, a tradition reflected in the eating of certain vegetarian foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes, and soul cakes. | Popular Halloween activities include:
1. Trick-or-Treating
2. Going to costume parties
3. Carving pumpkins
4. Watching horror movies |
Please summarize President Joe Biden's statement below. | I’ve directed my team to bring every element of the federal government together to help with immediate needs and long-term rebuilding. Early this morning, I approved an expedited major disaster declaration to quickly provide Federal assistance to the people of Arkansas. This weekend, I reached out to Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and spoke with Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr., and Wynne Mayor Jennifer Hobbs of Arkansas as well as Governor John Carney of Delaware to let them know that my administration will do everything we can to help, as long as it takes. I also spoke with my FEMA Administrator, who already has teams on the ground and is in Arkansas today to coordinate Federal response and recovery efforts. We are working closely with the state of Indiana and other impacted states as they assess damages, and stand ready to respond to any additional requests for Federal assistance. | I approved disaster assistance for Arkansas. I told Arkansas leaders that the federal government will help. I spoke with the FEMA Administrator, who is coordinating efforts. We will work with other states that need assistance. |
What is Henri-Cartier Bresson known for? | Magnum Photos
In early 1947, Cartier-Bresson, with Robert Capa, David Seymour, William Vandivert and George Rodger founded Magnum Photos. Capa's brainchild, Magnum was a cooperative picture agency owned by its members. The team split photo assignments among the members. Rodger, who had quit Life in London after covering World War II, would cover Africa and the Middle East. Chim, who spoke a variety of European languages, would work in Europe. Cartier-Bresson would be assigned to India and China. Vandivert, who had also left Life, would work in America, and Capa would work anywhere that had an assignment. Maria Eisner managed the Paris office and Rita Vandivert, Vandivert's wife, managed the New York office and became Magnum's first president.
Cartier-Bresson achieved international recognition for his coverage of Gandhi's funeral in India in 1948 and the last stage of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. He covered the last six months of the Kuomintang administration and the first six months of the Maoist People's Republic. He also photographed the last surviving Imperial eunuchs in Beijing, as the city was being liberated by the communists. In Shanghai, he often worked in the company of photojournalist Sam Tata, whom Cartier-Bresson had previously befriended in Bombay. From China, he went on to Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), where he documented the gaining of independence from the Dutch. In 1950, Cartier-Bresson had traveled to the South India. He had visited Tiruvannamalai, a town in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu and photographed the last moments of Ramana Maharishi, Sri Ramana Ashram and its surroundings. A few days later he also visited and photographed Sri Aurobindo, Mother and Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry.
Magnum's mission was to "feel the pulse" of the times and some of its first projects were People Live Everywhere, Youth of the World, Women of the World and The Child Generation. Magnum aimed to use photography in the service of humanity, and provided arresting, widely viewed images.
The Decisive Moment
1952 US edition of Cartier-Bresson's 1952 book The Decisive Moment (Images à la sauvette).
Photograph of Alberto Giacometti by Cartier-Bresson
In 1952, Cartier-Bresson published his book Images à la sauvette, whose English-language edition was titled The Decisive Moment, although the French language title actually translates as "images on the sly" or "hastily taken images", Images à la sauvette included a portfolio of 126 of his photos from the East and the West. The book's cover was drawn by Henri Matisse. For his 4,500-word philosophical preface, Cartier-Bresson took his keynote text from the 17th century Cardinal de Retz, "Il n'y a rien dans ce monde qui n'ait un moment decisif" ("There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment"). Cartier-Bresson applied this to his photographic style. He said: "Photographier: c'est dans un même instant et en une fraction de seconde reconnaître un fait et l'organisation rigoureuse de formes perçues visuellement qui expriment et signifient ce fait" ("To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression.").
Both titles came from Tériade, the Greek-born French publisher whom Cartier-Bresson admired. He gave the book its French title, Images à la Sauvette, loosely translated as "images on the run" or "stolen images." Dick Simon of Simon & Schuster came up with the English title The Decisive Moment. Margot Shore, Magnum's Paris bureau chief, translated Cartier-Bresson's French preface into English.
"Photography is not like painting," Cartier-Bresson told the Washington Post in 1957. "There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative," he said. "Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever."
The photo Rue Mouffetard, Paris, taken in 1954, has since become a classic example of Cartier-Bresson's ability to capture a decisive moment. He held his first exhibition in France at the Pavillon de Marsan in 1955. | Henri Cartier-Bresson is a french photographer from the early 20th century. He is known for his street photography and was most famous while he was working for the Magnum agency that he founded. He gained international recognition for his coverage of Ghandi's funeral. Later, his book called "decisive moment", captures his approach to photography: capturing the moment as it happens, in the streets. |
Where is Allauch | Allauch (French pronunciation: ; Occitan: Alaug) is a French commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France.
The inhabitants of the commune are known as Allaudiens or Allaudiennes in French. | Allauch is a French commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France.
The inhabitants of the commune are known as Allaudiens or Allaudiennes in French. |
What is the plot of the movie The Quiet Family | The Quiet Family (Korean: 조용한 가족; RR: Joyonghan Gajok) is a 1998 South Korean black comedy horror film directed by Kim Jee-woon. The story centers on a family who owns a hunting lodge in a remote area, whose customers always happen to end up dying. Among the film's main cast are pre-stardom Choi Min-sik and Song Kang-ho.
The film was loosely remade in Japanese as The Happiness of the Katakuris by Takashi Miike, in Indian Tamil as Yaamirukka Bayamey, in Kannada as Namo Bhootatma and in Telugu as Next Nuvve. | The Quiet Family is a 1998 South Korean black comedy horror film directed by Kim Jee-woon. The story centers on a family who owns a hunting lodge in a remote area, whose customers always happen to end up dying. Among the film's main cast are pre-stardom Choi Min-sik and Song Kang-ho.
The film was loosely remade in Japanese as The Happiness of the Katakuris by Takashi Miike, in Indian Tamil as Yaamirukka Bayamey, in Kannada as Namo Bhootatma and in Telugu as Next Nuvve. |
What is a database schema? | The database schema is the structure of a database described in a formal language supported by the database management system (DBMS). The term "schema" refers to the organization of data as a blueprint of how the database is constructed (divided into database tables in the case of relational databases). The formal definition of a database schema is a set of formulas (sentences) called integrity constraints imposed on a database.[citation needed] These integrity constraints ensure compatibility between parts of the schema. All constraints are expressible in the same language. A database can be considered a structure in realization of the database language. The states of a created conceptual schema are transformed into an explicit mapping, the database schema. This describes how real-world entities are modeled in the database. | It is the structure of a database -- as described in a formal language supported by the database management system. It refers to the organization of data as a blueprint for how the database is built (eg comprised of tables in the case of relational databases). |
What is Equity theater? | The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly called Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a book or through-storyline (vaudeville, cabarets, circuses) may be represented by the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA). The AEA works to negotiate quality living conditions, livable wages, and benefits for performers and stage managers. A theater or production that is not produced and performed by AEA members may be called "non-Equity". | A theater or production that is performed by Actors' Equity Association (AEA) members is often called "Equity Theater". Actors' Equity Association commonly called Actor's Equity or more simply Equity, is an American Labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. A theater or production not produced by Actors' Equity members is often called "non-Equity". |
which are the countries surrounding India | The Republic of India shares borders with several sovereign countries; it shares land borders with China, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Bangladesh and Pakistan share both land borders as well as maritime borders, while Sri Lanka shares only a maritime border through Ram Setu. India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar and Indonesia.
Land borders of India
See also: List of disputed territories of India, Indian subcontinent, Greater India, Indosphere, and Look East policy (India)
India shares land borders with seven sovereign nations. The state's Ministry of Home Affairs also recognizes a 106 kilometres (66 mi) land border with an eighth nation, Afghanistan, as part of its claim of the Kashmir region (see Durand Line).
Land Border Country Dispute Length (Km) and (mi) Force Comments
Bangladesh N 4,096 kilometres (2,545 mi) Border Security Force Most of the India–Bangladesh enclaves exchanged in 2015. See Bangladesh Liberation War and Bangladesh–India relations.
Bhutan N 578 kilometres (359 mi) Sashastra Seema Bal Open border. See Bhutan–India relations.
China Y 3,488 kilometres (2,167 mi) Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Special Frontier Force Also see Ardagh–Johnson Line, Macartney–MacDonald Line, McMahon Line, Sino-Indian border dispute and China–India relations.
Myanmar N 1,643 kilometres (1,021 mi) Assam Rifles and Indian Army See India-Myanmar relations.
Nepal Y 1,752 kilometres (1,089 mi) Sashastra Seema Bal Open border. See Kalapani territory, Susta territory and India-Nepal relations.
Pakistan Y 3,310 kilometres (2,060 mi) Border Security Force Also see Radcliffe Line, Line of Control, Actual Ground Position Line and Sir Creek. See Partition of India, Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts and India-Pakistan relations.
Maritime borders of India
See also: Exclusive economic zone of India
EEZs in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans
Maritime borders of India are the maritime boundary recognized by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea entails boundaries of territorial waters, contiguous zones, and exclusive economic zones. India, with its claim of a 12-nautical-mile (22 km; 14 mi) territorial maritime zone and 200-nautical-mile (370 km; 230 mi) exclusive economic zone, has a more than 7,000-kilometre (4,300 mi) maritime border shared with seven nations.
Maritime Border Country Length (km) and (mi) Force Comments
Bangladesh Indian Navy New Moore Island in Bay of Bengal
Indonesia Indian Navy Indira Point in Andaman Sea
Myanmar Indian Navy Landfall Island in Andaman Sea
Pakistan Indian Navy Sir Creek in Arabian Sea
Thailand Indian Navy Similan Islands in Andaman Sea
Sri Lanka >400 kilometres (250 mi) Indian Navy Katchatheevu in Palk Strait
Maldives Indian Navy Maliku Kandu in Laccadive Sea | The Republic of India shares borders with several sovereign countries; it shares land borders with China, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Bangladesh and Pakistan share both land borders as well as maritime borders, while Sri Lanka shares only a maritime border through Ram Setu. India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar and Indonesia. |
Which trophy was Frost able to keep and why? | Frost became interested in sport at a young age and was an all-round athlete. He won medals for running and swimming and was a prominent member of the Winchester Harriers sports club. He particularly excelled as a cyclist, entering competitive events at an early age and holding several amateur cycling records. In 1898, Frost won, within the space of a fortnight, Britain's two leading cycle racing trophies, the Bath Road 100 and the Cawardine Challenge Cup, as well as the national championship. By the time he retired he had won every important amateur cycling trophy in the nation.
He is particularly remembered for winning the Carwardine Challenge Cup, a 100-mile race held annually at the Herne Hill race track. This huge cup was donated by the vice-president of the Anerley Bicycle Club in 1895 and was made from 650 ounces of silver, with ornamentation of solid gold. The tradition at the time was that if someone won a trophy three times they could keep it. Frost, riding for the Bath Road club in Hayes, first won it in 1896, repeated the victory in 1898 and was victorious for the third time in 1900. The cup is occasionally exhibited in Winchester. | Frost was a prominent cyclist. In the late 1800s and early 1900s when he was active he was able to win the Carwardine Cup trophy and keep it. The tradition at the time was that if one could win a trophy 3 times, one could keep the trophy. Frost won this trophy in 1896, 1898 and 1900. |
Please give me a summary of what AES-GCM is and what are its inputs and outputs. | In cryptography, Galois/Counter Mode (GCM) is a mode of operation for symmetric-key cryptographic block ciphers which is widely adopted for its performance. GCM throughput rates for state-of-the-art, high-speed communication channels can be achieved with inexpensive hardware resources.
The GCM algorithm provides both data authenticity (integrity) and confidentiality and belongs to the class of authenticated encryption with associated data (AEAD) methods. This means that as input it takes a key K, some plaintext P, and some associated data AD; it then encrypts the plaintext using the key to produce ciphertext C, and computes an authentication tag T from the ciphertext and the associated data (which remains unencrypted). A recipient with knowledge of K, upon reception of AD, C and T, can decrypt the ciphertext to recover the plaintext P and can check the tag T to ensure that neither ciphertext nor associated data were tampered with. | AES-GCM is a mode of operation for symmetric-key cryptography. It stands for Galois/Counter Mode and is an authenticated block cipher that provides integrity and authenticity on top of confidentiality. It accepts as input a key K, a plaintest P and associated data AD, and it produces as output the ciphertext C and an authentication tag T. |
What is this text about? | There are many modern variations of gazpacho with avocados, cucumbers, parsley, strawberries, watermelon, grapes, meat stock, seafood, and other ingredients instead of tomatoes and bread. The ingredients, texture, and thickness of gazpacho vary regionally and between different cooks. Similar cold raw soups such as arjamolho in Portugal, porra antequerana and ajoblanco, are also popular in Andalusia, although not as widespread as gazpacho. Gazpacho and salmorejo are especially similar since they are both tomato-based cold soups that are widely popular in Spain; the main difference between gazpacho and salmorejo is the culinary technique used since gazpacho is a soup whereas salmorejo is an emulsion. In addition, while both dishes share the main ingredients of tomato, olive oil, bread, and garlic, gazpacho can also be prepared with cucumber, peppers, and vinegar, whereas salmorejo cannot. The original recipe using bread, water, vinegar, oil, and salt is traditional in the Iberian Peninsula, perhaps going back to Roman times. Every central and southern region has its own variety. The humble gazpacho became a very deeply rooted food for peasants and shepherds in Spain. The basic gazpacho gave rise to many variants, some also called gazpacho, others not; some authors have tried to classify all these variations. Gazpachos may be classified by colour: the most usual red ones (which contain tomato), white ones (which contain no tomato, but include dried fruits), and green ones (which are white but contain some spices that make them green). These variants have their basic ingredients in common, including garlic paste which works as an emulsifier, bread, olive oil, vinegar and salt. In addition to the traditional ingredients, red fruits such as strawberries, muskmelon, etc., may be added, making the gazpacho a bit sweeter. Gazpacho may be served as a starter, main dish, or tapa.
A popular variation comes from the town of Rota in the province of Cádiz. During times of drought, there was not enough water to make gazpacho; thus, arranque has the same ingredients as gazpacho, but requires less water and bread, making it a sort of cream. Some people add more bread until it takes on the consistency of a dip.
In Extremadura, gazpachos are a kind of purée or thick gazpacho known as cojondongo, or cojondongo del gañán, made of breadcrumbs, garlic, oil, and vinegar, then topped with chopped onions, tomato and peppers.
Gazpacho manchego, as its name implies, is made in the east region of La Mancha, in Albacete and nearby areas, and is popular in other areas in the center and southwest of the country. It is a meat stew, whose main ingredients are small game animals or birds such as rabbit, hare, quail, or pigeon, and flatbread, and may include garlic, tomatoes, and mushrooms. It is cooked in a cauldron and served hot. Another well-known variant in La Mancha is gazpacho de pastor or galiano. Some other hot meat or fish dishes from other regions are called gazpacho (gazpacho jumillano, gazpacho de Yecla, gazpacho de Requena, etc.)
Gazpacho is often eaten during the very hot and dry summers in Castilla y León. The gazpacho made in La Moraña in the province of Ávila has large pieces of vegetables floating in a watery soup.
Gazpacho manchego, despite its name, is a meat stew, served hot, not a variation on the cold vegetable soup. | This text is about variations of Gazpachos. It lists different recipes and explains influences from regions and cultural roots. It also mentions that despite some dishes may contain Gazpacho in their name, not all are variations from the original Gazpacho. |
Based on this paragraph, tell me who was responsible for the discovery of nuclear fission. | Nuclear fission of heavy elements was discovered on Monday 19 December 1938 in Berlin, by German chemist Otto Hahn and his assistant Fritz Strassmann in cooperation with Austrian-Swedish physicist Lise Meitner. Hahn understood that a "burst" of the atomic nuclei had occurred. Meitner explained it theoretically in January 1939 along with her nephew Otto Robert Frisch. Frisch named the process by analogy with biological fission of living cells. In their second publication on nuclear fission in February of 1939, Hahn and Strassmann predicted the existence and liberation of additional neutrons during the fission process, opening up the possibility of a nuclear chain reaction. | Otto Hahn and his assistant Fritz Strassmann achieved nuclear fission in the laboratory, but could not explain what had happened. It was Lise Meitner and her nephew Otto Robert Frisch that interpreted the laboratory results and discovered that nuclear fission had occurred. |
What was the primary mode of transportation across the San Francisco bay prior to the Golden Gate Bridge? | Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is now Marin County was by boat across a section of San Francisco Bay. A ferry service began as early as 1820, with a regularly scheduled service beginning in the 1840s for the purpose of transporting water to San Francisco.
The Sausalito Land and Ferry Company service, launched in 1867, eventually became the Golden Gate Ferry Company, a Southern Pacific Railroad subsidiary, the largest ferry operation in the world by the late 1920s. Once for railroad passengers and customers only, Southern Pacific's automobile ferries became very profitable and important to the regional economy. The ferry crossing between the Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco and Sausalito Ferry Terminal in Marin County took approximately 20 minutes and cost $1.00 per vehicle,[when?] a price later reduced to compete with the new bridge. The trip from the San Francisco Ferry Building took 27 minutes. | The only (practical) way to get across the San Francisco Bay prior to 1937 was by Ferry. The Golden Gate Ferry Company, which became the largest ferry operation by the late 1920's, was established in 1867 as the Sausalito Land & Ferry Company. The ferry would take approximately 20 minutes and cost $1.00 per vehicle. |
What is the movie A Silence Voice about? | The film covers elements of coming of age and psychological drama, dealing with themes of bullying, disability, forgiveness, mental health, suicide, and friendship of opposite sexes. It follows the story of a former bully turned social outcast, who decides to reconnect and befriend the deaf girl he had bullied years prior. | A Silent Voice is a Japanese animated film about a boy who used to bully a deaf girl, but was then shunned himself for bullying her. Years later, they reconnect and he tries to atone for his past. The film touches upon many charged topics especially prevalent in Japanese high schools from bullying to disability to suicide and mental health. |
Who is Paul Cezanne? | Paul Cézanne (/seɪˈzæn/ say-ZAN, also UK: /sɪˈzæn/ sə-ZAN, US: /seɪˈzɑːn/ say-ZAHN; French: [pɔl sezan]; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation and influenced avant garde artistic movements of the early 20th century. Cézanne is said to have formed the bridge between late 19th-century Impressionism and the early 20th century's new line of artistic enquiry, Cubism. | Paul Cezanne was a French artist who introduced new modes of representation such as cubism in the early 20th century. |
Please give me a bulleted list of things William Eldred Toye CM worked on | William Eldred Toye CM (born June 19, 1926) is a Canadian editor, writer and literary critic.
Biography
Toye grew up in Toronto, Ontario. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1948 where he majored in journalism. He obtained a job with the Canadian branch of Oxford University Press which at the time was nothing more than a desk in a warehouse. He worked at the job for the next 43 years and in 1969 became the Editorial Director. He retired in 1991 and continued with them on a freelance basis after that. Known for his astute editing abilities, he was one of the first people to usher in an expanded and flourishing Canadian publishing business. He was one of the founding editors of the Tamarack Review in 1956 which ended publication in 1982. The early work of many notable Canadian authors appeared in its pages.
Toye has authored or edited several books including the Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, the Oxford Anthology of Canadian Literature and A Book of Canada. He has also written several children's books.
In 1993 he was made a member of the Order of Canada which said in its award that Toye "has been a highly regarded editor and publisher, well-liked by writers for his patience, fine judgement, tact and unerring taste. An award-winning children's author, he was also one of the founders of The Tamarack Review, where he was influential for many years in the development and encouragement of new Canadian talent."
Works
A Picture History of Canada (1956) by Clarke Hutton [Contributor, also Ivon Owen]
The St. Lawrence (1959)
A Book of Canada (1962)
The Mountain Goats of Temlaham (1969) with Elizabeth Cleaver
How Summer Came to Canada (1969) with Elizabeth Cleaver
Cartier discovers the St. Lawrence (1970)
Supplement to the Oxford companion to Canadian history and literature (1973)
Toronto (1975) by John de Visser [Contributor]
Simon and the Golden Sword (1976) by Frank Newfeld [Contributor, also Kevin W. Macdonald]
The Loon's Necklace (1977) with Elizabeth Cleaver
The fire stealer (1979) with Elizabeth Cleaver
The Oxford Anthology of Canadian literature (1981) with Robert Weaver
The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature (1983) with Eugene Benson, 2nd edition, 1997
City light: a Portrait of Toronto (1983)
Letters of Marshall Mcluhan, 1911-1980 (1987) with Corinne McLuhan & Mattie Molinaro
The concise Oxford companion to Canadian literature (2001)
William Toye on Canadian literature (2005) | A Picture History of Canada (1956) by Clarke Hutton [Contributor, also Ivon Owen]
The St. Lawrence (1959)
A Book of Canada (1962)
The Mountain Goats of Temlaham (1969) with Elizabeth Cleaver
How Summer Came to Canada (1969) with Elizabeth Cleaver
Cartier discovers the St. Lawrence (1970)
Supplement to the Oxford companion to Canadian history and literature (1973)
Toronto (1975) by John de Visser [Contributor]
Simon and the Golden Sword (1976) by Frank Newfeld [Contributor, also Kevin W. Macdonald]
The Loon's Necklace (1977) with Elizabeth Cleaver
The fire stealer (1979) with Elizabeth Cleaver
The Oxford Anthology of Canadian literature (1981) with Robert Weaver
The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature (1983) with Eugene Benson, 2nd edition, 1997
City light: a Portrait of Toronto (1983)
Letters of Marshall Mcluhan, 1911-1980 (1987) with Corinne McLuhan & Mattie Molinaro
The concise Oxford companion to Canadian literature (2001)
William Toye on Canadian literature (2005) |
Summarize what Alpha Phi is. | Alpha Phi International Women's Fraternity (ΑΦ, also known as APhi) is an international sorority with 172 active chapters and over 250,000 initiated members.
Founded at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York on September 18, 1872, it is the fourth Greek-letter organization founded for women, and the first women's fraternity founded in the northeast.
Alpha Phi is a member of the National Panhellenic Conference, the governing council of 26 women's fraternities. Alpha Phi's international headquarters are located in Evanston, Illinois. | Alpha Phi is one of the first women's fraternities founded in the Northeast. They have over 172 active chapters at College campuses and over 250,000 initiated members. Alpha Phi was founded at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York on September 18, 1872. |
Where did Riley Redgate sarted her first novel? | Robinson was raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She attended Richard J. Reynolds High School, where she began her first novel, Seven Ways We Lie. She is an alumna of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where she majored in economics, graduating in 2016. Her debut novel was published before she graduated. While at Kenyon, Robinson won the college's James E. Michael Playwriting Award for her play Mourning Sickness.
Robinson worked from Chicago as writing apprentice for the satirical media outlet The Onion. Her three novels are Seven Ways We Lie (2016), Note Worthy (2017), and Final Draft (2018), all published by Amulet, an imprint of Abrams Books.
Robinson is bisexual, of half-Irish and half-Chinese descent, and the characters in her novels similarly lie "in the middle of a spectrum rather than out at the ends". | Riley Redgate started her first novel while attending Richard J. Reynolds High School. |
What is the Baur au Lac | Baur au Lac is a luxury hotel at Talstrasse, Zürich, Switzerland.
The hotel was founded in 1844 by Johannes Baur, and is still owned by the Baur family. It was completely renovated between 2008 and 2010. It is a member of the Leading Hotels of the World marketing organisation. | The Baur au Lac is a luxury hotel at Talstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland.
The hotel was founded in 1844 by Johannes Baur, and is still owned by the Baur family. It was completely renovated between 2008 and 2010. It is a member of the Leading Hotels of the World marketing organisation.
It is beautifully located, directly at the wonderful lake of Zurich in Switzerland |
Tell me some facts about hemoglobin with the given text as a reference | Hemoglobin (haemoglobin in British English), abbreviated Hb or Hgb, is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein present in red blood cells (erythrocytes) of almost all vertebrates (the exception being the fish family Channichthyidae ) as well as the tissues of some invertebrates.Hemoglobin in blood carries oxygen from the respiratory organs (e.g. lungs or gills) to the rest of the body (i.e. tissues). There it releases the oxygen to permit aerobic respiration to provide energy to power functions of an organism in the process called metabolism. A healthy individual human has 12 to 20 grams of hemoglobin in every 100 mL of blood. | 1. Hemoglobin/Hb/Hgb is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein which is present
in red blood cells (erythrocytes) of almost all vertebrates (the exception being the fish
family Channichthyidae ) as well as the tissues of some invertebrates
2. Hemoglobin carries oxygen in blood from respiratory organs (e.g. lungs or gills) to rest of the
body(i.e. tissue).
3. Metablolism is the energy to power functions of an organism. Hemoglobin releases the oxygen
to permit aerobic respiration .
4. Healthy human have 12 to 25 grams of hemoglobin in every 100 mL of blood. |
Who was Lem Tucker? | Lemuel Tucker (May 26, 1938 – March 2, 1991) was an American journalist.
Born in Saginaw, Michigan, Tucker graduated from Central Michigan University in 1960.
Tucker was one of the first African Americans to work as a television network reporter. He began his career at NBC in 1965 as a general assignment news correspondent, and served as news director at WOR-TV in New York City from 1970 to 1971. He moved to ABC in 1972 and to CBS in 1977, where he worked until his death.
He was winner of two Emmy Awards, and made the master list of Nixon political opponents for his reporting.
Although Lem Tucker's life was brief, his career accomplishments were memorable.
Tucker was the first African American elected to the position of student body president at CMU. That election took place when less than one percent of the student body was black. Previous to his election, only one other African American had been elected to a similar position in the United States. While at Central, Tucker was considered one of the university's top forensic students. He served as a chapter president of Pi Kappa Delta, a national speech honorary fraternity.
He won his first Emmy in 1979 for his coverage of black America and his second in 1983 for a series about hunger in America. While working for the networks, he covered numerous major news events, including the Vietnam War, the Kent State University shootings and the Iran hostage crisis. He covered social unrest and riots in Newark, Miami and Harlem. He also reported from the Woodstock Festival. In 1981, he was covering President Ronald Reagan's speech at the Washington Hilton Hotel and witnessed the shooting of the president. He was broadcasting live reports on CBS Radio within minutes of the incident. He was applauded by his colleagues and others in the media for his continuous and thorough coverage, which he provided well into the next morning.
During the course of his career, Tucker returned numerous times to his alma mater to speak to students about politics, share reflections on college life and offer insight regarding work as a national network correspondent.
Tucker had a keen sense of humor. In an address given to the CMU community in the early 1980s, he told his audience he was amused to have been asked back to speak at the university, given that during his days as student body president, he "quibbled a lot" with the administration. He said, "How rare for me to be given a microphone and be invited to speak at CMU. Now I am on stage in front of administration and applauded."
Tucker has one daughter, Linn Carol Tucker.
His death in 1991 was due to liver failure. | Lemuel Tucker was an American journalist. He was born in Saginaw, Michigan, Tucker graduated from Central Michigan University in 1960. Tucker was one of the first African Americans to work as a television network reporter. He won his first Emmy in 1979 for his coverage of black America and his second in 1983 for a series about hunger in America. His death in 1991 was due to liver failure. |
From the example given in this paragraph, what is an eigenvector? | The Mona Lisa example pictured here provides a simple illustration. Each point on the painting can be represented as a vector pointing from the center of the painting to that point. The linear transformation in this example is called a shear mapping. Points in the top half are moved to the right, and points in the bottom half are moved to the left, proportional to how far they are from the horizontal axis that goes through the middle of the painting. The vectors pointing to each point in the original image are therefore tilted right or left, and made longer or shorter by the transformation. Points along the horizontal axis do not move at all when this transformation is applied. Therefore, any vector that points directly to the right or left with no vertical component is an eigenvector of this transformation, because the mapping does not change its direction. Moreover, these eigenvectors all have an eigenvalue equal to one, because the mapping does not change their length either. | An eigenvector of a mapping is any vector that does not change direction when the mapping is applied to it. |
Is the Guinness Book of World Records legitimate? | Guinness World Records, known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as The Guinness Book of Records and in previous United States editions as The Guinness Book of World Records, is a reference book published annually, listing world records both of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. The brainchild of Sir Hugh Beaver, the book was co-founded by twin brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter in Fleet Street, London, in August 1955. | The Guinness Book of World Records is a real organization that was started in 1955. The organization certifies world records by sending an official certifier to witness and record world records. Recently, the organization has come under fire for its practices of receiving money from dictatorships in exchange for certifying "seemingly random" world records, such as "The Largest Gathering of Jump Ropers Wearing Green" or "The Longest Pizza Baked in Under 10 Hours". |
When was the first Fallout game released? | Fallout is a series of post-apocalyptic role-playing video games—and later action role-playing games—created by Interplay Entertainment. The series is set during the 21st, 22nd and 23rd centuries, and its atompunk retrofuturistic setting and art work are influenced by the post-war culture of 1950s United States, with its combination of hope for the promises of technology and the lurking fear of nuclear annihilation. A forerunner of Fallout is Wasteland, a 1988 game developed by Interplay Productions to which the series is regarded as a spiritual successor.
The series' first title, Fallout, was developed by Black Isle Studios and released in 1997, and its sequel, Fallout 2, the following year. With the tactical role-playing game Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, development was handed to Micro Forté and 14 Degrees East. In 2004, Interplay closed Black Isle Studios, and continued to produce Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, an action game with role-playing elements for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, without Black Isle Studios. Fallout 3, the third entry in the main series, was released in 2008 by Bethesda Softworks, and was followed by Fallout: New Vegas, developed by Obsidian Entertainment. Fallout 4 was released in 2015, and Fallout 76 released on November 14, 2018.
Bethesda Softworks owns the rights to the Fallout intellectual property. After acquiring it, Bethesda licensed the rights to make a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) version of Fallout to Interplay. The MMORPG got as far as beta stage under Interplay, but a lengthy legal dispute between Bethesda Softworks and Interplay halted the development of the game and led to its eventual cancellation, as Bethesda claimed in court that Interplay had not met the terms and conditions of the licensing contract. The case was settled in early 2012.
Origins
The ideas of the Fallout series began with Interplay Productions' Wasteland, released in 1988. At that time, Interplay was not a publisher and used Electronic Arts for distribution of the game. According to Interplay's founder, Brian Fargo, they wanted to explore a post-apocalyptic setting and created Wasteland for that. Sometime after release, Interplay decided to shift focus and become a publisher while still developing games. Fargo wanted to continue to use the Wasteland intellectual property but could not negotiate the rights back from Electronic Arts. Still wanting to do something in a post-apocalyptic setting, Fargo and his team decided to make a new setting and game. They determined what aspects of Wasteland were positives and wrote and developed a new game around them. The result was the first Fallout games, which released nearly ten years after Wasteland. | Fallout (1997)
Released in October 1997, Fallout takes place in a post-apocalyptic Southern California, beginning in the year 2161. The protagonist, referred to as the Vault Dweller, is tasked with recovering a water chip in the Wasteland to replace the broken one in their underground shelter home, Vault 13. Afterwards, the Vault Dweller must thwart the plans of a group of mutants, led by a grotesque entity named the Master. Fallout was originally intended to run under the GURPS role-playing game system. However, a disagreement with the creator of GURPS, Steve Jackson, over the game's violent content required Black Isle Studios to develop the new SPECIAL system. Fallout's atmosphere and artwork are reminiscent of post-World War II United States during the Cold War era and the fear that the country was headed for nuclear war in the real world. |
Give me a summary of Dataphor based on this text | Dataphor is an open-source truly-relational database management system (RDBMS) and its accompanying user interface technologies, which together are designed to provide highly declarative software application development. The Dataphor Server has its own storage engine or it can be a virtual, or federated, DBMS, meaning that it can utilize other database engines for storage.
Dataphor has been praised for its adherence to relational principles, more closely so than any SQL product. | Dataphor is an open-source database management system that provides a declarative software application development that has been praised for its adherence to relational principles. The Dataphor Server has its own storage engine but it can also utilize other database engines for storage that are virtual or federated DBMS. |
Which are the top 3 states of India that account for receiving the maximum number of interstate emigrants? | The first population census in India was conducted in 1873. Since then the a decennial census has been conducted in 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, 1921, 1931, and 1941 by the Government. Since India's independence in 1947, a census has been carried out every 10 years by the Indian Government, starting from 1951. The census in India is carried out by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and is one of the largest administrative tasks conducted by a federal government.
Latest population figures are based on data from the 2011 census of India. During the decade of 2001–2011, India's annual population rising rate has slowed down from 2.15 to 1.76. Based on decennial census data, Dadra and Nagar Haveli shows the highest growth rate of 55.5 percent. It is followed by Daman and Diu (53.5 percent), Meghalaya (27.8 percent) and Arunachal Pradesh (25.9 percent). Nagaland recorded the lowest growth rate of -0.5 percent.
India has 641,000 inhabited villages and 72.2 percent of the total population reside in these rural areas. Of them, 145,000 villages have a population size of 500–999 persons; 130,000 villages have a population size of 1000–1999 and 128,000 villages have a population size of 200–499. There are 3,961 villages that have a population of 10,000 persons or more. India's 27.8 percent urban population lives in more than 5,100 towns and over 380 urban agglomerations. In the decade of 1991–2001, migration to major cities caused a rapid increase in urban population. On the basis of net migrants by last residence during the past decade, Maharashtra had the most immigration with 2.3 million, followed by the National Capital Territory of Delhi (1.7 million), Gujarat (0.68 million) and Haryana (0.67 million). Uttar Pradesh (−2.6 million) and Bihar (−1.7 million) topped the list for interstate emigration. The four states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and account for almost half (48.89 percent) of the total Indian population. | Maharashtra, National Capital of Delhi and Gujarat |
What is the process by which utilities rates are set in the US | Utility ratemaking is the formal regulatory process in the United States by which public utilities set the prices (more commonly known as "rates") they will charge consumers. Ratemaking, typically carried out through "rate cases" before a public utilities commission, serves as one of the primary instruments of government regulation of public utilities. | The price of a utility's products and services will affect its consumption. As with most demand curves, a price increase decreases demand. Through a concept known as rate design or rate structure, regulators set the prices (known as "rates" in the case of utilities) and thereby affect the consumption. With declining block rates, the per-unit price of utility consumption decreases as the energy consumption increases. Typically a declining block rate is offered only to very large consumers. If conservation is the goal, regulators can promote conservation by letting prices rise. A third possible rate design is a flat rate which charges the same price for all consumption. |
Based on the text, please give a bulleted list of Marc Andreessen’s accomplishments | Marc Lowell Andreessen (/ænˈdriːsən/ ann-DREE-sən; born July 9, 1971) is an American entrepreneur, venture capital investor, and software engineer. He is the co-author of Mosaic, the first widely used web browser with a graphical user interface; co-founder of Netscape; and co-founder and general partner of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He co-founded and later sold the software company Opsware to Hewlett-Packard. Andreessen is also a co-founder of Ning, a company that provides a platform for social networking websites. He sits on the board of directors of Meta Platforms. Andreessen was one of six inductees in the World Wide Web Hall of Fame announced at the First International Conference on the World-Wide Web in 1994. As of February 2023, his net-worth is estimated at $1.7 billion by Forbes. | Co-author of the first widely used web browser with a graphical user interface (Mosaic)
Co-founder of Netscape
Co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz
Co-founder of Opsware
Co-founder of Ning
Board member of Meta Platforms
Inductee in the World Wide Web Hall of Fame |
What is the billboard number one in the top 10 of 1980? | This is a list of Billboard magazine's Top Hot 100 songs of 1980.
No. Title Artist(s)
1 "Call Me" Blondie
2 "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II" Pink Floyd
3 "Magic" Olivia Newton-John
4 "Rock with You" Michael Jackson
5 "Do That to Me One More Time" Captain & Tennille
6 "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" Queen
7 "Coming Up" Paul McCartney
8 "Funkytown" Lipps Inc
9 "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" Billy Joel
10 "The Rose" Bette Midler | "Call Me" is a song by the American new wave band Blondie and the theme to the 1980 film American Gigolo. "Call Me" was No. 1 for six consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it became the band's biggest single and second No. 1. |
Can you tell me what the buddhist uprising is about in a few sentences? | The Buddhist Uprising of 1966 (Vietnamese: Nổi dậy Phật giáo 1966), or more widely known in Vietnam as the Crisis in Central Vietnam (Vietnamese: Biến động Miền Trung), was a period of civil and military unrest in South Vietnam, largely focused in the I Corps area in the north of the country in central Vietnam. The area is a heartland of Vietnamese Buddhism, and at the time, activist Buddhist monks and civilians were at the forefront of opposition to a series of military juntas that had been ruling the nation, as well as prominently questioning the escalation of the Vietnam War.
During the rule of the Catholic Ngô Đình Diệm, the discrimination against the majority Buddhist population generated the growth of Buddhist institutions as they sought to participate in national politics and gain better treatment. In 1965, after a series of military coups that followed the fall of the Diệm regime in 1963, Air Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ and General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu finally established a stable junta, holding the positions of Prime Minister and figurehead Chief of State respectively. The Kỳ-Thiệu regime was initially almost a feudal system, being more of an alliance of warlords than a state as each corps commander ruled his area as his own fiefdom, handing some of the taxes they collected over to the government in Saigon and keeping the rest for themselves. During that time, suspicion and tension continued between the Buddhist and Catholic factions in Vietnamese society. | The Buddhist Uprising was a civil and military crisis in South Vietnam, during 1966. At that time, civilians and Buddhist monks strongly questioned the activities schemes of military officers and the reasoning behind the Vietnam War.
The Buddhist population was discriminated against during the rule of Catholics, which spurred them into forming their own political party. After a series of military. coups in 1965, they successfully gained command of the political power. Tension remained between the two religious power. |
Based on the reference text, provide a bulleted list of the contributing factors causing World War II. | World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries, including all of the great powers, fought as part of two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. Many participants threw their economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind this total war, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and the delivery of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war.
World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in history; it resulted in an estimated 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, massacres, and disease. In the wake of the Axis defeat, Germany and Japan were occupied, and war crimes tribunals were conducted against German and Japanese leaders.
The causes of World War II are debated, but contributing factors included the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, Spanish Civil War, Second Sino-Japanese War, Soviet–Japanese border conflicts, the rise of fascism in Europe, and European tensions in the aftermath of World War I. World War II is generally considered to have begun on 1 September 1939, when Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland. The United Kingdom and France subsequently declared war on Germany on 3 September. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union had partitioned Poland and marked out their "spheres of influence" across Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania. From late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, in a military alliance with Italy, Japan and other countries called the Axis. Following the onset of campaigns in North Africa and East Africa, and the fall of France in mid-1940, the war continued primarily between the European Axis powers and the British Empire, with war in the Balkans, the aerial Battle of Britain, the Blitz of the United Kingdom, and the Battle of the Atlantic. On 22 June 1941, Germany led the European Axis powers in an invasion of the Soviet Union, opening the Eastern Front, the largest land theatre of war in history.
Japan, which aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific, was at war with the Republic of China by 1937. In December 1941, Japan attacked American and British territories with near-simultaneous offensives against Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific, including an attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbor which resulted in the United States and United Kingdom declaring war against Japan. The European Axis powers declared war on the United States in solidarity. Japan soon captured much of the western Pacific, but its advances were halted in 1942 after losing the critical Battle of Midway; later, Germany and Italy were defeated in North Africa and at Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. Key setbacks in 1943—including a series of German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily and the Italian mainland, and Allied offensives in the Pacific—cost the Axis powers their initiative and forced them into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained its territorial losses and pushed Germany and its allies back. During 1944 and 1945, Japan suffered reversals in mainland Asia, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy and captured key western Pacific islands.
The war in Europe concluded with the liberation of German-occupied territories and the invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the Fall of Berlin to Soviet troops, Hitler's suicide, and the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945. Following the refusal of Japan to surrender on the terms of the Potsdam Declaration (issued 26 July 1945), the United States dropped the first atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima on 6 August and Nagasaki on 9 August. Faced with an imminent invasion of the Japanese archipelago, the possibility of additional atomic bombings, and the Soviet Union's declared entry into the war against Japan on the eve of invading Manchuria, Japan announced on 10 August its intention to surrender, signing a surrender document on 2 September 1945.
World War II changed the political alignment and social structure of the globe and set the foundation for the international order of the world's nations during the Cold War and into present day. The United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts, with the victorious great powers—China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States—becoming the permanent members of its Security Council. The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the nearly half-century-long Cold War. In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia. Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery and expansion. Political and economic integration, especially in Europe, began as an effort to forestall future hostilities, end pre-war enmities, and forge a sense of common identity. | Although the causes of World War II are debated, contributing factors include:
- The rise of fascism in Europe
- European tensions after World War I
- Second Italo-Ethiopian War
- Spanish Civil War
- Second Sino-Japanese War
- Soviet-Japanese border conflicts |
Short Summary about 2011 Cricket World Cup | The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and for the first time in Bangladesh. India won the tournament, defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, thus becoming the first country to win the Cricket World Cup final on home soil. India's Yuvraj Singh was declared the man of the tournament. This was the first time in World Cup history that two Asian teams had appeared in the final. It was also the first time since the 1992 World Cup that the final match did not feature Australia.
Fourteen national cricket teams took part in this tournament, including 10 full members and four associate members of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The opening ceremony was held on 17 February 2011 at Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, and the tournament was played between 19 February and 2 April. The first match was played between India and Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka. | - 2011 Cricket World Cup was played in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh
- India won the tournament defeating Sri Lanka.
- Yuvraj Singh was declared the Man of the Tournament
- Opening Ceremony was held on 17 February 2011 at Dhaka |
which are the must visit places in India? | Tourism in India is important for the country's economy and is growing rapidly. The World Travel and Tourism Council calculated that tourism generated ₹13.2 lakh crore (US$170 billion) or 5.8% of India's GDP and supported 32.1 million jobs in 2021. Even though, these numbers were lower than the pre-pandemic figures; the country's economy witnessed a significant growth in 2021 after the massive downturn during 2020. The sector is predicted to grow at an annual rate of 7.8% to ₹33.8 lakh crore (US$420 billion) by 2031 (7.2% of GDP). In October 2015, India's medical tourism sector was estimated to be worth US$3 billion, and it is projected to grow to US$7–8 billion by 2020. In 2014, 184,298 foreign patients travelled to India to seek medical treatment.
Over 17.9 million foreign tourists arrived in India in 2019 compared to 17.4 million in 2018, representing a growth of 3.5%. This makes India the 22nd most visited nation in the world and 8th in Asia and Pacific . Domestic tourist visits to all states and union territories numbered 1,036.35 million in 2012, an increase of 16.5% from 2011. In 2012, National Geographic's Traveller magazine named the state Kerala as one of the "ten paradises of the world" and "50 must see destinations of a lifetime". In 2014, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh were the most popular states for tourists. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Agra and Jaipur were the five most visited cities of India by foreign tourists during the year 2015. As of 2017, worldwide, Delhi is ranked 28th by the number of foreign tourist arrivals, while Mumbai is ranked 30th, Chennai 43rd, Agra 45th, Jaipur 52nd and Kolkata 90th.
The World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Development Index 2021, which replaced its previous Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, ranks India 54th out of 117 countries overall. The last edition of the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, published in 2019, had ranked India 34th out of 140 countries overall. The report ranked the price competitiveness of India's tourism sector 13th out of 140 countries. It mentioned that India has quite good air transport infrastructure (ranked 33rd), particularly given the country's stage of development, and reasonable ground and port infrastructure (ranked 28th). The country also scored high on natural resources (ranked 14th), and cultural resources and business travel (ranked 8th). The World Tourism Organization reported that India's receipts from tourism during 2012 ranked 16th in the world, and 7th among Asian and Pacific countries.
The Ministry of Tourism designs national policies for the development and promotion of tourism. In the process, the Ministry consults and collaborates with other stakeholders in the sector including various central ministries/agencies, state governments, union territories and private sector representatives. Concerted efforts are being made to promote niche tourism products such as rural, cruise, medical and eco-tourism. The Ministry of Tourism maintains the Incredible India campaign focused on promoting tourism in India. | In 2012, National Geographic's Traveller magazine named the state Kerala as one of the "ten paradises of the world" and "50 must see destinations of a lifetime". In 2014, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh were the most popular states for tourists. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Agra and Jaipur were the five most visited cities of India by foreign tourists during the year 2015. As of 2017, worldwide, Delhi is ranked 28th by the number of foreign tourist arrivals, while Mumbai is ranked 30th, Chennai 43rd, Agra 45th, Jaipur 52nd and Kolkata 90th. |
Who is Richard Wayne Bogosian? | Richard Wayne Bogosian (born July 18, 1937) is an American diplomat. | Richard Wayne Bogosian (born July 18, 1937) is an American diplomat. He was the United States Ambassador to Chad from 1990 to 1993 and Niger from 1985 to 1988.
He graduated from Tufts College with an A.B. in 1959 and the University of Chicago with a J.D. in 1962. He joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1962. He oversaw many diplomatic posts, including at the Foreign Service Institute from 1962 to 1963, in the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs at the Department of State in 1963, at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq from 1963 to 1965, at the Foreign Service Institute again in 1965, as vice consul for the U.S. Embassy in Paris, France, from 1966 to 1968, in the Bureau of Near East and South Asian Affairs at the Department of State from 1968 to 1969, in the Bureau for Intelligence and Research at the Department of State from 1969 to 1971, and in the Foreign Service Institute for Economics in 1972.
He was chief of the economic section at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait from 1972 to 1976, and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, from 1976 to 1979. From 1976 to 1979, Bogosian was the chief of the Aviation Negotiations Division. He was the Director of East African Affairs from 1982 to 1985, and was nominated to be the United States Ambassador to Niger on August 1, 1985, by President Ronald Reagan.
From 1988 to 1990 he was the Director of the Office of Monetary Affairs.In 1990, Bogosian became the United States Ambassador to Chad from 1990 to 1993. From 1993 to 1994, he was the Coordinator at the U.S. Liaison Office in Mogadishu, Somalia, and Coordinator for Rwanda and Burundi from 1996 to 1997, after the Rwandan genocide.
Bogosian speaks Arabic and French. He is married to Claire Marie Bogosian, and has three children. |
What is One Piece? | The series focuses on Monkey D. Luffy, a young man made of rubber, who, inspired by his childhood idol, the powerful pirate Red-Haired Shanks, sets off on a journey from the East Blue Sea to find the mythical treasure, the One Piece, and proclaim himself the King of the Pirates. In an effort to organize his own crew, the Straw Hat Pirates,[Jp 5] Luffy rescues and befriends a pirate hunter and swordsman named Roronoa Zoro, and they head off in search of the titular treasure. They are joined in their journey by Nami, a money-obsessed thief and navigator; Usopp, a sniper and compulsive liar; and Sanji, an amorous but chivalrous cook. They acquire a ship, the Going Merry,[Jp 6] and engage in confrontations with notorious pirates of the East Blue. As Luffy and his crew set out on their adventures, others join the crew later in the series, including Tony Tony Chopper, an anthropomorphized reindeer doctor; Nico Robin, an archaeologist and former Baroque Works assassin; Franky, a cyborg shipwright; Brook, a skeleton musician and swordsman; and Jimbei, a whale shark-type fish-man and former member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea who becomes their helmsman. Once the Going Merry is damaged beyond repair, Franky builds the Straw Hat Pirates a new ship, the Thousand Sunny,[Jp 7] Together, they encounter other pirates, bounty hunters, criminal organizations, revolutionaries, secret agents, different types of scientists, and soldiers of the corrupt World Government, and various other friends and foes, as they sail the seas in pursuit of their dreams. | One Piece is a manga and an anime about pirates. The main protagonist is Monkey D. Luffy who became a rubber man after eating a Rubber Devil Fruit. Devil Fruit are primarily how people get powers in this world. Luffy's goal is to find the One Piece, a fabled treasure that would allow him to become the King of Pirates. His crew includes a swordsman Roronoa Zoro, a navigator Nami, a sniper Usopp, a chef Sanji, a doctor Tony Chopper, an archaeologist Nico Robin, a cyborg shipwright Franky, a skeleton musician Brook, and a fish-man Jimbei. Together they travel between islands and encounter pirates, criminal organizations, World Government officials, and many friends and enemies as they seek to fulfill their dreams. |
Please write a summary of the kinds of vehicles that are used for ambulances. | Vehicle types
In North America (US and Canada), there are four types of ambulances. There are Type I, Type II, Type III, and Type IV. Type I is based upon a heavy truck chassis-cab with a custom rear compartment that is often referred to as a "box" or "module." Type I ambulances are primarily used for Advanced Life Support (ALS), also referred to as Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MICU) in some jurisdictions, and rescue work. A Type II ambulance is based on a commercial heavy-duty van with few modifications except for a raised roof and a secondary air conditioning unit for the rear of the vehicle. These types of ambulances are primarily used for Basic Life Support (BLS) and transfer of patients but it is not uncommon to find them used for advanced life support and rescue. Type III is a van chassis-cab but with a custom-made rear compartment and has the same uses as Type I ambulances. Type IV is for smaller ad hoc patient transfer that use smaller utility vehicles in which passenger vehicles and trucks would have difficulty in traversing, such as large industrial complexes, commercial venues, and special events with large crowds; they generally do not fall under Federal Regulations.
Ambulances can be based on many types of vehicle although emergency and disaster conditions may lead to other vehicles serving as makeshift ambulances:
A modern American ambulance built on the chassis of a Ford F-450 truck, with extensive external storage
Many modern Canadian and European ambulances are built on the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis. Some, like this Niagara Region example, use custom rear compartments.
Van or pickup truck – A typical general-purpose ambulance is based on either the chassis of a van (vanbulance) or a light-duty truck. This chassis is then modified to the designs and specifications of the purchaser. Vans may either retain their original body and be upfitted inside, or may be based on a chassis without the original body with a modular box body fitted instead. Those based on pickup trucks almost always have modular bodies. Those vehicles intended for especially intensive care or require a large amount of equipment to be carried may be based on medium-duty trucks.
Car – Used either as a fly-car for rapid response or to transport patients who can sit, these are standard car models adapted to the requirements of the service using them. Some cars are capable of taking a stretcher with a recumbent patient, but this often requires the removal of the front passenger seat, or the use of a particularly long car. This was often the case with early ambulances, which were converted (or even serving) hearses, as these were some of the few vehicles able to accept a human body in a supine position. Some operators use modular-body transport ambulances based on the chassis of a minivan and station wagon.
Motorcycle and motor scooter – In urban areas, these may be used for rapid response in an emergency as they can travel through heavy traffic much faster than a car or van. Trailers or sidecars can make these patient transporting units. See also motorcycle ambulance.
Patient being loaded into a medical helicopter
Bicycle – Used for response, but usually in pedestrian-only areas where large vehicles find access difficult. Like the motorcycle ambulance, a bicycle may be connected to a trailer for patient transport, most often in the developing world. See also cycle responder.
All-terrain vehicle (ATV) – for example quad bikes; these are used for response off-road, especially at events. ATVs can be modified to carry a stretcher, and are used for tasks such as mountain rescue in inaccessible areas.
Golf Cart converted into an ambulance
Golf cart or Neighborhood Electric Vehicle – Used for rapid response at events or on campuses. These function similarly to ATVs, with less rough terrain capability, but with less noise.
Helicopter – Usually used for emergency care, either in places inaccessible by road, or in areas where speed is of the essence, as they are able to travel significantly faster than a road ambulance. Helicopter and fixed-wing ambulances are discussed in greater detail at air ambulance.
Fixed-wing aircraft – These can be used for either acute emergency care in remote areas (such as in Australia, with the 'Flying Doctors'), for patient transport over long distances (e.g. a re-patriation following an illness or injury in a foreign country), or transportation between distant hospitals. Helicopter and fixed-wing ambulances are discussed in greater detail at air ambulance.
Boat – Boats can be used to serve as ambulances, especially in island areas or in areas with a large number of canals, such as the Venetian water ambulances. Some lifeboats or lifeguard vessels may fit the description of an ambulance as they are used to transport a casualty.
Bus – In some cases, buses can be used for multiple casualty transport, either for the purposes of taking patients on journeys, in the context of major incidents, or to deal with specific problems such as drunken patients in town centres. Ambulance buses are discussed at greater length in their own article.
Trailer – In some instances a trailer, which can be towed behind a self-propelled vehicle can be used. This permits flexibility in areas with minimal access to vehicles, such as on small islands.
Horse and cart – Especially in developing world areas, more traditional methods of transport include transport such as horse and cart, used in much the same way as motorcycle or bicycle stretcher units to transport to a local clinic.
Fire engine – Fire services (especially in North America) often train firefighters to respond to medical emergencies and most apparatuses carry at least basic medical supplies. By design, most apparatuses cannot transport patients unless they can sit in the cab. | The most common types of vehicle used as an ambulance are cars, vans or pickup trucks. Depending on many factors, such as accessibility to the patient and/or medical services or the urgency of treatment, other types of vehicles are used as well, including: bicycles, all-terrain vehicles, golf carts, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, boats, busses, trailers, horse and cart, and fire engines. |
Can you tell me about Tabarra? | Tabarra agitation of 1939 was an event when some 18,000 Shias were jailed during months of March, April, and May 1939 in Lucknow, India.
A civil disobedience movement was at once started by Shias following the Congress Government communique of 31 March 1939 (which allowed reciting of previously banned Madhe-Sahaba at public meetings). Sunnis called off their civil disobedience movement but its effect on Shias was far greater than anticipated; they had the authority of two committees (Piggot committee and Allsop committee) and the practice of thirty years in support of their position. Some 1800 Shias courted arrest, including prominent Shia figures such as Syed Ali Zaheer (newly elected MLA from Allahabad-Jaunpur), the Princes of the former royal family of Awadh, Sayed Muhammad Naseer Naseer-ul-Millat the son of Maulana Nasir a respected Shia mujtahid (the eldest son, student and designated successor of Maulana Sayed Nasir Hussain of Abaqati family), Maulana Sayed Kalb-e-Husain and his son Maulana Kalb-e-Abid (both ulema of Nasirabadi family) and the brothers of Raja of Salempur and the Raja of Pirpur, important ML leaders. It was believed that Maulana Nasir himself besides the top ranking ML leaders such as Raja of Mahmudabad and Raja of Pirpur would together court arrest. Maulana Azad, appointed an arbitrator by the parties, called a conference of Shias and Sunnis, but it failed to produce a settlement. Azad conveyed to Sir Haig, the Governor, his view that the communique was 'based on inadequate appreciation of the situation and, therefore, an error of judgement'. But, this statement came just a day before the Barawafat, and a Madhe-Sahaba procession was taken out. The Shias too were allowed a counter-procession, it was disturbed and resulted in a serious riot. Several people died and police had to open fire several times. The following year i.e. 1940, the district authorities banned the public recitation of Madhe-Sahaba and Tabarra in processions and meetings held in public places. | Civil disobedient movement in 1939 is an event that is called Tabarra agitation. Around 18,000 Shias were jailed during 1939 in Lucknow, India |
Who were the original members of the Pivit band, and how many albums did they record? | Pivit is an American punk rock band hailing from Poway and Cardiff, California, formed in late 1994 by original drummer Mark McLemore, lead singer Chris Moore, and guitarist Eric Sisson in San Diego County, California. In 1995, they recorded their first demo entitled Find the Fuzz. Eventually they produced 3 albums together, Pressure in 1996, Millennium in 1998 and finally Thanks for Coming Back in 2002. | The original members were Mark McLemore on drums, lead singer Chris Moore, and guitarist Eric Sisson. They produced 3 albums together. |
What instruments did Henri Chaix play? | Chaix was born in Geneva, but both of his parents were French citizens; he studied at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève but never became a Swiss national. In 1943 he joined Loys Choquart's Dixie Dandies ensemble, and in 1951 was a sideman for Claude Aubert's band, a group he would eventually become the leader of. He also began recording under his own name in the 1950s, both on solo piano and with ensembles, and worked as a sideman for American expatriates such as Sidney Bechet, Bill Coleman, and Albert Nicholas. He worked frequently as a leader in the 1960s and did many of his own arrangements; Roger Zufferey and Michel Pilet were some of his sideman. He also worked in the 1960s with Milt Buckner, Benny Carter, Buck Clayton, Guy Lafitte, Ray Nance, Rex Stewart, and Ben Webster. | Henri Chaix was a talented musician who played the solo piano and with ensembles. |
Please give me a short bulleted list of key points about Ethiopia? | Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in Africa, the emergence of Ethiopian civilization dates back thousands of years. Due to migration and imperial expansion, it grew to include many other primarily Afro-Asiatic-speaking communities, including Amhara, Oromos, Somalis, Tigray, Afars, Sidama, Gurage, Agaw and Harari, among others. One of the first kingdoms to rise to power in the territory was the kingdom of D'mt in the 10th century BC, which established its capital at Yeha. In the first century AD the Aksumite Kingdom rose to power in the Tigray Region with its capital at Aksum and grew into a major power on the Red Sea, subjugating Yemen and Meroe. In the early fourth century, during the reign of Ezana, Christianity was declared the state religion. Ezana's reign is also when the Aksumites first identified themselves as "Ethiopians", and not long after, Philostorgius became the first foreign author to call the Aksumites Ethiopians. The Aksumite empire fell into decline with the rise of Islam in the Arabian peninsula, which slowly shifted trade away from the Christian Aksum. It eventually became isolated, its economy slumped and Aksum's commercial domination of the region ended. The Aksumites gave way to the Zagwe dynasty, who established a new capital at Lalibela before giving way to the Solomonic dynasty in the 13th century. During the early Solomonic period, Ethiopia went through military reforms and imperial expansion that allowed it to dominate the Horn of Africa. Portuguese missionaries arrived at this time | - Ethiopia is one of the older countries in Africa.
- In the first century AD the Aksumite Kingdom rose to power in the Tigray Region with its capital at Aksum
- During the early Solomonic period, Ethiopia went through military reforms and imperial expansion |
Give me a summary of 1812 war | The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. Tensions originated in long-standing differences over territorial expansion in North America and British support for Native American tribes who opposed U.S. colonial settlement in the Northwest Territory. | The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It began when the United States declared war on 18 June 1812. Although peace terms were agreed upon in the December 1814 Treaty of Ghent, the war did not officially end until the peace treaty was ratified by Congress on 17 February 1815.
Tensions originated in long-standing differences over territorial expansion in North America and British support for Native American tribes who opposed U.S. colonial settlement in the Northwest Territory. These escalated in 1807 after the Royal Navy began enforcing tighter restrictions on American trade with France and press-ganged men they claimed as British subjects, even those with American citizenship certificates. Opinion in the U.S. was split on how to respond, and although majorities in both the House and Senate voted for war, they divided along strict party lines, with the Democratic-Republican Party in favour and the Federalist Party against. News of British concessions made in an attempt to avoid war did not reach the U.S. until late July, by which time the conflict was already underway.
At sea, the far larger Royal Navy imposed an effective blockade on U.S. maritime trade, while between 1812 to 1814 British regulars and colonial militia defeated a series of American attacks on Upper Canada. This was balanced by the US winning control of the Northwest Territory with victories at Lake Erie and the Thames in 1813. The abdication of Napoleon in early 1814 allowed the British to send additional troops to North America and the Royal Navy to reinforce their blockade, crippling the American economy. In August 1814, negotiations began in Ghent, with both sides wanting peace; the British economy had been severely impacted by the trade embargo, while the Federalists convened the Hartford Convention in December to formalise their opposition to the war.
In August 1814, British troops burned Washington, before American victories at Baltimore and Plattsburgh in September ended fighting in the north. Fighting continued in the Southeastern United States, where in late 1813 a civil war had broken out between a Creek faction supported by Spanish and British traders and those backed by the U.S. Supported by U.S. militia under General Andrew Jackson, the U.S.-backed Creeks won a series of victories, culminating in the capture of Pensacola in November 1814. In early 1815, Jackson defeated a British attack on New Orleans, catapulting him to national celebrity and later victory in the 1828 United States presidential election. News of this success arrived in Washington at the same time as that of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, which essentially restored the position to that prevailing before the war. While Britain insisted this included lands belonging to their Native American allies prior to 1811, as Congress did not recognize them as independent nations, the Americans did not comply with these provisions and the British made no effort to compel them to do so. The Native Americans were subsequently pushed west of the Mississippi River. |
What temperature can I expect at the summit if I climb Mount Kinabalu | The climate of the mountain varies from humid tropical at its base to alpine at its summit. The temperature at the summit of Mount Kinabalu usually stands from −4 to 8 °C (25 to 46 °F) from December to January, and 3 to 12 °C (37 to 54 °F) from June to September. Due to the coldness of the mountain from December to January, there are a few occasions where frost and ice appear at the summit of Mount Kinabalu. Snow has been recorded three times in this area; in 1975, 1993 and 2022. | Temperature ranges from -4°C to 12 °C . |
What is the difference between the right and left side of the brain? | The lateralization of brain function is the tendency for some neural functions or cognitive processes to be specialized to one side of the brain or the other. The median longitudinal fissure separates the human brain into two distinct cerebral hemispheres, connected by the corpus callosum. Although the macrostructure of the two hemispheres appears to be almost identical, different composition of neuronal networks allows for specialized function that is different in each hemisphere. | The lateralization of brain function is the tendency for some neural functions or cognitive processes to be specialized to one side of the brain or the other. The median longitudinal fissure separates the human brain into two distinct cerebral hemispheres, connected by the corpus callosum. Although the macrostructure of the two hemispheres appears to be almost identical, different composition of neuronal networks allows for specialized function that is different in each hemisphere.
Lateralization of brain structures is based on general trends expressed in healthy patients; however, there are numerous counterexamples to each generalization. Each human's brain develops differently, leading to unique lateralization in individuals. This is different from specialization, as lateralization refers only to the function of one structure divided between two hemispheres. Specialization is much easier to observe as a trend, since it has a stronger anthropological history.
The best example of an established lateralization is that of Broca's and Wernicke's areas, where both are often found exclusively on the left hemisphere. Function lateralization, such as semantics, intonation, accentuation, and prosody, has since been called into question and largely been found to have a neuronal basis in both hemispheres. Another example is that each hemisphere in the brain tends to represent one side of the body. In the cerebellum, this is the same body side, but in the forebrain this is predominantly the contralateral side.
Language functions such as grammar, vocabulary and literal meaning are typically lateralized to the left hemisphere, especially in right-handed individuals. While language production is left-lateralized in up to 90% of right-handers, it is more bilateral, or even right-lateralized, in approximately 50% of left-handers.
Broca's area and Wernicke's area, associated with the production of speech and comprehension of speech, respectively, are located in the left cerebral hemisphere for about 95% of right-handers but about 70% of left-handers. 69 Individuals who speak multiple languages demonstrate separate speech areas for each language.
The processing of basic sensory information is lateralized by being divided into left and right sides of the body or the space around the body.
In vision, about half the neurons of the optic nerve from each eye cross to project to the opposite hemisphere, and about half do not cross to project to the hemisphere on the same side. This means that the left side of the visual field is processed largely by the visual cortex of the right hemisphere and vice versa for the right side of the visual field.
In hearing, about 90% of the neurons of the auditory nerve from one ear cross to project to the auditory cortex of the opposite hemisphere.
In the sense of touch, most of the neurons from the skin cross to project to the somatosensory cortex of the opposite hemisphere.
Because of this functional division of the left and right sides of the body and of the space that surrounds it, the processing of information in the sensory cortices is essentially identical. That is, the processing of visual and auditory stimuli, spatial manipulation, facial perception, and artistic ability are represented bilaterally. Numerical estimation, comparison and online calculation depend on bilateral parietal regions while exact calculation and fact retrieval are associated with left parietal regions, perhaps due to their ties to linguistic processing.
Rather than just being a series of places where different brain modules occur, there are running similarities in the kind of function seen in each side, for instance how right-side impairment of drawing ability making patients draw the parts of the subject matter with wholly incoherent relationships, or where the kind of left-side damage seen in language impairment not damaging the patient's ability to catch the significance of intonation in speech. This has led British psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist to view the two hemispheres as having different value systems, where the left hemisphere tends to reduce complex matters such as ethics to rules and measures, and the right hemisphere is disposed to the holistic and metaphorical.
Depression is linked with a hyperactive right hemisphere. The delusional misidentification syndromes, reduplicative paramnesia and Capgras delusion are also often the result of right hemisphere lesions.
Damage to either the right or left hemisphere, and its resulting deficits provide insight into the function of the damaged area. Left hemisphere damage has many effects on language production and perception. Damage or lesions to the right hemisphere can result in a lack of emotional prosody or intonation when speaking. Right hemisphere damage also has grave effects on understanding discourse. People with damage to the right hemisphere have a reduced ability to generate inferences, comprehend and produce main concepts, and a reduced ability to manage alternative meanings. Furthermore, people with right hemisphere damage often exhibit discourse that is abrupt and perfunctory or verbose and excessive. They can also have pragmatic deficits in situations of turn taking, topic maintenance and shared knowledge.
Lateral brain damage can also affect visual perceptual spatial resolution. People with left hemisphere damage may have impaired perception of high resolution, or detailed, aspects of an image. People with right hemisphere damage may have impaired perception of low resolution, or big picture, aspects of an image.
If a specific region of the brain, or even an entire hemisphere, is injured or destroyed, its functions can sometimes be assumed by a neighboring region in the same hemisphere or the corresponding region in the other hemisphere, depending upon the area damaged and the patient's age. When injury interferes with pathways from one area to another, alternative (indirect) connections may develop to communicate information with detached areas, despite the inefficiencies.
Broca's aphasia is a specific type of expressive aphasia and is so named due to the aphasia that results from damage or lesions to the Broca's area of the brain, that exists most commonly in the left inferior frontal hemisphere. Thus, the aphasia that develops from the lack of functioning of the Broca's area is an expressive and non-fluent aphasia. It is called 'non-fluent' due to the issues that arise because Broca's area is critical for language pronunciation and production. The area controls some motor aspects of speech production and articulation of thoughts to words and as such lesions to the area result in specific non-fluent aphasia.
Wernicke's aphasia is the result of damage to the area of the brain that is commonly in the left hemisphere above the Sylvian fissure. Damage to this area causes primarily a deficit in language comprehension. While the ability to speak fluently with normal melodic intonation is spared, the language produced by a person with Wernicke's aphasia is riddled with semantic errors and may sound nonsensical to the listener. Wernicke's aphasia is characterized by phonemic paraphasias, neologism or jargon. Another characteristic of a person with Wernicke's aphasia is that they are unconcerned by the mistakes that they are making.
Terence Hines states that the research on brain lateralization is valid as a research program, though commercial promoters have applied it to promote subjects and products far outside the implications of the research. For example, the implications of the research have no bearing on psychological interventions such as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and neurolinguistic programming, brain-training equipment, or management training.
Some popularizations oversimplify the science about lateralization, by presenting the functional differences between hemispheres as being more absolute than is actually the case. Interestingly, research has shown quite opposite function of brain lateralisation, i.e. left hemisphere creatively and chaotically links between concepts and right hemisphere tends to adhere to specific date and time, although generally adhering to the pattern of left-brain as linguistic interpretation and right brain as spatio-temporal.
In the 19th century and to a lesser extent the 20th, it was thought that each side of the brain was associated with a specific gender: the left corresponding with masculinity and the right with femininity and each half could function independently. The right side of the brain was seen as the inferior and thought to be prominent in women, savages, children, criminals, and the insane. A prime example of this in fictional literature can be seen in Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. |
What is interesting about the play Polish Bethlehem? | Lucjan Rydel, also known as Lucjan Antoni Feliks Rydel (17 May 1870 in Kraków – 8 April 1918 in Bronowice Małe), was a Polish playwright and poet from the Young Poland movement.
Life
Rydel was the son of Lucjan Rydel, a surgeon, ophthalmologist, professor and Rector of Jagiellonian University in Kraków, and of Helena Kremer.
In 1904, Rydel wrote a nativity play, Polish Bethlehem (Betlejem polskie), and staged its production in two suburbs of Kraków, Tonie and Bronowice, with local villagers as actors. It was an expression of his profound respect for rural Poland as well as the result of his flair for theatrical experimentation. Rydel left the third and the final act of his play open. In the course of history, new characters, including contemporary Polish politicians and celebrities, were added to it by various producers to make the play appeal to new audiences. | The play Polish Bethlehem, written in 1904, has the third act open to future additions, enabling future producers to add new characters to the play to update it for contemporary times. |
Based on the provided paragraph give a bullet list of the names of the countries (regions) which took part in WWI and their reasons? | World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. The first decade of the 20th century saw increasing diplomatic tension between the European great powers. This reached breaking point on 28 June 1914, when a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Austria-Hungary held Serbia responsible, and declared war on 28 July. Russia came to Serbia's defense, and by 4 August, defensive alliances had drawn in Germany, France, and Britain. German strategy in 1914 was to first defeat France, then attack Russia. However, this failed, and by the end of 1914, the Western Front consisted of a continuous line of trenches stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland. The Eastern Front was more fluid, but neither side could gain a decisive advantage, despite a series of costly offensives. Attempts by both sides to bypass the stalemate caused fighting to expand into the Middle East, the Alps, the Balkans, and overseas colonies, bringing Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, and others into the war. | The countries and regions that took part in World War I (WWI) and their reasons are as follows:
- Austria-Hungary: because their heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip.
- Serbia: because Austria-Hungary declared war against them.
- Russia: because they wanted to defend Serbia.
- Germany, France, and Britain: because they were allies with the countries already engaging in the war.
- Middle East, the Alps, the Balkans, and overseas colonies, bringing Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, and others: because the Eastern Front of the war was more fluid, but neither side could gain a decisive advantage. Both sides had attempts to overcome the stalemate leading to the war expanding into these regions and countries. |
What provoked the civil unrest incidents which started in 19th January 2023 in France based on the below passage? | A series of civil unrest incidents began in France on 19 January 2023, organised by opponents of the pension reform bill proposed by the Borne government, which would increase the retirement age from 62 to 64 years old. The strikes have led to widespread disruption, including garbage piling up in the streets and public transport cancellations. In March, the government used Article 49.3 of the constitution to force the bill through the French Parliament, sparking more protests and two failed no confidence votes, contributing to an increase in violence in protests alongside the union-organised strike action.
Several organizations, including human rights groups such as Reporters Without Borders and France's Human Rights League condemned France's crackdown on protests and also denounced the assault on journalists. In addition, the Council of Europe also criticised the "excessive use of force by agents of the state". | The civil unrest in France on 19 January 2023 was provoked by the new proposal from the Borne government to increase retirement age.The current retirement age is 62, which is proposed to be increased to 64. Opponents of the bill organised protests against the government who used Article 49.3 of the constitution to force the bill through the parliament . |
Please provide a short biography of The Needle from the passage provided. | The Needle is a fictional character, a mutant supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Mark Gruenwald, Carmine Infantino, and Al Gordon, the character first appeared in Spider-Woman #9 (December 1978). Creator Mark Gruenwald brought the character back during his run on the West Coast Avengers as a member of the villain team Night Shift, which included other former Spider-Woman foes.
After being mugged one night while leaving work, Josef Saint, an elderly tailor, lost an eye and his ability to speak. While recuperating, he discovered that he has the power to paralyze with his gaze. Seeking revenge, Saint assumed the guise of the vigilante the Needle. Armed with a yard-long needle, the mute villain attacked young men on the streets at night, sewing their mouths shut. After victimizing S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jerry Hunt, the Needle incurred the wrath of Spider-Woman, the agent's girlfriend, and she took him out with a close-range venom blast. He was subsequently arrested.
With other superhuman adventurers and criminals, the Needle was imprisoned by the Locksmith, but then freed by Spider-Woman.
The Needle joined the Night Shift, and teamed with Captain America against the Power Broker and his augmented mutates. Alongside the Night Shift, he tested Moon Knight to take over as the leader of the Night Shift. Later, alongside the Night Shift, he battled the West Coast Avengers. Alongside the Night Shift, the second Hangman, and Satannish, he battled the Avengers West Coast; his abilities had been enhanced by Satannish's black magic.
The Needle was later defeated by Armory.
Needle appears with the Night Shift, as part of the Hood's gang. They battle the Midnight Sons, and Needle impales Daimon Hellstrom with his needle, before Jennifer Kale knocks him off with a spell. He and the Night Shift are killed when the zombie virus mutates and becomes airborne. The virus cloud begins to rain blood, and reanimates the Night Shift as zombies. Dormammu assumes control of the Night Shift and uses them to fight the Midnight Sons. When Jennifer Kale and the Black Talon contain the virus within the Zombie (Simon Garth), the Night Shift members are apparently restored to normal, and the Hood teleports away with them. | The Needle is a mutant supervillain created by Mark Gruenwald, Carmine Infantino, and Al Gordon. He first appeared in Spider-Woman #9 (December 1978) and was brought back during his run on the West Coast Avengers as a member of the villain team Night Shift. He was imprisoned by the Locksmith and freed by Spider-Woman. He joined the Night Shift and teamed with Captain America against the Power Broker and his augmented mutates. He also battled the West Coast Avengers, the second Hangman, and Satannish.
He was later defeated by Armory. Needle appears with the Night Shift, as part of the Hood's gang, and they battle the Midnight Sons. They are killed when the zombie virus mutates and becomes airborne. Dormammu assumes control of the Night Shift and uses them to fight the Midnight Sons. When Jennifer Kale and the Black Talon contain the virus within the Zombie, the Night Shift members are restored to normal and the Hood teleports away with them. |
What is an apartment building? | Apartment buildings are multi-story buildings where three or more residences are contained within one structure. Such a building may be called an apartment building, apartment complex, flat complex, block of flats, tower block, high-rise or, occasionally, mansion block (in British English), especially if it consists of many apartments for rent. A high-rise apartment building is commonly referred to as a residential tower, apartment tower, or block of flats in Australia. | An apartment building is a multi-story building with at least three residences. Each residential unit within the building has many different names depending on the country or region; flat is commonly used in British English, while the term apartment is most popular in North America. |
What kind of car was The Zuk | The Żuk (pl. beetle) was a van and light truck produced in Lublin, Poland, between 1958 and 1998 by FSC. It was based on FSO Warszawa, which in turn was licensed from the Soviet passenger car GAZ-M20 Pobeda. The chassis, suspension and engine from FSO Warszawa formed the basis of the Żuk and the Nysa light vans designed in the late 1950s. About 587818 were manufactured.
The Żuk was mainly sold to state organizations, but also to individuals. After 1989, with the liberalization of the Polish economy, the Żuk was able to maintain sales to the traditional markets and expand the number sold to individual consumers. The final few years of production was in parallel to its successor, the Lublin van, as a cheaper alternative. | The Zuk (pl. beetle) was a van and light truck produced in Lublin, Poland, between 1958 and 1998 by FSC. It was based on FSO Warszawa, which in turn was licensed from the Soviet passenger car GAZ-M20 Pobeda. The chassis, suspension and engine from FSO Warszawa formed the basis of the Zuk and the Nysa light vans designed in the late 1950s. About 587818 were manufactured.
The Zuk was mainly sold to state organizations, but also to individuals. After 1989, with the liberalization of the Polish economy, the Zuk was able to maintain sales to the traditional markets and expand the number sold to individual consumers. The final few years of production was in parallel to its successor, the Lublin van, as a cheaper alternative. |
Create a bulleted list of Hawking's accomplishments based on this passage. | Hawking achieved commercial success with several works of popular science in which he discussed his theories and cosmology in general. His book A Brief History of Time appeared on the Sunday Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. Hawking was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. In 2002, Hawking was ranked number 25 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. He died in 2018 at the age of 76, after living with motor neurone disease for more than 50 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking | -His book was a bestseller for 237 weeks, which was a record
-He was a fellow of the Royal Society
-He was a Pontifical Academy of Sciences lifetime member
-He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom
-He was 25 on the 100 Greatest Britons list put out by the BBC |
What are the important points about Lunar eclipse in the given text? | A lunar eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the moon to be darkened. Such alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Earth's orbit.
This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly or very closely aligned (in syzygy) with Earth between the other two, which can happen only on the night of a full moon when the Moon is near either lunar node. The type and length of a lunar eclipse depend on the Moon's proximity to the lunar node | 1. When the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the moon to be darkened an astronomical event occurs which is known as Lunar Eclipse.
2. When moon’s orbit is closet to the earth , during the full moon phase, lunar eclipse occurs.
3. Lunar eclipse can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly aligned with Earth.
4. The type and length of a lunar eclipse depend on how close the moon is to the lunar node. |
Can you give me a short summary of the follow paragraph about the history of electronic music? | During the 1960s, digital computer music was pioneered, innovation in live electronics took place, and Japanese electronic musical instruments began to influence the music industry. In the early 1970s, Moog synthesizers and drum machines helped popularize synthesized electronic music. The 1970s also saw electronic music begin to have a significant influence on popular music, with the adoption of polyphonic synthesizers, electronic drums, drum machines, and turntables, through the emergence of genres such as disco, krautrock, new wave, synth-pop, hip hop, and EDM. In the early 1980s mass-produced digital synthesizers, such as the Yamaha DX7, became popular, and MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) was developed. In the same decade, with a greater reliance on synthesizers and the adoption of programmable drum machines, electronic popular music came to the fore. During the 1990s, with the proliferation of increasingly affordable music technology, electronic music production became an established part of popular culture. In Berlin starting in 1989, the Love Parade became the largest street party with over 1 million visitors, inspiring other such popular celebrations of electronic music. | With the advent of new electronic instruments in the 60s and 70s, namely synthesizers and drum machines, electronic music quickly gained mainstream popularity through genres like disco and hip hop. As the technology progressed through the 80s and 90s, more affordable instruments led electronic music to be even more widely embraced, cementing its status in pop culture and leading to the rise of large electronic music events around the globe. |
Who won the 2022 SEC softball Season? | The 2022 SEC softball season began play Thursday, February 10, and conference play began on Thursday, March 11. The 2022 Southeastern Conference softball tournament was May 10-14 at Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. Arkansas played Missouri in the tournament final, winning by a score of 4–0. Vanderbilt University is the only full member of the Southeastern Conference to not sponsor a softball program. | Arkansas won the SEC softball season beating Missouri by 4-0. |
Write some points about Ministry of Public Health (Thailand) using given text as a reference | In Thailand before 1888 there were no permanent, public hospitals to provide care to sick people. Temporary hospitals were set up to care for patients during epidemics, then disbanded when the epidemic subsided. Under King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) a hospital was constructed and completed in 1888 and named "Siriraj Hospital" in commemoration of the king's young son, Prince Siriraj Kakudhabhand, who had died of dysentery. King Vajiravudh, King Chulalongkorn's successor, established Department of Health on 27 November 1918.
During the reign of King Rama VIII, the Ministry of Public Health was established on 10 March 1942 as a result of the enactment of the Ministries and Departments Reorganization Act (Amendment No. 3) of B.E. 2485. Later in 1966, the date 27 November was chosen as the commemoration day of the Ministry of Public Health's foundation. | 1. There were no permanent public hospitals in Thailand prior to 1888 to care for the ill.
2. When an epidemic broke out, temporary hospitals were established to provide medical care for patients.
3. A hospital was built and finished in 1888 under King Chulalongkorn (Ram V), and given the name "Siriraj Hospital" in honour of the king's little son, Prince Siriraj Kakudhabhand, who had passed away from dysentery.
4. On November 27, 1918, King Vajiravudh, who succeeded King Chulalongkorn, created the Department of Health.
5. On March 10, 1942, under King Rama VIII, the Ministries and Departments Reorganization Act (Amendment No. 3) of B.E. 2485 was passed, which led to the creation of the Ministry of Public Health.
6. Later in 1966, the establishment of the Ministry of Public Health was commemorated on November 27. |
What is the third limb of yoga? | sanas originated in India. In his Yoga Sutras, Patanjali (c. 2nd to 4th century CE) describes asana practice as the third of the eight limbs (Sanskrit: अष्टाङ्ग, aṣṭāṅga, from अष्ट् aṣṭ, eight, and अङ्ग aṅga, limb) of classical, or raja yoga. | The third limb of yoga is know as Asana. This refers to the physical practice of yoga, or the yoga postures. By putting the body into difficult positions you achieve several key benefits. The first is you are helping your body heal pain. If you want to meditate and work on healing your mind, you need to first heal your body. Otherwise your easily distracted mind will focus on pain in your body versus the pain in your mind. Secondly, commitment to the Asana will teach you the discipline your mind needs to heal. When going into uncomfortable situations, bad patterns in the mind often arise. Stepping into discomfort actually becomes an opportunity to study the mind and change patterns of response. |
Who is Lewis Hamilton of Formula 1? | Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One, driving for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Michael Schumacher), and holds the records for the most wins (103), pole positions (103), and podium finishes (192), among others | Born and raised in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, Hamilton joined the McLaren young driver programme in 1998 at the age of 13, becoming the youngest racing driver ever to be contracted by a Formula One team. This led to a Formula One drive with McLaren for six years from 2007 to 2012, making Hamilton the first ever black driver to race in the series. In his inaugural season, Hamilton set numerous records as he finished runner-up to Kimi Räikkönen by one point. The following season, he won his maiden title in dramatic fashion—making a crucial overtake at the last corner on the last lap of the last race of the season—to become the then-youngest Formula One World Champion in history. After six years with McLaren, Hamilton signed with Mercedes in 2013.
Changes to the regulations for 2014 mandating the use of turbo-hybrid engines saw the start of a highly successful period for Hamilton, during which he won six further drivers' titles. Consecutive titles came in 2014 and 2015 during an intense rivalry with teammate Nico Rosberg. Following Rosberg's retirement in 2016, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel became Hamilton's closest rival in two championship battles, in which Hamilton twice overturned mid-season point deficits to claim consecutive titles again in 2017 and 2018. His third and fourth consecutive titles followed in 2019 and 2020 to equal Schumacher's record of seven drivers' titles. Hamilton achieved his 100th pole position and race win during the 2021 season.
Hamilton has been credited with furthering Formula One's global following by appealing to a broader audience outside the sport, in part due to his high-profile lifestyle, environmental and social activism, and exploits in music and fashion. He has also become a prominent advocate in support of activism to combat racism and push for increased diversity in motorsport. Hamilton was the highest-paid Formula One driver from 2013 to 2021, and was ranked as one of the world's highest-paid athletes by Forbes of twenty-tens decade and 2021. He was also listed in the 2020 issue of Time as one of the 100 most influential people globally, and was knighted in the 2021 New Year Honours. Hamilton was granted honorary Brazilian citizenship in 2022. |
Give me some of the most famous characters Marvel Comics has produced from this list. | Marvel counts among its characters such well-known superheroes as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Doctor Strange, Hulk, Daredevil, Wolverine, Black Panther and Captain Marvel, as well as popular superhero teams such as the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Its stable of well-known supervillains includes the likes of Doctor Doom, Magneto, Ultron, Thanos, Kang the Conqueror, Green Goblin, Galactus, Loki, and Kingpin. Most of Marvel's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with most locations mirroring real-life places; many major characters are based in New York City, New York, United States. Additionally, Marvel has published several licensed properties from other companies. This includes Star Wars comics twice from 1977 to 1986 and again since 2015. | Some of the most famous characters Marvel have produced include Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Doctor Strange, Hulk, and Wolverine. These characters are often affiliated with teams of superheroes, such as the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Guardians of the Galaxy. |
Who owns Ritz Crackers? | Ritz Crackers is a brand of snack cracker introduced by Nabisco in 1934. The original style crackers are disc-shaped, lightly salted, and approximately 46 millimetres (1.8 in) in diameter.[citation needed]. Each cracker has seven perforations and a finely scalloped edge. Today, the Ritz cracker brand is owned by Mondelēz International.
A single serving of the original cracker (about 5 crackers or 15 grams) provides 330 kilojoules (79 kilocalories) of food energy, 1 gram of protein, and 4 grams of fat; the whole wheat variety provides 290 kJ (70 kcal) and 2.5 grams of fat. | Ritz was originally owned by the consumer product brand Nabisco, although after changing ownership, it is owned by Mondelēz International. |
Is Anthology 3 the White Album | Anthology 3 is a compilation album by the Beatles, released on 29 October 1996 by Apple Records as part of The Beatles Anthology series. The album includes rarities and alternative tracks from the final three years of the band's career, ranging from the initial sessions for The Beatles (better known as "the White Album") to the last sessions for Let It Be and Abbey Road in 1969 and early 1970. It is the last in a trilogy of albums with Anthology 1 and Anthology 2, all of which tie in with the televised special The Beatles Anthology.
The album was certified 3× Platinum by the RIAA and was the group's third double album in a row to reach number one on the US charts, equalling a record set by Donna Summer in the 1970s.
The Anthology albums were remastered and made available digitally on the iTunes Store on 14 June 2011, individually and as part of the Anthology Box Set. | Anthology 3 is a compilation album by the Beatles, released on 29 October 1996 by Apple Records as part of The Beatles Anthology series. The album includes rarities and alternative tracks from the final three years of the band's career, ranging from the initial sessions for The Beatles (better known as "the White Album") to the last sessions for Let It Be and Abbey Road in 1969 and early 1970. It is the last in a trilogy of albums with Anthology 1 and Anthology 2, all of which tie in with the televised special The Beatles Anthology. |
Give me a history of Valve | Founding and Half-Life (1996–2003)
Gabe Newell (foreground) and Doug Lombardi (background), 2007
Valve was founded as Valve, LLC, in 1996 by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. Newell had spent the prior 13 years at Microsoft developing Windows, including the Windows 95 port of Doom. Wanting to move onto a new venture using their shared wealth, Newell and Harrington founded Valve, L.L.C. in Kirkland, Washington (about five miles from the Microsoft campus in Redmond), on August 24, 1996, Newell's wedding day. Alternative names considered by Newell and Harrington include Fruitfly Ensemble and Rhino Scar.
Valve's first game was Half-Life, a first-person shooter (FPS) with elements of horror. The development was aided by access to the Quake engine by id Software; Valve modified this engine into their GoldSrc engine. After struggling to find a publisher, Valve eventually signed with Sierra On-Line. Half-Life was released in November 1998 and was a critical and commercial success. With its realism, scripted sequences and seamless narrative, it had a lasting influence; according to IGN in 2014, the history of the FPS genre "breaks down pretty cleanly into pre-Half-Life and post-Half-Life eras". | Founding and Half-Life (1996–2003): Valve was founded as Valve, LLC, in 1996 by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington in Kirkland, Washington. Valve's first game is Half-Life, a first-person shooter (FPS) released in November 1998. It was developed using the modified Quake engine GoldSrc. After struggling to find a publisher, Valve eventually signed with Sierra On-Line. |
Give me the main facts about the book series about Harry Potter. | Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's conflict with Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the Ministry of Magic and subjugate all wizards and Muggles (non-magical people).
The series was originally published in English by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom and Scholastic Press in the United States. All versions around the world are printed by Grafica Veneta in Italy. A series of many genres, including fantasy, drama, coming-of-age fiction, and the British school story (which includes elements of mystery, thriller, adventure, horror, and romance), the world of Harry Potter explores numerous themes and includes many cultural meanings and references. According to Rowling, the main theme is death. Other major themes in the series include prejudice, corruption, and madness.
Since the release of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, on 26 June 1997, the books have found immense popularity, positive reviews, and commercial success worldwide. They have attracted a wide adult audience as well as younger readers and are widely considered cornerstones of modern literature. As of February 2023, the books have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide, making them the best-selling book series in history, and have been available in 85 languages. The last four books consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history, with the final instalment selling roughly 2.7 million copies in the United Kingdom and 8.3 million copies in the United States within twenty-four hours of its release.
The original seven books were adapted into an eight-part namesake film series by Warner Bros. Pictures. In 2016, the total value of the Harry Potter franchise was estimated at $25 billion, making Harry Potter one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a play based on a story co-written by Rowling.
The success of the books and films has allowed the Harry Potter franchise to expand with numerous derivative works, a travelling exhibition that premiered in Chicago in 2009, a studio tour in London that opened in 2012, a digital platform on which J. K. Rowling updates the series with new information and insight, and a pentalogy of spin-off films premiering in November 2016 with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, among many other developments. Themed attractions, collectively known as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, have been built at several Universal Destinations & Experiences amusement parks around the world. | Here are the most important facts about the book series Harry Potter:
1. Harry Potter is a series of seven books written by British author J. K. Rowling.
2. The first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published on June 26, 1997.
3. As of February 2023, more than 600 million copies of books were sold worldwide, making it the best-selling book series in history.
4. Although the book is aimed at a younger audience, the main themes of the series are death, prejudice, corruption, and madness.
5. Warner Bros. Pictures has taken the book and released a series of eight films.
6. In 2016, the total value of the Harry Potter franchise was estimated at $25 billion making Harry Potter one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. |
Using examples taken from the text give me a rundown of the primary environments found in Yellowstone National Park. | Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first national park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially the Old Faithful geyser, one of its most popular. While it represents many types of biomes, the subalpine forest is the most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion.
While Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years, aside from visits by mountain men during the early-to-mid-19th century, organized exploration did not begin until the late 1860s. Management and control of the park originally fell under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the first Secretary of the Interior to supervise the park being Columbus Delano. However, the U.S. Army was eventually commissioned to oversee the management of Yellowstone for 30 years between 1886 and 1916. In 1917, administration of the park was transferred to the National Park Service, which had been created the previous year. Hundreds of structures have been built and are protected for their architectural and historical significance, and researchers have examined more than a thousand archaeological sites.
Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,468.4 sq mi (8,983 km2), comprising lakes, canyons, rivers, and mountain ranges. Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-elevation lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest super volcano on the continent. The caldera is considered a dormant volcano. It has erupted with tremendous force several times in the last two million years. Well over half of the world's geysers and hydrothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. Lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions cover most of the land area of Yellowstone. The park is the centerpiece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest remaining nearly-intact ecosystem in the Earth's northern temperate zone. In 1978, Yellowstone was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have been documented, including several that are either endangered or threatened. The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants. Yellowstone Park is the largest, and most famous megafauna location in the contiguous United States. Grizzly bears, cougars, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk live in this park. The Yellowstone Park bison herd is the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States. Forest fires occur in the park each year; in the large forest fires of 1988, nearly one-third of the park was burnt. Yellowstone has numerous recreational opportunities, including hiking, camping, boating, fishing, and sightseeing. Paved roads provide close access to the major geothermal areas as well as some of the lakes and waterfalls. During the winter, visitors often access the park by way of guided tours that use either snow coaches or snowmobiles. | Generally considered to be the first national park in the world, Yellowstone National Park is significant in size, covering parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, and acts as the largest remaining nearly-intact ecosystems. The park is able to support many types of wildlife including Grizzly bears, cougars, wolves, mountain goats, free-ranging herds of bison and elk, as well as many types of birds and fish, because of the diversity of habitats. Forests and grasslands dominate some areas of the park, while others offer the completely different experience of mountain ranges, lakes, and rolling prairies. Some of the park's most unique features are the geysers and hydrothermal features. In fact, Yellowstone is home to over half of the world's features like these. This is due to the entire park being centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest super volcano on the continent. |
What is the Wessex Football League | The 1996–97 Wessex Football League was the 11th season of the Wessex Football League. The league champions for the second time in their history were AFC Lymington, after remaining unbeaten for the whole season. There was no promotion to the Southern League, but Petersfield Town finished bottom and were relegated.
For sponsorship reasons, the league was known as the Jewson Wessex League. | The 1996–97 Wessex Football League was the 11th season of the Wessex Football League. The league champions for the second time in their history were AFC Lymington, after remaining unbeaten for the whole season. There was no promotion to the Southern League, but Petersfield Town finished bottom and were relegated. |
Is Qumran worth to visit | Qumran (Hebrew: קומראן; Arabic: خربة قمران Khirbet Qumran) is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about 1.5 km (1 mi) from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli settlement and kibbutz of Kalya.
The Hellenistic period settlement was constructed during the reign of Hasmonean leader John Hyrcanus (134–104 BCE) or somewhat later. Qumran was inhabited by a Jewish community of the late Second Temple period, which most scholars identify with the mystic sect of the Essenes; however, other groups were also suggested. It was occupied most of the time until 68 CE and was destroyed by the Romans during the First Jewish-Roman War, possibly as late as 73 CE. It was later used by Jewish rebels during the Bar Kokhba Revolt. Today, the Qumran site is best known as the settlement nearest to the Qumran Caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were hidden, caves in the sheer desert cliffs and beneath, in the marl terrace. The principal excavations at Qumran were conducted by Roland de Vaux in the 1950s, and several later digs have been carried out.
Since the 1967 Six Day War, Qumran has been managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. | Qumran is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about 1.5 km (1 mi) from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli settlement and kibbutz of Kalya.
The Hellenistic period settlement was constructed during the reign of Hasmonean leader John Hyrcanus (134–104 BCE) or somewhat later. Qumran was inhabited by a Jewish community of the late Second Temple period, which most scholars identify with the mystic sect of the Essenes; however, other groups were also suggested. It was occupied most of the time until 68 CE and was destroyed by the Romans during the First Jewish-Roman War, possibly as late as 73 CE. It was later used by Jewish rebels during the Bar Kokhba Revolt. Today, the Qumran site is best known as the settlement nearest to the Qumran Caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were hidden, caves in the sheer desert cliffs and beneath, in the marl terrace. The principal excavations at Qumran were conducted by Roland de Vaux in the 1950s, and several later digs have been carried out.
Since the 1967 Six Day War, Qumran has been managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. |
What are the most common injuries in rowing? | Rowing is a low-impact sport with movement only in defined ranges, so that twist and sprain injuries are rare. However, the repetitive rowing action can put strain on knee joints, the spine and the tendons of the forearm, and inflammation of these are the most common rowing injuries. If one rows with poor technique, especially rowing with a curved rather than straight back, other injuries may surface, including back pains and wrist injuries. Blisters occur for almost all rowers, especially in the beginning of one's rowing career, as every stroke puts pressure on the hands, though rowing frequently tends to harden hands and generate protective calluses. Holding the oars too tightly or making adjustments to technique may cause recurring or new blisters, as it is common to feather the blade. Another common injury is getting "track bites", thin cuts on the back of one's calf or thigh caused by contact with the seat tracks at either end of the stroke. | The most common injuries in rowing are inflammation of the knees, spine and forearms. Oher common injuries also include hand blisters and track bites. |
Give me a summary of the Naked Brothers Band. | The Naked Brothers Band is an American musical comedy television series created by Polly Draper, which aired on Nickelodeon from February 3, 2007, to June 13, 2009. It depicts the daily lives of Draper's sons, who lead a faux world-renowned children's rock band in New York City. As a mockumentary, the storyline is an embellished satire of their real lives, and the fictional presence of a camera is often acknowledged. The show stars Nat Wolff and Alex Wolff, the lead singer-songwriter and drummer, respectively. Nat's fictional female interest (Allie DiMeco) and real-life friends Thomas Batuello, David Levi, and Cooper Pillot, as well as Qaasim Middleton—who has no prior acquaintance with the family—are featured as the other band members, with Draper's jazz musician husband Michael Wolff as his sons' widowed accordion-playing dad and her niece Jesse Draper portraying the group's babysitter. | The Naked Brother Bands is a TV show about the lives of Draper's sons. The storyline is a satirical version of their real lives and was aired on Nickelodeon from 2007 to 2009. |
Wha is the Dynamite!! 2010 | Dynamite!! 2010 was a mixed martial arts and kickboxing event in the annual New Year's Eve event promoted by Fighting and Entertainment Group that took place on December 31, 2010 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event included bouts that encompass the DREAM, K-1 and K-1 World MAX banners. Just as the previous Dynamite!! 2009, with the official commentator Nozomi Sasaki, the event aired on TBS in Japan and HDNet in North America.
Background
FEG president Tanikawa had stated that the company planned on holding an event together with Sengoku Raiden Championship and this event may have a similar DREAM vs SRC format as Dynamite!! 2009. However, this did not happen as SRC held its own event, World Victory Road Presents: Soul of Fight.
Tanikawa has also stated that this Dynamite!! event will most likely be shortened (to around three hours) and the annual K-1 Koshien tournament will not take place at this event.
The title fight between Bibiano Fernandes and Hiroyuki Takaya was the last in the 63 kg. (139 lbs) weight class before it gets broken into the standard MMA bantamweight and featherweight divisions. DREAM plans on holding a Grand Prix in whichever of the two weight classes the champion does not decide to fight in. After winning the title, Hiroyuki Takaya stated that he would become the Featherweight (145 lbs) Champion.
The Aoki/Nagashima fight was first announced that there would be an alternate of four rounds, with one round under MMA rules and the next round, then they will change gloves and, fight under kickboxing rules. A coin toss will determine what rules they start under. However, it has later announced that the fight will feature one three-minute kickboxing round, followed by a standard five-minute MMA round. The fighters used open-fingered gloves throughout. If no winner were decided in the eight minutes of competition, the fight would have been declared an automatic draw.
A fight between Bob Sapp and Shinichi Suzukawa in a super-heavyweight “IGF rules” bout was set to feature a rule set similar to MMA, but with no closed fist strikes. However, the fight was canceled due to Sapp attempting to re-negotiate his contract backstage prior to the event and eventually electing to withdraw from the contest. | The Dynamite!! 2010 was a mixed martial arts and kickboxing event in the annual New Year's Eve event promoted by Fighting and Entertainment Group that took place on December 31, 2010 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
The event included bouts that encompass the DREAM, K-1 and K-1 World MAX banners. Just as the previous Dynamite!! 2009, with the official commentator Nozomi Sasaki, the event aired on TBS in Japan and HDNet in North America. |
Are Schindler elevators safe | Schindler Holding Ltd. is a Swiss multinational company which manufactures escalators, moving walkways, and elevators worldwide, founded in Switzerland in 1874. Schindler produces, installs, maintains and modernizes lifts and escalators in many types of buildings including residential, commercial and high-rise buildings.
The company is present in over 140 countries and employs more than 66,000 people worldwide. The production facilities are located in Brazil, China, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, India and the United States. All operations and subsidiaries of Schindler Group are organised into Schindler Holding Ltd. (German: Schindler Holding AG, French: Schindler Holding S.A.), which is publicly traded on SIX Swiss Exchange. | Schindler Holding Ltd. is a Swiss multinational company which manufactures escalators, moving walkways, and elevators worldwide, founded in Switzerland in 1874. Schindler produces, installs, maintains and modernizes lifts and escalators in many types of buildings including residential, commercial and high-rise buildings.
The company is present in over 140 countries and employs more than 66,000 people worldwide. The production facilities are located in Brazil, China, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, India and the United States. All operations and subsidiaries of Schindler Group are organised into Schindler Holding Ltd., which is publicly traded on SIX Swiss Exchange. |
What are the highlights of the Apollo 11 mission? | Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, and Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon's surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later, and they spent about two and a quarter hours together exploring the site they had named Tranquility Base upon landing. Armstrong and Aldrin collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material to bring back to Earth as pilot Michael Collins flew the Command Module Columbia in lunar orbit, and were on the Moon's surface for 21 hours, 36 minutes before lifting off to rejoin Columbia. | Apollo 11 was the culmination of a multi year space race instigated by the Cold War, leading to the United States landing the first humans on the Moon. The mission had 3 personnel, required multiple years of preparation, and consisted of 8 key phases; launch, flight, lunar orbit, lunar descent, landing, lunar surface operations, lunar ascent, return, splashdown, and Quarantine. The Apollo 11 mission remains the most famous mission ever in the NASA program. The 3 astronauts were Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong. |
Please give me a short bulleted list of the principal fields of engineering | Main branches of engineering
For a topical guide, see Outline of engineering.
Hoover Dam
Engineering is a broad discipline that is often broken down into several sub-disciplines. Although an engineer will usually be trained in a specific discipline, he or she may become multi-disciplined through experience. Engineering is often characterized as having four main branches: chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering.
Chemical engineering
Main article: Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is the application of physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering principles in order to carry out chemical processes on a commercial scale, such as the manufacture of commodity chemicals, specialty chemicals, petroleum refining, microfabrication, fermentation, and biomolecule production.
Civil engineering
Main article: Civil engineering
Civil engineering is the design and construction of public and private works, such as infrastructure (airports, roads, railways, water supply, and treatment etc.), bridges, tunnels, dams, and buildings. Civil engineering is traditionally broken into a number of sub-disciplines, including structural engineering, environmental engineering, and surveying. It is traditionally considered to be separate from military engineering.
Electrical engineering
Main article: Electrical engineering
Electric motor
Electrical engineering is the design, study, and manufacture of various electrical and electronic systems, such as broadcast engineering, electrical circuits, generators, motors, electromagnetic/electromechanical devices, electronic devices, electronic circuits, optical fibers, optoelectronic devices, computer systems, telecommunications, instrumentation, control systems, and electronics.
Mechanical engineering
Main article: Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the design and manufacture of physical or mechanical systems, such as power and energy systems, aerospace/aircraft products, weapon systems, transportation products, engines, compressors, powertrains, kinematic chains, vacuum technology, vibration isolation equipment, manufacturing, robotics, turbines, audio equipments, and mechatronics.
Bioengineering
Main article: Biological engineering
Bioengineering is the engineering of biological systems for a useful purpose. Examples of bioengineering research include bacteria engineered to produce chemicals, new medical imaging technology, portable and rapid disease diagnostic devices, prosthetics, biopharmaceuticals, and tissue-engineered organs. | chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and bioengineering |
Write a 3 bullet summary about McDonalds from this passage? | McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger stand, and later turned the company into a franchise, with the Golden Arches logo being introduced in 1953 at a location in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1955, Ray Kroc, a businessman, joined the company as a franchise agent and proceeded to purchase the chain from the McDonald brothers. McDonald's had its previous headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, but moved its global headquarters to Chicago in June 2018.
McDonald's is the world's largest fast food restaurant chain, serving over 69 million customers daily in over 100 countries in more than 40,000 outlets as of 2021. McDonald's is best known for its hamburgers, cheeseburgers and french fries, although their menu also includes other items like chicken, fish, fruit, and salads. Their best-selling licensed item are their french fries, followed by the Big Mac. The McDonald's Corporation revenues come from the rent, royalties, and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. McDonald's is the world's second-largest private employer with 1.7 million employees (behind Walmart with 2.3 million employees). As of 2022, McDonald's has the sixth-highest global brand valuation. | McDonald's is an American multinational fast food chain founded in 1940 in San Bernardino California, United States.
It is currently the largest fast food restaurant chain in the world best known for its hamburgers, cheese burgers and french fries.
McDonald's is the world's second largest private employer with 1.7 million employees and has the sixth largest global brand valuation. |
When was the theory of comparative advantage developed? | In an economic model, agents have a comparative advantage over others in producing a particular good if they can produce that good at a lower relative opportunity cost or autarky price, i.e. at a lower relative marginal cost prior to trade. Comparative advantage describes the economic reality of the work gains from trade for individuals, firms, or nations, which arise from differences in their factor endowments or technological progress. (The absolute advantage, comparing output per time (labor efficiency) or per quantity of input material (monetary efficiency), is generally considered more intuitive, but less accurate — as long as the opportunity costs of producing goods across countries vary, productive trade is possible.)
David Ricardo developed the classical theory of comparative advantage in 1817 to explain why countries engage in international trade even when one country's workers are more efficient at producing every single good than workers in other countries. He demonstrated that if two countries capable of producing two commodities engage in the free market (albeit with the assumption that the capital and labour do not move internationally), then each country will increase its overall consumption by exporting the good for which it has a comparative advantage while importing the other good, provided that there exist differences in labor productivity between both countries. Widely regarded as one of the most powerful yet counter-intuitive insights in economics, Ricardo's theory implies that comparative advantage rather than absolute advantage is responsible for much of international trade. | The classical theory of comparative advantage was developed in 1817 by David Ricardo. |
List down some points on well the movie Oasis of the Zombies was perceived after launch | Writing in The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, academic Peter Dendle stated the film has had a negative reception, but it "presents a simple, unhurried, and unpretending appreciation of zombies and their habitat, a fresh and provocative desert landscape." Ian Jane of DVD Talk rated it 3/5 stars and wrote, "It's terrible, but somehow trance inducing in its own bizarre way." Gordon Sullivan of DVD Verdict wrote, "It's really a mess of tepid Eurosleaze masquerading as a zombie flick, and it doesn't even do that well." | 1. Despite receiving a poor review, the movie, according to academic Peter Dendle, "presents a simple, unhurried, and unpretentious appreciation of zombies and their habitat, a fresh and provocative desert landscape."
2. It received a 3/5 star rating from Ian Jane of DVD Talk, who also stated, "It's terrible, but somehow trance inducing in its own bizarre way."
3. "It's really a mess of tepid Eurosleaze masquerading as a zombie flick, and it doesn't even do that well," Gordon Sullivan of DVD Verdict commented. |
From the given text, Provide some info regarding consistory | In the Roman Catholic Church a consistory is a formal meeting of the College of Cardinals called by the pope. There are two kinds of consistories, extraordinary and ordinary. An "extraordinary" consistory is held to allow the pope to consult with the entire membership of the College of Cardinals. An "ordinary" consistory is ceremonial in nature and attended by cardinals resident in Rome. For example, the pope elevates new cardinals to the College at a consistory; Pope Francis has called consistories for ceremonies of canonization. | 1. A consistory is a formal gathering of the College of Cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church that is summoned by the pope.
2. Consistories come in two varieties: remarkable and ordinary.
3. The pope can consult with the full College of Cardinals by calling a "extraordinary" consistory.
4. Cardinals who live in Rome attend "ordinary" consistories, which are ceremonial in nature.
5. Pope Francis has convened consistories for canonization ceremonies, for instance, where he elevates new cardinals to the College of Cardinals. |
Who is Cindy Robinson? | Cindy Robinson is an American voice actress who voices in animations and video games. Some of her major roles are Makoto Nanaya and Gii from the Blazblue series, Betty Boop in commercials, Queen Beryl in Sailor Moon, Chitose Nanbu in Ah My Buddha, Kukaku Shiba, Miyako Shiba, Jinta Hanakari (kid) and Kiyone Kotetsu in Bleach, Zola in the Blue Dragon series, Madeline Hatter in "Ever After High" Minerva and Hinoka in Fire Emblem. She also makes an uncredited appearance as the voice of the Purge Emergency Broadcast System in The Purge franchise.
Robinson is best known for her role as Amy Rose in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise since 2010. | Cindy Robinson is an American voice actress best known for her role as Amy Rose in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise since 2010. |
Summarize what Harry Potter is about | Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's conflict with Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the Ministry of Magic and subjugate all wizards and Muggles (non-magical people).
The series was originally published in English by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom and Scholastic Press in the United States. All versions around the world are printed by Grafica Veneta in Italy. A series of many genres, including fantasy, drama, coming-of-age fiction, and the British school story (which includes elements of mystery, thriller, adventure, horror, and romance), the world of Harry Potter explores numerous themes and includes many cultural meanings and references. According to Rowling, the main theme is death. Other major themes in the series include prejudice, corruption, and madness.
Since the release of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, on 26 June 1997, the books have found immense popularity, positive reviews, and commercial success worldwide. They have attracted a wide adult audience as well as younger readers and are widely considered cornerstones of modern literature. As of February 2023, the books have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide, making them the best-selling book series in history, and have been available in 85 languages. The last four books consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history, with the final instalment selling roughly 2.7 million copies in the United Kingdom and 8.3 million copies in the United States within twenty-four hours of its release.
The original seven books were adapted into an eight-part namesake film series by Warner Bros. Pictures. In 2016, the total value of the Harry Potter franchise was estimated at $25 billion, making Harry Potter one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a play based on a story co-written by Rowling.
The success of the books and films has allowed the Harry Potter franchise to expand with numerous derivative works, a travelling exhibition that premiered in Chicago in 2009, a studio tour in London that opened in 2012, a digital platform on which J. K. Rowling updates the series with new information and insight, and a pentalogy of spin-off films premiering in November 2016 with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, among many other developments. Themed attractions, collectively known as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, have been built at several Universal Destinations & Experiences amusement parks around the world. | Harry Potter is a book series of seven novels written by author J. K. Rowling. The novels are about the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's conflict with Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the Ministry of Magic and subjugate all wizards and Muggles (non-magical people). |
Who is the main character of Naruto? | Naruto is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. The story is told in two parts—the first set in Naruto's pre-teen years, and the second in his teens. The series is based on two one-shot manga by Kishimoto: Karakuri (1995), which earned Kishimoto an honorable mention in Shueisha's monthly Hop Step Award the following year, and Naruto (1997). | The main character of Naruto is Naruto Uzumaki, a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village. His dream in life is to become the Hokage, the strongest ninja in his village. However, he never achieves this, and dies in his battle again Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki, after attempting to avenge his mentor's death. He is then revived by Obito Uchiha using the rinnegan's powers, which can trade the user's life for another's. Naruto then returns to Pain and uses his infamous talk-no-jutsu to convince Pain to stop being evil, which succeeds. |
Who are the top 4 in EPL? | The 2000s saw the rise of first Liverpool, and then Arsenal to real competitiveness, Chelsea finally breaking the duopoly by winning in 2004-05. The dominance of the so-called "Top Four" clubs. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United saw them finish at the top of the table for the bulk of the decade, thereby guaranteeing qualification for the UEFA Champions League. Only three other clubs managed to qualify for the competition during this period: Newcastle United (2001–02 and 2002–03), Everton (2004–05) and Tottenham Hotspur (2009–10) – each occupying the final Champions League spot, with the exception of Newcastle in the 2002–03 season, who finished third.
Following the 2003–04 season, Arsenal acquired the nickname "The Invincibles" as it became the first, and to date, only club to complete a Premier League campaign without losing a single game.
In May 2008, Kevin Keegan stated that "Top Four" dominance threatened the division: "This league is in danger of becoming one of the most boring but great leagues in the world." Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said in defence: "There are a lot of different tussles that go on in the Premier League depending on whether you're at the top, in the middle or at the bottom that make it interesting."
Between 2005 and 2012 there was a Premier League representative in seven of the eight Champions League finals, with only "Top Four" clubs reaching that stage. Liverpool (2005), Manchester United (2008) and Chelsea (2012) won the competition during this period, with Arsenal (2006), Liverpool (2007), Chelsea (2008) and Manchester United (2009 and 2011) all losing Champions League finals. Leeds United were the only non-"Top Four" side to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, in the 2000–01 season. There were three Premier League teams in the Champions League semi-finals in 2006–07, 2007–08, and 2008–09, a feat only ever achieved five times (along with Serie A in 2002–03 and La Liga in 1999–2000).
Additionally, between the 1999–2000 and 2009–10 seasons, four Premier League sides reached UEFA Cup or Europa League finals, with only Liverpool managing to win the competition in 2001. Arsenal (2000), Middlesbrough (2006) and Fulham (2010) all lost their finals.
Although the group's dominance was reduced to a degree after this period with the emergence of Manchester City and Tottenham, in terms of all-time Premier League points won they remain clear by some margin. As of the end of the 2021–22 season – the 27th season of the Premier League – Liverpool, in fourth place in the all-time points table, were over 300 points ahead of the next team, Tottenham Hotspur. They are also the only teams to maintain a winning average of over 50% throughout their entire Premier League tenures. | Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea are know as the "Top Four" in the English Premier league. |
How many variants of the PrintNightmare existed? | PrintNightmare was a critical security vulnerability affecting the Microsoft Windows operating system. The vulnerability occurred within the print spooler service. There were two variants, one permitting remote code execution (CVE-2021-34527), and the other leading to privilege escalation (CVE-2021-1675). A third vulnerability (CVE-2021-34481) was announced July 15, 2021, and upgraded to remote code execution by Microsoft in August.
On July 6, 2021, Microsoft started releasing out-of-band (unscheduled) patches attempting to address the vulnerability. Due to its severity, Microsoft released patches for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2012, despite being out of their mainstream support period. The patches resulted in some printers ceasing to function. Researchers have noted that the vulnerability has not been fully addressed by the patches. After the patch is applied, only administrators account on Windows print server, will be able to install printer drivers, as part of the vulnerability related to the ability of non-administrators to install printer drivers on the system, such as shared printers on system without sharing password protection.
The organization which discovered the vulnerability, Sangfor, published a proof of concept in a public GitHub repository. Apparently published in error, or as a result of a miscommunication between the researchers and Microsoft, the proof of concept was deleted shortly after. However, several copies have since appeared online. | There are two variants of the PrintNightmare, one permitting remote code execution and the other one leading to privilege escalation. |
What is a console war in video games? | In the video game industry, a console war describes the competition between two or more video game console manufacturers in trying to achieve better consumer sales through more advanced console technology, an improved selection of video games, and general marketing around their consoles. While console manufacturers are generally always trying to out-perform other manufacturers in sales, these console wars engage in more direct tactics to compare their offerings directly against their competitors or to disparage the competition in contrast to their own, and thus the marketing efforts have tended to escalate in back-and-forth pushes.
While there have been many console wars to date, the term became popular between Sega and Nintendo during the late 1980s and early 1990s as Sega attempted to break into the United States video game market with its Sega Genesis console. Through a novel marketing approach and improved hardware, Sega had been able to gain a majority of the video game console market by 1991, three years after the Genesis’ launch. This caused back and forth competition between the two companies throughout the early 1990s. However, Nintendo eventually regained its market share and Sega stopped making home console hardware by 2001. | The video game console market started in 1972 with the release of the first home console, the Magnavox Odyssey. As more manufacturers entered the market and technology improved, the market began to coalesce around the concept of console generations, groupings of consoles with similar technical specifications that vied in the consumer marketplace. Since 1972, there have been nine such console generations, with two to three dominant manufacturers controlling the marketplace as an oligopoly.
As with most industries without a single dominant leader, console manufacturers have marketed their products in a manner to highlight them in a more favorable manner compared to their competitors', or to focus on features that their competitors may lack, often in aggressive manners. For example, console manufacturers in the 1980s and 1990s heavily relied on the word size of the central processor unit, emphasizing that games had better capabilities with 16-bit processors over 8-bit ones. This type of aggressive marketing led video game journalists to call the competitive marketing a "war" or "battle" as early as August 1988. As each new console generation emerged with new marketing approaches, journalists and consumers continued to use variations of the "war" language, including "system wars" and "console wars". By the early 2000s, the term "console war" was most commonly used to describe heated competition between console manufacturers within any generation.
While not the only console war, the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo for dominance of the North American video game market in the late 1980s and early 1990s is generally the most visible example of a console war. It established the use of aggressive marketing and advertising tactics by each company to try to gain control of the marketplace, and ended around 1995 when a new player, Sony, entered and disrupted the console space.
The United States video game industry suffered a severe market crash in 1983 from numerous factors which led to a larger market recession and increasing popularity of personal computers as a video game platform. A key contributing factor to the crash was the loss of publishing control for console games. Early success by some of the first third-party developers like Activision for the Atari VCS console led to venture capitalists bringing in teams of inexperienced programmers to try to capture the same success, but only managed to flood the market with poor quality games, which made it difficult for good quality games to sell. The video game crash impacted other factors in the industry that were already in decline, such as video game arcades.
In Japan, Nintendo had released its Famicom (Family Computer) console in 1983, one of the first consoles of the third generation or the "8-bit" generation. Japan did not have a similar third-party development system in place, and Nintendo maintained control on the manufacturing of game cartridges for the Famicom using a licensing model to limit which third-party games were published on it. The Famicom did launch with a technical fault that Nintendo scrambled to fix, but by the end of 1984, the Famicom was the best-selling console in Japan. Nintendo looked to release the unit in the United States, but recognized that the market was still struggling from the 1983 crash. Nintendo took several steps to redesign the Famicom prior to a United States launch. It was made to look like a VCR unit rather than a console, and was given the name the "Nintendo Entertainment System" to distance it from being a video game console. Further, Nintendo added a special 10NES lockout system that worked as a lock-and-key system with game cartridges to further prevent unauthorized games from being published for the system and avoid the loss of publishing control that had caused the 1983 crash. The NES revitalized the U.S. video game industry and established Nintendo as the dominant name in video game consoles over Atari. In lifetime sales, the NES had sold nearly 62 million units worldwide, with 34 million in North America.
At the same time, Sega was looking to get into the video game console industry as well, having been a successful arcade game manufacturer, but due to the downturn in arcade game business, looked to use that expertise for the home market. They released the SG-1000 console in Japan the same day as the Famicom in 1983, but sold only 160,000 units of the SG-1000 in its first year.
Sega redesigned the SG-1000 twice to try to build a system to challenge Nintendo's dominance; the SG-1000 Mark II remained compatible with the SG-1000 but failed to gain any further sales. The next iteration, the Sega Mark III, was released in 1985, using Sega's arcade hardware for its internals to provide more refined graphics. The console was slightly more powerful than the Famicom, and Sega's marketing attempted to push on the more advanced graphics their system offered over the Famicom. However, Sega found that Nintendo had also contracted other developers to only develop their games exclusive to the Famicom, and Sega was forced to develop their own titles or to port the games from the other developers themselves, limiting the size of the Mark III's library in Japan. Sega attempted to follow Nintendo with a worldwide release of the Mark III, rebranded as the Master System. The Master System was released in the United States in 1986, but Nintendo had similar licensing practices in the U.S. to keep developers exclusive to the NES, limiting the library of games that Sega could offer and to also ensure that another gaming crash didn't begin. Further, Sega's third-party distributor, the toy company Tonka, opted against localizing several of the Japanese games Sega had created, further capping the game library Sega could offer in the U.S. Only a total estimated two million systems were sold.
The Sega and Nintendo console war primarily centered on the launch of the Sega Genesis to try to outsell the Nintendo Entertainment System in the United States.
The fourth generation of video game consoles was started by the launch of NEC's PC Engine in 1987 in Japan. While the PC Engine used an 8-bit CPU, it included 16-bit graphic rendering components, and NEC marketed this heavily as a 16-bit game console to distinguish it from the Famicom and Mark III; when NEC brought the PC Engine worldwide, it was rebranded as the "TurboGrafx-16" to emphasize this. After the release of the TurboGrafx-16, use of the bit designation caught on. Which led manufacturers to focus their advertising heavily on the number of bits in a console system for the next two console generations.
NEC was another competitor to Sega and Nintendo. Following a similar path they had done for the Mark III, Sega used their arcade game technology, now using 16-bit processor boards, and adapted those into a home console, released in Japan in October 1988 as the Mega Drive. Compared to its prior consoles, the Mega Drive was designed to be more mature-looking and less like a toy compared to the Famicom to appeal to an older demographic of gamers, and "16-bit" was emblazoned on the console's case to emphasize this feature. While the system was positively received by gaming magazines like Famitsu, it was overshadowed by the release a week prior of Super Mario Bros. 3 for the Famicom.
As with the Master System, Sega also planned for a major push of the Mega Drive into the United States to challenge Nintendo's dominance among other markets, with the unit rebranded as the Sega Genesis. Sega was dissatisfied with Tonka's handling of the Master System and so sought a new partner through the Atari Corporation led by Jack Tramiel. Tramiel was bullish on the Genesis due to its cost, and turned down the offer, instead focusing more on the company's computer offerings. Sega instead used its dormant Sega of America branch to run a limited launch of the console in August 1989 in test markets of New York City and Los Angeles, with its launch system being bundled with the port of the arcade game Altered Beast.
In October 1989, the company named former Atari Entertainment Electronics Division president Michael Katz as CEO of Sega of America to implement a marketing strategy for a nation-wide push of the Genesis with a target of one million consoles. Katz used a two-prong strategy to challenge Nintendo. The first was to stress the arcade-like capabilities of the Genesis with the capabilities of games like Altered Beast compared to the simpler 8-bit graphics of the NES, and devising slogans such as "Genesis does what Nintendon't."Katz also observed that Nintendo still held most of the rights to arcade game ports for the NES, so the second part of his strategy was to work with the Japanese headquarters of Sega to pay celebrities for their naming rights for games like Pat Riley Basketball, Arnold Palmer Golf, Joe Montana Football, and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker.
Most of these games were developed by Sega's Japanese programmers, though notably, Joe Montana Football had originally been developed by Mediagenic, the new name for Activision after it had become more involved in publishing and business application development alongside games. Mediagenic had started a football game which Katz wanted to brand under Joe Montana's name, but unknown to Katz at the time, the game was only partially finished due to internal strife at Mediagenic. After the deal had been completed and Katz learned of this, he took the game to Electronic Arts. Electronic Arts had already made itself a significant force in the industry as they had been able to reverse engineer the cartridge format for both the NES and the Genesis, though Electronic Arts' CEO Trip Hawkins felt it was better for the company to develop for the Genesis. Electronic Arts used their reverse engineering knowledge as part of their negotiations with Sega to secure a freer licensing contract to develop openly on the Genesis, which proved beneficial for both companies. At the time Katz had secured Mediagenic's Joe Montana football, Electronic Arts was working on its John Madden Football series for personal computers. Electronic Arts was able to help bring Joe Montana Football, more as an arcade title compared to the strategic John Madden Football, to reality, as well as bringing John Madden Football over as a Genesis title.
The second push in 1991
The Genesis still struggled in the United States against Nintendo, and only sold about 500,000 units by mid-1990. Nintendo had released Super Mario Bros. 3 in February 1990 which further drove sales away from Sega's system. Nintendo themselves did not seem to be affected by either Sega's or NEC's entry into the console market. Sega's president Hayao Nakayama wanted the company to develop an iconic mascot character and build a game around it as one means to challenge Nintendo's own Mario mascot. Company artist Naoto Ohshima came up with the concept of Sonic the Hedgehog, a fast anthropomorphic character with an "attitude" that would appeal to teenagers and incorporating the blue color of Sega's logo, and Yuji Naka helped to develop the game Sonic the Hedgehog to showcase the character as well as the graphics and processing speed of the Genesis.The game was ready by early 1991 and launched in North America in June 1991.
Separately, Sega fired Katz and replaced him with Tom Kalinske as Sega of America's new CEO in mid-1990. Kalinske had been president of Mattel and did not have much experience in video games but recognized the razor and blades model, and developed a new strategy for Sega's push to challenge Nintendo's dominance in America with four key decisions, which included cutting the price of the Genesis from $189 to $149, and continue the same aggressive marketing campaigns to make the Genesis look "cool" over the NES and of Nintendo's upcoming Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Further, Kalinske pushed hard for American developers like Electronic Arts to create games on the Genesis that would better fit American preferences, particularly sports simulation games which the console had gained a reputation for. Finally, Kalinske insisted on making Sonic the Hedgehog the bundled game on the system following its release in June 1991, replacing Altered Beast and even offering those that had purchased a Genesis with Altered Beast a trade-in replacement for Sonic.
Under Kalinske, Sega also revamped their advertising approach, aiming for more of a young adult audience, as Nintendo still was positioning the SNES as a child-friendly console. Advertising focused on Sonic, the edgier games in the Genesis library, and its larger library of sports games which appealed to this group. Television ads for the Genesis and its games ended with the "Sega Scream" – a character shouting the name "Sega" to the camera in the final shot – which also caught on quickly.
These changes, all predating the SNES's planned North American release in September 1991, gave Sega its first gain on Nintendo in the U.S. market. Further, the price cut to $149 made the Genesis a cheaper option than the planned $199 price for the SNES led many families to purchase the Genesis instead of waiting for the SNES. The Genesis had a larger library of games for the U.S. with over 150 titles by the time the SNES launched alongside eight games, and Sega continued to push out titles that drew continuous press throughout the year, whereas with the SNES, its game library was generally held up by flagship Mario and Zelda games that only came at out once a year, along with less which further made the Genesis a more desirable option.
For Nintendo, up until 1991, they had been passive towards Sega's approach in North America, but as the SNES launch approach, the company recognized that they were losing ground. The company shifted their advertising in North America to focus on more of the advanced features of the SNES that were not present in the Genesis, such as its Mode 7 to create simulated 3D perspective effects.The initial shipment of one million SNES units sold out quickly and a total of 3.4 million SNES were sold by the end of 1991, a record for a new console launch, but the Genesis maintained strong sales against the SNES. The Genesis's resilience against the SNES led several of Nintendo's third-party developers to break their exclusive development agreements with Nintendo and seek out licenses to also develop for Genesis. Including Acclaim, Konami, Tecmo, Taito, and Capcom. The latter of which arranged to have a special licensing mechanism with Sega, allowing them to publish select titles exclusively for the Genesis.
During this period, the push for marketing by both Nintendo and Sega led to the growth of video game magazines. Nintendo had already established Nintendo Power in 1988 in part to serve as a help guide for players on its popular titles, and was able to use this further to advertise the SNES and upcoming games. Numerous other titles grew in the late 1980s and early 1990s, giving Sega the opportunity to market its games heavily in these publications.
The war escalates in 1992 and 1993
Nintendo publicly acknowledged that it knew it was no longer in the dominant position in the console market by 1992. A year into the SNES's release, the SNES's price was lowered to $149 to match the Genesis, to which Sega reduced the Genesis to $129 shortly after. The SNES was helped by Capcom's decision to maintain exclusivity of its home port of its popular brawler arcade game Street Fighter II: The World Warrior to the SNES when it was released in June 1992. While the SNES outsold the Genesis in the U.S. in 1992. the Genesis still had a larger install base. By the start of 1993, the Genesis had captured about 55% of the market, a stark contrast to 1990 when Nintendo had controlled 90% of the market.
The success of Street Fighter II both as an arcade game and as a home console title led to the growth of the fighting game genre, and numerous variations from other developers followed. Of significant interest was Midway's Mortal Kombat, released to arcades in 1992. Compared to most other fighting games at the time, Mortal Kombat was much more violent. The game showed combatants’ blood splatter during combat and allowed players to end matches in graphically intense "fatalities.” Because of its controversial style and gameplay, the game proved extremely popular in arcades.
By 1993, Both Nintendo and Sega recognized the need to have Mortal Kombat on their consoles. However, Nintendo, fearing issues with the game’s violence, licensed a “clean” version of the game from Acclaim for the SNES. Which included replacing the blood splatter with sweat and removing the aforementioned fatalities. Sega also licensed a censored version of the game for the Genesis. However, players could enter a cheat code that reverted the game back to its original arcade version. Both home versions were released in September, and approximately 6.5 million units were sold over the game’s lifetime. But the Genesis version was more popular with three to five times more sales than its SNES counterpart.
External video
video icon C-SPAN footage of the first congressional hearing on December 9, 1993.
The popularity of the home console version of Mortal Kombat, coupled with other moral panics in the early 1990s, led to concerns from parents, activists and lawmakers in the United States, leading up to the 1993 congressional hearings on video games first held in December. Led by Senators Joe Lieberman and Herb Kohl, the Senate Committees on Governmental Affairs and the Judiciary brought several of the video game industry leaders, including Howard Lincoln, vice president of Nintendo of America, and Bill White, vice president of Sega of America, to discuss the way they marketed games like Mortal Kombat and Night Trap on consoles to children. Lincoln and White accused each other's companies of creating the issue at hand. Lincoln stated that Nintendo had taken a curated approach to selecting games for their consoles, and that violent games had no place in the market. White responded that Sega purposely was targeting an older audience than Nintendo, and had created a ratings system for its games that it had been trying to encourage the rest of the industry to use; further, despite Nintendo's oversight, White pointed out that there were still many Nintendo titles that incorporated violence.With neither Lincoln nor White giving much play, Lieberman concluded the first hearing with a warning that the industry needs to come together with some means to regulate video games or else Congress would pass laws to do this for them.
By the time of the second hearing in March 1994, the industry had come together to form the Interactive Digital Software Association (today the Entertainment Software Association) and were working to establish the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), a ratings panel, which ultimately was introduced by September 1994. Despite Sega offering its ratings system as a starting point, Nintendo refused to work with that as they still saw Sega as their rival, requiring a wholly new system to be created. The ESRB eventually established a form modelled off the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)'s rating system for film, and the committee was satisfied with the proposed system and allowed the video game industry to continue without further regulations.
The arrival of Sony and the end of the war
The Sega Saturn (top) and Nintendo 64 (middle) struggled against Sony's newcomer, the PlayStation, which ultimately ended Sega and Nintendo's console war.
In 1994 and 1995, there was a contraction in the video game industry, with NPD Group reporting a 17% and 19% year-to-year drop in revenue. While Sega had been outperforming Nintendo in 1993, it still carried corporate debt while Nintendo remained debt-free from having a more dominant position in the worldwide market, even beating Sega in the North American and US market winning the 16 bit console war. To continue to fight Nintendo, Sega's next console was the Sega Saturn, first released in November 1994 in Japan. It brought in technology used by Sega's arcade games that used 3d polygonal graphics, and launch titles featured home versions of these arcade games including Virtua Fighter. While Virtua Fighter was not a pack-in game, sales of the title were nearly 1:1 with the console in Japan. Sega, recognizing that they had numerous consoles with disparate games they were now trying to support, decided to put most of their attention onto the Saturn line going forward, dropping support for the Genesis despite its sales still being strong in the United States at the time.
At the same time, a new competitor in the console marketplace emerged, Sony Computer Entertainment, with the introduction of the PlayStation in December 1994. Sega, aware of Sony's potential competition in Japan, made sure to have enough Saturns ready for sale on the day the PlayStation first shipped as to overwhelm Sony's offering.
Both Sega and Sony turned to move these units to the North American market. With the formation of the ISDA, a new North American tradeshow, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) was created in 1995 to focus on video games, to distinguish it from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which covered all home electronics. Nintendo, Sega and Sony gave their full support to E3 in 1995. Sega believed they had the stronger position going into E3 over Sony, as gaming publications, comparing the Saturn to the PlayStation, rated the Saturn as the better system. At the first E3 in May 1995, Sega's Kalinske premiered the North American version of the Saturn, announced its various features and its selling price of $399, and said that while it would officially launch that same day, they had already sent a number of systems to selected vendors for sale. Sony's Olaf Olafsson of Sony Electronic Publishing began to cover the PlayStation features, then invited Steve Race, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America to the stage. Race stated the launch price of the PlayStation, "$299", and then left to "thunderous applause". The surprise price cut caught Sega off-guard, and, in addition to several stores pulling Sega from their lineup due to being shunned from early Saturn sales, the higher price point made it more difficult for them to sell the system. When the PlayStation officially launched in the United States in September 1995, its sales over the first two days exceeded what the Saturn had sold over the prior five months. Because Sega had invested heavily on Saturn into the future, Sony's competition drastically hurt the company's finances.
In the case of Nintendo, they bypassed the 32-bit CPU and instead their next offering was the Nintendo 64, a 64-bit CPU console first released in June 1996. While this gave them powerful capabilities such as 3D graphics to keep up and surpass those on the Saturn and PlayStation, it was still a cartridge-based system limiting how much information could be stored for each game. This decision ultimately cost them Square Soft who moved their popular Final Fantasy series over to the PlayStation line to take advantage of the larger space on optical media. The first PlayStation game in the series, Final Fantasy VII, drove sales of the PlayStation, further weakening Nintendo's position and driving Sega further out of the market.
By this point, the console war between Nintendo and Sega had evaporated, with both companies now facing Sony as their rival. Sega made one more console, the Dreamcast, which had a number of innovative features including a built-in modem for online connectivity, but the console's lifespan was short-lived in part due to the success of Sony's next product, the PlayStation 2, one of the best-selling home consoles of all time. Sega left the home console hardware business in 2001 to focus on software development and licensing. Nintendo remains a key player in the home console business, but more recently has taken a "blue ocean strategy" approach to avoid competing directly with Sony or Microsoft on a feature-for-feature basis with consoles like the Wii, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo Switch.
The Sega/Nintendo console war is the subject of the non-fiction novel Console Wars by Blake Harris in 2014, as well as a film adaption/documentary of the book in 2020.
Sega and Nintendo have since collaborated on various software titles. Sega has developed a biennial Mario & Sonic at the Olympics series of sports games based on the Summer and Winter Olympics since 2008 featuring characters from both the Super Mario and Sonic series, while Nintendo has developed the Super Smash Bros. crossover fighter series for numerous Nintendo properties that has included Sonic as a playable character along with other Sonic characters in supporting roles since Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
1990s handheld consoles.
A number of major handheld consoles were released on the market within about a year of each other: Nintendo's Game Boy, Sega's Game Gear, and the Atari Lynx. While the Game Boy used a monochromatic display, both the Game Gear and Lynx had colour displays. As these handheld releases were alongside the Sega v. Nintendo console war, they were also subject to heavy marketing and advertising to try to draw consumersHowever, the Game Boy ultimately won out in this battle, selling over 118 million units over its lifetime (including its future revisions) compared to 10 million for the Game Gear and 3 million for the Lynx. The Game Boy initially sold for $50 or more cheaper than its competitors, and had a larger library of games, including what is considered the handheld's killer app, Tetris, that drew non-gamers to purchase the handheld to play it.
The Hyperdimension Neptunia series of video games started as a parody of the console wars, incorporating personified consoles, developers, consumers, and other such figures within the gaming industry. |
What is Your Lie in April about? | Fourteen-year-old piano prodigy, Kōsei Arima, becomes famous after winning several music competitions. When his mother Saki dies, Kōsei has a mental breakdown while performing at a piano recital; this results in him becoming unable to hear the sound of his piano, even though his hearing is otherwise unaffected.
Two years later, Kōsei has not touched the piano and views the world in monochrome. He does not focus on excelling in any activities and often spends time with his friends Tsubaki Sawabe and Ryōta Watari. Kōsei meets Kaori Miyazono, an audacious, free-spirited, fourteen-year-old violinist whose playing style reflects her manic personality. Kaori helps Kōsei return to playing the piano, and shows him his playing style can be free and groundbreaking. As Kaori continues to uplift Kōsei's spirits, he quickly realizes he loves her, although she seems to only be interested in Ryōta.
During a performance, Kaori, who later explains that she is anemic and needs routine testing, collapses and is hospitalized. She is later diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia. She invites Kōsei to play with her at a gala but she does not arrive. Her health deteriorates and she becomes dejected. Kōsei plays a duet with a friend, which motivates Kaori to attempt a risky and potentially deadly surgery so she may possibly play with Kosei once more. While playing in the finals of the Eastern Japan Piano Competition, Kōsei sees Kaori's spirit accompanying him and realizes she has died during the surgery.
At her funeral, Kaori's parents give Kōsei a letter from Kaori that reveals she was aware of her impending death and became more free-spirited, both as a person and in her music, so she would not take her regrets to Heaven. She confesses she had been in love with Kōsei's piano playing since watching him perform at a concert when she was five. This inspired her to play the violin so she could play with him one day. Kaori fabricated her feelings towards Ryōta so she could get closer to Kōsei without hurting Tsubaki, who harbored affection for Kōsei. She then confesses her love for him. Tsubaki comforts Kōsei and tells him she will be by his side. Kaori also leaves behind a picture of herself as a child, coming back from the concert that inspired her, with Kōsei in the background. Kōsei later frames this picture. | Your Lie in April is a manga and an anime about friendship through music. The protagonist Kosei Arima is a very talented piano prodigy who goes through a mental breakdown from the pressure of performing and becomes deaf to the sound of his own piano. The world becomes monotonous and depressing until he meets Kaori Miyazono, a free-spirited violinist who reminds him of how to play music freely again. However, Kaori suffers from anemia and often has to go to the hospital. Despite this, the two often play together and Kosei falls in love. Kaori passes away soon after and leaves a letter for Kosei explaining how she loved him back and his piano playing. Kosei uses this as inspiration to get back into music and play freely once more. |
Without quoting directly from the text, tell me about rainbows. | A rainbow is an optical phenomenon that can occur under certain meteorological conditions. It is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in an effect similar to a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows caused by sunlight always appear in the section of sky directly opposite the Sun.
Rainbows can be full circles. However, the observer normally sees only an arc formed by illuminated droplets above the ground, and centered on a line from the Sun to the observer's eye.
In a primary rainbow, the arc shows red on the outer part and violet on the inner side. This rainbow is caused by light being refracted when entering a droplet of water, then reflected inside on the back of the droplet and refracted again when leaving it.
In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colours reversed, with red on the inner side of the arc. This is caused by the light being reflected twice on the inside of the droplet before leaving it. | Rainbows may appear when light passes through water. When a rainbow appears when it's raining, it's always in the opposite direction from the Sun. Although usually in the form of an arc, rainbows can also be full circle. The colors on the primary and double rainbows are inverted with red appearing on the outer part of the primary rainbow and the inner part of a double rainbow. |
Who designed the South African Class 15E 4-8-2 locomotive? | The Class 15E 4-8-2 Mountain type mixed traffic steam locomotive was a refinement of the Classes 15C and 15CA. It was designed by A.G. Watson, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the South African Railways (SAR) from 1929 to 1936, and incorporated many of the improvements which had been developed by him, some of which were a vastly enlarged standardised boiler, a large and wide fire grate and a Watson cab. | The designer of the South African Class 15E 4-8-2 locomotive was A.G. Watson, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the South African Railways. |
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