the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_split huggingface dataset:
He was criticized harshly in the French press for this.
After the 2006 Worlds, where he won the silver medal, he said he felt pressured to do it in part because of the way the French press had turned on him.
In the 2006/2007 season, Joubert swept the season.
He won every competition he entered, including the Grand Prix Final, the European Championships, and the World Championships.
At the Cup of Russia, he became one of the few skaters in history to perform three quadruple jumps in one program.
Joubert is known for the power in his skating.
He is a very fast skater with very big jumps.
He has been criticized in the past for having very bad spins, but he has been working to correct this, working with spinning coaches like Lucinda Ruh.
Joubert has also been criticized for his lack of artistry, which has led him to seek out new choreographers, such as Kurt Browning, who are able to take Joubert's strength and force on the ice and work it into a good program for his style.
French Olympians
Pap or Pop is a city in Uzbekistan.
It is in the Namangan region in the eastern part of the country.
The city is near the Syr Darya river.
Pap has over 22,750 people.
Pap is the capital of Pap District.
A gift or a present is something (usually money or a good) which is given to someone.
People give gifts voluntarily and do not expect anything in return.
A gift is usually something that family or friends give to each other on special occasions like a birthday or holiday.
For example you will give and / or receive gifts and presents at Christmas time, or chocolate (most commonly chocolate eggs) for Easter.
Gifts are usually something that you really want to have.
If it is a birthday gift, it would be money or an item that is not costly.
A small gift is usually wrapped in wrapping paper while a big gift is most likely to be just given to the receiver or in a box without wrapping.
cool stuff to buy
Timothy Goebel (born September 10, 1980 in Evanston, Illinois) is an American figure skater.
He is Catholic and was adopted as an infant.
Goebel is the first skater to perform a quadruple salchow jump and the first American skater to perform a quadruple jump of any kind.
Goebel is also the first skater to perform three quadruple jumps in one program.
At the 2002 Olympics, he became the first skater to land a quadruple salchow jump in combination at the Olympics.
He is the first and so far only skater to land 6 quadruple jumps in one competition.
Because of these things, he was nicknamed the Quad King.
However, after the 2003-2004, Goebel began having problems with the quad.
He did not land it correctly at all in the 2005-2006 season.
Goebel won the bronze medal at the 2002 Olympics.
It was a close call for the silver between him and World Champion Evgeni Plushenko.
That would happen again at the 2003 World Championships where Plushenko beat Goebel out for the gold.
Goebel dealt with injuries in later seasons.
An injury forced him to not finish competing at the 2004 Nationals and give up on the rest of the season.
At the 2005 Nationals, the mother of Angela Nikodinov, a good friend of Goebel, died in a car crash.
Goebel spent much of time at that competition in mourning.
With Nikodinov watching, Goebel started crying partly through his free skate.
He finished the performance in tears.
He placed 2nd.
Goebel was not able to qualify for the 2006 Olympic team.
He retired from competitive skating after the 2006 Nationals.
In May 2010, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Columbia University's School of General Studies.
He works as a technical specialist, the person who watches a skating program and tells the judges what each move was and how difficult it was.
During his career, Goebel was known mainly as a "jumping bean", a skater whose skating is mostly jumps.
But Goebel worked hard to change this.
His free skate in the 2002 season was the best of his career and led Goebel to a different kind of artistry.
Goebel was also known for his hydroblading maneuvers.
He was one of the skaters who popularized this move in the United States.
USOC Bio Page - US Olympic Committee Biography
USFSA News  - Goebel retires from competitive skating
Sportspeople from Illinois
Angela Nikodinov (born May 9, 1980 in Spartanburg, South Carolina), is an American figure skater.
She is the 2000 Four Continents Champion.
Nikodinov is the daughter of Bulgarian immigrants.
She speaks Bulgarian fluently.
She was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Her family moved to southern California when she was very young.
She was raised in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California.
Nikodinov trained at Lake Arrowhead, California.
She also trained in Detroit for one season (1999-2000) but moved back to California in fall 2000.
Her coaches included John Nicks, Peter Oppegard, Frank Carroll, Elena Tcherkasskaia, Richard Callaghan, Igor Pashkevich.
Her coach Tcherkasskaia, with whom she was very close, died of cancer in November 2001.
Nikodinov missed the 2002-2003 season.
She injured her shoulder in February 2002 and again in September.
She also had a virus.
She had shoulder surgery in February 2003 and was off the ice for seven months.
After missing two seasons, Nikodinov returned to win the 2004 Skate America.
While in Portland, Oregon, for the 2005 U.S. National Championships, she and her family were in a car accident that killed her mother.
Nikodinov did not return to competition after the accident.
Nikodinov coached Bulgarian figure skater Ivan Dinev in the 2005-2006 season.
They are now coaching together in the Los Angeles area.
Nikodinov and Dinev were married in July 2008.
Along with her coaching duties, she  skates in shows and was a guest skater on the Stars on Ice tour.
The pairs team of Bianca Butler & Joseph Jacobsen and Tenile Victorsen are among her and Dinev's former students that have qualified for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at the Senior level.
Figure-Skating.com  - Official Site
Stars on Ice profile
People from Spartanburg, South Carolina
Alberto Gonzales (born August 4, 1955) is an American jurist who is the 80th Attorney General of the United States.
Gonzales was appointed to the position in February 2005 by President George W. Bush.
While Bush was Governor of Texas, Gonzales was part of his general counsel, and later was the Secretary of State of Texas and then was on the Texas Supreme Court.
From 2001 to 2005, Gonzales served in the Bush Administration as White House Counsel.
On August 27, 2007, Gonzales announced that he is quitting his position as Attorney General, and that his last day will be September 16, 2007.
He did not say why he is leaving.
He is the highest-ranking Hispanic ever in the United States federal government.
Politicians from San Antonio, Texas
Lawyers from San Antonio
A cantilever is a figure skating move.
It is considered a field move because it is not a jump, a spin, or a spiral.
A cantilever is performed by a skater traveling on a deep lean across the ice, either in a spread eagle or a Besti squat position.
The skater then bends backwards, so their back is parallel to the ice, while remaining on the deep lean.
The hands can be draped across the ice or not.
This is a very dramatic move on the ice.
The move was invented by Werner Groebli, better known as "Mr. Frick", a long-time show skater with the Ice Follies.
It was brought back and popularized by Ilia Klimkin of Russia, who performed it a lot in competition over many years.
Figure skating glossary
Mao Asada (born September 25, 1990) is a former figure skater from Japan.
She is a former World Figure Skating Champion (2008) and is ranked no.
3 by ISU.
She won the Japanese national championships in 2007 and 2008 after winning two silver medals in a row.
She is the 2005 World Junior Champion.
She won the silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Her older sister Mai Asada is also a high-level skater.
Asada is from Nagoya.
She was very skilled from a young age.
She landed her first triple axel in competition while still at the junior level.
She is one of five female figure skaters who have ever landed that jump in international competition.
Asada won won everything on the Junior level in the 2004-2005 season.
The next season was the Olympic season.
Asada would be too young to compete at the 2006 Olympics.
But the Japanese skating federation thought there was not a good reason to keep her at the Junior level when she had already won everything.
Asada was old enough for the Grand Prix, but not for senior level ISU championships.
Asada went into the Grand Prix without any of the pressure that was on the other skaters who were old enough to go the Olympics and were trying to qualify for spots on their country's Olympic team.
Able to compete without pressure, Asada won the Grand Prix Final in December 2005.
Following her win, the Japanese skating federation petitioned the International Olympic Committee to make an exception to the age rule for Asada, claiming that depriving her of a chance to compete at the 2006 Olympics would be denying a medal contender a chance to compete.
However, this petition, even if it had worked, would have been too late.
Other skaters had been effected by the age rule.
The South Korean skating federation, for example, held Kim Yu-Na back in juniors for the 2005-2006 season, even though she could have competed successfully on the Grand Prix, because she also was not old enough for the Olympics, and because of it did not earn a spot to the Olympics at the Olympic Qualifying Competition in the fall of 2005.
Asada had been a force in Japanese skating for many years, so the federation could have petitioned for an exception years earlier.
There had previously been a loophole in eligibility rules regarding the World Championships and medalling at the World Junior Championships, but that loophole had been closed years earlier, and it had never applied to the Olympics.
Mao Asada is known for her amazing flexibility.
She is known for her one-handed Biellmann spin and her cross-grab Biellmann spiral, in which she uses the hand opposite her leg to hold up her leg in the position.
She is consistent with the triple axel.
Brilliance On Ice  - Official Site
Japanese Olympic silver medalists
Radio personalities
Catia (Computer Aided Three dimensional Interactive Application) is a commercial designing software.
It was made by Dassault Systemes and marketed world-wide by IBM.
CATIA is written in C++.
Dassault Systemes Home Page
IBM CATIA page
CATIA in South Africa
Catia V5 French web site with methodology, videos in catweb.fr
CATIA gallery by Maciej Ziemak
Catia V5 video Lessons catiatutor.com
Brigham Young (June 1, 1801 – August 29, 1877) was the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon church) and the first Governor of the American state of Utah.
Young was born in Vermont.
He became president of the Mormon church in 1847 after the death of Joseph Smith, Jr in 1844.
Western migration
Young started a journey that would take the Mormon pioneers to Winter Quarters, Nebraska, in 1846, then to the Salt Lake Valley.
Young arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, a date now known as Pioneer Day in Utah, which is also one of its holidays.
The Mormon pioneers' journey was one of the largest and one of the best organized migration to the West.
On August 22, 29 days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Young started the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Temple building
Young helped in building temples in his time in the LDS Church and made temple building a main purpose.
When Joseph Smith was the president, Young was helping to build the Kirtland and Nauvoo temples.
Only four days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Young found the location for the Salt Lake Temple; and then started the building process on April 6, 1853.
During his time as the church president, Young look over the construction of the Salt Lake Tabernacle and then he announced plans to build the St. George (1871), Manti (1875), and Logan (1877) temples.
He also helped fix the building the Endowment House, a "short-term temple" that began to be used in 1855 for church members to go to while they were building the Salt Lake Temple.
Governors of Utah
19th century in Utah
Educators from Salt Lake City, Utah
American theologians
Deaths from peritonitis
Politicians from Salt Lake City, Utah
The speaker is elected by other members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, and is usually a member of the government party, but leaves his or her party because the speaker must be neutral (not like one side more than another).
The speaker does not vote.
If the speaker wants to stand in for re-election the other parties do not oppose him to show he is neutral.
As of January 2020, the speaker is Lindsay Hoyle, a member of the Labour Party.
Dail Éireann in Ireland
The speaker (Ceann Comhairle) of the Dáil Éireann is  neutral, but the constitution (Bunreacht) of Ireland says he does not need to stand for re-election, he is given the first seat in his constituency.
The current speaker (November 2017) is Sean Treacy.
The speaker is the leader of the largest party.
He or she is not neutral, but votes for his or hers party's policies.
The speaker also helps to get his or her party's ideas made law.
The term of the speaker of the House is two years in office.
Democratic Nancy Pelosi became Speaker again in 2019.
An orator is someone who pleads a case in public.
Originally, it meant speaking in a public place for or against a person or a proposal.
In ancient Greek, Latin, French and English, an orator spoke for and against the accused in courts, and for or against big political decisions, such as whether to go to war.
Gradually, it came to mean someone who spoke in public on formal occasions.
Oratory, or rhetoric, is the skill of argument or persuasion used by orators.
The invention of printing allowed books to be multiplied and produced cheaply.
This has made it possible for orators to do their persuasion in print as well as speaking.
Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill are good examples of how orators in the 20th century used media such as radio and movies where once they could only use speech.
Both wrote books which sold in large numbers, though Churchill's books were about more than politics.
Today television and newspapers play a vital role in deciding elections; the web less so.
Other types of orator are those who wish to change beliefs.
Religious preachers like Martin Luther and John Knox changed religion in western Europe; William Wilberforce and Sojourner Truth led the fight against the evil of slavery.
Emmeline Pankhurst, Martin Luther King Jr and others fought to get equal rights for all citizens.
We have orators today as much as the ancient Greeks did.
The main difference is that the Greeks could see and listen to them face to face, but we rarely do today.
The study of how persuasion is done by orators is called rhetoric.
It has been studied for 2,500 years at least, and there are a huge number of books about it.
Saunders A.N.W. 1970.
Greek political oratory.
Translations of some important examples.
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner.
Wagner took most of the story from a medieval poem Parzival by the German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach.
It was the last opera that Wagner completed.
He started thinking about it in 1857 but did not do much work to it until after he had finished the cycle of four operas known as the Ring Cycle which was produced complete in 1876 in the special theatre (Festspielhaus) he had built in Bayreuth.
Wagner composed his opera Parsifal so that it would suit the sound of this new theatre.
It was first produced in 1882.
The story is related to the Arthurian legends.
The Musical background to the opera
Wagner did more than any other composer in the 19th century to change the way that people listened to opera.
In the 18th century people went to the opera house and sat in their boxes to chat to other people and be seen.
Composers wrote operas with big arias which allowed the singers to show off their skills and make the audience applaud.
Wagner changed all this.
He soon developed operas in which there is no difference between recitative (where the story is told) and arias (big songs for the soloists).
The music of his later operas, especially Parsifal, is like a long, continuous line with rich, Romantic harmony.
The music develops logically, with leitmotifs (very short pieces of music which represent particular people or ideas) which help the music and the story to develop.
The story of Parsifal
The story of Parsifal and the Holy Grail has survived in several forms that date from between 1170 and 1220.
Wagner, who always wrote the words of his operas himself, used a mixture of several of these versions of the story to fit his ideas for the opera.
Parsifal is a young man who is a “pure fool”, which means that he is an  innocent, good man who slowly starts to understand the world.
The Holy Grail is the cup from which Jesus Christ is supposed to have drunk at the Last Supper.
The Holy Spear is the spear which is supposed to have been the one with which the Roman soldier pierced Jesus’ side when he was put on the cross.
The Holy Grail and the Holy Spear are sacred relics (things from the past) which have been given to Titurel and his band of Christian knights to look after.
Titurel has built a castle, Montsalvat, high up on the forest rocks, to guard them.
In particular, he has to watch out for Klingsor who lives nearby.
Klingsor is a magician who has a garden full of beautiful flower-maidens.
These maidens are in his power.
One of them is Kundry.
She has already been made to  several young knights to Klingsor’s power.
Even Titurel’s son, Amfortas, could not resist the lure of Kundry.
His spear was taken from him and he was badly wounded before being rescued.
At the beginning of the opera he is lying in pain.
The only thing that could heal the wound would be the touch of the Holy Spear which Klingsor now has, and the only person who could get that spear back again is a “pure fool”, a young man who knows nothing about the evil of the world and who can resist the beauty of the flower-maidens.
The opera starts with an orchestral prelude (Wagner does not call it an “overture”).
When the curtain rises Gurnemanz, one of the senior knights, wakes up two sleeping servants.
They kneel and pray as King Amfortas is brought down on his bed to the forest lake to bathe his wound.
Kundry arrives, dashing in on her horse, looking for something to heal the wound (when Kundry is away from Klingsor she is not in his power.
She feels that it was her fault that Amfortas was wounded.
When Kundry is not in Klingsor’s power she is actually a faithful messenger of the Grail).
Suddenly a wounded swan (a bird that is sacred to the knights of the Grail) falls dead at Gurnemanz’s feet.
The swan had been killed by Parsifal.
He did not know that it was a wrong thing to do, but when the knights capture him he realizes his  and he breaks the arrow.
The knights ask him his name, but Parsifal says he does not know his name or where he comes from.
Suddenly the knights realize that Parsifal is the pure fool they need who can capture the Holy Spear.
The scene changes.
The knights take communion.
Amfortas is in terrible pain but has to do his duty in the ceremony.
When the Holy Grail is shown it sparkles brightly in the hall.
The knights sink to their knees.
Only Parsifal does not seem to understand the meaning of it all.
The scene is Klingsor’s magic garden by his castle.
Kundry has been summoned by him is now quite different: she has no power of her own, and is controlled and tormented by Klingsor.
Klingsor notices Parsifal, whom he is expecting, approach from the distance, and sends his magical knights to fight him, expecting them to be defeated by Parsifal.
The flower-maidens, the wives of the knights, see Parsifal and call him by his name.
No one has ever called him by his name before.
When one of them kisses his lips he suddenly realizes what it is he has to do.
He now remembers everything that has happened in Act I and understands its meaning.
He throws the maiden to one side.
Klingsor appears and throws the spear at Parsifal, but magically it stops over Parsifal’s head.
Parsifal grabs it and makes the sign of the cross.
The castle is destroyed, the gardens disappear, and he goes off back to the Grail.
After a journey which takes him many years Parsifal comes back to the Grail forest.
Gurnemanz is now very old.
Kundry works for the knights.
Parsifal himself is dressed as a black knight.
Kundry recognizes him, but Gurnemanz does not.
He is annoyed that an armed stranger should come on this holy day (it is Good Friday).
Parsifal throws the spear into the ground, puts down his weapons and takes off his helmet.
Gurnemanz realizes who it is.
He helps him to dress like a knight of the Grail.
Kundry washes his feet and dries them with her long hair.
Gurnemanz blesses Parsifal’s head.
Parsifal is now a knight of the Grail, and he baptizes Kundry.
Titurel has just died, and Amfortas, still in terrible pain, comes out to uncover the Grail.
Parsifal enters and touches the wound with the point of the spear.
Amfortas’s pain changes to happiness, the shrine is opened, the Grail is surrounded by light.
The knights kneel down, Kundry dies peacefully.
The music finishes with a climax based on the leitmotifs of the Holy Grail and the Sacrament.
The performances of Parsifal
Until 1903, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus was the only place where Wagner’s opera Parsifal was allowed to be performed.
In 1903, the opera was performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Soon, it was being performed in other places as well.
Wagner like to describe Parsifal as "ein Bühnenweihfestspiel"  ("A Festival Play for the Consecration of the Stage").
At Bayreuth, it has become tradition that there is to be no applause after the first act of the opera.
The conductor of the first performance was Hermann Levi, the court conductor at the Munich Opera.
Wagner objected to Parsifal being conducted by a Jew (Levi's father was in fact a rabbi).
Wagner first suggested that Levi should convert to Christianity, which Levi declined to do.
Wagner then wrote to King Ludwig that he had decided to accept Levi.
This despite the fact that (he alleged) he had received complaints that "of all pieces, this most Christian of works" should be conducted by a Jew.
The King expressed his satisfaction at this.
He said that "human beings are basically all brothers".
Wagner wrote to the King that he "regard[ed] the Jewish race as the born enemy of pure humanity and everything noble about it".
Ernest Newman (1976) The Life of Richard Wagner: 1813-1848.
John Deathridge (2008) Wagner Beyond Good and Evil.
University of California Press. .
Works based on the Arthurian legend
Kana  is the name for syllable-based writing systems used in the Japanese language.
Manyogana  is the use of Chinese characters (or kanji) to represent each sound in spoken Japanese.
Hiragana  is the script used to write native Japanese words and grammatical elements.
Katakana  is the script used to write loanwords (or gairaigo) and onomatopoeia.
Although manyogana is the oldest of the three types of kana, being used as early as the seventh century, it was soon replaced by hiragana and katakana.
Both of these characters came from the kanji characters that made up manyogana.
Today, there are 46 basic sounds in Japanese that are each represented by a hiragana and a corresponding katakana character as seen in the chart below. (
The characters for the sounds wi and we are no longer used.)
There are 25 other sounds that can be made by adding one of two diacritics: a dakuten or a handakuten.
Also, 12 of the kana come in a smaller size to make other combinations of syllables.
Japanese sentences are usually written using a mix of hiragana, katakana, and kanji.
Although it is possible to write a sentence in only hiragana or katakana characters, it is hard for most Japanese people to understand because the kanji symbols represent a concept which the kana do not show.
Small kana symbols, however, can be put above kanji to show how it is pronounced (this is called furigana and is used a lot in karaoke).
Kana Copybook (PDF)
de:Japanische Schrift#Kana
Tropical Storm Erin was the second tropical cyclone to make landfall on the United States in the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season.
It was also the fifth named storm of the season.
Erin formed in the Gulf of Mexico on August 14 from an area of convection which was becoming stronger.
It became stronger and changed into a tropical storm the next day, and on August 16 Erin made landfall near Lamar, Texas and was able to not die as it moved over land across Texas before moving towards the north into Oklahoma.
The storm killed at least 17 people and made an already-severe flooding problem in Texas even worse.
Another different storm that Erin went into killed at least 18 people.
On August 9, an area of convection formed just south of Jamaica in association with a trough of low pressure.
The system moved west-northwestward, and by August 10, the system had a broad surface trough with a little shower activity.
Convection increased on August 11, and by August 12 the contact between a tropical wave and an upper-level low in the area resulted in a large area of disorganized thunderstorms extending from the western Caribbean Sea into the central Bahamas.
Upper-level winds slowly became more helpful for development, and on August 13 a large low pressure area formed about 90 miles (145 km) north-northeast of Cancún, Quintana Roo.
Late on August 14, a NOAA Hurricane Hunters plane that flew into the system reported a small circulation center, but at the time was not well-defined enough to begin tropical cyclone advisories.
However, deep convection was kept near the increasingly organizaing center, and at 0300 UTC on August 15 the National Hurricane Center named it as Tropical Depression Five about 425 miles (685 km) southeast of Brownsville, Texas.
In the overnight hours after formation, the storm was disorganized with a shabby and abstracted center of circulation.
Located to the south of a mid to upper-level ridge over the southern United States, the system moved to the west-northwest into an area ideal for further strengthening; an upper-level anticyclone formed over the central Gulf of Mexico, and sea surface temperatures along its track were warm.
The cloud pattern became better organized, keeping a large area of convection with curved rainbands and well-established outflow.
Based on reports from Hurricane Hunters, the National Hurricane Center upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Erin at 1530 UTC on August 13 about 250 miles (400 km) east of Brownsville, Texas.
As it continued northwestward, Erin remained disorganized and was not able to strengthen above minimal tropical storm status.
At 1200 UTC on August 16 the cyclone made landfall near Lamar, Texas as it weakened to tropical depression status.
Three hours later, the National Hurricane Center stopped giving out advisories on Erin as warning responsibility was switched to the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center.
Slowly moving northwestward through Texas, Tropical Depression Erin managed to keep an area of convection near the center, with its widespread, but scattered rainbands dropping moderate to heavy precipitation.
By August 17, the winds decreased to 20 mph (30 km/h), with higher gusts.
The system turned to the north-northeast on August 18, while heavy bands of thunderstorms continued to spin around the center of Erin.
Early on August 19 after entering Oklahoma, Erin suddenly re-intensified to maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 km/h) a short distance west of Oklahoma City.
The Norman, Oklahoma National Weather Service remarked the intensification "[resulted] in what amounts to an inland tropical storm;" at 0930 UTC the system showed an eye-like feature and a spiral rainband, and produced wind gusts of over 80 mph (130 km/h).
However, a few hours later, the system began weakening again, and late on August 19 Erin degenerated into a remnant low pressure area as the circulation dissipated over northeastern Oklahoma.
The low continued into southeastern Kansas before dissipating, feeding moisture northward toward a frontal system extending from the Midwestern United States through the Mid-Atlantic States.
Its remnant mid-level circulation then moved eastward across Missouri, Kentucky, and Virginia before losing identity as it moved out into the Atlantic Ocean.
Instantly after Erin become a tropical depression, the National Hurricane Center gave out a tropical storm watch from Freeport, Texas to the United States/Mexico border; at the same time, the government of Mexico issued a tropical storm watch southward to Rio San Fernando.
Shortly before achieving tropical storm status, the watch in Texas was upgraded to a tropical storm warning.
Late on August 15, the warning was extended to San Luis Pass, while the watch in Mexico was cancelled.
As Erin made landfall, the warnings was cancelled, and several flood watches and warnings were given out for counties across southeastern Texas.
Upon moving into Oklahoma, flood and flash flood warnings were issued for several counties.
Governor of Texas, Rick Perry activated the National Guard and moved emergency personnel to the areas expected to be affected by the storm.
Erin is expected to bring flooding to the region, which had already been declared a disaster area on August 7, 2007 from widespread flooding on the Nueces River basin; this area remained flooded as of August 15, 2007.
On August 15, oil futures rose to $74.01 (USD), because of fears of Erin disturbing oil supplies produced on Texan coasts, combined with low oil supplies.
As a result of the threat from the storm, Shell Oil Company evacuated 188 workers on oil platforms in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico.
By midday on August 15, rainbands with gusty winds began affecting the Texas coastline.
As it made landfall, the storm created heavy rainfall near and to the or northeast of its path, reaching 11.02 inches (280 mm) at a station in Lockwood.
The passage of the storm caused several bayous in the Houston area to reach or go beyond flood levels.
Across southeastern Texas, the cyclone generated several funnel clouds, and near Iah a EF0 tornado was reported.
Wind gusts from Erin were fairly weak across the state, peaking at 35 mph (55 km/h) at Palacios with an unofficial report of 39 mph (63 km/h) at Jamaica Beach.
While moving onto land, the storm produced a small storm surge peaking at 3.22 feet (0.98 m) at Pleasure Pier, which caused minor beach erosion.
In Clear Lake City, heavy rainfall broke down a part of a grocery store roof, killing two workers.
The precipitation caused moderate flooding across eastern parts of Harris County; over 400 homes and 40 businesses were flooded.
Flooding across the Greater Houston area briefly stopped the METRORail and closed several state roads.
One person drowned after driving into a retention pond.
Several people needed rescue assistance, and in Comal County a car accident killed three people.
The movement of the storm temporarily left about 20,000 electrical customers without power, though most outages were quickly restored.
In San Antonio, one body was found from a creek and another died after driving into a flooded road and was swept into a drainage ditch in which four others survived.
In Sisterdale, two people were killed when they were swept away stalled over Sister Creek  In Taylor County, near Abilene, flooding killed one person and forced the evacuation of about 2,000 people.
After its unexpected redevelopment over Oklahoma, heavy damages were also reported there.
Several communities in central Oklahoma were flooded from the effects of heavy rainfall.
Watonga, Kingfisher and Geary were the hardest-hit communities, where many houses and buildings were flooded.
Winds in Watonga gusted as high as 82 mph (131 km/h), which damaged numerous trees and power lines and heavily damaged mobile homes.
The entire community lost power, also with about 15,000 customers in total in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.
A section of Interstate 40 was also closed for a while.
One person was found to have drowned in a cellar in Fort Cobb, and another drowned in Kingfisher.
Another storm-related death took place in Seminole.
Three others were found dead after a weather-related automobile accident also near Carnegie.
Another automobile accident-related death took place in Okmulgee County but it is not sure if Erin is to blame there.
Although its surface circulation had dissipated, its upper circulation remained unbroken and created a burst of rainfall early on August 20.
The 11.94 inches/303.3 mm that fell at Miller became the wettest Missouri rainfall total associated with a tropical cyclone, or its remains, since at least 1976.
One person died in Sleeper when he drove into flood waters which had swept away a bridge he was trying to navigate onto.
Nine water rescues happened along the Interstate 44 passageway, which was most effected by Erin's rainfall.
NHC advisory archive on Tropical Storm Erin
HPC advisory archive  on Tropical Depression Erin
2007 in Texas
2000s in Oklahoma
José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), better known as Antonio Banderas, is an Spanish movie actor, producer and singer.
He has acted in several important Hollywood movies including Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, Assassins, Interview with the Vampire, Mariachi sequels, Philadelphia, The Mask of Zorro, The Legend of Zorro, and Puss in Boots in the Shrek movies.
Banderas and his wife Melanie Griffith said in June 2014 that they are divorcing.
The divorce was finalized in 2015.
Spanish movie actors
Spanish movie directors
Spanish movie producers
Spanish stage actors
Spanish television actors
Spanish voice actors
James Eugene Carrey (born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian actor, artist, comedian, producer and writer.
He is known for his acting in movies, such as the Ace Ventura movie series, Dumb and Dumber, The Cable Guy, Liar Liar and Bruce Almighty.
He has also been successful in dramatic roles in movies such as The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Number 23.
He won the Golden Globe Award in 2000.
Carrey has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Jim Carrey | Facebook
Carrey: Life Is Too Beautiful , a summary of a November 2004 60 Minutes interview with Carrey
Jim Carrey Biography - Cinema.com
Top 11 Jim Carrey Film Roles  on Moviefone
Canadian comedians
The Egyptian cobra (naja haje) is a type of poisonous cobra.
It was worshiped by the Ancient Egyptians.
It lives in both North Africa and Southwestern Asia.
It is one of the most venomous snakes in the world.
Egyptian cobras can grow up to 5 feet or 6 feet, 8 inches (1.5–2 m) and have been seen as large as 8 feet in some areas.
Recently, a man was sentenced to a year in jail and a fine of $17,000 for owning an Egyptian cobra.
Small symbols of Egyptian cobras were included in the crown of the pharaohs.
Elapidae
Mikhail Nikolaevitch Baryshnikov (, born 27 January 1948) is a Russian-American dancer, choreographer, and actor.
Born in Latvia to Russian parents during the time of the Soviet Union, he later became an American citizen.
After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre, Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974 for more opportunities in western dance.
He has been called the world's greatest living male ballet dancer.
Critic Clive Barnes once called him, "The most perfect dancer I have ever seen".
While on a tour in Canada with the Kirov Ballet in 1974, Baryshnikov asked for political asylum in Toronto.
He became an American citizen in 1986.
He has won three Emmy Awards.
Part of his significance is that he danced both classical ballet and modern dance.
From 1978 he worked full-time in the New York City Ballet under the direction of George Balanchine.
In 1980 he became artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre.
Later he founded his own company and moved towards modern dance.
He has danced many times on television in North America.
Kennedy Center Honors biography as of 2000
Baryshnikov Dance Foundation
Backstage with Baryshnikov  by Michael Dare
Russian dancers
Latvian movie actors
Latvian television actors
Batman Begins is a 2005 superhero movie directed by Christopher Nolan and written by Nolan and David S. Goyer.
Based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, it stars Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe, and Morgan Freeman.
The movie reboots the Batman movie series, telling the origin story of Bruce Wayne from the death of his parents to his journey to become Batman and his fight to stop Ra's al Ghul and the Scarecrow from plunging Gotham City into chaos.
Batman Begins was successful, and in 2008 a sequel titled The Dark Knight was released.
Batman Begins was the first movie in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy.
Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman: A billionaire industrialist whose parents were killed by a mugger when he was eight years old.
He returns to Gotham after traveling the world for several years to seek the means to fight injustice.
At night, Bruce becomes Batman, Gotham City's protector.
Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth: The trusted butler to Bruce Wayne's parents who continues his loyal service to their son after their deaths.
He is Bruce Wayne's closest confidante.
Nolan felt Caine would effectively portray the foster father element of the character.
Although Alfred's family is depicted in the movie as having served the Wayne family for generations, Caine created his own backstory, in that before becoming Wayne's butler, Alfred served in the Special Air Service.
After being wounded, he was invited to the position of the Wayne family butler by Thomas Wayne because, "He wanted a butler, but someone a bit tougher than that, you know?"
Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard / Ra's al Ghul: While in the guise of Ducard, Ra's trains Bruce in distinctive forms of martial arts.
Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes: A childhood friend of Bruce who serves as Gotham City's assistant district attorney, fighting against the corruption in the city.
Gary Oldman as Sgt.
James Gordon: One of the few uncorrupted Gotham City police officers.
He was the officer on duty the night of the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents.
In this way, he shares a special bond with the adult Bruce (and thus with Batman).
Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane / The Scarecrow: A psychopharmacologist who works at Arkham Asylum and has developed chemical that causes fear.
He uses the character of the Scarecrow to scare others and further his study of fears.
Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox: A high-ranking Wayne Enterprises employee who was demoted to working in the company's Applied Science Division, where he conducts advanced studies in biochemistry and mechanical engineering.
Colin McFarlane as Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb: The main commissioner of the entire Gotham police department.
Larry Holden as Finch: A Gotham City attorney and detective who was friends with Rachel until he was killed by Ra's al Ghul's henchmen.
Gerard Murphy as Judge Faden: A corrupt Gotham City judge.
Tom Wilkinson as Carmine Falcone: The most powerful Mafia boss in Gotham.
He had shared a prison cell with Joe Chill after Chill murdered Wayne's parents.
Rutger Hauer as William Earle: The CEO of Wayne Enterprises who takes the company public in the long-term absence of Bruce Wayne.
Mark Boone Junior as Detective Arnold Flass: Gordon's corrupt partner and is a drug dealer.
Ken Watanabe as Ra's al Ghul's decoy: a decoy of Ra's al Ghul.
Official production notes
Film analysis at IGN
Scene-by-scene annotations of Batman Begins
Comic Vs.
Nonlinear narrative movies
Movies composed by Hans Zimmer
Movies composed by James Newton Howard
Movies directed by Christopher Nolan
Movies produced by Charles Roven
Reboot movies
William John "Liam" Neeson, OBE (born 7 June 1952) is an Irish actor and comedian, nominated for many awards including the Oscar.
He is well known for his role as Oskar Schindler in the 1993 movie Schindler's List, and after that he has appeared in several popular movie series, including the Star Wars prequel trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia and Batman Begins.
He has also continued to play real-life characters, including Michael Collins and Alfred Kinsey.
Irish radio actors
The Great Seal of United States is the official coat of arms of United States, and it is placed in official documents from United States Government.
The name is used both for the coat of arms, and the material seal itself, which is made by the United States' executive power.
The great seal was used for the first time in the year of 1782.
The seal's design is used in national documents, such as passports, by the United States military, and flags.
As a coat of arms, it has the national colors of the United States, but the material seal itself only has a basic black and white design (like when used on paper).
Vectorial logo the Great Seal to download & print
The Great Seal
downloadable PDF booklet from U.S. State Department
Original Copy of the Great Seal
Year 1444was a leap year.
March 2 – The Albanian League started in Lezha; Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg becomes leader of the Albanian resistance
April 16 – Truce of Tours begins between England and France
June 15 – Cosimo de' Medici starts the Laurentian Library.
August 26 – Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs in the Old Zürich War.
August – Murad II abdicates because of defeat at the Battle of Jalowaz.
November 10 – Battle of Varna.
King Ladislas of Poland and Hungary is killed.
The Sultan of Egypt fails to take Rhodes from the Knights of Rhodes
The Iguvine Tables are discovered at Gubbio, Italy
Portuguese explorers reach the mouth of the Senegal river and the Gambia river.
The Mercado de Escravos, the first European slave market for selling African Slaves, opens in Lagos, Portugal.
A fire occurs at St Paul's Cathedral in London.
January 24 – Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Italian duke (died 1476)
March 1 – Sandro Botticelli, Italian artist (died 1510) (born 1444 or 1445)
March 11 – Donato Bramante, Italian architect (died 1514)
John de Mowbray, English duke (died 1476)
Nilakantha Somayaji, Indian mathematician and astronomer (died 1544)
February 14 – Henriette of Mömpelgard,countess (born 1387)
March 9 – Leonardo Bruni, Italian humanist (born 1374)
April 26 – Robert Campin, Flemish artist (born 1378)
May 20 – Bernardino of Siena, Italian saint and missionary (born 1380)
May 27 – John Beaufort, English duke and military leader (born 1404)
October 15 – Niccolò Piccinino, Italian mercenary (born 1386)
November 10 – King Wladislaus III, king of Poland (born 1424)
November 25 – Martin Gouge, French chancellor
The Biellmann spin is a spin in figure skating.
It is performed on one foot.
The free leg (the leg not on the ice) is pulled up from behind and pulled above the head.
The knee is bent slightly and the back is bent backwards into the spin.
This forms a teardrop position with the body.
In the classic version of the spin, both arms are used to hold up the leg.
A slightly changed version has one hand on the skate and the other hand on the arm holding up the skate.
A change can be made in that one hand can be dropped.
If the hand holding up the spin is on the same side of the body as the leg, the spin is referred to as a one-hand Biellmann spin, because the spin is being performed with one hand.
If the hand holding up the spin is on the opposite side of the body as the leg, the spin is referred to as a cross-grab Biellmann spin, because that hand has to cross the body to grab the skate.
The spin has also been said to look like a tulip on a turntable.
It is one of the most iconic figure skating moves.
Along with the layback spin, the Biellmann is used in advertisements and icons representing figure skating.
The position is also used in spiral sequences.
Spin history
No one knows who invented the spin.
Cecilia Colledge of Great Britain performed a one-handed Biellmann spin in 1937.
There is a famous photograph of her doing the spin at the 1937 World Figure Skating Championships.
Tamara Moskvina of the Soviet Union performed the spin at the 1965 European Championships and there is a famous photo of her doing it as well.
Both Janet Champion and Slavka Kohout of the United States performed this spin early on.
The spin is named after Swiss skater Denise Biellmann, who popularized the move.
Biellmann performed the spin beginning in the 1970s, having learned it from her teammate, fellow Swiss skater Karin Iten.
Biellmann performed the spin on her way to becoming World Champion and the spin was officially named for her.
It is the only figure skating spin officially named after a skater in International Skating Union regulations.
The classic positions is explained above.
This position is often entered into through a layback spin.
The free leg of the layback is grasped by one or both hands and brought up above the head.
Irina Slutskaya of Russia is officially credited with inventing the change foot Biellmann spin.
She performs the Biellmann on one foot, then drops her free leg and performs the spin on her other leg.
A half-Biellmann spin, also called the catch-foot camel spin, is a Biellmann variation in which the free leg is grasped in a camel spin position and brought up above the head, but the upper body is not lifted into the teardrop position.
Many skaters have performed a Biellmann variation in which the free leg is brought down towards the face, with the knee bent inwards.
This spin has mostly been performed by Junior-level or Junior-age skaters, because this is easiest to perform before puberty.
It is unknown who invented this variation.
It was performed by Naomi Nari Nam at the United States nationals in 1999.
More recently it has been brought back by Junior level skaters including Caroline Zhang of the United States who performed the spin on her way to winning the 2007 World Junior title.
As well, Zhang and other Junior skaters are known for doing a hyper-extended Biellmann spin in which the leg is pulled straight up in the air and the back bent as far into the spin as possible.
Zhang is able to perform the spin with her free leg pulled straight up into the air, making the spin look like a capital-I. This position is not original to Zhang, but she has been the one to popularize it.
In skating competitions
Because of Code of Points, the Biellmann spin has been used too much in competitions.
Many skaters would perform the spin even if they were not flexible enough because it was a good way of getting a lot of points.
The International Skating Union has limited the number of Biellmann spins that can be performed in a single program.
The spin is almost entirely performed by women, and it is a common feature in most Junior and Senior level ladies programs, as well as being a position for ice dancing lifts.
It is generally not performed by men because most male skaters are not flexible enough to perform the spin.
The most famous male skater to perform the spin is Evgeni Plushenko.
However, he has not done it in competition since 2003.
Shawn Sawyer has also performed the spin at the Junior level.
Recently, the spin has been performed in competition by Ryo Shibata of Japan and Eliot Halverson of the United States.
ISU Communication No.
Year 1445 was a common year.
Events of 1445
Dinas Diaz discovers Senegal and Cape Verde.
Emperor Zara Yaqob of Ethiopia defeats and kills Sultan Arwe Badlay of Adal in the Battle of Gomit.
March 1 – Sandro Botticelli, Italian painter (died 1510) (born 1444 or 1445)
March 16 – Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, Swiss preacher (died 1510)
Albert Brudzewski, Polish astronomer (died 1497)
Nicolas Chuquet, French mathematician (probable)
February 19 – Leonor of Aragon, Queen of Portugal
June 5 – Leonel Power, English composer
June 11 – Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick (born 1424)
July 15 – Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scotland
August 8 – Oswald von Wolkenstein, Austrian composer (born 1377)
Olug Moxammat, Khan of Kazan
Omar Sharif (; born 10 April 1932 – 10 July 2015) was an Egyptian actor who worked in many Hollywood movies.
He acted in Arabic, French, and English movies.
Sharif is most famous for his roles in Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia and Funny Girl (1968).
He was nominated for the Academy Award and won the Golden Globe Award three times.
Sharif had a son and two grandsons.
Contract bridge career
With Charles Goren, Sharif co-wrote a syndicated newspaper bridge column for the Chicago Tribune for several years, but later turned over most of the writing of the column to Tannah Hirsch.