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In 1790, the first federal population census was taken in the United States. Enumerators were instructed to classify free residents as white or "other." Only the heads of households were identified by name in the federal census until 1850. Native Americans were included among "Other;" in later censuses, they were included as "Free people of color" if they were not living on Indian reservations. Slaves were counted separately from free persons in all the censuses until the Civil War and end of slavery. In later censuses, people of African descent were classified by appearance as mulatto (which recognized visible European ancestry in addition to African) or black. By 1990, the Census Bureau included more than a dozen ethnic/racial categories on the census, reflecting not only changing social ideas about ethnicity, but the wide variety of immigrants who had come to reside in the United States due to changing historical forces and new immigration laws in the 1960s. With a changing society, more citizens have begun to press for acknowledging multiracial ancestry. The Census Bureau changed its data collection by allowing people to self-identify as more than one ethnicity. Some ethnic groups are concerned about the potential political and economic effects, as federal assistance to historically underserved groups has depended on Census data. According to the Census Bureau, as of 2002, over 75% of all African Americans had multiracial ancestries.

race

We Love Gadgets If you love the latest gadgets or you want to be the next James Bond, come to Gadgets in the Garden Shopping Mall. Gadgets is a cool new shop. It sells all the latest gadgets and toys from MP3 players and cameras phones to toy robots. It's a great place to go to check out the latest things. Jon Lee and his best friend Tom Green own Gadgets. They love gadgets and toys very much. They are already running a successful Internet shop but want to give their customers a chance to play with all the latest gadgets before they buy. Jon says, "Tom and I are always buying the latest gadgets. We love new ideas and we know that our customers love them too." They both think their new shop will be a big success and we think so too! Gadgets opens at 9 0'clock on Wednesday August 1st, 2012. John and Tom are planning a fantastic opening. Don't miss it.

wikipedia

Bihar is an Indian state considered to be a part of Eastern as well as Northern India. It is the 13th-largest state of India, with an area of . The third-largest state of India by population, it is contiguous with Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Bengal to the east, with Jharkhand to the south. The Bihar plain is split by the river Ganges which flows from west to east. Bihar is an amalgamation of three main distinct regions, these are Magadh, Mithila and Bhojpur. On November 15, 2000, southern Bihar was ceded to form the new state of Jharkhand. Only 11.3% of the population of Bihar lives in urban areas, which is the lowest in India after Himachal Pradesh. Additionally, almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, giving Bihar the highest proportion of young people of any Indian state. The official languages of the state are Hindi and Urdu. Other languages commonly used within the state include Bhojpuri, Maithili, Magahi, Bajjika, and Angika (Maithili is the only one of these to be officially accepted by the government). In ancient and classical India, the area that is now Bihar was considered a centre of power, learning, and culture. From Magadha arose India's first empire, the Maurya empire, as well as one of the world's most widely adhered-to religions, Buddhism. Magadha empires, notably under the Maurya and Gupta dynasties, unified large parts of South Asia under a central rule. Another region of Bihar is Mithila which was an early centre of Brahmanical learning and the centre of the Videha kingdom. There is an ongoing movement in the Maithili speaking region of Bihar for a separate Indian state of Mithila. What will be the capital of the state has yet to be decided however Darbhanga is the most likely candidate. Other potential capitals include Muzaffarpur, Purnia, Madhubani and Begusarai.

gutenberg

Chapter XVII The King's Blood Hound The only other event which occurred throughout the winter was the arrival of a fishing boat with a messenger from one of the king's adherents, and the news which he brought filled them with sorrow and dismay. Kildrummy had been threatened with a siege, and the queen, Bruce's sisters Christine and Mary, his daughter Marjory, and the other ladies accompanying them, deemed it prudent to leave the castle and take refuge in the sanctuary of St. Duthoc, in Ross shire. The sanctuary was violated by the Earl of Ross and his followers, and the ladies and their escort delivered up to Edward's lieutenants and sent to England. The knights and squires who formed the escort were all executed, and the ladies committed to various places of confinement, where most of them remained in captivity of the strictest and most rigorous kind until after the battle of Bannockburn, eight years later. The Countess of Buchan, who had crowned Bruce at Scone, and who was one of the party captured at St. Duthoc, received even fouler treatment, by Edward's especial orders, being placed in a cage on one of the turrets of Berwick Castle so constructed that she could be seen by all who passed; and in this cruel imprisonment she was kept like a wild beast for seven long years by a Christian king whom his admirers love to hold up as a model of chivalry. Kildrummy had been besieged and taken by treachery. The king's brother, Nigel Bruce, was carried to Berwick, and was there hanged and beheaded. Christopher Seaton and his brother Alexander, the Earl of Athole, Sir Simon Fraser, Sir Herbert de Moreham, Sir David Inchmartin, Sir John Somerville, Sir Walter Logan, and many other Scotchmen of noble degree, had also been captured and executed, their only offence being that they had fought for their country.

cnn

(CNN) -- A body discovered at Churchill Downs on Sunday, a day after the storied Louisville racetrack hosted the Kentucky Derby, may have been the victim of a homicide, police said. Workers in the barn area discovered the body early in the morning and notified track security, which called police, said Robert Biven, a spokesman for the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department. "We just got the call just prior to 5 a.m. to respond to the backside" of the racetrack, Biven told CNN. Police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley said police suspect foul play. The body, which has not been identified, appears to be a Latino man in his 30s or 40s, Biven said. About 400 people were located Saturday night in the rear of the racetrack, he said. "So we are trying to speak with as many people as we possibly can," he said. "We do have a few leads coming in." An autopsy is to be carried out Monday morning. Biven described the track's backside as "like a mini city," with 48 barns, workers' dormitories and areas where trainers live. "It's a 24-hour operation," he said. I'll Have Another wins Kentucky Derby Operations at the racetrack were to continue normally on Sunday, Churchill Downs spokesman John Asher said. No races are scheduled at the track for three days, but cleanup from Saturday's race was to continue and the racetrack museum was to be open, he said. CNN's Kara Devlin and Christine Sever contributed to this report

wikipedia

Detroit (/dᵻˈtrɔɪt/) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan, the fourth-largest city in the Midwest and the largest city on the United States–Canada border. It is the seat of Wayne County, the most populous county in the state. Detroit's metropolitan area, known as Metro Detroit, is home to 5.3 million people, making it the fourteenth-most populous metropolitan area in the United States and the second-largest in the Midwestern United States (behind Chicago). It is a major port on the Detroit River, a strait that connects the Great Lakes system to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The City of Detroit anchors the second-largest economic region in the Midwest, behind Chicago, and the thirteenth-largest in the United States. Detroit is the center of a three-county urban area (population 3,734,090, area of 1,337 square miles (3,460 km2), a 2010 United States Census) six-county metropolitan statistical area (2010 Census population of 4,296,250, area of 3,913 square miles [10,130 km2]), and a nine-county Combined Statistical Area (2010 Census population of 5,218,852, area of 5,814 square miles [15,060 km2]). The Detroit–Windsor area, a commercial link straddling the Canada–U.S. border, has a total population of about 5,700,000. The Detroit metropolitan region holds roughly one-half of Michigan's population.

cnn

Atlanta (CNN) -- A Georgia man was alone before his fatal fall from an upper level of Atlanta's Turner Field, police said Tuesday, as they continue to investigate his death. Ronald L. Homer, 30, was attending Monday night's Braves game against the Phillies. The Braves said they planned to observe a moment of silence for Homer before Tuesday's game. Four witnesses told officers that they saw Homer fall from the fourth level of the stadium during a rain delay in the game, the Atlanta Police Department said. "All the witnesses stated that there was (sic) no other people around Mr. Homer when he fell," police said, adding there were no surveillance cameras at the scene. Police said the fall appeared to be accidental but that it was too early to tell if alcohol was a factor. Homer, of nearby Conyers, fell 65 feet into the players' parking lot. He was unconscious when emergency responders found him, but he died later at the hospital, police said. An autopsy on Homer is complete, but authorities are not releasing details, citing pending toxicology results, Tami Sedivy-Schroder, an investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office, said Tuesday. Results can take up to eight weeks, she said. Homer's mother, Connie Homer, told CNN affiliate WXIA that he was a big Braves fan who was attending the game with a friend. "I'm just sick," she said. "We're a very close family. He was big-hearted." The game was scheduled to start at 7:10 p.m. but heavy rains pushed back the start time nearly two hours.

cnn

For the second time since the U.S.-led effort to counter ISIS began, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said he would not rule out asking the President to send U.S. ground troops into Iraq. "I've never been limited in my ability to make a recommendation of any size or sort to the President of the United States," Dempsey told the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday, adding that he is always re-evaluating the situation in Iraq. Dempsey told the committee that he could envision scenarios in which a U.S. ground contingent would be necessary in Iraq, particularly if the coalition moves to retake Mosul or the western border with Syria. "I'm not predicting at this point that I would recommend that those forces in Mosul and along the border would need to be accompanied by U.S. forces," cautioned Dempsey, "but we're certainly considering it." Rep. Buck McKeon, R-California, the committee's chairman, expressed concern about President Obama's consistent refusal to consider sending U.S. ground troops to the region. "I will not support sending our military into harm's way with their arms tied behind their backs," McKeon said, adding he would block any congressional authorization that specifically barred sending ground forces. And while Dempsey said he would not rule out the need for U.S. ground troops in the future, he added: "I just don't foresee a circumstance when it would be in our interest to take this fight on ourselves with a large military contingent." Throughout the hearing, Dempsey and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel described a mission in Iraq and Syria that will likely be long and fraught with setbacks.

race

Prison Break is a huge hit thanks to its handsome star,Wentworth Miller. His actor, Michael Scofield, is the engine that drives the show. Michael Scofield is one of the most interesting personalities on television today. But what about the man behind the character? Miller,35,is a hard guy to figure out. He does not come from a normal background and has never lived his life in a typical way. Milier didn't take a direct path to fame and fortune. He graduated from Princeton University in 1995,not with a degree in theatre or film, but in English. He didn't even act when he was in college. His only performance experience was in his university's singing group. Yet, at graduation Miller still decided to make the move to prefix = st1 /Hollywood. Miller has always been different. Although he is American, he was born in Britainwhen his father was studying there. His family background is also a special mix of cultures. "My father is black and my mother is white. That means I have always been caught in the middle. I could be either one, which can make you feel out of place," Miller says. Following his unusual path,Miller did not start trying out for films and TV shows when he first got to Hollywood. Instead, he worked as a lowly production assistant. Not what you would expect from a Princeton graduate. However, _ . In 2002,Miller played a role in the drama Dinotopia. He starred as a thoughtful and shy man. Producers remembered his performance when they were castingPrison Breaktwo years later. With a golden globe nomination and another season of Prison Breakon his resume ,Miller seems ready to take over all of Hollywood.

mctest

The other day Mitch went to the store to buy his mother a big turkey. Inside the store there was food all over! Mitch could not believe his own little eyes. From the first time Mitch woke up this morning he knew that he'd be a big man someday, and getting a big turkey for his mother was the way in which he could show that he is a big man. The store had all kinds of food from chocolate bars to yummy radish. Mitch ran for the turkey section of the store with much force. "Turkeys are good, yummy yummy in my tummy, I want to eat a big old turkey and then go to the bathroom several times!" Mitch would cry out to strangers he met in the turkey section of the store. Then, four and a half seconds later, Mitch turned into a giant Walrus named Ted! No one knew how this could have happened, but the Walrus knew. A few years later, Mitch the now giant Walrus named Ted joined the circus and became a rich man with green in his heart. He could not think of anything else but making more money at his circus. One day Ted the giant Walrus, also known as Mitch the happy boy, remembered that his mother still wanted a big turkey for her late night breakfast. Now that Ted was a giant walrus making money hand over fist, he could buy his mommy a big old turkey for their night time breakfast. Ted the walrus also remembered that he had earlier built a time machine. Ted the giant walrus used his time machine to go back in time to buy his mother who was now a dog named Herbert. Ted's mother, Herbert loved the big turkey, but there was a small problem. Herbert the dog didn't have any teeth!

race

Rodd and Todd were lucky children chosen to see Santa Claus himself up at the North Pole. Some elves come in and said, "Santa Claus is very busy. You'll only be able to see him for a short while, so make the most of it." Santa Claus appeared, carrying all the toys the two boys had ever wanted. While Todd ran to hug Santa Claus, Rodd went over to the bicycle he had always dreamed of having. Santa was only there for a few seconds, and disappeared before Rodd had even looked at him. He cried and complained, but within a few hours the two boys had been returned to their homes. From that day on, every time Rodd saw a toy he felt the excitement of receiving a present, but he would instantly look around to see what else of importance he was missing. And in this way, Rodd helped those who had nothing, giving love to those who almost never received it, and putting smiles on the faces of the unhappy. All by himself, he managed to change the atmosphere of his town, and no one could know him without being grateful to him. One Christmas, while he was sleeping, he felt someone pulling his leg. Rodd opened his eyes and saw the long white beard and the soft red suit. "Forgive me. I didn't know how to choose what was most important," said Rodd. But Santa Claus answered with a smile. "I chose to spend some time with the best boy in the world, just before I leave you the great gift you've earned for yourself. Thank you!" And the next morning, there were no presents under the Christmas tree. That Christmas, the gift had been so big that it couldn't fit down the chimney; the only place it could fit was in Rodd's heart.

cnn

(CNN) -- The British and Irish Lions held on for a 23-21 victory over Australia Saturday in a nail-biting first Test in Brisbane. The opening match of the three-Test series swung on a few key moments and the Wallabies were left to count the cost of two late missed penalties from Kurtley Beale. His first effort from just 30 meters out went wide of the posts and when presented with another chance from a little further out, Beale cruelly slipped as he was making his attempt. It left Warren Gatland's men and the thousands of their supporters who had turned the Suncorp Stadium into a sea of red to celebrate a famous victory. "It was relief, but we deserved to win that game," Gatland told reporters after his side's narrow triumph. They led 13-12 at halftime, despite two tries from Australia wing Israel Folau, who was making a sensational debut just five months after switching to rugby union from rugby league and Australian Rules football. The Lions responded with a superb try of their own through Welshman George North, converted by Leigh Halfpenny, who also made two further penalties to give the tourists the edge. Right wing Alex Cuthbert went over for a second Lions try -- again converted by Halfpenny -- early in the second half -- to leave them 20-12 ahead. James O'Connor and replacement Beale kicked two penalties to give the Wallabies renewed hope, but the ever accurate Halfpenny's boot stretched the lead to 23-18. But after yet another careless infringement by the Lions left Beale with the opportunity to close the gap to just two points after his own surging run led to a penalty.

mctest

Jenny was a 13 year old girl with blond hair and blue eyes. She had gotten out of her last day of school and was free for the summer. Two of her friends were going to the nearby beach to do some swimming and enjoy the sun. Jenny went with them and when they got there the beach was very full and there were people everywhere. They changed into their bathing suits and went to the water. The water was very cold. They chose not swim and walked to the sand. Then they laid down on some towels and enjoyed the sun. After several hours Jenny and her friends fell asleep. They woke up and the sun was beginning to set. When Jenny sat up she found that it was painful to touch her skin. When she looked down she saw that she had a very bad sunburn. Her friends were also very badly sunburned so they went home. Jenny's mother gave her a cream to put on the sunburn. Afterwards she felt a lot better and went to sleep.

wikipedia

Saturday Night Live (abbreviated as SNL) is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title NBC's Saturday Night. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest (who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast) and features performances by a musical guest. An episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!", properly beginning the show. In 1980, Michaels left the series to explore other opportunities. He was replaced by Jean Doumanian, who was replaced by Ebersol after a season of bad reviews. Ebersol ran the show until 1985, when Michaels returned; Michaels has remained since then. Many of "SNL"s cast found national stardom while appearing on the show, and achieved success in film and television, both in front of and behind the camera. Others associated with the show, such as writers, have gone on to successful careers creating, writing, or starring in TV and film.

gutenberg

CHAPTER II. WHIMS. "Come, Sylvia, it is nine o'clock! Little slug-a-bed, don't you mean to get up to-day?" said Miss Yule, bustling into her sister's room with the wide-awake appearance of one to whom sleep was a necessary evil, to be endured and gotten over as soon as possible. "No, why should I?" And Sylvia turned her face away from the flood of light that poured into the room as Prue put aside the curtains and flung up the window. "Why should you? What a question, unless you are ill; I was afraid you would suffer for that long row yesterday, and my predictions seldom fail." "I am not suffering from any cause whatever, and your prediction does fail this time; I am only tired of everybody and everything, and see nothing worth getting up for; so I shall just stay here till I do. Please put the curtain down and leave me in peace." Prue had dropped her voice to the foreboding tone so irritating to nervous persons whether sick or well, and Sylvia laid her arm across her eyes with an impatient gesture as she spoke sharply. "Nothing worth getting up for," cried Prue, like an aggravating echo. "Why, child, there are a hundred pleasant things to do if you would only think so. Now don't be dismal and mope away this lovely day. Get up and try my plan; have a good breakfast, read the papers, and then work in your garden before it grows too warm; that is wholesome exercise and you've neglected it sadly of late."

race

Jamie Oliver has been invited by Gordon Brown to prepare a banquet at No.10 for President Barack Obama and other leaders of the G20, offering a cut-price menu to reflect times when trade and industry are far from prosperous and the rate of employment is decreasing. Downing Street sources say Oliver, the well-known chef, will cook using "honest high-street products" and avoid expensive or "fancy" ingredients. The prime minister is trying to avoid a repeat of the embarrassment last year when he sat down to an 18-course banquet at a Japanese summit to discuss world food shortages. Obama, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and other leaders will be served by apprentices from Fifteen, the London restaurant Oliver founded to help train young people in poverty in order to make a living by mastering a skill. Brown wants the dinner to reflect the emphasis of the London summit, which he hopes will lead to an agreement to lift the world out of recession."To be invited to cook for such an important group of people, who are trying to solve some of the world's major problems, is really a privilege," said Oliver. "I'm hoping the menu I'm working on will show British food and produce is some of the best in the world, but also show we have pioneered a high-quality apprentice scheme at Fifteen London that is giving young people a skill to be proud of." The chef has not yet finalized me menu, but is expected to draw inspiration from his latest book, Jamie's Ministry of Food, which has budget recipes for beef and ale stew and "impressive" chocolate fudge cake. ( )

cnn

(CNN) -- The man suspected to be at the center of the plot to send bombs from Yemen to the United States is a Saudi national who authorities believe has been living in Yemen for the past three years. Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri is one of Saudi Arabia's most wanted men, according to a list published by the government last year. The Saudi government described al-Asiri as an explosives and poison expert. On Friday, authorities in the United Arab Emirates and Britain found two packages with explosives that were destined for synagogues in Chicago, Illinois. U.S. investigators believe al Qaeda bomb maker al-Asiri, 28, is linked to the packages. The explosive found in the packages, PETN, is the same as the material found in the December 2009 foiled underwear bomb attack in the United States. It's a highly explosive organic compound that belongs to the same chemical family as nitroglycerin. Six grams of PETN are enough to blow a hole in the fuselage of an aircraft. Al-Asiri was also suspected in the earlier attempted bombing case, where a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, is accused of trying to set off a bomb hidden in his underwear on a flight. Al-Asiri's brother, Abdullah, also appeared on the Saudi Arabia's most wanted list. According to press accounts, it was Ibrahim al-Asiri who lured his brother to the jihadist movement. In 2009, Abdullah al-Asiri died when he detonated a bomb on his body with the intent of assassinating Saudi Prince Muhammed Bin Naif, a top security official. The suicide bombing attempt failed to kill its target.

gutenberg

CHAPTER VI A DEAL IN LAND On the morning after the corporal's discovery, Gustave Wandle was leading his team to a drinking pool on the creek that crossed his farm. He was a big, reserved, fair-haired man, with a fleshy face that was redeemed from heaviness by his eyes, which were restless and keen. Though supposed to be an Austrian, little was known about him or his antecedents except that he owned the next half-section of land to Jernyngham's and farmed it successfully. It was, however, believed that he was of an unusually grasping nature, and his neighbors took precautions when they made a deal with him. He had reached the shadow of a poplar bluff when he heard hurried footsteps and a man with a hot face came into sight. "I'm going across your place to save time; I want my horse," he explained hastily. "Curtis, the policeman, has ridden in to the settlement and told me to go up and search a muskeg near the north trail with Stanton. Somebody's killed Jernyngham and hidden him there." "So!" exclaimed Wandle. "Jernyngham murdered! You tell me that?" "Sure thing!" the other replied. "The police have figured out how it all happened and I'm going to look for the body while Curtis reports to his bosses. A blamed pity! I liked Jernyngham. Well, I must get to the muskeg soon as I can!" He ran on, and Wandle led his horses to the pool and stood thinking hard while they drank. He was well versed in Jernyngham's affairs and knew that he had once bought a cheap quarter-section of land in an arid belt some distance off. A railroad had since entered the district, irrigation work had been begun, and the holding must have risen in value. Now, it seemed, Jernyngham was dead, which was unfortunate, because Wandle had found their joint operations profitable, and it was very probable that Ellice and himself were the only persons who knew about the land. Wandle mounted one of the horses and set out for Jernyngham's homestead at its fastest pace.

wikipedia

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. New Hampshire is the 5th smallest by land area and the 9th least populous of the 50 United States. In January 1776, it became the first of the British North American colonies to establish a government independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain's authority, and it was the first to establish its own state constitution. Six months later, it became one of the original 13 states that founded the United States of America, and in June 1788 it was the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, bringing that document into effect. Concord is the state capital, while Manchester is the largest city in the state and in northern New England, including Vermont and Maine. It has no general sales tax, nor is personal income (other than interest and dividends) taxed at either the state or local level. The New Hampshire primary is the first primary in the U.S. presidential election cycle. Its license plates carry the state motto, "Live Free or Die". The state's nickname, "The Granite State", refers to its extensive granite formations and quarries.

gutenberg

CHAPTER IX. IN WHICH MR. HAMLIN PASSES. With his lips sealed by the positive mandate of the lovely spectre, Mr. Hamlin resigned himself again to weakness and sleep. When he awoke, Olly was sitting by his bedside; the dusky figure of Pete, spectacled and reading a good book, was dimly outlined against the window--but that was all. The vision--if vision it was--had fled. "Olly," said Mr. Hamlin, faintly. "Yes!" said Olly, opening her eyes in expectant sympathy. "How long have I been dr--I mean how long has this--spell lasted?" "Three days," said Olly. "The ---- you say!" (A humane and possibly weak consideration for Mr. Hamlin in his new weakness and suffering restricts me to a mere outline of his extravagance of speech.) "But you're better now," supplemented Olly. Mr. Hamlin began to wonder faintly if his painful experience of the last twenty-four hours were a part of his convalsecence. He was silent for a few moments and then suddenly turned his face toward Olly. "Didn't you say something about--about--your sister, the other day?" "Yes--she's got back," said Olly, curtly. "Here?" "Here." "Well?" said Mr. Hamlin, a little impatiently. "Well," returned Olly, with a slight toss of her curls, "she's got back and I reckon it's about time she did." Strange to say, Olly's evident lack of appreciation of her sister seemed to please Mr. Hamlin--possibly because it agreed with his own idea of Grace's superiority and his inability to recognise or accept her as the sister of Gabriel. "Where has she been all this while?" asked Jack, rolling his large hollow eyes over Olly.

race

Do you help with chores at home? These are what some people say about it. Manuel, 19: "I only like to do the laundry. My mom does the other chores. When she isn't at home, I can cook an easy dinner myself, but please don't ask me whether I'm a good cook or not. " Vivian, 38: "I do everything because I live by myself now. I think I can do everything because I watched and helped my mom cook our family meals all the time when I was young. At first I was told to help my mom, but later I began to like cooking. Now I can cook many kinds of dishes. " Arthur, 67: "I do many things around the house because everyday is like Sunday for me now. I have to do something to keep busy. I help with gardening and cleaning the most. I enjoy doing these things. Cooking and laundry are my wife's chores. "

race

Valentine's Day was coming. Helen felt hurt and lonely because this was her first Valentine's Day after the divorce . Helen's twelve-year-old son, Jack, looked at his mother, knowing that this was a difficult time for both of them. In order to make his mother happy, he prepared a present, and handed it to her on Valentine's Day. It was a beautiful gift package .Helen couldn't believe what was happening. She opened it and took out a lovely card and a small box. "Now," he said, "read the card." It read as follows: "I know that this isn't easy for you because it has been a hard year for both of us. I know that Valentine's Day is a special day for people in love. I want you to know that I love you. I know that Valentines are supposed to get chocolate. I went to the store today to buy some for you. Luckily, I got the last piece. I told the clerk it was just perfect." Helen stood there for a moment and looked at her son. Her eyes sparkled in the light as tears formed in each corner. Jack knew he had done the right thing. Slowly she opened the small box, careful not to tear the paper. She would never forget the moment. She found a chocolate heart that was broken into pieces along with a note: "I am so sorry that Dad left us, Mom. And all you were left with was a broken heart. But I just want you to know we still have each other. Happy Valentine's Day! Your son, Jack"

race

Something caught my eyes when I was walking down the street. Two silver coins were shining in a melting snow bank, so I dug through the snow looking for more. Of course, I just ended up with really cold hands. I slipped the two coins into my pocket and went home, colder but richer. I began to think about how to spend the money... Two days later, Mary and her little sister were searching the snow banks. "Finders are keepers" was my first thought. I didn't want to hand them out even though Susy was already crying. " I dropped them right here," she said between tears. Her hands were cold and red for digging in the snow. Maybe they slid down the street with the melting snow. Let's dig over here." Mary's voice sounded confident. "They'll never know" was my second thought, and I walked past them. " Phil, have you seen two sliver coins?" asked Mary. Susy looked up from digging. _ . "Tell a lie" was my third thought. "As a matter of fact," I hesitated ,"I dug two coins out of that snow bank just a few days ago. I wondered who might have lost them." Susy hugged me with a big smile, "Oh, thank you, thank you."

cnn

(CNN) -- Throughout his career as a television anchorman, Walter Cronkite had a few memorable run-ins with other powerful figures at CBS News, one of his producers told CNN. Walter Cronkite occasionally butted heads with executives at CBS News, his former producer says. Sanford "Sandy" Socolow, who worked at CBS News for 32 years, more than four of them as Cronkite's producer, said Cronkite ran into trouble soon after he took over for Douglas Edwards in the "CBS Evening News" anchor chair. "The first night up, he ended the show by saying, I'm paraphrasing, 'That's the news. Be sure to check your local newspapers tomorrow to get all the details on the headlines we are delivering to you.'" That didn't fly. "The suits -- as we used to call them -- went crazy," Socolow told CNN, referring to CBS executives. "From their perspective, Cronkite was sending people to read newspapers instead of watching the news. There was a storm." CBS News President Richard Salant met with Cronkite, who initially resisted, then agreed to change his sign-off, Socolow said. Watch friends and admirers weigh in on the death of a giant » "In the absence of anything else, he came up with 'That's the way it is.'" But that too ruffled feathers, Socolow said. "Salant's attitude was, 'We're not telling them that's the way it is. We can't do that in 15 minutes,' which was the length of the show in those days. 'That's not the way it is.'" Still, Cronkite persisted and that's the way it was from then on. Watch what happened the one time Cronkite failed to say it »

gutenberg

CHAPTER XXI. BLACK STAR AND NIGHT The time had come for Venters and Bess to leave their retreat. They were at great pains to choose the few things they would be able to carry with them on the journey out of Utah. "Bern, whatever kind of a pack's this, anyhow?" questioned Bess, rising from her work with reddened face. Venters, absorbed in his own task, did not look up at all, and in reply said he had brought so much from Cottonwoods that he did not recollect the half of it. "A woman packed this!" Bess exclaimed. He scarcely caught her meaning, but the peculiar tone of her voice caused him instantly to rise, and he saw Bess on her knees before an open pack which he recognized as the one given him by Jane. "By George!" he ejaculated, guiltily, and then at sight of Bess's face he laughed outright. "A woman packed this," she repeated, fixing woeful, tragic eyes on him. "Well, is that a crime?' "There--there is a woman, after all!" "Now Bess--" "You've lied to me!" Then and there Venters found it imperative to postpone work for the present. All her life Bess had been isolated, but she had inherited certain elements of the eternal feminine. "But there was a woman and you did lie to me," she kept repeating, after he had explained. "What of that? Bess, I'll get angry at you in a moment. Remember you've been pent up all your life. I venture to say that if you'd been out in the world you d have had a dozen sweethearts and have told many a lie before this."

gutenberg

CHAPTER XXV. THE MADMAN TALKS Tavernake turned on the light. Pritchard, with a quick leap forward, seized Wenham around the waist and dragged him away. Elizabeth had fainted; she lay upon the floor, her face the color of marble. "Get some water and throw over her," Pritchard ordered. Tavernake obeyed. He threw open the window and let in a current of air. In a moment or two the woman stirred and raised her head. "Look after her for a minute," Pritchard said. "I Il lock this fierce little person up in the bathroom." Pritchard carried his prisoner out. Tavernake leaned over the woman who was slowly coming back to consciousness. "Tell me about it," she asked, hoarsely. "Where is he?" "Locked up in the bathroom," Tavernake answered. "Pritchard is taking care of him. He won't be able to get out." "You know who it was?" she faltered. "I do not," Tavernake replied. "It isn't my business. I'm only here because Pritchard begged me to come. He thought he might want help." She held his fingers tightly. "Where were you?" she asked. "In the bathroom when you arrived. Then he bolted the door behind and we had to come round through your bedroom." "How did Pritchard find out?" "I know nothing about it," Tavernake replied. "I only know that he peered through the latticework and saw you sitting there at supper." She smiled weakly. "It must have been rather a shock to him," she said. "He has been convinced for the last six months that I murdered Wenham, or got rid of him by some means or other. Help me up."

cnn

London (CNN) -- Last night Britain's fashion elite gathered at the London Coliseum for the 2013 British Fashion Awards. Nominees for the prestigious industry awards included models Cara Delevingne and Edie Campbell, and designers Anya Hindmarch and Sarah Burton. Trends may come and go, but even among this fashion-conscious crowd there was one certainty: all eyes would be on Kate Moss. The British Fashion Council honored the 39-year-old model with a Special Recognition Award for her 25 years in the industry. During her glittering career she has appeared on 34 covers of British Vogue. She's fronted campaigns for Burberry and Chanel. And she's remained one of the world's best-paid models, even as twenty-somethings like Hilary Rhoda, Lara Stone and Joan Smalls have stomped onto the catwalk. Despite all of those achievements, Moss seemed starstruck as she accepted her trophy from Marc Jacobs. "Oh my god. It's so weird, very very surreal," she said on stage. "Thank you everyone who has worked with and kept booking me. I am really very grateful." Born to a barmaid and a travel agent in Croydon, south London, modeling was not an obvious career move. But in 1988 Sarah Doukas, the founder of Storm Model Management, spotted Moss at New York's JFK Airport, where Moss was catching a connecting flight home after a family holiday to the Bahamas. Watch: Where have all the black models gone? Standing just 5'7, her waifish look contrasted sharply with the likes of Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford, two of the leggy Glamazons who dominated the runways at the time.

wikipedia

Burundi ( or ), officially the Republic of Burundi (, ; , or ), is a landlocked country in the African Great Lakes region of East Africa, bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. It is also considered part of Central Africa. Burundi's capital is Bujumbura. The southwestern border is adjacent to Lake Tanganyika. The Twa, Hutu and Tutsi peoples have lived in Burundi for at least 500 years. For more than 200 of those years, Burundi was an independent kingdom, until the beginning of the 20th century, when Germany colonised the region. After the First World War and Germany's defeat, it ceded the territory to Belgium. Both Germans and Belgians ruled Burundi and Rwanda as a European colony known as Ruanda-Urundi. Despite common misconceptions, Burundi and Rwanda had never been under common rule until the time of European colonisation. Burundi gained independence in 1962 and initially had a monarchy, but a series of assassinations, coups and a general climate of regional instability culminated in the establishment of a republic and one-party state in 1966. Bouts of ethnic cleansing and ultimately two civil wars and genocides during the 1970s and again in the 1990s left the country undeveloped and its population as one of the world's poorest. 2015 witnessed large-scale political strife as President Pierre Nkurunziza opted to run for a third term in office, a coup attempt failed and the country's parliamentary and presidential elections were broadly criticised by members of the international community.

gutenberg

CHAPTER XVIII: DOUBLE, DOUBLE TOIL AND TROUBLE 'Truly the tender mercies of the weak, As of the wicked, are but cruel.' And how did Lilias show that she had been truly benefited by her sorrows? Did she fall back into her habits of self-indulgence, or did she run into ill-directed activity, selfish as her indolence, because only gratifying the passion of the moment? Those who lived with her saw but little change; kind-hearted and generous she had ever been, and many had been her good impulses, so that while she daily became more steady in well-doing, and exerting herself on principle, no one remarked it, and no one entered into the struggles which it cost her to tame her impetuosity, or force herself to do what was disagreeable to herself, and might offend Emily. However, Emily could forgive a great deal when she found that Lily was ready to take any part of the business of the household and schoolroom, which she chose to impose upon her, without the least objection, yet to leave her to assume as much of the credit of managing as she chose--to have no will or way of her own, and to help her to keep her wardrobe in order. The schoolroom was just now more of a labour than had ever been the case, at least to one who, like Lilias, if she did a thing at all, would not be satisfied with half doing it. Phyllis was not altered, except that she cried less, and had in a great measure cured herself of dawdling habits and tricks, by her honest efforts to obey well- remembered orders of Eleanor's; but still her slowness and dulness were trying to her teachers, and Lily had often to reproach herself for being angry with her 'when she was doing her best.'

gutenberg

CHAPTER XVI DICK AND DORA "Oh, Dick, how lovely!" "Weren't you afraid, Sam?" "What a big flying machine, Tom!" Such were the exclamations from Dora, Grace and Nellie, as all rushed forward to where the boys were alighting from the _Dartaway_. Soon they were shaking hands all around, and soon other girl students were coming up, to learn what the arrival of the flying machine meant. "Well, we certainly had a great trip," said Dick. "The wind was pretty strong," put in Sam. "Strongest wind you ever saw!" declared Tom, stoutly. "Turned us over about 'steen times and rolled us into a regular ball." "Oh, Tom, what an idea!" exclaimed Nellie, and began to laugh. "But weren't you afraid?" she went on anxiously. "What, me? Never! But Sam was so afraid he shook off his shoes, and one of 'em dropped right on a cow, and----" "Tom Rover!" burst out Grace. "What a story-teller you are!" "Well, Grace, if you don't believe it, go and ask that cow," went on the fun-loving Rover, soberly. "It's lucky Sam has elastics on the shoes--to pull 'em back by. If he hadn't had----" Tom did not finish but shook his head mournfully. "I am so glad you got here safely, Dick," said Dora, in a low voice. "But oh, do you think it is quite safe?" she went on, anxiously. "I--I don't want you to get hurt!" "I guess it is safe enough, Dora," he replied, not wishing to alarm her. "It's like an auto--you've got to get used to it."

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CHAPTER XIII Intense excitement instantly reigned. Their suspense over, the crowd cheered again and again, shook hands with one another, and flung their caps into the air. Everyone was delighted, for everyone was fond of Tell and Walter. It also pleased them to see the Governor disappointed. He had had things his own way for so long that it was a pleasant change to see him baffled in this manner. Not since Switzerland became a nation had the meadow outside the city gates been the scene of such rejoicings. Walter had picked up the apple with the arrow piercing it, and was showing it proudly to all his friends. "I told you so," he kept saying; "I knew father wouldn't hurt me. Father's the best shot in all Switzerland." "That was indeed a shot!" exclaimed Ulric the smith; "it will ring through the ages. While the mountains stand will the tale of Tell the bowman be told." Rudolph der Harras took the apple from Walter and showed it to Gessler, who had been sitting transfixed on his horse. "See," he said, "the arrow has passed through the very centre. It was a master shot." "It was very nearly a 'Master Walter shot,'" said Rösselmann the priest severely, fixing the Governor with a stern eye. Gessler made no answer. He sat looking moodily at Tell, who had dropped his cross-bow and was standing motionless, still gazing in the direction in which the arrow had sped. Nobody liked to be the first to speak to him.

gutenberg

CHAPTER 6. AN APPRENTICESHIP TO THE TEMPLE. The action of our characters during the night included in the last two chapters has now come to a pause. Vetranio is awaiting his guests for the banquet; Numerian is in the chapel, preparing for the discourse that he is to deliver to his friends; Ulpius is meditating in his master's house; Antonina is stretched upon her couch, caressing the precious fragment that she had saved from the ruins of her lute. All the immediate agents of our story are, for the present, in repose. It is our purpose to take advantage of this interval of inaction, and direct the reader's attention to a different country from that selected as the scene of our romance, and to such historical events of past years as connect themselves remarkably with the early life of Numerian's perfidious convert. This man will be found a person of great importance in the future conduct of our story. It is necessary to the comprehension of his character, and the penetration of such of his purposes as have been already hinted at, and may subsequently appear, that the long course of his existence should be traced upwards to its source. It was in the reign of Julian, when the gods of the Pagan achieved their last victory over the Gospel of the Christian, that a decently attired man, leading by the hand a handsome boy of fifteen years of age, entered the gates of Alexandria, and proceeded hastily towards the high priest's dwelling in the Temple of Serapis.

wikipedia

The defined dogma of the Immaculate Conception regards original sin only, saying that Mary was preserved from any stain (in Latin, macula or labes, the second of these two synonymous words being the one used in the formal definition). The proclaimed Roman Catholic dogma states "that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin." Therefore, being always free from original sin, the doctrine teaches that from her conception Mary received the sanctifying grace that would normally come with baptism after birth. The definition makes no declaration about the Church's belief that the Blessed Virgin was sinless in the sense of freedom from actual or personal sin. However, the Church holds that Mary was also sinless personally, "free from all sin, original or personal". The Council of Trent decreed: "If anyone shall say that a man once justified can sin no more, nor lose grace, and that therefore he who falls and sins was never truly justified; or, on the contrary, that throughout his whole life he can avoid all sins even venial sins, except by a special privilege of God, as the Church holds in regard to the Blessed Virgin: let him be anathema."

mctest

Shelly wanted a puppy. She asked her mommy and daddy every day for one. She told them that she would help take care of the puppy, if she could have one. Her mommy and daddy talked it over and said that they would get Shelly a new puppy. Her mommy took her to the dog pound so that she could choose one that she wanted. All the puppies at the dog pound need a loving home. Shelly went to every cage and looked each puppy in the eyes and talked to each one. After each one, she told her mommy, "No, this isn't the one for me." Finally, she saw a black and white spotted one that she fell in love with. She screamed, "Mommy, this is the one!" Her mommy asked the worker to take the puppy out so that Shelly could make sure. Shelly and the puppy fell in love with each other right away. Shelly and her mommy took the black and white spotted puppy home with them. Shelly was so excited that she talked all the way home. After thinking hard, Shelly had a name for her new puppy, Spot. Now, Shelly has a new best friend and they play together every day when Shelly gets home from school.

wikipedia

Phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup. Athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence. They all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified "mob football", the antecedent of all modern football codes, these three games involved more handling the ball than kicking. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia. The goalkeepers are the only players allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play and only in their penalty area. Outfield players mostly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, but may also use their head or torso to do so instead. The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time and/or a penalty shootout depending on the format of the competition. The Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA; French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association), which organises World Cups for both men and women every four years.

race

Utopia is a perfect place. It is a place without war, hunger, poverty, or crime. It is a place where the people work together and share. There is no money in Utopia because the people do not need money. They do not have personal possessions because everything belongs to everyone. All of the people are equal in Utopia, and the laws are all fair. Utopia is not a new place. Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher, described a perfect society in his famous dialogue The Republic. In Plato's Republic, philosophers were the kings, and every person had a place in the society. In 1516, Sir Thomas More wrote about an island in the Pacific Ocean where everything was perfect. He named the island " Utopia". In 1602, Tommaso Campanella wrote The City in the Sun about a perfect community on the island of Ceylon ( now Sri Lanka ) ; and in 1872, Samuel Butler wrote a novel about a perfect country which he named " Erewhon". " Utopia" is a Greek word that means " not a place", and "Erewhon" is the English word " nowhere" spelled backwards. Utopia is a perfect place, but it is not a real place. Most 'real' Utopias last only a short time. This is because everyone wants to live in it, but no one knows how to make it work. As a result, when we say something is ' Utopia' today, we mean that it is a good idea, but it is not realistic.

gutenberg

Chapter 61 Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day on which Mrs. Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters. With what delighted pride she afterwards visited Mrs. Bingley, and talked of Mrs. Darcy, may be guessed. I wish I could say, for the sake of her family, that the accomplishment of her earnest desire in the establishment of so many of her children produced so happy an effect as to make her a sensible, amiable, well-informed woman for the rest of her life; though perhaps it was lucky for her husband, who might not have relished domestic felicity in so unusual a form, that she still was occasionally nervous and invariably silly. Mr. Bennet missed his second daughter exceedingly; his affection for her drew him oftener from home than anything else could do. He delighted in going to Pemberley, especially when he was least expected. Mr. Bingley and Jane remained at Netherfield only a twelvemonth. So near a vicinity to her mother and Meryton relations was not desirable even to _his_ easy temper, or _her_ affectionate heart. The darling wish of his sisters was then gratified; he bought an estate in a neighbouring county to Derbyshire, and Jane and Elizabeth, in addition to every other source of happiness, were within thirty miles of each other. Kitty, to her very material advantage, spent the chief of her time with her two elder sisters. In society so superior to what she had generally known, her improvement was great. She was not of so ungovernable a temper as Lydia; and, removed from the influence of Lydia's example, she became, by proper attention and management, less irritable, less ignorant, and less insipid. From the further disadvantage of Lydia's society she was of course carefully kept, and though Mrs. Wickham frequently invited her to come and stay with her, with the promise of balls and young men, her father would never consent to her going.

wikipedia

The German Empire (, officially ') was the German nation state that existed from the Unification of Germany in 1871 until the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918. It was founded in 1871 when Wilhelm I, King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty was proclaimed the German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. Berlin became its capital with the Berlin Palace being the Emperor's official residence. Its constitution entered into force, and Otto von Bismarck became the first Chancellor. As these events occurred, the Prussian-led North German Confederation and its southern German allies were still engaged in the Franco-Prussian War. The state was founded with a notable exclusion of Austria and, as such, represented the Lesser German solution ("Kleindeutsche Lösung"). The German Empire consisted of 26 constituent territories, with most being ruled by royal families. This included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies (six before 1876), seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. Although Prussia became one of several kingdoms in the new realm, it contained most of its population and territory, thus remaining a powerhouse with a major say in imperial affairs. Its influence also helped define modern German culture.

race

In our city,there is a big zoo. There are a lot of animals in it. Mona is an Australian koala. She is seven years old. She is very cute. She likes sleeping during the day. But at night she gets up and eats leaves. Mona doesn't drink water for months. But she is healthy,because she can get water from the leaves. Here is a big house. A lion lives in it. His name is Gerry. He is ugly. He is from Africa. Meat is his favorite food. Gerry is very lazy. He sleeps and relaxes for 20 hours every day. Today is Gerry's eighth birthday. The workers in the zoo are having a birthday party for him. This is a big elephant. His name is Johnny. He is from India .He's eleven years old. He has bad eyesight .He likes to eat grass. He's friendly and clever. People can teach him to do things for them. Tuantuan is a cute panda. She is five years old. She's from China. She is very beautiful,but she's very shy,so please keep quiet. She likes eating bamboos and drinking water. She relaxes about 10 hours every day.

wikipedia

The 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from March 24 until August 8, 2008, prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics, with the theme of "one world, one dream". Plans for the relay were announced on April 26, 2007, in Beijing, China. The relay, also called by the organizers as the "Journey of Harmony", lasted 129 days and carried the torch 137,000 km (85,000 mi) – the longest distance of any Olympic torch relay since the tradition was started ahead of the 1936 Summer Olympics. After being lit at the birthplace of the Olympic Games in Olympia, Greece on March 24, the torch traveled to the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, and then to Beijing, arriving on March 31. From Beijing, the torch was following a route passing through six continents. The torch has visited cities along the Silk Road, symbolizing ancient links between China and the rest of the world. The relay also included an ascent with the flame to the top of Mount Everest on the border of Nepal and Tibet, China from the Chinese side, which was closed specially for the event.

mctest

Molly and her friend Jessica liked to play hide and go seek in the woods. They would almost always play in the woods behind Molly's house. They liked to play there because of the giant trees, which were more fun to play in at nighttime. One evening, after a big meal of chicken and potatoes at Molly's house the girls went outside to play hide and go seek. They almost turned back because they thought they saw a wolf. Luckily, it ended up being a shadow from an old boot. Jessica counted to fifty to give Molly time to hide. In the middle of counting, Jessica heard a sound! Jessica opened up her eyes to see Molly had found a puppy! The puppy had a bell on its collar, so the girls knew it must belong to someone. They carried the puppy back to Molly's house instead of playing hide and go seek. As soon as they got to Molly's front door, Molly's neighbor saw them and screamed with joy. The puppy ran over to Molly's neighbor and licked her face. The neighbor thanked the two girls by giving them each a folded five dollar bill. The girls were very excited that they helped save the day!

mctest

It was warmer than normal outside at the zoo. The clown was hot in his costume. He still smiled and he still made people laugh. He worked hard. He threw a plane because someone's son asked him to. He even put jelly on his face because a little girl said it would make him look pretty. At noon he juggled plates and at one in the afternoon he sat down to have some lunch. The cook made a salad to his liking and the clown ate it happily. He felt famous because people visiting the zoo pointed at him and smiled at him as he ate his salad. The day might be hot, but the clown felt it was good in the end because of how much people liked him. Soon he was back to work juggling and telling jokes. He even sprayed someone with water when they smelled his fake flower.

cnn

(CNN) -- Some long-time Cuba watchers expressed skepticism Tuesday over a report by a former Mexican foreign minister that Communist leader Raul Castro removed two top-ranking officials earlier this month because they were plotting to overthrow him with the support of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Fidel Castro, beset by illness, ceded power to his younger brother, Raul, pictured, last year. Jorge G. Castaneda, who served as Mexico's foreign minister from 2000 - 2003, wrote in the March 23 issue of Newsweek, which became public Saturday, that Deputy Prime Minister Carlos Lage Davila and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque were concerned that Raul Castro would make concessions that would betray the 50-year-old Cuban Revolution. "For at least a month or so, Lage, Perez Roque and others were apparently involved in a conspiracy, betrayal, coup or whatever term one prefers, to overthrow or displace Raul from his position," Castaneda wrote. "In this endeavor, they recruited -- or were recruited by -- Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who in turn tried to enlist the support of other Latin American leaders, starting with Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Republic, who refused to get involved." The Venezuelan Embassy in Washington did not answer a verbal and written request for comment. The Dominican Republic Embassy in Washington did not answer telephones calls at various numbers. Robert Pastor, who served as a Latin America National Security adviser for President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s, returned Saturday from a weeklong visit to Cuba. Pastor said he wrote Castaneda a letter upon his return expressing his disbelief in Castaneda's contentions.

cnn

Kaci Hickox, a nurse placed under mandatory quarantine in New Jersey, went on CNN on Sunday and criticized the "knee-jerk reaction by politicians" to Ebola, saying "to quarantine someone without a better plan in place, without more forethought, is just preposterous." Hickox, an epidemiologist who was working to help treat Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, has tested negative twice for Ebola and does not have symptoms, she said. She is quarantined for 21 days at University Hospital in Newark. "This is an extreme that is really unacceptable, and I feel like my basic human rights have been violated," Hickox told CNN's Candy Crowley on "State of the Union." She described herself as "physically strong" but "emotionally exhausted." "To put me through this emotional and physical stress is completely unacceptable," she said. She slammed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for describing her as "obviously ill." "First of all, I don't think he's a doctor; secondly, he's never laid eyes on me; and thirdly, I've been asymptomatic since I've been here," Hickox told Crowley Sunday. In a separate interview with CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen, Hickox elaborated on what she thought of Christie's assessment of her medical condition. "I'm sorry, but that's just a completely unacceptable statement in my opinion. For (Christie) -- a politician who's trusted and respected -- to make a statement that's categorically not true is just unacceptable and appalling." What would mandatory quarantines do? "She's fine. She's not sick." Hickox told Crowley that mandatory quarantine is "not a sound public health decision" and that public health officials -- not politicians -- should be making the policies related to Ebola and public safety.

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Michael Rossi is the Internet favorite Dad right now. Mr. Rossi, a father from Philadelphia, recently took his kids, Jack and Victoria, to Boston for three days during the school term. But Rydal Elementary School, one of the oldest schools in Boston, doesn't accept family holidays as an excuse for their absence and give them a warming notice. So Mr. Rossi wrote a letter to the school, which has been shared by thousands of parents online. Dear Mrs. Marbyry, While I am thankful for your concern for our children and the best education our kids receive from you, I can promise you they've learned as much in the three days we were in Boston as they would in a whole year in school. Although they missed an important test, they learned about something more important for them, especially for their future. They experienced first -hand the love and support form thousands of other people with a common goal. At the marathon , which is known as the most difficult one in the world, they watched runners with disabilities work together to collect money for children in poor areas. In addition, our children walked the Freedom Trail, visited the site of the Boston Tea Party and the graves of several great pioneers of America. These are thing they WILL learn in school a year or more from now. We truly love our school and teachers. But I wouldn't hesitate to pull them out of school again for an experience like the one they had this time. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Michael Rossi

mctest

Fanny the fly was hungry. She went to the store. She saw her friend Colin the cat at the store. Colin waved to Fanny. Fanny waved back. At the store, Fanny bought ice cream, fruit, and pasta. Then she went home. She looked in her fridge. In her fridge she saw meatballs, rice, tomato sauce, and garlic. She chose to make a pasta dinner and invite all of her friends over. She invited Colin the cat and Danny the dog. She also invited Freddy the frog and Allen the alligator. Everyone arrived to a beautiful meal made by Fanny. They all ate happily. After dinner, Fanny brought out dessert. She brought out pie, fruit, cupcakes, and ice cream. Everybody ate a cupcake. Danny ate ice cream too. Allen had some pie and fruit as well as the cupcake. Colin had some pie too. Fanny told everyone to come back for dinner again. They all said goodbye and left. Fanny was happy and full. She went to bed smiling to herself.

race

What's the coolest kind of transportation for middle school students back from winter holidays? A racing bike? A car? No, it's a special kind of shoes called Heelys . Heelys look just like common sports shoes, but they have a wheel hidden in the heel . So instead of walking, kids can "fly" around in them. "Wearing Heelys is fun and cool!" said Wu Peng, a boy who wore them on his first day back at No. 6 Middle School in Beijing. Wu Peng said he loves the shoes so much that he wears them to go here and there. Sometimes he even follows his parents' car to the supermarket in his Heelys! Other students also think they are very cool, but some aren't so lucky with their Heelys. It's said that some children fell down and got hurt while wearing these shoes. "Heelys wheels are in the heels of the shoes, so it's easy to fall," said Liu Rui, a doctor at the Hong Kong International Medical Clinic, Beijing. Even worse, Liu said, "Wearing Heelys for a long time could stop young people from developing their legs. "

wikipedia

To unambiguously specify the date, dual dating or Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) are sometimes used with dates. Dual dating uses two consecutive years because of differences in the starting date of the year, or includes both the Julian and Gregorian dates. Old Style and New Style (N.S.) indicate either whether the start of the Julian year has been adjusted to start on 1 January (N.S.) even though documents written at the time use a different start of year (O.S.), or whether a date conforms to the Julian calendar (O.S.) rather than the Gregorian (N.S.). The Gregorian calendar was a reform of the Julian calendar instituted in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by papal bull Inter gravissimas dated 24 February 1582. The motivation for the adjustment was to bring the date for the celebration of Easter to the time of year in which it was celebrated when it was introduced by the early Church. Although a recommendation of the First Council of Nicaea in 325 specified that all Christians should celebrate Easter on the same day, it took almost five centuries before virtually all Christians achieved that objective by adopting the rules of the Church of Alexandria (see Easter for the issues which arose).

mctest

Once there was a guy who lived in a giant red mitten. He was always mad because the old woman in the shoe down the road got all the attention for living in a giant piece of clothing. One day he made a plan to play a joke. He took a cookie and with it in his hand went to dig a hole under the old lady's shoe. When he finished digging he hid the cookie in the hole and then went to the zoo. He stole a bunch of monkeys which he took back to the lady's shoe house. The TV news team was talking to her on camera that day outside her house about how great she was for living in a shoe and how smart and cool she was. The guy stood there listening with his bag of hungry monkeys. At the very second the news team took a close up of the shoe with their big camera the guy opened the bag and freed the monkeys. He had told them earlier that hidden somewhere in the house was a cookie. He laughed very loud as he imagined them tearing up her house on live TV. But instead of doing that, they stood around looking bored because monkeys like bananas not cookies.

cnn

(The Frisky) -- Everyone's favorite charmer, George Clooney, is suiting up to play a hired assassin trying to get out of the profession after one last assignment in "The American." The flick comes out in September and it's about time that Clooney gave James Bond a run for his money! He's charismatic, cheeky, and looks fantastic in a suit how can you go wrong? In honor of this new development, we've rounded up the sexiest male spies of all time! Cue the "spy who shagged me" jokes. Clive Owen really steamed up the big screen with Julia Roberts in "Duplicity" as rival spies engaging in espionage and foreplay. He also plays the best kind of spy, relying on his charisma and smarts instead of crazy gadgets. Matt Damon's made a pretty fantastic spy as Jason Bourne in "The Bourne Identity" and its sequels. As a government assassin afflicted with amnesia, Damon runs around trying to solve his identity crisis while the CIA tries to kill him. He makes the classic playboy spy stereotype seem crass with his boyish good looks and devotion to his lady love. The Frisky: Amanda Bynes is retiring at age 24! Other young starlets we'd like to see throw in the towel It's hard to pinpoint who the sexiest Bond was, but Pierce Brosnan did a good job of it in 1995's "Goldeneye." Between the British accent and the sophisticated chivalry, it was easy to see why women were throwing themselves at him when they were supposed to be taking him out. Plus, Brosnan is just so ridiculously pretty.

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Mexico City, or the City of Mexico (Spanish: Ciudad de México audio (help·info) American Spanish: [sjuˈða(ð) ðe ˈméxiko]; abbreviated as "CDMX"), is the capital of Mexico. As an "alpha" global city, Mexico City is one of the most important financial centers in the Americas. It is located in the Valley of Mexico (Valle de México), a large valley in the high plateaus at the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 metres (7,350 ft). The city consists of sixteen municipalities (previously called boroughs). The Greater Mexico City has a gross domestic product (GDP) of US$411 billion in 2011, making Mexico City urban agglomeration one of the economically largest metropolitan areas in the world. The city was responsible for generating 15.8% of Mexico's Gross Domestic Product and the metropolitan area accounted for about 22% of total national GDP. As a stand-alone country, in 2013, Mexico City would be the fifth-largest economy in Latin America—five times as large as Costa Rica's and about the same size as Peru's.

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CHAPTER 11 Little had Mrs. Dashwood or her daughters imagined when they first came into Devonshire, that so many engagements would arise to occupy their time as shortly presented themselves, or that they should have such frequent invitations and such constant visitors as to leave them little leisure for serious employment. Yet such was the case. When Marianne was recovered, the schemes of amusement at home and abroad, which Sir John had been previously forming, were put into execution. The private balls at the park then began; and parties on the water were made and accomplished as often as a showery October would allow. In every meeting of the kind Willoughby was included; and the ease and familiarity which naturally attended these parties were exactly calculated to give increasing intimacy to his acquaintance with the Dashwoods, to afford him opportunity of witnessing the excellencies of Marianne, of marking his animated admiration of her, and of receiving, in her behaviour to himself, the most pointed assurance of her affection. Elinor could not be surprised at their attachment. She only wished that it were less openly shewn; and once or twice did venture to suggest the propriety of some self-command to Marianne. But Marianne abhorred all concealment where no real disgrace could attend unreserve; and to aim at the restraint of sentiments which were not in themselves illaudable, appeared to her not merely an unnecessary effort, but a disgraceful subjection of reason to common-place and mistaken notions. Willoughby thought the same; and their behaviour at all times, was an illustration of their opinions.

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CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. GOOD NEWS AND ROMANTIC SCENERY--BEAR-HUNTING AND ITS RESULTS. Jacques failed in his attempt to break off his engagement with the fur-traders. The gentleman in charge of Norway House, albeit a good-natured, estimable man, was one who could not easily brook disappointment, especially in matters that involved the interests of the Hudson's Bay Company; so Jacques was obliged to hold to his compact, and the pastor had to search for another guide. Spring came, and with it the awakening (if we may use the expression) of the country from the long, lethargic sleep of winter. The sun burst forth with irresistible power, and melted all before it. Ice and snow quickly dissolved, and set free the waters of swamp and river, lake and sea, to leap and sparkle in their new-found liberty. Birds renewed their visits to the regions of the north; frogs, at last unfrozen, opened their leathern jaws to croak and whistle in the marshes, and men began their preparations for a summer campaign. At the commencement of the season an express arrived with letters from headquarters, which, among other matters of importance, directed that Messrs. Somerville and Hamilton should be dispatched forthwith to the Saskatchewan district, where, on reaching Fort Pitt, they were to place themselves at the disposal of the gentleman in charge of the district. It need scarcely be added that the young men were overjoyed on receiving this almost unhoped-for intelligence, and that Harry expressed his satisfaction in his usual hilarious manner, asserting somewhat profanely, in the excess of his glee, that the governor-in-chief of Rupert's Land was a "regular brick." Hamilton agreed to all his friend's remarks with a quiet smile, accompanied by a slight chuckle, and a somewhat desperate attempt at a caper, which attempt, bordering as it did on a region of buffoonery into which our quiet and gentlemanly friend had never dared hitherto to venture, proved an awkward and utter failure. He felt this, and blushed deeply.

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CHAPTER XXXVIII. _Tancred's Recovery_ TANCRED rapidly recovered. On the second day after his recognition of Eva, he had held that conversation with Fakredeen which had determined the young Emir not to lose a moment in making the effort to induce Amalek to forego his ransom, the result of which he had communicated to Eva on their subsequent interview. On the third day, Tancred rose from his couch, and would even have quitted the tent, had not Baroni dissuaded him. He was the more induced to do so, for on this day he missed his amusing companion, the Emir. It appeared from the account of Baroni, that his highness had departed at dawn, on his dromedary, and without an attendant. According to Baroni, nothing was yet settled either as to the ransom or the release of Tancred. It seemed that the great Sheikh had been impatient to return to his chief encampment, and nothing but the illness of Tancred would probably have induced him to remain in the Stony Arabia as long as he had done. The Lady Eva had not, since her arrival at the ruined city, encouraged Baroni in any communication on the subject which heretofore during their journey had entirely occupied her consideration, from which he inferred that she had nothing very satisfactory to relate; yet he was not without hope, as he felt assured that Eva would not have remained a day were she convinced that there was no chance of effecting her original purpose. The comparative contentment of the great Sheikh at this moment, her silence, and the sudden departure of Fakredeen, induced Baroni to believe that there was yet something on the cards, and, being of a sanguine disposition, he sincerely encouraged his master, who, however, did not appear to be very desponding.

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CHAPTER TWO Babalatchi ceased speaking. Lingard shifted his feet a little, uncrossed his arms, and shook his head slowly. The narrative of the events in Sambir, related from the point of view of the astute statesman, the sense of which had been caught here and there by his inattentive ears, had been yet like a thread to guide him out of the sombre labyrinth of his thoughts; and now he had come to the end of it, out of the tangled past into the pressing necessities of the present. With the palms of his hands on his knees, his elbows squared out, he looked down on Babalatchi who sat in a stiff attitude, inexpressive and mute as a talking doll the mechanism of which had at length run down. "You people did all this," said Lingard at last, "and you will be sorry for it before the dry wind begins to blow again. Abdulla's voice will bring the Dutch rule here." Babalatchi waved his hand towards the dark doorway. "There are forests there. Lakamba rules the land now. Tell me, Tuan, do you think the big trees know the name of the ruler? No. They are born, they grow, they live and they die--yet know not, feel not. It is their land." "Even a big tree may be killed by a small axe," said Lingard, drily. "And, remember, my one-eyed friend, that axes are made by white hands. You will soon find that out, since you have hoisted the flag of the Dutch."

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The events of Saturday night in Kunming are deeply engraved in the mind of Xie Qiming, who narrowly escaped death in the terrorist attack at the city's railway station. The 48-year-old policeman intervened to stop the butchering of unarmed civilians, saving many from death and injury, but he was injured in the process. Lying in a hospital bed, his head and nose marked by serious hacking wounds - one more than 20 centimeters long - Xie recounted his actions on the day he describes as a nightmare. "I shot at them but fell to the ground during the fighting. After the shots, the terrorists turned their attention to the police and several of them surrounded me and stabbed me like crazy," he said. "There is no humanity in them." Xie is from the Beijinglu Police Station, the closest to the attack, and four police officers from the station were the first to respond. He survived because he was wearing a bulletproof vest, which was damaged by the attackers. When the officers arrived, the attackers were running out of the ticket hall, attacking people with long knives. Xie and his colleagues tried to stop the attack, which is when Xie was injured. In addition to the deep cuts, his skull was fractured, and at the time of writing he was awaiting further surgery. "A wave of fierce anger rose up in my mind, and we all forgot to think about the possible danger to us," said Hu Zhe, 23, a police officer trainee at the Beijinglu Police Station. Having no firearm, he fought the terrorists with a wooden baton, but it got broken in the fighting. He sustained a 6-centimeter wound to his left eyebrow. Wan Weiqing, a neurosurgeon from Beijing Tiantan Hospital, learned of the attack at 2 am on Sunday and took the first flight to Kunming, where he has been helping the victims. He said that 71 victims are being treated at the Kunming First People's Hospital, most of them with severe multiple injuries. "There is one victim whose rib, breastbone, lung and even heart were all injured in one chopping action. The attackers had obviously prepared and practiced for a long time," he said. Zhou Hongmei, director of the Medical Reform Office at the Yunnan Health Department, said a team of medical experts including 29 doctors had arrived in Kunming by Monday night. They have been working at the five hospitals treating victims of the attack. Chen Min, a Neurology Department nurse at Kunming First People's Hospital, said the department usually had seven nurses in the daytime and three at night. "But all the other nurses who were not on duty returned to the hospital voluntarily on Saturday night," she said. In the past three days, none of them had more than 10 hours of rest. "The crucial factor in saving lives in such incidents is treatment without delay," said Chai Wenzhao, associate director of the Intensive Care Unit in the Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Chai has participated in many emergency rescue efforts. He said that the victims will need psychological counseling once their physical injuries have been dealt with, because the emotional impact of such an incident can be severe. Four psychologists from Anding Hospital in Beijing have begun treating some of the victims.

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CHAPTER XXIII UNEXPECTED SUPPORT The day after Andrew's return he was sitting in the library at Ghyllside, waiting for dinner. Though a fire burned on the hearth by which he lounged, cigarette in hand, two of the tall windows were open and the air that flowed in was soft and muggy. He had spent most of the day in shooting, and after a long walk across wet meadows and a boggy moor he now felt very comfortable and somewhat drowsy. He would have to bestir himself when the guests he expected arrived, and he was enjoying a few minutes' rest. His cigarette was, however, only half smoked when Wannop walked in. "As I didn't see you downstairs I came up to look for you; Gertrude's with Hilda. Haven't Florence and Leonard arrived yet?" "Train seems to be late," Andrew replied. "I suppose I should have gone to meet them, but I felt lazy." "Was that all?" "It wasn't my only reason. To tell the truth, I shirked the drive home with Leonard. I'm a poor dissembler and our relations are rather strained. It will be easier to meet him when there are others about." "They'll be on his side." "I expect so; but I'm not afraid of direct opposition. It's beating about a delicate subject and trying to keep on safe ground that bothers me." "I know; it's embarrassing. You won't be able to broach matters of any importance to-night." "No. We'll have one or two outside people here and I want my homecoming to be harmonious. We'll let things stand over till to-morrow."

cnn

(CNN) -- Money talks -- that's hardly a revelation, but the overriding feeling towards Saturday's David Haye versus Dereck Chisora "circus fight" in London is shock and outrage that it could even take place. With neither fighter holding a British boxing license, promoter Frank Warren had to resort to asking the little-known Luxembourg federation to sanction the bout. It has since been expelled from the European Boxing Union for agreeing to give legitimacy to an event that no-one else would touch. Chisora was banned by the World Boxing Council and the British Boxing Board of Control following his bust-up with Haye in Munich in February, while his former world champion opponent escaped punishment only because he had already retired. Their ugly scuffle at a press conference after Chisora's defeat by Vitali Klitschko, which Haye attended, has set the scene for a showdown straight from the pages of the professional wrestling handbook. Their pantomime behavior has only served to rack up the ticket sales to close to 30,000 and secure airtime in 60 countries worldwide. Chisora threatens to shoot Haye "Chisora's not a nice guy, the fact he bites people in the ring, spits water in peoples' faces, slaps people at weigh-ins, kisses people at weigh-ins. What's to like?" Haye said this week. Boxing commentator Steve Bunce has compared Haye and Chisora's Munich brawl to Lennox Lewis' pre-fight rumble with Mike Tyson a decade ago. Lewis punched Tyson, and in exchange the American bit his leg. This was heralded at the time as the biggest fight ever.

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To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was immediately successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old. As a Southern Gothic novel and a Bildungsroman, the primary themes of To Kill a Mockingbird involve racial injustice and the destruction of innocence. Scholars have noted that Lee also addresses issues of class, courage, compassion, and gender roles in the American Deep South. The book is widely taught in schools in the United States with lessons that emphasize tolerance and decry prejudice. Despite its themes, To Kill a Mockingbird has been subject to campaigns for removal from public classrooms, often challenged for its use of racial epithets.

cnn

(CNN) -- The man accused of hacking celebrities' online accounts -- from which private images were ultimately posted on the Internet -- says he became "addicted" to the intrusion and "didn't know how to stop." "I deeply apologize. I know what I did was probably one of the worst invasions of privacy someone could experience," Christopher Chaney told CNN affiliate WAWS/WTEV in Jacksonville, Florida, Wednesday. "And these people don't have privacy to begin with. And I was in that little sliver of privacy they do have." Federal authorities accuse the 35-year-old of hacking into accounts on computers and other devices belonging to more than 50 people, including movie stars Scarlett Johansson and Mila Kunis and singer Christina Aguilera. Chaney was indicted on charges of accessing protected computers without authorization, damaging protected computers, wiretapping and aggravated identity theft, officials said. "Unfortunately, Mr. Chaney was able to access nude photos of some of the celebrities and some of them were uploaded on the Internet," U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said Wednesday. A recently circulated nude photo of Johannsson is part of the investigation, he said. Chaney allegedly "also took financial information, movie scripts and conversations that the celebrities believed to be private," Birotte told reporters. The FBI's Los Angeles office said he was arrested as part of "Operation Hackerazzi," which looked into computer intrusions targeting individuals associated with the entertainment industry. In the interview with WAWS/WTEV, Chaney said the hacking "started as curiosity and it turned into just being, you know, addicted to seeing the behind-the-scenes of what's going on with these people you see on the big screen every day."

cnn

Long Beach, California (CNN) -- Taylor Wilson is going to create a safer source of nuclear energy, help reduce the world's stockpile of nuclear weapons, screen container ships for weapons and power manned missions to other planets. But first ... he has to graduate high school in May. Jack Andraka is going to bring his 3-cent screening test for pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancer to market -- an alternative to a standard $800 test. But Jack, 16, hasn't been to high school much lately and isn't even sure he'll graduate. The two teenagers with Justin Bieber style haircuts wowed the 1,400 people who attended TED2013 this week, fitting the conference's theme: "The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered." They were among a number of youthful speakers who Time magazine's Ruth Davis Konigsberg called "some of the biggest showstoppers at the annual event." By contrast, some of the older voices onstage struck notes that were far less hopeful. Northwestern University economist Robert Gordon declared that the era of strong economic growth in the United States is over -- as America faces the headwinds of an aging population, debt, inequality and educational weaknesses; he argued that it's hard to foresee innovations that could have the transformative effect electricity, indoor plumbing and the internal combustion engine had in powering growth in the past century. Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, calling for a private sector-funded "race to the top" among states, lamented the inability of Washington politicians to develop a national energy strategy. She got laughs when she noted that Congress' approval rating is worse than lice, root canals and Donald Trump (although better than that of gonorrhea and meth labs).

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Everyone has his own birthday. People in different countries celebrate their birthdays in different ways. Here are four people from different countries. They will tell us how they celebrate their birthdays in their countries. Sandy Morrison comes from Madrid . He says happily, "My twenty-first birthday is on a Saturday, and I'm going to go out with some friends. To wish me a happy birthday, they are going to pull(,)on my ear, once for each year. It is an old custom . Some people pull on the ear just once, but my friends are very traditional ." Mr. and Mrs. Sato are from Tokyo. Mr. Sato is going to be sixty tomorrow. In Japan, the sixtieth birthday is called Kanreki---it's the beginning of a new life. The colour red is for a new life, so they always give something red for a sixtieth birthday. Mrs Sato says, "What am I going to give my husband? I can't say. It's a surprise ." Li Xiaomei from Beijing feels very excited and tells us. "Tomorrow is my sixteenth birthday. It's a special birthday. So we're going to have a family party. I'm probably going to get some money in 'lucky' envelopes from my relatives. My mother is going to cook noodles --- noodles are for a long life." Phillip Evans, from Paris, smiles to us, "I'm going to be thirty next week, so I'm going to invite three very good friends out to dinner. In France, when you have birthday, you often invite people out. In some countries, I know it's the opposite---- people take you out."

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A newspaper's circulation is the number of copies it distributes on an average day. Circulation is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circulation, since some newspapers are distributed without cost to the reader. Readership figures are usually higher than circulation figures because of the assumption that a typical copy of the newspaper is read by more than one person. In many countries, circulations are audited by independent bodies such as the Audit Bureau of Circulations to assure advertisers that a given newspaper does indeed reach the number of people claimed by the publisher. There are international open access directories such as "Mondo Times", but these generally rely on numbers reported by newspapers themselves. In many developed countries, newspaper circulation is falling due to social and technological changes such as the availability of news on the internet. On the other hand, in some developing countries circulation is increasing as these factors are more than cancelled out by rising incomes, population, and literacy. The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) publishes a list of newspapers with the largest circulation. In 2011, India led the world in terms of newspaper circulation with nearly 330 million newspapers circulated daily. In 2005, China topped the list in term of total newspaper circulation with 93.5 million a day, India came second with 78.8 million, followed by Japan, with 70.4 million; the United States, with 48.3 million; and Germany, with 22.1 million. Around 75 of the 100 best selling newspapers are in Asia and seven out of top ten are Japanese newspapers.

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A railway electrification system supplies electric power to railway trains and trams without an on-board prime mover or local fuel supply. Electrification has many advantages but requires significant capital expenditure. Selection of an electrification system is based on economics of energy supply, maintenance, and capital cost compared to the revenue obtained for freight and passenger traffic. Different systems are used for urban and intercity areas; some electric locomotives can switch to different supply voltages to allow flexibility in operation. Electric railways use electric locomotives to haul passengers or freight in separate cars or electric multiple units, passenger cars with their own motors. Electricity is typically generated in large and relatively efficient generating stations, transmitted to the railway network and distributed to the trains. Some electric railways have their own dedicated generating stations and transmission lines but most purchase power from an electric utility. The railway usually provides its own distribution lines, switches and transformers.

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A Christian ( pronunciation (help·info)) is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. "Christian" derives from the Koine Greek word Christós (Χριστός), a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach. There are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict. However, "Whatever else they might disagree about, Christians are at least united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance." The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to describe anything associated with Christianity, or in a proverbial sense "all that is noble, and good, and Christ-like." It is also used as a label to identify people who associate with the cultural aspects of Christianity, irrespective of personal religious beliefs or practices. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, up from about 600 million in 1910. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey Christianity will remain the world's largest religion in 2050, if current trends continue.

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CHAPTER XXII Mrs. Theodore Hastings was forty-eight years old, which her friends said was the reason why her mansion on Fifth Avenue was furnished and lit with the delicate sombreness of an old Italian palace. There was about it none of the garishness, the almost resplendent brilliancy associated with the abodes of many of our neighbours. Although her masseuse confidently assured her that she looked twenty-eight, Mrs. Hastings preferred not to put the matter to the test. She received her carefully selected dinner guests in a great library with cedarwood walls, furnished with almost Victorian sobriety, and illuminated by myriads of hidden lights. Pamela, being a relative, received the special consideration of an affectionately bestowed embrace. "Pamela, my child, wasn't it splendid I heard that you were in New York!" she exclaimed. "Quite by accident, too. I think you treat your relatives shamefully." Her niece laughed. "Well, anyhow, you're the first of them I've seen at all, and directly Jim told me he was coming to you, I made him ring up in case you had room for me." "Jimmy was a dear," Mrs. Hastings declared, "and, of course, there couldn't be a time when there wouldn't be room for you. Even now, at the last moment, though, I haven't quite made up my mind where to put you. Choose, dear. Will you have a Western bishop or a rather dull Englishman?" "What is the name of the Englishman?" Pamela asked, with sudden intuition. "Lutchester, dear. Quite a nice name, but I know nothing about him. He brought letters to your uncle. Rather a queer time for Englishmen to be travelling about, we thought, but still, there he is. Seems to have found some people he knows--and I declare he is coming towards you!"

cnn

(CNN) -- The U.S. will come face to face with the man who helped inspire the "Miracle of Medinah" once more when it faces Europe at the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles. Ian Poulter, the man known as "Mr Ryder Cup" will be part of the European side after securing a wildcard pick from captain Paul McGinley. Poulter is joined by Scotsman Stephen Gallacher and England's Lee Westwood -- but there is no room for former World No.1 Luke Donald. Poulter, 38, won all four of his matches two years ago as Europe came back from the brink to record an astonishing 14½ - 13½ victory. Westwood, who made his Ryder Cup debut in 1997, has won 21 points in 37 matches and has appeared in eight editions of the competition. Gallacher, who will be playing in front of his home crowd, finished third at the Italian Open and only just missed out on automatic qualification. McGinley, the European captain, told a news conference that omitting Donald, who boasts an impressive Ryder Cup record, was one of his most difficult tasks. "It was a very difficult conversation with him for a number of reasons," McGinley told reporters ahead of the match getting under way on September 26. "My relationship with Luke is very close. He has played in every Ryder Cup I've been involved in apart from 2008 which we both missed. "I've partnered Luke twice in 2004 and 2006 and vice-captained him in 2010 and 12. I forged a very strong relationship with him.

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Greenland is an autonomous constituent country within the Kingdom of Denmark between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and Denmark, the colonial powers, as well as the nearby island of Iceland) for more than a millennium. The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors began migrating from the Canadian mainland in the 13th century, gradually settling across the island. Greenland is the world's largest island (Australia, although larger, is generally considered to be a continental landmass rather than an island). Three-quarters of Greenland is covered by the only permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica. With a population of about 56,480 (2013), it is the least densely populated country in the world. The Arctic Umiaq Line ferry acts as a lifeline for western Greenland, connecting the various cities and settlements. Greenland has been inhabited off and on for at least the last 4,500 years by Arctic peoples whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada. Norsemen settled the uninhabited southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century, and Inuit peoples arrived in the 13th century. The Norse colonies disappeared in the late 15th century. Soon after their demise, beginning in 1499, the Portuguese briefly explored and claimed the island, naming it "Terra do Lavrador" (later applied to Labrador in Canada). In the early 18th century, Scandinavian explorers reached Greenland again. To strengthen trading and power, Denmark-Norway affirmed sovereignty over the island.

gutenberg

CHAPTER VIII She took her letters up to her room with her, having persuaded her mother to go to bed directly Mr. Hilbery left them, for so long as she sat in the same room as her mother, Mrs. Hilbery might, at any moment, ask for a sight of the post. A very hasty glance through many sheets had shown Katharine that, by some coincidence, her attention had to be directed to many different anxieties simultaneously. In the first place, Rodney had written a very full account of his state of mind, which was illustrated by a sonnet, and he demanded a reconsideration of their position, which agitated Katharine more than she liked. Then there were two letters which had to be laid side by side and compared before she could make out the truth of their story, and even when she knew the facts she could not decide what to make of them; and finally she had to reflect upon a great many pages from a cousin who found himself in financial difficulties, which forced him to the uncongenial occupation of teaching the young ladies of Bungay to play upon the violin. But the two letters which each told the same story differently were the chief source of her perplexity. She was really rather shocked to find it definitely established that her own second cousin, Cyril Alardyce, had lived for the last four years with a woman who was not his wife, who had borne him two children, and was now about to bear him another. This state of things had been discovered by Mrs. Milvain, her aunt Celia, a zealous inquirer into such matters, whose letter was also under consideration. Cyril, she said, must be made to marry the woman at once; and Cyril, rightly or wrongly, was indignant with such interference with his affairs, and would not own that he had any cause to be ashamed of himself. Had he any cause to be ashamed of himself, Katharine wondered; and she turned to her aunt again.

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The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague in the Netherlands. The ICC has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The ICC is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore only exercise its jurisdiction when certain conditions are met, such as when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals or when the United Nations Security Council or individual states refer situations to the Court. The ICC began functioning on 1 July 2002, the date that the Rome Statute entered into force. The Rome Statute is a multilateral treaty which serves as the ICC's foundational and governing document. States which become party to the Rome Statute, for example by ratifying it, become member states of the ICC. Currently, there are 124 states which are party to the Rome Statute and therefore members of the ICC. However, Burundi has given formal notice that it will withdraw from the Rome Statute. The ICC has four principal organs: the Presidency, the Judicial Divisions, the Office of the Prosecutor, and the Registry. The President is the most senior judge chosen by his or her peers in the Judicial Division, which hears cases before the Court. The Office of the Prosecutor is headed by the Prosecutor who investigates crimes and initiates proceedings before the Judicial Division. The Registry is headed by the Registrar and is charged with managing all the administrative functions of the ICC, including the headquarters, detention unit, and public defense office.

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Wikibooks (previously called "Wikimedia Free Textbook Project" and "Wikimedia-Textbooks") is a wiki-based Wikimedia project hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation for the creation of free content textbooks and annotated texts that anyone can edit. In June 2016, Compete.com estimated that Wikibooks had 1,478,812 unique visitors. The wikibooks.org domain was registered on . It was launched to host and build free textbooks on subjects such as organic chemistry and physics. There are two major sub-projects, Wikijunior and Wikiversity, were created within Wikibooks before its official policy was later changed so that future incubator type projects are started according to the Wikimedia Foundation's new project policy. In August 2006, Wikiversity became an independent Wikimedia Foundation project. Since 2008, Wikibooks is included in BASE Wikijunior is a subproject of Wikibooks that specializes in books for children. The project consists of both a magazine and a website, and is currently being developed in English, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Arabic. It is funded by a grant from the Beck Foundation. While some books are original, others began as text copied over from other sources of free content textbooks found on the Internet. All of the site's content is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license (or a compatible license). This means that, as with its sister project, Wikipedia, contributions remain copyrighted to their creators, while the licensing ensures that it can be freely distributed and reused subject to certain conditions.

cnn

(CNN) -- We love the glamor of alpine skiing, the glow of tradition, the glitz of stars like Lindsey Vonn, and the gumption of her quest to race the men. But do we love it enough to keep watching when skiing's "dark side" is so much more exciting and dangerous? Freestyle skiing is taking over the Olympics. A global passion for taking two skis to new extremes is reaching its zenith, and the Olympic movement has responded by adding a succession of new events to its program. When slopestyle and ski halfpipe make their debut at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games, freestyle skiers will for the first time have as many medals to aim at as their alpine counterparts. And as fans are increasingly drawn to new, high-octane breeds of winter sport, so top athletes are making the switch too. In 2009, Kelsey Serwa left behind alpine racing for ski cross. Within two years she had become an X Games gold medalist and world champion. "Ski cross is full of outcasts from alpine," the Canadian 23-year-old tells CNN. "Alpine is so strict on rules. Ski cross is more relaxed, for free spirits or people looking for something more exciting than racing the clock." Ski cross, a thrilling four-way straight fight to the finish line, blew the socks off TV audiences on its debut at Vancouver 2010, where Serwa finished fifth overall. For some, it made the blue riband downhill races look almost pedestrian. Serwa calls it the "dark side" of ski racing.

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A lot of kids have dreams they'll never achieve due to the limitations of their little bodies. They want to fly, or to become a dinosaur, or to learn how to act like Spiderman. Luka Tavcar, 12, has muscular dystrophy and is totally dependent on his wheelchair. Nevertheless, late last year, he had an inspired plan: to be photographed walking around and having fun. He approached Matej Peljhan, an amateur photographer and a psychologist at CIRIUS rehabilitation center near Ljubljana, Slovenia, where Luka is a patient. At first, Peljhan was perplexed. How could he photograph a boy who can not move or act in motion? "Luka wanted to see himself playing and having fun, but it seemed impossible," he says. Then Peljhan had a brainstorm: Luka could lie down on a piece of cloth and, with the help of an assistant, Peljhan would pose the boy as if he were jumping, climbing stairs, moving downhill on a skateboard, and playing basketball. Then Peljhan would shoot these images from above. The photos took about a month to produce; all were shot early this year. Peljhan, who lost his right arm and left eye as a child, says his own disabilities motivated him to make the photographs. "I understand people with limitations," he says. He named the series "The Little Prince" after the French story by Antoine de Saint-Exupery in which a boy teaches a man about trust, hope, and friendship. Luka loves the photos. Matej himself understands what it is like to live with limitations--he lost his right arm and left eye as a child."Luka wants to stay positive and his imagination helps him forget his physical limitation," says Peljhan. "He's fragile, but he can see the world differently."

wikipedia

Unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U.S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. In addition to the dollar the coinage act officially established monetary units of mill or one-thousandth of a dollar (symbol ₥), cent or one-hundredth of a dollar (symbol ¢), dime or one-tenth of a dollar, and eagle or ten dollars, with prescribed weights and composition of gold, silver, or copper for each. It was proposed in the mid-1800s that one hundred dollars be known as a union, but no union coins were ever struck and only patterns for the $50 half union exist. However, only cents are in everyday use as divisions of the dollar; "dime" is used solely as the name of the coin with the value of 10¢, while "eagle" and "mill" are largely unknown to the general public, though mills are sometimes used in matters of tax levies, and gasoline prices are usually in the form of $X.XX9 per gallon, e.g., $3.599, sometimes written as $3.599⁄10. When currently issued in circulating form, denominations equal to or less than a dollar are emitted as U.S. coins while denominations equal to or greater than a dollar are emitted as Federal Reserve notes (with the exception of gold, silver and platinum coins valued up to $100 as legal tender, but worth far more as bullion). Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the note form is significantly more common. In the past, "paper money" was occasionally issued in denominations less than a dollar (fractional currency) and gold coins were issued for circulation up to the value of $20 (known as the "double eagle", discontinued in the 1930s). The term eagle was used in the Coinage Act of 1792 for the denomination of ten dollars, and subsequently was used in naming gold coins. Paper currency less than one dollar in denomination, known as "fractional currency", was also sometimes pejoratively referred to as "shinplasters". In 1854, James Guthrie, then Secretary of the Treasury, proposed creating $100, $50 and $25 gold coins, which were referred to as a "Union", "Half Union", and "Quarter Union", thus implying a denomination of 1 Union = $100.

gutenberg

CHAPTER II Philip stepped into his own little bedroom and made scanty preparations for this, his first excursion. Then he made his way down into the shabby hall and was seated there on the worn settee when his guest descended. She was wearing a hat which, so far as he could judge, was almost becoming. Her gloves, notwithstanding their many signs of mending, were neat, her shoes carefully polished, and although her dress was undeniably shabby, there was something in her carriage which pleased him. Her eyes were fixed upon his from the moment she stepped from the lift. She was watching for his expression half defiantly, half anxiously. "Well, you see what I look like," she remarked brusquely. "You can back out of it, if you want to." "Don't be silly," he replied. "You look quite all right. I'm not much of a beau myself, you know. I bought this suit over the counter the other day, without being measured for it or anything." "Guess you ain't used to ready-made clothes," she observed, as they stepped outside. "You see, in England--and the Colonies," he added hastily, "things aren't so expensive as here. What a wonderful city this is of yours, Martha!" "Miss Grimes, please," she corrected him. "I beg your pardon," he apologised. "That's just what I was afraid of," she went on querulously. "You're beginning already. You think because you're giving me a meal, you can take all sorts of liberties. Calling me by my Christian name, indeed!" "It was entirely a slip," he assured her. "Tell me what theatre that is across the way?"

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One night about nine o'clock, Dr. Eyck, a surgeon, had a phone call from Dr. Haydon at the hospital in Clens Falls. The surgeon was asked to go there at once to operate on a very sick boy who shot himself while playing with a gun. The doctor was soon on his way to Clens Falls. It was 60 miles away. And it was snowing heavily in the city. The surgeon thought he could get there before 12 o'clock. A few minutes later, the doctor was stopped by a man in an old black coat. Gun in hand, the man ordered the doctor to get out. Then the man drove the car down the road, leaving the doctor in the falling snow. It was after 2 o'clock in the morning when the doctor arrived at the hospital in Clens Falls. Dr. Haydon told him that the boy had died an hour before. The two doctors walked by the door of the hospital waiting room. There sat the man in the old black coat with his head in his hands. "Mr. Cuninghan," said Dr. Haydon to the man, "This is Dr. Eyck. He is the surgeon who walked all the way from Albany to save your boy." ,(A, B, CD),.

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When Carrie Conley's husband left in the early 1960s, she started raising six children on her own. She took a job at a hospital, delivering meals to patients as what was called "a tray girl". Jerry Johnson, the youngest child in the family, was 5 years old when his dad left. Speaking with his mother recently, Johnson heard his mother repeat the question she asked at that time. "Lord, what am I going to do with all these kids by myself?" The answers came in the form of lima beans, black-eyed peas and low prices on chicken necks. "Something to boil for every day of the week," Conley said. "I cannot remember one Christmas that I didn't feel like the luckiest kid in the world," Johnson said, "even though now I realize we had hardly anything in terms of money." "How did you hold all that together?" he asked his mother. Conley said she would save up her sick days at work, going in no matter how she felt. Then in December, the company would pay her for the unused sick days. More help came in castoffs , when wealthy families would clean out their toy chests at Christmastime and take a load of toys to the Salvation Army. Conley would pick through them, finding the best ones for her children. The result of those sacrifices led to a big, happy Christmas for Conley and her kids. "But I never did tell you it was a Santa Claus," Conley said, "I couldn't give any man credit for what I had done." Johnson thanked his mom for her sacrifices, and for the good example she set for him and his siblings. "I think it's helping us all be better parents," Johnson said. In 1975, Conley retired from Detroit's Outer Drive Hospital. Jerry was a sophomore in college at that time. He later graduated from Washington University Medical School and received a degree in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics.

wikipedia

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN , ) is a regional intergovernmental organisation comprising ten Southeast Asian states which promotes Pan-Asianism and intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, military, educational and cultural integration amongst its members and Asian states. Since its formation on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, the organisation's membership has expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Its principal aims include accelerating economic growth, social progress, and sociocultural evolution among its members, alongside the protection of regional stability and the provision of a mechanism for member countries to resolve differences peacefully. ASEAN is an official United Nations Observer. Communication by members across nations takes place in English. ASEAN covers a land area of 4.4 million square kilometres, 3% of the total land area of Earth. ASEAN territorial waters cover an area about three times larger than its land counterpart. Member countries have a combined population of approximately 625 million people, 8.8% of the world's population. In 2015, the organisation's combined nominal GDP had grown to more than US$2.8 trillion. If ASEAN were a single entity, it would rank as the sixth largest economy in the world, behind the USA, China, Japan, France and Germany. ASEAN shares land borders with India, China, Bangladesh, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea, and maritime borders with India, China, Palau, and Australia. Both East Timor and Papua New Guinea are backed by certain ASEAN members for their membership in the organisation.

cnn

(CNN) -- If Barack Obama could make three wishes, he would probably ask for the crisis in Syria to go away. That would help him receive another wish: Getting reelected as president of the United States. Unfortunately for Obama, and tragically for the people in Syria, history has brought the American presidential campaign and the Syrian revolution to the same pages of the calendar. That means Obama will do whatever he can, for as long as he can, to keep the carnage in Syria from interfering with his reelection plan. That means the killings in Syria could go on longer than if the uprising had erupted during a nonelection year. Anyone who doubts that electoral considerations have become a major factor in U.S. foreign policy should look to Obama's own words from a few months ago. Obama did not realize his microphone was on during a meeting in Seoul with then-Russian President Dimitry Medvedev, so he leaned in close and whispered, "This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility." In this instance, Obama was referring to the contentious issue of missile defense. It's not uncommon for presidents to worry about reelection while charting foreign policy. In Robert Caro's new biography of President Lyndon B. Johnson, "The Passage of Power," he describes how Johnson made decisions about Vietnam with an eye towards the elections. Caro concluded that "the steps he took had, as their unifying principle, an objective dictated largely by domestic — indeed, personal — political concerns."

gutenberg

CHAPTER XXVI. A THIRD PARTY IS SO OBJECTIONABLE. Hugh Stanbury went in search of Trevelyan immediately on his return to London, and found his friend at his rooms in Lincoln's Inn. "I have executed my commission," said Hugh, endeavouring to speak of what he had done in a cheery voice. "I am much obliged to you, Stanbury; very much;--but I do not know that I need trouble you to tell me anything about it." "And why not?" "I have learned it all from that--man." "What man?" "From Bozzle. He has come back, and has been with me, and has learned everything." "Look here, Trevelyan;--when you asked me to go down to Devonshire, you promised me that there should be nothing more about Bozzle. I expect you to put that rascal, and all that he has told you, out of your head altogether. You are bound to do so for my sake, and you will be very wise to do so for your own." "I was obliged to see him when he came." "Yes, and to pay him, I do not doubt. But that is all done, and should be forgotten." "I can't forget it. Is it true or untrue that he found that man down there? Is it true or untrue that my wife received Colonel Osborne at your mother's house? Is it true or untrue that Colonel Osborne went down there with the express object of seeing her? Is it true or untrue that they had corresponded? It is nonsense to bid me to forget all this. You might as well ask me to forget that I had desired her neither to write to him, nor to see him."

cnn

A court in eastern China sentenced Bo Xilai -- the former rising star of the ruling Communist Party who fell from power amid a scandal involving murder, betrayal and financial skullduggery -- to life in prison Sunday. Bo received the life sentence for bribe-taking, as well as 15 years for embezzlement and seven years for abuse of power. The sentences, which came shortly after the guilty verdicts, surprised some analysts. "I'm actually a little bit surprised. I think it's a very strong verdict" compared to some previous cases, said Yuhua Wang, a political science professor at University of Pennsylvania. "He was a political star before falling from grace. He was ... the son of a revolutionary veteran. His father was Mao's colleague," he added. During the hearings of the politically sensitive trial that took place over several days last month, Bo, 64, denied the charges and strongly challenged the prosecution's case against him, according to accounts published by the Jinan Intermediate People's Court. The closely watched trial was considered to be much more transparent than most cases in China. But international and independent journalists weren't allowed inside the courtroom, and doubts were raised about the fullness of the court's version of events. 'I can bear the suffering' Days before the court announced the date for delivering the verdict, Bo reiterated his innocence but said he anticipated a lengthy imprisonment in a letter written to his family. "I was dragged into this and really wronged, but the truth will come out one day," wrote Bo in a letter dated September 12, referring to the bribes allegedly taken by his wife and other scandals involving her and her friends.

mctest

Tommy and Suzy (brother and sister) went to the playground one afternoon with their mom and dad, Jan and Dean. They were playing a game of tag and having the best time ever running after each other and laughing. They liked to play tag instead of building sandcastles or swinging. They liked tag because they liked to run. They like to play hopscotch or jump rope but that day they wanted to play tag. Other games aren't as fun. They met Tony and Ally (who are best friends) and invited them to play tag too. Tony and Ally like to play other games like hopscotch or jump rope but that day they joined the game of tag. Making new friends is important. Tony and Ally would rather make friends than play their favorite games.

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I'll never forget that summer day in 1965 when my mother suddenly died of an unexplained illness at the age of 36. Later that afternoon, a police officer stopped by to ask my father if the hospital could use Mother's corneas . I was shocked. "The doctors want to _ Mum and give her away to other people!" I thought as I ran into the house in tears. "How can you let them do that to her?" I screamed at my father. "My mum came into this world in one piece and that is how she should go out." "Linda," Father said quietly, putting his arm around me, "the greatest gift you can give is a part of yourself. Your mother and I decided long ago that if we can make a difference in just one person's life after we die, our death will have meaning." He went on to explain they had both decided to donate their organs . The lesson my father taught me that day became one of the most important in my life. Years passed. I married and had a family of my own. In 1980, my father became seriously ill and moved in with us. He cheerfully told me that when he died, he wanted me to donate his eyes. "Sight is one of the greatest gifts a person can give," he said. I told Wendy what her grandpa had said, and with tears in her eyes, she went into her grandpa's room and gave him a big hug. She was only fourteen years old------the same age at which I was introduced to such a thing. What a difference! My father died on April 11,1986, and we donated his eyes as he had wanted. Three days later, Wendy said, "Mum, I'm so proud of you for what did for Grandpa." At that moment, I realized that my father gave much more than his eyes.

mctest

Nick was so happy to finally meet his cousin. Just this morning he found out what a cousin is. A cousin is somebody who has the same grandmother and grandfather as you. He didn't even know he had a cousin and now they were going to play together. This was going to be a great day. Right after he ate lunch and had a quick piece of candy for snack he pulled out the letter that his cousin Chris wrote to him. He read it over and over again. They liked so many of the same things, like riding bikes and playing games. It was only twelve o'clock and Nick did not know if he would make it until Chris got here. He had two more hours to go. Nick fell asleep as he was reading a book and woke up to the sound of a car outside. It must be them! He jumped up and ran downstairs and right out the door to the car. That's when he saw Chris through the car window. Nick was really surprised. Chris had a ponytail! Chris was a girl! It turned out that Nick still really liked his cousin Chris, even if she was a girl.

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Happiness is contagious , as researchers reported on Thursday. People with the most social connections -- spouses, friends, neighbors and relatives -- were also the happiest, the data showed. "Each additional happy person makes you happier," Christakis said. "Imagine that I am connected to you and you are connected to others and others are connected to still others. It is this fabric of humanity, like an American patch quilt." Each person sits on a different colored patch. "Imagine that these patches are happy and unhappy patches. Your happiness depends on what is going on in the patch around you," Christakis said. "It is not just happy people connecting with happy people, which they do. Above and beyond, there is this contagious process going on." And happiness is more contagious than unhappiness, they discovered. "If a social contact is happy, it increases the likelihood that you are happy by 15 percent, " Fowler said. "A friend of a friend, or the friend of a spouse or a sibling , if they are happy, increases your chances by 10 percent," he added. A happy third degree friend -- the friend of a friend of a friend -- increases a person's chances of being happy by 6 percent. "But every extra unhappy friend increases the likelihood that you'll be unhappy by 7 percent," Fowler said. The finding is interesting and it is useful, too, Fowler said. "Among other benefits, happiness has been shown to have an important effect on reduced mortality , pain reduction, and improved cardiac function. So better understanding of how happiness spreads can help us learn how to develop a healthier society," he said. The study also fits in with other data suggested in 1984 that having $ 5,000 extra increased a person's chances of becoming happier by about 2 percent. "A happy friend is worth about $ 20,000," Christakis said.

cnn

(CNN) -- Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal of the match with a stunning backheel as Real Madrid beat Rayo Vallecano to stay 10 points clear in the Spanish title race Sunday. Real had to work hard to emerge on top in the capital derby at the Vallecas while arch-rivals Barcelona won 2-1 against Atletico Madrid in the late kickoff to avoid falling further behind Jose Mourinho's men. The reigning champions owed their win to a Lionel Messi free-kick in the 80th minute. It was his 28th league goal of the season, one fewer than Ronaldo. Dani Alves opened the scoring on 36 minutes but Radamel Falcao equalized at the beginning of the second half for the home side. Earlier, the first half of the clash between the Madrid rivals was short of chances, but Rayo came closest to scoring as Michu rattled the woodwork with Iker Casillas beaten. Ronaldo struck shortly after the break following a corner. He was running away to chase a loose ball, but then fashioned an incredible backheeled effort which flew into the net. "A backheel is always different. It was a great goal but I'm not sure if it was the best of my career -- I have to see it again on TV," Ronaldo told AFP. Jose Callejon later wasted a chance to double the lead for Los Blancos to calm their nerves. Ronaldo was also denied a second by home keeper Joel late on before the home side lost Michu to a red card for a rash challenge.

cnn

(CNN) -- Paul Sacco says searching for his daughter feels something like bleeding out. All the hope, heartache and anxiety that go into it leave him feeling diminished. But the Colorado lawyer and amateur guitarist has managed to bottle up some of that energy, spending hundreds of hours creating what is both a tribute to Aubrey Sacco and a monument to his sorrow: a 14-song album he has published to Internet vendors. "Finding Aubrey" includes 11 songs written and performed by Sacco at his home studio, as well as the last three songs Aubrey herself recorded at home before the 23-year-old disappeared in April 2010 while hiking alone in Nepal. The case is unsolved, and the album -- for sale on iTunes and other outlets -- is a fundraiser for an investigation into her disappearance. "So many people who know us say, 'What is it like?' or 'I can't imagine what it's like to have your daughter go missing,' " Paul Sacco said in a phone interview. "The album tells the whole story: feeling helpless, feeling like you want to celebrate your daughter, feeling like she may never come back and diminishing yourself as you look for her." Aubrey disappeared toward the end of a five-month post-college trip in Asia. The 2009 University of Colorado graduate, who had a double major in psychology and art, went to Sri Lanka to teach yoga to vacationers before traveling to India to study yoga and volunteer to help schoolchildren with music and art. She hoped to do charitable work, perhaps hooking up with a nongovernmental organization abroad, her dad said. But she vanished on the last stop of her trip, in Nepal's Langtang National Park, where she hiked for at least two days.

wikipedia

A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power influence, which may cause middle or small powers to consider the great powers' opinions before taking actions of their own. International relations theorists have posited that great power status can be characterized into power capabilities, spatial aspects, and status dimensions. Sometimes the status of great powers is formally recognized in conferences such as the Congress of Vienna or an international structure such as the United Nations Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States serve as the body's five permanent members). At the same time the status of great powers can be informally recognized in a forum such as the G7 which consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

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A lazy Susan is an addition to a table that is designed to assist in moving food from one person to another while dining. This is achieved through the use of a turntable , which usually moves the food in a circle when it is pushed by those at the table. In this way, the food never has to be picked up and passed around the table. Instead, it remains in place on the lazy Susan. A lazy Susan may also be a part of a kitchen cabinet . In this sense, the lazy Susan is a type of shelving unit within the cabinet that is able to turn around its axis . One may turn the lazy Susan in order to find certain goods in storage. From the outside, a lazy Susan appears to be two cabinets that are located at a right angle to each another. When one of these cabinets is pushed, however, both doors move and the lazy Susan is revealed inside. It is believed that Thomas Jefferson invented the lazy Susan in the 18th century, though it was called "dumbwaiter" at that time. It is said that Jefferson invented the lazy Susan because his daughter complained she was always served last at table and, as a result, never found herself full when leaving the table. Others believe that Thomas Edison was the inventor, as he is believed to have invented the turntable for his phonograph . The turntable may have developed into the lazy Susan later. Regardless of who invented it, it wasn't until 1917 that the term "lazy Susan" was used in an advertisement for the invention. In Britain, however, the term "dumbwaiter" is still used rather than "lazy Susan". The reason for the naming of it is still a mystery. One theory is that it was named after either Jefferson's or Edison's daughter, both of whom were named Susan.

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Gladys Holm was a secretary . She worked in an office all her life. Gladys made about $15,000 a year. She died when she was 86 years old. And she left a big surprise--$18 million! She gave the money to a children's hospital. Gladys Holm never got married or had any children. But she always liked children, and she wanted to help them. When her friend's daughter was ill in hospital, Gladys brought her a toy bear. After that, she visited the hospital many times. Every time she visited, she brought toy bears for those children. After that, people started to call Gladys the "Toy Bear Lady". Gladys always gave toys and other presents to her friends but no one knew she had a lot of money. She lived in a small house outside Chicago. Everyone was very surprised when they learned that she was a millionaire. One of her friends said, "She always gave us nice presents and things, but we didn't know she was rich." How did Gladys get so much money? She asked her boss how to make more money, and she listened to what he said. She bought the stocks that he told her to buy, and she got very rich. Before she died, she talked to her friends about "giving something to the children's hospital". No one knew that the "something" was $18 million!

wikipedia

Kashmir is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, it denotes a larger area that includes the Indian-administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir (subdivided into Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh divisions), the Pakistani-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and Chinese-administered territories of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract. In the first half of the 1st millennium, the Kashmir region became an important centre of Hinduism and later of Buddhism; later still, in the ninth century, Kashmir Shaivism arose. In 1339, Shah Mir became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir, inaugurating the "Salatin-i-Kashmir" or Shah Mir dynasty. Kashmir was part of the Mughal Empire from 1586 to 1751, and thereafter, until 1820, of the Afghan Durrani Empire. That year, the Sikhs, under Ranjit Singh, annexed Kashmir. In 1846, after the Sikh defeat in the First Anglo-Sikh War, and upon the purchase of the region from the British under the Treaty of Amritsar, the Raja of Jammu, Gulab Singh, became the new ruler of Kashmir. The rule of his descendants, under the "paramountcy" (or tutelage) of the British Crown, lasted until the partition of India in 1947, when the former princely state of the British Raj was claimed by both Pakistan and India. It is currently a disputed territory, administered by three countries: India, Pakistan, and China.

gutenberg

CHAPTER XXXII A PROPOSAL We arrived at Feltham at a few minutes past ten o'clock, having seen nothing of the car which had left Newcastle a few minutes before ours. Several times we asked on the road and heard news of it, but we could find no sign of it having stopped even for a moment. Apparently it had been driven, without pause for rest or refreshment, at top speed, and we learned that two summonses would probably be issued against its owners. Jacky, who was delighted with the whole expedition, sat with his watch in his hands for the last few miles, and made elaborate calculations as to our average speed, the distance we had traversed, and other matters interesting to the owner of a powerful car. We were greeted, when we arrived, with all sorts of inquiries as to our expedition, but we declined to say a word until we had dined. We had scarcely commenced our meal before the butler came hurrying in. "His Lordship is ringing up from London, sir," he said. "He wishes to speak to you particularly. The telephone is through into the library." I made my way there and took up the receiver without any special interest. Ralph was fidgety these days, and I had no doubt that he had something to say to me about the shooting. His first words, however, riveted my attention. "Is that you, Austen?" he asked. "I am here," I answered. "How are you, Ralph?" "I am all right," he said. "Rather better than usual, in fact. Where on earth have you been to all day? I have rung up four times."

gutenberg

CHAPTER XXIX. "BONY." Mrs. Ellmother reluctantly entered the room. Since Emily had seen her last, her personal appearance doubly justified the nickname by which her late mistress had distinguished her. The old servant was worn and wasted; her gown hung loose on her angular body; the big bones of her face stood out, more prominently than ever. She took Emily's offered hand doubtingly. "I hope I see you well, miss," she said--with hardly a vestige left of her former firmness of voice and manner. "I am afraid you have been suffering from illness," Emily answered gently. "It's the life I'm leading that wears me down; I want work and change." Making that reply, she looked round, and discovered Francine observing her with undisguised curiosity. "You have got company with you," she said to Emily. "I had better go away, and come back another time." Francine stopped her before she could open the door. "You mustn't go away; I wish to speak to you." "About what, miss?" The eyes of the two women met--one, near the end of her life, concealing under a rugged surface a nature sensitively affectionate and incorruptibly true: the other, young in years, with out the virtues of youth, hard in manner and hard at heart. In silence on either side, they stood face to face; strangers brought together by the force of circumstances, working inexorably toward their hidden end. Emily introduced Mrs. Ellmother to Francine. "It may be worth your while," she hinted, "to hear what this young lady has to say."

cnn

(CNN) -- When Jack Nicklaus gives you advice, it pays to listen. Rory McIlroy did so last year, and he won his first major tournament. Now, having missed three cuts in a row ahead of his U.S. Open title defense next week, the world No. 2 has again acted on the wisdom of one of golf's greatest champions. McIlroy had intended to pay his first visit to the host course, San Francisco's Olympic Club, just days before the season's second major tees off. But after a joint interview with Nicklaus, hosted by Shane O'Donoghue of CNN's Living Golf show, the 23-year-old decided to go there early and use the free window that opened up when he missed the weekend action at the Memorial Tournament run by the "Golden Bear." McIlroy had planned to go straight from Muirfield Village to Memphis for this week's St. Jude Classic in the hope that more competitive play would help restore the form that has made him the world's most exciting young player. But it was Nicklaus, winner of a record 18 major titles and joined by Tiger Woods on Sunday in second place on the PGA Tour roll of honor with 73 victories, pointed him in the right direction. "My wife has always had a statement, which is: 'There is no excuse for not being prepared,' " the 72-year-old said. "I know that there were times when I wasn't prepared and I got exactly what I deserved -- nothing." Woods revealed after his victory on Sunday that he had visited Olympic before the Memorial, and that it had been perfect preparation.

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"Can I stay home from school today? I'm ill," he tells his mum. His mother touches his head. "OK, but you will have to look after yourself. I am going to work now," she says. After the front door closes, Jack springs out of bed. He takes off the three warm sweaters he is wearing and puts on a T-shirt and shorts. Then he runs for the kitchen . He is very hungry. After breakfast, Jack turns on the TV. He watches some cartoons and a VCD all the morning. At eleven he calls his friend Tom, who is "ill" too. Tom says he will come over after lunch. The two boys play computer games all the afternoon. Tom has to leave at 4 o'clock, as his mother usually gets home early. Next day, Jack says he feels much better and goes to school. Their Maths teacher Miss Clark says with a smile, "We are having the Maths test now, class. Too many students were at home yesterday."

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Chapter 8: The Capture Of Saumur. The arrangements being now completed, Leigh and his band lay down in a thicket near the bank of the river, and slept for some hours. At one o'clock in the morning Leigh rose and, with his three followers, started for the village. It was but twenty minutes' walk. Not a soul was stirring, not a light visible in any window. They found that three or four boats were lying by the bank. Leigh chose the smallest of these and, loosening the head rope from the post to which it was fastened, took his place in her with the others. Accustomed as he was to rowing, from his childhood, he soon reached the opposite bank. Here he fastened the boat up, and struck across country until he reached the road. Then he sent one of his followers westward. "You will follow the road," he said, "until within a mile of Tours; then you will conceal yourself, and watch who passes along. If you see a large body of troops coming, you will at once strike across country and make your way down to the village above that at which we crossed. You heard the instructions that I gave to Pierre. If you find him and the others there with the boat, you will report what you have seen. He will send another messenger on with the news to Cathelineau, and you will remain with him until I arrive. "If he is not there, you will follow the bank of the river down to the other village. You will give a shout as you pass the spot where we halted. If no answer comes, you will probably find Pierre and the boat somewhere below. You will not miss him, for I have ordered him to post two of your comrades on the bank, so that you cannot pass them unseen. As in the first case, you will remain with him until I arrive, and your message will be carried to the general by another of his party.

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The Society of Jesus (S.J. – from ) is a religious congregation of the Catholic Church which originated in sixteenth-century Spain. The members are called Jesuits. The society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations on six continents. Jesuits work in education (founding schools, colleges, universities, and seminaries), intellectual research, and cultural pursuits. Jesuits also give retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes, sponsor direct social ministries, and promote ecumenical dialogue. Ignatius of Loyola, a Basque nobleman from the Pyrenees area of northern Spain, founded the society after discerning his spiritual vocation while recovering from a wound sustained in the Battle of Pamplona. He composed the "Spiritual Exercises" to help others follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. In 1534, Ignatius and six other young men, including Francis Xavier and Peter Faber, gathered and professed vows of poverty, chastity, and later obedience, including a special vow of obedience to the Pope in matters of mission direction and assignment. Ignatius's plan of the order's organization was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540 by a bull containing the "Formula of the Institute". Ignatius was a nobleman who had a military background, and the members of the society were supposed to accept orders anywhere in the world, where they might be required to live in extreme conditions. Accordingly, the opening lines of the founding document declared that the society was founded for "whoever desires to serve as a soldier of God to strive especially for the defence and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine." Jesuits are thus sometimes referred to colloquially as "God's soldiers", "God's marines", or "the Company", which evolved from references to Ignatius' history as a soldier and the society's commitment to accepting orders anywhere and to endure any conditions. The society participated in the Counter-Reformation and, later, in the implementation of the Second Vatican Council.

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Charles Robert Darwin, (; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors and, in a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book "On the Origin of Species", overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of species. By the 1870s, the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. However, many favoured competing explanations and it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed in which natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution. In modified form, Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life. Darwin's early interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education at the University of Edinburgh; instead, he helped to investigate marine invertebrates. Studies at the University of Cambridge (Christ's College) encouraged his passion for natural science. His five-year voyage on established him as an eminent geologist whose observations and theories supported Charles Lyell's uniformitarian ideas, and publication of his journal of the voyage made him famous as a popular author.

gutenberg

Chapter 9. Crayford touched his friend on the shoulder to rouse him. Wardour looked up, impatiently, with a frown. "I was just asleep," he said. "Why do you wake me?" "Look round you, Richard. We are alone." "Well--and what of that?" "I wish to speak to you privately; and this is my opportunity. You have disappointed and surprised me to-day. Why did you say it was all one to you whether you went or stayed? Why are you the only man among us who seems to be perfectly indifferent whether we are rescued or not?" "Can a man always give a reason for what is strange in his manner or his words?" Wardour retorted. "He can try," said Crayford, quietly--"when his friend asks him." Wardour's manner softened. "That's true," he said. "I _will_ try. Do you remember the first night at sea when we sailed from England in the _Wanderer_?" "As well as if it was yesterday." "A calm, still night," the other went on, thoughtfully. "No clouds, no stars. Nothing in the sky but the broad moon, and hardly a ripple to break the path of light she made in the quiet water. Mine was the middle watch that night. You came on deck, and found me alone--" He stopped. Crayford took his hand, and finished the sentence for him. "Alone--and in tears." "The last I shall ever shed," Wardour added, bitterly. "Don't say that! There are times when a man is to be pitied indeed, if he can shed no tears. Go on, Richard."

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Unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U.S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. In addition to the dollar the coinage act officially established monetary units of mill or one-thousandth of a dollar (symbol ₥), cent or one-hundredth of a dollar (symbol ¢), dime or one-tenth of a dollar, and eagle or ten dollars, with prescribed weights and composition of gold, silver, or copper for each. It was proposed in the mid-1800s that one hundred dollars be known as a union, but no union coins were ever struck and only patterns for the $50 half union exist. However, only cents are in everyday use as divisions of the dollar; "dime" is used solely as the name of the coin with the value of 10¢, while "eagle" and "mill" are largely unknown to the general public, though mills are sometimes used in matters of tax levies, and gasoline prices are usually in the form of $X.XX9 per gallon, e.g., $3.599, sometimes written as $3.599⁄10. When currently issued in circulating form, denominations equal to or less than a dollar are emitted as U.S. coins while denominations equal to or greater than a dollar are emitted as Federal Reserve notes (with the exception of gold, silver and platinum coins valued up to $100 as legal tender, but worth far more as bullion). Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the note form is significantly more common. In the past, "paper money" was occasionally issued in denominations less than a dollar (fractional currency) and gold coins were issued for circulation up to the value of $20 (known as the "double eagle", discontinued in the 1930s). The term eagle was used in the Coinage Act of 1792 for the denomination of ten dollars, and subsequently was used in naming gold coins. Paper currency less than one dollar in denomination, known as "fractional currency", was also sometimes pejoratively referred to as "shinplasters". In 1854, James Guthrie, then Secretary of the Treasury, proposed creating $100, $50 and $25 gold coins, which were referred to as a "Union", "Half Union", and "Quarter Union", thus implying a denomination of 1 Union = $100.