the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_split huggingface dataset:
In mathematics, the absolute value of a real number , written as  or , is the value of  when the sign is dropped (or  without its sign).
That is,   for a positive ,   for a negative , and
For example, the absolute value of 3 is 3, and the absolute value of −3 is also 3 ().
The absolute value of a real number may be thought of as its distance from zero.
It can be defined as follows:
Because a distance is always positive, the absolute value of a number is always positive.
Similarly, the absolute value of a complex number may be thought of as its distance from the origin.
It is defined by the equation
Properties of the absolute value
For any real number , the absolute value of  is denoted by  (a vertical bar on each side of the quantity), and is defined as
The absolute value of  is always either positive or zero, but never negative.
From an analytic geometry point of view, the absolute value of a real number is that number's distance from zero along the real number line.
The absolute value of the difference of two real numbers is the distance between them.
In calculus, the absolute value function is differentiable except at 0.
It is continuous everywhere.
In linear algebra, the norm of a vector is defined similarly as the distance from the tip of the vector to the origin.
This is similar to the way the absolute value of a complex number is defined.
The square root notation without sign represents the positive square root.
So, it follows that:
which is another definition of absolute value.
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| style="width: 100px" | ()
| Non-negativity (the absolute value of a number is never negative)
|Zero-definiteness (the absolute value of a number is zero if and only if this number is zero)
|Subadditivity (the absolute value of  plus  is less than or equal to the absolute value of  plus the absolute value of )
|Multiplicativeness (the absolute value of  times  is equal to the absolute value of  times the absolute value of )
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|Idempotence (the absolute value of the absolute value is the absolute value)
|Symmetry (the absolute value of a number is the same as the absolute value of its opposite)
|Identity of indiscernibles (equivalent to zero-definiteness)
|Triangle inequality (equivalent to subadditivity)
|Double absolute value (equivalent to subadditivity)
|Preservation of division (equivalent to multiplicativeness)
These relations may be used to solve inequalities involving absolute values.
For a complex number , where  is the real part of  and  is the imaginary part of ,
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, activist, record producer, businesswoman, fashion designer, philanthropist, actress, and dancer.
Her albums are The Fame, The Fame Monster, Born This Way, Artpop, Cheek to Cheek, Joanne, Chromatica, and Love for Sale.
In the US, she has earned five number-one singles and six number-one albums.
She has won 12 Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, three American Music Awards, and various BRIT Awards.
Gaga is known for her versatility in music.
She got her stage name from the song "Radio Ga Ga" by the band Queen.
She won a Golden Globe Award for her acting role in the television series American Horror Story: Hotel in 2016.
Gaga played the female lead, Ally, in the 2018 movie A Star Is Born, where she stars alongside Bradley Cooper.
She additionally portrays Patrizia Reggiani in the 2021 Ridley Scott film, House of Gucci.
1986–2004:  Early life
Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta at Lenox Hill Hospital Northwell Health in Upper East Side, New York City, on March 28, 1986.
She is the oldest child of Joseph Germanotta, an internet businessman, and Cynthia (née Bissett).
She has a younger sister named Natali, who is a fashion student.
Lady Gaga is of Italian (her paternal grandfather was from Naso, in the province of Messina and he came up to the United States on 1908) and French Canadian ancestry.
She learned to play piano at the age of four.
She wrote her first piano song at 13.
She started performing live by age 14.
At the age of 11, Gaga went to the Convent of the Sacred Heart.
This is a private Roman Catholic school on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
Her family wasn't rich.
She has said that her parents "both came from lower-class families, so we've worked for everything my mother worked eight to eight out of the house, in telecommunications, and so did my father."
In high school, Gaga played lead roles in Guys and Dolls and in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
Gaga said her high school life was "very dedicated, very studious, very disciplined".
She also said that it was "insecure".
She said in an interview that, "I didn’t fit in, and I felt like a freak."
Gaga was 17 when she went to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.
She lived in a NYU dorm on 11th Street.
She studied music.
She helped to write essays on art, religion, social issues and politics.
Gaga felt that she was more creative than some of her classmates. "
Once you learn how to think about art, you can teach yourself," she said.
By the second semester of her sophomore year, she left school to focus on her musical career.
Her father agreed to pay her rent for a year, if she agreed to go back to Tisch if she failed. "
I left my entire family, got the cheapest apartment I could find, and ate shit until somebody would listen," she said.
Gaga has said she has had bulimia and anorexia since she was 15.
2005–07:  Career beginnings
In 2005, Gaga began a band called the Stefani Germanotta Band.
The band played in local dive bars during 2005-2007 where they performed her debut EP, Red and Blue.
Gaga revisited these locations during her Dive Bar Tour during 2016.
2008–10:  The Fame and The Fame Monster
Gaga started her creative team, the Haus of Gaga, in 2008.
On August 19, 2008, her first album The Fame was released.
It included the hit singles "Just Dance" (featuring Colby O'Donis), "Poker Face", "LoveGame", and "Paparazzi".
The first two singles became number-one hits for Gaga in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and several other countries.
Gaga's follow-up EP, The Fame Monster, was released on November 18, 2009.
It contained the singles "Bad Romance", "Telephone" (featuring R&B singer Beyoncé), and "Alejandro".
They became hits worldwide.
All seven of these songs got into the top ten of the US Billboard Hot 100.
The first six reached number one on Billboard'''s Mainstream Top 40/Pop Songs chart.
2011–14:  Born This Way, Artpop, and Cheek to Cheek
Gaga released her second studio album, Born This Way, on May 23, 2011.
Before that, Gaga released the song of the same name on February 11, 2011.
The song entered the charts at number 1 in America, becoming her third number-one single there.
Born This Way became Gaga's first number-one album in the United States, selling over one million copies there in its first week.
Following the song "Born This Way", the singles "Judas", "The Edge of Glory", and "Yoü and I" reached the top ten in the US.
The album's final single, "Marry the Night", became a top-thirty hit there.
In 2012, Gaga bought 55 items from an auction for Michael Jackson's possessions.
She also released her first fragrance, Fame.
The liquid of the perfume is black but sprays clear, which is "like the soul of fame."
On November 6, 2013, her third studio album, Artpop, was released and became Gaga's second American number-one album.
The song "Applause" was released as Artpop's lead single and reached number 4 in the US and Canada, while peaking within the top ten around the world.
The second single, "Do What U Want", featuring R&B singer R. Kelly, was released as the album's second single, peaking at number 13 in America, number 9 in the UK, and number 3 in Canada.
A remixed version of the song featuring American singer Christina Aguilera was released on New Year's Day, 2014.
Gaga released the third single, "GUY.",
in March 2014.
It peaked at number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In September 2014, Gaga released a collaborative album with jazz artist Tony Bennett titled Cheek to Cheek.
Two singles have been released, "Anything Goes" and "I Can't Give You Anything but Love".
2015:  American Horror Story: Hotel and The Hunting Ground
In 2015, Gaga was supposed to be the artist to perform the first concert in space; however, this never came into fruition.
She performed a tribute to British singer-actress Julie Andrews at the 2015 Academy Awards.
Gaga became engaged to her boyfriend of nearly four years, actor Taylor Kinney, over the weekend of Valentine's Day, 2015.
However, the couple broke up in July 2016.
Throughout that year, Gaga toured with Tony Bennett to promote Cheek to Cheek.
Gaga also starred in the FX series, American Horror Story: Hotel.
At the end of 2015, Gaga released the single "Til It Happens to You", co-written with songwriter Diane Warren (who has written songs for Céline Dion, Cher, and Aerosmith, among others) for the documentary The Hunting Ground, which documents sexual abuse on college campuses.
The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media, along with an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
She performed the song at the 2016 Academy Awards with 50 sexual assault survivors.
For her role in American Horror Story, Gaga won a Golden Globe Award.
2016–17:  Joanne and Super Bowl LI halftime show
Gaga released her fifth studio album, Joanne, on October 21, 2016.
The style of the album is very different compared to her previous music.
It entered at number one on the Billboard 200, and it became Gaga's fourth number-one album of the 2010's decade (2010-19).
She worked with producer RedOne again on Joanne, along with artists like Mark Ronson, Beck, and country songwriter Hillary Lindsey.
The album includes the singles "Perfect Illusion" and "Million Reasons".
The first single reached the top twenty around the world.
The second reached as high as #52 in the US when it first charted.
Gaga performed in the Super Bowl LI (51) Halftime Show on February 5, 2017, in Houston, Texas.
This became the most-watched halftime show in history across all platforms (the second-most watched on television, behind Katy Perry's 2015 halftime show).
After Gaga's performance, "Million Reasons" entered the Billboard Hot 100 again at number four, tying the record for the highest re-entry on the Hot 100.
It became her 14th top-ten hit and her 10th top-five in the US.
It was later certified Platinum by the RIAA.
After Beyoncé announced that she could not perform the Coachella Festival due to her expecting twins, it was revealed that Gaga would perform instead.
She performed her old hits along with a new song, "The Cure", that was released the next day.
It reached number one on the iTunes charts of 62 countries on the day it was released.
From August 2017 to February 2018, Gaga performed on the Joanne World Tour.
Some shows in November, along with the final ten shows on the tour, were canceled due to Gaga's fibromyalgia.
A Netflix documentary about her life, called Gaga: Five Foot Two, was released on September 22, 2017.
The documentary won the award for Best Music Documentary at the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards.
On November 19, 2017, Gaga performed "The Cure" from the Joanne World Tour during the 2017 American Music Awards.
She won the award for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist later that night.
2018–19: A Star Is Born, Lady Gaga Enigma, and Haus Laboratories
Gaga starred in a remake of the film A Star Is Born alongside Bradley Cooper, which was released on October 5, 2018.
Two singles from the movie's soundtrack were released: "Shallow" (with Bradley Cooper) and "Always Remember Us This Way". "
Shallow" topped charts in Australia and the UK while initially reaching the top five in the US and Canada.
It won two Grammy Awards for Best Song Written for Visual Media and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
The soundtrack entered at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart, giving Gaga the most number-one albums in the 2010's decade for a woman (with five US number-one albums).
Gaga is currently performing in a residency show in Las Vegas at the MGM Park Theater, called Lady Gaga Enigma.
It began on December 28, 2018.
In February 2019, it was reported that Gaga and Christian Carino, her boyfriend of two years, had called off their engagement.
Later that month, Gaga won her first Academy Award, known as an Oscar, in the Best Original Song category for "Shallow".
She performed the song alone at the 61st Grammy Awards but joined with Cooper at the Oscars.
After the Oscars performance, the song became Gaga's fourth number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and Cooper's first.
On March 12, 2019, Gaga responded on Twitter to tabloid rumors that she was pregnant, writing, "Rumors I'm pregnant?
Yeah, I'm pregnant with #LG6," referring to her sixth studio album.
On May 6, 2019, Gaga was one of the chairpersons of the Met Gala, a yearly dinner held by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
It is known for its celebrity guests and themes.
The 2019 theme was Camp: Notes on Fashion.
Gaga wore four layers: a long fuchsia coat with a hair bow, a black gown, a fuchsia dress, and black lingerie.
In July 2019, Gaga revealed her beauty collection, called Haus Laboratories.
It was released for pre-order on its website and Amazon, whose Prime Day sale occurred July 15 and 16 of that year.
2020–present: Chromatica, Love for Sale, and House of Gucci
A song by Gaga, titled "Stupid Love", leaked online in January 2020.
Gaga later released the final version of the song on February 28, 2020, as the first single from her upcoming sixth studio album, revealed to be called Chromatica.
The song entered the top ten of charts in several countries.
It became Gaga's sixteenth top-ten and twelfth top-five hit on the Billboard Hot 100 when it debuted at number five.
Chromatica was planned for release on April 10, 2020, but was postponed to May 29 because of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
On April 18, 2020, Gaga performed the song "Smile" as part of the TV special One World: Together at Home, which featured appearances from many entertainers, such as Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Elton John.
The program, which was organized by Gaga and Global Citizen in an effort to raise money for those affected by COVID-19, raised over $127 million.
It earned the Guinness World Record for "Most Money Raised for Charity by a Remote Music Festival."
On May 22, a week before the album's new release date, she released "Rain on Me", a duet with Ariana Grande, as the album's second single.
It entered at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, giving Gaga her fifth number-one song in the US.Chromatica entered at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart in the US, giving Gaga her sixth US number-one album.
She also earned six number-one albums faster than any other female in Billboard history.
Scheduled for 2020, the Chromatica Ball Tour was rescheduled for 2021 and then rescheduled a second time until 2022 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
On August 30, 2020, at the MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga won the first Tricon Award, along with Artist and Song of the Year and Best Collaboration and Best Cinematography for "Rain on Me".
With these five wins, Gaga's career VMA awards total 18.
Gaga released a short film for the Chromatica song "911" on September 18, 2020.
On March 14, 2021, "Rain on Me" won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
Chromatica was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album.
Gaga appeared in the 2021 Apple TV+ documentary series The Me You Can't See, which was executive-produced by Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry.
It discusses the topic of mental health.
In one episode, Gaga revealed that she had been raped and left pregnant by a music producer at the age of 19 and was threatened that her music would be burned if she did not take off her clothes.
The Chromatica remix album, Dawn of Chromatica, was released September 3, 2021.
It features collaborations from several artists.
Originally scheduled for a spring 2021 release, Gaga's second album with Tony Bennett, Love for Sale, was released October 1, 2021.
Their cover of Cole Porter's "I Get a Kick Out of You" was released August 3, 2021, Bennett's 95th birthday.
Gaga stars as Patrizia Reggiani (with Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci) in the Ridley Scott-directed film House of Gucci, released November 24, 2021.
2021 dognapping
On February 24, 2021, it was reported that Ryan Fischer, a friend of Gaga, was in Hollywood walking Gaga's three French bulldogs: Asia, Gustav, and Koji.
Two men exited a white car, and Fischer was shot four times in the chest; Gustav and Koji were stolen.
Asia was rescued by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Fischer was sent to the hospital, and it was announced later that he would fully recover.
Gaga, while filming a movie in Italy, announced a $500,000 reward for anyone who turned in the dogs.
Fashion and style
Gaga has a striking fashion sense.
The New York Post said her early look was like "a refugee from Jersey Shore''" with "big black hair, heavy eye makeup and tight, revealing clothes."
Gaga has naturally brown hair.
She bleached her hair blonde so she wouldn't look like Amy Winehouse.
LGBT fans
Much of Gaga's early success is due to her gay fans.
She is often called a "rising gay icon."
Early in her career she had trouble being played on the radio, and stated, "The turning point for me was the gay community.
I've got so many gay fans and they're so loyal to me and they really lifted me up.
They'll always stand by me and I'll always stand by them.
It's not an easy thing to create a fanbase."
Major filmography
Art Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer of Jewish descent.
Along with Paul Simon, he was part of the duo Simon and Garfunkel, a popular group in the 1960s and early 1970s.
After that, he made several solo albums.
The Animal's Christmas - (1986) with Amy Grant, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Kings College School Choir, songs by Jimmy Webb.
Angel Clare, (1973)
Breakaway, (1975)
Watermark, (1978)
Fate For Breakfast, (1979)
Scissors Cut, (1981)
The Art Garfunkel Album, (1984)
Garfunkel, (1988)
Lefty, (1988)
Up 'Til Now, (1993)
Across America, (1996)
Songs From A Parent To A Child, (1997)
The Best of Art Garfunkel, (1998)
Everything Waits To Be Noticed, (2002)
Some Enchanted Evening, (2007)
Catch-22, (1970), directed by Mike Nichols, with Alan Arkin, Orson Wells, Martin Sheen, Anthony Perkins, Martin Balsam and Jon Voight.
Carnal Knowledge, (1971), directed by Mike Nichols, with Jack Nicholson.
Bad Timing - A Sensual Obsession, (1980), by Nicholas Roeg, with Theresa Russell and Harvey Keitel.
Good to Go, also called Short Fuse, (1986), by Blaine Novak.
The official Art Garfunkel website
Plattsburgh is a town in New York in the U.S.  It is in upstate New York, near Lake Champlain.
World Trade Center (1973–2001), the name of several large buildings in New York destroyed in 2001.
World Trade Center (2001–present), the new complex built at the same place as the old one.
Wu-Tang Clan, a group of hip-hop singers.
Well-Tempered Clavier, music written by Bach.
Only Time, is a song by Celtic new age singer, Enya.
George Rodrigue (March 13, 1944 – December 14, 2013) was an American artist who grew up in New Iberia, Louisiana.
He went to an all-boys high school and then later studied at two art colleges, one in Louisiana and one in California.
He later trained in New York.
He began by painting outdoor scenes at family gatherings, using an oak tree as his main subject in hundreds of paintings.
Later he started abstract painting of Louisiana legends and the history of its people.
He is best known for his Blue Dog series of paintings.
He modeled the Blue Dog after his own pet named Tiffany.
She had died a couple years before the first painting was ever made.
That first painting was made for the cover of a scary book.
It was a little eerie, the subject being a pale scruffy dog with red eyes.
Eventually they became friendlier images of the Blue Dog.
He died of prostate cancer on December 14, 2013, aged 69.
JSGF stands for Java Speech Grammar Format or the JSpeech Grammar Format.
It is a special format used to describe a set of text that fits into a certain language.
Ocean pollution is pollution in the sea.
It is a form of water pollution.
Sources of ocean pollution
Marine pollution occurs when harmful effects result from the entry into the ocean of chemicals, particles, industrial, agricultural and residential waste, noise, or the spread of invasive organisms.
Most sources of marine pollution are land based.
The pollution often comes from nonpoint sources such as agricultural runoff, wind-blown debris and dust.
Nutrient pollution, a form of water pollution, refers to contamination by excessive inputs of nutrients.
It is a primary cause of eutrophication of surface waters, in which excess nutrients, usually nitrogen or phosphorus, stimulate algae growth.
Many potentially toxic chemicals adhere to tiny particles which are then taken up by plankton and benthos animals, most of which are either deposit or filter feeders.
In this way, the toxins are concentrated upward within ocean food chains.
When pesticides are incorporated into the marine ecosystem, they quickly become absorbed into marine food webs.
Once in the food webs, these pesticides can cause mutations, as well as diseases, which can be harmful to humans as well as the entire food web.
Toxic metals can also be introduced into marine food webs.
These can cause a change to tissue matter, biochemistry, behaviour, reproduction, and suppress growth in marine life.
Also, many animal feeds have a high fish meal or fish hydrolysate content.
In this way, marine toxins can be transferred to land animals, and appear later in meat and dairy products.
Every time we wash a car or use fertilizer on our lawns we are polluting the ocean.
People often think that water pollution comes from big factories, but most of the pollution comes from everyday people doing everyday things.
This kind of pollution is called nonpoint-source pollution because we cannot point out where it came from directly.
All waste water, in time, enters a body of water (usually a stream).
Every stream leads to a river, and every river leads to an ocean.
Because so many people use oil, large ships must take billions of barrels of it across the oceans.
If it is not handled carefully, these trips can be very bad.
In 1989, the United States experienced a large oil spill in Prince William Sound, a waterway on the Alaskan coast.
The Exxon Valdez, a very big ship, hit a reef and spilled more than 260,000 barrels of oil.
A great number of animals were covered in oil and began dying immediately.
Animals that ate these oil-filled animals also died.
Many Alaskans who lived by fishing these animals lost their businesses.
Even though many animals were saved, and the Exxon Oil Company spent 2.5 billion dollars trying to clean up the oil, Alaska's wildlife still suffers.
Oceanic pollution is the process where harmful or potentially harmful substances get into the ocean where they affect the existence of the sea organisms.
Most of the harmful materials such as industrial, agricultural wastes as well as air pollution come from land.
Pollutants get into the ocean through rivers from urban centers sewage and drainage systems.
In the land runoffs, the pollutants include soil from farms, agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers, constructions as well as mining fields that are carried into the ocean by the rain or river water.
All these pollutants are consumed by fish and other sea animals and eventually ending up in the fish we eat.
The accumulation of these chemicals in the bodies of human beings can cause serious health issues.
In order to reduce ocean pollution, tighter regulations should be placed on industries and sewage to ensure that the wastes of the industries are treated before being let into the rivers.
Saving the ocean
Humans have done much to harm the ocean, but we are starting to try to help them.
Countries promise each other to clean up the ocean and save the ocean's resources.
Mercury pollution
How Oil Spill Absorbent Products Work
Facts about Marine Mercury Pollution from Oceana.org
Science News / Marine Pollution Spawns 'wonky Babies'
Stewie Griffin (born September 11, 1998) is a character in the television comedy Family Guy.
At age 1, he is the youngest child of Lois and Peter Griffin.
They are an American family although Stewie is the only one in his family with an English accent.
Seth MacFarlane, is the man responsible for voicing (imitating) and creating the voice for Stewie Griffin.
Family Guy characters
Tikkakoski is a town in Jyväskylä, Finland.
In 2010, 6,000 people live in Tikkakoski.
2,321 of them live in Tikkakoski's downtown.
MSX was the name of a home computer in the 1980s.
It was Microsoft's attempt to create a standard for hardware makers, conceived by Microsoft Japan executive Kazuhiko Nishi.
Even with Microsoft's involvement, MSX machines were rare in the United States and Britain, but they were popular in other markets.
Eventually 5 million MSX-based units were sold worldwide.
The Family Computer Disk System was a disc add-on for the Nintendo Entertainment System that was only released in Japan despite being announced in America.
It used floppy disks which made it very easy for piracy to occur.
Video of Disk System features at Powet.
More Disk System video at Powet.
Video Game Den - Disk System game reviews, screenshots, boxart
Famicom World - More information on the Disk System
N-sider.com - NintendOnline  - 4 page article about Nintendo's online history
The ColecoVision was a second generation home video game console known mostly for its expansion packs including the Expansion Module #1 which gave it the largest library of games for its time by having compatibility with Atari 2600 games.
The system competed with other game systems popular at the time such as Atari 2600 and the Intellivision.
The ColecoVision offered arcade-quality graphics and gaming style, and the means to expand the system's basic hardware.
River West Brands currently owns the ColecoVision brand name.
It was released in 1982 and was discontinued in 1985.
Fashion in the 15th century, in Europe was characterized by a series of extremes and extravagances, from the voluminous gowns called houppelandes with their sweeping floor-length sleeves to the revealing doublets and hose of Renaissance Italy.
Hats, hoods, and other headdresses assumed increasing importance, and were swagged, draped, jewelled, and feathered.
Full-bodied houppelandes with voluminous sleeves worn with elaborate headdresses are characteristic of the earlier 15th century.
As Europe continued to grow more prosperous, the urban middle classes, skilled workers, began to wear more complex clothes that followed, at a distance, the fashions set by the elites.
National variations in clothing seem on the whole to have increased over the century.
Wool was the most popular fabric for all classes by far, followed by linen and hemp.
Wool fabrics were available in a wide range of qualities, from rough undyed cloth to fine, dense broadcloth with a velvety nap; high-value broadcloth was a backbone of the English economy and was exported throughout Europe.
Wool fabrics were dyed in rich colours, notably reds, greens, golds, and blues, although the actual blue colour achievable with dyeing with woad (and less frequently indigo) could not match the characteristic rich lapis lazuli pigment blues depicted in contemporary illuminated manuscripts such as the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry.
Silk-weaving was well-established around the Mediterranean by the beginning of the century, and figured silks, often silk velvets with silver-gilt wefts, are increasingly seen in Italian dress and in the dress of the rich throughout Europe.
Stately floral designs featuring a pomegranate or artichoke motif had reached Europe from China in the previous century and became a dominant design in the Ottoman silk-producing cities of Istanbul and Bursa, and spread to silk weavers in Florence, Genoa, Venice, Valencia and Seville in this period.
Fur was worn, mostly as a lining layer, by those who could afford it.
The grey and white squirrel furs of the Middle Ages, vair and miniver, went out of style except at court, first for men and then for women; the new fashionable furs were dark brown sable and marten.
Toward the end of the century, wild animal furs such as lynx became popular.
Ermine remained the prerogative and hallmark of royalty.
A Markov chain is a model of some random process that happens over time.
Markov chains are called that because they follow a rule called the Markov property.
The Markov property says that whatever happens next in a process only depends on how it is right now (the state).
It doesn't have a "memory" of how it was before.
It is helpful to think of a Markov chain as evolving through discrete steps in time, although the "step" doesn't need to have anything to do with time.
Markov chains can be discrete or continuous.
Discrete Time Markov Chains are split up into discrete time steps, like t = 1, t = 2, t = 3, and so on.
The probability that a chain will go from one state to another state depends only on the state that it's in right now.
Continuous Time Markov Chains are chains where the time spent in each state is a real number.
The amount of time the chain stays in a certain state is randomly picked from an exponential distribution, which basically means there's an average time a chain will stay in some state, plus or minus some random variation.
It eats exactly once a day.
If it ate cheese yesterday, it will eat lettuce or grapes today with equal probability for each, and zero chance of eating cheese.
If it ate grapes yesterday, it will eat grapes today with probability 1/10, cheese with probability 4/10 and lettuce with probability 5/10.
Finally, if it ate lettuce yesterday, it won't eat it again today, but will eat grapes with probability 4/10 or cheese with probability 6/10.
This creature's eating habits can be modeled with a Markov chain since its choice depends on what it ate yesterday, not additionally on what it ate 2 or 3 (or 4, etc...) days ago.
One statistical property one could calculate is the expected percentage of the time the creature will eat cheese over a long period.
Another classical example of a Markov chain is the 1995 model of cocaine use in Los Angeles designed by the RAND Corporation.
The model is governed by a series of equations, which describe the probability of a person being a non-user, light user (L) or heavy user (H) of cocaine at time t+1, given their prior probabilities at time t:
L(t+1) = I(t)-aL(t) +fH(t)-bL(t)
H(t+1) = bL(t)-fH(t)-gH(t)
I(t)+L(t)+H(t)=1
Mary Anning (21 May 1799 – 9 March 1847) was an early 19th-century British fossil collector, dealer and paleontologist.
She earned her living finding and preparing fossils, in the rich Jurassic marine strata at Lyme Regis, Dorset where she lived.
She made many important finds.
These included the first ichthyosaur skeleton to be correctly identified (Temnodontosaurus platyodon); the first two plesiosaur skeletons ever found (Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus); the first pterosaur skeleton found outside Germany (Dimorphodon macronyx); and some important fish fossils.
Her observations played a key role in the discoveries that belemnite fossils contained fossilized ink sacs, and that coprolites, known as bezoar stones at the time, were fossilized faeces.
When the geologist Henry De la Beche painted Duria Antiquior, he based it largely on fossils Anning had found.
He sold prints for her benefit.
Her work played a key role in the growth of scientific biology in the early 19th century.
It showed without question that previously unknown forms of life had existed in the Jurassic seas, all of which were long extinct.
Anning's sex and social class—her parents were poor religious dissenters (non-Anglican Protestants)—prevented her from fully participating in the scientific community of early 19th century England, dominated as it was by rich Anglican gentlemen.
Some of the men she worked with and for did give her full credit for her contributions, but some did not.
Although she became well known in geological circles in Britain, Europe, and America, and she made a great deal of money from her best finds, she struggled financially for much of her life.
In 1818 Anning came to the attention of Thomas Birch, a rich fossil collector, when she sold him an ichthyosaur skeleton.
A year later, he was disturbed by the poverty of the Anning family, which was at the point of having to sell their furniture to make ends meet.
Birch arranged for the sale by auction of his own fossil collection, and the proceeds (some £400) were given to the Annings.
Besides providing much needed funds, the public auction raised the profile of the Anning family in the geologic community.
Later, she lost £300 (a huge sum) in 1835 on unwise investments, but was saved by a government pension of £25 per year.
This was organised by another of her friends, William Buckland.
Her early death was caused by breast cancer.
The fossil shop
Tourists used to visit Lyme Regis, which had become a popular seaside resort.
As their father had before them, Mary and her brother Joseph Anning set up a table of 'curiosities' near the coach stop at a local inn to sell their wares to tourists.
After Joseph made an important find of an ichthyosaur skull in 1810 and Mary found the associated skeleton a year later, they became known to the geologists and amateurs interested in fossils.
Their passion for fossils grew to be the main source of income for their family.
Her stock in trade were invertebrate fossils such as ammonite and belemnite shells, which were common in the area and sold for a few shillings.
Vertebrate fossils were much rarer, and exceptional specimens like an almost complete ichthyosaur skeleton could sell for much more.
The source of these fossils were the coastal cliffs that surround Lyme which are part of a geological formation known as the Blue Lias.
This formation consists of alternating layers of limestone and shale, laid down as sediment on a shallow seabed early in the Jurassic period (about 210-195 million years ago).
The cliffs are one of the richest fossil locations in Britain.
As Mary Anning continued to make important finds her reputation grew.
In 1826, at the age of 27, she managed to save enough money to buy a home with a glass store front window for her shop, called Anning's Fossil Depot.
The move was covered in the local paper, which noted that the shop currently had a fine ichthyosaur skeleton on display.
Many geologists and fossil collectors from Europe and America visited Anning at Lyme to purchase specimens.
These included the geologist George William Featherstonhaugh who purchased fossils for the newly opened New York Lyceum of Natural History in 1827.
King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony visited her shop in 1844 and purchased an ichthyosaur skeleton for his extensive natural history collection.
A publication
Lady Harriet Silvester visited Lyme in 1824.
She remarked in her diary:
... the extraordinary thing in this young woman is that she has made herself so thoroughly acquainted with the science that the moment she finds any bones she knows to what tribe they belong.
She fixes the bones on a frame with cement and then makes drawings and has them engraved. . .
It is certainly a wonderful instance of divine favour – that this poor, ignorant girl should be so blessed, for by reading and application she has arrived to that degree of knowledge as to be in the habit of writing and talking with professors and other clever men on the subject, and they all acknowledge that she understands more of the science than anyone else in this kingdom.
As time passed, her confidence in her knowledge increased, and in 1839 she wrote to the Magazine of Natural History to question their claim that a hooked tooth of the prehistoric shark Hybodus represented a new discovery.
She had discovered years ago the existence of fossil sharks with both straight and hooked teeth.
The extract from the letter that the magazine printed was the only thing that Anning ever published.
Major finds
Ichthyosaur 1810/11
several Ichthyosaurs 1815/19
Plesiosaurus 1820/21
Ink-sac of belemnite 1826
Pterosaur 1828
Fossil fish 1828/29
Plesiosaur 1830
Her later fame
Mary Anning is the subject of the old tongue-twister, "She sells sea shells on the sea shore."
It was composed in 1908, more than a half century after her death, by Terry Sullivan who was inspired by her life story.
The lyrics have changed over time, but the original text was:
She sells seashells on the seashore
The shells she sells are seashells, I'm sure
So if she sells seashells on the seashore
Then I'm sure she sells seashore shells.
Anning's life story was seen as inspirational by a number of writers in the 20th century.
Most of this material was intended as inspirational literature for children, and tended to focus on her childhood and early career, neglecting her later accomplishments.
Much of it was also romanticized and not always historically accurate.
She appeared as a character in historical novels, perhaps most notably in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969) by John Fowles, which was made into a feature film in 1981.
Fowles observed critically that no British scientist had named a species after Anning in her lifetime.
However, in the 1840s the Swiss-American expert on fossil fish Louis Agassiz did name two fossil fish species, Acrodus anningiae, and Belenostomus anningiae, after her, and another after her friend Elizabeth Philpot.
Agassiz was grateful for the help the two women had given him in examining and understanding fossil fish specimens, during his 1834 visit to Lyme Regis.
British palaeontologists
Cyberbullying is the misuse of electronic information and mass media, such as e-mail, SMS, weblogs, cellphones and defamatory websites, to harass or attack a person or a group.
It can cause emotional damage.
Cyberbullying” was first used in 1998.
Cyberbullying can include sending threats and unwanted sexual messages.
It is repeated behaviour, aimed at scaring, angering or shaming those who are targeted.
Examples include: spreading lies about or posting embarrassing photos of someone on social media, sending hurtful messages or threats via messaging platforms, impersonating someone and sending mean messages to others on their behalf.
Face-to-face bullying and cyberbullying can often happen alongside each other.
But cyberbullying leaves a digital footprint – a record that can prove useful and provide evidence to help stop the abuse.
The prevalence of cyberbullying is shocking, especially for youth: Over 59% of teenagers in the US have experienced cyberbullying, and globally 33% of parents report having or knowing a child within their community who had been cyberbullied.
Cyberbullying is not only limited to children and teenagers however.
41% of adults in the US report having personally experienced online harassment, with 66% reporting that they have seen this negative behavior directed at others.
High profile cases of celebrities being harassed online often end up on the news.
Effects of Cyberbullying
Victims may experience the following effects after being cyberbullied:
Decreased Self-Esteem: Bullying of all kinds is often detrimental to the victim’s self-esteem.
Victims may believe that all of their peers dislike them and develop issues with trust and confidence.
Emotional Distress: Cyberbullying can lead to a shift in mood or emotion in the victim.
The constant stress of the attacks can make victims prone to outbursts of frustration, sadness, or anger as they try to cope with the bullying.
Depression: Cyberbullying can cause victims to develop depression.
The constant stress and lowered self-esteem can cause them to feel hopeless, unloved, and sad.
In 2006, a 13 year old girl in Missouri killed herself after receiving mean messages on MySpace from a woman pretending to be a teenage boy.
The state of Missouri then made using technology like the Internet or text messages to harass someone illegal.
On October 12, 2012, a Canadian girl named Amanda Todd killed herself.
A few years before this happened, she showed her breasts on a video chat, and a man later messaged her saying that if Todd did not show more parts of her body then he would post the pictures he had taken of her from the video chat to the Internet.
She faced a lot of bullying on the internet afterwards.
It is clear that both adults and children all over the world can be affected by cyberbullying, which sometimes lead to disturbing consequences.
Internet troll
Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV) is a list of all the pieces of music by Johann Sebastian Bach that are known.
In English it means Bach Works Catalogue.
The catalogue was made by Wolfgang Schmieder in 1950.
He took all the music that is known by Johann Sebastian Bach (some of Bach's music has been lost) and gave each piece a number.
Each piece of music by Bach therefore has a BWV number.
For example, the Mass in B minor is BWV 232.
Giving each piece a number helps musicians to know exactly which piece of music we are talking about.
For example, there are several Preludes and Fugues in G major, but putting Prelude and Fugue in G major BWV550 makes it clear which one it is.
The BWV numbers are not listed chronologically (in the order they were written).
They are grouped according to what kind of music it is: all the cantatas together, all the concertos together, etc.
Some pieces of music may be written by Bach, but we are not sure.
Those doubtful pieces of music are listed separately as BWV Anhang (BWV appendix).
Some of what Schmieder wrote in 1950 has been updated because some new music by Bach has been discovered.
Other pieces of music have now been proved not to be by Bach.
Some older books write "S" instead of "BWV" (S for Schmieder), but Schmieder did not want this.
He wanted Bach's name to be used, not his own.
BWV catalogue (downloadable PDF)
Han Fei Zi (281 BC – 233 BC) was an early Chinese philosopher.
He is part of a group said to have created of doctrine of the School of Law or Legalism.
233 BC deaths
Do not confuse with Thomas Andrews, an Irish businessman.
Thomas Anders (born Bernd Weidung, 1 March 1963, Koblenz, West Germany) is a German singer, composer and record producer.
Anders was the lead singer of Modern Talking, a famous German pop duo, between 1984–1987 and 1998–2003.
1980 "Judy" (CBS)
1980 "Du weinst um ihn" (CBS)
1981 "Es war die Nacht der ersten Liebe" (CBS)
1982 "Ich will nicht dein Leben" (Hansa)
1983 "Was macht das schon" (Hansa)
1983 "Wovon träumst du denn" (Hansa)
1983 "Heißkalter Engel" (Hansa)
1984 "Endstation Sehnsucht" (Hansa)
1984 "Es geht mir gut heut' Nacht" (Hansa)
1989 "Love of My Own" (Teldec) (#24 Germany)
1989 "One Thing" (Teldec)
1989 "Soldier" (Teldec)
1991 "The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye" (East West)
1991 "Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)" (East West) (#73 Germany)
1991 "Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)" (Remix) (East West)
1991 "True Love" (East West)
1992 "How Deep Is Your Love" (Polydor) (#71 Germany)
1992 "Standing Alone" (Duet With Glenn Medeiros) (Polydor) (#72 Germany)
1993 "When Will I See You Again" (Duet With The Three Degrees) (Polydor) (#37 Germany)
1993 "I'll Love You Forever" (Polydor) (#79 Germany)
1993 "I'll Love You Forever" (Remix) (Polydor)
1994 "The Love in Me" (Polydor)
1994 "The Love in Me" (The Remixes) (Polydor)
1994 "Road to Higher Love" (Polydor)
1995 "Never Knew Love Like This Before" (Polydor)
1995 "A Little Bit of Lovin'" (Polydor)
1995 "Never Knew Love Like This Before" (Remixes) (Polydor)
2003 "Independent Girl" (BMG) (#17 Germany, #57 Austria, #6 Russia)
2004 "King of Love" (BMG) (#37 Germany, #16 Spain, #1 Turkey, #3 Perú)
2004 "Tonight Is the Night" (BMG) (#60 Germany, #66 Russia)
2004 "Just Dream" (BMG) (#64 Germany)
2006 "A Very Special Feeling" (Charity Release)
2006 "Songs That Live Forever" (Edel Records) (Promo Single)
2006 "All Around the World" (Edel Records) (Promo Single) (#6 Turkey)
2008 "Ziele" (Sistanova featuring Thomas Anders) (Zweihorn)
2008 "Ibiza Baba Baya" (Sound-Chateau featuring Thomas Anders) (White Shell Music)
2008 "For You" (Sound-Chateau featuring Thomas Anders) (White Shell Music)
2008 "Kisses for Christmas" (White Shell Music)
2009 "The Night Is Still Young" (Sandra featuring Thomas Anders) (Virgin)
2010 "Why Do You Cry" (#27 Russia)
2006 Thomas Anders - The DVD-Collection (#15 Germany)
1988 "I Can Never Let You Go" (Co-wrote for Engelbert Humperdinck)
1989 "Soldier" (Written and produced by Alan Tarney)
1991 "The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye" (Written by Per Gessle)
1992 "Standing Alone" (Duet with Glenn Medeiros)
1993 "When Will I See You Again" (Duet with The Three Degrees)
1993 "Emotional Thing" (Co-wrote for The Three Degrees)
1993 "Question of Love" (Co-wrote for The Three Degrees)
1993 "Ain't No Woman" (Co-wrote for The Three Degrees)
1994 "Tal Vez" (Co-wrote for Marta Sánchez) (#1 Mexico)
1995 "Feel for the Physical" (Duet with The Pointer Sisters)
2001 "Hey Mr. President" (Produced T-Seven)
2001 "Cry for You" (Co-wrote for No Angels)
2002 "Stay" (Co-wrote for No Angels)
2002 "Funky Dance" (Co-wrote for No Angels)
2009 "The Night Is Still Young" (Sandra featuring Thomas Anders)
Domingo Jonhy Vega Urzúa (December 24, 1977, Arica, Chile), commonly known as  Américo, is a Chilean singer.
He became known when he started leading the band Américo y la Nueva Alegría.
He is the son of the boleros singer Melvin "Corazón" Américo, who sings duets with his wife, Marcela Toledo.
With La Nueva Alegria
Así Es (released May 15, 2008; peaked #2 Chile)
A Morir (released October 25, 2008; peaked #1 Chile)
El Embrujo (#1 Chile)
Traicionera (#9 Chile)
Te Vas (#2 Chile)
Que Levante La Mano (#3 Chile)
Official Americo's website
People from Arica
The Holodomor (, which means "murder by hunger") was a man-made famine that happened in Ukraine in 1932 and in 1933.
At that time, Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union.
About seven million people starved to death in the Holodomor.
Joseph Stalin was the leader and dictator of the Soviet Union, which was a communist country.
He made farmers in the Soviet Union change the way they farmed, then he tried to make the farmers work harder for the government-owned farms, for less money.
Many people in the Ukraine did not want to go along with this.
When the Ukraine had a famine, Stalin refused to help the people in the Ukraine.
Instead, the government took food away from people.
It became illegal (against the law) to pick up food from the ground of fields.
The government also tried to stop people from moving around the country to look for food.
Scholars and politicians using the word Holodomor say the man-made aspects of the famine, was  a genocide; some consider the huge loss of life comparable to the Holocaust.
They argue that the Soviet policies were an attack on the rise of Ukrainian nationalism and therefore is a genocide.
Images of Holodomor victims
Images of Holodomor memorials
Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation USA
Famine Genocide Commemorative Committee Ukrainian Canadian Congress
Findings of the Commission on the Ukraine Famine , U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Famine, Report to Congress.
Adopted by the Commission, 19 April 1988
Joint declaration at the United Nations in connection with 70th anniversary of the Great Famine in Ukraine 1932–1933
Address of the Verkhovna Rada to the Ukrainian nation on commemorating the victims of Holodomor 1932–1933
Castling is a special move in chess that uses both a rook and the king.
In castling, the king is moved two squares toward the rook, and the rook moves past the king to the square right next to where the king has moved.
Castling takes one move, and is the only way for a player to move two of his own pieces on the same move.
Castling can be done on either side of the board.
Castling can either be done on the king-side (also known as castling short) or on the queen-side (also known as castling long).
Rules for castling
Neither the king nor the rook being used to castle have moved in the game.
The king is not in check, and is not moving into check or through check. (
It is okay if the rook is being attacked, though).
There are no pieces between the king and the rook.
Benefits of Castling
Good players castle in most of their games.
It is normally a good idea because it often moves the king into a safer place.
The middle of the board is normally not a very safe place for the king to be early in the game.
It also makes it easier to get the rook into the game.