Question: What is the interpretation of the song "Piece by Piece"?

"Piece by Piece," a song by Kelly Clarkson from her seventh studio album, is a midtempo pop track co-written by Clarkson and Greg Kurstin. The song serves as a continuation of the narrative from "Because of You" (2004), but with a positive resolution. Inspired by a conversation with her sister about their family dynamics, Clarkson penned the song as a personal reflection addressed to her father. It contrasts his past neglect with the unwavering love and commitment she experiences from her husband, who, alongside her, vows never to abandon their daughter.

Joel has stated that all of the characters depicted in the song were based on real people.[7] "John at the bar" was really the bartender who worked during Joel's shift at the piano bar. "Paul is a real estate novelist" refers to a real estate agent named Paul who would sit at the bar each night working on what he believed would be the next great American novel. "The waitress is practicing politics" refers to Joel's first wife Elizabeth Weber, with whom he moved to Los Angeles from New York in 1972 and who worked at The Executive Room as a waitress while Joel played the piano.[8] Joel had moved from New York to L.A. to record his first album, Cold Spring Harbor, which was marred by a mastering error by the album's producers at Family Productions, the first label that signed Joel. After this bad experience, Joel wanted to leave his contract with Family Productions for Columbia Records, but the contract that he had signed made this very difficult. So Joel stated that he was "hiding out" at the bar, performing under the name Bill Martin, while lawyers at Columbia Records tried to get him out of his first record deal.[9]

A reviewer from Plugged In criticized Perry's decision to create an uplifting song about such a serious subject matter as divorce: "Framing the song in terms of her divorce from Brand, though 'Part of Me', puts a much more somber and serious spin on things. This is no mere breakup. It's the demolition of a marital covenant. So no matter how bad things were in her relationship, no matter how much better she feels now, no matter how cathartic the pulsing beats (courtesy of hitmeisters Max Martin and Dr. Luke) might feel, the ultimate end here is a very sad one indeed."[26] Priya Elan of NME panned the song: 'This is the part of me, that you're never going to take away from me,' "she sings in that strange angry robot voice of hers. The sentiment, as ever, is punch you in face crystal clear and probably meant something to one of the (probably) 17 writers who wrote the song. As it stands, it's another de-humanised slab of radio pop from Perry INC."[27]

"The Climb" is a song performed by American singer Miley Cyrus, for the 2009 film Hannah Montana: The Movie. The song was written by Jessi Alexander and Jon Mabe, and produced by John Shanks. It was released on March 5, 2009, as the lead single of the film's soundtrack by Walt Disney Records. The song is a power ballad with lyrics that describe life as a difficult but rewarding journey. It is styled as a country pop ballad, and was Cyrus' first solo song to be released to country radio. The instrumentation includes piano, guitar and violins.

From the liner notes for the original album:[2]

The song's title was originally a popular slogan among the 1960s Black Power movements in the United States.[1] Its lyrics either mention or allude to several television series, advertising slogans and icons of entertainment and news coverage that serve as examples of what "the revolution will not" be or do. The song is a response to the spoken word piece "When the Revolution Comes" by The Last Poets, from their eponymous debut, which opens with the line "When the revolution comes some of us will probably catch it on TV".[2]

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

The song is about the breakup of a relationship. According to Currington, the line "But you drug my heart through the Alabama dirt" was inspired by a past relationship.[2]

"Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" is a song about a man who dreams that he was an Eskimo named Nanook. His mother warns him "Watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow."[2] The song directly transitions into "Nanook Rubs It." The song is about Nanook encountering a fur trapper "strictly from commercial" who is whipping Nanook's "favorite baby seal" with a "lead-filled snow shoe." Eventually Nanook gets so mad he rubs husky "wee wee" into the fur trapper's eyes, blinding him. According to the lyrics, this is supposed to replace "The Mud Shark" (a song from the live album Fillmore East – June 1971) in Zappa mythology. Zappa then sings in the fur trapper's perspective. The fur trapper then makes his way to the parish of St. Alfonzo, introducing the next song "St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast."[3]

A dance-pop and power pop song with a distinctive house beat, it has been compared to Perry's 2010 singles "Firework" and "California Gurls". Its lyrics describe a female protagonist who declares herself as unbreakable and strong following a break-up. Many critics theorized that the lyrics addressed Perry's divorce from Russell Brand, although Perry stated it was not about him since it was written in early 2010.

From this point forward, the suite almost completely abandons the previous storyline (the fur trapper's blindness is never explicitly healed). In this song a man attending St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast engages in such appalling deportment as stealing margarine pats from the tables, urinating on the bingo cards, and instigating an affair with an attractive married female churchgoer whose husband is in the Marine Corps and who is into sadomasochism. The final song in the suite, "Father O'Blivion", is about a priest, Father Vivian O'Blivion, who makes the pancakes for the St. Alfonzo fund-raiser. Randomly the song becomes about a leprechaun who's masturbating in a sock. The leprechaun feels that St. Alfonzo would be proud of him for doing so. Then he utters the Latin phrase "Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo (meaning "The Lord be with you, and with your spirit."). Won't you eat my sleazy pancakes just for Saintly Alfonzo." There are many possible reasons why the pancakes are "sleazy"; Zappa leaves them to the listener's interpretation. The suite can only loosely be said to follow a story and is treated as one piece only because of the musical transitions, the way each song introduces the next, and how later songs reference previous songs.[4]


Question: What is the meaning behind the song "Piece by Piece"?

"Piece by Piece" is a mid-tempo pop song that explores the theme of rebuilding trust and faith in love and family after experiencing abandonment. The lyrics begin with the narrator's memory of her father leaving the family, and by the chorus, she introduces a new man who has gradually restored her belief in the goodness of men and the permanence of a father's presence. The song, written in a first-person perspective, serves as a reflective letter from Kelly Clarkson to her father, contrasting her husband's unwavering love and commitment to her and their child with the pain of her father's departure when she was six. The song promises that they will never abandon their daughter, emphasizing the importance of a stable family environment.

Several poems from Yoko Ono's 1964 book Grapefruit inspired Lennon to write the lyrics for "Imagine"[3]—in particular, one which Capitol Records reproduced on the back cover of the original Imagine LP titled "Cloud Piece", reads: "Imagine the clouds dripping, dig a hole in your garden to put them in."[4] Lennon later said the composition "should be credited as a Lennon/Ono song. A lot of it—the lyric and the concept—came from Yoko, but in those days I was a bit more selfish, a bit more macho, and I sort of omitted her contribution, but it was right out of Grapefruit."[5] When asked about the song's meaning during a December 1980 interview with David Sheff for Playboy magazine, Lennon told Sheff that Dick Gregory had given Ono and him a Christian prayer book, which inspired him the concept behind "Imagine".

It is a R&B and pop song composed with a tempo of sixty beats per minute. It was written in a period of one day at Page's home in Malibu, California, with Cowell giving the idea to base it on the Christian poem "Footprints". The single's music video was filmed by British director Sophie Muller in Johannesburg, South Africa. The video describes social problems within the city, but ends with a message of hope. "Footprints in the Sand" became the official theme of the 2008 version of biennial charity programme Sport Relief, by BBC.

Bustle's Tracy Dye wrote that, in addition to "7 Lessons About Life & Facing Fear", the song also reinforces the importance of pursuing other opportunities, the belief that "material items don't lead to fulfillment", building new relationships and friendships, exploring new environments, and the concept of girl power.[48] BuzzFeed's Aylin Zafar described "Part of Your World" as "an anthem for anyone who has ever felt they were on the outside, looking into a place ... that they yearned to be a part of."[69] The Daily Dot's Aja Romano believes that the ballad mirrors "every young girl’s wish to get away from her over-protective parents and explore the world",[85] a sentiment shared by Rebecca Rose of Cosmopolitan who dubbed it "every young girl's lament about wanting to be part of something she idolizes."[86] Donna Dickens of HitFix concurred that the song's lyrics are about "yearning to break free from suffocating parental expectations".[87] Writing for Billboard, Taylor Weatherby identified "Part of Your World" as a song about "fantasizing over living a life you can’t," to which he believes many people are able to relate.[72] Derrick Gill of KXKX believes that the song is also based around the traditional saying "Is the grass greener on the other side?"[88]

Frey also said that the song is about putting things off. "We've all said, 'One of these nights I'm gonna do something -- get that girl, make that money, find that house.' We all have our dreams â€“ a vision we hope will come true someday. When that 'someday' will come is up to each of us."[7]

When writing the song, lead singer Martin originally intended to use a church-style organ for the track. Unable to gain access to the instrument, Martin instead used an old keyboard that his late father-in-law, Bruce Paltrow, gave to his daughter Gwyneth.[3] However, in other instances Martin has claimed that "Fix You" is influenced by English alternative rock band Elbow's 2003 anthem "Grace Under Pressure".[4][5][6]

From this point forward, the suite almost completely abandons the previous storyline (the fur trapper's blindness is never explicitly healed). In this song a man attending St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast engages in such appalling deportment as stealing margarine pats from the tables, urinating on the bingo cards, and instigating an affair with an attractive married female churchgoer whose husband is in the Marine Corps and who is into sadomasochism. The final song in the suite, "Father O'Blivion", is about a priest, Father Vivian O'Blivion, who makes the pancakes for the St. Alfonzo fund-raiser. Randomly the song becomes about a leprechaun who's masturbating in a sock. The leprechaun feels that St. Alfonzo would be proud of him for doing so. Then he utters the Latin phrase "Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo (meaning "The Lord be with you, and with your spirit."). Won't you eat my sleazy pancakes just for Saintly Alfonzo." There are many possible reasons why the pancakes are "sleazy"; Zappa leaves them to the listener's interpretation. The suite can only loosely be said to follow a story and is treated as one piece only because of the musical transitions, the way each song introduces the next, and how later songs reference previous songs.[4]

The authors of the song have repeatedly rejected this interpretation and have strongly and consistently denied that they intended any references to drug use.[10] Leonard Lipton has stated "Puff the Magic Dragon is not about drugs."[11] Peter Yarrow has frequently explained that the song is about the hardships of growing older and has no relationship to drug-taking.[12][13] He has also said of the song that it "never had any meaning other than the obvious one" and is about the "loss of innocence in children",[14] and dismissed the suggestion of association with drugs as "sloppy research".[15]

The song is about a boy who, although he is shy, has a girl who likes him named Mary Lou. He makes faltering attempts to respond to her when they are alone, which finally include trying to give her a frog. She promptly protests and summarily rebuffs him. Still in school, they later develop a more mature relationship with the boy as the initiator instead of Mary Lou, but when they are once again alone she nonetheless feels the need to remind him, still nervous, that she does "not" like spiders and snakes, or any other such similar creatures, and that it takes something else to satisfy her loving desires.

"Missing" is a song by British popular music duo Everything but the Girl, taken from their eighth studio album Amplified Heart (1994). It was written by the two band members, Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt, and was produced by Watt. It was taken as the second single off the album on 8 August 1994 by Atlantic Records and Blanco Y Negro Records. It initially did not achieve much success. It was remixed by Todd Terry and re-released in 1995, resulting in a worldwide hit, peaking near the top of the charts in many countries.

On 16 October 2017, Clean Bandit first announced the song and its release date on social media, along with the single cover and a pre-order set up on streaming services.[1][2] Shortly afterwards, Michaels revealed on Twitter that she "wrote ['I Miss You'] at the height of an emotional roller coaster. When I was stuck at the top, this flew out of me." On 18 October 2017, the group posted the first snippet of the song on social media, in which Michaels' layered voice can be heard "singing the melody over a piano piece".[3] Michaels later confirmed via a tweet that she wrote the song while Jack Patterson was playing the piano.[4] Chatto spoke to Billboard on the meaning behind the track, saying: "It's a simple song, about the unbelievable pain of breaking up with someone you love."[5] She also regarded "Sorry", a highly successful song co-written by Michaels, as one of her favorites of all time, calling working with Michaels "a real honour".[6]


Question: When was the initial temple constructed in Jerusalem?

The First Temple in Jerusalem, also known as Solomon's Temple, was constructed during the reign of King Solomon in the united monarchy of Israel and Judah. According to biblical sources, the construction began in the fourth year of Solomon's reign, placing the start of its building around the mid-10th century BCE. The temple was built with the assistance of Hiram I of Tyre, who provided architects, workers, and cedar timbers. It is believed that the site of the temple was originally a Jebusite shrine, which Solomon chose to unify the Jebusites and Israelites. The construction of the temple took 7 years, while the entire project, including Solomon's royal palace, spanned 20 years. The First Temple was dedicated to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and housed the Ark of the Covenant. Rabbinic sources suggest that the First Temple stood for 410 years, with its construction dated to 832 BCE and its destruction to 422 BCE, differing by 165 years from secular estimates.

After Jehoash was crowned, the covenant was renewed between God, the king, and the nation. The Tyrian cult of Baal, which had started under Jehoram, and strengthened under Athaliah, was suppressed. Mattan, the priest of Baal, was killed, the altars of Baal were destroyed, and for the first time in Judah's history the Jerusalem Temple, and its priesthood achieved national importance.[11][12][10]

Prior to the ascension of Saul, the city of Shiloh is seen as the national capital, at least in the religious sense, a claim that from an archaeological standpoint is considered plausible. Throughout the monarchy of Saul, the capital is located in Gibeah. After Saul's death, Ishbaal rules over the kingdom of Israel from Mahanaim, while David establishes the capital of the kingdom of Judah in Hebron.[citation needed]

Saint Catherine's Monastery on the foot of Mount Sinai was constructed by order of the Emperor Justinian between 527 and 565. Most of the Sinai Peninsula became part of the province of Palaestina Salutaris in the 6th century.

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence relating to religious rituals and practices current, prior to the codification of the Mishnah, from which it can be inferred that Judah HaNasi and his contemporaries recorded, rather than innovated, normative Judaism as authentically practiced during the 1st century CE and prior. For example, excavations at Qumran have yielded specimens of tefillin and parchment scrolls.[10] Likewise, the structure and placement of Mikvah ritual baths at the Judean fortress of Masada (see Map) appears to be consistent with the rabbinic requirements per the Mishnaic tractate Mikvaot, but was constructed approximately 120 years before the Mishnah was compiled.[11] A clay seal discovered in Jerusalem in 2011 is consistent with the tradition recorded in tractate Shekalim chapter 5.[12] The Elephantine papyri 419 BCE include a "Passover letter" which already included many of the pesach observances of today;[13] Among the papyri is the first known text of a Ketubah (Jewish marriage contract) from about 440 BCE. The Halachic Letter (Miqsat Ma'ase Ha-Torah/ Qumran Cave 4), which records approximately a dozen disputes regarding the application of halachah, also testifies to the evolutionary process of the Oral Law.

1191
Jews of Ascalon arrive in Jerusalem
1198
Maghreb Jews arrive in Jerusalem
1204
Maimonides buried in Tiberias
1209-1211
Immigration of 300 French and
English rabbis
1217
Judah al-Harizi bemoans state
of the Temple Mount
1260
Yechiel of Paris establishes
talmudical academy in Acre
1266
Jews banned from entering the
Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron
1267
Nachmanides arrives in Jerusalem,
Ramban synagogue established
1286
Meir of Rothenburg incarcerated
after attempting to emigrate
to Mamluk Palestine
1355
Physician and geographer
Ishtori Haparchi dies in Bet She'an

In 586 BCE Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, and the Judean elite – royal family, the priests, the scribes and other members of the elite – were taken to Babylon in captivity. They represented only a minority of the population, and Judah, after recovering from the immediate impact of war, continued to have a life not much different from what had gone before. In 539 BCE Babylon fell to the Persians and the Babylonian exile ended and a number of the exiles, but by no means all and probably a minority, returned to Jerusalem. They were the descendants of the original exiles, and had never lived in Judah; nevertheless, in the view of the authors of the Biblical literature, they, and not those who had remained in the land, were "Israel".[13] Judah, now called Yehud, was a Persian province, and the returnees, with their Persian connections in Babylon, were in control of it. They represented also the descendants of the old "Yahweh-alone" movement, but the religion they instituted was significantly different from both monarchic Yahwism[14] and modern Judaism. These differences include new concepts of priesthood, a new focus on written law and thus on scripture, and a concern with preserving purity by prohibiting intermarriage outside the community of this new "Israel".[14]

The land of Israel, which is considered by Jews to be the promised land, was the place where Jewish identity was formed,[10][need quotation to verify] although this identity was formed gradually reaching much of its current form in the Exilic and post-Exilic period. By the Hellenistic period (after 332 BCE) the Jews had become a self-consciously separate community based in Jerusalem.

The First Crusade was envisioned as an armed pilgrimage, and no crusader could consider his journey complete unless he had prayed as a pilgrim at the Holy Sepulchre. Crusader Prince Godfrey of Bouillon, who became the first crusader monarch of Jerusalem, decided not to use the title "king" during his lifetime, and declared himself Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri (Protector (or Defender) of the Holy Sepulchre). By the crusader period, a cistern under the former basilica was rumoured to have been the location that Helena had found the True Cross, and began to be venerated as such; although the cistern later became the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross, there is no evidence for the rumour prior to the 11th century, and modern archaeological investigation has now dated the cistern to the 11th century repairs by Monomachos.[7]

According to modern scholarship, the traditions embodied in what later became known as the "Oral Torah" developed over generations among the inhabitants of Judea and were passed down through various modes of cultural transmission, including but not restricted to oral transmission. It is hypothesized that, sometime prior to the Babylonian exile of 586-530 BCE, in applying the Mosaic code to daily life and Temple worship, "a multitude of usages arising out of practical necessity or convenience or experience became part of the routine of observance of the code, and, in the course of time, shared the sanctity and authority which were inherent in the divinely inspired code itself."[3]

In 1839, the Mormons regrouped at a new headquarters in Nauvoo, Illinois. They were again commanded to build a "House of the Lord"â€”this one even larger and greater than those that went before. Plans for the temple in Nauvoo followed the earlier models in Kirtland and Independence with lower and upper courts, but the scale was much increased.


Question: Who played the role of the grandfather on The Cosby Show?

Earle Hyman, an accomplished American actor with a career spanning stage, television, and film, was best known for voicing Panthro on ThunderCats and portraying Russell Huxtable, the father of Cliff Huxtable, on The Cosby Show.

Delta Burke appeared in the first season as next door neighbor, Diane Wilmington. Comic James Coco was a frequent guest, beginning in season one as Tony's father-in-law, visiting from New York, Nick Milano. People have credited his appearances on Who's the Boss? as a prime example of his comedic abilities on TV, despite the fact that he was not a regular and had never starred in a successful TV series of his own. When Coco died in February 1987, prior to the conclusion of season three, his character was written out as having died as well (with a funeral episode and tribute).

Willie the One-Eyed Mailman (played by Bill Suplee, who is Ethan Suplee's father) is a local mailman who wears an eye patch. He is affable but somewhat of a slacker as he has been seen throwing mail on the floor of someone's home or simply throwing it in the garbage. His lack of depth perception has caused problems for him more than once when giving or reaching for items (episode "Number One"). He had lost his eye when Joy smashed Earl's Def Leppard picture and a glass shard damaged his eye (episode "Our Cops Is On"). In the episode "Monkeys Take a Bath", he takes out his glass eye so he can play some kind of marble game, only to lose it when Joy bought the game at a garage sale.

William John Owen Rowbotham, MBE (14 March 1914 â€“ 12 July 1999), known professionally as Bill Owen, was an English actor and songwriter. He was the father of actor Tom Owen. He is best known for portraying Compo Simmonite in the Yorkshire based BBC comedy series Last of the Summer Wine for 27 years. He died in July 1999, his last appearance on-screen being shown in April 2000.

Wise appeared in several episodes of Mad Men as Ken Cosgrove's father-in-law Ed Baxter, the CEO of Corning, Inc. He appeared in "Chinese Wall" (Season 4, Episode 11), "At the Codfish Ball" (Season 5, Episode 7), "Commissions and Fees" (Season 5, Episode 12), "To Have and to Hold" (Season 6, Episode 4) and "Severance" (Season 7, Episode 8).

He appeared on Broadway in Wonderful Town, Inherit the Wind, Lunatics and Lovers and Tiger at the Gates. He succeeded Ray Walston as "Mr. Applegate" in the original production of Damn Yankees. He was featured in such films as From the Terrace (1960), Pay or Die (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Brushfire (1962), The Man from the Diner's Club (1963), Pressure Point (1962) and Alvarez Kelly (1966).[1] He also appeared in "1776" as delegate from New York, Lewis Morris. He co-starred with Godfrey Cambridge and Estelle Parsons in Watermelon Man (1970). He was also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Clark then gathers up his family from around Vegas and they gamble their last two dollars on a game of Keno. They sit next to an elderly man (Sid Caesar) who compliments Clark on his family, and hints that he has been lonely all of his life. Out of sympathy, Clark tells the man to consider himself part of the Griswold family for the night. The man happily accepts Clark's offer, and both parties begin the game. At first, the Griswolds are optimistic, but as they realize they have already lost the game, they sit together in silence. Suddenly, the man next to them ecstatically declares that he has won the game. In his burst of joy, he suddenly begins to slip in and out of consciousness while Ellen sends Rusty for help. He awakens one last time and whispers a message to Clark, before dropping his winning ticket and lapsing one final time.

She was born in Atlanta to a single mother, Renee Chahoy.[4] Her mother, a fellow actress and a pianist, was only 18 when she gave birth to Girardi. She had a close relationship with her grandparents, Hollis and Ann Peek.[5] Girardi’s grandfather whom she called “the only father I’ve ever known,” died in July 2010 at the age of 81.[6] Her grandmother died of Alzheimer's disease in November 2014 at the age of 86. “My grandmother and I used to speak on the phone for an hour every day about nothing. When those phone calls stopped, that was the hardest. Because I knew she could no longer communicate. I had always gotten such strength and such love from those phone calls and when they stopped, it was a real marker of, ‘This is over, Erika. The woman that you know is no longer,” she said in an episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Holby City has featured a number of famous guest stars. Emma Samms, Antonio Fargas, Ronald Pickup and Leslie Phillips made appearances within the show's first few series, and Anita Dobson, Peter Bowles and Susannah York all appeared in the fiftieth episode.[15] Other notable guest stars include Paul Blackthorne,[71] Suzanne Shaw,[72] Geoffrey Hutchings,[73] Richard Todd,[74] Johnny Briggs,[75] Terence Rigby,[76] Michael Obiora,[77] and Lionel Jeffries.[78] Richard Briers appeared as patient George Woodman in the Christmas episode "Elliot's Wonderful Life", Eric Sykes played Roger Ludlow, a patient with Alzheimer's disease and Phill Jupitus starred as morbidly obese patient Andy Thompson. Kieron Dyer was in four episodes as an injury prone footballer, Denise Welch had a recurring role as risk manager Pam McGrath, mother of nurse Keri, Clarke Peters appeared for five episodes in 2009 as the father of nurse Donna Jackson, and Graeme Garden had a recurring role from 2003 to 2007 as cardiothoracic consultant Edward Loftwood. Cascade Brown played Sophie Hindmarsh in 2004, Antonio Fargas appeared in 2003 as Victor Garrison, a patient with Parkinson's disease, Sheridan Smith appeared for six episodes in 2001 as teenage stalker Miranda Locke, and David Soul made two appearances as Professor Alan Fletcher.[79] The BBC's William Gallagher wrote in a November 2001 column that Soul's guest-appearance had begun a trend for American actors appearing in UK shows.[80] In 2012, Ron Moody guest starred as patient Vincent Mancini, a war veteran.[81]

In 2007, Courtenay appeared in two films: Flood, a disaster epic in which London is overwhelmed by floods, and The Golden Compass, an adaptation of Philip Pullman's novel, playing the part of Farder Coram. In 2008, he appeared in the BBC adaptation of Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens, playing William Dorrit, and the Christmas edition of The Royle Family, playing David (Senior). In March 2011, he joined the cast of Gambit, a film starring fellow RADA alumnus Alan Rickman that began filming in May. The film was released in Great Britain in November 2012. In 2012, he co-starred in Quartet, directed by Dustin Hoffman.

When the Solomons originally arrived on Earth, Tommy, despite being the oldest of the aliens, was given the body of a teenage boy. Despite having to act like a kid all the time, Tommy's real age shines through, particularly when he plays the role of mentor to High Commander Dick, ostensibly Tommy's father while on Earth. During one episode, Tommy announces he has retired from the mission, and starts behaving like a stereotypical old man, even hanging out at the old folks' home (where he poses as one of the resident's nephews). As Information Officer, Tommy is the smartest and most Earth-savvy of the Solomons, and he is typically charged with gathering information about humans, mainly from television shows and films. Joseph Gordon-Levitt left the series during the final season, so the storyline has his character Tommy away at college.[1]


Question: What's the English translation of the word Shalom?

Shalom, also spelled as sholom, sholem, sholoim, or shulem, is a Hebrew term that encapsulates a broad range of meanings including peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare, and tranquility. It is a versatile word that can be used to greet someone (hello) or to bid farewell (goodbye).

The first three of the seven petitions in Matthew address God; the other four are related to human needs and concerns. The Matthew account alone includes the "Your will be done" and the "Rescue us from the evil one" (or "Deliver us from evil") petitions. Both original Greek texts contain the adjective epiousios, which does not appear in any other classical or Koine Greek literature; while controversial, "daily" has been the most common English-language translation of this word. Some Christians, particularly Protestants, conclude the prayer with a doxology, a later addendum appearing in some manuscripts of Matthew.

William Tyndale (Bible translator into English in 1526) remodelled the word after an earlier word rihtwis, which would have yielded modern English *rightwise or *rightways. He used it to translate the Hebrew root צדקים (TzDYQ), tzedek, which appears over five hundred times in the Hebrew Bible, and the Greek word δίκαιος (dikaios), which appears more than two hundred times in the New Testament.

Other English translations are also used.

There is no single agreed-upon definition for the word "shamanism" among anthropologists. The English historian Ronald Hutton noted that by the dawn of the 21st century, there were four separate definitions of the term which appeared to be in use. The first of these uses the term to refer to "anybody who contacts a spirit world while in an altered state of consciousness." The second definition limits the term to refer to those who contact a spirit world while in an altered state of consciousness at the behest of others. The third definition attempts to distinguish shamans from other magico-religious specialists who are believed to contact spirits, such as "mediums", "witch doctors", "spiritual healers" or "prophets," by claiming that shamans undertake some particular technique not used by the others. Problematically, scholars advocating the third view have failed to agree on what the defining technique should be. The fourth definition identified by Hutton uses "shamanism" to refer to the indigenous religions of Siberia and neighboring parts of Asia.[23] According to the Golomt Center for Shamanic Studies, a Mongolian organisation of shamans, the Evenk word shaman would more accurately be translated as "priest".[24]

In the Greek original translated as English "jot and tittle" are found the words iota and keraia (Greek: κεραία).[3] Iota is the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet (ι). Alternatively, it may represent yodh (י), the smallest letter of the Hebrew and Aramaic alphabets. "Keraia" is a hook or serif, possibly referring to other Greek diacritics, or possibly to the hooks on Hebrew letters (ב) versus (כ) or cursive scripts for languages derived from Aramaic, such as Syriac, written in Serṭā (ܣܶܪܛܳܐ, 'short line'),[4] or for adding explicit vowel marks such as crowns (e.g. the Vulgate apex) known as Niqqud that developed with later scribal practices in the Torah. A keraia is also used in printing modern Greek numerals. In many abjads only consonants such as yodh in Hebrew have character forms; a word's phonetic pronunciation depends on unwritten or indistinct vowel markings such that many meanings can be rendered ambiguous or corrupted via oral transmission over time.

Preamble. Declares the treaty to be "in the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity", states the bona fides of the signatories, and declares the intention of both parties to "forget all past misunderstandings and differences" and "secure to both perpetual peace and harmony".

Tel Aviv University offers two graduate degree programs in the field of conflict resolution, including the English-language International Program in Conflict Resolution and Mediation, allowing students to learn in a geographic region which is the subject of much research on international conflict resolution.

The Biblical words usually translated as "abomination" do not always convey the same sense of moral exceptionalism as the English term does today, as it often may signify that which is forbidden or unclean according to the religion (especially sheqets). Linguistically in this case, it may be closer in meaning to the Polynesian term taboo or tapu, signifying that which is forbidden, and should not be eaten, and or not touched, and which sometimes was a capital crime. The word most often translated "abomination" to denote grave moral offenses is Tōʻēḇā. This article examines the term as it is used in English translations of the Bible, and also the actual senses of the words which are being translated into this term in English.[2]

Translations and scholars are divided over whether the final word here refers to "evil" in general or "the evil one" (the devil) in particular. In the original Greek, as well as in the Latin translation, the word could be either of neuter (evil in general) or masculine (the evil one) gender. Matthew's version of the prayer appears in the Sermon on the Mount, in earlier parts of which the term is used to refer to general evil. Later parts of Matthew refer to the devil when discussing similar issues. However, the devil is never referred to as the evil one in any known Aramaic sources. While John Calvin accepted the vagueness of the term's meaning, he considered that there is little real difference between the two interpretations, and that therefore the question is of no real consequence. Similar phrases are found in John 17:15 and 2 Thessalonians 3:3.[52]

Moloch has been traditionally interpreted as the name of a god, possibly a god surnamed "the king" (cf. adon "lord", baʿal "master"), but pejoratively mispronounced as Molek instead of Melek using the vocalisation of Hebrew בּשֶׁת bosheth "shame",[2] distinguishing it from the title of melek "king", written identically in the consonantal text, which is also frequently given to Yahweh.


Question: What's the English translation of the word Shalom?

The term "Shalom" in English translates to peace, which can signify harmony between two parties, such as between individuals or nations, and also denote the well-being, welfare, or safety of a person or group. According to Stendebach and Ringgren, a deeper linguistic examination of Hebrew roots indicates that 'Lom is the foundational root word for Shalom. This word is not only prevalent in various expressions and names but also has cognates in other languages, such as salaam in Arabic, sliem in Maltese, Shlama in Syriac-Assyrian, and sälam in Ethiopian Semitic languages, all stemming from the Proto-Semitic root Š-L-M.

In the English version, the scenes where a man on a horse rides past Bud Spencer have the exchange "good evening sheriff" with Spencer grumbling "shut up" whilst the Italian version is silent. The Italian version has the two Mormon women quote suggestive Biblical dialogue to seduce Hill that is not in the English version. The English version adds a loud clap of thunder when the head Mormon remarks about God helping them through sending them the two brothers to protect them whilst the thunder is not on the Italian soundtrack.

An act of 1327 had referred to "good and lawful men" to be appointed in every county in the land to "guard the peace"; such individuals were first referred to as conservators of the peace,[2] or wardens of the peace. The title justice of the peace derives from 1361,[3] in the reign of Edward III. The "peace" to be guarded is the sovereign's, the maintenance of which is the duty of the Crown under the royal prerogative. Justices of the peace still use the power conferred or re-conferred on them since 1361 to bind over unruly persons "to be of good behaviour". The bind over is not a punishment, but a preventive measure, intended to ensure that people thought likely to offend will not do so. The justices' alternative title of "magistrate" dates from the 16th century, although the word had been in use centuries earlier to describe some legal officials of Roman times.[4]

Religion also plays a large part in this work. Rob and his family call themselves Shakers, although they appear to be only selectively following the tenets of this religion. Peck describes "Shakers who marry, live in nuclear families, read a Shaker 'bible,' and attend a Shaker church."[5] Shakers, however, do not form into traditional family units or have a biblical text. Rob also tells Pinky about the ability of his Shaker namesake to commit acts of violence, which diverges from the Shaker commitment to pacifism, and Haven Peck places importance on earning the wealth to buy his farm, while Shakers were not permitted to own personal property.[6]

It is frequently used by Muslims of every background, due to its centrality to the texts of the Quran and Hadith—the words of the Islamic prophet Muhammad—and its meaning and in-depth explanation have been the subject of much exegesis. It is also commonly used by Arab Christians, and other non-Muslim speakers of the Arabic language.

Other English translations are also used.

The square brackets in three of the texts below indicate the doxology often added at the end of the prayer by Protestants and, in a slightly different form, by the Byzantine Rite ("For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory: of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen."[14]), among whom the prayer proper is usually recited by the cantors and congregation in unison, and the doxology by the priest as the conclusion of the prayer. The Anglican Book of Common Prayer adds it in some services but not in all. Older English translations of the Bible, based on late Byzantine Greek manuscripts, included it, but it is excluded in critical editions of the New Testament, such as that of the United Bible Societies. It is absent in the oldest manuscripts and is not considered to be part of the original text of Matthew 6:9–13. The Catholic Church has never attached it to the Lord's Prayer, but has included it in the Roman Rite Mass as revised in 1969, not as part of the Our Father but separated from it by a prayer called the embolism spoken or sung by the priest (in the official ICEL English translation: "Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.") that elaborates on the final petition, "Deliver us from evil." For more information on this doxology, see Doxology, below. When Reformers set out to translate the King James Bible, they assumed that a Greek manuscript they possessed was ancient and therefore adopted the phrase "For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever" into the Lord’s Prayer. Later scholarship demonstrated that the manuscript was actually a late addition based on Eastern liturgical tradition.

The English language has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years.[1] The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the fifth century, are called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England.[2] Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London and the King James Bible as well as the Great Vowel Shift.[3] Through the influence of the British Empire, the English language has spread around the world since the 17th century.

The functions of a shaman may include either guiding to their proper abode the souls of the dead (which may be guided either one-at-a-time or in a cumulative group, depending on culture), and/or curing (healing) of ailments. The ailments may be either purely physical afflictions—such as disease, which may be cured by gifting, flattering, threatening, or wrestling the disease-spirit (sometimes trying all these, sequentially), and which may be completed by displaying a supposedly extracted token of the disease-spirit (displaying this, even if "fraudulent", is supposed to impress the disease-spirit that it has been, or is in the process of being, defeated, so that it will retreat and stay out of the patient's body), or else mental (including psychosomatic) afflictions—such as persistent terror (on account of a frightening experience), which may be likewise cured by similar methods. In most languages a different term other than the one translated "shaman" is usually applied to a religious official leading sacrificial rites ("priest"), or to a raconteur ("sage") of traditional lore; there may be more of an overlap in functions (with that of a shaman), however, in the case of an interpreter of omens or of dreams.

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

The game was taken up by the Muslim world after the Islamic conquest of Persia, with the pieces largely keeping their Persian names. The Moors of North Africa rendered Persian "shatranj" as shaṭerej, which gave rise to the Spanish acedrex, axedrez and ajedrez; in Portuguese it became xadrez, and in Greek zatrikion, but in the rest of Europe it was replaced by versions of the Persian shāh ("king"). Thus, the game came to be called ludus scacchorum or scacc(h)i in Latin, scacchi in Italian, escacs in Catalan, échecs in French (Old French eschecs); schaken in Dutch, Schach in German, szachy in Polish, šahs in Latvian, skak in Danish, sjakk in Norwegian, schack in Swedish, šakki in Finnish, šah in South Slavic languages, sakk in Hungarian and şah in Romanian; there are two theories about why this change happened:


Question: Where did the tea originate from in the Boston Tea Party?

The Boston Tea Party was a political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. In response to the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which permitted the British East India Company to sell tea from China in the American colonies without paying taxes, thus undermining local tea merchants, the protestors, some dressed as Native Americans, destroyed a full shipment of tea supplied by the East India Company.

The East India Company was established in 1600 as a joint-stock company of English merchants who received, by a series of charters, exclusive rights to English trade with the "Indies", defined as the lands lying between the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan; the term "India" had been derived from the name of the Indus River, long important to commerce and civilisation in the region. The Company soon established a network of "factories" throughout the south and east Indies in Asia. Over a period of 250 years the Company underwent several substantial changes in its basic character and functions.

In the 18th century, Asia was making and distributing goods that were valued by other areas, namely cotton, silk and tea. Europe on the other hand, was not producing products of interest to the other parts of the world.[16] Hence, although Europe was wealthy, this dynamic shows that there may be a reversal of power because it was consistently expanding money, yet hardly bringing in currency.[citation needed] America's crops were not initially appealing to Europeans. Tobacco's demand had to be advertised, and eventually Europe became interested in this particular plant. In time, there was rather regular trans-Atlantic trade between the Americas and Europe for such crops as tobacco, cotton, and also goods available in South America.[15]

The battle was followed by a war for British political opinion. Within four days of the battle, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress had collected scores of sworn testimonies from militiamen and from British prisoners. When word leaked out a week after the battle that Gage was sending his official description of events to London, the Provincial Congress sent a packet of these detailed depositions, signed by over 100 participants in the events, on a faster ship. The documents were presented to a sympathetic official and printed by the London newspapers two weeks before Gage's report arrived.[121][122] Gage's official report was too vague on particulars to influence anyone's opinion. George Germain, no friend of the colonists, wrote, "the Bostonians are in the right to make the King's troops the aggressors and claim a victory."[123] Politicians in London tended to blame Gage for the conflict instead of their own policies and instructions. The British troops in Boston variously blamed General Gage and Colonel Smith for the failures at Lexington and Concord.[124]

About 700 British Army regulars in Boston, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, were given secret orders to capture and destroy Colonial military supplies reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord. Through effective intelligence gathering, Patriot leaders had received word weeks before the expedition that their supplies might be at risk and had moved most of them to other locations. On the night before the battle, warning of the British expedition had been rapidly sent from Boston to militias in the area by several riders, including Paul Revere and Samuel Prescott, with information about British plans. The initial mode of the Army's arrival by water was signaled from the Old North Church in Boston to Charlestown using lanterns to communicate "one if by land, two if by sea".

In the popular imagination, the Sons of Liberty was a formal underground organization with recognized members and leaders. More likely, the name was an underground term for any men resisting new Crown taxes and laws.[3] The well-known label allowed organizers to make or create anonymous summons to a Liberty Tree, "Liberty Pole", or other public meeting-place. Furthermore, a unifying name helped to promote inter-Colonial efforts against Parliament and the Crown's actions. Their motto became "No taxation without representation."[4]

To present a united front in their opposition to the Stamp act, the Provinces of British North America again met in the Stamp Act Congress, which convened in New York City from 7 through 25 October 1765. It issued a Declaration of Rights and Grievances, which it sent to the British Parliament in London. While the act was repealed, the First Rockingham ministry rejected the Congress' authority.[clarification needed]

As this controversy was heating up, the Massachusetts Bay Colony saw an opportunity to gain a foothold along the fertile Connecticut River Valley. In 1640, Boston asserted a claim to jurisdiction over lands surrounding the river; however, Springfield remained politically independent until tensions with the Connecticut Colony were exacerbated by a final confrontation later that year.[22]

In June 1772, American patriots, including John Brown, burned a British warship that had been vigorously enforcing unpopular trade regulations in what became known as the Gaspee Affair. The affair was investigated for possible treason, but no action was taken.

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War.[9] The battles were fought on April 19, 1775 in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge. They marked the outbreak of armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in America.

Pharmacist Charles Elmer Hires was the first to successfully market a commercial brand of root beer. Hires developed his root tea made from sassafras in 1875, debuted a commercial version of root beer at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876, and began selling his extract. Hires was a teetotaler who wanted to call the beverage "root tea". However, his desire to market the product to Pennsylvania coal miners caused him to call his product "root beer", instead.[6][7] In 1886, Hires began to bottle a beverage made from his famous extract. By 1893, root beer was distributed widely across the United States. Non-alcoholic versions of root beer became commercially successful, especially during Prohibition.[8][9]


Question: Where did the tea that was thrown overboard during the Boston Tea Party originate from?

In all the colonies except Massachusetts, the protesters succeeded in pressuring the tea consignees to either resign or send the tea back to England.[55] However, in Boston, Governor Hutchinson was resolved to stand firm. He managed to persuade the tea consignees, including his own two sons, to resist the pressure to back down.[56]

Note: The similarity transformation here maintains the length, complexity, and semantic style of the original document while preserving its relationship to the question. The transformed document conveys the same information about the Boston Tea Party and the actions taken by Governor Hutchinson and the tea consignees in Massachusetts.

The U.S. flag was brought to the city of Canton (Guǎngzhōu) in China in 1784 by the merchant ship Empress of China, which carried a cargo of ginseng.[46] There it gained the designation "Flower Flag" (Chinese: 花旗; pinyin: huāqí; Cantonese Yale: fākeì).[47] According to a pseudonymous account first published in the Boston Courier and later retold by author and U.S. naval officer George H. Preble:

Since the outbreak of war with Napoleonic France, Britain had enforced a naval blockade to choke off neutral trade to France, which the United States contested as illegal under international law. To man the blockade, Britain impressed American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy. Incidents such as the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair inflamed anti-British sentiment. In 1811, the British were in turn outraged by the Little Belt Affair, in which 11 British sailors died.[15][16] The British supplied Indians who conducted raids on American settlers on the frontier, which hindered American expansion and also provoked resentment.[17] Historians remain divided on whether the desire to annex some or all of British North America contributed to the American decision to go to war. On June 18, 1812, President James Madison, after receiving heavy pressure from the War Hawks in Congress, signed the American declaration of war into law.[18]

The Ming saw the rise of commercial plantations who produced crops suitable to their regions. Tea, fruits, paint and other goods were produced on a massive scale by these agricultural plantations. Regional patterns of production established during this period continued into the Qing dynasty.[5] The Columbian exchange brought crops such as corn with these foreign crops. During the Ming, specialized areas also popped up planting large numbers of cash crops that could be sold at markets. Large numbers of peasants abandoned the land to become artisans. The population of the Ming boomed; estimates for the population of the Ming range from 160 to 200 million.

The Chinese of Kolkata originally settled into a village called Achipur south of Kolkata in the late 18th century, later moving into the city and finally into its present home in Tangra at the eastern edge of Kolkata. The Chinese-origin people of Kolkata form a substantial and successful community with a distinct identity. With this identity came Chinese food, available at almost every street corner in Kolkata at present, due to the taste, quick cooking procedure, and no similarity with the original Chinese recipe other than the use of soy sauce. They were mostly Cantonese tradesmen and sailors who first settled down here and decided to cook with whatever items they had at hand.

Eliminating some of the taxes was one obvious solution to the crisis. The East India Company initially sought to have the Townshend duty repealed, but the North ministry was unwilling because such an action might be interpreted as a retreat from Parliament's position that it had the right to tax the colonies.[26] More importantly, the tax collected from the Townshend duty was used to pay the salaries of some colonial governors and judges.[27] This was in fact the purpose of the Townshend tax: previously these officials had been paid by the colonial assemblies, but Parliament now paid their salaries to keep them dependent on the British government rather than allowing them to be accountable to the colonists.[28]

The rhyme was first recorded by James Orchard Halliwell in the 1840s and gained popularity in the early twentieth century.[2] One legend suggests[3] that this nursery rhyme originated in the once prosperous wool merchant’s village of Lavenham, about 70 miles northeast of London, having been inspired by its multicolored half-timbered houses leaning at irregular angles as if they are supporting each other. Other sources[4] state that the poem originates from British history, specifically the period of the English Stuart King Charles I of England (1600–1649). The crooked man is reputed to be the Scottish General Sir Alexander Leslie, who signed a covenant securing religious and political freedom for Scotland. The "crooked stile" in the poem was the border between England and Scotland. "They all lived together in a little crooked house" refers to the fact that the English and Scots had at last come to an agreement, despite continuing great animosity between the two peoples, who nonetheless had to live with each other due to their common border.

Like in Ceylon, coffee production in India declined rapidly from the 1870s and was massively outgrown by the emerging tea industry. The devastating coffee rust affected the output of coffee to the point that the costs of production saw coffee plantations in many parts replaced with tea plantations.[12] However, the coffee industry was not as affected by this disease as in Ceylon, and although overshadowed in scale by the tea industry, India was still one of the strongholds of coffee production in the British Empire along with British Guiana. In the period 1910–12, the area under coffee plantation was reported to be 203,134 acres (82,205 ha) in the southern states, and was mostly exported to England.

According to the Mayflower passenger list, just over a third of the passengers were Puritan Separatists who sought to break away from the established Church of England and create a society along the lines of their religious ideals. Others were hired hands, servants, or farmers recruited by London merchants, all originally destined for the Colony of Virginia. Four of this latter group of passengers were small children given into the care of Mayflower pilgrims as indentured servants. The Virginia Company began the transportation of children in 1618.[35] Until relatively recently, the children were thought to be orphans, foundlings, or involuntary child labor. At that time, children were routinely rounded up from the streets of London or taken from poor families receiving church relief to be used as laborers in the colonies. Any legal objections to the involuntary transportation of the children were overridden by the Privy Council.[36][37] For instance it was proven that the four More children were sent to America because they were deemed illegitimate.[38] Three of the four More children died in the first winter in the New World, but Richard lived to be approximately 81, dying in Salem, probably in 1695 or 1696.[39]

While Samuel Adams tried to reassert control of the meeting, people poured out of the Old South Meeting House to prepare to take action. In some cases, this involved donning what may have been elaborately prepared Mohawk costumes.[65] While disguising their individual faces was imperative, because of the illegality of their protest, dressing as Mohawk warriors was a specific and symbolic choice. It showed that the Sons of Liberty identified with America, over their official status as subjects of Great Britain.[66]

During this period, Brazil did not have a significantly integrated national economy. Rather, Brazil had a grouping of regional economies that exported their own specialty products to European and North American markets. The absence of a big internal market with overland transportation, except for the mule trains, impeded internal economic integration, political cohesion and military efficiency. The regions, "the Brazils" as the British called them, moved to their own rhythms. The Northeast exported its surplus cheap labor and saw its political influence decline as its sugar lost foreign markets to Caribbean producers. The wild rubber boom in Amazônia lost its world primacy to efficient Southeast Asian colonial plantations after 1912. The national-oriented market economies of the South were not dramatic, but their growth was steady and by the 1920s allowed Rio Grande do Sul to exercise considerable political leverage. Real power resided in the coffee-growing states of the Southeast—São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro—which produced the most export revenue. Those three and Rio Grande do Sul harvested 60% of Brazil's crops, turned out 75% of its industrial and meat products, and held 80% of its banking resources.[1]


Question: Why is there a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica?

The primary driver of ozone depletion and the formation of the ozone hole over Antarctica is the presence of man-made chemicals, particularly halocarbon refrigerants, solvents, propellants, and foam-blowing agents like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), HCFCs, and halons. These substances, categorized as ozone-depleting substances (ODS), are transported to the stratosphere by atmospheric currents after being released at the Earth's surface. In the stratosphere, they undergo photodissociation, releasing halogen atoms that catalyze the conversion of ozone (O3) into oxygen (O2), leading to increased ozone depletion and the expansion of the ozone hole as the emission of halocarbons has grown.

After a 1976 report by the United States National Academy of Sciences concluded that credible scientific evidence supported the ozone depletion hypothesis[56] a few countries, including the United States, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, moved to eliminate the use of CFCs in aerosol spray cans.[57] At the time this was widely regarded as a first step towards a more comprehensive regulation policy, but progress in this direction slowed in subsequent years, due to a combination of political factors (continued resistance from the halocarbon industry and a general change in attitude towards environmental regulation during the first two years of the Reagan administration) and scientific developments (subsequent National Academy assessments that indicated that the first estimates of the magnitude of ozone depletion had been overly large). A critical DuPont manufacturing patent for Freon was set to expire in 1979. The United States banned the use of CFCs in aerosol cans in 1978.[57] The European Community rejected proposals to ban CFCs in aerosol sprays, and in the U.S., CFCs continued to be used as refrigerants and for cleaning circuit boards. Worldwide CFC production fell sharply after the U.S. aerosol ban, but by 1986 had returned nearly to its 1976 level.[57] In 1993, DuPont Canada closed its CFC facility.[58]

Ultraviolet light from the Sun has antiseptic properties and can be used to sanitize tools and water. It also causes sunburn, and has other biological effects such as the production of vitamin D and sun tanning. Ultraviolet light is strongly attenuated by Earth's ozone layer, so that the amount of UV varies greatly with latitude and has been partially responsible for many biological adaptations, including variations in human skin color in different regions of the globe.[215]

A blue hole is a water-filled sinkhole with the entrance below the water level. They can be formed in different karst processes, for example, by rainwater soaking through fractures of limestone bedrock onto the watertable. Sea level here has changed: for example, during the glacial age during the Pleistocene epoch (ice age), some 15,000 years ago, sea level was considerably lower.

The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. This point is distinct from Earth's North Magnetic Pole. The South Pole is the other point where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface, in Antarctica.

Earth's surface is very depleted in the element iridium, which primarily resides in the Earth's core. The only significant source of the element at the surface is cosmic particles that reach Earth. During a snowball Earth, iridium would accumulate on the ice sheets, and when the ice melted the resulting layer of sediment would be rich in iridium. An iridium anomaly has been discovered at the base of the cap carbonate formations, and has been used to suggest that the glacial episode lasted for at least 3 million years,[42] but this does not necessarily imply a global extent to the glaciation; indeed, a similar anomaly could be explained by the impact of a large meteorite.[43]

There are also glaciers in the subantarctic. This includes one snow field (Murray Snowfield). Snow fields are not glaciers in the strict sense of the word, but they are commonly found at the accumulation zone or head of a glacier.[6] For the purposes of this list, Antarctica is defined as any latitude further south than 60Â° (the continental limit according to the Antarctic Treaty).[7]

Ozone can be destroyed by a number of free radical catalysts; the most important are the hydroxyl radical (OH·), nitric oxide radical (NO·), chlorine radical (Cl·) and bromine radical (Br·). The dot is a notation to indicate that each species has an unpaired electron and is thus extremely reactive. All of these have both natural and man-made sources; at the present time, most of the OH· and NO· in the stratosphere is naturally occurring, but human activity has drastically increased the levels of chlorine and bromine. These elements are found in stable organic compounds, especially chlorofluorocarbons, which can travel to the stratosphere without being destroyed in the troposphere due to their low reactivity. Once in the stratosphere, the Cl and Br atoms are released from the parent compounds by the action of ultraviolet light, e.g.

The abundance of methane, ethane and acetylene at Neptune's equator is 10â€“100 times greater than at the poles. This is interpreted as evidence for upwelling at the equator and subsidence near the poles.[13][clarification needed]

Since the ozone layer absorbs UVB ultraviolet light from the sun, ozone layer depletion increases surface UVB levels (all else equal), which could lead to damage, including increase in skin cancer. This was the reason for the Montreal Protocol. Although decreases in stratospheric ozone are well-tied to CFCs and to increases in surface UVB, there is no direct observational evidence linking ozone depletion to higher incidence of skin cancer and eye damage in human beings. This is partly because UVA, which has also been implicated in some forms of skin cancer, is not absorbed by ozone, and because it is nearly impossible to control statistics for lifestyle changes over time.

A single chlorine atom is able to react with an average of 100,000 ozone molecules before it is removed from the catalytic cycle. This fact plus the amount of chlorine released into the atmosphere yearly by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) demonstrates the danger of CFCs and HCFCs to the environment.[6][7]


Question: Why is there a hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica?

The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica is primarily caused by the release of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other organohalogens. These substances release chlorine and bromine into the atmosphere, leading to the depletion of the ozone layer. In response to this issue, the Montreal Protocol was established in 1987, initially aiming to freeze and then reduce the production of CFCs. Following scientific evidence linking the ozone hole to manmade chemicals, the protocol was strengthened in 1990, with a commitment to phase out CFCs and halons by 2000 in developed countries and by 2010 in less developed countries. This phase-out was further accelerated to 1996 at the 1992 Copenhagen meeting. Methyl bromide, a fumigant used in agriculture, was also included in the list of controlled substances. The phaseout schedules were delayed for less developed countries, and they received support in the form of technology, expertise, and financial aid from developed countries. Exemptions for essential and critical uses could be sought through specific processes.

A Van Allen radiation belt is a zone of energetic charged particles, most of which originate from the solar wind, that are captured by and held around a planet by that planet's magnetic field. The Earth has two such belts and sometimes others may be temporarily created. The discovery of the belts is credited to James Van Allen, and as a result the Earth's belts are known as the Van Allen belts. Earth's two main belts extend from an altitude of about 500 to 58,000 kilometers[1] above the surface in which region radiation levels vary. Most of the particles that form the belts are thought to come from solar wind and other particles by cosmic rays.[2] By trapping the solar wind, the magnetic field deflects those energetic particles and protects the Earth's atmosphere from destruction.

Polar ecology is the relationship between plants and animals in a polar environment. Polar environments are in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Arctic regions are in the Northern Hemisphere, and it contains land and the islands that surrounds it. Antarctica is in the Southern Hemisphere and it also contains the land mass, surrounding islands and the ocean. Polar regions also contain the subantarctic and subarctic zone which separate the polar regions from the temperate regions. Antarctica and the Arctic lie in the polar circles. The polar circles are not visible on the earth but it is shown on maps to be the areas that receives less sunlight due to less radiation. These areas either receive sunlight (midnight sun) or shade (polar night) 24 hours a day because of the earth's tilt. Plants and animals in the polar regions are able to withstand living in harsh weather conditions but are facing environmental threats that limit their survival.

The unusual stability of this third, transient belt has been explained as due to a 'trapping' by the Earth's magnetic field of ultrarelativistic particles as they are lost from the second, traditional outer belt. While the outer zone, which forms and disappears over a day, is highly variable due to interactions with the atmosphere, the ultrarelativistic particles of the third belt are thought to not scatter into the atmosphere, as they are too energetic to interact with atmospheric waves at low latitudes.[22] This absence of scattering and the trapping allows them to persist for a long time, finally only being destroyed by an unusual event, such as the shock wave from the Sun.

There are also glaciers in the subantarctic. This includes one snow field (Murray Snowfield). Snow fields are not glaciers in the strict sense of the word, but they are commonly found at the accumulation zone or head of a glacier.[6] For the purposes of this list, Antarctica is defined as any latitude further south than 60Â° (the continental limit according to the Antarctic Treaty).[7]

Albedo and climate in some areas are affected by artificial clouds, such as those created by the contrails of heavy commercial airliner traffic.[39] A study following the burning of the Kuwaiti oil fields during Iraqi occupation showed that temperatures under the burning oil fires were as much as 10 °C colder than temperatures several miles away under clear skies.[40]

Alternative hypotheses, which had attributed the ozone hole to variations in solar UV radiation or to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns, were also tested and shown to be untenable.[citation needed]

Infrared absorption bands trap heat from escaping earth's atmosphere. In the case of CFCs, the strongest of these bands are located in the spectral region 7.8–15.3 µm [26] – referred to as an atmospheric window due to the relative transparency of the atmosphere within this region.[27] The strength of CFC bands and the unique susceptibility of the atmosphere, at which the compound absorbs and emits radiation, are two factors that contribute to CFCs' "super" greenhouse effect.[28] Another such factor is the low concentration of the compound. Because CO2 is close to saturation with high concentrations,[clarification needed] it takes more of the substance to enhance the greenhouse effect. Conversely, the low concentration of CFCs allow their effects to increase linearly with mass.[28]

The temperatures are similar between the Arctic and Antarctic. The temperatures in the Arctic are different depending on the location. Temperatures in the Arctic have a higher range than in the Antarctic. Temperatures can range as much as 100 °C (180 °F). Along the coast in the Arctic temperatures average −30 to −40 °C (−22 to −40 °F) in December, January and February.[7] The ice melts along the coast during the summer months which are around June, July and August and the temperature may rise a few degrees above freezing causing there to be some vegetation. During these same months in the northern regions there will be 24 hours of daylight. Arctic regions also receive a lot of snowfall. The Arctic Basin has snow 320 days out of the year while the Arctic Seas have snow cover 260 days a year.[8] The thickness of the snow averages 30–40 cm (12–16 in).[8] In Greenland, temperatures have an average temperature of −40 °C (−40 °F) in the winter and in the summer the temperatures reach −12 °C (10 °F). Iceland on the other hand is in a subarctic region meaning it is near the temperate zone. Because of this the temperatures are above the freezing point throughout much of the year. In Russia temperatures are extremely cold. In Verkhoyansk, Siberia it has reached the coldest temp of −68.8 °C (−91.8 °F) in the Northern Hemisphere.[9] The temperatures in the summer in Siberia can get to 36 °C (97 °F).

The emperor penguins use a particular spot as their breeding ground because it is on ice that is solid year round and no danger of the ice becoming too soft to support the colony exists. At the end of Antarctic summer, the breeding ground is only a few hundred meters away from the open water where the penguins can feed. However, by the end of winter, the breeding ground is over 100 kilometres (62Â mi) away from the nearest open water. To reach it, all the penguins of breeding age must traverse this great distance.

The history of metatherians (the clade containing marsupials and their extinct, primitive ancestors) provides an example of how evolutionary theory and the movement of continents can be combined to make predictions concerning fossil stratigraphy and distribution. The oldest metatherian fossils are found in present-day China.[173] Metatherians spread westward into modern North America (still attached to Eurasia) and then to South America, which was connected to North America until around 65 mya. Marsupials reached Australia via Antarctica about 50 mya, shortly after Australia had split off suggesting a single dispersion event of just one species.[174] Evolutionary theory suggests that the Australian marsupials descended from the older ones found in the Americas. Geologic evidence suggests that between 30 and 40 million years ago South America and Australia were still part of the Southern Hemisphere super continent of Gondwana and that they were connected by land that is now part of Antarctica. Therefore, when combining the models, scientists could predict that marsupials migrated from what is now South America, through Antarctica, and then to present-day Australia between 40 and 30 million years ago. A first marsupial fossil of the extinct family Polydolopidae was found on Seymour Island on the Antarctic Peninsula in 1982.[175] Further fossils have subsequently been found, including members of the marsupial orders Didelphimorphia (opossum) and Microbiotheria,[176] as well as ungulates and a member of the enigmatic extinct order Gondwanatheria, possibly Sudamerica ameghinoi.[177][178][179]


Question: Who was among the first to map the progression of memory loss over time?

In the late 19th century, Hermann Ebbinghaus was among the pioneers in charting the trajectory of memory decay over time, leading to the conceptualization of the forgetting curve. This curve is now commonly represented using an exponential model to illustrate how information fades from memory.

Phrenology (from Greek φρήν (phrēn), meaning 'mind', and λόγος (logos), meaning 'knowledge') is a pseudomedicine primarily focused on measurements of the human skull, based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or modules.[1] Although both of those ideas have a basis in reality, phrenology extrapolated beyond empirical knowledge in a way that departed from science. Developed by German physician Franz Joseph Gall in 1796,[2] the discipline was very popular in the 19th century, especially from about 1810 until 1840. The principal British centre for phrenology was Edinburgh, where the Edinburgh Phrenological Society was established in 1820.

The books begins with an account of the research on human fatigue and efficiency conducted in the early 20th century.

Amyloid imaging is likely to be used in conjunction with other markers rather than as an alternative.[287] Volumetric MRI can detect changes in the size of brain regions. Measuring those regions that atrophy during the progress of Alzheimer's disease is showing promise as a diagnostic indicator. It may prove less expensive than other imaging methods currently under study.[288]

Logicians of this time were primarily involved with analyzing syllogisms (the 2000-year-old Aristotelian forms and otherwise), or as Augustus De Morgan (1847) stated it: "the examination of that part of reasoning which depends upon the manner in which inferences are formed, and the investigation of general maxims and rules for constructing arguments".[33] At this time the notion of (logical) "function" is not explicit, but at least in the work of De Morgan and George Boole it is implied: we see abstraction of the argument forms, the introduction of variables, the introduction of a symbolic algebra with respect to these variables, and some of the notions of set theory.

However, studies where environmental deprivation has occurred provide insight and indicate that a lack of stimulation can lead to cognitive impairment. Further research using educational attainment as an indicator of cognitive stimulation have found that those with higher levels of education show less signs of cognitive aging and that stimulating environments could be used in the treatment of cognitive aging dysfunctions such as dementia.

During the early 20th century, a revival of interest in phrenology occurred, partly because of studies of evolution, criminology and anthropology (as pursued by Cesare Lombroso). The most famous British phrenologist of the 20th century was the London psychiatrist Bernard Hollander (1864â€“1934). His main works, The Mental Function of the Brain (1901) and Scientific Phrenology (1902), are an appraisal of Gall's teachings. Hollander introduced a quantitative approach to the phrenological diagnosis, defining a method for measuring the skull, and comparing the measurements with statistical averages.[38]

A founding paper of cancer epidemiology was the work of Janet Lane-Claypon, who published a comparative study in 1926 of 500 breast cancer cases and 500 control patients of the same background and lifestyle for the British Ministry of Health. Her ground-breaking work on cancer epidemiology was carried on by Richard Doll and Austin Bradford Hill, who published "Lung Cancer and Other Causes of Death In Relation to Smoking. A Second Report on the Mortality of British Doctors" followed in 1956 (otherwise known as the British doctors study). Richard Doll left the London Medical Research Center (MRC), to start the Oxford unit for Cancer epidemiology in 1968. With the use of computers, the unit was the first to compile large amounts of cancer data. Modern epidemiological methods are closely linked to current[when?] concepts of disease and public health policy. Over the past 50Â years, great efforts have been spent on gathering data across medical practice, hospital, provincial, state, and even country boundaries to study the interdependence of environmental and cultural factors on cancer incidence.

While Victor did not learn to speak the language that Itard tried to teach him, it seems that Victor did make progress in his behavior towards other people. At the Itard home, housekeeper Madame GuÃ©rin was setting the table one evening while crying over the loss of her husband. Victor stopped what he was doing and displayed consoling behavior towards her. Itard reported on this progress.[12]

Reduction in the activity of the cholinergic neurons is a well-known feature of Alzheimer's disease.[170] Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are employed to reduce the rate at which acetylcholine (ACh) is broken down, thereby increasing the concentration of ACh in the brain and combating the loss of ACh caused by the death of cholinergic neurons.[171] There is evidence for the efficacy of these medications in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease,[172][169] and some evidence for their use in the advanced stage.[168] The use of these drugs in mild cognitive impairment has not shown any effect in a delay of the onset of AD.[173] The most common side effects are nausea and vomiting, both of which are linked to cholinergic excess. These side effects arise in approximately 10â€“20% of users, are mild to moderate in severity, and can be managed by slowly adjusting medication doses.[174] Less common secondary effects include muscle cramps, decreased heart rate (bradycardia), decreased appetite and weight, and increased gastric acid production.[172]

During the early and moderate stages, modifications to the living environment and lifestyle can increase patient safety and reduce caretaker burden.[197][198] Examples of such modifications are the adherence to simplified routines, the placing of safety locks, the labelling of household items to cue the person with the disease or the use of modified daily life objects.[184][199][200] If eating becomes problematic, food will need to be prepared in smaller pieces or even pureed.[201] When swallowing difficulties arise, the use of feeding tubes may be required. In such cases, the medical efficacy and ethics of continuing feeding is an important consideration of the caregivers and family members.[202][203] The use of physical restraints is rarely indicated in any stage of the disease, although there are situations when they are necessary to prevent harm to the person with AD or their caregivers.[184]


Question: When does a corporation opt to perform a stock split?

A corporation might opt for a stock split when the per-share market price becomes excessively high, making it difficult for trading. This can discourage smaller investors from purchasing shares, particularly if there's a minimum trade requirement. By splitting the stock, the company can make its shares more accessible and affordable to a broader range of investors.

Generating a sufficient amount of revenue to finance government is arguably the most important purpose of the tax system. Optimal taxation, which is the theory of designing and implementing taxes that reduce inefficiency and distortion in the market through Pareto optimal moves under given constraints, is constantly debated.[7] Though inequality will always exist within even the most efficient markets, the goal of taxation is to eliminate as much inefficiency as possible and to raise revenue to fund government expenditures. With any tax, there will be an excess burden, or additional cost, to the consumer and the producer. Whenever the consumer purchases the taxed good or service, and the higher elasticity, or responsiveness, of the demanded product, the greater the excess burden is on either the consumer or producer. Those individuals or corporations who have the most inelastic demand curve pay the brunt of the excess burden curve. However, the tradeoff of placing larger taxes on inelastic goods is that the higher tax will lead to lower quantity exchanged and thus a smaller deadweight loss of reduced revenue.[7]

The auditing firm's responsibility to check and confirm the reliability of financial statements may be limited by pressure from the audited company, who pays the auditing firm for the service. The auditing firm's need to maintain a viable business through auditing revenue may be weighed against its duty to examine and verify the accuracy, relevancy, and completeness of the company's financial statements. This is done by auditor.

Where shares have been shorted and the company that issues the shares distributes a dividend, the question arises as to who receives the dividend. The new buyer of the shares, who is the holder of record and holds the shares outright, receives the dividend from the company. However, the lender, who may hold its shares in a margin account with a prime broker and is unlikely to be aware that these particular shares are being lent out for shorting, also expects to receive a dividend. The short seller therefore pays the lender an amount equal to the dividend to compensateâ€”though technically, as this payment does not come from the company, it is not a dividend. The short seller is therefore said to be short the dividend.

Minor league teams often change their affiliation with major league clubs for a variety of reasons. Sometimes major or minor League clubs wish to affiliate with a partner that is geographically closer. In recent years, some MLB clubs have attempted to place as many affiliated teams within their blackout area as possible, in order to make scouting and player transfers more convenient and to take advantage of the existing fan base when interest in the parent team builds support for the minor league affiliate and early fan interest in developing minor league players reinforces support for the parent team as "local players" reach the majors. Sometimes a minor league club wishes to improve the caliber of players its major league affiliate sends to play there. Sometimes a major league club wishes to improve the facility where it will send its developing players. In even-numbered years, any major or minor league club with an expiring PDC may notify Major League Baseball or Minor League Baseball, respectively, of its desire to explore a re-affiliation with a different PDC partner. The Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball offices then send a list of the corresponding major and minor league clubs seeking new affiliations, and there is a limited period of time in September within which clubs may agree upon new PDCs. If any are left over after this process, the Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball offices are empowered to assign major and minor league clubs to each other.

The need for a revised theory of the firm was emphasized by empirical studies by Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means, who made it clear that ownership of a typical American corporation is spread over a wide number of shareholders, leaving control in the hands of managers who own very little equity themselves.[6] R.Â L. Hall and Charles J. Hitch found that executives made decisions by rule of thumb rather than in the marginalist way.[7]

During August 2000, Enron's stock price attained its greatest value of $90.56.[19] At this time Enron executives, who possessed inside information on the hidden losses, began to sell their stock. At the same time, the general public and Enron's investors were told to buy the stock. Executives told the investors that the stock would continue to increase until it attained possibly the $130 to $140 range, while secretly unloading their shares.

Most businesses make more than one of a particular item. Thus, costs are incurred for multiple items rather than a particular item sold. Determining how much of each of these components to allocate to particular goods requires either tracking the particular costs or making some allocations of costs. Parts and raw materials are often tracked to particular sets (e.g., batches or production runs) of goods, then allocated to each item.

A board of directors is a recognized group of people who jointly oversee the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit business, nonprofit organization, or a government agency. Such a board's powers, duties, and responsibilities are determined by government regulations (including the jurisdiction's corporations law) and the organization's own constitution and bylaws. These authorities may specify the number of members of the board, how they are to be chosen, and how often they are to meet.

At the end of 2001, it was revealed that its reported financial condition was sustained by institutionalized, systematic, and creatively planned accounting fraud, known since as the Enron scandal. Enron has since become a well-known example of willful corporate fraud and corruption. The scandal also brought into question the accounting practices and activities of many corporations in the United States and was a factor in the enactment of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002. The scandal also affected the greater business world by causing the dissolution of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm.[2]

The problem with the many-to-many model is that it can stretch a company’s resources too thinly and soften its focus. One reason for the current financial problems of the world’s largest car maker, General Motors, is that it has tried to be everything to everybody, launching model after model with no clear segmenting, targeting or branding strategy.


Question: The most stable mineral present at the Earth's surface?

Quartz
Quartz is the most stable mineral at the Earth's surface, primarily because it is highly resistant to weathering processes. This characteristic is evident in Bowen's reaction series. Quartz can be found in various colors due to impurities within the mineral, such as tan, brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and black. Since quartz formations often create prominent topographic features, certain colors of quartz have become strongly associated with specific regions.

Other natural asbestiform minerals, such as richterite, Na(CaNa)(Mg, Fe++)5(Si8O22)(OH)2, and winchite, (CaNa)Mg4(Al, Fe3+)(Si8O22)(OH)2, though not regulated, are said by some to be no less harmful than tremolite, amosite, or crocidolite.[14] They are termed "asbestiform" rather than asbestos. Although the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has not included them in the asbestos standard, NIOSH and the American Thoracic Society have recommended them for inclusion as regulated materials because they may also be hazardous to health.[14]

Both stable and unstable isotopes of beryllium are created in stars, but the radioisotopes do not last long. It is believed that most of the stable beryllium in the universe was originally created in the interstellar medium when cosmic rays induced fission in heavier elements found in interstellar gas and dust.[10] Primordial beryllium contains only one stable isotope, 9Be, and therefore beryllium is a monoisotopic element.

The visible surface of the Sun, the photosphere, is the layer below which the Sun becomes opaque to visible light.[93] Above the photosphere visible sunlight is free to propagate into space, and almost all of its energy escapes the Sun entirely. The change in opacity is due to the decreasing amount of H− ions, which absorb visible light easily.[93] Conversely, the visible light we see is produced as electrons react with hydrogen atoms to produce H− ions.[94][95] The photosphere is tens to hundreds of kilometers thick, and is slightly less opaque than air on Earth. Because the upper part of the photosphere is cooler than the lower part, an image of the Sun appears brighter in the center than on the edge or limb of the solar disk, in a phenomenon known as limb darkening.[93] The spectrum of sunlight has approximately the spectrum of a black-body radiating at about 6,000 K, interspersed with atomic absorption lines from the tenuous layers above the photosphere. The photosphere has a particle density of ~1023 m−3 (about 0.37% of the particle number per volume of Earth's atmosphere at sea level). The photosphere is not fully ionized—the extent of ionization is about 3%, leaving almost all of the hydrogen in atomic form.[96]

When sedimentary rocks form, magnetic minerals within them tend to align themselves with the Earth's magnetic field. Through the precise measurement of this palaeomagnetism, it is possible to estimate the latitude (but not the longitude) where the rock matrix was formed. Palaeomagnetic measurements have indicated that some sediments of glacial origin in the Neoproterozoic rock record were deposited within 10 degrees of the equator,[20] although the accuracy of this reconstruction is in question.[18] This palaeomagnetic location of apparently glacial sediments (such as dropstones) has been taken to suggest that glaciers extended from land to sea level in tropical latitudes at the time the sediments were deposited. It is not clear whether this implies a global glaciation, or the existence of localized, possibly land-locked, glacial regimes.[21] Others have even suggested that most data do not constrain any glacial deposits to within 25Â° of the equator.[22]

Hydrogen is the most abundant of the chemical elements, constituting roughly 75% of the universe's elemental mass.[7] Stars in the main sequence are mainly composed of hydrogen in its plasma state. Elemental hydrogen is relatively rare on Earth, and is industrially produced from hydrocarbons such as methane, after which most elemental hydrogen is used "captively" (meaning locally at the production site), with the largest markets almost equally divided between fossil fuel upgrading, such as hydrocracking, and ammonia production, mostly for the fertilizer market. Hydrogen may be produced from water using the process of electrolysis, but this process is significantly more expensive commercially than hydrogen production from natural gas.[8]

The bands were produced at the tipping point between an anoxic and an oxygenated ocean. Since today's atmosphere is oxygen-rich (nearly 21% by volume) and in contact with the oceans, it is not possible to accumulate enough iron oxide to deposit a banded formation. The only extensive iron formations that were deposited after the Palaeoproterozoic (after 1.8 billion years ago) are associated with Cryogenian glacial deposits.

Zinc deficiency appears to be the most common micronutrient deficiency in crop plants; it is particularly common in high-pH soils.[216]  Zinc-deficient soil is cultivated in the cropland of about half of Turkey and India, a third of China, and most of Western Australia.  Substantial responses to zinc fertilization have been reported in these areas.[98] Plants that grow in soils that are zinc-deficient are more susceptible to disease. Zinc is added to the soil primarily through the weathering of rocks, but humans have added zinc through fossil fuel combustion, mine waste, phosphate fertilizers, pesticide (zinc phosphide), limestone, manure, sewage sludge, and particles from galvanized surfaces. Excess zinc is toxic to plants, although zinc toxicity is far less widespread.[98]

The force of gravity on the surface of the Earth, normally denoted g, has remained constant in both direction and magnitude since the formation of the planet.[citation needed] As a result, both plant and animal life have evolved to rely upon and cope with it in various ways.

The Canadian Shield is one of the world's richest areas in terms of mineral ores. It is filled with substantial deposits of nickel, gold, silver, and copper. Throughout the Shield there are many mining towns extracting these minerals. The largest, and one of the best known, is Sudbury, Ontario. Sudbury is an exception to the normal process of forming minerals in the Shield since the Sudbury Basin is an ancient meteorite impact crater. Ejecta from the meteorite impact was found in the Rove Formation in May 2007. The nearby, but less known Temagami Magnetic Anomaly, has striking similarities to the Sudbury Basin. This suggests it could be a second metal-rich impact crater.[16]

Radioactive cosmogenic 10Be is produced in the atmosphere of the Earth by the cosmic ray spallation of oxygen.[11] 10Be accumulates at the soil surface, where its relatively long half-life (1.36 million years) permits a long residence time before decaying to boron-10. Thus, 10Be and its daughter products are used to examine natural soil erosion, soil formation and the development of lateritic soils, and as a proxy for measurement of the variations in solar activity and the age of ice cores.[12] The production of 10Be is inversely proportional to solar activity, because increased solar wind during periods of high solar activity decreases the flux of galactic cosmic rays that reach the Earth.[11] Nuclear explosions also form 10Be by the reaction of fast neutrons with 13C in the carbon dioxide in air. This is one of the indicators of past activity at nuclear weapon test sites.[13] The isotope 7Be (half-life 53 days) is also cosmogenic, and shows an atmospheric abundance linked to sunspots, much like 10Be.