Datasets:

nilq

/

babylm-10M

like 0

= = = Emperor Duzong = = =

Emperor Duzong of Song (2 May 1240 – 12 August 1274), personal name Zhao Qi, was the 15th emperor of the Song dynasty in China and the sixth emperor of the Southern Song dynasty. He was a nephew of his predecessor, Emperor Lizong, and reigned from 1264 until his death in 1274.

His birth name was Zhao Mengqi but his name was changed to Zhao Zi in 1251 and finally to Zhao Qi in 1253 after he was designated as Emperor Lizong's heir apparent. Duzong's reign was filled with rebellions and warfare; the court was dominated by his chancellor Jia Sidao and Duzong himself gave in into drinking and women, thus abandoning his duties. He died in 1274 leaving behind three young boys, one of whom took the throne as Emperor Gong. He is the last Emperor of the Song to issue coins; subsequent Emperors were too busy fighting the Mongols to establish mints to cast any coins and did not have enough resources.

Emperor Duzong's mother wanted to have an abortion because she thought she was of low social status so she took drugs in an futile attempt to abort Duzong. Duzong was born anyway but the drugs affected him in many ways such as that his intelligence was lower than an average person, his hand and feet were soft; using them in an awkward fashion and he couldn't even speak until he was seven years old. He was Yurui's only son. Like his uncle Zhao Yun, he lived in Shaoxing.

Duzong was discovered by his paternal uncle Zhao Yun, better known as Emperor Lizong in 1253, who was sonless and therefore had no heirs so to compensate, adopted Duzong and designated him crown prince in 1260, an action historians still view as confusing. Emperor Lizong died in 1264 and Emperor Duzong then ascended the throne.

Emperor Duzong's reign was plagued with rebellions, warfare and corruption in his court; many officials accused the chancellor Jia Sidao of corruption but Duzong trusted Jia Sidao who Duzong honoured by bowing down to Jia even calling him "teacher" and according to anecdotes, when Jia was considering resigning, Duzong knelt down in tears begging Jia to remain in office.

Emperor Duzong ignored his duties and instead delegated all state and military affairs to the hands of Jia Sidao; the emperor instead indulged in drinking, women, and lived in opulence. To make things even worse, Duzong’s intelligence was lower than a normal person and he was often depressed. At first, he told the officials to be straightforward and tell him the problems in the countries, but this was all an act. Soon, he completely neglected his duties. Furthermore, he had a very high sexual appetite. Under Song laws, any woman who had sexual relations with the emperor had to pay respects to the emperor every morning. At one point, there were as many as 30 women paying their respects to Emperor Duzong in one morning. Duzong also gave official documents to four of his most favored women.

The Mongols had spent decades harassing the Song Empire's borders and were on the verge of conquering the whole of China. Emperor Duzong however, ignored this problem instead choosing to drink and indulging in sex because when Duzong heard that Xiangyang was being besieged by Mongol troops, Duzong asked Jia Sidao "I hear that Xiangyang had been besieged by the Yuan troops for several years. Is this true?" in which Jia said in all seriousness "Well, I haven't heard such a thing." Duzong replied with "A palace maid told me this."

Lu Wenhuan sent a messenger to Emperor Duzong, to request immediate reinforcements to defend Xiangyang. The messenger successfully got by the Yuan forts and reached the emperor but upon hearing the effectiveness of these new trebuchets, the emperor considered Xiangyang lost and did not send reinforcements. The decisive Battle of Xiangyang was fought in 1274 when the Mongols succeeded in capturing and destroying the last Song stronghold. The loss of Xiangyang sealed the fate of the Song dynasty and the news of its capture was deliberately hidden from Emperor Duzong by Jia Sidao.

Emperor Duzong died shortly thereafter from overindulgence in wine but Richard Davis and other sources claim that, Duzong died suddenly from a severe negligence of a Palace Doctor. In any case, he was succeeded by his sixth son, Zhao Xian (Emperor Gong), who was then only four years old. Although Emperor Duzong was technically not the last emperor of the Song dynasty, historians see him as the last Song emperor who could have made decisions that would've significantly halted or even prevented the fall of the dynasty.

Emperor Duzong was buried in the Yongshao Mausoleum on January 1275.

= = = Morris McHone = = =

Morris Daniel "Mo" McHone (born June 17, 1943) is a former coach for the Sioux Falls Skyforce, a professional team in the NBA Development League. He is also a former NBA basketball coach and assistant coach.

McHone served as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs for several seasons under coach Stan Albeck, replacing him in 1983 when Albeck took a job with the New Jersey Nets. However, McHone only lasted 31 games, and was fired midway through the season after posting an 11-20 record. He was replaced by then-GM Bob Bass.

McHone served as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers during the season, and under head coach George Karl during the season. He also served as an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons (1999–2001) and the Los Angeles Clippers (2001–2003).

McHone has coached for several teams in the Continental Basketball Association and NBA D-League, and has also served as head coach of the United States Men's National Basketball Team for several stints.

McHone is best known for his multiple stints as coach of the Sioux Falls Skyforce, both in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) and the NBA D-League. He coached the team from 1995-1999 in the CBA, and twice (06-07 and 10-12) in the D-League, winning the CBA Championship in 1996. He has a combined 180-124 (.592) record with the Skyforce. However, in August 2012 the Skyforce appointed Joel Abelson as the 15th Head coach of the franchise.

In between his time with the Skyforce, he was named Director of Basketball Development for the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League.

= = = Diabolique (1996 film) = = =

Diabolique is a 1996 American psychological thriller film directed by Jeremiah Chechik, written by Henri-Georges Clouzot and Don Roos, and starring Sharon Stone, Isabelle Adjani, Chazz Palminteri, and Kathy Bates. The plot follows the wife and mistress of an abusive schoolmaster who find themselves stalked by an unknown assailant after murdering him and disposing of his body.

The film is a remake of the French film "Les Diaboliques" (1955) directed by Clouzot, which was based on the novel "She Who Was No More" () by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac.

Mia Baran is a devout Catholic schoolteacher at a boys' school outside Pittsburgh where her husband, Guy, is schoolmaster. Guy is abusive to the weak Mia, a former nun who suffers from cardiomyopathy; his mistress, Nicole Horner, a fellow teacher at the school, is protective of Mia. When both women grow tired of his abuses, they collaborate to murder him in an apartment owned by a family friend of Nicole's. The women lure him there, and Mia drugs him before they successfully drown him in a bathtub. They wrap his body in a shower curtain and place it in a wicker box.

While en route to the school, Nicole crashes Guy's car in a pileup on the interstate, but the wicker box goes unnoticed by authorities. The women arrive at the school in the middle of the night, and dump Guy's corpse in the unkempt swimming pool on the property, staging his death as an accidental drowning. When his body fails to rise to the surface after several days, Nicole has the pool drained, but Guy's body is nowhere to be found. The women subsequently discover photos taken of them on the day of Guy's murder, and believe someone is blackmailing them.

After reading about the discovery of a John Doe in a nearby river, Mia goes to view the body at the sheriff's station, but finds it is not Guy. There, she attracts the attention of Shirley Vogel, a retired police officer-turned-private investigator who offers to look into Guy's disappearance. Nicole is resistant, and Shirley quickly becomes suspicious of the women. Their fears of a blackmailer are confirmed when Mia discovers the shower curtain used to conceal Guy's body hanging in her bathroom window.

Shirley confronts Mia with the accident report from Guy's car, and surmises that Guy was en route to see her in Pittsburgh on the day he disappeared. Mia grows increasingly paranoid, believing Guy is alive and stalking the women. This fear increases when two videographers filming an event at the school capture an image of Guy standing in one of the building's windows. Later, while investigating the school's basement, Shirley is attacked and knocked unconscious.

That night, Mia finds Guy floating in her bathtub, and witnesses him rise from the water. Terrified, she loses consciousness and collapses, apparently suffering a heart attack. Nicole arrives, and it is revealed that she and Guy had planned the series of events to scare Mia to the point of heart failure. Nicole laments, however, and tells Guy she had wanted to call it off. While overlooking Mia's body, Nicole realizes she is in fact not dead; when Guy realizes she is alive, he attacks both women, knocking Nicole unconscious.

Mia flees downstairs, and Guy tackles her to the ground in front of the pool and attempts to drown her. Nicole manages to stop him by driving a garden rake into his head, and he falls into the pool. As Nicole attempts to revive Mia, Guy pulls her into the pool and tries to drown her. Mia enters the pool, and together, both women successfully drown him. They exit the pool and are confronted by Shirley, who punches Mia in the face; willing to cover for the women, she explains it will help prove self-defense in Guy's murder. Mia walks away from the pool, distraught, and Shirley smokes a cigarette while watching Guy's body sink to the bottom.

Filming took place in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The St. Philomena School was used as the primarily filming location.

The movie was compared unfavorably to the original movie, and received overall negative reviews. It currently holds a 'rotten' 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews. Stone was nominated for a Razzie Award for "Worst New Star" (as the new "serious" Sharon Stone) for this film and "Last Dance", where she lost to Pamela Anderson for "Barb Wire".

The movie was a box office bomb, grossing far below its $45 million budget.

= = = Blephariceridae = = =

The Blephariceridae, commonly known as net-winged midges, are a nematoceran family in the order Diptera. The adults resemble crane flies except with a projecting anal angle in the wings, and different head shape, absence of the V on the mesonotum, and more laterally outstretched, forward-facing legs. They are uncommon, but dozens of genera occur worldwide, and over 200 species.

They are found near fast-flowing streams where the larvae live. Blepharicerid larvae are filter feeders and have suckers on their abdominal sternites, used to adhere to rocks in the torrents in which they live. These suckers are sometimes called creeping welts. These are of unique evolutionary origin within the Diptera.

One recent classification based largely on fossils treats this family as the sole member of its infraorder, but this has not gained wide acceptance.

Loew H. 1862. Monographs of the Diptera of North America. Part 1. Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection 6(1): 1-221, fig. 1-3+1-12, 2 pls.

= = = Victoria Beckham (album) = = =

Victoria Beckham (stylised as VB) is the self-titled debut and, to date, only studio album by English singer-songwriter, Victoria Beckham. It was released on 1 October 2001 by Virgin Records. Beckham was the last member of the Spice Girls to release a solo album. The album's lead single, "Not Such an Innocent Girl" was released on 17 September 2001. The second single, "A Mind of Its Own" was released on 11 February 2002. A third single, "I Wish", was promoted but never materialised, following the announcement of Beckham's second pregnancy, the single was shelved.

The album was a success, reached number ten in the United Kingdom and number twenty on the Australian Hitseekers Albums Chart.

Initially, the album was to be titled "Innocent Girl" and set to be released on 27 August 2001, but was released on 1 October. Beckham revealed that she felt she had "a lot to prove" with the album's release: "When I started recording this album, I had a lot to prove. I want to prove I can sing and dance and have a vision. I'm really baring my soul on this. I hope people like it. When I was with the other girls I never did a lot of the singing, so this is the first time that people are going to see me and what I am capable of". She added that she hoped the album would do well "and I can have a successful solo career".

The album did not include the hit "Out of Your Mind", but spawned two singles, "Not Such an Innocent Girl" and "A Mind of Its Own" which managed to reach the top ten in the United Kingdom.

"Not Such an Innocent Girl" was released on 17 September 2001 as the lead single from the album. In the United Kingdom, the single faced competition in a hugely hyped chart battle with Kylie Minogue's single "Can't Get You Out of My Head". On the chart date of 29 September 2001, "Not Such an Innocent Girl" debuted at number six on the UK Singles Chart with first week sales of 35,000 units, while "Can't Get You Out of My Head" debuted at number one with first week sales of 306,000 units. It has sold about 80,263 copies altogether becoming the 163rd best seller of 2001. It sold 36,000 copies in its first week of release in the United Kingdom, and about 80,263 copies altogether becoming the 163rd best seller of 2001.

The music video has a futuristic theme and features two Victorias: one dressed in all-white with blonde hair ("the good girl"), and the other in all-black with jet black hair ("the bad girl"). The video culminates into a "dance-off" and motorcycle race between the two Victorias. The complex video was shot almost entirely on a green set with a great deal of post-production, making it one of the most complex solo Spice Girl videos to date.

"A Mind of Its Own" was released on 11 February 2002 as the second single from her debut self-titled solo album (2001). It peaked and debuted at number six on the UK Singles Chart and sold 56,570 becoming the 173rd best seller of 2002. There is a French version of the song called "Mon Coeur N'en Fait Qu'a Sa Tete" (an adaptation of the title into French, or "my heart does what it wants to do").

A third single, "I Wish", was promoted but never materialised. The single version was a remix featuring Robbie Craig, and was performed on TV on "Friday Night's All Wright". Following the announcement of Beckham's second pregnancy, the single was shelved. Beckham was reportedly dropped by Virgin Records along with fellow Spice Girls Emma Bunton and Melanie B,; but a statement from her publicist denied reports, stating: "No-one has been dropped. The Virgin deal has come to a natural end and both parties have decided not to continue."

"Victoria Beckham" faced a chart battle during the album's release week with Kylie Minogue's "Fever". Both singers had previously faced a battle in the singles' chart, when their singles were released on the same day. However, Beckham's album debuted at number ten on the UK Albums Chart on 13 October 2001, whilst Minogue's album topped the charts. "Victoria Beckham" charted for three weeks on the chart. However, the album has only sold 50,000 copies overall in the United Kingdom, while costing £5 million to produce. After "Being Victoria Beckham", an official documentary that aired in March 2002, the album re-entered the UK Albums Chart at number sixty-seven.

Upon its release, the album received mixed to negative reviews. The BBC Music described the album as "a mish-mash affair of gushy sentiment and wishy-washy RnB" whilst "NME" called the album "a new low in shameless pop slaggery".

Credits adapted from the liner notes of "Victoria Beckham".

= = = Tourist Trap (film) = = =

Tourist Trap is a 1979 American supernatural slasher film directed by David Schmoeller and starring Chuck Connors, Jocelyn Jones, Jon Van Ness, Robin Sherwood, and Tanya Roberts. The film follows a group of young people who stumble upon a roadside museum housing mannequins that wield supernatural powers. Schmoeller co-wrote the script with J. Larry Carroll who served as producer for the film alongside famous producer/director Charles Band.

Eileen and her boyfriend Woody are driving through the desert. When their car gets a flat, Woody goes to find a gas station. Their friends Becky, Jerry, and Molly are traveling separately in a different vehicle. They reach Eileen waiting at the car and they all drive off to collect Woody.

Woody has found a gas station but it appears deserted. He enters the back room but becomes trapped. Various mannequins appear in the room, and multiple objects fly at him until a metal pipe impales and kills him.

The others find a tourist trap and conclude Woody is there. As they drive in, their vehicle mysteriously breaks down. Jerry tries to fix his jeep and the girls go skinny dipping in a nearby oasis. As they swim, Mr. Slausen - the owner of said tourist trap - appears holding a shotgun. Though outwardly polite he also seems embittered by the decline of his tourist trap since the highway was moved away. The nude girls feel awkward in the water as he chats and they apologize for trespassing.

Slausen offers to help Jerry with the jeep, but insists the group go to his house with him to get his tools. There, they see the tourist trap: animated waxworks figures, including armed bandits. Eileen is curious about a nearby house, but Slausen insists that the women should stay inside the museum. Slausen takes Jerry to fix the jeep, leaving the women. Eileen leaves to find a phone in the other house. There she finds several mannequins inside the house. Someone calls her name, and a stranger wearing a grotesque mask suddenly appears behind her. Various items in the room move of their own accord and the scarf Eileen is wearing tightens and strangles her to death.

Slausen returns to Molly and Becky saying that Jerry drove his truck into town. When told that Eileen left, he goes to the house and finds Eileen has been turned into a mannequin. He returns and tells Molly and Becky he did not find Eileen and will leave again to continue the search. The women are frustrated, and later leave the museum to search for Eileen. Becky enters the nearby house and finds a mannequin resembling Eileen. Becky is attacked by the masked killer and then by multiple mannequins. She later wakes up tied up in the basement along with Jerry. Jerry says the killer is Slausen's brother. Also held captive is Tina (Dawn Jeffory), who is strapped to a table. She is killed when the masked man covers her face with plaster, causing her to suffocate. Jerry frees himself and attacks the killer, but is soon overpowered. Jerry tries to reach for a key but the killer telekinetically moves it from his reach.

Molly is still outside and searching for the others. She is soon pursued by the masked man. She meets Slausen who drives her to the museum and gives her a gun while he goes inside. The masked man appears and Molly shoots, but the gun is loaded with blanks. The man removes the mask, revealing himself to be Slausen. She panics and tries to elude Slausen but is soon captured and restrained to a bed.

Becky and Jerry escape from the basement, but get separated. Slausen appears and takes Becky to the museum. There the Old West figures begin shooting at her. Becky is killed by an Indian Chief figure who throws a knife at her, stabbing her in the back of the head. Back at the house, Jerry arrives to rescue Molly, but he is revealed to have unknowingly been turned into a mannequin. Slausen dances with the figure of his wife, and Molly sees that the wife has become animated. Traumatized, she kills Slausen with an axe.

The next morning, an insane Molly is seen driving away in the jeep with the mannequin versions of her friends.

The screenplay for "Tourist Trap" was written by David Schmoeller and J. Larry Carroll, the latter of whom pitched the film to producer Charles Band. Initially, Schmoeller intended for John Carpenter to direct the film, but Carroll was unsatisfied with the financial arrangements, and opted instead that Schmoeller should direct. Carroll and Schmoeller had previously pitched the film to producers Samuel Z. Arkoff and Bruce Cohn Curtis, but were unable to secure a production arrangement.

The original screenplay did not feature the telekinetic powers; according to Carroll, the idea was proposed by Band, who insisted it be implemented into the script.

The production did not appoint a casting director for the film, instead relying on independent talent agents to help cast the roles. According to director Schmoeller, $50,000 of the film's budget was dedicated to salary for the lead actor portraying the villain Mr. Slausen. The role was offered to several older Hollywood actors, such as Jack Palance and Gig Young, but both turned the project down. Chuck Connors, who was the production crew's third choice for the role, accepted the role.

According to Schmoeller, each of the actors in the film aside from Connors auditioned for their parts. Jocelyn Jones was cast as the female lead, Molly, after Schmoeller had seen some of her previous performances, while Tanya Roberts was given the role of Becky. Jon Van Ness and Robin Sherwood were given the roles of Jerry and Eileen, respectively.

"Tourist Trap" was filmed in 24 days in Los Angeles County, California, with additional interiors shot at Rampart Sound Studios in Los Angeles. Principal photography began on March 27, 1978. A portion of the interior scenes were shot at an abandoned house located at 5255 Hollywood Boulevard which was scheduled for demolition. Schmoeller made arrangements with the contractor to postpone the demolition of the building for five days, during which time the crew shot footage. By using the abandoned location, the production saved an estimated $30,000 in set construction and soundstage fees. David Wyler, the son of William Wyler, served a second assistant director, while the director of photography was Nicholas von Sternberg, son of Josef von Sternberg.

Production designer Robert A. Burns, who had worked on Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974) and Wes Craven's "The Hills Have Eyes" (1977), handled the art direction – and the majority of the special effects – on "Tourist Trap", including the mannequins and their physical manipulations. To accomplish the poltergeist-like effects in the film's opening scene, the set was constructed at a rotated 90 degrees; this allowed items to be hurled by the crew from the cabinet—which was in fact anchored to the ceiling—to the floor, which appeared on camera as a wall. Other special effects were accomplished with the use of wires. For the death sequence of Tanya Roberts's character, for example, a block of wood was taped behind Roberts's hair; a knife attached to a wire was hurled at the back of her head, which stuck into the wooden block.

Schmoeller recalled the filming process as being a "learning" experience as he was a first-time director; he stated in a 2014 interview that he learned a significant amount of "how to work with actors" from actress Jones.

Italian composer Pino Donaggio was in town working on Joe Dante's "Piranha" (1978) at the time that David Schmoeller was filming "Tourist Trap". Since Donaggio spoke Spanish – as did Schmoeller – the director was able to convince the composer to score the music for "Tourist Trap". The two would have subsequent collaborations, including "Crawlspace" (1986).

According to the American Film Institute Catalog, the film premiered in Los Angeles, California on March 14, 1979. Despite its depictions of violence and macabre images, the Motion Picture Association of America awarded the film a PG rating. Because of its rating, the film was able to receive significant broadcasting on syndicated television in the years following its theatrical release.

From contemporary reviews, "Variety" wrote, "Although pic has some appropriately menacing music and occasionally employs some decent special effects, the plot is too loaded with cliches, from the concept to individual bits of dialog to be taken seriously and not silly enough to be regarded as delightfully bad." Charles Champlin of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote that the film "has some moments of effectiveness, but even the hard-line shiverists are likely to feel it's a long time between shrieks." Tim Pulleine of the "Monthly Film Bulletin" called the film a "wholly unimaginative exercise in low-budget horror plunders "Psycho" for its central plot gimmick in a fashion even more hamfisted than its is bare-faced." and that "Nothing much is made of the potentially sinister import of the wax dummies, by comparison with whom the human performers also fail to come off too well"

From retrospective reviews, Author and film critic Leonard Maltin gave the film one and a half out of four stars, stating that although the film had a couple of genuine scares, it was a "mostly boring thriller".

Author Stephen King, in his book "Danse Macabre" (1981), praised the film as an obscure classic, noting that the film "wields an eerie spooky power, as wax figures begin to move and come to life in a ruined, out-of-the-way tourist resort."

Jason Buchanan from AllMovie praised the film, calling it "one of the most underappreciated low-budget horror films of the 1970s". In his review on the film, Buchanan commended the film's atmosphere, score, Conners' performance, and unsettling use of sound and imagery; comparing it to Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre". "TV Guide" awarded the film two out of four stars, calling it a "bizarre, eerie shocker."

The film was satirized by RiffTrax on November 21, 2012.

The film was released on DVD by Cult Video on July 20, 1998. It was re-released on DVD by Wizard Entertainment on March 19, 2013. Full Moon Features released the film for the first time on Blu-ray on May 20, 2014. The Full Moon Blu-ray release features a truncated version of the film; though the film's violent scenes remain intact, minor plot points are absent from this cut of the film.

= = = Paul Offit = = =

Paul Allan Offit (born 27 March 1951) is an American pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases, vaccines, immunology, and virology. He is the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine. Offit is the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology, Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Former Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases (1992-2014), and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He has been a member of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Offit is a Board Member of Every Child By Two and a Founding Board Member of the Autism Science Foundation (ASF).

Offit has published more than 130 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses and vaccine safety, and is the author or co-author of books on vaccines, vaccination, and antibiotics. He is one of the most public faces of the scientific consensus that vaccines have no association with autism. As a result, he has attracted controversy, and both a substantial volume of hate mail and occasional death threats, as well as support for his position.

Offit grew up in Baltimore, the son of a shirtmaker. He went to his father's sales meetings and reacted negatively to the tall tales told by salespeople, instead preferring the clean and straightforward practice of science. When he was five years old, he was sent to a polio ward to recover from clubfoot surgery; this experience caused him to see children as vulnerable and helpless, and motivated him through the 25 years of the development of the rotavirus vaccine.

Offit decided to become a doctor, the first in his family. Offit earned his bachelor's degree from Tufts University and his M.D. from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. One of his mentors at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was Maurice Hilleman, who developed several of the major vaccines in use today.

By 2008 Offit had become a leading advocate of childhood immunizations. He was opposed by vaccine critics, many of whom believe vaccines cause autism, a belief that has been rejected by major medical journals and professional societies. He received a death threat and received protection by an armed guard during meetings at the CDC. His 2008 book "Autism's False Prophets" catalyzed a backlash against the antivaccine movement in the U.S. He donated the royalties from the book to the Center for Autism Research at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Offit serves on the board of the American Council on Science and Health. In 2015, Dr. Offit appeared in a vaccine awareness video created by Robert Till in which he advocated for teenage vaccinations.

Offit worked for 25 years on the development of a safe and effective vaccine against rotavirus, which is a cause of diarrhea, and which kills almost 600,000 children a year worldwide, about half as many as malaria kills; most deaths are outside the West. His interest in the disease stemmed from the death of a 9-month-old infant from rotavirus-caused dehydration while under his care as a pediatric resident in 1979.

Along with his colleagues Fred Clark and Stanley Plotkin, Offit invented RotaTeq, a pentavalent rotavirus vaccine manufactured by Merck & Co. Since 2006, RotaTeq has been one of two vaccines currently used against rotavirus.

In February 2006, RotaTeq was approved for inclusion in the recommended U.S. vaccination schedule, following its approval by the Food and Drug Administration. Premarketing studies found that RotaTeq was effective and safe, with an incidence of adverse events comparable to placebo. RotaTeq has been credited (by Peter Hotez) with saving hundreds of lives a day. Offit received an unspecified sum of money for his interest in RotaTeq. Offit was elected a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, in 2015.

In 2002, during a period of fears about bioterrorism, Offit was the only member of the CDC's advisory panel to vote against a program to give smallpox vaccine to tens of thousands of Americans. He later argued on "60 Minutes II" and "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" that the risk of harm for people getting the vaccine outweighed the risk of getting smallpox in the U.S. at the time.

In December 2013, Sarah Erush and Offit declared the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has a moratorium on the use of dietary supplements without certain manufacturers' guarantee for quality.

Offit defines alternative medicine as quackery when it involves unappreciated harm and replacement of conventional therapies that work, with alternative therapies that don't. His books and articles warn against expense and risk to health for recipients of alternative therapies. In 2013 Offit wrote the book "Do you believe in Magic? – The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine." Offit states that the purpose of the book "is to take a critical look at the field of Alternative Medicine – to separate fact from myth." and that "There's only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't."(p. 6) One of Offit's concerns is the scare tactics he says proponents of Alternative Medicine will often use, in a 2010 podcast with the "Point of Inquiry" Offit stated "it is very difficult to unscare people when you scare them."

Offit has said that the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 should be overturned to provide proper oversight and action against supplement providers.

Offit has blamed Rachel Carson for millions of deaths from malaria because of her campaign against DDT.

Offit is a recipient of numerous awards, including the J. Edmund Bradley Prize for Excellence in Pediatrics from the University of Maryland Medical School, the Young Investigator Award in Vaccine Development from the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the 2013 Maxwell Finland Award for Scientific Achievement and a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. In 2018, Offit was awarded the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal from the Sabin Vaccine Institute in Washington, DC for his work on the oral rotavirus vaccine and his leadership in promoting immunization.