Question: How did Mount Everest get its name?

In 1865, Mount Everest was officially named by the Royal Geographical Society following a suggestion by Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India. Waugh decided to honor his predecessor, Sir George Everest, by naming the peak after him, even though George Everest initially opposed the idea. This choice was made due to the existence of multiple local names for the mountain, and to recognize Sir George Everest's contributions to surveying in the region.

The waterfall has been known as the Angel Falls since the mid-20th century; they are named after Jimmie Angel, a US aviator, who was the first person to fly over the falls.[2] Angel's ashes were scattered over the falls on 2 July 1960.[3]

The etymology is uncertain. An early explanation derives the term from the Semitic root knʿ "to be low, humble, subjugated".[9] Some scholars have suggested that this implies an original meaning of "lowlands", in contrast with Aram, which would then mean "highlands",[10] whereas others have suggested it meant "the subjugated" as the name of Egypt's province in the Levant, and evolved into the proper name in a similar fashion to Provincia Nostra (the first Roman colony north of the Alps, which became Provence).[11]

The common Spanish name Salto del Ángel derives from his surname. In 2009, President Hugo Chávez announced his intention to change the name to the purported original indigenous Pemon term ("Kerepakupai Vená", meaning "waterfall of the deepest place"), on the grounds that the nation's most famous landmark should bear an indigenous name.[4] Explaining the name change, Chávez was reported to have said, "This is ours, long before Angel ever arrived there ... this is indigenous property."[5] However, he later said that he would not decree the change of name, but only was defending the use of Kerepakupai Vená.[6]

A remarkable illustration of the explosion of popularity of Everest is provided by the numbers of daily ascents. Analysis of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster shows that part of the blame was on the bottleneck caused by the large number of climbers (33 to 36) attempting to summit on the same day; this was considered unusually high at the time. By comparison, on 23 May 2010, the summit of Mount Everest was reached by 169 climbers â€“ more summits in a single day than in the cumulative 31 years from the first successful summit in 1953 through 1983.[139]

The etymology of the Evenki word is sometimes connected to a Tungus root Å¡a- "to know".[15][16] This has been questioned on linguistic grounds: "The possibility cannot be completely rejected, but neither should it be accepted without reservation since the assumed derivational relationship is phonologically irregular (note especially the vowel quantities)."[17] Other scholars assert that the word comes directly from the Manchu language, and as such would be the only commonly used English word that is a loan from this language.[18]

Miyolangsangma, a Tibetan Buddhist "Goddess of Inexhaustible Giving", is believed to have lived at the top of Mt Everest. According to Sherpa Buddhist monks, Mt Everest is Miyolangsangma's palace and playground, and all climbers are only partially welcome guests, having arrived without invitation.[367]

The name Pakistan literally means "Land of the Pure" in Urdu and Persian. It was coined in 1933 as Pakstan by Choudhry Rahmat Ali, a Pakistan Movement activist, who published it in his pamphlet Now or Never,[278] using it as an acronym ("thirty million Muslim brethren who live in PAKSTAN") referring to the names of the five northwestern regions of the Indian Empire: Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Kashmir, Sindh, and Baluchistan".[279][280][281] The letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation and form the linguistically correct and meaningful name.[282]

There was an international controversy about the death of a solo British climber David Sharp, who attempted to climb Mount Everest in 2006 but died in his attempt. The story broke out of the mountaineering community into popular media, with a series of interviews, allegations, and critiques. The question was whether climbers that season had left a man to die, and whether he could have been saved. He was said to have attempted to summit Mount Everest by himself with no Sherpa or guide and fewer oxygen bottles than considered normal.[121] He went with a low-budget Nepali guide firm that only provides support up to Base Camp, after which climbers go as a "loose group", offering a high degree of independence. The manager at Sharp's guide support said Sharp did not take enough oxygen for his summit attempt and did not have a Sherpa guide.[122] It is less clear who knew Sharp was in trouble, and if they did know, whether they were qualified or capable of helping him.[121]

Famous Himalayan record keeper Elizabeth Hawley passed away in late January 2018.[224] In 2018, Nepal may re-measure the height of Mount Everest, which is typically recognized as being 29,029, although re-measurement by teams have come up with somewhat varying figures including 29,022 and 29,035.[225] One of the issues is if the height is from the rock summit or includes the ice and snow, which can add a significant amount of height.[225] It is known the height of Everest may be changing due to its position on tectonic plates, which can alternately raise or lower it depending on the type of tectonic event.[226] Another goal in 2018 that many organizations have, is to remove trash from the mountain and nature areas.[227]

Sēres (Σῆρες) was the Ancient Greek and Roman name for the northwestern part of China and its inhabitants. It meant "of silk," or "land where silk comes from." The name is thought to derive from the Chinese word for silk, "sī" (絲/丝). It is itself at the origin of the Latin for silk, "sērica". See the main article Serica for more details.


Question: Who is eligible to vote in the Baseball Hall of Fame elections?

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum inducts players through the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) or the Veterans Committee. The BBWAA, consisting of members with at least ten years of experience and active coverage of Major League Baseball in the ten years prior to the election, votes on candidates who have been retired for five years and have ten years of major league experience. The screening committee ensures that only qualified players are considered. Voters can select up to ten players from a ballot of 25-40 candidates, and any player receiving 75% or more of the votes is inducted. Players with less than 5% of the votes are dropped, but a 2001 rule change allows them to be reconsidered by the Veterans Committee. Players with 5% or more but less than 75% of the votes can be reconsidered annually for up to ten years.

To coincide with his Hall of Fame election, the Mariners announced on January 8, 2016, that they would retire his jersey number 24. The retirement took effect with the start of the 2016 MLB season, with the formal ceremony taking place prior to the Mariners' August 6, 2016 game. The jersey retirement includes the number 24 also being taken out of circulation of all of the Mariners minor league affiliates.

Famously, a young pitcher named Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox was playing an emergency game at first base on St. Patrick's Day, 1918, his first time playing the field. Ruth would hit two home runs that day in Hot Springs, and the second was a 573-foot shot that landed across the street from Whittington Park in a pond of the Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo. Soon he was playing the field more often.[5][6][7] Over 130 Major League Baseball Hall of Famers, including such names as Ruth, Cy Young, Cap Anson, Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Walter Johnson, Rogers Hornsby, Mel Ott and Jimmie Foxx were involved in Hot Springs Spring Training games.[8] The First Boys of Spring is a 2015 documentary about Hot Springs Spring Training. The film was narrated by area native, actor Billy Bob Thornton, and produced by filmmaker Larry Foley.[9][10][11] The documentary began airing nationally on the MLB Network in February, 2016.[12]

One of the tallest players in major league history at 6 feet 10 inches (2.08 m), and a ten-time All-Star, Johnson was celebrated for having one of the most dominant fastballs in the game.  He regularly approached – and occasionally exceeded – 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) during his prime. He also threw a hard, biting slider. After struggling early in his career, gaining only 64 wins by his 30th birthday, he went on to lead his league in strikeouts nine times, and in earned run average, winning percentage and complete games four times each.  Randy won the pitching Triple Crown in 2002. Johnson was named one of two World Series Most Valuable Players in 2001, with three pitching victories, leading the Diamondbacks to a world championship over the New York Yankees in only their fourth year of play. His .646 career winning percentage ranks sixth among lefthanders with at least 200 decisions, and among southpaws he ranks eighth in games started (603) and ninth in innings pitched (4,135 1⁄3). He also finished his career first in strikeouts per nine innings pitched (10.67), third in hit batsmen (188), and tenth in fewest hits allowed per nine innings pitched (7.24). He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015, his first year of eligibility, and is the first member of the Hall to be depicted in a Diamondbacks uniform on his plaque.

There is a five-member panel composed of the preceding year's Series Champion, officials, etc. that meet during the final week of the season. They evaluate that year's candidates, on a declining ten point system, on each of the following criteria:

Various federal and state laws regulate elections. The United States Constitution defines (to a basic extent) how federal elections are held, in Article One and Article Two and various amendments. State law regulates most aspects of electoral law, including primaries, the eligibility of voters (beyond the basic constitutional definition), the running of each state's electoral college, and the running of state and local elections.

Although this is a policy that all baseball teams once had, the Yankees are currently the only team with such a policy (though former Chicago White Sox general manager Ken Williams was known for asking players to cut their hair, the club does not now nor during his time as GM have a policy banning long hair) and have gotten notoriety enforcing it. Many players, most notably Reggie Jackson, Jeff Reardon, Roger Clemens, Kevin Youkilis, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Johnny Damon, and Randy Johnson either had long hair, significant facial hair, or both before playing for the Yankees, but were clean-cut by the time they had their press conferences unveiling them as members of the Yankees.

At the IOC meeting on July 7, 2005, baseball and softball were voted out of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, becoming the first sports voted out of the Olympics since polo was eliminated from the 1936 Olympics.[3]  The elimination excised 16 teams and more than 300 athletes from the 2012 Olympics. The two slots left available by the IOC's elimination were subsequently filled by golf and rugby sevens in 2016.  This decision was reaffirmed on February 9, 2006.[4]
In the stands during the 2008 bronze medal game between the U.S. and Japan, IOC head Jacques Rogge was interviewed by MLB.com's Mark Newman and cited various criteria for baseball to earn its way back in: "To be on the Olympic program is an issue where you need universality as much as possible. You need to have a sport with a following, you need to have the best players and you need to be in strict compliance with WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency). And these are the qualifications that have to be met. When you have all that, you have to win hearts. You can win the mind, but you still must win hearts."[5]
It was officially decided in August 2009 at the IOC Board meeting in Berlin that baseball would also not be included in the 2016 Summer Olympics.[6]

Beginning in the early 1920s, All-Pro teams have traditionally been assembled from press polls of individually voting sportswriters.[1]  After polling the writers, the votes are tallied to determine the selected players and the results have historically been published through various news syndicates. From 1931 through 1942, the NFL selected its own official All-Pros. Today, the teams are mostly published online or announced on various televised sports programs. Some organizations also include "second-team" All-Pros, designating the runners-up at each position.

The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area comprising Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome from 1982 to 2009. They played their inaugural game at the newly completed Target Field on April 12, 2010.[7]

An All-Pro is an American football player in the National Football League (NFL) voted as one of the best players of their position during a given season. Historically, All-Pro designations sometimes also included players from the American Football League (AFL) and All-America Football Conference (AAFC). All-Pro players for each position are selected to form an All-Pro team.


Question: Who portrayed Taylor on The Bold and the Beautiful?

Taylor Hayes, a character from the CBS soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful," has been portrayed by Hunter Tylo since her debut on June 6, 1990. Created by William J. Bell, Tylo initially appeared as a regular until 1994, when she took a brief hiatus. After leaving the show in 1996 for a role on Melrose Place, she was quickly let go due to her pregnancy and subsequently returned to "The Bold and the Beautiful." In 2002, Tylo and executive producer Bradley Bell agreed that her character had run its course, leading to Taylor's death on October 30, 2002. However, Tylo reprised her role as a ghost in 2004 and was brought back as a living character in April 2005. She left the show again in July 2013 but made several guest appearances in 2014, and returned to the series in April 2018.

Stone and his sister Gina Williams were raised by their older brother Jagger Cates after their parents abandoned them. Jagger wasn't able to take care of them and they became separated and entered the foster parent rut. Stone met Karen Wexler at a party. Someone slipped something into her drink and Stone helped her. Stone did not know that she was dating his older brother Jagger. Karen felt she wasn't good enough for Jagger so she ended their relationship. Stone was living with Sonny Corinthos. Sonny was seeing Karen and got her hooked on drugs. Jagger found his little brother at his girlfriend Krystal's grave site and they began to build a relationship. Jagger became a cop and became engaged to Karen. Jagger saved his brother when he was supposed to drive the get away car to break Frank Smith out of prison. Jagger had a motorcycle accident but recovered and married Karen. Stone started to date Robin Scorpio. The pair fell deeply in love. Mac Scorpio, Robin's uncle, proved to be a big obstacle in their relationship as he did not approve of his niece dating a street kid. He came down with the flu and Robin took care of him. He told her that he had been tested for HIV and they made love for the first time. They used protection at first, but eventually they stopped; this was a decision that would change Robin's life forever. Stone had the flu for a while and decided to get tested for HIV again. The test came back positive. He did not know how to tell Robin. Stone was shot and his blood got on Robin. He ran away from her. She found him in the same motel where they made love. Stone told Robin that he was HIV positive. Dr. Alan Quartermaine ordered that they both be tested. Stone's test revealed that he now had AIDS. Robin's test came back negative. Alan started Stone on drug therapy. Mac Scorpio, Robin's uncle was furious when he found out, but he cared for Stone and even saved his life during a seizure, and later bonded with the kid. Robin later tested positive for HIV. Towards the end of his life, Stone was cared for by Robin and Sonny Corinthos at Sonny's penthouse. Stone's eyesight started to fail due to CMV retinitis worsened by his illness. Right before he died he was able to focus on Robin and see her for one last time. His last word were, "I see you...Oh, Robin, I see you." Stone was like a brother to Sonny and Sonny took his death very hard. Brenda Barrett took his death hard as well, and the two comforted each other. Sonny, Brenda, and Robin had Stone cremated and threw his ashes over a bridge where he had gone bungee jumping to fulfill one of the wishes on his "wish list", which he made once he knew he would not live many more months.

Kyle ignores warnings from Jennifer, Michael and Taylor that Amanda is untrustworthy and incapable of love. Amanda's mentor from a New York advertising agency, Eric Baines (Jeffrey Nordling), arrives in Los Angeles for a visit and tries to seduce her. When Amanda spurns his advances, Eric purchases the building with Kyle's restaurant and the jazz club to shut them down. Amanda then agrees to Eric's proposition, keeping it a secret. When Kyle finds out, he attacks Eric and threatens to kill him; Eric then returns their property and leaves town. However, Kyle is angry with Amanda for keeping Eric's proposition a secret and agreeing to it.

Cassidy originally auditioned for the role of Bela Talbot,[17] but ultimately received the part of Ruby. As opposed to using traditional demonic abilities such as telekinesis, Ruby instead relies on conventional martial arts and her demon-killing knife.[1] Cassidy trained in kickboxing alongside Bela's actress Lauren Cohan to be able to perform Ruby's martial arts skills,[17] prompting her to attempt as many of the fight scenes as she could rather than rely on her stunt double.[28] Before filming for the third season began, she and Cohan decided to watch previous seasons together to catch up on the show.[17] Cassidy also prepared by looking to Sharon Stone's performance in the film Basic Instinct for inspiration due to Ruby's manipulative ways.[29] As Cassidy explained, "[Stone's character] always has the power, and there's this mystery about her."[30] Costume designer Diane Widas had Ruby dressed in dark colors so that she would blend into shadows, also giving her pleather jackets and narrow jeans to allow Cassidy to be more active.[31] Because of Cassidy's height difference with the lead actors—she is 5'7" while Sam's actor, Jared Padalecki, is 6'4"—she had to wear tall, spiky high heels that at times made her lose balance.[26]

Willow was featured from the beginning of the series and already had a strong fanbase. Earlier in the fourth season, she had a boyfriend named Oz (Seth Green), who abruptly left town. Oz returns in the episode "New Moon Rising", determined to win Willow back. That episode marked the first time Tara is introduced to the Scooby Gang as a whole, and Willow is faced with choosing between Tara and Oz. She favors Tara in the end, causing some of the show's fans to react angrily on the fansite message boards, with some leaving homophobic remarks and characterizing Benson as overweight and unattractive. Benson, who was referred to as "astoundingly non-Hollywood" by a Scottish journalist,[4] frequented the boards and read the comments, finding them hurtful and taking some of them personally. She responded, protesting that she was, at 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m) and 118 pounds (54 kg), quite slender, although she appears larger than her more petite costars. She went on to write:

Taylor co-created and co-starred in Creation Nation: A Live Talk Show with Billy Eichner, which they performed at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as at the HBO Aspen Comedy Festival and throughout New York City and Los Angeles. He has also appeared onstage in Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom, The Shooting Stage,[6] Henry IV[disambiguation needed] and No. 11 Blue and White, as well as numerous productions in Stephen Sondheim's Young Playwrights Festival at the Cherry Lane Theater.[7]

Thorne Forrester is the younger son of Eric and Stephanie Forrester. Thorne was raised in Beverly Hills with his siblings, Ridge, Kristen, and Felicia Forrester. Thorne grew up in the shadow of big brother Ridge. Thorne had a crush on Caroline Spencer, even though she was engaged to Ridge. When Caroline dumped Ridge for having a one-night stand before their wedding, Thorne befriended Caroline, and the friendship turned to romance. But Thorne knew Caroline still loved Ridge, so he convinced Ridge's new girlfriend, Brooke Logan, to hide a letter in which Ridge professed his devotion to Caroline. Thorne and Caroline married soon after, although Caroline was furious when she learned of Thorne's part in hiding the letter.

Rosanna "Rose" Taylor (2005â€“2006) (Sarah Thompson) was introduced (in the season nine finale "Mi Familia Part 1") as Simon's current girlfriend. The two are not necessarily serious but she seems eager to engage and marry, pressuring Simon into proposing. When at first he refuses, she takes it as disinterest in her and backs away, provoking him to commit to marrying her. By season ten they are engaged, and she makes wedding plans. The initial plan was for the two to engage at the end of their current school year and wed at the end of the following year, but she pressures him into moving the engagement date forward. During Rose's time on the show, she becomes a very disliked person by all except for Sandy Jameson, who was her one friend there. Rose is known for being selfish, rude, inconsiderate, and thoughtless, rubbing Eric and Annie the wrong way more than anyone.

In February 2015, he became known for his appearance in Taylor Swift's music video for her single "Style", which was directed by Kyle Newman.[4] On 20 April 2015, it was announced he was chosen to play Jace Wayland in the Freeform fantasy drama series Shadowhunters, an adaptation of Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments book series.[5] He also co-starred alongside Ed Westwick and Jeremy Sumpter in the thriller film Take Down,[6] and will appear in the horror-thriller romance film The Other with Drea de Matteo and Cary Elwes.[7]

Hope was conceived during an affair between Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) and Deacon Sharpe (Sean Kanan). At the time, Deacon was married to Hope's half-sister, Bridget Forrester. Hope was born at the Big Bear Cabin. Deacon signed over his paternal rights in 2007 to Ridge Forrester when RJ and Hope were taken from Brooke when she was proven to be an unfit mother by Social Services, reported by Stephanie Forrester (Susan Flannery). Nick Marone (Jack Wagner) was also a father figure for Hope when he was married to Brooke.

Beginning in 1984, Harrison portrayed the recurring character Jamie Ewing Barnes in the drama Dallas. She played the role until 1986. Her character was actually killed off twice, first when she starts the car belonging to her brother, Jack Ewing, in the episode "Blast from the Past" and it explodes killing her. After the whole season was explained away as a dream, Harrison returned for her character to die again. Early in 1987, Jamie was killed in a mountain climbing accident.


Question: What do you call the initials that represent an organization or term?

Acronym and Initialism
Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial letters of a phrase, but they are pronounced differently. An acronym is pronounced as a word, such as NASA /ˈnæsə/ or SCUBA /ˈskuːbə/, while an initialism is pronounced as a series of individual letters, such as FBI /ˌɛfˌbiːˈaɪ/ or RSVP /ˌɑːrˌɛsˈviː pɛ/. Although some dictionaries use the term acronym for both types of abbreviation, others distinguish between acronyms and initialisms based on their pronunciation.

Many proper nouns become shorter and shorter over time. For example, the CCTV New Year's Gala, whose full name is literally read as "China Central Television Spring Festival Joint Celebration Evening Gala" (中国中央电视台春节联欢晚会) was first shortened to "Spring Festival Joint Celebration Evening Gala" (春节联欢晚会), but eventually referred to as simply Chunwan (春晚). Along the same vein, Zhongguo Zhongyang Dianshi Tai (中国中央电视台) was reduced to Yangshi (央视) in the mid-2000s.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL; formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith) is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals, and protects civil rights for all", doing so through "information, education, legislation, and advocacy".[1][2]

British Army signallers began using a partial spelling alphabet in the late 19th century. Recorded in the 1898 "Signalling Instruction" issued by the War Office and followed by the 1904 Signalling Regulations[5] this system differentiated only the letters most frequently misunderstood: Ack (originally "Ak") Beer (or Bar) C D E F G H I J K L eMma N O Pip Q R eSses Toc U Vic W X Y Z. This alphabet was the origin of phrases such as "ack-ack" (A.A. for anti-aircraft), "pip-emma" for pm and Toc H for an ex-servicemen association. It was developed on the Western Front of the First World War. The RAF developed their "Telephony Spelling Alphabet", which was adopted by all three services and civil aviation in the UK from 1921.

To distinguish themselves from the professional baseball team of the same name, the football team was incorporated as the "New York National League Football Company, Inc." in 1929 and changed to "New York Football Giants, Inc." in 1937. While the baseball team moved to San Francisco after the 1957 season, the football team continues to use "New York Football Giants, Inc." as its legal corporate name,[6] and is often referred to by fans and sportscasters as the "New York Football Giants". The team has also acquired several nicknames, including "Big Blue", the "G-Men", and the "Jints", an intentionally mangled contraction seen frequently in the New York Post and New York Daily News, originating from the baseball team when they were based in New York. Additionally, the team as a whole is occasionally referred to as the "Big Blue Wrecking Crew", even though this moniker primarily and originally refers to the Giants defensive unit during the 80s and early 90s (and before that to the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball teams of the late 1970s and early 1980s).[7]

The katakana transcription ジャパン (Japan) of the English word Japan is sometimes encountered in Japanese, for example in the names of organizations seeking to project an international image. Examples include ジャパンネット銀行 (Japan Netto Ginkō) (Japan Net Bank), ジャパンカップ (Japan Kappu) (Japan Cup), ワイヤレスジャパン (Waiyaresu Japan) (Wireless Japan), etc.

When the class is named after a member of the class, italicize the class name, for example the Lion class of battlecruisers is named after HMS Lion. But when the class is not named after a member of the class, the class name is not italicized, for example the Battle class of destroyers is named after battles; there is no HMS Battle that is a member of that class.

Unlike the organisations of the United Nations system, OECD uses the spelling "organisation" with an "s" in its name rather than "organization" (see -ise/-ize).

The medical literature has been struggling to control the proliferation of acronyms as their use has evolved from aiding communication to hindering it. This has become such a problem that it is even evaluated at the level of medical academies such as the American Academy of Dermatology. [42]

When referring to different variants, Boeing and airlines often collapse the model number (767) and the variant designator (e.g. –200 or –300) into a truncated form (e.g. "762" or "763"[124]). Subsequent to the capacity number, designations may append the range identifier.[124][125] The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) aircraft type designator system uses a similar numbering scheme, but adds a preceding manufacturer letter;[126] all variants based on the 767-200 and 767-300 are classified under the codes "B762" and "B763"; the 767-400ER receives the designation of "B764".[126]

The term is also used as a metaphor for any organization or activity that serves as a training ground for higher-level endeavors. For instance, business schools are occasionally referred to as "farm clubs" in the world of business.[citation needed]


Question: Who expanded the Palace of Versailles to its current size?

Louis XIV, known as the Sun King, significantly expanded the Palace of Versailles to its current grandeur. After inheriting a modest hunting lodge from his father, Louis XIII, Louis XIV embarked on a mission to transform it into a palace that would serve as the center of royal power. In 1661, he commissioned the talents of architect Louis Le Vau, landscape architect André Le Nôtre, and painter-decorator Charles Lebrun to begin the extensive renovation and expansion. Their work was driven by Louis XIV's vision to create a new focal point for the royal court. The transformation was so successful that, following the Treaties of Nijmegen in 1678, the king began relocating the court to Versailles, officially establishing it as the royal residence on 6 May 1682.

In November 1977, work began on another expansion project, costing US$1,200,000. It was completed in November 1978, enlarging the gift shop and research library, while doubling the size of the theater. The total size of the hall was now 50,500 square feet (4,690Â m2), more than 2.5 times the original size.[4]

The earliest mention of the name of Versailles is found in a document which predates 1038, the Charte de l'abbaye Saint-Père de Chartres (Charter of the Saint-Père de Chartres Abbey),[1] in which one of the signatories was a certain Hugo de Versailliis (Hugues de Versailles), who was seigneur of Versailles.[2]

In the 15th century some modifications and embellishments were made to the castle by Isabeau of Bavaria, the wife of King Charles VI , but the medieval structure remained essentially intact until the reign Francis I (1494–1547). He commissioned the architect Gilles le Breton to build a palace in the new Renaissance style, recently imported from Italy. Le Breton preserved the old medieval donjon, where the King's apartments were located, but incorporated it into the new Renaissance-style Cour Ovale, or oval courtyard, built on the foundations of the old castle. It included monumental Porte Dorée, as its southern entrance. as well as a monumental Renaissance stairway, the portique de Serlio, to give access the royal apartments on the north side.

It would take almost two full years until the first French Constitution was signed on 3 September 1791, and it required another popular intervention to make it happen. Louis attempted to work within the framework of his limited powers after the women's march but won little support, and he and the royal family remained virtual prisoners in the Tuileries. Desperate, he made his abortive flight to Varennes in June 1791. Attempting to escape and join up with royalist armies, the king was once again captured by a mixture of citizens and national guardsmen who hauled him back to Paris. Permanently disgraced, Louis was forced to accept a constitution more denuding of his kingship than any previously put forward. The spiral of decline in the king's fortunes culminated at the guillotine in 1793.[58]

The limestone building has slate and lead roofs above the attics. The two-storey west front, which was built in the 1690s, has three bays of each side of the central doorway, which has Doric columns, with smaller pavilions at the ends of the wings.[6] One of the wings creates a covered passageway to the church of St Peter.[7] The east front, which was added around 1704, has shallow projecting wings and a central door under a balustrade with an Italianate double staircase leading down to the lawns. A central pedestal is inscribed "virtute et veritate". Above it is an eagle statue, carved by John Harvey of Bath, representing the family crest of the Blathwayt family.[6]

Following the death of Francis I, King Henry II decided to continue and expand the chateau. The King and his wife chose the architects Philibert Delorme and Jean Bullant to do the work. They extended the east wing of the lower court, and decorated it with the first famous horseshoe-shaped staircase. In the oval court, they transformed the loggia planned by Francois into a Salle des Fétes or grand ballroom with a coffered ceiling. Facing the courtyard of the fountain and the fish pond, they designed a new building, the Pavillon des Poeles, to contain the new apartments of the King. The decoration of the new ballroom and the gallery of Ulysses with murals by Primaticcio and sculptured stucco continued, under the direction of the Mannerist painters Primaticcio and Niccolò dell'Abbate.[6] At Henri's orders, the Nymphe de Fontainebleau was installed at the gateway entrance of Château d'Anet, the primary domain of Henri's primary mistress Diane de Poitiers (the original bronze lunette is now in the Louvre, with a replica in place).

The ceiling of the throne room of Napoleon I. The ceiling was originally made for Louis XIII in the 17th century, when this was his bedroom.

A room for the guards was always located next to the royal bedchambers. The Salle des Gardes was built during the reign of Charles IX. Some traces of the original decor remain from the 1570s, including the vaulted ceiling and a frieze of military trophies attributed to Ruggiero d'Ruggieri. In the 19th century Louis Philippe turned the room into a salon and redecorated it with a new parquet floor of exotic woods echoing the design of the ceiling, and a monumental fireplace (1836), which incorporates pieces of ornament from demolished rooms from 15th and early 16th century. The bust of Henry IV, attributed to Mathieu Jacquet, is from that period, as are the two figures on either side of the fireplace. The sculpted frame around the bust, by Pierre Bontemps, was originally in the bedchamber of Henry II. The decorations added by Louis Philippe include a large vase decorated with Renaissance themes, made by the SÃ¨vres porcelain manufactory in 1832. During the reign of Napoleon III, the hall was used as a dining room.[22][23]

Never intended for residence, the Eremitage was built as a setting for hosting royal banquets during hunts in Dyrehaven, which surrounds the building. It originally featured a hoisting apparatus able to raise the table from the basement to the dining room, allowing the king and his guests to dine without any waiters present, or "en ermitage" (in solitude), hence the name of the castle.[12] The apparatus was removed in the late 18th century as it was causing endless mechanical problems,[13] and no signs of it remain.[14] The previous building on the site, the Hubertus Chalet, had a similar apparatus and was nicknamed Heremitagen for the same reason.[15]

The early 16th-century works of Machiavelli (especially The Prince) played a central role in popularizing the use of the word "state" in something similar to its modern sense.[9] The contrasting of church and state still dates to the 16th century. The North American colonies were called "states" as early as the 1630s. The expression L'Etat, c'est moi ("I am the State") attributed to Louis XIV of France is probably apocryphal, recorded in the late 18th century.[10]


Question: Who expanded the Palace of Versailles to its current size?

During the reign of Louis XV, significant expansions and additions were made to the Palace of Versailles, including the petit appartement du roi, the appartements de Mesdames, the appartement du dauphin, and the appartement de la dauphine on the ground floor. Additionally, Louis XV added two private apartments on the second and third floors of the palace, which were later transformed into the appartement de Madame du Barry. Among his most notable achievements were the construction of the Opéra and the Petit Trianon.

Marselisborg Palace is the summer residence of the royal family in Aarhus. Historically, the Palace was the property of the Marselis dynasty, its namesake. Marselisborg became a royal residence when Crown Prince Christian (later Christian X) and his consort Princess Alexandrine were given the Palace as a wedding present by the people of Denmark. As such the palace is the property of the Kingdom of Denmark, and will remain in possession of all future monarchs of Denmark. The royal couple used it as their summer residence. The building was rebuilt by the Danish architect Hack Kampmann. The present Queen Margrethe II was given the palace by her father, King Frederick IX of Denmark in 1967.[9]

With few other options available to him, the President of the Assembly, Jean Joseph Mounier, accompanied a deputation of market-women into the palace to see the king.[33][34] A group of six women nominated by the crowd were escorted into the king's apartment, where they told him of the crowd's privations. The king responded sympathetically, and using all his charm impressed the women to the point that one of them fainted at his feet.[31] After this brief but pleasant meeting, arrangements were made to disburse some food from the royal stores, with more promised,[35] and some in the crowd felt that their goals had been satisfactorily met.[34] As rain once again began to pelt Versailles, Maillard and a small cluster of market women trooped triumphantly back to Paris.[36]

The innermost ward encloses an area immediately south of the White Tower, stretching to what was once the edge of the River Thames. As was the case at other castles, such as the 11th-century Hen Domen, the innermost ward was probably filled with timber buildings from the Tower's foundation. Exactly when the royal lodgings began to encroach from the White Tower into the innermost ward is uncertain, although it had happened by the 1170s.[15] The lodgings were renovated and elaborated during the 1220s and 1230s, becoming comparable with other palatial residences such as Windsor Castle.[21] Construction of Wakefield and Lanthorn Towers – located at the corners of the innermost ward's wall along the river – began around 1220.[22][nb 1] They probably served as private residences for the queen and king respectively. The earliest evidence for how the royal chambers were decorated comes from Henry III's reign: the queen's chamber was whitewashed, and painted with flowers and imitation stonework. A great hall existed in the south of the ward, between the two towers.[23] It was similar to, although slightly smaller than, that also built by Henry III at Winchester Castle.[24] Near Wakefield Tower was a postern gate which allowed private access to the king's apartments. The innermost ward was originally surrounded by a protective ditch, which had been filled in by the 1220s. Around this time, a kitchen was built in the ward.[25] Between 1666 and 1676, the innermost ward was transformed and the palace buildings removed.[26] The area around the White Tower was cleared so that anyone approaching would have to cross open ground. The Jewel House was demolished, and the Crown Jewels moved to Martin Tower.[27]

When, in January 1534 Alessandro became Pope Paul III, the size of the palace was increased significantly and he employed Michelangelo who completed the redesigned third story with its deep cornice and revised the courtyard as well. The post-1534 developments were not only a reflection of Alessandro's change in status but employed architecture to express the power of the Farnese family, much as at their Villa Farnese at Caprarola. The massive palace block and its facade dominate the Piazza Farnese.

By 1834 the palace complex had been further developed, firstly by John Vardy in the middle of the eighteenth century, and in the early nineteenth century by James Wyatt and Sir John Soane. Vardy added the Stone Building, in a Palladian style to the West side of Westminster Hall; [13] Wyatt enlarged the Commons, moved the Lords into the Court of Requests and rebuilt the Speaker's House.[13] Soane, taking on responsibility for the palace complex on Wyatt's death in 1813, undertook rebuilding of Westminster Hall and constructed the Law Courts in a Neoclassical style. Soane also provided a new royal entrance, staircase and gallery, as well as committee rooms and libraries.[13]

In 1833, Louis-Philippe proposed the establishment of a museum dedicated to “all the glories of France,” which included the Orléans dynasty and the Revolution of 1830 that put Louis-Philippe on the throne of France. For the next decade, under the direction of Frédéric Nepveu and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine, the château underwent irreversible alterations.[47] The museum was officially inaugurated on 10 June 1837 as part of the festivities that surrounded the marriage of the Prince royal, Ferdinand-Philippe d’Orléans with princess Hélène of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and represented one of the most ambitious and costly undertakings of Louis-Philippe’s reign. Over, the emperor at the king’s home – Napoléon at Louis XIV’s; in a word, it is having given to this magnificent book that is called French history this magnificent binding that is called Versailles (Victor Hugo).[48]

Louis XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau at the Ch창teau on 22 October 1685, revoking the policy of tolerance towards Protestants begun by Henry IV. Louis welcomed many foreign guests there, including the former Queen Christina of Sweden, who had just abdicated her crown. While a guest in the Ch창teau on 10 November 1657, Christina suspected her master of horse and reputed lover, the Marchese Gian Rinaldo Monaldeschi, of betraying her secrets to her enemies. Her servants chased him through the halls of the Ch창teau and stabbed him to death. Louis XIV came to see her at the Ch창teau, did not mention the murder, and allowed her to continue her travels.

These arrangements changed substantially during and after the French Revolution. Louis XVI mismanaged funds, vacillated, was blamed for inaction during a famine, causing the French people to see the interest of the king and the national interest as opposed.[56] During the early stages of the uprising, the abolition of aristocratic privilege happened during a pivotal meeting on August 4, 1789, in which an aristocrat named Vicomte de Noailles proclaimed before the National Assembly that he would renounce all special privileges and would henceforward be known only as the "Citizen of Noailles."[56] Other aristocrats joined him which helped to dismantle the Ancien Regime's seignorial rights during "one night of heated oratory", according to one historian.[56] Later that month, the Assembly's Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen linked the concept of rights with citizenship and asserted that rights of man were "natural, inalienable, and sacred", that all men were "born free and equal, and that the aim of all political association is maintenance of their rights", according to historian Robert Bucholz.[56] However, the document said nothing about the rights of women, although activist Olympe de Gouge issued a proclamation two years later which argued that women were born with equal rights to men.[56] People began to identify a new loyalty to the nation as a whole, as citizens, and the idea of popular sovereignty earlier espoused by the thinker Rousseau took hold, along with strong feelings of nationalism. Louis XVI and his wife were guillotined.

It would take almost two full years until the first French Constitution was signed on 3 September 1791, and it required another popular intervention to make it happen. Louis attempted to work within the framework of his limited powers after the women's march but won little support, and he and the royal family remained virtual prisoners in the Tuileries. Desperate, he made his abortive flight to Varennes in June 1791. Attempting to escape and join up with royalist armies, the king was once again captured by a mixture of citizens and national guardsmen who hauled him back to Paris. Permanently disgraced, Louis was forced to accept a constitution more denuding of his kingship than any previously put forward. The spiral of decline in the king's fortunes culminated at the guillotine in 1793.[58]

Besides the palace complex, located on the highest and most secure terrain in the west of the fort, many of the other significant structures, such as the Kumbha Shyam Temple, the Mira Bai Temple, the Adi Varah Temple, the Shringar Chauri Temple, and the Vijay Stambh memorial were constructed in this second phase. Compared to the later additions of Sisodian rulers during the 19th and 20th centuries, the predominant construction phase illustrates a comparatively pure Rajput style combined with minimal eclecticism, such as the vaulted substructures which were borrowed from Sultanate architecture. The 4.5 km walls with integrated circular enforcements are constructed from dressed stone masonry in lime mortar and rise 500m above the plain. With the help of the seven massive stone gates, partly flanked by hexagonal or octagonal towers, the access to the fort is restricted to a narrow pathway which climbs up the steep hill through successive, ever narrower defence passages. The seventh and final gate leads directly into the palace area, which integrates a variety of residential and official structures. Rana Kumbha Mahal, the palace of Rana Kumbha, is a large Rajput domestic structure and now incorporates the Kanwar Pade Ka Mahal (the palace of the heir) and the later palace of the poet Mira Bai (1498-1546). The palace area was further expanded in later centuries, when additional structures, such as the Ratan Singh Palace (1528–31) or the Fateh Prakash, also named Badal Mahal (1885-1930), were added.


Question:
In general, when performing bit-wise operations in C, which data type should you use? (Note: The example provided is identical, so I've repeated it here to follow the instruction.)

Another similar question: Typically, when implementing recursive functions in C++, which control structure should you employ?

When performing bitwise operations in C, it is recommended to use data types that are suitable for bit manipulation. These operations are distinct from byte-level operations, which are carried out by the logical counterparts of bitwise operators such as AND, OR, and NOT. Byte-level operations work on strings of eight bits, or bytes, at a time, as opposed to individual bits. This is due to the fact that a byte is usually the smallest unit of memory that can be addressed (i.e., data with a unique memory address). For bitwise operations, using data types like `int`, `unsigned int`, or `char` is common, as they can effectively represent individual bits for manipulation.

The basic C execution character set contains the same characters, along with representations for alert, backspace, and carriage return. Run-time support for extended character sets has increased with each revision of the C standard.

Left shift can be used to multiply an integer by powers of 2 as in

Using the notation above, the variable "bit" corresponds to

e

m

2

{\displaystyle e_{m}^{2}}

 which is

(

2

m

)

2

=

4

m

{\displaystyle (2^{m})^{2}=4^{m}}

, the variable "res" is equal to

2
r

e

m

{\displaystyle 2re_{m}}

, and the variable "num" is equal to the current

X

m

{\displaystyle X_{m}}

 which is the difference of the number we want the square root of and the square of our current approximation with all bits set up to

2

m
+
1

{\displaystyle 2^{m+1}}

. Thus in the first loop, we want to find the highest power of 4 in "bit" to find the highest power of 2 in

e

{\displaystyle e}

. In the second loop, if num is greater than res + bit, then

X

m

{\displaystyle X_{m}}

 is greater than

2
r

e

m

+

e

m

2

{\displaystyle 2re_{m}+e_{m}^{2}}

 and we can subtract it. The next line, we want to add

e

m

{\displaystyle e_{m}}

 to

r

{\displaystyle r}

 which means we want to add

2

e

m

2

{\displaystyle 2e_{m}^{2}}

 to

2
r

e

m

{\displaystyle 2re_{m}}

 so we want res = res + bit<<1. Then update

e

m

{\displaystyle e_{m}}

 to

e

m
−
1

{\displaystyle e_{m-1}}

 inside res which involves dividing by 2 or another shift to the right. Combining these 2 into one line leads to res = res>>1 + bit. If

X

m

{\displaystyle X_{m}}

 isn't greater than

2
r

e

m

+

e

m

2

{\displaystyle 2re_{m}+e_{m}^{2}}

 then we just update

e

m

{\displaystyle e_{m}}

 to

e

m
−
1

{\displaystyle e_{m-1}}

 inside res and divide it by 2. Then we update

e

m

{\displaystyle e_{m}}

 to

e

m
−
1

{\displaystyle e_{m-1}}

 in bit by dividing it by 4. The final iteration of the 2nd loop has bit equal to 1 and will cause update of

e

{\displaystyle e}

 to run one extra time removing the factor of 2 from res making it our integer approximation of the root.

When a function returns a function pointer, it can be even more confusing without typedef. The following is the function prototype of signal(3) from FreeBSD:

The code below illustrates how memory objects are dynamically deallocated, i.e., returned to the heap or free store. The standard C library provides the function free() for deallocating a previously allocated memory block and returning it back to the heap.

As the name suggests, pseudocode generally does not actually obey the syntax rules of any particular language; there is no systematic standard form, although any particular writer will generally borrow style and syntax; for example, control structures from some conventional programming language. Popular syntax sources include Fortran, Pascal, BASIC, C, C++, Java, Lisp, and ALGOL. Variable declarations are typically omitted. Function calls and blocks of code, such as code contained within a loop, are often replaced by a one-line natural language sentence.

Analyse the algorithm, typically using time complexity analysis to get an estimate of the running time as a function of the size of the input data. The result is normally expressed using Big O notation. This is useful for comparing algorithms, especially when a large amount of data is to be processed. More detailed estimates are needed for algorithm comparison when the amount of data is small (though in this situation time is less likely to be a problem anyway). Algorithms which include parallel processing may be more difficult to analyse.

Above, intptr cliff, allen; means defining 2 variables with int* type for both. This is because a type defined by typedef is a type, not an expansion. In other words, intptr, which is the int* type, decorates both cliff and allen. For intptr cliff2, *allen2;, the intptr type decorates the cliff2 and *allen2. So, intptr cliff2, *allen2; is equivalent to 2 separate definitions, intptr cliff2; and intptr *allen2. intptr *allen2 means that allen2 is a pointer pointing to a memory with int* type. Shortly, allen2 has the type, int**.

The C++ programming language was devised by Bjarne Stroustrup as an approach to providing object-oriented functionality with a C-like syntax.[45] C++ adds greater typing strength, scoping, and other tools useful in object-oriented programming, and permits generic programming via templates. Nearly a superset of C, C++ now supports most of C, with a few exceptions.

Pointers can also be used to allocate and deallocate dynamic variables and arrays in memory. Since a variable will often become redundant after it has served its purpose, it is a waste of memory to keep it, and therefore it is good practice to deallocate it (using the original pointer reference) when it is no longer needed. Failure to do so may result in a memory leak (where available free memory gradually, or in severe cases rapidly, diminishes because of an accumulation of numerous redundant memory blocks).


Question: Is Great America in California part of the Six Flags group?

California's Great America, which was initially constructed by Marriott Corporation, opened to the public on March 21, 1976. Approximately two weeks later, on May 29, the company inaugurated a second park known as Marriott's Great America, later renamed Six Flags Great America, in Gurnee, Illinois, north of Chicago. Plans for a third park in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area were eventually shelved due to persistent local resistance and unsuccessful efforts to gain support. Despite the shared name and history with Six Flags Great America, California's Great America is not part of the Six Flags chain.

At the Halloween Haunt, there are special themed shows at PEANUTS Showplace, performing Halloween and spooky-themed songs for the trick-or-treaters on the nearby Trick-or-Treat Trail. Recent past years on the Gazebo there has been a show called Haunted Homecoming. On the walkways, there has been a roaming a cappella group (much like The Acafellas), called The Skele-Tones. At night, there is also Haunt Entertainment. Gazebo Stage and PEANUTS Showplace change every season or two, but as of 2015, Hacks, an improvised comedy show, has been located in the Galaxy Theater.

A time capsule was buried at then Paramount's Great America in the former KidZville area of the park on March 29, 2002. The time capsule is set to open on March 29, 2152. The time capsule reads, "At this site is buried a time capsule with essays by students in second through twelfth grades in the Santa Clara Unified School District and other local schools. What will the next 150 years in Santa Clara be like? In honor of the City of Santa Clara's sesquicentennial 1852-2002."

After Viacom and CBS Corporation split, Paramount Parks became part of CBS. The merger did not last long, as CBS announced plans to sell the theme park division.

In 1965, the Wonderland Amusement Park opened on the boardwalk at 6th Street, which is now known as "Gillian's Wonderland Pier". Runaway Train, a steel twister, is the only major coaster that operates there.[75] Playland's Castaway Cove, is located on the boardwalk at 10th Street. Two major roller coasters operated there, which were the Python, a looping coaster, and the Flitzer, a wild mouse coaster. A new major shuttle coaster at Castaway Cove, Storm, was planned to be finished in summer 2013.[76] The two older coasters (Python and Flitzer) were removed and for the 2016 summer season, a new ride called "GaleForce" is under construction, which will be a high thrill roller coaster with three linear synchronous motor launches reaching speeds of 64 miles per hour (103 km/h) and a 125-foot (38 m) beyond vertical drop. The new "Wild Waves" ride will be a family-oriented coaster, with a height of 50 feet (15 m), that will wrap around the GaleForce coaster. The new "Whirlwind" ride is a figure eight kiddie coaster with spinning cars.[77]

A popular tourist destination,[27] San Francisco is known for its cool summers, fog, steep rolling hills, eclectic mix of architecture, and landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, the former Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, Fisherman's Wharf, and its Chinatown district. San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co., Gap Inc., Fitbit, Salesforce.com, Dropbox, Reddit, Square, Inc., Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, Craigslist and Weather Underground. It is home to number of educational and cultural institutions, such as the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco State University (SFSU), the De Young Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the California Academy of Sciences.

Nickelodeon Universe is an indoor theme park in the center of the mall. The park features roller coasters, among numerous other rides and attractions, and is the largest indoor theme park in the United States. Unlike many indoor amusement parks, Nickelodeon Universe has a great deal of natural foliage in and about the park, and its floor has a wide variance in height – the highest ground level in the park is 15 feet (4.6 m) above the lowest. The rides include the roller coasters SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge and Avatar Airbender, and a thrill ride called BrainSurge. The latter attraction bills itself as a "rather peculiar" ride. It also has a miniature golfing section called Moose Mountain. This miniature golf course features eighteen holes and a relatively fast astroturf surface.[citation needed]

Boca Raton was the site of two now vanished amusement parks, Africa U.S.A. (1953–61) and Ancient America (1953–59). Africa U.S.A. was a wild animal park in which tourists rode a "Jeep Safari Train" through the park. There were no fences separating the animals from the tourists.[35] It is now the Camino Gardens subdivision one mile west of the Boca Raton Hotel. A red wooden bridge and remnants from the Watusi Geyser and Zambezi Falls, a 30-foot waterfall,[36] from Africa USA can still be seen at the entrance to Camino Gardens. Ancient America was built surrounding a real Native American burial mound. Today, the mound is still visible within the Boca Marina & Yacht Club neighborhood on U.S. 1 near Yamato Road.[37]

SeaWorld is a chain of marine mammal parks in the United States and is the largest owner of captive killer whales in the world. The parks feature killer whale, sea lion, and dolphin shows and zoological displays featuring various other marine animals. The parks' icon is Shamu, the orca.[35] Parks include:

When BATUS Inc. was unable to find a buyer for Gimbels in 1986, the department store chain was liquidated; the fate of the country's oldest parade was up in the air. Boscov's (a family-owned department store based in Reading, Pennsylvania) and WPVI (self-named "6abc" in its programs and promotions) took over sponsorship.[4] They renamed the event as the 6abc Boscov's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Parade's co-sponsor 6abc is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company (since 1996), and thus benefits from access to Disney characters and personalities.

Throughout the 1970s, Rivertown saw the addition of several attractions including Kenton's Cove Keelboat Canal in 1973, which was an elevated log flume ride that operated through the 2000 season, and The Beast roller coaster in 1979.[34] Designed internally by Kings Island, The Beast opened as the tallest, fastest, and longest roller coaster in the world, and in addition to retaining its record length,[74] it remains one of the most popular wooden roller coasters in the annual Golden Ticket Awards from Amusement Today.[75][76][68] Other rides added over the years include a river rafting ride called White Water Canyon, which opened in 1985, and a heavily-themed, indoor flat ride called Tomb Raider: The Ride (later renamed The Crypt), which opened in place of Kenton's Cove Keelboat Canal in 2002.[34] The Crypt closed permanently in 2011.


Question: Which philosopher promoted the concept of returning to nature?

The concept of returning to nature is most famously associated with Jean-Jacques Rousseau, an 18th-century philosopher who advocated for a return to a more natural state of existence. Rousseau believed that humans are inherently good but are corrupted by society's constraints. He argued that by returning to a simpler, more natural way of life, people could achieve a more authentic and fulfilling existence. This idea, often referred to as the "noble savage" concept, has had a significant influence on various philosophical and artistic movements.

Victor of Aveyron (c. 1788 â€“ 1828) was a French feral child who was found at the age of around twelve (he was going through puberty, and the doctors could only assume his age at the time). Upon his discovery, he was given many people to stay with, running away from civilization around eight times. Eventually,  his case was taken up by a young physician, Jean Marc Gaspard Itard, who worked with the boy for five years and gave him his name, Victor. Itard was interested in determining what Victor could learn. He devised procedures to teach the boy words and recorded his progress. Based on his work with Victor, Itard broke new ground in the education of the developmentally delayed.

By the words of Tu Weiming and other Confucian scholars who recover the work of Kang Youwei (a Confucian reformer of the early 20th century), Confucianism revolves around the pursuit of the unity of the individual self and Heaven, or, otherwise said, around the relationship between humanity and Heaven.[267] The principle of Heaven (Li or Dao) is the order of the creation and the source of divine authority, monistic in its structure.[267] Individuals may realise their humanity and become one with Heaven through the contemplation of this order.[267] This transformation of the self may be extended to the family and society to create a harmonious fiduciary community.[267] Confucianism conciliates both the inner and outer polarities of spiritual cultivation, that is to say self-cultivation and world redemption, synthesised in the ideal of "sageliness within and kingliness without".[267] As defined by Stephan Feuchtwang, Heaven is thought to have an ordering law which preserves the world, which has to be followed by humanity by means of a "middle way" between yin and yang forces; social harmony or morality is identified as patriarchy, which is the worship of ancestors and progenitors in the male line, in ancestral shrines.[190]

Aristotle, according to J. G. A. Pocock, suggested that ancient Greeks thought that being a citizen was a natural state.[5] It was an elitist notion, according to Peter Riesenberg, in which small scale communities had generally similar ideas of how people should behave in society and what constituted appropriate conduct.[5] Geoffrey Hosking described a possible Athenian logic leading to participatory democracy:

Although Rolling Stone and other countercultural publications lauded the Bangladesh concerts as proof that "the Utopian spirit of the Sixties was still flickering", in the words of author Nicholas Schaffner,[26] Harrison addressed, in "The Day the World Gets 'Round", the corporate greed and governmental apathy he had encountered.[27][28] While staging the concerts Harrison had made a point of distancing himself from the politics behind the war in what was formerly known as East Pakistan,[29] and he similarly advocated peace activist Swami Vishnudevananda's proposal for Planet Earth passports â€“ whereby "[one truth] underlies all nations, all cultures, all colours, all races, all religions".[30] Referring to the song and the moral responsibility of wealthy Western nations, he says in I, Me, Mine: "If everyone would wake-up and do even a little, there could be no misery in the world."[1]

The pioneers of the Warsaw Positivism were natural scientists and physicians rather than philosophers, and still more so journalists and men of letters: Aleksander Świętochowski (1849–1938), Piotr Chmielowski (1848–1904), Adolf Dygasiński (1839–1902),[54] Bolesław Prus (1847–1912). Prus developed an original Utilitarian-inspired ethical system in his book, The Most General Life Ideals;[55] his 1873 public lecture "On Discoveries and Inventions", subsequently printed as a pamphlet, is a remarkably prescient contribution to what would, in the following century, become the field of logology ("the science of science").

During the sixteenth century, Spanish priest and philosopher Francisco Suarez (1548-1617) expressed his objections to colonialism in his work De Bello et de Indis (On War and the Indies). In this text and others, Suarez supported natural law and conveyed his beliefs that all humans had rights to life and liberty. Along these lines, he argued for the limitation of the imperial powers of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor by underscoring the natural rights of indigenous people. Accordingly, native inhabitants of the colonial Spanish West Indies deserved independence and each island should be considered a sovereign state with all the legal powers of Spain.[79]

Its objective was "The cultivation of a perfect character in each and all." They wanted to transform society by setting an example of clean simplified living for others to follow. Davidson was a major proponent of a structured philosophy about religion, ethics, and social reform.[11]

From these early influences, individualist anarchism in different countries attracted a small yet diverse following of Bohemian artists and intellectuals,[235] free love and birth control advocates (see anarchism and issues related to love and sex),[236][237] individualist naturists and nudists (see anarcho-naturism),[237][238][239] freethought and anti-clerical activists[240][241] as well as young anarchist outlaws in what became known as illegalism and individual reclamation[106][242] (see European individualist anarchism and individualist anarchism in France). These authors and activists included Oscar Wilde, Emile Armand, Han Ryner, Henri Zisly, Renzo Novatore, Miguel Gimenez Igualada, Adolf Brand and Lev Chernyi among others.

The pre-Socratic Greek philosophers and Indian philosophers developed some of the earliest philosophical concepts of the Universe.[16][136] The earliest Greek philosophers noted that appearances can be deceiving, and sought to understand the underlying reality behind the appearances. In particular, they noted the ability of matter to change forms (e.g., ice to water to steam) and several philosophers proposed that all the physical materials in the world are different forms of a single primordial material, or arche. The first to do so was Thales, who proposed this material to be water. Thales' student, Anaximander, proposed that everything came from the limitless apeiron. Anaximenes proposed the primordial material to be air on account of its perceived attractive and repulsive qualities that cause the arche to condense or dissociate into different forms. Anaxagoras proposed the principle of Nous (Mind), while Heraclitus proposed fire (and spoke of logos). Empedocles proposed the elements to be earth, water, air and fire. His four-element model became very popular. Like Pythagoras, Plato believed that all things were composed of number, with Empedocles' elements taking the form of the Platonic solids. Democritus, and later philosophers—most notably Leucippus—proposed that the Universe is composed of indivisible atoms moving through void (vacuum), although Aristotle did not believe that to be feasible because air, like water, offers resistance to motion. Air will immediately rush in to fill a void, and moreover, without resistance, it would do so indefinitely fast.[16]

The Hagakure contains many sayings attributed to Sengoku-period retainer Nabeshima Naoshige (1537–1619) regarding bushidō related philosophy early in the 18th century by Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659–1719), a former retainer to Naoshige's grandson, Nabeshima Mitsushige. The Hagakure was compiled in the early 18th century, but was kept as a kind of "secret teaching" of the Nabeshima clan until the end of the Tokugawa bakufu (1867).[11] His saying, "I have found the way of the warrior is death", was a summation of the focus on honour and reputation over all else that bushidō codified.[12]


Question: Who does the fourth seed play in the NBA playoffs?

In the NBA playoffs, the seedings determine the match-ups throughout the series. The first round, or conference quarterfinals, involves four match-ups in each conference based on the seedings (1–8, 2–7, 3–6, and 4–5). This means the 4th seed plays against the 5th seed. The four winners from the first round advance to the second round, or conference semifinals, where the winners of the 1–8 and 4–5 match-ups face each other, and the winners of the 2–7 and 3–6 match-ups also compete. The two winners from the second round advance to the third round, or conference finals. Ultimately, the champions from each conference will meet in the final round, the NBA Finals.

After winning a share of the Big East Men's regular season championship, Marquette received an at-large bid in the 2013 NCAA Tournament as a No. 3 seed. There, they earned come-from-behind victories over Davidson in the Second Round and Butler in the Third Round. In the Sweet Sixteen, the school's third straight under Williams, they defeated ACC regular season and conference champion Miami to earn a trip to Williams's first Elite Eight, where they lost to Syracuse.

NBA history officially begins with three Basketball Association of America (BAA) seasons. In its first two postseason tournaments, BAA Eastern and Western Division champions were matched in a long first-round series while four runners-up played off to determine the other finalist.

The 1994 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 17, 1994, and ended with the championship game on April 4 in Charlotte, North Carolina, played at Charlotte Coliseum. A total of 63 games were played.

On June 27, 2014, the Ducks acquired center Ryan Kesler, as well as a third-round pick in 2015, from the Vancouver Canucks.[26] In the following season, they would win their third-straight Pacific Division title and finish as the top seed in the West with 109 points. In the 2015 playoffs, they swept the Winnipeg Jets in the first round and beat the Calgary Flames in 5 games to set up a Western Conference Final against the Chicago Blackhawks. After taking a three games to two series lead on the strong play of goaltender Frederik Andersen, the Ducks lost the final two games of the series, including Game 7 on home ice. This marked the third straight season the Ducks had lost a series in Game 7 at home after leading the series three games to two.[27]

Midway through the 1991–92 season, the Clippers made yet another coaching change. Larry Brown, recently fired by the San Antonio Spurs, was hired as the team's head coach in late January 1992. He replaced Mike Schuler, who had led the team to a 22–25 record before his firing. Brown finished the season with a 23–12 mark, for a 45–37 overall—the franchise's first winning season in 13 years. For the first time since moving to Los Angeles, they finished with a better record than the crosstown Los Angeles Lakers. The Clippers advanced to the playoffs for the first time in 16 years (since the franchise's Buffalo heyday), but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Utah Jazz, 3–2. Due to the late April 1992 Los Angeles riots, the Anaheim Convention Center was the site of Game 4 of the series, which the Clippers won. The team made the playoffs again in the 1992–93 season with a 41–41 record, but lost again in five games in the first round, this time to the Rockets.

In the 1961–62 season, Robertson became the first player in NBA history to average a triple-double for an entire season, with 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists.[1] Robertson also set a then-NBA record for the most triple-doubles during the regular season with 41 triple-doubles; the record would stand for over half a century when, in 2016–17, Russell Westbrook recorded 42 and joined Robertson as the only other player to average a triple-double for an entire season. He broke the assists record by Bob Cousy, who had recorded 715 assists two seasons earlier, by logging 899. The Royals earned a playoff berth; however, they were eliminated in the first round by the Detroit Pistons.[13] In the next season, Robertson further established himself as one of the greatest players of his generation, averaging 28.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 9.5 assists, narrowly missing out on another triple-double season.[1] The Royals advanced to the Eastern Division Finals, but succumbed in a seven-game series against a Boston Celtics team led by Bill Russell.[14]

In the first game, the 12-seed Boston College Eagles took on the 13-seed Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Boston College got out to ten point lead at half time. They opened the second half on a 15-5 run, bring their lead to 20 with under 14 minutes to play. A late flurry of scoring by Georgia Tech reduced the Eagles lead to 6 with only 45 seconds remaining, but BC hit four free throws at the end of the game, ending the chance of a Yellow Jacket comeback. Georgia Tech's Tadric Jackson led all scorers with 29 points in the losing effort.[10]

The four-team format remains in use, and the host team cycles evenly between all three leagues.  In 1987, however, only three teams competed for the Memorial Cup.  To determine the host team for that tournament, the OHL held a "super series" between its two regular season division winners before the start of the playoffs.  The tournament was won by the Oshawa Generals, who went on to win the OHL championship.  As a result, the OHL chose to send only Oshawa to the Memorial Cup.[16]  In all other tournaments, if the host team had also won their league title, the runner-up from the championship series qualified for the Memorial Cup as their league's representative.

The United States Team, dubbed Dream Team V or the Redeem Team, dominated Group B in pool play, defeating China, Angola, Greece, world champion Spain, and Germany by an average of 32.2 points. After finishing first in their group, the USA earned the right to play the fourth-place finishers in Group A, Australia. The United States soundly defeated Australia 116–85 in the quarterfinal. Next up for the Americans in the semifinals was the 2004 Olympic gold medalist Argentina, led by Manu Ginóbili – the team that had beaten them in the semifinals four years prior. However, Ginóbili was hobbled by an ankle injury and only played sparing minutes in the first half. Behind Carmelo Anthony's 21 points, the USA defeated Argentina 101–81 to reach the gold medal game.[32]

The Warriors completed the regular season with a record of 67-15, the best in the league and the most wins in franchise history.[51] The Warriors also finished with a home record of 39–2, the second best in NBA history. They were first in defensive efficiency for the season and second in offensive efficiency, barely missing the mark that the Julius Erving led Sixers achieved by being first in both offensive and defensive efficiency. On May 4, Stephen Curry was named the 2014–15 NBA Most Valuable Player, the first Warrior to do so since Wilt Chamberlain in 1960. In the first round of the playoffs, they swept the New Orleans Pelicans, defeated Memphis Grizzlies in the second round in six games and defeated Houston Rockets in five games of the Western Conference Finals. The Warriors advanced to their first NBA Finals since 1975, where they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games to win their fourth NBA title, and their first in 40 years. Andre Iguodala was named Finals MVP.[52]


Question: When did Canada achieve independence from the United Kingdom?

The Canada Act 1982, enacted on April 17, 1982, by Queen Elizabeth II in her capacity as Queen of Canada, marked the formal establishment of Canada's complete sovereignty as an independent nation. While the Queen's constitutional role over Canada was not diminished by this act, it solidified Canada's status as a fully autonomous country, with the Queen's position as monarch of Canada being distinct from her roles as the British monarch or monarch of other Commonwealth realms.

The American Revolution was a colonial revolt that took place between 1765 and 1783. The American Patriots in the Thirteen Colonies won independence from Great Britain, becoming the United States of America. They defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War in alliance with France and others.

Over time these terms acquired distinct connotations leading to the present difference in definition. An example of this is the United States under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles established a national government under what today would be defined as a federal system (albeit with a comparatively weaker federal government). However, Canadians, designed with a stronger central government than the U.S. in the wake of the Civil War of the latter, use the term "Confederation" to refer to the formation or joining, not the structure, of Canada. Legal reforms, court rulings, and political compromises have somewhat decentralised Canada in practice since its formation in 1867.

Following the Lancaster House Agreement of 1979 there was a transition to internationally recognised majority rule in 1980; the United Kingdom ceremonially granted Zimbabwe independence on 18 April that year. In the 2000s Zimbabwe's economy began to deteriorate due to various factors, including, the imposition of sanctions, such as among others the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001, following the switch from Willing Buyer, Willing Seller to Fast Track land reform. Economic instability led to a lot of Zimbabwe and move to neighbouring countries and overseas. Prior to its recognised independence as Zimbabwe in 1980, the nation had been known by several names: Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Zimbabwe Rhodesia.

From 1763 until its independence in 1979, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines passed through various stages of colonial status under the British. A representative assembly was authorized in 1776, Crown Colony government was installed in 1877, a legislative council was created in 1925, and universal adult suffrage was granted in 1951.

The country gained official independence as Zimbabwe on 18 April 1980. The government held independence celebrations in Rufaro stadium in Salisbury, the capital. Lord Christopher Soames, the last Governor of Southern Rhodesia, watched as Charles, Prince of Wales, gave a farewell salute and the Rhodesian Signal Corps played "God Save the Queen". Many foreign dignitaries also attended, including Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India, President Shehu Shagari of Nigeria, President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, President Seretse Khama of Botswana, and Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser of Australia, representing the Commonwealth of Nations. Bob Marley sang 'Zimbabwe', a song he wrote, at the government's invitation in a concert at the country's independence festivities.[28][29]

When the United States attacked British North America, most of the British forces were engaged in the Napoleonic Wars. Thus, British North America had minimal troops to defend against the United States, who had a much larger (though initially poorly trained) military force. For most of the war, British North America stood alone against a much stronger American force. Reinforcements from the United Kingdom did not arrive until 1814, the final year of the war. The repelling of the American force helped to foster British loyalties in the colonies that later became Canada.

In 1266, the island became part of Scotland under the Treaty of Perth, after being ruled by Norway. After a period of alternating rule by the kings of Scotland and England, the island came under the feudal lordship of the English Crown in 1399. The lordship revested into the British Crown in 1765, but the island never became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain or its successor the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: it retained its status as an internally self-governing Crown dependency.

During the War of 1812, American troops set fire to the buildings of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada in York (now Toronto). In 1841, the British government united the two Canadas into the Province of Canada, with a single legislature composed of, again, an assembly, council, and governor general; the 84 members of the lower chamber were equally divided among the two former provinces, though Lower Canada had a higher population. The governor still held significant personal influence over Canadian affairs until 1848, when responsible government was implemented in Canada.

The United Kingdom does not have a single legal system due to it being created by the political union of previously independent countries with the terms of the Treaty of Union guaranteeing the continued existence of Scotland's separate legal system. Today the UK has three distinct systems of law: English law, Northern Ireland law and Scots law. Recent constitutional changes saw a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom come into being in October 2009 that took on the appeal functions of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords.[19] The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, comprising the same members as the Supreme Court, is the highest court of appeal for several independent Commonwealth countries, the UK overseas territories, and the British crown dependencies.

The Canadian House of Commons and Senate last requested the Parliament of the United Kingdom to enact a constitutional amendment in 1982, in the form of the Canada Act, which included the Constitution Act, 1982.[39] This legislation terminated the power of the British parliament's ability to legislate for Canada and the authority to amend the constitution was transferred to the Canadian House of Commons, the Senate, and the provincial  legislative assemblies, acting jointly. Most amendments require the consent of the Senate, the House of Commons, and the legislative assemblies of two-thirds of the provinces representing a majority of the population; the unanimous consent of provincial legislative assemblies is required for certain amendments, including those affecting the sovereign, the governor general, the provincial lieutenant governors, the official status of the English and French languages, the Supreme Court of Canada, and the amending formulas themselves.


Question: When were birth certificates initially introduced in the U.S.?

Birth certificates have a long history in various civilizations, including China, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Persia, where they were primarily used for tax purposes and military conscription. In England, churches were responsible for recording births in registers until the 19th century. The United Kingdom began mandatory birth registration in 1853, while the United States didn't establish a uniform system until 1902.

When a birth is registered, the details are entered into the register book at the local register office for the district in which the birth took place and is retained permanently in the local register office. A copy of each entry in the birth register is sent to the General Register Office (GRO).[34]

In 1971, Hospice, Inc. was founded in the United States, the first organization to introduce the principles of modern hospice care to that country, where medical care had focused on fighting illness through hospital stays.[3] Throughout the 1970s, the philosophies of hospice were being implemented throughout the United States. The hospice movement in the United States became distinguished from that in Britain, according to Stephen Connor's Hospice: Practice, Pitfalls and Promise, by "a greater emphasis on use of volunteers and more focus on psychological preparation for death".[4] In 1982 Medicare, a social insurance program in the United States, added hospice services to its coverage.[3] On September 13, 1982, by request of the senate, US President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the week of November 7 through November 14, 1982, as National Hospice Week.[5]

Distribution of condoms in the United States was limited by passage of the Comstock laws, which included a federal act banning the mailing of contraceptive information (passed in 1873) as well as State laws that banned the manufacture and sale of condoms in thirty states.[2]:144,193 In Ireland the 1889 Indecent Advertisements Act made it illegal to advertise condoms, although their manufacture and sale remained legal.[2]:163–4,168 Contraceptives were illegal in 19th century Italy and Germany, but condoms were allowed for disease prevention.[2]:169–70 Despite legal obstacles, condoms continued to be readily available in both Europe and America, widely advertised under euphemisms such as male shield and rubber good.[2]:146–7 In late 19th century England, condoms were known as "a little something for the weekend".[2]:165 Only in the Republic of Ireland were condoms effectively outlawed. There, their sale and manufacture remained illegal until the 1970s.[2]:171

Bhicaji Framji Balsara became the first known Indian-born person to gain naturalised U.S. citizenship. As a Parsi, he was considered a 'pure member of the Persian sect' and therefore a free white person. The judge Emile Henry Lacombe, of the Southern District of New York, only gave Balsara citizenship on the hope that the United States attorney would indeed challenge his decision and appeal it to create “an authoritative interpretation” of the law. The U.S. attorney adhered to Lacombe’s wishes and took the matter to the Circuit Court of Appeals in 1910. The Circuit Court of Appeal agreed that Parsees belong to the white race and were "as distinct from Hindus as are the English who dwell in India”. [13][14] Prior to 1965, Indian immigration to the U.S. was small and isolated, with fewer than fifty thousand Indian immigrants in the country. The Bellingham riots in Bellingham, Washington on September 5, 1907 epitomized the low tolerance in the U.S. for Indians and Sikhs who were called hindoos by locals. While anti-Asian racism was embedded in U.S. politics and culture in the early 20th century, Indians were also racialized for their anticolonialism, with U.S. officials, casting them as a "Hindu" menace, pushing for Western imperial expansion abroad.[15] Although labeled Hindu, the majority of Indians were Sikh.[15] In the 1923 case, United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, the Supreme Court ruled that Punjabis were not "white persons" and were therefore racially ineligible for naturalized citizenship.[16] The Court also argued that the racial difference between Indians and whites was so great that the "great body of our people" would reject assimilation with Indians.[16]

The history of American newspapers begins in the early 18th century with the publication of the first colonial newspapers. American newspapers began as modest affairsâ€”a sideline for printers. They became a political force in the campaign for American independence. Following independence the first article of U.S. Constitution guaranteed freedom of the press. The U.S. Postal Service Act of 1792 provided substantial subsidies: Newspapers were delivered up to 100 miles for a penny and beyond for 1.5 cents, when first class postage ranged from six cents to a quarter.

These conditions led to the first labor combination cases in America. Over the first half of the 19th century, there are twenty-three known cases of indictment and prosecution for criminal conspiracy, taking place in six states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Louisiana, Massachusetts, and Virginia.[10] The central question in these cases was invariably whether workmen in combination would be permitted to use their collective bargaining power to obtain benefits—increased wages, decreased hours, or improved conditions—which were beyond their ability to obtain as individuals. The cases overwhelmingly resulted in convictions. However, in most instances the plaintiffs' desire was to establish favorable precedent, not to impose harsh penalties, and the fines were typically modest.[11]

Various inquests discovered the extent to which incompetent management and neglect was to blame for workplace accidents and legislation. This led to legislation in 1872 that required the employ of specifically certified managers. The certificates were issued by a government agency to candidates after passing a series of examinations. Steady development of the coal industry, increasing association among miners, and increased scientific knowledge paved the way for the extension and rationalisation of the then current legislation to a greater variety of industries.

Another critical factor has been ballot access law. Originally, voters went to the polls and publicly stated which candidate they supported. Later on, this developed into a process whereby each political party would create its own ballot and thus the voter would put the party's ballot into the voting box. In the late nineteenth century, states began to adopt the Australian Secret Ballot Method, and it eventually became the national standard. The secret ballot method ensured that the privacy of voters would be protected (hence government jobs could no longer be awarded to loyal voters) and each state would be responsible for creating one official ballot. The fact that state legislatures were dominated by Democrats and Republicans provided these parties an opportunity to pass discriminatory laws against minor political parties, yet such laws did not start to arise until the first Red Scare that hit America after World War I. State legislatures began to enact tough laws that made it harder for minor political parties to run candidates for office by requiring a high number of petition signatures from citizens and decreasing the length of time that such a petition could legally be circulated.

In the early 19th century, "it is quite clear that the laissez-faire label is an inappropriate one" to apply to the relationship between the United States government and industry.[37] In the mid-19th century, the United States followed the Whig tradition of economic nationalism, which included increased state control, regulation and macroeconomic development of infrastructure.[38] Public works such as the provision and regulation transportation such as railroads took effect. The Pacific Railway Acts provided the development of the First Transcontinental Railroad.[38] In order to help pay for its war effort in the American Civil War, the United States government imposed its first personal income tax on August 5, 1861 as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872).

Despite these guarantees of confidentiality, the Census Bureau has some history of disclosures to other government agencies. In 1918, the Census Bureau released individual information regarding several hundred young men to the Justice Department and Selective Service system for the purpose of prosecutions for draft evasion.[20][21] During World War II, the United States Census Bureau assisted the government's Japanese American internment efforts by providing confidential neighborhood information on Japanese-Americans. The Bureau's role was denied for decades but was finally proven in 2007.[22][23]


Question: When were birth certificates initially introduced in the U.S.?

The coordination between federal and state governments in the United States has played a significant role in the evolution of vital statistics. From 1900 to 1946, the U.S. Census Bureau was instrumental in standardizing birth certificates, gathering national vital statistics, and enhancing the reliability of such records. In 1946, this task was taken over by the U.S. Public Health Service. Unlike the British method of recording all births in centralized "registers," the American approach involves the filing of a distinct document for every single birth.

The first nine censuses (1790â€“1870) were conducted by U.S. Marshals before the Census Bureau was created.[21] Appointed US Marshals of each judicial district hired assistant marshals to conduct the actual enumeration. The census enumerators were typically from the village or neighbourhood and often knew the residents. Before enabling self-identification on the censuses, the US Census Bureau relied on local people to have some knowledge of residents. Racial classification was made by the census enumerator in these decades, rather than by the individual.

The enabling legislation for the naturalization aspects of the Fourteenth Amendment was the Naturalization Act of 1870, which allowed naturalization of "aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent", but is silent about other races. The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act banned Chinese workers and specifically barred them from naturalization. The Immigration Act of 1917, (Barred Zone Act) extended those restrictions to almost all Asians.

The Post Office was one of the first government departments to regulate obscene materials on a national basis. When the U.S. Congress passed the Comstock laws of 1873, it became illegal to send through the U.S. mail any material considered obscene or indecent, or which promoted abortion issues, birth control, or alcohol consumption.[39]

In the United States, the assassination of President James A. Garfield in 1881 prompted the replacement of the American Spoils System with a meritocracy. In 1883, The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was passed, stipulating government jobs should be awarded on the basis of merit through competitive exams, rather than ties to politicians or political affiliation.[8]

Censuses had been taken prior to the Constitution's ratification; in the early 17th century, a census was taken in Virginia, and people were counted in nearly all of the British colonies that became the United States.

Historically, the right of a child to the support of his or her parents was regulated solely by the separate states, territories, and Indian tribes.  The federal government of the United States became involved in providing welfare assistance to impoverished children in 1935 through the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program.  In turn, the federal government realized that many children were entering that program because noncustodial parents were often avoiding their fair share of the costs of raising their children, and began to develop the foundation of today's overarching federal framework for child support enforcement.

In the mid-19th century more complex classification systems were developed to allow governments to manage their information according to the degree of sensitivity. The British Government codified this, to some extent, with the publication of the Official Secrets Act in 1889. By the time of the First World War, multi-tier classification systems were used to communicate information to and from various fronts, which encouraged greater use of code making and breaking sections in diplomatic and military headquarters. In the United Kingdom this led to the creation of the Government Code and Cypher School in 1919. Encoding became more sophisticated between the wars as machines were employed to scramble and unscramble information. The volume of information shared by the Allied countries during the Second World War necessitated formal alignment of classification systems and procedural controls. An arcane range of markings evolved to indicate who could handle documents (usually officers rather than men) and where they should be stored as increasingly complex safes and storage facilities were developed.The Enigma Machine which was employed by the Germans to encrypt the data of warfare and successfully decrypted by Alan Turing can be regarded as a striking example of creating and using secured information. Procedures evolved to ensure documents were destroyed properly and it was the failure to follow these procedures which led to some of the greatest intelligence coups of the war (e.g. U-570).

The patent included the exclusive right to establish and collect a formal postal tax on official documents of all kinds. The tax was repealed a year later. Neale appointed Andrew Hamilton, Governor of New Jersey, as his deputy postmaster. The first postal service in America commenced in February 1692. Rates of postage were fixed and authorized, and measures were taken to establish a post office in each town in Virginia. Massachusetts and the other colonies soon passed postal laws, and a very imperfect post office system was established. Neale's patent expired in 1710, when Parliament extended the English postal system to the colonies. The chief office was established in New York City, where letters were conveyed by regular packets across the Atlantic.

History of citizenship describes the changing relation between an individual and the state, commonly known as citizenship. Citizenship is generally identified not as an aspect of Eastern civilization but of Western civilization.[1] There is a general view that citizenship in ancient times was a simpler relation than modern forms of citizenship, although this view has been challenged.[2]

As automobile-related fatalities soared in North America, public outcry provoked legislators to begin studying the French and German statutes as models.[9] On August 1, 1910, North America's first licensing law for motor vehicles went into effect in the US state of New York, though it initially applied only to professional chauffeurs.[10] In July 1913, the state of New Jersey became the first to require all drivers to pass a mandatory examination before receiving a license.[11]