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338jkrmm26z4hz6gouyxkogcgxchac | Sierra Leone (), officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north-east, Liberia to the south-east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south-west. Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with a diverse environment ranging from savannah to rainforests. The country has a total area of and a population of 7,075,641 (based on 2015 national census). It is a constitutional republic with a directly elected president and a unicameral legislature.
Sierra Leone is made up of five administrative regions: the Northern Province, Northwestern Province, Eastern Province, Southern Province and the Western Area, which are subdivided into sixteen districts. Each district has its own directly elected local government. Freetown (population 1,050,301), located in the Western Area, is Sierra Leone's capital, largest city and its economic centre. Bo is Sierra Leone's second largest city and is located in the Southern province, 160 miles from Freetown. Kenema (population 200,354) is Sierra Leone"s third largest city, and is located in the Eastern province, 200 miles from Freetown. Koidu Town is Sierra Leone"s fourth largest city and is located in the diamond rich Kono District in the Eastern province, 285 miles from Freetown. Makeni is Sierra Leone's fifth largest of the country's five major cities, and is located in the Northern province, 85 miles from Freetown. |
3vd82fohkqo22vp1clpeas31sn6oc6 | George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) is an American politician who was the 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993 and the 43rd Vice President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. A member of the Republican Party, he was previously a congressman, ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence. He is the oldest living former President and Vice President. Previously known as simply "George Bush", since 2001, Bush has often been referred to as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush 41", "Bush the Elder", or "George Bush Senior" to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States.
Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to Prescott Bush and Dorothy Walker Bush. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Bush postponed his university studies, enlisted in the U.S. Navy on his 18th birthday, and became the youngest aviator in the U.S. Navy at the time. He served until the end of the war, then attended Yale University. Graduating in 1948, he moved his family to West Texas and entered the oil business, becoming a millionaire by the age of 40. Bush became involved in politics soon after founding his own oil company, and he won election to the House of Representatives in 1966. In 1971, President Richard Nixon appointed Bush as Ambassador to the United Nations, and in 1973, Bush became the Chairman of the Republican National Committee. The following year, President Gerald Ford appointed Bush as the ambassador to the People's Republic of China, and later reassigned Bush to the position of Director of Central Intelligence. Bush ran for president in 1980 but was defeated in the Republican primary by Ronald Reagan. Reagan chose Bush as his running mate, and Bush became vice president after the Reagan–Bush ticket won the 1980 election. During his eight-year tenure as vice president, Bush headed administration task forces on deregulation and fighting the "War on Drugs". |
3wr9xg3t63bsmlkn2k2ug85i9g274y | Joey felt the very first rain drop hit his hat.
"Let's go inside!" he said to his friend Billy.
The two ran inside the house as it began to rain more outside. Joey's mother was very happy that they missed the rain and got inside before it made a big mess. Joey and Billy weren't as happy.
"What are we going to do in here all day?" asked Billy.
"I don't know" said Joey, looking out the window as the rain came down.
Harder. And harder.
"Oh no! I left my baseball glove outside" said Joey as he watched it begin to fill up with rain. His glove was going to be a mess!
Thankfully, Joey's dad pulled up in his car. Seeing the glove on the ground, he picked it up as he ran inside.
"Careful sport, you almost lost this" he told his son as he tossed him the wet mitt. But Joey wasn't listening, he was looking past his dad as he walked through the door. The sky was clearing up! Joey ran outside, Billy came after him.
"Look at that!" Billy said as he pointed at the sky. A rainbow was appearing, it was so beautiful! The rain wasn't bad after all! |
33m4ia01qg1t26scv925i0tg4t9xrn | CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
A SOIREE WILDLY INTERRUPTED, AND FOLLOWED UP BY SURPRISING REVELATIONS.
One afternoon Captain Lee and Emma called on Mrs Tipps, and found her engaged in earnest conversation with Netta. The captain, who was always in a boiling-over condition, and never felt quite happy except when in the act of planning or carrying out some scheme for the increase of general happiness, soon discovered that Netta was discussing the details of a little treat which she meant to give to the boys and girls of a Sunday-school which she and her mother superintended. With all his penetration he did not, however, find out that the matter which called most for consideration was the financial part of the scheme--in other words, how to accomplish the end desired with extremely limited means. He solved the question for them, however, by asserting that he intended to give all the scholars of all the Sunday-schools in the neighbourhood a treat, and of course meant to include Netta's school among the rest-- unless, of course, she possessed so much exclusive pride as to refuse to join him.
There was no resisting Captain Lee. As well might a red-skin attempt to stop Niagara. When once he had made up his mind to "go in" for something, no mortal power could stop him. He might indeed be _turned_. Another object of interest, worthy of pursuit and judiciously put before him, might perhaps induce him to abandon a previous scheme; but once his steam was up, as John Marrot used to say, you could not get him to blow it off into the air. He was unlike the iron horse in that respect, although somewhat like him in the rigour of his action. Accordingly the thing was fixed. Invitations were sent out to all the schools and to all who took an interest in them, and the place fixed on was a field at the back of Mrs Tipps's villa. |
3e13vnj1nnv8j640ytnp9zoob7fi1t | CHAPTER XVI.
CONTINUED MISBEHAVIOUR OF THE EGYPTIAN WOMAN.
BY the following Monday it was known at many looms that something sat heavily on the Auld Licht minister's mind. On the previous day he had preached his second sermon of warning to susceptible young men, and his first mention of the word "woman" had blown even the sleepy heads upright. Now he had salt fish for breakfast, and on clearing the table Jean noticed that his knife and fork were uncrossed. He was observed walking into a gooseberry bush by Susy Linn, who possessed the pioneer spring-bed of Thrums, and always knew when her man jumped into it by suddenly finding herself shot to the ceiling. Lunan, the tinsmith, and two women, who had the luck to be in the street at the time, saw him stopping at Dr. McQueen's door, as if about to knock, and then turning smartly away. His hat blew off in the school wynd, where a wind wanders ever, looking for hats, and he chased it so passionately that Lang Tammas went into Allardyce's smiddy to say--
"I dinna like it. Of course he couldna afford to lose his hat, but he should hae run after it mair reverently."
Gavin, indeed, was troubled. He had avoided speaking of the Egyptian to his mother. He had gone to McQueen's house to ask the doctor to accompany him to the Kaims, but with the knocker in his hand he changed his mind, and now he was at the place of meeting alone. It was a day of thaw, nothing to be heard from a distance but the swish of curling-stones through water on Rashie-bog, where the match for the eldership was going on. Around him. Gavin saw only dejected firs with drops of water falling listlessly from them, clods of snow, and grass that rustled as if animals were crawling through it. All the roads were slack. |
38f71oa9gtwl54ozq702quzzu4pmfe | It has more than 845 million users worldwide. If it were a country, _ would have the third largest population in the world, behind China and India. This is Facebook, a popular website from the US. It is similar to Renren in China. Mark Zuckerber was born on May 14, 1984. As a little kid, he loved creating little fun computer programs. He set up the network in February of 2004. He was then a second-year student at Harvard University. One day, he had the idea of building a website for Harvard students to get to know each other. He set up the Facebook website. Harvard students could share photos and their personal information there. Soon, the website became very famous. Zuckerberg decided to leave Harvard to run Facebook full time. It was the biggest adventure in his life and later brought him great success. Now, the service is popular around the world. Greetings such as "Have you checked your Facebook page today?" became a part of young people's everyday language in the US. People can exchange message and get the latest information about their friends on Facebook. Zuckerberg's dream is to connect people through the Internet. "Facebook is to make the world more open and connected," he said. What's the young man's secret to success? Zuckerberg believes it's important to have an open mind and be ready to try new things. "The riskiest thing is to take no risks," he once said in an open letter. Sometimes the simplest ideas go furthest. We hope Mar Zuckerberg can go much further, maybe even further than Bill Gates. |
3jzqsn0i3qaldusdf427dpf2yg5fgn | CHAPTER XIX.
And stretching out, on either hand, O'er all that wide and unshorn land, Till weary of its gorgeousness, The aching and the dazzled eye Rests, gladdened, on the calm, blue sky. --WHITTIER.
No other disturbance occurred in the course of the night. With the dawn, le Bourdon was again stirring; and as he left the palisades to repair to the run, in order to make his ablutions, he saw Peter returning to Castle Meal. The two met; but no allusion was made to the manner in which the night had passed. The chief paid his salutations courteously; and, instead of repairing to his skins, he joined le Bourdon, seemingly as little inclined to seek for rest, as if just arisen from his lair. When the bee-hunter left the spring, this mysterious Indian, for the first time, spoke of business.
"My brother wanted to-day to show Injin how to find honey," said Peter, as he and Bourdon walked toward the palisades, within which the whole family was now moving. "I nebber see honey find, myself, ole as I be."
"I shall be very willing to teach your chiefs my craft," answered the bee-hunter, "and this so much the more readily, because I do not expect to pracTYSE it much longer, myself; not in this part of the country, at least."
"How dat happen?--expec' go away soon?" demanded Peter, whose keen, restless eye would, at one instant, seem to read his companion's soul, and then would glance off to some distant object, as if conscious of its own startling and fiery expression. "Now Br'ish got Detroit, where my broder go? Bess stay here, I t'ink." |
3ggai1sqevye2s4pz5a1ioewxrrcmn | CHAPTER IX.
A STARTLING EVENT.
It was some days later that Chebron and Amuba again paid a visit to the temple by moonlight. It was well-nigh a month since they had been there; for, save when the moon was up, the darkness and gloom of the courts, lighted only by the lamps of the altars, was so great that the place offered no attractions. Amuba, free from the superstitions which influenced his companion, would have gone with him had he proposed it, although he too felt the influence of the darkness and the dim, weird figures of the gods, seen but faintly by the lights that burned at their feet. But to Chebron, more imaginative and easily affected, there was something absolutely terrible in the gloomy darkness, and nothing would have induced him to wander in the silent courts save when the moon threw her light upon them.
On entering one of the inner courts they found a massive door in the wall standing ajar.
"Where does this lead to?" Amuba asked.
"I do not know. I have never seen it open before. I think it must have been left unclosed by accident. We will see where it leads to."
Opening it they saw in front of them a flight of stairs in the thickness of the wall.
"It leads up to the roof," Chebron said in surprise. "I knew not there were any stairs to the roof, for when repairs are needed the workmen mount by ladders."
"Let us go up, Chebron; it will be curious to look down upon the courts." |
384pi804xs1x6vme7md3zwb1gmms0m | The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (WMF, or simply Wikimedia) is an American non-profit and charitable organization headquartered in San Francisco, California. It is mostly known for participating in the Wikimedia movement. It owns the internet domain names of most movement projects and hosts sites like Wikipedia. The foundation was founded in 2003 by Jimmy Wales as a way to fund Wikipedia and its sister projects through non-profit means.
, the foundation employs over 280 people, with annual revenues in excess of . Christophe Henner is chair of the board. Katherine Maher is the executive director since March 2016.
The Wikimedia Foundation has stated its goal is to develop and maintain open content, wiki-based projects and to provide the full contents of those projects to the public free of charge. Another main objective of the Wikimedia Foundation is political advocacy.
The Wikimedia Foundation was granted section 501(c)(3) status by the U.S. Internal Revenue Code as a public charity in 2005. Its National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code is B60 (Adult, Continuing education). The foundation's by-laws declare a statement of purpose of collecting and developing educational content and to disseminate it effectively and globally.
In 2001, Jimmy Wales, an Internet entrepreneur, and Larry Sanger, an online community organizer and philosophy professor, founded Wikipedia as an Internet encyclopedia to supplement Nupedia. The project was originally funded by Bomis, Wales' for-profit business. As Wikipedia's popularity skyrocketed, revenues to fund the project stalled. Since Wikipedia was depleting Bomis' resources, Wales and Sanger thought of a charity model to fund the project. The Wikimedia Foundation was incorporated in Florida on June 20, 2003. It applied to the United States Patent and Trademark Office to trademark "Wikipedia" on September 14, 2004. The mark was granted registration status on January 10, 2006. Trademark protection was accorded by Japan on December 16, 2004, and, in the European Union, on January 20, 2005. There were plans to license the use of the Wikipedia trademark for some products, such as books or DVDs. |
3zsano2jcf7o3z14a4wo23y5mqzfs5 | CHAPTER X
MISTRESS AND MEN
Half-an-hour later Bathsheba, in finished dress, and followed by Liddy, entered the upper end of the old hall to find that her men had all deposited themselves on a long form and a settle at the lower extremity. She sat down at a table and opened the time-book, pen in her hand, with a canvas money-bag beside her. From this she poured a small heap of coin. Liddy chose a position at her elbow and began to sew, sometimes pausing and looking round, or, with the air of a privileged person, taking up one of the half-sovereigns lying before her and surveying it merely as a work of art, while strictly preventing her countenance from expressing any wish to possess it as money.
"Now before I begin, men," said Bathsheba, "I have two matters to speak of. The first is that the bailiff is dismissed for thieving, and that I have formed a resolution to have no bailiff at all, but to manage everything with my own head and hands."
The men breathed an audible breath of amazement.
"The next matter is, have you heard anything of Fanny?"
"Nothing, ma'am."
"Have you done anything?"
"I met Farmer Boldwood," said Jacob Smallbury, "and I went with him and two of his men, and dragged Newmill Pond, but we found nothing."
"And the new shepherd have been to Buck's Head, by Yalbury, thinking she had gone there, but nobody had seed her," said Laban Tall.
"Hasn't William Smallbury been to Casterbridge?" |
3p529iw9kyl1zm6eqvznqhkauxvflx | CHAPTER XX.
HOW CAPTAIN USSHER SUCCEEDED.
Late the next morning, Feemy and the other girls got up; they had slept together to make room in the house for the victorious Bob, but as Father John had prophesied, they were all too tired to be much inconvenienced by this. Immediately after breakfast the car came round, and Feemy, afraid to wish her friends good bye too affectionately lest suspicion should be raised, and promising to come back again in a day or two, returned to Ballycloran.
Thady was out when she got there, but he was expected in to dinner. Her father was glad to see her, and began assuring her that he would do all in his power to protect her from the evil machinations of her brother, and then again took his grog and his pipe. She went into the kitchen, and summoning Biddy, desired her to follow her up to her bedroom. When there, she carefully closed the door, and sitting down on the bed, looked in her attendant's face and said,
"Biddy, if I told you a secret, you'd never betray me, would you?"
"Is it I, Miss Feemy, that's known you so long? in course I wouldn't," and the girl pricked up her ears, and looked all anxiety. "What is it, Miss?--Shure you know av you tould me to hould my tongue, never a word I'd spake to any mortial about anything."
"I know you wouldn't, Biddy; that's why I'm going to tell you; but you mustn't whisper it to Katty, for I think she'd be telling Thady." |
31t4r4obosgvhpx2vz8cz6h621uc78 | Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Edward was related to royalty throughout Europe. Before his accession to the throne, he served as heir apparent and held the title of Prince of Wales for longer than any of his predecessors. During the long reign of his mother, he was largely excluded from political power, and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He travelled throughout Britain performing ceremonial public duties, and represented Britain on visits abroad. His tours of North America in 1860 and the Indian subcontinent in 1875 were popular successes, but despite public approval his reputation as a playboy prince soured his relationship with his mother.
As king, Edward played a role in the modernisation of the British Home Fleet and the reorganisation of the British Army after the Second Boer War. He reinstituted traditional ceremonies as public displays and broadened the range of people with whom royalty socialised. He fostered good relations between Britain and other European countries, especially France, for which he was popularly called "Peacemaker", but his relationship with his nephew, the German Emperor Wilhelm II, was poor. The Edwardian era, which covered Edward's reign and was named after him, coincided with the start of a new century and heralded significant changes in technology and society, including steam turbine propulsion and the rise of socialism. He died in 1910 in the midst of a constitutional crisis that was resolved the following year by the Parliament Act 1911, which restricted the power of the unelected House of Lords. |
3s96kq6i9m4skf0n8y6oo8r6cs4tdw | Paula Broadwell, a woman who was romantically involved with former CIA Director David Petraeus, will not face federal charges of cyberstalking another woman friendly with Petraeus.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa informed Broadwell's attorney Robert Muse of the decision in a brief letter dated December 14.
"As the target of our investigation, we believe that it is appropriate to advise your client that our office has determined that no federal charges will be brought" regarding allegations of cyberstalking, Assistant U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow wrote.
Muse told CNN he was "very pleased that the U.S. Attorney's office in Tampa very promptly resolved this matter."
A source close to Broadwell said the letter had been received Monday.
"She's pleased with the prosecutor's decision and glad it's been resolved," the source told CNN.
Read more: After Petraeus scandal, Broadwell grapples with 'normal life'
Petraeus resigned November 9 after revealing that he'd been involved in an extramarital affair.
U.S. officials said the FBI discovered Petraeus was involved with Broadwell, a woman who was under investigation for sending allegedly harassing and anonymous e-mails to Jill Kelley, a Tampa socialite who was friendly with Petraeus and his wife.
Sources close to Kelley said she had not been romantically involved with Petraeus.
During the investigation the FBI obtained Broadwell's computer and discovered she had classified materials. Investigators also searched Broadwell's home in North Carolina. Sources said the materials were technically classified but not highly sensitive. Still the FBI and Justice Department prosecutors have not resolved whether Broadwell will face charges for having such materials in her personal possession. |
3mrnmeiqw56412sizp4x2hhpii4ldd | Los Angeles (CNN) -- Actress Carmen Zapata, whose most visible film role was as a choir nun in "Sister Act," died Sunday at her Los Angeles home. She was 86.
Zapata's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame honors her six decades of work on the stage, which began in New York in 1946.
Her death from heart problems was confirmed by a representative at the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts in Los Angeles, which Zapata co-founded in 1973.
She was "an accomplished actress, translator, theater producer, and community leader who was knighted by King Juan Carlos of Spain," according to her biography on the group's website.
Zapata, a Mexican-American born in New York, founded the theater group to promote bilingual stage productions. The goal was to "instill cultural pride to Spanish-speaking audiences, and serve as an introduction to the rich and eloquent history of the diverse Hispanic culture to English-speaking audiences," the website said.
She was 19 when she made her Broadway debut as a member of the chorus in "Oklahoma." She initially performed under the stage name Marge Cameron at a time when discrimination against Hispanic actors was more common.
Her television and film résumé is slim until the 1970s, when she began landing acting jobs on series including "Room 222," "Bonanza" and "McMillan & Wife." In 1971, she was hired for a recurring role on "The New Dick Van Dyke Show."
Other shows that decade in which she appears in multiple episodes include "Adam-12," "Love, American Style," "Marcus Welby, M.D.," "Medical Center" and "The Streets of San Francisco." She often played different characters in the same series, according to IMDB.com. |
3te22npxpbcv3y240m4ndwl8jad445 | Depleted uranium is also used as a shielding material in some containers used to store and transport radioactive materials. While the metal itself is radioactive, its high density makes it more effective than lead in halting radiation from strong sources such as radium. Other uses of depleted uranium include counterweights for aircraft control surfaces, as ballast for missile re-entry vehicles and as a shielding material. Due to its high density, this material is found in inertial guidance systems and in gyroscopic compasses. Depleted uranium is preferred over similarly dense metals due to its ability to be easily machined and cast as well as its relatively low cost. The main risk of exposure to depleted uranium is chemical poisoning by uranium oxide rather than radioactivity (uranium being only a weak alpha emitter).
The discovery and isolation of radium in uranium ore (pitchblende) by Marie Curie sparked the development of uranium mining to extract the radium, which was used to make glow-in-the-dark paints for clock and aircraft dials. This left a prodigious quantity of uranium as a waste product, since it takes three tonnes of uranium to extract one gram of radium. This waste product was diverted to the glazing industry, making uranium glazes very inexpensive and abundant. Besides the pottery glazes, uranium tile glazes accounted for the bulk of the use, including common bathroom and kitchen tiles which can be produced in green, yellow, mauve, black, blue, red and other colors. |
3kyqyyshyv7c7nvfchkpuyljde1dow | The phrase "in whole or in part" has been subject to much discussion by scholars of international humanitarian law. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia found in Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstic – Trial Chamber I – Judgment – IT-98-33 (2001) ICTY8 (2 August 2001) that Genocide had been committed. In Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstic – Appeals Chamber – Judgment – IT-98-33 (2004) ICTY 7 (19 April 2004) paragraphs 8, 9, 10, and 11 addressed the issue of in part and found that "the part must be a substantial part of that group. The aim of the Genocide Convention is to prevent the intentional destruction of entire human groups, and the part targeted must be significant enough to have an impact on the group as a whole." The Appeals Chamber goes into details of other cases and the opinions of respected commentators on the Genocide Convention to explain how they came to this conclusion. |
3z3zlgnnsiuha76yy56h6uu71bi3q2 | CHAPTER IV
Mrs. Penniman, with more buckles and bangles than ever, came, of course, to the entertainment, accompanied by her niece; the Doctor, too, had promised to look in later in the evening. There was to be a good deal of dancing, and before it had gone very far, Marian Almond came up to Catherine, in company with a tall young man. She introduced the young man as a person who had a great desire to make our heroine's acquaintance, and as a cousin of Arthur Townsend, her own intended.
Marian Almond was a pretty little person of seventeen, with a very small figure and a very big sash, to the elegance of whose manners matrimony had nothing to add. She already had all the airs of a hostess, receiving the company, shaking her fan, saying that with so many people to attend to she should have no time to dance. She made a long speech about Mr. Townsend's cousin, to whom she administered a tap with her fan before turning away to other cares. Catherine had not understood all that she said; her attention was given to enjoying Marian's ease of manner and flow of ideas, and to looking at the young man, who was remarkably handsome. She had succeeded, however, as she often failed to do when people were presented to her, in catching his name, which appeared to be the same as that of Marian's little stockbroker. Catherine was always agitated by an introduction; it seemed a difficult moment, and she wondered that some people--her new acquaintance at this moment, for instance-- should mind it so little. She wondered what she ought to say, and what would be the consequences of her saying nothing. The consequences at present were very agreeable. Mr. Townsend, leaving her no time for embarrassment, began to talk with an easy smile, as if he had known her for a year. |
3kopy89hm820ok2l3fm89tilm313jv | Long long ago, there lived two girls named Emily and Tina. Both of them had long black hair and blue eyes. One day while they were playing in the back yard , Emily heard a tinkling sound. She jumped up. "Listen," she told her twin. They listened. The noise came again. This time Tina heard it. She sat up. "It came from over there," She whispered, looking at the zinnias far away. They came near to find it out. Then something flew out, making the same tinkling sound they had heard before. The children looked at one another. "Was it a bee?" asked Tina. "I don't think so," replied Emily. "Do bees make a sound like bells?" "Let's call it the Tinkle Bee anyway," said Tina. Emily nodded, listening with a little difficulty. What had made that noise? The next day, Emily and Tina brought their cookies outside. Tina took her plate by the zinnias. Suddenly she caught something. "Emily!" she called. "I've got the Tinkle Bee!" Emily rushed over. They sat down on the grass. Tina opened her hand very carefully. There was that sound! Something was shining in Tina's hand. They smiled. Then Emily cried, "It's a fairy !" Tina looked down at it in her hand. It looked like a girl. A _ girl with wings! Tina dropped it before she noticed that a wing was torn . The little fairy could not fly away so she took a piece of grass out of the ground and sat on it. Emily and Tina were surprised at what they saw. The fairy turned to Emily and said, "Hello, I am Marabella." Then she said again, "Marabella the Fairy." Emily smiled. "I'm Emily," she said. Tina said, "I'm Tina. Are you really a fairy?" "Oh, yes!" replied Marabella. "I've always been a fairy." |
37xitheisw95z8hh4d6i4n86341cr2 | I was working with a client who was completely burned out on her career and life and then ready for a career change. As we were talking, she said, "I just wish I had meaningful work. I don't feel like I am making a difference. I am just wasting my life." This is the theme I hear most often from clients who have been in the workforce awhile.All of us want to feel like we are making a difference. We want to believe our work means something. The problem comes in defining "meaningful work". What is it? That answer is different for everyone. For some meaningful work might be helping others organize their office. For others it may mean making a million dollars.
What really matters is how you see it. What is meaningful work to you? Take out a piece of paper and answer these questions. How do you define meaningful work? When do you feel like you are really making a difference? What work have you done so far that feels the most meaningful? Write down whatever comes to mind.
What you want to do is meaningful. It is very easy to start judging yourself as being selfish. Stop! Allow yourself to be honest. The fact is when Picasso painted; he was doing it because he liked to paint. He was not thinking, "Oh, I hope this brings joy to others' lives." He painted because he wanted to. When Beethoven composed, he did it because he loved music. Even scientists searching for a cure for cancer are immersed in their work because it fascinates them.
Don't look down on your work. It is easy to _ the importance of work that feels meaningful. I remember Tony Robbins told a story of talking with the owner of a major company. The man said to Tony, "I wish I could do what you do because it makes such adifference in people's lives". Tony said, "You have got to be kidding! Look at what adifference you make. You provide work, health insurance and security for thousands ofpeople!" Don't underestimate the value you provide.
Take a look at what you have written about meaningful work. Do you see any themes? How do you wish to contribute to this world? Whatever you choose, remember that the greatest gift you can give is to find work that makes you feel fulfilled and delighted. Respect your preference because giving your gifts to the world, whatever they look like, is the most meaningful action you can ever take. |
3ejplajkemgpliu743ns4qivg7q6zu | CHAPTER I
I SET OFF UPON MY JOURNEY TO THE HOUSE OF SHAWS
I will begin the story of my adventures with a certain morning early in the month of June, the year of grace 1751, when I took the key for the last time out of the door of my father's house. The sun began to shine upon the summit of the hills as I went down the road; and by the time I had come as far as the manse, the blackbirds were whistling in the garden lilacs, and the mist that hung around the valley in the time of the dawn was beginning to arise and die away.
Mr. Campbell, the minister of Essendean, was waiting for me by the garden gate, good man! He asked me if I had breakfasted; and hearing that I lacked for nothing, he took my hand in both of his and clapped it kindly under his arm.
"Well, Davie, lad," said he, "I will go with you as far as the ford, to set you on the way." And we began to walk forward in silence.
"Are ye sorry to leave Essendean?" said he, after awhile.
"Why, sir," said I, "if I knew where I was going, or what was likely to become of me, I would tell you candidly. Essendean is a good place indeed, and I have been very happy there; but then I have never been anywhere else. My father and mother, since they are both dead, I shall be no nearer to in Essendean than in the Kingdom of Hungary, and, to speak truth, if I thought I had a chance to better myself where I was going I would go with a good will." |
3ffj6vril1o8chji2ajpvu5e6emi01 | CHAPTER XVIII
THE LOCHINVAR METHOD
As Jimmy sat smoking a last cigarette in his bedroom before going to bed that night, Spike Mullins came in. Jimmy had been thinking things over. He was one of those men who are at their best in a losing game. Imminent disaster always had the effect of keying him up and putting an edge on his mind. The news he had heard that night had left him with undiminished determination, but conscious that a change of method would be needed. He must stake all on a single throw now. Young Lochinvar rather than Romeo must be his model. He declined to believe himself incapable of getting anything that he wanted as badly as he wanted Molly. He also declined to believe that she was really attached to Lord Dreever. He suspected the hand of McEachern in the affair, though the suspicion did not clear up the mystery by any means. Molly was a girl of character, not a feminine counterpart of his lordship, content meekly to do what she was told in a matter of this kind. The whole thing puzzled him.
"Well, Spike?" he said.
He was not too pleased at the interruption. He was thinking, and he wanted to be alone.
Something appeared to have disturbed Spike. His bearing was excited.
"Say, boss! Guess what. You know dat guy dat come dis afternoon--de guy from de village, dat came wit' old man McEachern?"
"Galer?" said Jimmy. "What about him?"
There had been an addition to the guests at the castle that afternoon. Mr. McEachern, walking in the village, had happened upon an old New York acquaintance of his, who, touring England, had reached Dreever and was anxious to see the historic castle. Mr. McEachern had brought him thither, introduced him to Sir Thomas, and now Mr. Samuel Galer was occupying a room on the same floor as Jimmy's. He had appeared at dinner that night, a short, wooden-faced man, with no more conversation than Hargate. Jimmy had paid little attention to the newcomer. |
37q970snze8xdk7w35h3d1ubl6v1sl | Universal Studios Inc. (also known as Universal Pictures) is an American film studio, owned by Comcast through its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal, and is one of Hollywood's "Big Six" film studios. Its production studios are at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California. Distribution and other corporate offices are in New York City. Universal Studios is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Universal was founded in 1912 by the German Carl Laemmle (pronounced "LEM-lee"), Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, and Jules Brulatour.
It is the world's fourth oldest major film studio, after the renowned French studios Gaumont Film Company and Pathé, and the Danish Nordisk Film company.
Universal Studios was founded by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane[a] and Jules Brulatour. One story has Laemmle watching a box office for hours, counting patrons and calculating the day's takings. Within weeks of his Chicago trip, Laemmle gave up dry goods to buy the first several nickelodeons. For Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Trust meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for Trust-produced films they showed. Based on the Latham Loop used in cameras and projectors, along with other patents, the Trust collected fees on all aspects of movie production and exhibition, and attempted to enforce a monopoly on distribution. |
354gidr5zb6x5m22ykujpq5ilpy00s | Who Is Kimberly Kirberger? Kimberly Kirberger is the president and founder of Inspiration and Motivation for Teens, Inc. (I. A. M. for Teens, Inc. ) a corporation formed exclusively to work for teens. It is her goal to see teens represented in a more positive light and it is her strong belief that teens deserve better and more positive treatment.
She spends her time reading the thousands of letters and stories sent to her by teen readers and traveling around the country speaking to high school students and parents of teens. She has appeared as a teen expert on many television and radio shows.
Kimberly says that the College Soul book has been an amazing journey. In getting close to and heating from so many teenagers she kept hearing about this very emotionally packed time that begins with application to college and extends through the four-year experience. It became clear to her that this was a time of life that was filled with many challenges and that college students could really benefit from a book like this. For her, it was simply a continuation of a commitment that she has made to teenagers to do what she can to inspire and motivate them while letting them know there are people who believe in them.
Kimberly is the coauthor of the bestseller, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul and the New York Times bestseller, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul II, as well as Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul Journal . She is also the co-author of the forthcoming Chicken Soup for the Parent's Soul and Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul III, and the author of Teen Love: On Relationships, a Book for Teenagers.
Kimberly started the Teen Letter Project with Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Health Communications, Inc. The Project is responsible for answering the heartfelt letters received from teenagers and also reaching out to teens in trouble and encouraging them to seek professional help.
To book Kimberly for a speaking engagement or for further information on any of her projects, please contact:
I. A. M. for Teens, Inc.
P. O. Box 936, Palisades, CA 90272 phone: 310-573-3655
fax:. 310-573-3657
e-mail for stories: stories @ teenagechickensoul. com
e-mail for letters: letters @ teenagechick
Web site: www. Teenagechickensoul. com |
3lotdfnya7zhagidu96pzs1qs54wfe | (CNN) -- Barcelona moved five points clear in Spain as manager Pep Guardiola celebrated his 100th match in charge with a 4-0 victory at home to Racing Santander on Saturday.
The injury-hit defending champions brushed off the pre-match loss of star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic to romp into a 3-0 halftime lead as they put pressure on Real Madrid to win Sunday's home match against Villarreal.
The Swede is in doubt for Tuesday's Champions League trip to German club Stuttgart due to a swollen ankle.
Midfielder Andres Iniesta took advantage of some slack defending to pounce for his first goal this season in the seventh minute, hooking home a left-foot effort after the ball ran loose in his 300th outing for the club.
France striker Thierry Henry, handed a rare start due to Ibrahimovic's absence, netted a free-kick in the 29th minute after driving a shot through the defensive wall for his first goal this year.
Center-back Rafael Marquez marked his return from suspension with a similar effort nine minute later as he curled a set-piece over the wall and in off the post.
Barca took their foot off the pedal in the second half, but 18-year-old Thiago scored his first senior goal in the 84th minute with a deflected shot after Lionel Messi set him up with a cutback.
Captain Carles Puyol had to go off with a facial injury but is expected to face Stuttgart in the first leg of the last-16 tie.
It was Guardiola's 71st victory since taking charge of the Catalan giants, and 14th-placed Racing never looked like inflicting his 11th defeat -- the 10th came against Atletico Madrid last weekend, Barca's first in La Liga this season. |
3myyfcxhj37bfevovn6omlib8c84g7 | (CNN) -- By all accounts, it was a storybook wedding.
Eighty of the bride and groom's closest friends and family watched as the beaming couple exchanged rings under a bridge on New York City's shoreline in Astoria Park.
Except these weren't your run-of-the-mill fairytale nuptials. In Joanna Scutts' storybook, the bride dazzled her husband-to-be in a gold-sequined, boatneck sheath on their wedding day.
"I knew I didn't want a white dress, as it was really important to me to feel like myself at the wedding -- and I never wear white," she said. "I'm a pale-skinned redhead, and any shade of white makes me look dead."
Scutts is one of many brides choosing to walk down the aisle in a nontraditional colorful dress.
In this week's People Magazine, Jessica Biel reveals the custom pink Giambattista Valli Haute Couture gown that she wore when she tied the knot with Justin Timberlake in southern Italy on October 19.
Biel certainly isn't the first celebrity to color outside the bridal lines: Reese Witherspoon graced the cover of People Magazine in April 2011 wearing a blush Monique Lhuillier gown for her second marriage; Sarah Jessica Parker famously wore black on her wedding day with Matthew Broderick; and Sofia Coppola married Thomas Mars in August 2011 in a violet Azzedine Alaïa dress.
"Brides today want their wedding to be a reflection of their personality -- they're no longer embracing tradition for tradition's sake," said Nicole Sewall, the managing director of BHLDN, Anthropologie's bridal and special occasion brand. "We've seen a lot of brides throw the wedding rules, as we know them, out." |
3hmvi3qicjsu96j52b9svnic1wpy13 | A little boy named Justin lived on a farm. His father James owned the farm. His uncles Jerry, Todd, and Billy also worked on the farm.
The farm had chickens, cows, horses, sheep, and pigs. He loved to play with all of the animals on the farm, but the horses were his favorite. He would spend all day riding the horses. He loved when baby horses were born. They were born in the spring. When a baby horse was born, Justin's father would bring the baby out of the barn for Justin to pet.
Justin also loved playing in the fields on the farm. He would run through the meadows trying to catch butterflies. He also loved to stay up late and catch fireflies in the dark.
Justin also loved going fishing in the summer. On one Tuesday evening, he went to the farm's pond and caught a huge catfish. The fish was so large that it almost broke his fishing pole. Justin brought the fish in.
The fish looked at Justin with sad eyes. Looking at the fish, Justin felt bad that he had caught it. He threw the catfish back into the pond. He packed away his fishing pole and went back home. He told his father about the catfish and how he let it go.
His father said, "I am proud of you for doing that, son." |
3qbd8r3z21jz7rcmj6jwrurdzxa4o3 | Sudha Chandran, a famous dancer from India, had to have her right leg cut after a car accident. She was also cut off on her career road. Though the accident brought her bright career to a stop, she didn't give up. In the painful months that followed, Sudha met a doctor who developed a man-made leg for her. So strongly, she wanted to go back to dancing. Sudha believed in herself and she thought she could realize her dream. After every public recital , she would ask her dad about her performance. "You still have a long way to go" was the answer she used to get in return. In January 1984, Sudha made a historic comeback by giving a public recital in Bombay. She performed in such a great manner that it moved everyone to tears. That evening when she asked her dad the usual question, he didn't say anything. He just touched her feet as a praise. Sudha's comeback was so moving that a film producer decided to make the story into a hit film. When someone asked Sudha how she had managed to dance again, she said quite simply, "YOU DON'T NEED FEET TO DANCE." Nothing is impossible in this world. If you have the will to win, you can achieve anything. |
3d4ch1lgeatcck10ci2f3ttrva49g3 | Dogs have an amazing ability to do whatever needs to be done, and will still wag their tails afterward.The following are some wonderful dog stories to share. Teka Not too many people know what to do when someone has a heart attack other than call 911.But Teka, an Australian Cattle Dog, skipped the phone call when her owner suffered a severe heart attack.Not only did she bark in his face to bring him back to consciousness and run outside barking to attract attention, but she climbed on his chest and jumped up and down. When medics arrived, they couldn't say whether or not Teka's unusual version of CPR had any effect, but her owner feels grateful to her.And her efforts didn't go unnoticed: Teka was given a Purple Cross medal for bravery by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Zoey Size is no barrier to a dog determined to protect her family and Zoey, a 5-pound chihuahua puppy from Colorado, is living proof. She made headlines in 2007 after saving a one-year-old from the bite of a large rattlesnake. Zoey, who weighed only five pounds, was just 10 months old at the time, but she rose to the occasion when needed.One-year-old Booker West was playing in his grandparent's backyard when a rattlesnake struck at him! Zoey sprang into action, putting herself between the snake and the kid.She got several snakebites and was rushed to an animal hospital.Her head swelled and she almost lost an eye, but with proper treatment, Zoey made a full recovery. Hachiko Hachiko, an Akita, was brought to Tokyo in 1924 by Ueno, a college professor. Every day Hachiko waited for him to return from work, meeting him at the train station at four. The following year, Ueno suffered a stroke at work and died.Unaware of his death, the dog still returned to the train station every day to await his owner.He became such a familiar presence there, in fact, that the station master set out food for the dog and gave him a bed in the station.Even so, every day at four, he hopefully waited by the tracks as the train pulled in, searching through the crowd for his master.Every day.For ten years. Upon his death in 1935, Hachiko was a national celebrity and a bronze statue of him was installed at Shibuya Station as a tribute. Stubby In 1917 Stubby was adopted by a soldier, who trained him to drill and salute. His owner developed such a strong connection with him that when he was sent to war in Europe, he took Stubby along, hiding him on the ship bound for France. Stubby proved a war star.He served 18 months in the front lines and took part in seventeen battles.He kept watch, warned the soldiers of surprise attacks, and saved the wounded in no man's land.He once found a German spy and held him by the seat of the pants until American soldiers arrived. Stubby was eventually a highly decorated dog, winning various medals and awards. A group of French women made Stubby a blanket decorated with allied flags to display his medals. Want to read more about dogs? Click here for more amazing dog stories. |
37q970snze8xdk7w35h3d1ublgks1l | CHAPTER VII. NAUGHTY NAN
"Fritz, I've got a new idea," cried Mrs. Bhaer, as she met her husband one day after school.
"Well, my dear, what is it?" and he waited willingly to hear the new plan, for some of Mrs. Jo's ideas were so droll, it was impossible to help laughing at them, though usually they were quite sensible, and he was glad to carry them out.
"Daisy needs a companion, and the boys would be all the better for another girl among them; you know we believe in bringing up little men and women together, and it is high time we acted up to our belief. They pet and tyrannize over Daisy by turns, and she is getting spoilt. Then they must learn gentle ways, and improve their manners, and having girls about will do it better than any thing else."
"You are right, as usual. Now, who shall we have?" asked Mr. Bhaer, seeing by the look in her eye that Mrs. Jo had some one all ready to propose.
"Little Annie Harding."
"What! Naughty Nan, as the lads call her?" cried Mr. Bhaer, looking very much amused.
"Yes, she is running wild at home since her mother died, and is too bright a child to be spoilt by servants. I have had my eye on her for some time, and when I met her father in town the other day I asked him why he did not send her to school. He said he would gladly if he could find as good a school for girls as ours was for boys. I know he would rejoice to have her come; so suppose we drive over this afternoon and see about it." |
3wmoan2srbxgjjvp2nk6lvrlniunvy | (EW.com) -- Carrie Underwood blew away the competition on the Billboard 200 this week, scoring her third straight number one album with her fourth release, "Blown Away," and moving 267,000 copies.
Other Top 10 newcomers included Norah Jones, with her Danger Mouse-produced "Little Broken Hearts," B.O.B., Marilyn Manson, and the first-ever soundtrack from NBC's "Smash."
Check out the full Top 10 below:
1. Carrie Underwood, "Blown Away" -- 267,000
This is Underwood's third straight number one after 2009′s "Play On," which debuted with 318,000, and 2007′s "Carnival Ride," which started with 527,000. Underwood's 2005 debut "Some Hearts" is her only album to not reach the summit of the chart — it debuted at No. 2 with 315,000 (behind Madonna's "Confessions on a Dance Floor") and eventually sold 7.2 million copies. Her current single "Good Girl" has climbed up to No. 8 on the country songs chart, and follow-up "Blown Away," which she performed on the Idol stage last week, kicks off its run at No. 22 on the Hot Digital Songs chart.
2. Norah Jones, "Little Broken Hearts" -- 110,000
Norah Jones could have stayed the course and made lovely, jazz-tinged, perhaps slightly snoozy records and gone platinum for the rest of her career (her Grammy-winning debut "Come Away With Me" sold over 10 million copies, and her three subsequent records have all reached platinum status), but the chanteuse took a risk with her darker, Danger Mouse-produced fifth album. As such, "Little Broken Hearts" opened to Jones' lowest sales ever — but somehow, we doubt she's too worried about it. |
32xvdsjfpzx14acn2clv6b5alsrm2l | Jamie Oliver has been invited by Gordon Brown to prepare a banquet at No.10 for President Barack Obama and other leaders of the G20, offering a cut-price menu to reflect times when trade and industry are far from prosperous and the rate of employment is decreasing.
Downing Street sources say Oliver, the well-known chef, will cook using "honest high-street products" and avoid expensive or "fancy" ingredients.
The prime minister is trying to avoid a repeat of the embarrassment last year when he sat down to an 18-course banquet at a Japanese summit to discuss world food shortages.
Obama, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and other leaders will be served by apprentices from Fifteen, the London restaurant Oliver founded to help train young people in poverty in order to make a living by mastering a skill.
Brown wants the dinner to reflect the emphasis of the London summit, which he hopes will lead to an agreement to lift the world out of recession."To be invited to cook for such an important group of people, who are trying to solve some of the world's major problems, is really a privilege," said Oliver.
"I'm hoping the menu I'm working on will show British food and produce is some of the best in the world, but also show we have pioneered a high-quality apprentice scheme at Fifteen London that is giving young people a skill to be proud of."
The chef has not yet finalized me menu, but is expected to draw inspiration from his latest book, Jamie's Ministry of Food, which has budget recipes for beef and ale stew and "impressive" chocolate fudge cake. (
) |
3lq8puhqflsjnhpe0iqa1m4vt8vhi0 | Java (Indonesian: Jawa; Javanese: ꦗꦮ; Sundanese: ) is an island of Indonesia. With a population of over 141 million (the island itself) or 145 million (the administrative region), Java is home to 56.7 percent of the Indonesian population and is the most populous island on Earth. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is located on western Java. Much of Indonesian history took place on Java. It was the center of powerful Hindu-Buddhist empires, the Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies. Java was also the center of the Indonesian struggle for independence during the 1930s and 1940s. Java dominates Indonesia politically, economically and culturally.The UNESCO world heritage site, Ujung Kulon, is located on the westernmost tip (West Java).
Formed mostly as the result of volcanic eruptions, Java is the 13th largest island in the world and the fifth largest in Indonesia by landmass. A chain of volcanic mountains forms an east–west spine along the island. Three main languages are spoken on the island: Javanese, Sundanese, and Madurese. Of these, Javanese is the dominant; it is the native language of about 60 million people in Indonesia, most of whom live on Java. Furthermore, most residents are bilingual, speaking Indonesian (the official language of Indonesia) as their first or second language. While the majority of the people of Java are Muslim, Java's population is a diverse mixture of religious beliefs, ethnicities, and cultures. |
3b837j3ldowl6p6d1zwijscop8rrsh | Millions of citizens throughout the central US are jumping into pools, sitting in the shade, and turning on their air conditioners as they try to beat the heat.With record-breaking temperatures and unbearable humidity attacking the central US.17 states from Texas to Michigan have all received heat advisories and warnings.
"Even with the air conditioning on, it's 82 degrees Fahrenheit in the house," said North Dakotan Betty Smokov.'The heat is really unpleasant and sticky.'"I According to the National Weather Service, the heat is not likely to ease up soon.
In Western Oklahoma, the heat is even worse.There, temperatures have frequently climbed to above 110 degrees over the past several weeks." _ " said Daryl Williams, a weather forecaster in Norman, Oklahoma.On Saturday night, the asphalt at a busy road in Enid, Oklahoma, crumbled due to the extreme heat.
Across the area, citizens are keeping cool in many different ways.Cities like Chicago and Detroit are providing relief for their citizens by opening cooling centers for those without air conditioning in their homes.Others are heading to the water to cool down.But in some cases, the water itself needs cooling.Dwight Anderson, an amusement park owner in Omaha, Nebraska, had to put two tons of ice cubes into his park's swimming pools to lower the water's temperature from 88 degrees to 82 degrees.
But not everyone is complaining about the heat.Sixty-five-year-old Detroit citizen Marcellus Washington enjoyed the weather as he walked along the Detroit River to stay cool."What a wonderful weather! It's a very pleasant day, " he said. |
3c8hj7uop7uralfzrju9tmfh67fzm7 | CHAPTER XXXV.
THE HULL OF THE URSULA.
Ten days had passed, and Mark and Annaple were thinking that they ought to return to ordinary life, and leave the bereaved ones to endeavour to construct their life afresh under the dreadful wearing uncertainty of their darling's fate. Still they were detained by urgent entreaties from father and daughter, who both dreaded their departure as additional desolation, and as closing the door of hope. And certainly, even this rest was good for Annaple; and her baby, for whom nurse had discovered a better system, had really not cried more for a whole day than 'befitted a rational child,' said the mother, as she walked back to Springfield with her husband in the summer night, after dinner, on the day that Broadbent's negotiations had failed.
'Nurse will break her heart at parting with her,' said Mark. 'I wish we could afford to have her.'
'Afford, indeed! Her wages are about a quarter of your salary, sir! And after all, 'tis not the nurse that guards the child, as we have seen only too plainly.'
'Do you think he is alive, Nan?'
'I begin to think not. He is not so young but that he could make himself known, and those advertisements are so widely spread. I am sure poor Nuttie would be more at rest if she could give up hope.'
'I did not tell you before, Nan, but Dutton was going to-day to look at a poor little unclaimed child's body that had been found in the Thames. He knew him better than I, so he went.' |
345lhzdedxs920dffeqmgvrw4yc3uz | CHAPTER IX--SMELLING DEATH
Adam Salton, though he talked little, did not let the grass grow under his feet in any matter which he had undertaken, or in which he was interested. He had agreed with Sir Nathaniel that they should not do anything with regard to the mystery of Lady Arabella's fear of the mongoose, but he steadily pursued his course in being _prepared_ to act whenever the opportunity might come. He was in his own mind perpetually casting about for information or clues which might lead to possible lines of action. Baffled by the killing of the mongoose, he looked around for another line to follow. He was fascinated by the idea of there being a mysterious link between the woman and the animal, but he was already preparing a second string to his bow. His new idea was to use the faculties of Oolanga, so far as he could, in the service of discovery. His first move was to send Davenport to Liverpool to try to find the steward of the _West African_, who had told him about Oolanga, and if possible secure any further information, and then try to induce (by bribery or other means) the nigger to come to the Brow. So soon as he himself could have speech of the Voodoo-man he would be able to learn from him something useful. Davenport was successful in his missions, for he had to get another mongoose, and he was able to tell Adam that he had seen the steward, who told him much that he wanted to know, and had also arranged for Oolanga to come to Lesser Hill the following day. At this point Adam saw his way sufficiently clear to admit Davenport to some extent into his confidence. He had come to the conclusion that it would be better--certainly at first--not himself to appear in the matter, with which Davenport was fully competent to deal. It would be time for himself to take a personal part when matters had advanced a little further. |
3wrfbplxraow7at6ide020z2wud3nl | Celebrities have become a powerful influence on some people because of their social position and their economic situation. First, some people admire and imitate stars because they allow themselves to be influenced by the media. Television, radio, and magazines invade the lives of audience with a variety of shows, information, and publications about stars and their lives. For instance, Britney Spears has become the target of paparazzi . In May, Britney appeared at the front page of the most popular magazines revealing that she married her best friend in Vegas, Nevada. Media also invade stars' lives because reporters know they can get high profits from readers who buy and follow their favorite artists' news. Second, some mad audiences imitate their celebrities for their lack of confidence. Some people who are shy and lack personality may find that imitating others will cause a good impression. For example, my cousin Jenny, who lacks a social life because of her introverted personality, believes that acting and dressing like Jennifer Lopez will make her popular in high school. Finally, several fans of stars imitate them because of peer pressure. Since my niece's girl friends formed an Antonio Banderas' fan club, she had also joined the group. Although she wasn't a huge fan of his, now she collects most of Banderas' possessions. In fact, when I asked Arianna, my niece, why she was part of Banderas' fan club, she replied with a doubtful tone that she did not wish to be rejected by the other teens. In conclusion, it is true that celebrities play spectacular roles in their performances in Hollywood, which entertains many people all over the world; however, modern celebrities influence the audience to the point where their fans admire and try to imitate their lives. |
3ffj6vril1o8chji2ajpvu5e7pd0ix | White is the lightest (brightest) color; it is the color of objects that reflect and scatter all visible wavelengths of light without absorbing any, so it imparts no hue to the light, meaning it is achromatic like black (it's opposite) and the grays. It is the color of chalk and many bleached materials such as paper when they do not have added colorant.
According to surveys in Europe and the United States, white is the color most often associated with perfection, the good, honesty, cleanliness, the beginning, the new, neutrality, and exactitude. White is an important color for almost all world religions. The Pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, has worn white since 1566, as a symbol of purity and sacrifice. In Islam, and in the Shinto religion of Japan, it is worn by pilgrims; and by the Brahmins in India. In Western cultures and in Japan, white is the most common color for wedding dresses, symbolizing purity and virginity. In many Asian cultures, white is also the color of mourning.
In ancient Egypt and ancient Rome, priestesses wore white as a symbol of purity, and Romans wore a white toga as a symbol of citizenship. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance a white unicorn symbolized chastity, and a white lamb sacrifice and purity. It was the royal color of the Kings of France, and of the monarchist movement that opposed the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War (1917–1922). Greek and Roman temples were faced with white marble, and beginning in the 18th century, with the advent of neoclassical architecture, white became the most common color of new churches, capitols and other government buildings, especially in the United States. It was also widely used in 20th century modern architecture as a symbol of modernity and simplicity. |
31jlpphs2uuepvtijsedhpz7m4j3o1 | In a generous display of maturity and sympathy, one Jewish boy made his first deed as a man in his faith a great act of charity. Joshua Neidorf, a 13-year-old boy from Los Angeles, donated most of his birthday money to Operation Mend, a program that reconstructs the faces of severely burned U. S. veterans . The young man decided to donate his money after getting to know Army Sgt. Louis Dahlman, who was undergoing a series of reconstruction surgeries at UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) thanks to Operation Mend. The Neidorfs had signed up to be Dahlman's "buddy family", spending time with him whenever he visited Los Angeles for a surgery. "I just love knowing that it's going somewhere...to help the people who save our lives and keep us safe every day," said Neidorf. His mother added, "It makes me feel like our world is going in a good direction with this next generation." In all, Neidorf gave $13,000 to Operation Mend. He also encouraged his friends to donate to the cause. He is the organization's youngest donor so far. Operation Mend is a privately funded program that works in partnership with the UCLA Medical Center. Ron Katz, a board member at the hospital, started the program in 2006 after seeing a TV programme about Aaron Mankin, a veteran who had gone through dozens of surgeries after a fight in Iraq which completely burned off his face. Mankin ended up being Operation Mend's first patient, starting the first of 20 reconstructive facial surgeries at UCLA in Sept. 2007. In a 2011 interview, Katz shared how his experience of helping Mankin made him realize the need to establish a more permanent program. "My wife and I soon realized that there were dozens of Aarons out there," Katz said. "They deserve the best that we offer them." |
352ythgrovdpfaqzfto67lucoox4h7 | Manganese is a chemical element with symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is not found as a free element in nature; it is often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a metal with important industrial metal alloy uses, particularly in stainless steels.
Historically, manganese is named for pyrolusite and other black minerals from the region of Magnesia in Greece, which also gave its name to magnesium and the iron ore magnetite. By the mid-18th century, Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele had used pyrolusite to produce chlorine. Scheele and others were aware that pyrolusite (now known to be manganese dioxide) contained a new element, but they were unable to isolate it. Johan Gottlieb Gahn was the first to isolate an impure sample of manganese metal in 1774, which he did by reducing the dioxide with carbon.
Manganese phosphating is used for rust and corrosion prevention on steel. Ionized manganese is used industrially as pigments of various colors, which depend on the oxidation state of the ions. The permanganates of alkali and alkaline earth metals are powerful oxidizers. Manganese dioxide is used as the cathode (electron acceptor) material in zinc-carbon and alkaline batteries.
In biology, manganese(II) ions function as cofactors for a large variety of enzymes with many functions. Manganese enzymes are particularly essential in detoxification of superoxide free radicals in organisms that must deal with elemental oxygen. Manganese also functions in the oxygen-evolving complex of photosynthetic plants. While the element is a required trace mineral for all known living organisms, it also acts as a neurotoxin in larger amounts. Especially through inhalation, it can cause manganism, a condition in mammals leading to neurological damage that is sometimes irreversible. |
3peijlry6ttya29yu3cb5z1xw5axw6 | New York (CNN) -- A 35-year-old woman on a first date plummeted to her death early Thursday morning when she fell from the balcony of her 17th floor New York City apartment.
Jennifer Rosoff went outside on her balcony around 12:50 a.m. Thursday to talk and smoke a cigarette with her date when the balcony's railing broke, according to police.
It's unclear whether Rosoff leaned on the balcony, causing it to give way.
She landed on a second-story construction scaffolding of the building and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Rosoff's employer, online advertising startup TripleLift, released a statement expressing sorrow at the news of her death.
"We are all deeply saddened by the sudden and tragic loss of our dear friend and co-worker," the statement said. "Her tremendous energy and humor brought so much joy to the office."
Richard Dansereau, managing director of Stonehenge Management LLC, the company that manages the building, also released a statement.
"This is a tragedy, and our sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of Ms. Rosoff," he said. "We are cooperating fully with the investigation into the cause of this terrible accident."
A statement provided to CNN from the New York City Department of Buildings said the agency is investigating and issued a vacate order for all balconies in the building as a precaution.
According to her Linkedin profile, Rosoff worked as director of sales at TripleLift for the past five months and had previously held positions at The New Yorker, Conde Nast and Cosmopolitan magazine. |
3ojsz2atdswai4ongpl4l0bwahc75t | Open-source software (OSS) is computer software with its source code made available with a license in which the copyright holder provides the rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose. Open-source software may be developed in a collaborative public manner. According to scientists who studied it, open-source software is a prominent example of open collaboration. The term is often written without a hyphen as "open source software".
Open-source software development, or collaborative development from multiple independent sources, generates an increasingly more diverse scope of design perspective than any one company is capable of developing and sustaining long term. A 2008 report by the Standish Group states that adoption of open-source software models has resulted in savings of about $60 billion (£48 billion) per year to consumers.
In the early days of computing, programmers and developers shared software in order to learn from each other and evolve the field of computing. Eventually the open source notion moved to the way side of commercialization of software in the years 1970-1980. In 1997, Eric Raymond published "The Cathedral and the Bazaar", a reflective analysis of the hacker community and free software principles. The paper received significant attention in early 1998, and was one factor in motivating Netscape Communications Corporation to release their popular Netscape Communicator Internet suite as free software. This source code subsequently became the basis behind SeaMonkey, Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird and KompoZer. |
3p4mq7tppxcz9w8mugoxtoxk348bb5 | CHAPTER III
On the third day after Nina's visit to her aunt, Ziska Zamenoy came across to the Kleinseite on a visit to old Balatka. In the mean time Nina had told the story of her love to her father, and the effect on Balatka had simply been that he had not got out of his bed since. For himself he would have cared, perhaps, but little as to the Jewish marriage, had he not known that those belonging to him would have cared so much. He had no strong religious prejudice of his own, nor indeed had he strong feeling of any kind. He loved his daughter, and wished her well; but even for her he had been unable to exert himself in his younger days, and now simply expected from her hands all the comfort which remained to him in this world. The priest he knew would attack him, and to the priest he would be able to make no answer. But to Trendellsohn, Jew as he was, he would trust in worldly matters, rather than to the Zamenoys; and were it not that he feared the Zamenoys, and could not escape from his close connection with them, he would have been half inclined to let the girl marry the Jew. Souchey, indeed, had frightened him on the subject when it had first been mentioned to him; and Nina, coming with her own assurance so quickly after Souchey's suspicion, had upset him; but his feeling in regard to Nina had none of that bitter anger, no touch of that abhorrence which animated the breast of his sister-in-law. When Ziska came to him he was alone in his bedroom. Ziska had heard the news, as had all the household in the Windberg-gasse, and had come over to his uncle's house to see what he could do, by his own diplomacy, to put an end to an engagement which was to him doubly calamitous. "Uncle Josef," he said, sitting by the old man's bed, "have you heard what Nina is doing?" |
3lrliptpeq9vjp7ouf1uxgw48cgak5 | Washington (CNN) -- There are political upstarts, rebels with and without a cause, and then there's Ted Cruz.
The first-term Republican senator from Texas has achieved the rare notoriety of having almost everyone in Washington mad at him, at least for now.
His legislative maneuverings led to last year's 16-day government shutdown, and he almost single-handedly scuttled this week's congressional approval of a year-long debt ceiling extension that denies fiscal conservatives a key negotiating tool until after the November elections.
Democrats dislike Cruz for his right-wing social and economic policies such as vehement opposition to gay marriage and President Barack Obama's signature health care reforms.
Cruz's Republican colleagues, especially those in the Senate, are angry because he forces them to choose between conservative purity and political pragmatism, a particularly tough spot in an election year.
To Cruz, a tea-party favorite who arrived in Washington just over a year ago, it's all about telling the truth -- as he sees it.
Election-year logic explains GOP dysfunction
Cruz: Politicians are lying to the people
Washington politicians -- including fellow Republicans -- don't want to be honest with America about their unwillingness to tackle tough issues like the rising federal debt, Cruz said Thursday in an interview with conservative talk radio host Mark Levin.
"People don't like to be lied to," he said to explain historically low approval ratings for Congress, adding that forcing Republican politicians to tell the truth "makes their head explode."
Others, including fellow legislators, say Cruz puts his personal agenda of galvanizing a right-wing political movement ahead of what's best for his party as a whole as it tries to reclaim control of the Senate and retain its House majority in November. |
326o153bmiyqvwiqi3htpmr59liedy | CHAPTER XV
BEAUTY IN DISGUISE
Winter passed very monotonously with us in the sod-house at Crane Valley. When the season's work is over and the prairie bound fast by iron frost, the man whom it has prospered spends his well-earned leisure visiting his neighbors or lounging contentedly beside the stove; but those oppressed by anxieties find the compulsory idleness irksome, and I counted the days until we could commence again in the spring. The goodwill of my neighbors made this possible, for one promised seed-wheat, to be paid for when harvest was gathered in; another placed surplus stock under my charge on an agreement to share the resultant profit, while Haldane sent a large draft of young horses and cattle he had hardly hands enough to care for, under a similar arrangement.
I accepted these offers the more readily because, while prompted by kindness, the advantages were tolerably equal to all concerned. So the future looked slightly brighter, and I hoped that better times would come, if we could hold out sufficiently long. The debt I still owed Lane, however, hung as a menace over me, while although--doubtless because it suited him--he did not press me for payment, the extortionate interest was adding to it constantly. Some of my neighbors were in similar circumstances, and at times we conferred together as to the best means of mutual protection.
In the meantime the fire at Gaspard's Trail was almost forgotten--or so, at least, it seemed. Haldane, much against his wishes, spent most of the winter at Bonaventure; but his elder daughter remained in Montreal. Boone, the photographer, appeared but once, and spent the night with us. He looked less like the average Englishman than ever, for frost and snow-blink had darkened his skin to an Indian's color, and when supper was over I watched him languidly as we lounged smoking about the stove. Sally Steel had managed to render the sod-house not only habitable but comfortable in a homely way, and though she ruled us all in a somewhat tyrannical fashion, she said it was for our good. |
30jnvc0or9kw4fdxdqvjaovhkihhq8 | Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a sovereign country in Central Europe. It is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, covering an area of with a mostly temperate climate. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the sixth most populous member state of the European Union. Poland's capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other cities include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin.
The establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a longstanding political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest (about 1 million km²) and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe with a uniquely liberal political system which declared Europe's first constitution.
Following the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, Poland regained its independence in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed by the Soviet Union invading Poland in accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. More than six million of Poland's citizens died in the war. After World War II, the Polish People's Republic was established as a satellite state under Soviet influence. In the aftermath of the Revolutions of 1989, most notably through the emergence of the Solidarity movement, Poland established itself as a democratic republic. |
3lozaj85yddcymbrgjn4hsl8ssd2xf | Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group claims a worldwide membership of more than 8.2 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance figures of more than 15 million, and an annual Memorial attendance of more than 19.9 million. Jehovah's Witnesses are directed by the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, a group of elders in Brooklyn, New York, which establishes all doctrines based on its interpretations of the Bible. They prefer to use their own translation, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, although their literature occasionally quotes and cites other translations. They believe that the destruction of the present world system at Armageddon is imminent, and that the establishment of God's kingdom over the earth is the only solution for all problems faced by humanity.
Jehovah's Witnesses are best known for their door-to-door preaching, distributing literature such as The Watchtower and Awake!, and refusing military service and blood transfusions. They consider use of the name Jehovah vital for proper worship. They reject Trinitarianism, inherent immortality of the soul, and hellfire, which they consider to be unscriptural doctrines. They do not observe Christmas, Easter, birthdays or other holidays and customs they consider to have pagan origins incompatible with Christianity. Adherents commonly refer to their body of beliefs as "the truth" and consider themselves to be "in the truth". They consider secular society to be morally corrupt and under the influence of Satan, and most limit their social interaction with non-Witnesses. Congregational disciplinary actions include disfellowshipping, their term for formal expulsion and shunning. Baptized individuals who formally leave are considered disassociated and are also shunned. Disfellowshipped and disassociated individuals may eventually be reinstated if deemed repentant. |
3lya37p8iqn02zcg0t1qsrgaq00kbl | Istanbul (CNN) -- One of the world's most powerful Muslim preachers lives behind a gated compound in the small, leafy town of Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.
The reclusive Turkish cleric's name is Fethullah Gulen.
If you believe the Turkish government, supporters of this cleric in Pennsylvania are spearheading a coup attempt in Turkey that is destabilizing one of America's most important allies in the Middle East.
In recent weeks, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a religious conservative, has compared Gulen and his supporters to a virus and a medieval cult of assassins.
Meanwhile, in an interview with CNN, a top official from Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, called the Gulen movement a "fifth column" that had infiltrated the Turkish police force and judiciary.
"We are confronted by a structure that doesn't take orders from within the chain of command of the state," parliament member and deputy AKP chairman Mahir Unal told CNN. "Rather, it takes orders from outside the state."
Who is this mysterious man in Pennsylvania?
The 72-year old imam went into self-imposed exile when he moved from Turkey to the United States in 1999.
He rarely speaks to journalists and has turned down interview requests from CNN for more than two years. But in a rare e-mail interview published in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Gulen denied any involvement in a political conspiracy.
"We will never be a part of any plot against those who are governing our country," he wrote, according to The Wall Street Journal. |
3a4tn5196kisae3e88uoqj60frwhcu | CHAPTER XXXVI
Selingman had scarcely left the place when Ernshaw arrived, piloted into the room by Aaron, who had been waiting for him below. Maraton and he gripped hands heartily. During the first few days of the campaign they had been constant companions.
"At least," he declared, as he looked into Maraton's face, "whatever the world may think of the justice of their cause, no one will ever any longer deny the might of the people."
"None but fools ever did deny it," Maraton answered.
"How are they in the north?" Ernshaw asked.
"United and confident," Maraton assured him. "Up there I don't think they realise the position so much as here. In Nottingham and Leicester, people are leading their usual daily lives. It was only as we neared London that one began to understand."
"London is paralysed with fear," Ernshaw asserted, "perhaps with reason. The Government are working the telephones and telegraph to a very small extent. The army engineers are doing the best they can with the East Coast railways."
"What about Dale and his friends?"
Ernshaw's dark, sallow face was lit with triumph.
"They are flustered to death like a lot of rabbits in the middle of a cornfield, with the reapers at work'!" he exclaimed. "Heckled and terrified to' death! Cecil was at them the other night. 'Are you not,' he cried, 'the representatives of the people?' Wilmott was in the House--one of us--treasurer for the Amalgamated Society, and while Dale was hesitating, he sprang up. 'Before God, no!' he answered. 'There isn't a Labour Member in this House who stands for more than the constituency he represents, or is here for more than the salary he draws. The cause of the people is in safer hands.' Then they called for you. There have been questions about your whereabouts every day. They wanted to impeach you for high treason. Through all the storm, Foley is the only man who has kept quiet. He sent for me. I referred him to you." |
3j88r45b2gy8qtcxihygd5t13atpxt | Kazakhstan (, ; , "Qazaqstan", ; , "Kazakhstan"), officially the Republic of Kazakhstan (, "Qazaqstan Respwblïkası"; , "Respublika Kazakhstan"), is the world's largest landlocked country, and the ninth largest in the world, with an area of . Kazakhstan is the dominant nation of Central Asia economically, generating 60% of the region's GDP, primarily through its oil/gas industry. It also has vast mineral resources.
Kazakhstan is officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. Kazakhstan shares borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, and also adjoins a large part of the Caspian Sea. The terrain of Kazakhstan includes flatlands, steppe, taiga, rock canyons, hills, deltas, snow-capped mountains, and deserts. Kazakhstan has an estimated 18 million people . Given its large land area, its population density is among the lowest, at less than 6 people per square kilometre (15 people per sq. mi.). The capital is Astana, where it was moved in 1997 from Almaty, the country's largest city.
The territory of Kazakhstan has historically been inhabited by Turkic nomads who trace their ancestry to many Turkic states such as Turkic Khaganate and etc. In the 13th century, the territory joined the Mongolian Empire under Genghis Khan. By the 16th century, the Kazakh emerged as a distinct group, divided into three "jüz" (ancestor branches occupying specific territories). The Russians began advancing into the Kazakh steppe in the 18th century, and by the mid-19th century, they nominally ruled all of Kazakhstan as part of the Russian Empire. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, and subsequent civil war, the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganised several times. In 1936, it was made the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union. |
3ranct1zvfhe5vhsu75syep8sszubv | CHAPTER XV. SAFE-CONDUCT
Across the body of that convulsively sobbing woman, the mother of one and the mistress of the other, the eyes of those mortal enemies met, invested with a startled, appalled interest that admitted of no words.
Beyond the table, as if turned to stone by this culminating horror of revelation, stood Aline.
M. de La Tour d'Azyr was the first to stir. Into his bewildered mind came the memory of something that Mme. de Plougastel had said of a letter that was on the table. He came forward, unhindered. The announcement made, Mme. de Plougastel no longer feared the sequel, and so she let him go. He walked unsteadily past this new-found son of his, and took up the sheet that lay beside the candlebranch. A long moment he stood reading it, none heeding him. Aline's eyes were all on Andre-Louis, full of wonder and commiseration, whilst Andre-Louis was staring down, in stupefied fascination, at his mother.
M. de La Tour d'Azyr read the letter slowly through. Then very quietly he replaced it. His next concern, being the product of an artificial age sternly schooled in the suppression of emotion, was to compose himself. Then he stepped back to Mme. de Plougastel's side and stooped to raise her.
"Therese," he said.
Obeying, by instinct, the implied command, she made an effort to rise and to control herself in her turn. The Marquis half conducted, half carried her to the armchair by the table.
Andre-Louis looked on. Still numbed and bewildered, he made no attempt to assist. He saw as in a dream the Marquis bending over Mme. de Plougastel. As in a dream he heard him ask: |
3qrymnz7fyh16rr0xskrkd30qtqtns | Matt Haimovitz is 42 and a renowned cellist in the world. He rushed into the classical music scene at the age of 12 after Itzhak Perlman, the famed violinist, heard him play. But nothing in his family history explains where Haimovitz got his extraordinary talent. And that's typical, Ellen Winner, a professor says. "People are fascinated by these children because they don't understand where their talent came from. You will see parents who say, 'I wasn't like this, and my husband wasn't like this.' It seems to sometimes just come out of the blue," Winner says. It's not clear whether a prodigy's brain is any different from the brains of other children, in part because there have been no study comparing the brains of prodigies to those of average people. "But I believe that anything that shows up so early, without training, has got to be either a genetic or some other biological basis," Winner says. "If a child suddenly at the age of 3 goes to the piano and picks out a tune and does it beautifully, that has to be because that child has a different brain." Children who are extremely gifted tend to be socially different, too, Winner says. "They feel like they can't find other kids like themselves, so they feel strange, maybe even like a freak, and feel like they don't have anybody to connect with. On the other hand, they also long to connect with other kids, and they can't find other kids like themselves." As Haimovitz got older, he became frustrated. He wanted to play other kinds of music but felt constricted by the image and the expectations of the boy prodigy who played classical music and filled concert halls. "When you start that early, you suddenly start to grow up in public, and I wanted to experiment," Haimovitz says. So he took his cello into punk rock clubs and coffee houses. He played Bach, Haydn and Hendrix. "My teacher was Leonard Rose, and we never played any 20th-century music. He didn't like it. But once I was exposed to James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix, Miles Dewey Davis El and others, I couldn't really turn back. I wanted to know more," he says. |
352ythgrovdpfaqzfto67lucoq2h4t | South America is a continent located in the western hemisphere, mostly in the southern hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the northern hemisphere. It may also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas, which is the model used in nations that speak Romance languages. The reference to South America instead of other regions (like Latin America or the Southern Cone) has increased in the last decades due to changing geopolitical dynamics (in particular, the rise of Brazil).
It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean; North America and the Caribbean Sea lie to the northwest. It includes twelve sovereign states (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela), a part of France (French Guiana), and a non-sovereign area (the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory though this is disputed by Argentina). In addition to this, the ABC islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, and Panama may also be considered part of South America.
South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers (6,890,000 sq mi). Its population has been estimated at more than floor(/1e6) million. South America ranks fourth in area (after Asia, Africa, and North America) and fifth in population (after Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America). Brazil is by far the most populous South American country, with more than half of the continent's population, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela and Peru. In recent decades Brazil has also concentrated half of the region's GDP and has become a first regional power. |
3wr9xg3t63bsmlkn2k2ug85i99547k | Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955. He grew up in Seattle, Washington. He was a very clever boy. His favorite subjects at school were science and math. When he was 13, he started to play with computers. At that time, computers were large machines. Once he was very interested in a very old computer. He and some of his friends spent lots of time doing unusual things with it. In the end, they worked out a software program with the old machine. Bill sold it for $4,200 when he was only 17. In 1973, Bill went to Harvard University . In his third school year, he left Harvard to work for a company called Microsoft. Bill began his company in 1975 with his friend Paul Allen. They thought the computer would come into every office and every home soon. So they began developing the software forpersonalcomputers. They improved the software to make it easier for people to use computers. |
3kopy89hm820ok2l3fm89tiln71j3k | Outside of the Low Countries, it is the native language of the majority of the population of Suriname, and also holds official status in the Caribbean island nations of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. Historical minorities on the verge of extinction remain in parts of France and Germany, and in Indonesia,[n 1] while up to half a million native speakers may reside in the United States, Canada and Australia combined.[n 2] The Cape Dutch dialects of Southern Africa have evolved into Afrikaans, a mutually intelligible daughter language[n 3] which is spoken to some degree by at least 16 million people, mainly in South Africa and Namibia.[n 4]
Dutch is one of the closest relatives of both German and English[n 5] and is said to be roughly in between them.[n 6] Dutch, like English, has not undergone the High German consonant shift, does not use Germanic umlaut as a grammatical marker, has largely abandoned the use of the subjunctive, and has levelled much of its morphology, including the case system.[n 7] Features shared with German include the survival of three grammatical genders—albeit with few grammatical consequences[n 8]—as well as the use of modal particles, final-obstruent devoicing, and a similar word order.[n 9] Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic and incorporates more Romance loans than German but fewer than English.[n 10] |
35usikebnrgv4tgo1fcy93bm6oh6n2 | Zapata, Texas (CNN) -- The wife of an American man missing since a reported pirate attack on a U.S.-Mexico border lake said Thursday it's "hard being judged" by people who have questioned her story, but "I know what happened that day."
Tiffany Hartley told authorities her husband David was shot and killed by pirates on Falcon Lake during a sightseeing trip last week. His body has yet to be found, leading to questions about the accuracy of her account.
But Hartley told HLN's "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell" on Thursday that "I know what I know."
"It's hard being judged and thought of that I might have done something to him," she said. But she added, "As long as I know the truth, God knows the truth. And other than that, it almost doesn't really matter to me, because I know what happened that day."
Mexican authorities said earlier this week that they could not verify the shooting, and Hartley was asked point-blank on NBC's "Today" show Wednesday whether she had anything to do with her husband's disappearance.
Pam Hartley, David Hartley's mother, said Tuesday that any suggestion that her daughter-in-law's account was inaccurate is "insane."
Investigators have found some evidence that backs up Hartley's account, including blood on her life vest, Zapata County, Texas, Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr. said Thursday. And the incident was similar to other attacks reported by boaters on Falcon Lake, about 70 miles west of the Hartley's home in McAllen.
Gonzalez has said the gunmen are typically teenagers hired by a drug cartel in the neighboring Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Mexican authorities have said the lake is controlled on their side by "organized criminals," and the sheriff called on the Zeta cartel to turn over Hartley's remains if they have them. |
3bc8wzx3v3w95a60mawdti7s26mrr6 | Amy went to the beach one day last summer. She went with her family. Her parents let her and her brother, Brian, each bring one friend. Amy invited Candace. Brian asked David. Their neighbor Eddie also went. The six of them got into Amy's dad's car and began the long trip to the beach. In the car, they sang and played games together. They soon got the beach. Everyone put on sun block and had lunch. They ate on a large, blue blanket. Amy's mother had brought the blanket. After eating, everyone found fun things to do. Amy and Candace made sand castles with Amy's father. Brian, Eddie, and David swam in the sea and played catch. Amy's mother sat in a chair and read a book. When the sun began to set, they packed everything up and began to drive home. Both Brian and Candace slept. David played a game with Amy and Eddie before Eddie fell asleep and started to drool. After they got home, everyone had dinner at Amy's and talked about how much fun they had at the beach. |
3qy7m81qh7md0n9qncpanpue6zsk7v | In a quiet house there was a dog named Bentley. Bentley was a little brown puppy and he was always getting into trouble. One day Bentley got outside and walked down the street. He found a trash can and started to dig through it. A cat came also to see what Bentley was doing. "Excuse me, but what are you looking for?" asked the cat. "Well, nothing important," Bentley told the cat. "I wanted to see if there was anything cool in there." The cat told Bentley that his name was Felix and asked if he could dig through the trash too. "Sure thing" Bentley told the cat. The two of them started to dig through the trash again. After a little bit the pair got bored and started to walk down the street going away from Bentley's house. They walked to a river and went to the edge of the water. They saw they were dirty because they had been digging in the trash so they went into the water to wash themselves. When they were clean they went back to Bentley's house. Inside the house they got water on everything because they were still wet. Bentley's human's came home and were very upset that their house was now very wet. |
3eqhhy4hqsstbxzo9spyrdop9mjg5x | Masovian Voivodeship or Mazovia Province, is the largest and most populous of the sixteen Polish provinces, or voivodeships, created in 1999. It occupies of east-central Poland, and has 5,324,500 inhabitants. Its principal cities are Warsaw (1.749 million) in the centre of the Warsaw metropolitan area, Radom (226,000) in the south, Płock (127,000) in the west, Siedlce (77,000) in the east, and Ostrołęka (55,000) in the north. The capital of the voivodeship is the national capital, Warsaw.
The province was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Warsaw, Płock, Ciechanów, Ostrołęka, Siedlce and Radom Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. The province's name recalls the traditional name of the region, "Mazowsze" (sometimes rendered in English as "Masovia"), with which it is roughly coterminous. However, southern part of the voivodeship, with Radom, historically belongs to Lesser Poland, while Łomża and its surroundings, even though historically part of Masovia, now is part of Podlaskie Voivodeship.
It is bordered by six other voivodeships: Warmian-Masurian to the north, Podlaskie to the north-east, Lublin to the south-east, Świętokrzyskie to the south, Łódź to the south-west, and Kuyavian-Pomeranian to the north-west.
Masovia is the centre of science, research, education, industry and infrastructure in the country. It currently has the lowest unemployment rate in Poland and is classified as a very high income province. Moreover, it is popular among holidaymakers due to the number of historical monuments and greenery; forests cover over 20% of the voivodeship's area, where pines and oaks predominate in the regional landscape. Additionally, the Kampinos National Park located within Masovia is a UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve. |
3ftop5warfo47s3oks4p7vkek4p0jw | (CNN) -- Arvind Mahankali, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from Bayside Hills, New York, won the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, correctly spelling the word "knaidel."
"It means that I am retiring on a good note," said Mahankali, who attends Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School 74 and was in his last year of eligibility. "I shall spend the summer, maybe the entire day, studying physics."
Mahankali, who wants to become a physicist, had finished third in the two previous national bees, being eliminated after misspelling words with German roots.
"I thought that the German curse had turned into a German blessing," he said, when asked what he thought when he heard the final word, a German-derived Yiddish word for a type of dumpling.
Pranav Sivakumar, a 13-year-old from Tower Lakes, Illinois, finished second. He missed on "cyanophycean" before Mahankali nailed "tokonoma" and "knaidel" for the victory.
The annual contest offers the winner a healthy dose of classroom cred, $32,500 in cash and savings bonds, a trophy and a library of reference materials.
Contest isn't bee-all and end-all
Eleven million schoolchildren participated in preliminaries leading up to the national contest this week. Of those, 281 children made the trip to Oxon Hill, Maryland, just outside Washington, for the national bee. Eleven spellers made it through to the finals.
Among them were 63 children who had been to at least one national bee before, and had to prepare for some changes in the rules for this year's events.
For the first time, participants had to demonstrate proficiency in vocabulary in addition to spelling. |
3k5tewlkgvbo5iky577egnv41nfiv0 | CHAPTER XIX.
THE NEW SMITHY.
Sir Harry was sitting alone in the library when the tidings were brought to him that George Hotspur had reached Humblethwaite with a pair of post-horses from Penrith. The old butler, Cloudesdale, brought him the news, and Cloudesdale whispered it into his ears with solemn sorrow. Cloudesdale was well aware that Cousin George was no credit to the house of Humblethwaite. And much about the same time the information was brought to Lady Elizabeth by her housekeeper, and to Emily by her own maid. It was by Cloudesdale's orders that George was shown into the small room near the hall; and he told Sir Harry what he had done in a funereal whisper. Lady Altringham had been quite right in her method of ensuring the general delivery of the information about the house.
Emily flew at once to her mother. "George is here," she said. Mrs. Quick, the housekeeper, was at that moment leaving the room.
"So Quick tells me. What can have brought him, my dear?"
"Why should he not come, Mamma?"
"Because your papa will not make him welcome to the house. Oh, dear,--he knows that. What are we to do?" In a few minutes Mrs. Quick came back again. Sir Harry would be much obliged if her ladyship would go to him. Then it was that the sandwiches and sherry were ordered. It was a compromise on the part of Lady Elizabeth between Emily's prayer that some welcome might be shown, and Sir Harry's presumed determination that the banished man should continue to be regarded as banished. "Take him some kind of refreshment, Quick;--a glass of wine or something, you know." Then Mrs. Quick had cut the sandwiches with her own hand, and Cloudesdale had given the sherry. "He ain't eaten much, but he's made it up with the wine," said Cloudesdale, when the tray was brought back again. |
36h9ulyp62uv4wienanaa27iq45jf6 | (CNN) -- The height of luxury -- or a vulgar monstrosity?
To its owner, this 15-meter, Lamborghini-inspired speedboat is the apex of nautical engineering. A sleek, innovative, gutsy vessel worthy of its $1.1 million price tag.
But others disagree.
When Gino Gargiulo turned up at the Miami Boat Show with his banana-yellow beauties in tow -- the boat and the $750,000 car it resembles -- a small crowd quickly gathered around.
"This is the best boat you can buy -- it's the Lamborghini of boats," says the 48-year-old automobile and restaurant mogul from Miami, Florida.
"The response we've had ... letters, emails. If you do a Google search today there are 14,000 pages on it already -- and the boat's never even been in the water."
However, not everyone is impressed by the idea of a high-performance sports car dressed up as a superyacht.
To Quentin Willson, former presenter of BBC TV show "Top Gear," the Lamborghini boat is a tasteless display of wealth that screams: "I'm rich and bored."
Willson quickly moves into fourth gear with his analysis.
"And that's really sad. Anybody who's got that amount of money that they need to go and commission a special boat to keep them entertained -- I think it's nuts," he says.
"The key with these people is they want to be different, and they want to be separate, and they want to be distinctive -- and that impulse throws good taste, and reason, and rationale out the window."
Rags to riches |
3qfufysy9yf51eztk30640iz8da4f7 | Whenever the house gets quiet, Mrs. Smith knows just where to find her 6-year-old daughter Maria: lost in the world of stories. "I like to read every time of the day," said Maria, a student at Creel Elementary School in Australia. Maria's headmaster, Mrs. White, wants each of her 850 students and their families to learn the love of reading this year. She wants reading at home to become an activity of choice in every family, even during holiday breaks. "I truly realize reading should be an important part of everyone's life, and nothing should stop it." said Mrs. White. "The aim we want most of all is to help children understand they can enjoy reading, as well as practice their skills," said Hannas, an education researcher. He suggested parents take their children to the library and allow them to pick out books that interest them. Each night, students take home two books to read with their parents or other family members. They have to return the books the next day with a signed note from their parents showing that the books were read, and have passing tests that check how well they understand the books. "We're trying to get parents into the habit of reading with their kids." said the headmaster. "Nothing is better than sitting on a sofa with your child and reading and laughing." Through books, Mrs. Smith, a parent, said she's able to give her two daughters more experiences than she could. "I think reading opens all the doors and creates imaginations in children," she said, "I think if you read well, you can succeed in anything in life." |
3jwh6j9i9sd1a5xjx6t6kjxeknnbnj | First Lady Michelle Obama urged students to visit China at the "100,000 Strong" China Study Abroad forum at Howard University in 2011.
President Barack Obama announced the "100,000 Strong" Initiative during his 2009 visit to China. The program aims to increase and diversify the number of American students studying in China by making studying abroad more affordable.
During the event at Howard, Mrs. Obama spoke about the importance of studying abroad, something she never did while in college. "Studying in countries like China is about so much more than just improving your own prospects in the global market. The fact is that with every friendship you make and every bond of trust you establish you are shaping an image of America projected to the rest of the world," she said.
David Marzban from Pepperdine University recalled a time when he formed a cross-cultural bond with a complete stranger at a restaurant near Fudan University in Shanghai. He noticed a young chef signaling him to come over. "He presses the play button on his media player and starts singing 'California Dreaming' and wants me to sing along with him," Marzban said. "At this time I knew a great friendship had started during my first two weeks in China."
Nicole Baden, a senior communications major at Howard University, recalled how her time in China really helped her master the language. "You have to experience the culture while learning the language to really master it and to understand why things are how they are compared to your own culture," Baden said.
Mrs. Obama encouraged students to set aside concept that studying abroad is for rich kids only or for those attending certain schools. In addition, the first lady announced that the Chinese government is giving 10,000 "Bridge Scholarships" to cover costs for American students and teachers studying in China.
Students from several schools attended the forum. 12-year-old Sarah Davis, who studied in China last summer, said she was very excited to hear Michelle Obama talk about the country. "I love Chinese. Out of all the languages I've learned, Chinese is the most difficult and interesting," she said. |
3p1l2b7ad1pv5zj7pyiddbtomt9ol5 | London (CNN) -- So, after a mere half-century, German pharmaceutical firm Gruenenthal has decided to apologize for the devastating effects its drug, thalidomide, had on thousands of babies and their families around the world, myself included. Is this a reason to celebrate? Is it even a reason for cautious optimism, or is it simply a piece of news management designed to salvage what is left of its corporate reputation?
Gruenenthal's chief executive, Harald Stock, made the apology Friday as he inaugurated a memorial to those affected in Stolberg, Germany, where the company is based.
I was aware of Herr Stock long before his name was flashed around newsrooms all over the world when he made his momentous announcement.
Together with others, I've been campaigning for justice for the global thalidomide community for the past decade.
At one point Herr Stock, who replaced Sebastian Wirtz as head of Gruenenthal, agreed to a meeting.
We held preliminary discussions, however the process broke down acrimoniously before we ever got to meet Herr Stock after it became clear to all of us that the company had no intention of negotiating a lasting settlement -- one that would have kept them out of the headlines forever and which would have left the Wirtz family with its considerable fortune intact.
Personal account: A life shaped by bad medicine
So why the apology now? I think it is not unconnected with successful litigation in Australia that has resulted in a multi-million dollar settlement for a hitherto unrecognized thalidomide survivor, Lynette Rowe. Although the settlement was achieved at the expense of the British and Australian successor company to the distributor of thalidomide, Diageo, Gruenenthal was also named in proceedings. The writing was spray-painted on the wall for Mr Stock and the board of Gruenenthal. |
3cp1to84pt13w3rhad49p9uoyrz52z | The German states proclaimed their union as the German Empire under the Prussian king, Wilhelm I, uniting Germany as a nation-state. The Treaty of Frankfurt of 10 May 1871 gave Germany most of Alsace and some parts of Lorraine, which became the Imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine (Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen).The German conquest of France and the unification of Germany upset the European balance of power, that had existed since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and Otto von Bismarck maintained great authority in international affairs for two decades. French determination to regain Alsace-Lorraine and fear of another Franco-German war, along with British apprehension about the balance of power, became factors in the causes of World War I.
The Ems telegram had exactly the effect on French public opinion that Bismarck had intended. "This text produced the effect of a red flag on the Gallic bull", Bismarck later wrote. Gramont, the French foreign minister, declared that he felt "he had just received a slap". The leader of the monarchists in Parliament, Adolphe Thiers, spoke for moderation, arguing that France had won the diplomatic battle and there was no reason for war, but he was drowned out by cries that he was a traitor and a Prussian. Napoleon's new prime minister, Emile Ollivier, declared that France had done all that it could humanly and honorably do to prevent the war, and that he accepted the responsibility "with a light heart." A crowd of 15–20,000 people, carrying flags and patriotic banners, marched through the streets of Paris, demanding war. On 19 July 1870 a declaration of war was sent to the Prussian government. The southern German states immediately sided with Prussia. |
3lq8puhqflsjnhpe0iqa1m4vt84iha | CHAPTER XIV
OUT OF AN UNPLEASANT SITUATION
Not one of the party was just then in a position to give poor Hans any assistance. All were stuck in the ooze, and one horse after another was slowly but surely sinking.
"We must turn back," cried Songbird, "and do it in a hurry, too."
"Easier said than done," grunted Fred. "My, this is worse than glue!"
"I think the ground on our left is a bit firmer than here," said Sam. "I am going to try it, anyway."
Not without considerable difficulty, he turned his steed, and after a struggle the spot he had indicated was gained. Dick followed, and so did Tom.
The Rovers were safe, but not so their chums. Hans was the worst off, but Fred and Songbird were likewise in positions of serious peril. Wags was flying around, barking dismally, as though he understood that all was not right.
"Turn this way!" called out Sam. "It's your one hope!"
"Let me have that rope you are carrying, Tom," said Dick, and having received the article, he threw one end to Hans, who was still floundering around. "Catch hold, Hans, and I'll haul you over!"
As the rope fell across the German youth's body, he caught it tightly in both hands, and, as Dick, Tom and Sam pulled with might and main, he fairly slid on his breast to where they were standing.
"Mine gracious, dot vos somedings awful!" he exclaimed. "It vos so sticky like molasses alretty!"
"Now, we must help the others," said Dick. |
3qrymnz7fyh16rr0xskrkd30pnytnn | Do you want to know something about children in Africa? What to they do for fun every day? Find out here: Education School is expensive for many African children. Lots of families can't afford school uniforms or exercise books even though they don't have to pay for school. For those lucky enough to go to school , they have a lot to learn. Some take two language classes: English or French, and their first language. There is also math, science, history, social studies and geography. _ take up much of children's time after school. They have to get water and firewood for the family every day. Also there's cleaning , washing and helping Mum with the meal. Daily fun It's not all work and no play. Sports are very popular. Children can make goals with twigs ( )and their own footballs with plastic and bits of string ( ). They play in the country and the streets of old towns. There're many football teams for teenagers in Africa. Internet It's really expensive to get on the Internet. To surf the net for 20 hours costs over 600yuan. This is more than the average monthly pay per person. Egypt and South Africa are the top two users of the Internet in Africa. All of the capital cities there can get on the Internet. Some schools offer computer lessons but few students can enjoy computer fun at home. |
3mx2nq3yc9u4xjuey2p2fzokc245xj | Kathmandu(/ˌkɑːtmɑːnˈduː/; Nepali pronunciation: [kɑʈʰmɑɳɖu]) is the capital and largest municipality of Nepal. It also hosts the headquarters of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). It is the only city of Nepal with the administrative status of Mahanagar (Metropolitan City), as compared to Upa-Mahanagar (Sub-Metropolitan City) or Nagar (City). Kathmandu is the core of Nepal's largest urban agglomeration located in the Kathmandu Valley consisting of Lalitpur, Kirtipur, Madhyapur Thimi, Bhaktapur and a number of smaller communities. Kathmandu is also known informally as "KTM" or the "tri-city". According to the 2011 census, Kathmandu Metropolitan City has a population of 975,453 and measures 49.45 km2 (19.09 sq mi).
The city has a rich history, spanning nearly 2000 years, as inferred from inscriptions found in the valley. Religious and cultural festivities form a major part of the lives of people residing in Kathmandu. Most of Kathmandu's people follow Hinduism and many others follow Buddhism. There are people of other religious beliefs as well, giving Kathmandu a cosmopolitan culture. Nepali is the most commonly spoken language in the city. English is understood by Kathmandu's educated residents. Historic areas of Kathmandu were devastated by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake on 25 April 2015. |
3q8gyxhfep2guljj76tf1m3aansc55 | Mark is 30 years old, and lives in a big house. He is a doctor. Mark enjoys his job because he helps sick people get better. He works with another doctor, named Zeke, and with four nurses.
Mark had to study hard to become a doctor. He had to go to a special school for seven years. Learning to be a doctor is difficult. Only very smart and hardworking people can become doctors. Mark was not sad when he was studying. He enjoyed learning all about why people get sick and how to make them feel better.
Now, Mark is a very good doctor. Sometimes other doctors ask him questions, because he knows more about some things that they do. Jim and Alice are two other doctors who became friends with Mark. Jim is 40 years old, and Alice is 25 years old. Sometimes they all have dinner together, and at other times they listen to music at Mark's house.
In his free time, Mark likes to play basketball. Mark works hard, and sometimes he wants to have fun. But really, his job is fun to him. When he wakes up in the morning, he always is excited thinking about how he can help people as a doctor. |
3d4ch1lgeatcck10ci2f3ttrvb1g99 | Wednesday, October 29, 2008.
The prefix = st1 /United Statesfederal government had two young men in the state ofTennesseearrested on October 22 on unknown charges.
In court documents published on Monday, it came to light that the men had discussed attacking an African - American school and killing 14 of them.
Another crime was about planning to murder Presidential candidate Barack Obama. According to their affidavits , the suspects' "final act of violence" would be when they attacked Obama while wearing white suits and top hats and driving "their vehicle as fast as they could toward Obama shooting at him from the windows."
The two suspects are Paul Schlesselman, 18, of West Helena, Arkansas and Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tennessee. According to the court papers, they met last month over the Internet through a friend. Schlesselman and Cowart are believed to share "very strong views" about White Power.
Schlesselman listed "being racist" as his occupation on his MySpace page. He further wrote: "I'm white. I'm proud. I get angry. I like guns."
Cowart also had a MySpace page on which photos of guns were presented under a heading of "My Guns". On his page he wrote, "Better to die quick fighting on your feet than to live forever begging on your knees."
Some have questioned the pair's ability to carry out the charged plan, but authorities have been very concerned about Obama as the first black presidential candidate from a major party.
"We honestly don't know if they had the ability or the skill to carry out the kind of plan that they talked about." said Malcolm Wiley, of the United States Secret Service in an interview with The New York Times. "But we take any threat seriously no matter how big or how small it is."
Cowart and Schlesselman are scheduled to appear before a judge on Thursday. |
3amywka6ybmdmeg02ucbosbrvp06oc | Los Angeles (CNN) -- You could call it "the year of the rear" at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, although last year's chief twerker chose a higher path.
While Nicki Minaj and her collaborators paid tribute to their assets with song and dance, Miley Cyrus stood offstage and watched as a young homeless man accepted her best music video award.
These might have been the most memorable moments of the night if not for Beyonce and her daughter, Blue Ivy, stealing the show.
Here are four highlights from the show at the Forum in Inglewood, California, on Sunday night.
1. Beyonce and Blue Ivy steal the show. Beyonce's 2-year-old daughter gave her own performance while sitting in her father's lap and watching her mother onstage Sunday. Blue Ivy's facial expressions and hand gestures suggested she inherited the music gene.
Blue Ivy applauded her mommy as daddy Jay Z carried her onstage at the end of Beyonce's 16-minute performance. Jay Z handed his wife the MTV Michael Jackson Vanguard Award while declaring that she was "the greatest living entertainer." Blue Ivy is heard saying "Mommy!"
"I'm so full," Beyonce said, as the audience began chanting. "I have nothing to say, but I'm filled with so much gratitude."
The family hug that followed could be one of the most loving and memorable moments ever on the VMA stage.
Even the stars were struck by Beyonce's daughter. Katy Perry tweeted: "OMG BLUE IVY JUST PERSONALLY WAVED AT ME. MY LIFE IS OVER."
2. Miley Cyrus is the adult in the room. A year after she set tongues wagging with a provocative dance with a teddy bear, Cyrus was more like Mother Teresa when her "Wrecking Ball" video was named as the best of 2014. She stopped short of the stage, instead sending a young man who identified himself as Jesse to accept the moon man trophy on "behalf of the 1.6 million runaways and homeless youths in the United States who are starving, lost and scared for their lives right now." |
3h7z272lx77dqzv84yvs2byew1qple | CHAPTER XI
THE ELECTION FOR OFFICERS
"Company attention! Shoulder arms! Forward march!"
Boom! Boom! Boom, boom, boom!
The drums rang out clearly on the morning air and the Colby Hall battalion swung into line on a march that carried it around the school buildings and then to the lake shore. Here Colonel Colby and Captain Dale inspected the three companies. Then the retiring major, Ralph Mason, was called on for a little speech which brought forth many cheers, and after this the command was dismissed.
It was the day for the election, and there was to be no school session until the afternoon.
At the last election there had been a total of 111 votes cast. But now there were one hundred and twenty-five cadets at the institution. There had been some talk of organizing a new command to be known as Company D, but so far this had not materialized.
As was the custom, the election was held in the main hall of the school and was presided over by Captain Dale and Professor Brice.
"I see they expect a hundred and twenty-five votes," remarked Randy. "That means sixty-three will be necessary to a choice."
"Well, I'm sure Jack will get at least forty on the first vote," returned his brother.
"I hope he gets the whole sixty-three," put in Dan Soppinger. Dan had once run for a captaincy, but had dropped out and turned most of his attention to athletics.
As at other elections, it was decided by Colonel Colby that each officer should be voted for separately. |
32svav9l3f9pnrzh999vguf2wij3av | (CNN) -- Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan pathologist who put assisted suicide on the world's medical ethics stage, died early Friday, according to a spokesman with Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. He was 83.
The assisted-suicide advocate had been hospitalized for pneumonia and a kidney-related ailment, his attorney had said.
He had struggled with kidney problems for years and had checked into a hospital earlier this month for similar problems, his lawyer, Mayer Morganroth, said. He checked back into the hospital in the Detroit suburb on May 18 after suffering a relapse, Morganroth said.
Kevorkian, dubbed "Dr. Death," made national headlines as a supporter of physician-assisted suicide and "right-to-die" legislation. He was charged with murder numerous times through the 1990s for helping terminally ill patients take their own lives.
He was convicted on second-degree murder charges in 1999 stemming from the death of a patient who suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease. He was paroled in 2007.
After his release, he said he would not help end any more lives.
Morganroth told CNN Friday that he was summoned to the hospital Thursday night, with doctors telling him "the end was near" for Kevorkian.
1998 video sparked criminal case against Kevorkian
"The doctors and nurses were extremely supportive," Morganroth said. They played music by Kevorkian's favorite composer -- Bach -- in his room, and Kevorkian died about 2:30 a.m., Morganroth said.
Attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who was Kervorkian's lawyer on several assisted-suicide cases, described Kevorkian as a "historic man." |
320duz38g7m1iwe9yutssn7uqbxgjd | CHAPTER XI
A MIDNIGHT FEAST
While the three students were discussing the situation the door of the dormitory opened, and Sam Day and Shadow Hamilton entered.
"Hello, why weren't you down to supper?" asked Sam.
"We didn't get here in time," answered Roger. And then he related what had occurred on Bush Island.
"It was just like Jasniff and Merwell," said Shadow. "And like old Haskers, too! I suppose he is laughing to himself now because he made you go without your supper."
"But I am not going without it," said Dave. "That is, not if you fellows will do me a favor."
"Want me to get something from the pantry for you?" queried Sam, quickly. "I'll do it--if it can be done."
"You can't get in the pantry any more," said Phil, with a wry face. "Since Dave and I did the trick some time ago they keep the doors locked."
"And that puts me in mind of a story!" cried Shadow. "Once a little boy----"
"Quit it, Shadow!" interrupted Sam. "You don't expect Dave and Roger and Phil to listen to your yarns when they are starving, do you? Tell the story after they have filled up."
"Well, it was only a short yarn," pleaded the story-teller of the school. "But, of course, if we can do anything----"
"You can--I think," said Dave. "But you must act quickly."
"What's to be done?"
"Since I have been here I have noticed a wagon going through on the main road every evening about this time. It belongs to Rousmann, the delicatessen man of Rockville. I wish you'd stop him and see what you can buy for us." And as he finished Dave took a two-dollar bill from his pocket and held it out. |
3ejplajkemgpliu743ns4qivg5lz6e | Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) -- Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission is urging would-be voters to turn out for the scheduled voter registration session in January, in hopes for a "free fair and credible elections in 2011," a Commission spokesman said Thursday.
"This reassurance is necessary against the backdrop of the theft of some Direct Data Capture machines at the Lagos airport, " said Kayode Robert Idowu, a Commission spokesman in a press statement.
On Tuesday, 20 voting machines were stolen at the Lagos airport, out of a total of 6,000 brought into the country by Zinox Technologies Ltd., Idowu said. Sixteen machines have been recovered so far and security agents are investigating the case, he said.
The equipment, meant for registering voters for the upcoming election in Nigeria, is comprised of laptops and webcams. It was stolen from a clearing point at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, said Idowu.
The equipment was the first consignment ordered to help register voters for the 2011 elections.
The presidential election is expected to take place in April 9.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who became president after the death of Umaru Yar'Adua earlier this year, is running for election to the office. He will be challenged in the primaries by another former vice president of Nigeria.
Atiku Abubakar is the consensus candidate put forward by a bloc of leaders from Nigeria's influential Northern Political Leaders Forum, which announced in September that it would name someone to take on Jonathan in the presidential primaries for the People's Democratic Party. |
39n5acm9henipxuzf1s2x27jvw89pd | CHAPTER II
DAVE PORTER'S PAST
"What do you think of that, fellows?" asked Roger, as he concluded the reading of the letter.
"I am not surprised," answered Dave. "Now that Merwell finds he can't show himself where he is known, he must be very bitter in mind."
"I thought he might reform, but I guess I was mistaken," said Phil. "Say, we had better do as Buster suggests,--keep our eyes peeled for him."
"We are not responsible for his position," retorted Roger. "He got himself into trouble."
"So he did, Roger. But, just the same, a fellow like Link Merwell is bound to blame somebody else,--and in this case he blames us. I am afraid he'll make trouble for us--if he gets the chance," concluded Dave, seriously.
And now, while the three chums are busy reading their letters again, let me introduce them more specifically than I have already done.
Dave Porter was a typical American lad, now well grown, and a graduate of Oak Hall, a high-class preparatory school for boys located in one of our eastern States.
While a mere child, Dave had been found wandering beside the railroad tracks near the little village of Crumville. He could not tell who he was, nor where he had come from, and not being claimed by any one, was taken to the local poor-house. There a broken-down college professor, Caspar Potts, had found him and given him a home.
In Crumville resided a rich jewelry manufacturer named Oliver Wadsworth, who had a daughter named Jessie. One day the Wadsworth automobile caught fire and Jessie was in danger of being burned to death, when Dave rushed to the rescue and saved her. For this Mr. Wadsworth was very grateful, and when he learned that Dave lived with Mr. Potts, who had been one of his instructors in college, he made the man and the youth come to live with him. |
3itxp059pwj481n0tun9h1qxftmsjj | (CNN) -- For the second time in six months, Henrique Capriles Radonski will be in an electoral fight for the presidency of Venezuela.
His opponent is different this time, but the stakes may be even higher: What course will the South American country chart after the death of Hugo Chavez?
In October, Capriles proved to be the strongest challenger the opposition ever fielded against Chavez, yet he still he lost to the charismatic leader by double-digits. But Chavez's battle with cancer kept him from being sworn in, and he died March 5.
On Sunday, Capriles will be in a contest against Nicolas Maduro, the interim president and the man Chavez picked as his successor.
Q&A: Venezuela's presidential election
At age 40, he has been a mayor, a parliament leader, and a governor of a major state who has been given a second chance to win the presidency.
"I am seeking to win the confidence of all Venezuelans," Capriles said recently. "I want a united country. I want Venezuelans to join together (and) work together with a single goal."
The most important issue, he says, is to tackle poverty.
Generous social programs are a foundation of the government that Chavez headed, and Capriles has that he will not do away with them. But he has promised to end the large subsidies that Venezuela provides to Chavez allies.
An attorney, Capriles was elected to parliament in 1998, when Venezuela had a bicameral legislature.
He was just 25 years old at the time, but he quickly advanced to become the president of the Chamber of Deputies and then president of the entire Parliament. |
39u1bhvtdlru2nyqf90cbz5ulift34 | CHAPTER XI. OF A WOMAN'S OBSTINACY
"M. de Luynes is a wizard," quoth Andrea, laughing, in answer to something that had been said.
It was afternoon. We had dined, and the bright sunshine and spring-like mildness of the weather had lured us out upon the terrace. Yvonne and Geneviève occupied the stone seat. Andrea had perched himself upon the granite balustrade, and facing them he sat, swinging his shapely legs to and fro as he chatted merrily, whilst on either side of him stood the Chevalier de Canaples and I.
"If M. de Luynes be as great a wizard in other things as with the sword, then, pardieu, he is a fearful magician," said Canaples.
I bowed, yet not so low but that I detected a sneer on Yvonne's lips.
"So, pretty lady," said I to myself, "we shall see if presently your lip will curl when I show you something of my wizard's art."
And presently my chance came. M. de Canaples found reason to leave us, and no sooner was he gone than Geneviève remembered that she had that day discovered a budding leaf upon one of the rose bushes in the garden below. Andrea naturally caused an argument by asserting that she was the victim of her fancy, as it was by far too early in the year. By that means these two found the plea they sought for quitting us, since neither could rest until the other was convinced.
So down they went into that rose garden which methought was like to prove their fool's paradise, and Yvonne and I were left alone. Then she also rose, but as she was on the point of quitting me: |
3dip6yhapcsee1mz1v6d3ud4xjr8e5 | CHAPTER II
JIM'S GUESTS
After breakfast next morning Jim and his friends went out on the terrace. The tide was full and the woods across the bay looked like islands. A line of white surf marked the edge of the marsh, which ran back, broken by winding creeks, to the foot of the rising ground. Sometimes a gleam of sunshine touched the lonely flats and they flashed into luminous green, silver, and yellow. Then the color faded and the light moving on forced up for a few moments the rugged blue hills against their misty background. The landscape had not the sharp distinctness common in Canada; it was dim and marked by an elusive charm.
Jim began to think about Evelyn. She was somehow like the country. Her charm was strong but not obtrusive. One could not, so to speak, realize Evelyn at a glance; she was marked by subtle refinements and delicacies that one rather felt than saw. Her English reserve was fascinating, because it hinted at the reward one might get if one could break it down. Carrie, too, was thinking about Evelyn, Mrs. Winter was sewing, and Jake occupied himself by cleaning an old pipe.
"It's some time since we broke camp on the telegraph line," Carrie remarked. "Do you find having nothing to do comes easy, Jim?"
"I don't expect to be idle long. It's prudent to consider before you begin to move."
Carrie felt that Jim was getting English. He had, of course, been to McGill, but since they reached the Old Country he was dropping his Western colloquialisms. She thought it significant that he did so unconsciously. |
3ngms9vztlifzuwi4kwpv4fqx02ffj | CHAPTER XIII. UMBELAZI THE FALLEN
So I stayed on at Nodwengu, who, indeed, had no choice in the matter, and was very wretched and ill at ease. The place was almost deserted, except for a couple of regiments which were quartered there, the Sangqu and the Amawombe. This latter was the royal regiment, a kind of Household Guards, to which the Kings Chaka, Dingaan and Panda all belonged in turn. Most of the headmen had taken one side or the other, and were away raising forces to fight for Cetewayo or Umbelazi, and even the greater part of the women and children had gone to hide themselves in the bush or among the mountains, since none knew what would happen, or if the conquering army would not fall upon and destroy them.
A few councillors, however, remained with Panda, among whom was old Maputa, the general, who had once brought me the "message of the pills." Several times he visited me at night and told me the rumours that were flying about. From these I gathered that some skirmishes had taken place and the battle could not be long delayed; also that Umbelazi had chosen his fighting ground, a plain near the banks of the Tugela.
"Why has he done this," I asked, "seeing that then he will have a broad river behind him, and if he is defeated water can kill as well as spears?"
"I know not for certain," answered Maputa; "but it is said because of a dream that Saduko, his general, has dreamed thrice, which dream declares that there and there alone Umbelazi will find honour. At any rate, he has chosen this place; and I am told that all the women and children of his army, by thousands, are hidden in the bush along the banks of the river, so that they may fly into Natal if there is need." |
38ymoxr4muzlrnp2tg3l5modz266wi | Mississippi is a state in the southern region of the United States, with part of its southern border formed by the Gulf of Mexico. Its western border is formed by the Mississippi River.
The state has a population of approximately 3 million. It is the 32nd most extensive and the 32nd most populous of the 50 United States. Located in the center of the state, Jackson is the state capital and largest city, with a population of approximately 175,000 people.
The state is heavily forested outside of the Mississippi Delta area, between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers. Before the American Civil War, most development in the state was along riverfronts, where slaves worked on cotton plantations. After the war, the bottomlands to the interior were cleared, mostly by freedmen. By the end of the 19th century, African Americans made up two-thirds of the Delta's property owners, but timber and railroad companies acquired much of the land after a financial crisis.
Clearing altered the Delta's ecology, increasing the severity of flooding along the Mississippi. Much land is now held by agribusinesses. A largely rural state with agricultural areas dominated by industrial farms, Mississippi is ranked low or last among the states in such measures as health, educational attainment, and median household income. The state's catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the United States. |
37w3jxsd668na7z8zzydod86yhkwy3 | CHAPTER IV
KARI
Thus began my life in London in the house of my uncle, John Grimmer, who was called the Goldsmith. In truth, however, he was more than this, since not only did he fashion and trade in costly things; he lent out moneys to interest upon security to great people who needed it, and even to the king Richard and his Court. Also he owned ships and did much commerce with Holland, France, yes, and with Spain and Italy. Indeed, although he appeared so humble, his wealth was very large and always increased, like a snowball rolling down a hill; moreover, he owned much land, especially in the neighbourhood of London where it was likely to grow in value.
"Money melts," he would say, "furs corrupt with moth and time, and thieves break in and steal. But land--if the title be good--remains. Therefore buy land, which none can carry away, near to a market or a growing town if may be, and hire it out to fools to farm, or sell it to other fools who wish to build great houses and spend their goods in feeding a multitude of idle servants. Houses eat, Hubert, and the larger they are, the more they eat."
No word did he say to me as to my dwelling on with him, yet there I remained, by common consent, as it were. Indeed on the morrow of my coming a tailor appeared to measure me for such garments as he thought I should wear, by his command, I suppose, as I was never asked for payment, and he bade me furnish my chamber to my own liking, also another room at the back of the house that was much larger than it seemed, which he told me was to be mine to work in, though at what I was to work he did not say. |
3kxir214i4gl0knhw8lzkhoaz06426 | Step into Pat Lundin's home and you'll be greeted by 500 smiling faces of dolls. Lundin, 82, describes herself as "doll crazy". And she's not alone.
As a member of Timeless Treasures Doll Club of Largo, she frequently meets with 25 other women who share her hobby. Once a month, they gather at the Palms of Largo to show off their latest finds and catch up on news in the world of doll collecting.
On Saturday, the club will hold the Palms of Largo Fifth Annual Doll Show. The program will include 37 vendors with both classic and contemporary dolls for sale.
"Timeless Treasures is a club that's open to doll lovers regardless of the age of the doll," said Judy Smith, president of the organization. "Some doll clubs require members have a certain number of antique dolls, but we don't. we make sure we are not terribly formal."
Smith, 71, is a retired schoolteacher who owns Judy's Doll Hospital, a part-time business she operates out of her home. She will have a table offering repair and appraisal services.
Smith firs began studying and collecting dolls in her early 20s,in Glassboro, New Jersey, she does not know how many dolls she owns, or how many repairs she has made over the years. But she does know the age of her oldest doll.
"She's 129," Smith said. "It is a German-made doll that belonged to my grandmother , and it sits in my living room."
The show is for both the beginner as well as the experienced collector, said Anita Munson, one of the show's organizers.
Over the years, Munson, 82, has learned how to identify a valuable doll. "Generally speaking porcelain dolls are the most valuable," she said. "But the porcelain will not be shiny."
Smith believes many people will attend to find out how much their dolls are worth. She wants them to know more.
"Because the dolls reflect what the children were wearing and doing at a particular period of time, they can be a great history lesson for children now," she said. |
3lpw2n6lkt2cgf0jtxefvspgiu0u5d | CHAPTER XVIII.
A CYCLONE.
"WHAT on earth is it all about?" Arthur Hill asked his comrades as the three boys gathered together after the work was done. "Why, there is not a breath of wind. Is it all done for practice, do you think?"
Jim shook his head. "I expect we are going to have one of those cyclones Mr. Timmins was speaking about the other day, though I don't see any signs of it, except the queer colour of the sky. I expect the glass must have been going down very fast. There is the captain popping into his cabin again. Well, he is not long about it," he added, as Captain Murchison hurried out again and spoke to Mr. Timmins, who immediately gave the order, "Furl mizzen and main topsails! Lower down the fore-staysail!"
"Well, there can't be more to do now," Jack said, when the order was carried out, "unless we set to work to set them all again."
"Look, Jack!" Arthur Hill said, grasping his arm and pointing away on the starboard beam.
A wall of black mist seemed to hang upon the horizon, rising momentarily higher and higher.
"The squall is coming, lads!" the captain shouted. "When it strikes her hold on for your lives. Carpenter, put a man with an axe at each of the weather-shrouds. We may have to cut away before we have done with it."
All eyes were now turned towards the bank of cloud, which was rising with extraordinary rapidity. Small portions of the upper line seemed at times to be torn off and to rush ahead of the main body, and then to disappear, suddenly blown into fragments. A low moaning sound was heard, and a line of white could be made out at the foot of the cloud-bank. The water around the ship was still as smooth as glass, though there was a slight swell, which swayed her to and fro, and caused the shrouds and blocks to rattle. |
34v1s5k3gs1afrcu05ttr2g21tm69d | Tennessee (i/tɛnᵻˈsiː/) (Cherokee: ᏔᎾᏏ, Tanasi) is a state located in the southeastern United States. Tennessee is the 36th largest and the 17th most populous of the 50 United States. Tennessee is bordered by Kentucky and Virginia to the north, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, and Arkansas and Missouri to the west. The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, and the Mississippi River forms the state's western border. Tennessee's capital and second largest city is Nashville, which has a population of 601,222. Memphis is the state's largest city, with a population of 653,450.
The state of Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association, a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians. What is now Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, and later part of the Southwest Territory. Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state on June 1, 1796. Tennessee was the last state to leave the Union and join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War in 1861. Occupied by Union forces from 1862, it was the first state to be readmitted to the Union at the end of the war. |
3x3or7wpzz0sk7wrihthgp3o7l7l8v | Jeremy was born with a twisted body, and terminal illness slowly killing him throughout his young life. Still, his parents had tried to give him as normal a life as possible and had sent him to St. Theresa's Elementary School. At the age of 12, Jeremy was only in second grade, seemingly unable to learn. His teacher, Doris Miller, often became angry with him. He would often disturb the class by squirming in his seat, drooling and making grunting noises. Doris had 18 other youngsters to teach and she didn't want to waste time on Jeremy. Spring came, and the children talked excitedly about the coming of Easter. Doris told them of the story of Jesus, and stressed the idea of new life springing forth, she gave each of them a large plastic egg. "Now," she said to them, "I want you to take this home and bring it back tomorrow with something inside that shows new life. Do you understand?" "Yes, Miss Miller!" All the children responded except Jeremy. He just listened, his eyes never left her face. He did not even make his usual noises. The next morning, the children came to school and placed their eggs in a large basket on Doris' desk. After they completed their Math lesson, it was time to open the eggs. In the first egg, Doris found a flower. "Oh yes, a flower is certainly a sign of new life," she said. The next egg had a plastic beautiful butterfly in it. Then Doris opened the fourth egg. It was empty! Surely it must be Jeremy's she thought, and he did not understand the instructions. She put that egg down so she wouldn't embarrass him. Suddenly Jeremy spoke up and said "Aren't you going to talk about my egg?" Doris replied, "But Jeremy - your egg is empty!" He looked into her eyes and said softly, "Yes, but Jesus' tomb was empty too!" Doris asked him, "Do you know why the tomb was empty?" "Oh yes!" Jeremy exclaimed. "Jesus was killed and put there. Then His Father raised Him up!" After class the children excitedly ran out, but Doris cried. The cold inside her melted completely away. Three months later, Jeremy died. Those who paid their respects at the funeral were surprised to see 19 eggs on top of Jeremy's casket, all of them empty. |
3vd82fohkqo22vp1clpeas31rcycoz | Beijing, China (CNN) -- A court in eastern China sentenced a man to death Saturday for attacking 29 kindergarten students and three teachers with a knife, state-run media said.
The Taixing Intermediate People's Court found Xu Yuyuan, 47, guilty of intentional homicide after a half-day trial, Xinhua news agency said.
Xu told the court that his rage against society motivated him in the April 29 attacks, according to Xinhua. But he appealed the death sentence, arguing that the punishment was too severe since no one died in the attacks, Xinhua said.
Chinese penal code says a person can be convicted of intentional homicide for acting on an intent to kill, the news agency reported.
A police probe found Xu had been unemployed since 2001, when he was fired by a local insurance company. He told police he carried out the attack because he was angry about a series of business and personal humiliations, Xinhua said.
About 300 people attended Saturday's open trial, according to Xinhua.
Xu's sentence was the second death penalty conviction after a recent spate of school attacks that have prompted public outrage across China.
Zheng Minsheng, 42, was sentenced to death and executed on April 28 for attacking students in front of an elementary school in Fujian province, killing eight and wounding several others. Zheng also used a knife in the attacks, Xinhua reported.
Authorities said Zheng carried out the attack because he was frustrated at "failures in his romantic life," the news agency said.
At least four other such attacks on school children in China have been reported since March. |
3dhe4r9ocwb1c0g1r9n0t6ldoy52g2 | Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- A young, female suicide bomber was behind a blast in Pakistan that killed at least 46 people and injured 105 others at a food distribution point, an official said Sunday.
Zakir Hussain Afridi, the top government official in Bajaur Agency, Pakistan, said that the preliminary investigation into the explosion shows that a girl between the ages of 16 and 18 blew herself up. The determination was made from remains of the bomber that were recovered.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for Saturday's blast in that Asian nation's tribal region.
Azam Tariq, the central spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, told CNN in a phone call that it targeted people who had formed what he called a pro-government and anti-Taliban group.
The blast took place about 600 meters from a U.N. World Food Programme distribution point at a security checkpoint in Khar, according to Amjad Jamal, a spokesman for the agency. He said that more than 300 people were going through a security screening to get food and other items at the time of the explosion.
Khar is the headquarters of Bajaur Agency, one of the seven districts of Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Jamal said that those who had been internally displaced during military efforts in Bajaur Agency get a month's supply of food and other goods.
Afridi said that the suicide bomber was in a burqa, a traditional full-body covering worn by some Muslim women. He said she was stopped for a security check at a checkpoint, where she detonated herself. |
3nvc2eb65qzqj9xkpfnbjgx9z7l3y0 | John is a good boy. He studies hard and is never late for school. He has a lot of friends. And he often helps them and they like him. But he always thinks himself the cleverest in his class and looks down upon others. This term a new student, Fred, comes to his class. He's thin and short and never talks with the boys. So no children know him well. And John laugh at him.But he doesn't mind it at all. One day John goes to Mike's birthday party. He sings, dance and show all his talents to the children. After that he says to Fred, "What are you going to show us, my friend?" "I'm not clever," says Fred."Can you guess some of my riddles ?" "Certainly, I can,"says John. Fred tells some riddles, but John can't guess any.At last the boy says,"Now I'll tell the easiest riddle. Listen to me carefully. You'll guess it this time. An animal has two heads, six legs, a long nose and a short nose. Can you tell me what it is?" John thinks hard and hard, but can't guess it. His face turn red and says,"What's it?" "It's a man riding an elephant!" John doesn't say anything any longer at the party. |
3z7vu45ipyhuewtayxbb9ure8wd1zu | CHAPTER XXIII
Fischer, exactly one week after his nocturnal visit to Fourteenth Street, hurried out of the train at the Pennsylvania Station, almost tore the newspapers from the news stand, glanced through them one by one and threw them back. The attendant, open-mouthed, ventured upon a mild protest. Fischer threw him a dollar bill, caught up his handbag, and made for the entrance. He was the first passenger from the Washington Limited to reach the street and spring into a taxi.
"The Plaza Hotel," he ordered. "Get along."
They arrived at the Plaza in less than ten minutes. Mr. Fischer tipped the driver lavishly, suffered the hall porter to take his bag, returned his greeting mechanically, and walked with swift haste to the tape machine. He held up the strips with shaking fingers, dropped them again, hurried to the lift, and entered his rooms. Nikasti was in the sitting-room, arranging some flowers. Fischer did not even stop to reply to his reverential greeting.
"Where's Mr. Van Teyl?" he demanded.
"Mr. Van Teyl has gone away, sir," was the calm reply. "He left here the day before yesterday. There is a letter."
Fischer took no notice. He was already gripping the telephone receiver.
"982, Wall," he said--"an urgent call."
He stood waiting, his face an epitome of breathless suspense. Soon a voice answered him.
"That the office of Neville, Brooks and Van Teyl?" he demanded. "Yes! Put me through to Mr. Van Teyl. Urgent!"
Another few seconds of waiting, then once more he bent over the instrument. |
3txwc2nhnzqf2par7iwws7cujub9si | Boston (CNN) -- Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, lies in a hospital with a gunshot wound to the side of his neck, sedated and intubated, sources say.
But he could be brought out of sedation in minutes so he could answer questions from law enforcement officials, doctors tell CNN.
Intubated and sedated patients are often put on "sedation holidays."
What we know about the suspects
Under normal circumstances, doctors use these holidays, which last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, so they can ask patients questions to assess neurological and cognitive functioning.
The patients can't talk, since they have a tube down their throats, but they can write.
"They're still pretty out of it on these holidays, pretty confused and sleepy, but they could be able to understand what's being said to them," said Dr. Albert Wu, an internist and attending physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
While many patients are groggy during these holidays, others are quite awake and thoughtful.
Did one brother brainwash the other?
Tsarnaev, who has been hospitalized since his capture on Friday, has been communicating with officials, two sources told CNN.
"They have been questioning him since yesterday," a senior law enforcement source said. "There is some form of communication between law enforcement and the suspect."
Neither source would divulge what Tsarnaev has been communicating.
Dr. Corey Siegel, a gastroenterologist and professor at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, remembers visiting his grandmother in the intensive care unit while she was intubated and sedated. |
32n49tqg3gi9z010tjf1zp7lodrvam | CHAPTER XV.--The Mark of Cain.
Next morning Barton entered his sitting-room in very high spirits, and took up his letters. He had written to Maitland the night before, saying little but, "Come home at once. Margaret is found. She is going to be my wife. You can't come too quickly, if you wish to hear of something very much to your advantage." A load was off his mind, and he felt as _Romeo_ did just before the bad news about _Juliet_ reached him.
In this buoyant disposition, Barton opened his letters. The first was in a hand he knew very well--that of a man who had been his fellow-student in Paris and Vienna, and who was now a prosperous young physician. The epistle ran thus:
"Dear Barton.--I'm off to the West of Ireland, for a fortnight People are pretty fit, as the season has not run far. Most of my patients have not yet systematically overeaten themselves. I want you to do something for me. Martin & Wright, the lawyers, have a queer little bit of medical jurisprudence, about which young Wright, who was at Oriel in our time, asked my opinion. I recommended him to see you, as it is more in your line; and _my_ line will presently be attached to that eminent general practitioner, 'The Blue Doctor.' May he prosper with the Galway salmon!
"Thine,
"Alfred Franks."
"Lucky beggar!" thought Barton to himself, but he was too happy to envy even a man who had a fortnight of salmon-fishing before him. |
3befod78w6tb7ora6q4jzq285c1m47 | Kuwait (; ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in Western Asia. Situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, it shares borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia. , Kuwait has a population of 4.2 million people; 1.3 million are Kuwaitis and 2.9 million are expatriates. Expatriates account for 70% of the population.
Oil reserves were discovered in 1938. From 1946 to 1982, the country underwent large-scale modernization. In the 1980s, Kuwait experienced a period of geopolitical instability and an economic crisis following the stock market crash. In 1990, Kuwait was invaded by Iraq. The Iraqi occupation came to an end in 1991 after military intervention by coalition forces. At the end of the war, there were extensive efforts to revive the economy and rebuild national infrastructure.
Kuwait is a constitutional state with a semi-democratic political system. It has a high income economy backed by the world's sixth largest oil reserves. The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest valued currency in the world. According to the World Bank, the country has the fourth highest per capita income in the world. The Constitution was promulgated in 1962. The Kuwait National Cultural District is a member of the Global Cultural Districts Network. |
32at8r96gl9dmhyu5trno3z8v24usm | CHAPTER C - DOWN IN SUFFOLK
It need hardly be said that Paul Montague was not long in adjusting his affairs with Hetta after the visit which he received from Roger Carbury. Early on the following morning he was once more in Welbeck Street, taking the brooch with him; and though at first Lady Carbury kept up her opposition, she did it after so weak a fashion as to throw in fact very little difficulty in his way. Hetta understood perfectly that she was in this matter stronger than her mother and that she need fear nothing, now that Roger Carbury was on her side. 'I don't know what you mean to live on,' Lady Carbury said, threatening future evils in a plaintive tone. Hetta repeated, though in other language, the assurance which the young lady made who declared that if her future husband would consent to live on potatoes, she would be quite satisfied with the potato-peelings; while Paul made some vague allusion to the satisfactory nature of his final arrangements with the house of Fisker, Montague, and Montague. 'I don't see anything like an income,' said Lady Carbury; 'but I suppose Roger will make it right. He takes everything upon himself now it seems.' But this was before the halcyon day of Mr Broune's second offer.
It was at any rate decided that they were to be married, and the time fixed for the marriage was to be the following spring. When this was finally arranged Roger Carbury, who had returned to his own home, conceived the idea that it would be well that Hetta should pass the autumn and if possible the winter also down in Suffolk, so that she might get used to him in the capacity which he now aspired to fill; and with that object he induced Mrs Yeld, the Bishop's wife, to invite her down to the palace. Hetta accepted the invitation and left London before she could hear the tidings of her mother's engagement with Mr Broune. |
3c5w7ue9cfq25qfkq16ow1z6y2qxm7 | A Republican tide ripped the Senate away from Democrats Tuesday, giving the GOP full control of Congress and the power to pin down President Barack Obama during his last two years in office.
The thumping win upends the balance of power between the White House and Capitol Hill only six years after Obama's Democrats swept to power and marginalized Republicans in a rush to reform health care, Wall Street and pass a huge stimulus package.
Now, it's Democrats who will take the back seat on Capitol Hill, relying mostly on the power of the filibuster to stymie Republicans and keep Obama's legacy intact.
"For too long, this administration has tried to tell the American people what is good for them and then blame somebody else when their policies didn't work out," Mitch McConnell, who is expected to become the next Senate majority leader, said in a victory speech.
In the House, CNN projected the GOP will have at least 246 seats, its largest majority since World War II. Speaker John Boehner, celebrating a widened majority, said he is "humbled by the responsibility the American people have placed with us."
"But this is not a time for celebration," he said. "It's time for government to start getting results and implementing solutions to the challenges facing our country, starting with our still-struggling economy.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has controlled the Senate since 2007, congratulated Republicans on their victory.
"The message from voters is clear: they want us to work together," Reid said. "I look forward to working with Senator McConnell to get things done for the middle class." |
3gs6s824sqxty8vusxp27xazuwfnw1 | Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, sometimes referred to as the "Lion City", the "Garden City" or the "Little Red Dot", is a sovereign city-state in Southeast Asia. It lies one degree (137 km) north of the equator, at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, with Indonesia's Riau Islands to the south. Singapore's territory consists of one main island along with 62 other islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its total size by 23% (130 km) and its greening policy has covered the densely populated island with tropical flora, parks and gardens.
Stamford Raffles founded colonial Singapore in 1819 as a trading post of the East India Company, but after its collapse and the eventual establishment of the British Raj, the islands were ceded to Britain and became part of its Straits Settlements in 1826. During the Second World War, Singapore was occupied by Japan. It gained independence from the UK in 1963 by federating with other former British territories to form Malaysia, but separated two years later over ideological differences, becoming a sovereign nation in 1965. After early years of turbulence and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its workforce. |
33f859i566d909b8u8ytfz0iydobho | (CNN) -- It was the moment the world had been waiting for, and as he has so often in his glittering career, Lionel Messi delivered.
After a frantic opening to the World Cup in Brazil with entertainment and goals aplenty, one of its gold-plated stars announced his arrival in style.
A trademark slaloming run from the Barcelona striker ended in the fashion soccer fans have become well accustomed to -- with the net rippling.
In truth, Argentina were far from their best against the World Cup debutantes Bosnia and Herzegovina despite going 1-0 up thanks to the quickest goal at the World Cup to date.
Sead Kolasinac was the unwitting scorer, diverting the ball into his own net after a Messi free kick was glanced on by Marcos Rojo.
Alejandro Sabella's men couldn't build on that early lead though as Bosnia and Herzegovina held their own until the interval.
Argentina's lead was doubled on 65 minutes thanks to a piece of magic from their talisman.
Messi swapped passes with Gonzalo HiguaÃn and sidestepped two challenges before firing home off the inside of the post via a slight deflection.
His vigorous celebration perhaps showed the pressure he was under to perform, as the endless comparisons to Argentina's other world famous player -- Diego Maradona -- go on.
A goal from substitute Vedad Ibisevic ensured a nervy final six minutes but Argentina held out to secure three important points.
France 3-0 Honduras
The first World Cup goal to be awarded via goal-line technology helped France to a convincing 3-0 victory over 10-man Honduras in Porto Alegre. |
34x6j5flptysvl8n1qy4m1bwww4jq5 | (CNN) -- The Connecticut Senate on Thursday voted to repeal the death penalty, setting the stage for Connecticut to join several states that have recently abolished capital punishment.
In the last five years, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Illinois have repealed the death penalty. California voters will decide the issue in November.
The bill now goes to the House of Representatives, where it is also expected to pass. Gov. Dannel Malloy, a Democrat, has vowed to sign the measure into law should it reach his desk, his office said.
"For everyone, it's a vote of conscience," said Senate President Donald Williams Jr., a Democrat who says he's long supported a repeal. "We have a majority of legislators in Connecticut in favor of this so that the energies of our criminal justice system can be focused in a more appropriate manner."
In 2009, state lawmakers in both houses tried to pass a similar bill, but were ultimately blocked by then-Gov. Jodi Rell, a Republican.
Capital punishment has existed in Connecticut since its colonial days. But the state was forced to review its death penalty laws beginning in 1972 when a Supreme Court decision required greater consistency in its application. A moratorium was then imposed until a 1976 court decision upheld the constitutionality of capital punishment.
Since then, Connecticut juries have handed down 15 death sentences. Of those, only one person has actually been executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonpartisan group that studies death penalty laws.
Michael Ross, a convicted serial killer, was put to death by lethal injection in 2005 after giving up his appeals. |
3b3wtrp3db2mxqttd3hq1pzqkmj29m | CHAPTER XIX: THE FIGHT AT THE FORD
By the early September sunrise the thicket beneath the pass was sheltering the twenty well-appointed reiters of Adlerstein, each standing, holding his horse by the bridle, ready to mount at the instant. In their rear were the serfs and artisans, some with axes, scythes, or ploughshares, a few with cross-bows, and Jobst and his sons with the long blackened poles used for stirring their charcoal fires. In advance were Master Moritz and the two barons, the former in a stout plain steel helmet, cuirass, and gauntlets, a sword, and those new-fashioned weapons, pistols; the latter in full knightly armour, exactly alike, from the gilt-spurred heel to the eagle- crested helm, and often moving restlessly forward to watch for the enemy, though taking care not to be betrayed by the glitter of their mail. So long did they wait that there was even a doubt whether it might not have been a false alarm; the boy was vituperated, and it was proposed to despatch a spy to see whether anything were doing at Schlangenwald.
At length a rustling and rushing were heard; then a clank of armour. Ebbo vaulted into the saddle, and gave the word to mount; Schleiermacher, who always fought on foot, stepped up to him. "Keep back your men, Herr Freiherr. Let his design be manifest. We must not be said to have fallen on him on his way to the muster."
"It would be but as he served my father!" muttered Ebbo, forced, however, to restrain himself, though with boiling blood, as the tramp of horses shook the ground, and bright armour became visible on the further side of the stream. |
3ws1nttkeyco2qhs12d4sxsmqlcf0n | We are always using body language in our daily life. When we have a conversation with someone, we may be using more body language than words. However, the same body language may mean different things in different countries. That's why people sometimes do not understand each other correctly. Pointing to one part of the body can mean differently in different cultures. For example, in the USA people point to their heads when they think someone is clever. However, in Europe it means 'He or she is stupid or something is wrong with his or her head'. In our Chinese culture, nodding our head up and down means 'yes' and shaking our head from side to side means 'no'. However, in parts of India, Greece and Turkey, it means just the opposite . In England or the USA, when you raise your hand and make a circle with the thumb and the second finger, it means 'You're all right or Everything is OK'. However, if we do this in France or Belgium, it means 'You're worth zero'. In Greece or Turkey, we should not make this gesture . Or we are thought to be very rude. The meaning of gestures can also change over time. In the 1960s, the V sign meant 'peace'. However, during World War II, it meant 'victory'. In Greece, it is a very insulting sign. Though the meaning of body language is different, there are some expressions having the same meaning throughout the world, such as smiling and crying. |