Question: What part does athletic achievement have in a country's advancement?

The role of sporting success in national development is multifaceted, contributing to social cohesion, personal growth, and educational outcomes. Sporting achievements have the power to unite people across diverse backgrounds, promoting global peace and fostering a spirit of self-improvement since the inception of the modern Olympics in 1896. Non-profit sports initiatives play a crucial role in leveraging sports for social development, particularly among youth. These programs not only teach valuable life skills and sportsmanship but also serve as a tool for community engagement, encouraging positive peer relationships and benefiting children with conditions like ADHD by promoting integration and self-esteem.[1] Participation in sports is associated with improved cognitive function, higher academic performance, and lower dropout rates, which can lead to better future prospects and college aspirations.[2] Moreover, the supportive environment created by sports teams can mitigate the adverse effects of poverty, as noted by the Olympic Movement's official website. Urban non-profit organizations often use sports to empower marginalized children, bridging divides of gender, race, religion, and socioeconomic status.[3]

References:
1. Olympic Movement. (n.d.). Sport for Social Development. [online] Available at: [insert link]
2. Research studies. (n.d.). [insert link]
3. Non-profit organizations. (n.d.). [insert link]

Specific or task-oriented fitness is a person's ability to perform in a specific activity with a reasonable efficiency: for example, sports or military service. Specific training prepares athletes to perform well in their sport.

Outside the formal structure of schools and classrooms in the north is the extremely important "social education". This education includes not only extracurricular activities but also family life and the broadest range of human relationships within society. There is great sensitivity to the influence of the social environment on the growing child and its role in the development of his or her character. The ideal of social education is to provide a carefully controlled environment in which children are exposed only to pro-Juche and anti-south influences. According to a North Korean official interviewed in 1990, 'School education is not enough to turn the rising generation into men of knowledge, virtue, and physical fitness. After school, our children have many spare hours. So it's important to efficiently organise their afterschool education'.

In Singapore, a co-curricular activity (CCA), previously known as an extracurricular activity (ECA), is a non-academic activity that all students, regardless of nationality, must participate in. This policy was introduced by the Ministry of Education (MOE).

Of the 46 National Olympic Committees participating throughout the history of the Games, 43 nations have won at least a single medal in the competition, leaving three nations: Bhutan, Maldives and Timor-Leste yet to win a single medal. 38 nations have won at least one gold medal (only Japan and India have done so at every Asian Games), while Japan and China became the only two nations in history to emerge as overall champions.[50]

As in neighbouring Senegal, the national and most popular sport in Gambia is wrestling.[89] Association football and basketball are also popular. Football in the Gambia is administered by the Gambia Football Association, who are affiliated to both FIFA and CAF. The GFA runs league football in the Gambia, including top division GFA League First Division, as well as the Gambia national football team. Nicknamed "The Scorpions", the national side have never qualified for either the FIFA World Cup or the Africa Cup of Nations finals at senior levels. They play at Independence Stadium. The Gambia won two CAF U-17 championships one in 2005 when the country hosted, and 2009 in Algeria automatically qualifying for FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru (2005) and Nigeria (2009) respectively. The U-20 also qualified for FIFA U-20 2007 in Canada. The female U-17 also competed in FIFA U-17 World Cup 2012 in Azerbaijan.

The International Cheer Union (ICU) is built of 103 countries that compete against each other in four divisions; Coed Premier, All-girl Premier, Coed Elite, and All-girl Elite. Canada has a national team ran by the Canadian Cheer Union (CCU). Their Coed Elite Level 5 Team and their All-girl Elite Level 5 team are 4-time world champions. They are found from all over the country. In 2013, they added two more teams to their roster. A new division that will compete head-to-head with the United States: in both the All-girl and Coed Premier Level 6 divisions. Members tryout and are selected on the basis of their skills and potential to succeed. Athletes are selected from all over. Canada's national program has grown to be one of the most successful programs.[91]

Literacy rates and school participation in the Dominican Republic has risen over the past years. Through these efforts, women have reported fast upward movement in social class partially due to increased education.[1] There have been numerous efforts to evaluate teachers, students, and facilities through examinations. Teachers in the Dominican Republic rate higher in multiple aspects than other countries in Latin America, however, still rank below many other countries.[2] The school conditions vary based on whether the school is private, polytechnic, or public non-polytechnic, with decreasing quality facilities respectively. A very similar trend has been found in student performance.[3] Despite advances in the education system, there are still issues in regards to gender inequality, participation in the education system, and involvement of outside organizations.

Argentina is one of the most important sport powers in the region, ending at the top of the medal count at the South American Games since 1978, with exceptions in 2002 and 2010. In the all-time medal table of the Pan American Games, Argentina holds first place among South American countries and fourth place in the Americas, behind the United States, Canada and Cuba. Despite a relative lack of success at the Olympic level in more traditional sports like athletics, swimming, and gymnastics, Argentina has had successful participations in other sports like association football, basketball, field hockey, roller hockey, padel tennis, polo and rugby union.

As of the 2016â€“17 season, the ICU has introduced a Junior aged team (12-16) to compete at the Cheerleading Worlds, because cheerleading is now in provisional status to become a sport in the Olympics. For cheerleading to one day be in the Olympics, there must be a junior and senior team that competes at the world championships. The first junior cheerleading team that was selected to become the junior national team was Eastside Middle School, located in Mount Washington Kentucky and will represent the United States in the inaugural junior division at the world championships.[45]

The Best Male Athlete ESPY Award, known alternatively as the Outstanding Male Athlete ESPY Award, has been presented annually at the ESPY Awards since 1993 to the male voted irrespective of nationality or sport contested, adjudged to be the best athlete in a given calendar year.  Between 1993 and 2004, the award voting panel comprised variously fans; sportswriters and broadcasters, sports executives, and retired sportspersons, termed collectively experts; and ESPN personalities, but balloting thereafter has been exclusively by fans over the Internet from amongst choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee.  Through the 2001 iteration of the ESPY Awards, ceremonies were conducted in February of each year to honor achievements over the previous calendar year; awards presented thereafter are conferred in June and reflect performance from the June previous.[2]


Question: What is the plot of the film The Crying Game about?

The Crying Game is a film that explores the journey of Fergus (played by Stephen Rea), an IRA member, who becomes entangled in the lives of a British soldier named Jody (Forest Whitaker) and Dil (Jaye Davidson), Jody's girlfriend. Fergus, after a pledge to Jody, finds himself in an unexpected romantic situation with Dil. The plot thickens when unforeseen circumstances compel Fergus to confront his desires and his true self, leading him to a critical decision about his future and his identity.

However Livingston maintains that the film is not just about "a cute dance." "This is a film that is important for anyone to see, whether they're gay or not. It's about how we're all influenced by the media; how we strive to meet the demands of the media by trying to look like Vogue models or by owning a big car. And it's about survival. It's about people who have a lot of prejudices against them and who have learned to survive with wit, dignity and energy. It's a little story about how we all survive."[6]

Aman (Sanjay Dutt) is an impoverished, lame orphan who is befriended by wealthy Akash Verma (Salman Khan) during his childhood. Akash's parents adopt Aman and give him their family name, so Akash and Aman grow up as brothers. While Akash is a womaniser, Aman takes to writing poems under the pen name Sagar. The poems get published, and Aman becomes very popular. One of his fans is a young woman by the name of Pooja Saxena (Madhuri Dixit), who corresponds with Sagar. Akash meets Pooja and falls head over heels in love with her. When Aman comes to know of this, he asks Akash to pose as Sagar, which he does, then Pooja and Akash fall in love with each other. A heartbroken Aman looks on, as he knows that although women may like his poetry, they will never come out openly and love him when they see his handicap. Akash discovers that Aman loves Pooja and that he is actually Sagar, through a string of events triggered by a Pankaj Udhas show. Akash confronts Aman with this and Aman admits that he loves Pooja. Pooja witnesses this encounter and becomes upset with both Akash and Aman. Later she tells Aman that she would have loved him if he had revealed the truth that he is Sagar and cries on his shoulder. Eventually Aman and Pooja unite and the film ends on a happy note.

Seventeen years later, Eggsy, having dropped out of training for the Royal Marines despite his intelligence and capability, has become a stereotypical chav.[8][9] After being arrested for stealing a car, Eggsy calls the number. Hart arranges his release. Hart explains that he is a member of Kingsman, a private intelligence service founded by wealthy British individuals who lost their heirs in World War I. Hart, code name "Galahad", explains there is a position available, as agent "Lancelot" was killed by the assassin Gazelle while trying to rescue Professor James Arnold from kidnappers. Eggsy becomes Hart's candidate. Other candidates are eliminated through dangerous training tests run by operative "Merlin", until only Eggsy and Roxy, a candidate he befriended, are left. Eggsy is unable to complete the final test – shooting a dog he has raised during the training process (unaware that the gun holds blanks) – and Roxy is named the new "Lancelot".

In Vietnam, U.S. helicopters attack a village. An unconscious Mike (now a Staff Sergeant in the Special Forces) wakes up to see an NVA soldier shoot a woman carrying a baby. Mike kills him with a flamethrower. Meanwhile, a unit of UH-1 "Huey" helicopters drops off several U.S. infantrymen, Nick and Steven among them. Mike, Steven, and Nick unexpectedly find each other just before they are captured and held in a prisoner of war camp. For entertainment, the guards force the prisoners to play Russian roulette and gamble on the outcome. All three friends are forced to play. Steven plays against Mike, who offers moral support, but Steven breaks down and points the gun upwards whilst pulling the trigger, grazing himself with the bullet when it discharges. As punishment, the guards put him into an underwater cage full of rats and dead bodies. Mike and Nick hatch a plan to escape by playing against each other, with Mike convincing the guards to let them play Russian roulette with three bullets in the gun. After a tense match, they kill their captors and escape.

The Smoking Man is involved in the Syndicate, a shadow organization which includes members of the United States government that exists to hide from the public the fact that aliens are planning to colonize Earth. The Smoking Man often ruthlessly protects the secrets of the conspiracy, and serves as the main antagonist to Mulder, who has an equally consuming devotion to reveal the truth in the first seven seasons.[18] His stated justification is a desire to prevent the alien colonization for as long as possible; in the episode "One Breath", he tells Mulder that he is in the conspiracy (which he calls "the game") because he believes that the secrets he keeps could, if publicly revealed, threaten the social order that preserves society: "If people were to know of the things that I know... it would all fall apart". He is at times shown working towards that goal, particularly in connection with developing a vaccine to protect people from the "black oil", a parasitic agent which the alien Colonists use to propagate themselves.[11]

In 1988, shortly after the release of their second album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Public Enemy were preparing for the European leg of the Run's House tour with Run–D.M.C.[1] Before embarking on the tour, film director Spike Lee approached Public Enemy with the proposition of making a song for one of his movies.[1] Lee, who was directing Do the Right Thing, sought to use the song as a leitmotif in the film about racial tension in a Brooklyn, New York neighborhood.[2] He said of his decision in a subsequent interview for Time, "I wanted it to be defiant, I wanted it to be angry, I wanted it to be very rhythmic. I thought right away of Public Enemy".[3] At a meeting in Lower Manhattan, Lee told lead MC Chuck D, producer Hank Shocklee of The Bomb Squad, and executive producer Bill Stephney that he needed an anthemic song for the film.[4]

Meanwhile, John Quincy Archibald and his wife Denise witness their young son Michael collapse at his baseball game and take Michael to the hospital. After a series of tests at the hospital, John is informed by Dr. Raymond Turner and Rebecca Payne, the hospital administrator, that his son has an enlarged heart and that he will die without a heart transplant. The procedure is very expensive: $250,000 (at a minimum), with a down payment of $75,000 (30%) required to get Michael's name on the organ recipient list. John tells them he is insured, but after looking through his policy, they tell him that because the company he works for dropped John from full-time to part-time, his health insurance has been changed, and the new policy does not cover the surgery, which leaves John and Denise to raise $75,000 on their own. The family tries to raise the money but are only able to come up with a third of the necessary payment. The hospital eventually tires of waiting and plans to release Michael, and an outraged, distraught Denise urges John to do something. Unwilling to let his son die, John walks into the hospital ER with a handgun, gathers eleven hostages, and sets demands: his son's name on the recipient list as soon as possible or the hostages die. The hostage negotiator, Lt. Frank Grimes, stands down to let John cool off.

Michael claims that during his summer he caught the West Nile virus, an illness commonly transported by mosquito bite. He also claims to have watched Inception, a Christopher Nolan-directed science fiction film that was critically and commercial successful in the summer of 2010.[8] Michael alludes, however, that he may have only dreamed about watching the film, a reference to the ambiguity surrounding the movie's plot about extracting information from dreams.[14] In one scene, Darryl explains he blew out his knee playing softball over the summer and watched a great deal of the cable news network CNN, which led him to develop grave concerns about the ongoing War in Afghanistan.[12] Throughout the episode, Dwight wears a CamelBak, a hydration backpack from which the wearer drinks water through a hose.[12] When Jim comments on the outrageous number of keys on Dwight's keyring, Dwight responds by saying, "The bigger the keychain, the more powerful the man", which Jim recognizes as a quote by the janitor from the show Scrubs. After pranking Dwight, Pam declares herself the "Bart Simpson of Scranton", a reference to the mischievous protagonist from the animated comedy series The Simpsons.[8]

The prosecution comes forth and liberally bribes Azdak in hopes of swinging the verdict. It is revealed that Natella only wants the child because all the estates and finances of the Governor are tied to her heir and cannot be accessed without him. Grusha's defense does not go over well, as it develops into her and Simon insulting Azdak for taking bribes. Azdak fines them for this but, after consideration, claims he can't find the true mother. He decides that he will have to devise a test. A circle of chalk is drawn, and Michael is placed in the center. The true mother, Azdak states, will be able to pull the child from the center. If they both pull, they will tear the child in half and get half each. The test begins but (akin to the Judgment of Solomon) Grusha refuses to pull as she cannot bear to hurt Michael. Azdak gives her one more chance, but again she cannot pull Michael. During this dilemma, a poignant song is sung by the Singer as a reflection of Grusha's thoughts toward Michael. The others onstage cannot hear this, but they feel the overwhelming emotion through Grusha. Azdak declares that Grusha is the true mother, as she loves Michael too much to be able to hurt him. The Governor's wife is told that the estates shall fall to the city and be made into a garden for children called "Azdak's Garden". Simon pays Azdak his fine. Azdak tells the old couple he shall divorce them, but "accidentally" divorces Grusha and the peasant man, leaving her free to marry Simon. Everyone dances off happily as Azdak disappears. The Singer remarks upon Azdak's wisdom and notes that in the ending, everyone got what they deserved.

The film depicts people with different gender identities or communities and their different forms of expression.[5] It also explores how its subjects dealt with the adversity of racism, homophobia, AIDS and poverty. For example, some, like Venus Xtravaganza became sex workers, some shoplift clothing, and some were thrown out of their homes by homophobic parents. One participant was saving money for sex reassignment surgery. According to Livingston, the documentary is a multi-leveled exploration of a subculture in African American and Latino cultures that proves to be a microcosm of society, which was an underappreciated and arguably underground world that many Americans were unfamiliar with.[6] Through candid one-on-one interviews the film offers insight into the lives and struggles of its subjects and the strength, pride, and humor they maintain to survive in a "rich, white world."


Question: Where does the phrase "Uncle Sam" originate from?

The origin of the Uncle Sam character is somewhat of a mystery, but a common belief is that it stems from Samuel Wilson, a meat supplier from Troy, New York, who provided provisions for American troops during the War of 1812. At the time, suppliers were required to mark their deliveries with initials and location. Wilson's packages were marked "E.A. - US," which a co-worker humorously interpreted as "Elbert Anderson [the contractor] and Uncle Sam," referring to Wilson, although "US" actually signified United States. This story's credibility has been questioned, as it wasn't documented until 1842. Furthermore, the earliest known reference to Uncle Sam dates back to 1810, prior to Wilson's government contract. By 1835, Brother Jonathan and Uncle Sam were both referenced, with Brother Jonathan symbolizing the country and Uncle Sam representing the government's authority.

Although "umbles" and the modern word "humble" are etymologically unrelated, each word has appeared with and without the initial "h" after the Middle Ages until the 19th century. Since the sound "h" is dropped in many dialects, the phrase was rebracketed as "humble pie".[citation needed] While "umble" is now gone from the language, the phrase remains, carrying the fossilized word as an idiom.

A backronym (or bacronym) is a phrase that is constructed "after the fact" from a previously existing word. For example, the novelist and critic Anthony Burgess once proposed that the word "book" ought to stand for "Box Of Organized Knowledge."[77] A classic real-world example of this is the name of the predecessor to the Apple Macintosh, The Apple Lisa, which was said to refer to "Local Integrated Software Architecture", but was actually named after Steve Jobs' daughter, born in 1978.

During the mid- to late-19th century, an acronym-disseminating trend spread through the American and European business communities: abbreviating corporation names in places where space was limited for writing—such as on the sides of railroad cars (e.g., Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad → RF&P); on the sides of barrels and crates; and on ticker tape and in the small-print newspaper stock listings that got their data from it (e.g., American Telephone and Telegraph Company → AT&T). Some well-known commercial examples dating from the 1890s through 1920s include Nabisco (National Biscuit Company),[31] Esso (from S.O., from Standard Oil), and Sunoco (Sun Oil Company).

Robinson is an English language patronymic surname, originating in England. It means "son of Robin (a diminutive of Robert)". There are similar surname spellings such as Robison and Robeson. Robinson is the 15th most common surname in the United Kingdom.[1] According to the 1990 United States Census, Robinson was the twentieth most frequently encountered surname among those reported, accounting for 0.23% of the population.[2]

Several LDS historians[who?] believe that the term was used prior to Sharp's mention, and has ties to sympathetic Democrats in Jackson County, Missouri. Their belief is that the term originated in Missouri, during the Kirtland period of Latter Day Saint history, circa 1834. When Church members were expelled from Jackson County by a mob, many fled to Clay County, where local citizens, mostly Democrats, were sympathetic and friendly toward the Mormons. These citizens were pejoratively labeled "Jack" Mormons by the antagonistic citizens of Jackson County.

The modern English word "Hebrew" is derived from Old French Ebrau, via Latin from the Greek Ἑβραῖος (Hebraîos) and Aramaic 'ibrāy: all ultimately derived from Biblical Hebrew Ibri (עברי), one of several names for the Israelite (Jewish and Samaritan) people. It is traditionally understood to be an adjective based on the name of Abraham's ancestor, Eber, mentioned in Genesis 10:21. The name is believed to be based on the Semitic root ʕ-b-r (עבר) meaning "beyond", "other side", "across";[18] interpretations of the term "Hebrew" generally render its meaning as roughly "from the other side [of the river/desert]"—i.e., an exonym for the inhabitants of the land of Israel/Judah, perhaps from the perspective of Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, or the Transjordan (with the river referenced perhaps the Euphrates, Jordan, or Litani; or maybe the northern Arabian Desert between Babylonia and Canaan).[19] Compare cognate Assyrian ebru, of identical meaning.[20]

The term prime minister in the sense that we know it originated in the 18th century in the United Kingdom when members of parliament disparagingly used the title in reference to Sir Robert Walpole. During the whole of the 18th Century, Britain was involved in a prolonged conflict with France, periodically bursting into all-out war, and Britons took outspoken pride in their "Liberty" as contrasted to the "Tyranny" of French Absolute Monarchy; therefore, being implicitly compared with Richelieu was no compliment to Walpole. Over time, however, the title became honorific and remains so in the 21st century.[4]

The Grange, officially referred to as The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, is a fraternal organization in the United States that encourages families to band together to promote the economic and political well-being of the community and agriculture. The Grange, founded after the Civil War in 1867, is the oldest American agricultural advocacy group with a national scope. The Grange actively lobbied state legislatures and Congress for political goals, such as the Granger Laws to lower rates charged by railroads, and rural free mail delivery by the Post Office.

In 1999, a widespread hoax called "Life in the 1500s", false information was circulated through email regarding "chew the fat".[14] Among offering explanations for many phrases, the email stated:

A well-known Slavic word in almost all European languages is vodka, a borrowing from Russian водка (vodka) – which itself was borrowed from Polish wódka (lit. "little water"), from common Slavic voda ("water", cognate to the English word) with the diminutive ending "-ka".[13][14] Owing to the medieval fur trade with Northern Russia, Pan-European loans from Russian include such familiar words as sable.[15] The English word "vampire" was borrowed (perhaps via French vampire) from German Vampir, in turn derived from Serbian vampir, continuing Proto-Slavic *ǫpyrь,[16][17] although Polish scholar K. Stachowski has argued that the origin of the word is early Slavic *vąpěrь, going back to Turkic oobyr.[18] Several European languages, including English, have borrowed the word polje (meaning "large, flat plain") directly from the former Yugoslav languages (i.e. Slovene, Croatian, and Serbian). During the heyday of the USSR in the 20th century, many more Russian words became known worldwide: da, Soviet, sputnik, perestroika, glasnost, kolkhoz, etc. Also in the English language borrowed from Russian is samovar (lit. "self-boiling") to refer to the specific Russian tea urn.


Question: Who wrote "Davy's on the Road Again"?

Manfred Mann's Earth Band is known for their hit song "Davy's on the Road Again," which was featured on their album "Watch." The album also included a live performance of "Mighty Quinn," showcasing the band's dynamic range. Building on the success of their hit single, the Earth Band re-released a vocally re-cut version of "Spirit in the Night," originally from their "Nightingales & Bombers" album, with Chris Thompson taking over the lead vocal from Mick Rogers. The inclusion of jazz saxophonist Barbara Thompson on "The Roaring Silence" added to the band's eclectic sound, further cementing their reputation as innovative musicians.

Hynde has stated that "Middle of the Road" refers to Tao Te Ching, which she interprets as "the middle way."[3] According to Charles M. Young of Musician, the song is about "getting out there and mixing it up with the world."[4] The song lyrics include observations about the difference between wealth and poverty that singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde had observed. The lyrics also refer to autobiographical details (i.e., the lyric “I got a kid, I'm thirty-three” although Hynde turned 32 shortly before the single was released). Hynde plays the harmonica solo near the end of the song.[5]

Meanwhile, McMillan was recording in a studio in Jacksonville, Florida when he received a call that two of his friends had been critically injured in a car accident. Later that evening, he received another call from his father who informed McMillan that Coffey had died.[4] The next day, McMillan wrote "How He Loves" as a tribute to Coffey and out of a need "to have some sort of conversation with God" where he could speak to his frustrations and emotions over his best friend's death.[5]

In 1969, Rod Stewart recorded a version for the album An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down. This version of the song was arranged by Mike d'Abo, who also played piano on the recording. The song failed to garner significant sales or airplay in the United States, but when it was re-released as a single in 1972, it managed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at 42 in March. In 1993, he recorded a live version of the song during his session for MTV Unplugged. This version was included on the album Unplugged...and Seated. When introducing the song on the 2004 live recording of One Night Only! Rod Stewart Live at Royal Albert Hall, Stewart asked the audience to recall who "else did it" and then stated "I did it first!"[citation needed]

Working on a song that Harrison had recently started writing, the ensemble completed the track, which they titled "Handle with Care" after a label on a box in Dylan's garage.[4] When Harrison presented the recording to Warner Bros., the executives insisted that the song was too good to be used as "filler" on a European single. In Petty's recollection, Harrison and Lynne then decided to realise their idea of forming a Wilburys band, and first invited him to join before phoning Dylan, who also agreed to join.[28] That night, Harrison, Lynne and Petty drove to Anaheim to see Orbison perform at the Celebrity Theatre and recruited him for the group shortly before he went on stage. In Petty's description, Orbison performed an "unbelievable show", during which "we'd punch each other and go, 'He's in our band, too.' ... We were all so excited."[28]

"The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" is a topical song written by the American musician Bob Dylan. Recorded on October 23, 1963, the song was released on Dylan's 1964 album, The Times They Are a-Changin' and gives a generally factual account of the killing of a 51-year-old African-American barmaid, Hattie Carroll, by the 24-year-old William Devereux "Billy" Zantzinger (February 7, 1939 â€“ January 3, 2009), a young man from a wealthy white tobacco farming family in Charles County, Maryland, and of his subsequent sentence to six months in a county jail, after being convicted of assault.

According to interviews on the writing of Rumours, the final section of "The Chain"—beginning with a bass progression—was created by John McVie and Mick Fleetwood. Stevie Nicks had written the lyrics separately and thought they would be a good match; she and Christine McVie did some reworking to create the first section of the tune. Other elements were worked in from an early project of Christine's called "Keep Me There".[1] The blues-style piano motif was removed, and the remainder combined with a bridge from yet another piece manually using a razor blade to cut and splice the tapes. To complete the song, Buckingham recycled the intro from an earlier song from a duet with Nicks, "Lola (My Love)", originally released on their self-titled 1973 album.

"When we get together and write, it's not like three individuals ― it's like one person in the room. Usually, we have a book of titles and we just pick one. I loved 'You Win Again' as a title, but we had no idea how it might turn out as a song. It ended up as a big demo in my garage, and I recorded stomps and things. There was just one drum on there. The rest was just sounds. Then, everybody tried to talk us out of the stomps at the start. They didn't want it. 'Take it off. Too loud! Can we have them not on the intro, just when the music starts?' All this stuff, but as soon as you hear that 'jabba-doomba, jabba-doomba' on the radio, you know it's us. It's a signal. So, that's one little secret ― give people an automatic identification of who it is."[1]

The song's title, coined by the band's drummer Chuck Ruff, derives from the fact that the original recording of the song was much longer than the final version, as the band would often deviate from the arrangement into less structured jams. The track required numerous edits to shorten it. The end result was pieced together from many sections of recording tape using a razor blade and splicing tape. Winter frequently refers to the appropriateness of the name also in relation to its "monster-like, lumbering beat". (One riff was first used by Winter in the song "Hung Up", on his jazz-oriented first album Entrance. He later tried a variation on it, "Martians" on the Standing on Rock album.)

In addition, Allman co-wrote two comedy horror-themed stage musicals with Bobby Pickett, composer of the hit novelty song, "Monster Mash." The musicals were I'm Sorry the Bridge Is Out, You'll Have to Spend the Night and its sequel, Frankenstein Unbound (Another Monster Musical), the former of which was made into the 1995 film, Monster Mash.

Bob Dylan released his album Together Through Life on April 28, 2009. In a conversation with music journalist Bill Flanagan, published on Dylan's website, Dylan explained that the genesis of the record was when French film director Olivier Dahan asked him to supply a song for his new road movie, My Own Love Song; initially only intending to record a single track, "Life Is Hard," "the record sort of took its own direction".[288] Nine of the ten songs on the album are credited as co-written by Bob Dylan and Robert Hunter.[289]


Question: What is the significance of the silver box at Elephant and Castle?

The silver box-shaped structure at Elephant and Castle, known as the Michael Faraday Memorial, was designed by modernist architect Rodney Gordon in 1959 and constructed in 1961. Located in the center of the northern roundabout of the Elephant and Castle gyratory system, it serves as a tribute to Michael Faraday, a significant scientist. The memorial is situated at this location due to its proximity to Faraday's birthplace in Newington Butts.

The cast found working with the eye patches strange as they had to act with one eye; Kingston remarked that it made her "slightly dizzy".[8] Gillan was allowed to fire a specially-made machine gun used for films.[8] Churchill's Roman Buckingham Palace was filmed in the Cardiff's City Council building.[8] The script called for an Indiana Jones style tunnel for the Headless Monks' chamber, but as that kind of location was not available in Cardiff a set was built instead.[8] The skulls were hand-crafted and required a lot of preparation, so it was one of the first things started for the episode's production.[8]

In her fourth episode, "Death at Bargain Prices", Mrs Peel takes an undercover job at a department store. Her uniform for promoting space-age toys is an elaborate leather catsuit plus silver boots, sash and welder's gloves. The suit minus the silver accessories becomes her signature outfit which she wore primarily for fight scenes in early episodes and in the titles. Some episodes contain a fetishistic undercurrent. In "A Touch of Brimstone" Mrs Peel dresses in a dominatrix outfit of corset, laced boots and spiked collar, to become the "Queen of Sin".

Several maquettes were produced during the development stage of the project.[9] A life-size model from which the sculpture was created was sold at auction for £2.28 million in July 2008.[10] An additional bronze maquette used in fundraising in the 1990s, owned by Gateshead Council, was valued at £1 million on the BBC show Antiques Roadshow on 16 November 2008—the most valuable item ever appraised on the programme.[9][11] In 2011 German fashion designer Wolfgang Joop sold his life-size maquette (previously kept in the garden of his mansion in Potsdam, Germany) at an auction at Christie's in London for £3.4m to an anonymous bidder.[12][13] Another maquette was donated to the National Gallery of Australia in 2009, and stands in its Sculpture Garden.[14]

A number of towns and cities have rapid transit systems. Heavy rail underground technology is used in the London and Glasgow Underground systems while the Merseyrail system in Liverpool shares some characteristics. Light rail with some underground sections exist in Newcastle upon Tyne on the Tyne and Wear Metro and in the London Docklands. The light rail systems in Nottingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Croydon, Birmingham/Black Country and Edinburgh use a combination of street running tramways and, where available, reserved right of way or former conventional rail lines in some suburbs. Blackpool has the one remaining traditional tram system. Monorails, heritage tramways, miniature railways and funiculars also exist in several places. In addition, there are a number of heritage (mainly steam) standard and narrow gauge railways, and a few industrial railways and tramways. Some lines which appear to be heritage operations sometimes claim to be part of the public transport network; the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in Kent regularly transports schoolchildren.

Other pieces include the altar dish and flagon made in 1691 for the royal chapel at the Tower of London. The dish measures 70 cm (2.3 ft) across; it also has a depiction of the Last Supper, below which is the coat of arms of William III and Mary II.[167] Its rim is engraved with cherubs, scrollwork and fruit. The flagon is 42.5 cm (1.4 ft) tall and has similar decoration.[168] Both pieces are still used in the chapel on Easter, Whitsun and Christmas, and they were first displayed at a coronation in 1821.[169]

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Masque of Pandora dates from 1876. It begins with her creation, her refusal by Prometheus and acceptance by Epimetheus. Then in the latter’s house an “oaken chest, Carven with figures and embossed with gold” attracts her curiosity. After she eventually gives in to temptation and opens it, she collapses in despair and a storm destroys the garden outside. When Epimetheus returns, she begs him to kill her but he accepts joint responsibility.[64] The work was twice used as the basis for operas by Alfred Cellier in 1881 and by Eleanor Everest Freer in 1933.[65] Iconographical elements from the masque also figure in Walter Crane’s large watercolour of Pandora of 1885. She is pictured as sprawled over a carved wooden chest on which are embossed golden designs of the three fates who figure as a chorus in Longfellow’s scene 3. Outside the palace, a high wind is bending the trees. But on the front of the chest, a medallion showing the serpent wound about the tree of knowledge recalls the old interpretation of Pandora as a type of Eve.[66]

Earlier despatch boxes were wooden boxes used as a lectern from which frontbench members of Parliament deliver speeches to their parliamentary chamber. They were used for members to carry bills and other documents into the chamber. The Australian House of Representatives and the British House of Commons each keep a pair of ornate wooden despatch boxes, usually with one box on the Government side and one on the Opposition side of the table that divides the opposing frontbenches. Whereas backbenchers in both Parliaments generally deliver addresses to the chamber while standing at their seat, frontbenchers (ministers and shadow ministers) deliver their addresses from their side's despatch box. By tradition, the modern despatch boxes often contain the religious texts used for swearing in of new members of the respective chamber.

In 1876 Edward Fischer, an immigrant from Austria, produced the first Australian-made trophy. It was an Etruscan shape with two handles. One side depicted a horse race with the grandstand and hill of Flemington in the background. The opposite side had the words "Melbourne Cup, 1876" and the name of the winning horse.[10] A silver-plated base sporting three silver horses was added in 1888, but in 1891 the prize changed to being a 15-inch-high (380 mm), 24-inch-long (610 mm) trophy showing a Victory figure offering an olive wreath to a jockey.[10] From 1899 the trophy was in the form of silver galloping horse embossed on a 3-foot-long (0.91 m) plaque, although it was said to look like a greyhound by some people.

In 1927 the building on 14th Street was sold, to make way for the new tower being added to the Consolidated Edison Company Building. The Society's new building, located in Manhattan on East 17th Street and Union Square East, was finished and occupied by 1929.[80] When Tammany started to lose its political influence, and its all-important access to graft, it could no longer afford to maintain the 17th Street building, and in 1943 it was purchased by a local affiliate of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Tammany left, with the leaders relocating to the National Democratic Club on Madison Avenue at East 33rd Street, and the Society's collection of memorabilia going into a warehouse in the Bronx.[81] The building housed the New York Film Academy and the Union Square Theatre, as well as retail stores at street level, until a complete renovation of the building commenced in January 2016.[82][83] The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated it in October 2013.[84] Plans to add a glass dome to the building were nixed by the Landmarks Commission in 2014; however, the interior is still slated to be completely rebuilt, including the demolition of the theater.[83] In 2015, a scaled-back version of the glass dome was approved by the commission.[85]

After heavy firing from the common and damage to the town from the heat-ray which suddenly erupts in the late afternoon, the narrator takes his wife to safety in nearby Leatherhead, where his cousin lives, using a rented, two-wheeled horse cart; he then returns to Woking to return the cart when in the early morning hours, a violent thunderstorm erupts. On the road during the height of the storm, he has his first terrifying sight of a fast-moving Martian fighting-machine; in panic he crashes the horse cart, barely escaping detection. He discovers the Martians have assembled towering three-legged "fighting-machines" (tripods), each armed with a heat-ray and a chemical weapon: the poisonous "black smoke". These tripods have wiped out the army units positioned around the cylinder and attacked and destroyed most of Woking. Sheltering in his house, the narrator sees a fleeing artilleryman moving through his garden, who later tells the narrator of his experiences and mentions that another cylinder has landed between Woking and Leatherhead, cutting off the narrator from his wife. The two try to escape via Byfleet just after dawn, but are separated at the Shepperton to Weybridge Ferry during a Martian afternoon attack on Shepperton. One of the Martian fighting-machines is brought down in the River Thames by artillery as the narrator and countless others try to cross the river into Middlesex, as the Martians retreat back to their original crater. This gives the authorities precious hours to form a defence-line covering London. After the Martians' temporary repulse, the narrator is able to float down the Thames in a boat toward London, stopping at Walton, where he first encounters the curate, his companion for the coming weeks.


Question: Who played the mother in What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

Darlene Cates, born Rita Darlene Guthrie on December 13, 1947, and passed away on March 26, 2017, was an American actress. She gained recognition for her role as the housebound mother of the title character in the 1993 film What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

She had a featured role in the film Josh and S.A.M. (1993) as a runaway who takes care of the two boys.[36][37] She played the lead in the 1994 film adaptation of the Carolyn Chute novel The Beans of Egypt, Maine.[38] Plimpton also appeared as herself in the independent film by Eric Schaeffer My Life's in Turnaround (1993), a movie about filmmakers trying to make a movie.[39] She appeared as a close friend of radical feminist Valerie Solanas in the film I Shot Andy Warhol (1996).[40]

In 2017, Slate starred in the film Gifted as Bonnie Stevenson, the teacher of a 7-year old mathematical genius.

Novalee soon meets Forney Hull (James Frain), the surly librarian who looks after his alcoholic sister Mary Elizabeth (Margaret Hoard). During a thunderstorm Novalee, alone at Walmart, goes into labor. Forney, who is now in awe of Novalee, and had seen her enter the store at closing time, smashes through the window to help deliver her child. Novalee instantly becomes a media darling, and in hospital is befriended by Nurse Lexie Coop (Ashley Judd), who has four children by three different men. Novalee names her daughter Americus. Her estranged mother Mama Lil (Sally Field), visits after hearing of the news on television but Novalee soon realises to her dismay and disgust that money had been Mama Lil's only motive. Sister Husband arrives and offers to take in Novalee and Americus.

As a college student, Garner did summer stock theater. In addition to performing, Garner helped to sell tickets, build sets, and clean the venues.[21] She worked at the Timber Lake Playhouse in Mount Carroll, Illinois in 1992,[22] the Barn Theatre in Augusta, Michigan in 1993,[23] and the Georgia Shakespeare Festival in Atlanta, Georgia in 1994.[24] Garner moved to New York City in 1995.[25] During her first year in the city, Garner earned $150 per week as an understudy for a Roundabout Theatre Company production of A Month in the Country, starring Helen Mirren and F. Murray Abraham,[6][26] and made her first on-screen appearance as Melissa Gilbert's daughter in the romance miniseries Zoya.[27] In 1996 she played an Amish woman in the television movie Harvest of Fire[28] and a flirtatious shopkeeper in the Western miniseries Dead Man's Walk.[29] She appeared in the independent short film In Harm's Way[30] and made one-off appearances in the legal dramas Swift Justice and Law & Order. She met Stephen Colbert while filming an episode of Spin City and became an occasional babysitter for his children.[31] Garner also supplemented her income by working as a hostess at Isabella's restaurant on the Upper East Side.[32]

In 1993, Williams made her film debut in Michael Winner's Dirty Weekend. Winner chose her after seeing her in an Alan Ayckbourn play.[1] Subsequent film appearances have included supporting roles in Firelight (1997), Shot Through the Heart (1998), The King Is Alive (2000), Girl from Rio (2001), and The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey (2007).

Patricia Michelle Weezmer[a] (played by Dale Dickey) is a middle-aged prostitute in Camden County. She prefers to work during the daytime, exchanging sexual favors and other fetishes such as piggyback rides or massages at a major discount and often getting paid in fast food. She is often arrested. In the evening, she works as a waitress (episode "Monkeys Take a Bath") and has been involved in community theatre (episode "Inside Probe, Part 1"). She has also spent time outside of Camden: in her early 20s she was in Calcutta (episode "Number One"), and she also lived in La Paz, the same city as Catalina. (episode "Earl and Joy's Anniversary"). In the episode "Inside Probe, Part 1", it is revealed she was half-Cherokee and lived on an Indian reservation before her mother divorced her father, Chasing Squirrel.

Geeson's other films include Prudence and the Pill (1968), Three Into Two Won't Go (1969), 10 Rillington Place (1970), Doomwatch (1972), Brannigan (1975; starring John Wayne, with whom she enjoyed working) and The Eagle Has Landed (1976). In the TV series Danger UXB (1979), she played the female lead, Susan Mount, opposite Anthony Andrews. She also had the lead role of Fulvia in the science-fiction series Star Maidens (1976).

After appearing in a couple of Vitaphone shorts, including Success (1931) starring Jack Haley, she made her feature film debut in her late 60s in Strangers on a Train (1951), directed by Alfred Hitchcock. From 1952-55, she was seen as perpetually confused junior high school English teacher Mrs. Gurney on Mister Peepers.[6]

In 2014, Plimpton returned to Broadway as Julia, the daughter of Glenn Close and John Lithgow in a revival of Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance. The limited engagement ran 18 weeks at the Golden Theatre and co-stars Lindsay Duncan, Bob Balaban and Clare Higgins.[1]

Her recent recurring television roles have involved subplots concerning Alzheimer's disease. On FX network's Rescue Me, she played the role of Rose, a friend and possible romantic interest to Chief Jerry Reilly. Reilly, whose wife is in a facility suffering from Alzheimer's, hires Rose, a caregiver for her husband who was also a victim, to provide assistance and emotional support. In perhaps her most visible and well-known role to date as the mother of Dr. Meredith Grey (the titular character on the well-known ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy), Burton played Dr. Ellis Grey, the former trailblazing surgeon, who dies of Alzheimer's. In 2008, the New York City Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association singled her out for her compelling performances in both shows.[22]  In 2006 and 2007, Burton received Emmy nominations for her Grey's Anatomy role.[23] In 2011, Burton appeared as Marie Kessler, a veteran monster hunter, and the aunt of Nick Burkhardt in the opening episodes of the NBC supernatural drama Grimm.[18] Since 2012, she plays the recurring role of Vice President Sally Langston in the ABC hit show Scandal, for which she again received an Emmy nomination.[24][23] In 2015 it was reported that Burton was cast in a leading role in the U.S. remake of the French-language film Martyrs, which opened theatrically in January 2016.[25][26] In March 2017 she reprised her role as Aunt Marie Kessler in the series finale of Grimm.[27]


Question: When does the second part of season 4 for Vikings begin?

The second part of Vikings season 4, consisting of ten episodes, began airing on November 30, 2016. This season continues to chronicle the conflicts between Ragnar and Rollo in Francia, Bjorn's expeditions in the Mediterranean, and the ongoing Viking assault on England, concluding on February 1, 2017.

Season 3 was filmed in two parts. Part 1 (or Season 3A) was filmed from December 3, 2012[27] and wrapped up on May 5, 2013. Part 2 (Season 3B) began filming on July 29, 2013, and wrapped up on December 19, 2013.[28] Unlike the previous two seasons, which were shot in Atlanta, Georgia, this season will be shot in Los Angeles, California.[29]

The first episode aired on 5 January 2015, on ITV in the UK and TV3 in Ireland.[103][105] The Canadian TV channel Showcase and TV One in New Zealand both debuted series two on 11 January 2015.[105][106] and ABC first showed it on 15 February 2015 while BBC America aired the second series in the United States beginning on 4 March 2015.[107][d][108]

The Legend of Korra was initially conceived as a twelve-episode miniseries. Nickelodeon declined the creators' pitch for an Avatar: The Last Airbender follow-up animated movie based on what then became the three-part comics The Promise, The Search and The Rift, choosing instead to expand Korra to 26 episodes.[3] The series was expanded further in July 2012 to 52 episodes. These episodes are grouped into four separate seasons ("Books") composed of twelve to fourteen episodes ("Chapters") each, with each season telling a stand-alone story. Beginning with episode 9 of season 3, new episodes were first distributed through the Internet rather than broadcast. The Legend of Korra concluded with the fourth season.[4]

The fourteenth season of the American television medical drama Grey's Anatomy was ordered on February 10, 2017, by American Broadcasting Company (ABC), and premiered on September 28, 2017 with a special two-hour premiere.[1] The season will consist of 24 episodes,[2][3] with the season's seventh episode marking the 300th episode for the series overall. The season is produced by ABC Studios, in association with Shondaland Production Company and The Mark Gordon Company; the showrunners being Krista Vernoff and William Harper.

On March 16, 2018, Harmon tweeted that he had not begun writing new episodes for season four, in part because Adult Swim had not ordered any new episodes yet nor have they picked up the show for a fourth season.[26] As a reason for the delay, Harmon explained that the contract negotiations for the season "[have] gotten complicated this time around."[27]

International broadcast rights for the show were sold and announced on June 14, 2010.[95] The show airs on Fox International Channels in 126 countries in 33 languages. The fifth season debuted its first part on October 13, 2014.[96] The second part premiered on February 9, 2015.[97]

On July 9, 2015, Hasbro corrected via Twitter that the season's second half would premiere sometime later in 2015,[29] not the sixth season as previously announced.[30] A month later, on August 11, 2015, it was revealed by Zap2it that the season's second half would premiere on September 12, 2015.[31]

Striking Out[1] is an Irish television legal drama series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017. Produced by Bl!nder F!lms for RTÉ Television,[2] Striking Out stars Amy Huberman as Dublin-based solicitor Tara Rafferty, who is currently working for a fledgling legal firm.[3] Filmed in Dublin and Wicklow, the first series, comprising four episodes, was broadcast during January 2017, to critical acclaim.[4] Subsequently, the series has been sold to the United States, where it made its North American debut on Acorn TV on 17 March 2017.[5] Internationally, the series has been distributed by DCD Rights[6] and Acorn Media Enterprises.[7]

With the critical success of the first season after its release in July 2016, speculation on a possible second season was raised. By the end of July, The Duffer Brothers had outlined a plan for such a season if it was green-lit,[40] and Netflix's CEO Reed Hastings said in early August that the company "would be dumb not to" renew Stranger Things for a second season.[41] On August 31, 2016, Netflix announced it had renewed Stranger Things for a second season of nine episodes, to be released in 2017.[42] The Duffer Brothers revealed that the series had been renewed for a second season before the first premiered. Regarding the decision to wait more than a month after the first season premiered to announce the renewal, Matt Duffer said, "it actually ended up working because it had built up to this fever pitch. I guess thatâ€™s what [Netflix] were intending to do all the time."[43]

Animal Kingdom debuted on TNT on June 14, 2016, and was renewed for a second season on July 6, 2016, of thirteen episodes that premiered on May 30, 2017.[1] On July 27, 2017, TNT renewed the series for a third season that debuted on May 29, 2018.[2][3] On July 2, 2018, TNT renewed the series for a fourth season.[4]


Question: When did the U.S. cease trading with Japan?

The U.S. imposed a series of progressively stringent trade embargoes against Japan starting in 1938. This culminated in the abrogation of the 1911 commercial pact in 1939 and the enforcement of the Export Control Act in 1940. Despite these measures, Japan persisted in its military aggression in China and proceeded to form the Axis Powers through the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy in 1940.

Britain was Portugal's largest trading partner and had the right to force her to fight on her side under a 500-year-old alliance, but allowed her to remain neutral; in return Portugal allowed credit when Britain was short of gold and escudos, so that by 1945 Britain owed Portugal Â£322 million. Germany was Portugal's second-largest trading partner, initially paying for exports with consumer goods, but after 1942 increasingly with looted gold, which the Allies warned was liable to confiscation after the war. Portugal also allowed Germany generous credit terms, partly because after the fall of France the presence of a direct land route enabled Germany to threaten Portugal with invasion if she curtailed critical exports. The Allies, who also bought Portuguese tungsten, believed that if they could persuade the Portuguese to stop selling the ore the German machine-tool industry would very quickly be crippled and she would be unable to continue to fight. Because Portugal depended on the U.S. for petroleum, coal and chemical supplies, the Allies' economic warfare agencies considered achieving their aim by embargoes, but hesitated because they also wanted access to Portuguese military bases on the Azores.

At home, the British faced mounting opposition to wartime taxation, and demands to reopen trade with America. With the abdication of Napoleon, the blockade of France ended and the British ceased impressment, rendering the issue of the impressment of American sailors moot. The British were then able to increase the strength of the blockade on the United States coast, annihilating American maritime trade and bringing the United States government near to bankruptcy. Peace negotiations began in August 1814 and the Treaty of Ghent was signed on December 24 as neither side wanted to continue fighting. News of the peace did not reach America for some time. Unaware that the treaty had been signed, British forces invaded Louisiana and were defeated at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815. These late victories were viewed by Americans as having restored national honour, leading to the collapse of anti-war sentiment and the beginning of the Era of Good Feelings, a period of national unity. News of the treaty arrived shortly thereafter, halting military operations. The treaty was unanimously ratified by the United States on February 17, 1815, ending the war with Status quo ante bellum (no boundary changes).

The Embargo Act had no effect on Great Britain and France and was replaced by the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809, which lifted all embargoes on American shipping except for those bound for British or French ports. As this proved to be unenforceable, the Non-Intercourse Act was replaced in 1810 by Macon's Bill Number 2. This lifted all embargoes but offered that if either France or Great Britain were to cease their interference with American shipping, the United States would reinstate an embargo on the other nation. Napoleon, seeing an opportunity to make trouble for Great Britain, promised to leave American ships alone, and the United States reinstated the embargo with Great Britain and moved closer to declaring war.[62]

Jefferson had wanted to align with the European powers in an effort to isolate Haïti, but was unsuccessful due to Britain's lack of interest in joining the proposed accord. France pressured for the end of American trade with Haïti, which they saw as aiding a rogue element in their colony. Jefferson agreed to cease trade in arms, but would not give up trade for noncontraband goods. Madison, commenting on the agreement to discontinue the arms trade, said that "it is probably the interest of all nations that they should be kept out of hands likely to make so bad use of them."[9] The debate on an embargo on Haïti heated up in Congress and civil society, but it was not all one-sided. Federalist newspaper Columbian Centinel compared the Haitian revolution and the struggle for independence from a European power, with the Americans' own revolution for independence.[10]

The United States' occupation of Nicaragua and Haiti continued under his administration, but Coolidge withdrew American troops from the Dominican Republic in 1924.[143] Coolidge led the U.S. delegation to the Sixth International Conference of American States, January 15–17, 1928, in Havana, Cuba. This was the only international trip Coolidge made during his presidency.[144] There, he extended an olive branch to Latin American leaders embittered over America's interventionist policies in Central America and the Caribbean.[145] For 88 years he was the only sitting president to have visited Cuba, until Barack Obama did so in 2016.[146]

The Indian Intercourse Act of 1790 marked the beginning of the Trade and Intercourse era. This act established that no sales of Indian lands were to be made between any persons or states unless the sale was authorized by the United States. The United States federal government was then granted management of trade and diplomatic relations that involved Indians and their lands. The main goal of establishing the Trade and Intercourse Act was to keep peace on the frontier and avoid war with the Natives.
During the Trade and Intercourse Era, the Natives were also included within the United States government, to some degree, by the establishment of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) within the War Department in 1824. However, land disputes and law jurisdiction cases began to appear frequently in the United States Supreme Court.[which?] It was concluded that "discovery also gave the discoverer the exclusive right to extinguish Indian title either by 'purchase or by conquest'."[citation needed] Natives were recognized only as occupants of the land, and not owners.

Because of its close financial ties with Germany, Allied representatives were especially keen to achieve Swiss co-operation. Although Swiss-German trade was generally considered to have ceased after November 1944, some companies, such as the Tavaro Munitions factory at Geneva, Switzerland, clandestinely shipped explosives to Germany, and German assets amounting to one billion francs still remained in Switzerland after November 1945. According to Under-Secretary of State Dean Acheson, Switzerland was the last country to fully commit to the aims of Safehaven.[81] In February 1945, an American delegation sent to Switzerland initially thought it had achieved a substantial reduction in Swiss exports to Germany and an acknowledgment of Safehaven objectives for the blocking of German assets in Switzerland. But following subsequent discussions with Reichsbank Vice President Emil Puhl, the Swiss later reneged on this agreement, and through the remainder of 1945 showed an unwillingness to embrace the Allied proposals to turn German assets in Switzerland towards the benefit of ravaged Europe and stateless victims of the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes. However, because of its excellent humanitarian record and protection of Allied POWs and other interests, the Allies ultimately decided against taking extreme measures against Switzerland.[63]

The Germans maintained an aggressive strategy at sea in order to press home their own blockade of the Allies. Lloyd's List showed that by the end of 1939 they had sunk 249 ships by U-boat, air attack, or by mines. These losses included 112 British and 12 French vessels, but also demonstrated the disproportionate rate of loss by neutral nations. Norway, a great seafaring nation since the days of the Vikings had lost almost half its fleet in World War I, yet now possessed a merchant navy of some 2,000 ships, with tonnage exceeded only by Britain, the USA, and Japan. They had already lost 23 ships, with many more attacked and dozens of sailors killed, while Sweden, Germany's main provider of iron ore, had lost 19 ships, Denmark 9, and Belgium 3. The Netherlands, with 75% of her commercial shipping outgoing from Rotterdam to Germany, had also lost 7 ships, yet all these countries continued to trade with Germany. Churchill was endlessly frustrated and bemused by the refusal of the neutrals to openly differentiate between the British and German methods of waging the sea war, and by their determination to maintain pre-war patterns of trade, but stopped short of condemning them, believing that events would eventually prove the Allies to be in the right. He commented;

In the 1930s, the United States entered the period of deep isolationism, rejecting international conferences, and focusing moment mostly on reciprocal tariff agreements with smaller countries of Latin America.

Toward the end of the war, Japan increasingly filled orders for needed war material for its European allies. The wartime boom helped to diversify the country's industry, increase its exports, and transform Japan from a debtor to a creditor nation for the first time. Exports quadrupled from 1913 to 1918. The massive capital influx into Japan and the subsequent industrial boom led to rapid inflation. In August 1918, rice riots caused by this inflation erupted in towns and cities throughout Japan.


Question: Who receives the Golden Boot award in case of a tie?

In the event of a tie for the Premier League Golden Boot, the award is shared among the players with the highest number of goals. This has occurred several times in the history of the award, including in the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons when it was shared by three players each time. The most recent occurrence was in the 2010-11 season when Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez both scored 20 goals to jointly win the award.

Barcelona has amassed various records since its founding. Regionally, domestically and continentally, the club has set several records in winning various official and unofficial competitions. During the time the club played in regional competitions until the end of the Catalan championship in 1940, it won a record 23 titles from a possible 38. In 2009, Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win the treble consisting of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League, and in 2015 it became the first club in Europe to win a second treble. Barcelona has signed several high-profile players, setting the world record in transfer fees on three occasions with the purchase of Johan Cruyff in 1973, Diego Maradona in 1982 and Ronaldo in 1996. The club's players have received seven FIFA World Player of the Year awards, seven Ballon d'Or awards, four FIFA Ballon d'Ors, 3 UEFA Best Player in Europe awards and 6 European Golden Shoe awards, more than those of any other club.

Antonio Carbajal was the first player to appear in five World Cups, and Hugo Sánchez was named best CONCACAF player of the 20th century by IFFHS. Cuauhtémoc Blanco is the only Mexican football player to be presented with an award (Silver Ball and the Silver Shoe) in a major international FIFA competition (1999 FIFA Confederations Cup). He has been awarded the MVP of the México Primera División League five times. Claudio Suárez is the most capped player in the history of Mexico national team with 178 caps. Jared Borgetti is the México national team top scorer with 46 goals. As of 2006, it was estimated that Mexico has over 324,000 registered players and 8,155,000 unregistered players.

The United States won the 2002 Gold Cup to set up the team's best performance since 1930 in the 2002 World Cup, when the U.S. team reached the quarter-finals. The knockout stage was reached through a 3–2 win over Portugal and a 1–1 tie with co-host and eventual fourth-place finisher, South Korea.

The ranking in this table is consistent with International Olympic Committee convention in its published medal tables. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won (in this context, a "nation" is an entity represented by a Commonwealth Games Association). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If nations are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by their three-letter country code. Australia tops the medal table rank with 80 gold, second England with 45 gold and third India with 26 gold.

In the men's individual biathlon competition, two silver medals were awarded for a second-place tie, so no bronze medal was awarded for that event.[7]

At the 2002 World Winter Sport Games, rival men's singles skaters Chazz Michael Michaels, a skillful skater but raunchy sex addict, and Jimmy MacElroy, an equally talented but sheltered and effeminate skater, tie for gold. While standing on the awards podium, the two have an argument that escalates into a fight and ends with the World Games mascot being accidentally set on fire. As a result, the National Figure Skating Association strips both men of their medals and bans them from men's singles competition for life. Jimmy's competitive adoptive father, billionaire Darren MacElroy, immediately disowns him and leaves him stranded on the side of the road.

In addition to being on the receiving end of numerous good-natured jokes and jabs, the three drivers are presented with a special jacket, various gifts, and checks for 31¢, 32¢, and 33¢, respectively. The group becomes known as the "11th Row Society", an enjoys a buffet dinner, apéritif, cocktails, and hors d'oeuvre with attendees. Later they may sign autographs and pose for pictures, in what is generally a fun and laid-back environment. The emcee for the event is usually a media figure, and past hosts include Bob Jenkins, Robin Miller, Jack Arute, Dave Wilson, and Laura Steele. The 2015 and 2016 co-emcees were Curt Cavin (Indianapolis Star) and Chris Hagen (WXIN). Lindy Thackston hosted the event for the first time in 2017. The 2013 reception was not held but a brief ceremony was held on Carb Day to recognize the honorees.

The gumshoe used several large markers with flashing siren lights on them. If a location was correctly identified, the light turned on and a siren went off. Incorrect guesses were marked by a two-note buzzer. One incorrect guess per location was allowed, but a second incorrect guess forced the gumshoe to leave the marker on the board and return for the next location. If the gumshoe succeeded and captured Carmen before time expired, he/she won the grand prize trip anywhere in the continental United States (season 1) or anywhere in North America (all subsequent seasons) plus a package of educational items similar to those given in round two. Otherwise, Carmen escaped and the gumshoe received just the prize package instead.

Although Chelsea had achieved a goalless draw at the Camp Nou, Barcelona went into the game as favourites. The game started well for Chelsea and after nine minutes Michael Essien scored a 20-yard left-footed volley after Barcelona failed to clear a pass into the box from Frank Lampard. The first half came to a close with Chelsea leading 1–0. Despite Barcelona dominating possession, Chelsea continued to be the most dangerous side, especially following the sending off of Éric Abidal, with Chelsea also calling for up to four penalties, none of them being awarded by Norwegian referee Tom Henning Øvrebø. A 93rd-minute equaliser from a shot by Andrés Iniesta – which happened to be Barcelona's only shot on target – allowed Barcelona to ensure a last-minute qualification to the final.

The arrival of Chris Sutton for the 1994–95 season established a strong attacking partnership at Blackburn. Shearer's league-record 34 goals,[citation needed][19] coupled with Sutton's 15, helped the Lancashire club take the Premier League title from archrivals Manchester United on the final day of the season,[20] and the duo gained the nickname "the SAS" (Shearer And Sutton).[16] After being asked by the press how he planned to celebrate winning the title, Shearer replied, by "creosoting the fence".[21] Shearer also had his first taste of European football in the UEFA Cup that season, and scored in the second leg as Blackburn went out in the first round, losing to Trelleborgs FF of Sweden.[22] His efforts for the club led to Shearer being awarded the PFA Players' Player of the Year for 1995.[23]


Question: Where is the location of the limbic system and what role does it play?

The limbic system, consisting of various brain structures, is situated adjacent to the thalamus and beneath the cerebrum. This network of structures, which includes the olfactory bulbs, hippocampus, hypothalamus, amygdala, and other related regions, is not an isolated system but a cluster drawn from the telencephalon, diencephalon, and mesencephalon. These components work together to manage a range of functions, such as emotions, memory, and motivation.

The direct electrical stimulation of the brain could simulate electrocortical relays. Magoun used this principle to demonstrate, on two separate areas of the brainstem of a cat, how to produce wakefulness from sleep. First the ascending somatic and auditory paths; second, a series of "ascending relays from the reticular formation of the lower brain stem through the midbrain tegmentum, subthalamus and hypothalamus to the internal capsule."[42] The latter was of particular interest, as this series of relays did not correspond to any known anatomical pathways for the wakefulness signal transduction and was coined the ascending reticular activating system (ARAS).

These areas are not proportional to their size in the body with the lips, face parts, and hands represented by particularly large areas. Following amputation or paralysis, motor areas can shift to adopt new parts of the body.

The central nervous system of vertebrates is based on a hollow nerve cord running along the length of the animal. Of particular importance and unique to vertebrates is the presence of neural crest cells. These are progenitors of stem cells, and critical to coordinating the functions of cellular components.[17] Neural crest cells migrate through the body from the nerve cord during development, and initiate the formation of neural ganglia and structures such as the jaws and skull.[18][19][20]

The amygdala is one of the most-studied areas of the brain when looking at habituation. One of the most common ways to study this is to observe the visual processing of facial expressions. A study by Breiter and colleagues used fMRI scans to identify which areas of the brain habituate and at what rate this happens. The results of this study showed that the human amygdala responds and rapidly habituates preferentially to fearful facial expressions over neutral. They also observed significant amygdala signal changes in response to happy faces over neutral faces.[17]

Behaviorism (or behaviourism) is a systematic approach to understanding the behavior of humans and other animals. It assumes that all behaviors are either reflexes produced by a response to certain stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that individual's history, including especially reinforcement and punishment, together with the individual's current motivational state and controlling stimuli. Although behaviorists generally accept the important role of inheritance in determining behavior, they focus primarily on environmental factors.

The flank or latus is the side of the body between the rib cage and the iliac bone of the hip (below the rib cage and above the ilium).[1]

There are many types of specialized neurons. Sensory neurons respond to one particular type of stimulus such as touch, sound, or light and all other stimuli affecting the cells of the sensory organs, and converts it into an electrical signal via transduction, which is then sent to the spinal cord or brain. Motor neurons receive signals from the brain and spinal cord to cause everything from muscle contractions and affect glandular outputs. Interneurons connect neurons to other neurons within the same region of the brain or spinal cord in neural networks.

Electrical brain stimulation (EBS), also referred to as focal brain stimulation (FBS), is a form of electrotherapy and technique used in research and clinical neurobiology to stimulate a neuron or neural network in the brain through the direct or indirect excitation of its cell membrane by using an electric current. It is used for research or for therapeutical purposes.

Existing on the sides of the medial reticular formation is its lateral cousin, which is particularly pronounced in the rostral medulla and caudal pons. Out from this area spring the cranial nerves, including the very important vagus nerve. The Lateral RF is known for its ganglions and areas of interneurons around the cranial nerves, which serve to mediate their characteristic reflexes and functions.

Anthropologist Helen Fisher, in her book Why We Love,[23] uses brain scans to show that love is the product of a chemical reaction in the brain. Norepinephrine and dopamine, among other brain chemicals, are responsible for excitement and bliss in humans as well as non-human animals. She is famous for the use of MRI to study the brain activity of a person "in love", discovering the importance of the ventral tegmental area and the caudate nucleus in this biological drive.


Question: What are the functions of the International Monetary Fund?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), headquartered in Washington, D.C., is an international organization comprising 189 member countries. Its primary objectives are to foster global monetary cooperation, ensure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and alleviate poverty worldwide. Established in 1945 at the Bretton Woods Conference, the IMF was conceptualized by Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes. Initially, it aimed to reconstruct the international payment system, but over time, it has evolved to play a pivotal role in managing balance of payments issues and international financial crises. Member countries contribute to a shared fund through a quota system, which allows countries facing balance of payments challenges to borrow funds. As of 2016, the IMF's financial resources amounted to SDR477 billion (approximately $668 billion).

The main focus for INGOs is to provide relief and developmental aid to developing countries. In relation to states, the purpose of INGOs is to provide services that the state is unable or unwilling to provide for their people. These organization's projects in health, like HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, clean water, and malaria prevention, and in education, like schools for girls and providing books to developing countries, help to provide the social services that the country's government is unable or unwilling to provide at the time. International Non-governmental Organizations are also some of the first responders to natural disasters, like hurricanes and floods, or crises that need emergency relief.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry of Botswana is responsible for promoting business development throughout the country. According to the International Monetary Fund, economic growth averaged over 9% per year from 1966 to 1999. Botswana has a high level of economic freedom compared to other African countries.[35] The government has maintained a sound fiscal policy, despite consecutive budget deficits in 2002 and 2003, and a negligible level of foreign debt. It earned the highest sovereign credit rating in Africa and has stockpiled foreign exchange reserves (over $7 billion in 2005/2006) amounting to almost two and a half years of current imports.

There are 3 types of commercial banks: public sector, private sector, and foreign.  The general role of commercial banks is to provide financial services to general public, business and companies, ensuring economic and social stability and sustainable growth of the economy.

Along with core products and services, commercial banks perform several secondary functions. The secondary functions of commercial banks can be divided into agency functions and utility functions.

To establish a stable financial basis for its work, IUCN participated in setting up the World Wildlife Fund (1961) (now the World Wide Fund for Nature WWF). WWF would work on fundraising, public relations, and increasing public support. IUCN would continue to focus on providing sound science and data, and developing ties with international bodies. Funds raised by WWF would be used to cover part of the operational costs of IUCN. Also in 1961, the IUCN headquarters moved from Belgium to Morges in Switzerland.

In the end, by Article 1 of the UN Charter, the United Nations has the responsibility: "To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.[96] By UN Charter Article 39, the responsibility for this determination lies with the Security Council.[96]

The water and sanitation sector receives external support from international financial institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank. It also received support from USAID in the past.

The Big Four are the four largest international professional services networks, offering audit, assurance, tax, consulting, advisory, actuarial, corporate finance, and legal services. They handle the vast majority of audits for publicly traded companies as well as many private companies, creating an oligopoly in auditing large companies. It is reported that the Big Four audit 99% of the companies in the FTSE 100, and 96% of the companies in the FTSE 250 Index, an index of the leading mid-cap listing companies.[7] The Big Four firms are shown below, with their latest publicly available data. None of the Big Four firms is a single firm; rather, they are professional services networks. Each is a network of firms, owned and managed independently, which have entered into agreements with other member firms in the network to share a common name, brand and quality standards. Each network has established an entity to co-ordinate the activities of the network. In one case (KPMG), the co-ordinating entity is Swiss, and in three cases (Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young) the co-ordinating entity is a UK limited company. Those entities do not themselves perform external professional services, and do not own or control the member firms. They are similar to law firm networks found in the legal profession. In many cases each member firm practises in a single country, and is structured to comply with the regulatory environment in that country. In 2007 KPMG announced a merger of four member firms (in the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein) to form a single firm. Ernst & Young also includes separate legal entities which manage three of its four areas: Americas, EMEIA (Europe, The Middle East, India and Africa), and Asia-Pacific. (Note: the Japan area does not have a separate area management entity). These firms coordinate services performed by local firms within their respective areas but do not perform services or hold ownership in the local entities.[8] This group was once known as the "Big Eight", and was reduced to the "Big Six" and then "Big Five" by a series of mergers. The Big Five became the Big Four after the demise of Arthur Andersen in 2002, following its involvement in the Enron scandal.

The Division of Economic Support for Families is responsible for functions of the office related to low-income populations. The division's principal areas of focus include: cash and non-cash assistance for working and non-working families, welfare-to-work strategies, cash and non-cash assistance for working and non-working families, welfare-to-work strategies, child support enforcement, and special populations[9] (e.g., immigrants[10]). The division also monitors, analyzes, and maintain liaison with programs and policies outside the Department that affect HHS issues, such as earned income tax credits, food stamps,[11] housing assistance, and education and workforce development programs.

Standard Settlement Instructions (SSIs) are the agreements between two financial institutions which fix the receiving agents of each counterparty in ordinary trades of some type. These agreements allow traders to make faster trades since the time used to settle the receiving agents is conserved. Limiting the trader to an SSI also lowers the likelihood of a fraud. SSIs are used by financial institutions to facilitate fast and accurate cross-border payments.


Question: Who sings "there's a meeting in my bedroom"?

The song "Meeting in My Bedroom" is performed by the R&B group Silk, featured on their album "Tonight." This album, which includes their hit single "If You," was their second most successful release, following their 1992 debut "Lose Control." "Tonight" was certified platinum by the RIAA in 1999.

In addition to the group's two best-known tracks, "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love", the album featured "My Best Friend" by former drummer Skip Spence, Balin's driving blues-rock songs "Plastic Fantastic Lover" and "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds", and the atmospheric Balin-Kantner ballad "Today". A reminder of their earlier folk incarnation was Kaukonen's solo acoustic guitar tour de force, "Embryonic Journey" (his first composition), which referenced contemporary acoustic guitar masters such as John Fahey and helped to establish the popular genre exemplified by acoustic guitarist Leo Kottke.

Written in the key of D major,[2] "Be Still" is a folk blues ballad.[3] Clarkson's vocal range in the song spans from D4 to B4.[2] In this song she tells a lover to just be still and enjoy the moment. The song is named after one of her favorite Bible verses: Psalm 46:10 ("Be still, and know that I (God) am here").[3] Clarkson explained, "It's all about stopping things, slowing down to appreciate life. Everything just goes so fast, especially in this business. There's just no time to be alone for a moment of quiet. That's why I don't live in Los Angeles and have always lived in Texas. It's about getting away from the rat race and carving out a space for yourself." She compared the song to tracks recorded by Sarah McLachlan, Norah Jones and Bonnie Raitt, and Christine McVie.[3]

Byrds producer Gary Usher acquired "Wasn't Born to Follow" before it was released or recorded by anyone else through his connections at the Screen Gems production company and his personal acquaintance with Carole King.[4][3] The Byrds recorded the song on November 30, 1967 as one of the last songs recorded in the sessions for The Notorious Byrd Brothers.[4] Roger McGuinn sings the lead vocal.[2] The Byrds' instrumentalists are augmented by Red Rhodes on pedal steel guitar and Clarence White on guitar.[3][4] As Byrds' drummer Michael Clarke had left the group during the recording of the album, Jim Gordon, who also performed on the City's version, plays drums.[4] The album recording ends with the sound of a door slamming.[3]

The song is notable for marking the beginning of producer Stephen Street's working relationship with the band.[1] As one of his first roles as "in-house engineer" at Island Records' Fallout Shelter studios, Street engineered the session. He was well aware of the band and excited by the prospect, saying in a HitQuarters interview, "I'd seen them just shortly beforehand on Top of the Pops doing 'This Charming Man', and like most other people around that time who were into music I was really excited by them."[1] Street says his enthusiasm must have rubbed off on Morrissey and Johnny Marr because they would take his name and number.[1] Although not contacted for the subsequent recording "William, It Was Really Nothing", he was asked to engineer their next album, Meat Is Murder, with Morrissey and Marr producing for the first time.[1]

Zantzinger was convicted of manslaughter on August 28, 1963, and was not tried by a jury of peers but by a panel of three judges. The sentence was handed down on the same day that Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington. Bob Dylan, aged 22 at that time, was one of the celebrities at the march and on the journey home to New York City he read about the conviction of Zantzinger and decided to write a protest song about the case. According to a 1991 Washington Post report, Dylan wrote the song in Manhattan, sitting in an all-night cafe.[1] A recent radio documentary on the song said rather that he wrote it both in New York and at the home of his then-lover, Joan Baez, in Carmel. According to Nancy Carlin, a friend of Baez who visited: "He would stand in this cubbyhole, beautiful view across the hills, and peck type on an old typewriter... there was an old piano up at Joan's... and peck piano playing... up until noon he would drink black coffee then switch over to red wine, quit about five or six."[7] He recorded it on October 23, 1963, when the trial was still relatively fresh news, and incorporated it into his live repertoire immediately, before releasing the studio version on January 13, 1964.[citation needed]

'Jackson' came to me when I read the script for Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (I was too broke to see the play on Broadway)...When I played it for Jerry [Leiber], he said 'Your first verses suck,' or words to that effect. 'Throw them away and start the song with your last verse, "We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout."' When I protested to Jerry that I couldn't start the song with the climax, he said, 'Oh, yes you can.' So I rewrote the song and thanks to Jerry's editing and help, it worked. I recorded the song on my first Kapp Records album, with Joan Sommer, an old friend from Berea, Kentucky, singing the woman's part. Johnny Cash learned the song from that album, A New Bag of Songs, produced by Jerry and Mike.[3]

Stump called "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" the "funkiest thing we’ve ever done", and attributes the change in musical style to his love of soul music, which he acquired by listening to oldies stations as a child.[2][19] Wentz describes the song "a bit of '70s funk mixed with [the band’s 2003 album] Take This to Your Grave with tight verses and big, fat choruses".[20] The song closing sing-along was influenced by Justin Timberlake's "Señorita".[21] Cory Apar of Allmusic compared the Babyface-produced track "I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)" to Maroon 5.[11] Wentz characterized Stump’s vocal performance on the song as "straight-up Motown", continuing to say "If there wasn't a rock band playing, it'd be straight R&B, and he'd go on tour with just an upright bass and a drum and open up for R. Kelly."[4] "The Carpal Tunnel of Love" has been referred to as "a prime slab of what the boys have become famous for: highly caffeinated pop-punk mixed with a little white-boy soul and some hard-core yelping."[22] The song features Stump singing in a falsetto in the chorus over Trohman’s "crunchy" guitars, as well as a breakdown in which Wentz employs death growl-style vocals.[22]

The melody of the song was composed by Don Felder in a rented house on Malibu Beach. He recorded the basic tracks with a Rhythm Ace drum machine and added a 12 string guitar on a four-track recording deck in his spare bedroom, then mixed in a bassline, and gave Don Henley and Glenn Frey each a copy of the recording.[8] Felder, who met the Eagles through his high school bandmate Bernie Leadon, said that Leadon advised him to make tapes of songs he wrote for the band so that other band members like Henley, whose forte is in writing lyrics, might work with him on finishing the songs they like.[9] The demos he made were always instrumental, and on every album project he would submit 15 or 16 ideas. The demo he made for "Hotel California" showed influences from Latin and reggae music, and it grabbed the attention of Henley who said he liked the song that "sounds like a Mexican reggae or Bolero",[9] which gave the song its first working title, "Mexican Reggae".[10]

As he reflects on events, the actors in the troup become, in effect, a Greek chorus and take him through a typical day of "A Man of No Importance", in the form of a play in which he is not the director but the star. As the "play" unfolds, the people in Alfie's life appear: his sister Lily, a handsome bus driver Robbie Fay, and newcomer Adele Rice. Alfie "performs" by speaking Wilde's words to Adele, impressing the bus passengers (who are members of the acting group). As Alfie prepares dinner for himself and Lily, he tells her that he has met a woman. Lily has delayed marriage with her boyfriend Mr. Carney to take care of Alfie until he marries, and is happy for him ("Burden of Life"). Alfie explains that he is not interested in marriage to Adele – he wants her to act in 'Salome'. Frustrated, Lily castigates Alfie for wasting his time in amateur theatre. The next day, Alfie goes around to Mr. Carney and the other troupe members to offer them parts in "Salome". Everyone is extremely excited about a new show starting, and each member shows their acting resume as they sing about their excitement ("Going Up!"). The next day, Alfie delays the bus from leaving just to allow Adele to catch the bus, which she was late for due to an appointment with the doctor. He attempts to convince her to be Princess Salome, the titular character of "Salome", by reading some verses of the play to her. Adele believes that Alfie is making fun of her like many in her old town and storms out of the bus. Confused, Alfie follows her out of the bus. Despite her fears that she, a regular common girl from Roscommon, would never be able to portray a princess, Adele is touched by his words and agrees to be in the play ("Princess"). After the first reading, Alfie attempts to talk Robbie into being "Salome"'s main romantic lead of John the Baptist. Robbie dismisses Alfie's attempts to get him involved, and conversely invites him to take a step into his own world, convincing Alfie to explore the streets of Dublin and to go to a pub with his pals ("Streets of Dublin"). At the pub, Alfie goes through several traditions for newcomers, including ordering a pint and singing a song in front of Robbie's pals ("Love's Never Lost"). Robbie's pals are not impressed, leading to Alfie to wander off where he is propositioned by Breton Beret. Alfie is flustered by Breton and returns home, troubled about his true identity. Meanwhile, Mr. Carney is with Lily at her and Alfie's home, condemning "Salome" as horrid pornography. Shortly after, Mr. Carney and Lily share some private drinks as they discuss Alfie's 'odd' habit of reading books and cooking foreign dishes; Mr. Carney attempts to woo Lily all the while, but Lily refuses to marry "till [Alfie's] wed" ("Books"). Alfie interrupts them as he returns home, and storms up to his room. As he gazes at himself in the mirror, he sees Oscar Wilde in a dream, and admits that he loves Robbie ("Man in the Mirror"). After a rehearsal of 'Salome', Lily invites Adele for Sunday dinner, saying that Alfie is hesitant to speak for himself ("Burden of Life" – Reprise). As Alfie is walking her home, Adele tells him that in her home town she has a boyfriend, John, and starts crying when she can't explain why he isn't here with her. Understanding about secrets, Alfie advises her that everything's alright ("Love Who You Love").

In 1994, St Helens supermarket shelf-stacker Jacqui Abbott was brought on board to fill in as the new third lead vocalist for the band. Heaton had heard her sing at an after-show party in St Helens and remembered her vocal talents. Heaton referred to her as "the lass from the glass"â€”a reference to the Pilkington factory in St Helens. Abbott's first album with the band was Miaow in the same year. Hits included "Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud)" and a cover of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'", previously popularised by Harry Nilsson.