Question: When did the blackout cease during World War 2?

As the strength of the German military waned, a "Dim-out" was initiated in September 1944, permitting a level of lighting equivalent to that of moonlight. A complete Blackout would only be reinstated in response to an air-raid warning. The full illumination of streets was reinstated in April 1945. Notably, on 30 April, the day Adolf Hitler took his own life, Big Ben was illuminated, marking 5 years and 123 days since the initial imposition of the Blackout.

In 1946, with the war over, many British residents did not plant victory gardens, in expectation of greater availability of food. However, shortages remained in the United Kingdom, and rationing remained in place for at least some food items until 1954.

U.S. signals intelligence in 1941 was both impressively advanced and uneven. In the past, the U.S. MI-8 cryptographic operation in New York City had been shut down by Henry Stimson (Hoover's newly appointed Secretary of State), citing "ethical considerations", which inspired its now broke former director, Herbert Yardley, to write a 1931 book, The American Black Chamber, about its successes in breaking other nations' crypto traffic. Most countries responded promptly by changing (and generally improving) their ciphers and codes, forcing other nations to start over in reading their signals. The Japanese were no exception.

Lord Selbourne told the house that the effect of the blockade, which may have been slight at first, had been cumulative, and Germany's greatest lack was now in manpower. While Britain was herself importing tens of millions of tons of supplies per year, the enemy was increasingly forced to use ersatz industries. German civilian motor traffic had practically entirely gone over to producer-gas, which like all ersatz materials was grossly wasteful in manpower, and this, combined with her colossal losses in the field and the need to keep a disproportionately high percentage of its available labour on the land, had produced an acute manpower crisis requiring the use of some seven million foreign slaves in Germany alone. In June 1944 the British finally secured access to the naval bases on the Azores, and the Allies thereafter threatened Portugal with economic sanctions. In turn, Portugal imposed a complete embargo on all tungsten exports to both sides, leaving Germany with only its small supply from Spain, while the Allies had alternative sources in the Far East and South America.

Icelandic post-World War I prosperity came to an end with the outbreak of the Great Depression. The Depression hit Iceland hard as the value of exports plummeted. The total value of Icelandic exports fell from 74 million kronur in 1929 to 48 million in 1932, and was not to rise again to the pre-1930 level until after 1939.[115] Government interference in the economy increased: "Imports were regulated, trade with foreign currency was monopolized by state-owned banks, and loan capital was largely distributed by state-regulated funds".[115] Due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, which cut Iceland's exports of saltfish by half, the Depression lasted in Iceland until the outbreak of World War II (when prices for fish exports soared).[115]

After being appointed Premier by President Albert Lebrun, Marshal Pétain's cabinet agreed to end the war and signed an Armistice with Germany on 22 June 1940. Pétain subsequently established an authoritarian regime when the National Assembly of the French Third Republic granted him full powers on 10 July 1940. At that point, the Third Republic was dissolved. Calling for "National Regeneration", the French government at Vichy reversed many liberal policies and began tight supervision of the economy, with central planning a key feature. Labour unions came under tight government control. The independence of women was reversed,[citation needed] with an emphasis put on motherhood. Conservative Catholics became prominent and clerical input in schools resumed. Paris lost its avant-garde status in European art and culture. The media were tightly controlled and stressed virulent anti-Semitism, and, after June 1941, anti-Bolshevism.[3]

Some people—including German soldiers—benefited from the black market, where food was sold without tickets at very high prices. Farmers especially diverted meat to the black market, which meant that much less for the open market. Counterfeit food tickets were also in circulation. Direct buying from farmers in the countryside and barter against cigarettes became common. These activities were strictly forbidden, however, and thus carried the risk of confiscation and fines. Food shortages were most acute in the large cities. In the more remote country villages, clandestine slaughtering, vegetable gardens and the availability of milk products permitted better survival. The official ration provided starvation level diets of one thousand thirteen or fewer calories a day, supplemented by home gardens and, especially, black market purchases.[114]

During World War II, Japan invaded Indochina in 1940, keeping the Vichy French colonial administration in place as a puppet. In 1941 Nguyễn Ái Quốc, now known as Hồ Chí Minh, arrived in northern Vietnam to form the Việt Minh Front, and it was supposed to be an umbrella group for all parties fighting for Vietnam's independence, but was dominated by the Communist Party. The Việt Minh had a modest armed force and during the war worked with the American Office of Strategic Services to collect intelligence on the Japanese. A famine broke out in 1944–45.[30] Japan's defeat by World War II Allies created a power vacuum for Vietnamese nationalists of all parties to seize power in August 1945, forcing Emperor Bảo Đại to abdicate and ending the Nguyễn dynasty. Their initial success in staging uprisings and in seizing control of most of the country by September 1945 was partially undone, however, by the return of the French a few months later.

After the outbreak of World War I the Defence of the Realm Act was passed by Parliament in 1914. One section of the Act concerned the hours pubs could sell alcohol, as it was believed that alcohol consumption would interfere with the war effort.[2] It restricted opening hours for licensed premises to luncheon (12:00 to 14:40) and supper (18:30 to 22:30). In the late 1980s the licensing laws in England and Wales became less restricted and allowed pubs to allow the consumption of alcohol on the premises from 11:00 until 23:00,[2] although nightclubs were allowed to stay open much later. Significantly revised rules were introduced in November 2005, when hour limits were scrapped, and pubs were allowed to apply for licences as permissive as "24 hours a day".[3] In practice, most pubs chose not to apply for licences past midnight.

In the former occupied countries, severe inflation – caused in part by the large amount of money hoarded during the war, particularly by collaborators – caused further spiralling food prices and a persisting black market. A factor aggravating inflation was low productivity, caused in part by a lack of coal. France assumed it would become entitled to large volumes of German coal from the Ruhr as war reparations, but the Americans, who kept France and other countries going with a number of short-term loans and Marshall Aid, began to realise – correctly – that Europe needed the powerhouse German economy to restart growth and prevent the spread of communism, and refused to agree to reparations,[82] the very thing which led to German resentment after World War I and the rise of Hitler.

Following the end of the war in Europe in late May 1945, large parts of Europe lay completely smashed. Acute food, housing and medical shortages continued for some time and around 10 million refugees housed in temporary encampments or on the roads.


Question: Who performed the theme song for "From Russia with Love"?

The theme song for the James Bond movie "From Russia with Love" was composed by Lionel Bart, known for his work on "Oliver!", and was performed by Matt Monro. John Barry, who arranged Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme" for "Dr. No," played a significant role in the Bond series' music and influenced fellow composer David Arnold, who incorporated elements from this soundtrack into his score for "Tomorrow Never Dies."

The song has been covered dozens of times, both serious and comedic.[21] The first covers were instrumentals, "Love at first sight", after the original was banned;[21] the first version by a British group named Sounds Nice (featuring Tim Mycroft on keyboard) became a top 20 hit.[22] (The group's name "sounds nice" actually represents the two words Paul McCartney said when he heard this instrumental cover of the song). The first parody was written in 1970 by Gainsbourg himself and Marcel Mithois. Titled "Ã‡a", it was recorded by Bourvil and Jacqueline Maillan, Bourvil's last release before his death.[21][23] Other comedy versions were made by Frankie Howerd and June Whitfield, Judge Dread, and Gorden Kaye and Vicki Michelle, stars of the BBC TV comedy 'Allo 'Allo!, in character.[21]

Bublé's career breakthrough came when he performed Kurt Weill's classic track "Mack the Knife" at the wedding of Brian Mulroney's daughter Caroline in September 2000. Mulroney introduced Bublé to David Foster, a multi-Grammy awarding producer and a Warner Bros. Records executive, who had previously worked with the likes of Josh Groban. Foster signed Bublé to his 143 record label, and he started recording a self-titled album in 2001, with David Foster as producer. The album features a range of standards from various eras including "Fever", "The Way You Look Tonight", "For Once in My Life", Van Morrison's "Moondance" and Lou Rawls' "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine". Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees performs with Bublé on his version of the group's classic track, "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart".

Danny Williams (7 January 1942 â€“ 6 December 2005[1]) was a British, South African-born pop singer.[1] who earned the nickname, "Britain's Johnny Mathis", for his smooth and stylish way with a ballad.[2]  He is best known for singing his UK number 1 version of "Moon River" in 1961 and his US top ten hit, "White on White".

The reviewer from The Times said "All the devices are infinitely sophisticated, and so is the film: the tradition of self-mockery continues, though at times it over-reaches itself", also saying that "It is the mixture as before, only more so: it is superb hokum."[63] Connery's acting efforts were overlooked by this reviewer, who did say: "There is some excellent bit-part playing by Mr. Bernard Lee and Mr. Harold Sakata: Mr. Gert FrÃ¶be is astonishingly well cast in the difficult part of Goldfinger."[63] Donald Zec, writing for the Daily Mirror said of the film that "Ken Adam's set designs are brilliant; the direction of Guy Hamilton tautly exciting; Connery is better than ever, and the titles superimposed on the gleaming body of the girl in gold are inspired."[64]

Despite not being a UK hit single for Springfield, "Wishin' and Hopin'" was strongly identified with her in the UK public consciousness: she performed the song with the Merseybeats on the 8 August 1964 episode of Ready Steady Go! – actually both acts lip-synched to a track spliced together from their respective versions – and on that show's Sound of Motown edition broadcast 28 April 1965 which Springfield hosted, the only one of her own songs she performed was "Wishin' and Hopin'" with the vocal accompaniment of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.

The film's marketing campaign began as soon as filming started in Florida, with Eon allowing photographers to enter the set to take pictures of Shirley Eaton painted in gold. Robert Brownjohn, who designed the opening credits, was responsible for the posters for the advertising campaign, which also used actress Margaret Nolan.[2] To promote the film, the two Aston Martin DB5s were showcased at the 1964 New York World's Fair and it was dubbed "the most famous car in the world";[61] consequently, sales of the car rose.[41] Corgi Toys began its decades-long relationship with the Bond franchise, producing a toy of the car, which became the biggest selling toy of 1964.[6] The film's success also led to licensed tie-in clothing, dress shoes, action figures, board games, jigsaw puzzles, lunch boxes, toys, record albums, trading cards and slot cars.[4]

"The Ballad of Jed Clampett" was the theme song for The Beverly Hillbillies TV show and movie, providing the back story for the series. The song was written and composed by Paul Henning, and sung by Jerry Scoggins, who was accompanied by bluegrass musicians Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. When the theme was released as a single, Flatt sang lead vocals instead.

"Love Is in the Air" was the theme song to Baz Luhrmann's 1992 debut feature film Strictly Ballroom.

"Comme ci, comme Ã§a" and "So Deep in Love" had not been available before. The former was recorded during the sessions for this album, the latter at the same session as the theme song for the series.

Mackay and La Frenais also collaborated on "Get it Right", the song used for the opening credits of series two. Like the first series, Ken Ashby collaborated with Mackay for series two's closing credits song, "Back With the Boys Again". The two tracks were released together as a double-sided single, but only reached number 53 in the UK charts in April 1986.[5]


Question: Who performed the theme song for the movie "From Russia with Love"?

The theme song for the film "From Russia with Love" was performed by Matt Monro. His rendition is featured during the film as radio source music and again during the end credits. The opening credit music is an instrumental version of the song, which is introduced by a short "James Bond is Back" composition by Barry, before transitioning into the "James Bond Theme." On the original soundtrack, an alternate version with a jazzy organ played by Alan Haven over the theme was used, but this was not included in the soundtrack album. The melody is also incorporated as a soft string arrangement, serving as a theme for the character Tania. In Germany, the original release included a cover version of the end title track titled "Die Wolga ist Weit," sung by Ruthe Berlé.

Owing to a professional commitment to score for the film Hot Millions (starring Peter Ustinov and Maggie Smith), Johnson requested assistance from his keyboard player, Howard Blake, who scored some of the episodes of the final season, as well as additional music for other episodes which Johnson did not have time to complete. These were composed in a style remarkably similar to Johnson's. In 2011, to mark the 50th anniversary of the series, these almost-complete scores by Blake−including Johnson's themes for the main and end titles—were issued on a double CD set. Of the original Johnson theme, countless cover versions have been released on vinyl and CD, and the opening motif was retained on the series The New Avengers.

Although there are two later Pink Panther films starring Steve Martin, most of the films in the series starred Sellers as Inspector Clouseau and were directed and co-written by Blake Edwards. The jazz-based theme music was composed by Henry Mancini. In addition to the credits sequences, the theme often accompanies any suspenseful sequence in the first film and in subsequent films using the character.

They also recorded a cover of the Disney song, "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" for the movie Meet the Robinsons and wrote and performed the theme song for The Drinky Crow Show. The band was recruited to provide original songs for the Henry Selick-directed movie of Neil Gaiman's children's book Coraline but were dropped because their music was not "creepy" enough.[26] Only one song, titled "Other Father Song", was kept for the film with Linnell singing as the titular "Other Father".

Since the release date for the film had been pre-determined and filming had finished close to that date, John Barry received some edits directly from the cutting-room floor, rather than as a finished edit, and scored some sequences from the rough initial prints.[51] Barry described his work in Goldfinger as a favourite of his, saying it was "the first time I had complete control, writing the score and the song".[52] The musical tracks, in keeping with the film's theme of gold and metal, make heavy use of brass, and also metallic chimes. The film's score is described as "brassy and raunchy" with "a sassy sexiness to it".[27]

Streisand, Marvin Hamlisch, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, and Bryan Adams composed the film's theme song, "I Finally Found Someone". Streisand sang it on the soundtrack with Adams.

The opening and closing credits for the first two series were each accompanied by songs performed by Joe Fagin. In series one "Breakin' Away", written by David Mackay and Ian La Frenais, accompanied the opening credits. Ken Ashby collaborated with Mackay on "That's Livin' Alright", a song that closed each episode. The songs were released as a 7" single, and reached number three in the UK Singles Chart in January 1984.[3] It was reissued in 1995 when the show was repeated on Channel 4.[citation needed] With new lyrics by Jimmy Lawless, Fagin released a special version of "That's Livin' Alright" for England's national football team's 2006 FIFA World Cup campaign. "That's England Alright" was released on 5 June 2006.[3][4]

The episode features a 2.5-minute rendition of the song "Shipoopi" from the 1957 musical The Music Man, conducted by Peter and performed by the Patriots and people in the stadium.[12] The rendition was directed by Dan Povenmire, who would later go on to co-create Phineas and Ferb with fellow Family Guy worker Jeff "Swampy" Marsh. The original number in The Music Man was performed by around 40 or 50 singers and around 80 other musicians, as estimated by MacFarlane. Family Guy's rendition was recorded by an orchestra not as large as the original's, but one of the largest the show has ever used. Another musical number, in which the London Silly Nannies sing while dancing around a maypole, was taken from the Gilbert and Sullivan production The Sorcerer. A visual joke that shows Peter's $30,000 wax sculpture of Harriet Tubman "doing" a naked Gwyneth Paltrow originally featured the droid R2-D2 from Star Wars in place of Tubman. MacFarlane is a fan of Star Wars, and its characters are often featured in the series' jokes.[4] A spoof drama programme called Condensation is shown on BBC Four, which is a BBC channel dedicated to the arts, culture and factual programmes. The episode title is taken from the 1987 Tom Clancy novel Patriot Games.

The song featured strings which build to a dramatic conclusion. The song featured elements from Danny Elfman's Batman Returns score. Lyrically, the song makes indirect references to the film's characters Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. "Face to Face" was heard in the film during a ballroom scene in which the characters dance together, not realising that, as their alter-egos (Batman and Catwoman), they are enemies. The lyrics reflected the characters' conflict ("...Cheek to cheek / the bitter sweet / commit your crime / in your deadly time / It's too divine / I want to bend / I want this bliss / but something says I must resist..."). At one point, Siouxsie can be heard purring like a cat, a reference to Catwoman. Tim Burton stated: "I've always been a fan â€“ Siouxsie is one of very few women who can create a realistic primal cat sound."[1]

The main theme used as a leitmotif for the blind flower girl is the song "La Violetera" ("Who’ll Buy my Violets") from Spanish composer José Padilla.[1] Chaplin was unable to secure the original song performer, Raquel Meller, in the lead role, but used her song anyway as a major theme.[38][39] Chaplin lost a lawsuit to Padilla (which took place in Paris, where Padilla lived) for not crediting him.[40][41] Some modern editions released for video include a new recording by Carl Davis.[42][not in citation given]

"Theme from A Summer Place" has been covered by a number of artists in addition to Percy Faith, in both non-vocal instrumental versions, and with one or more vocalists either singing the Discant lyrics or a wordless melody line. The theme has also been referenced, sampled, or otherwise adapted into several other songs.


Question: Who proposed the concept that microorganisms are involved in causing diseases?

The germ theory of disease, which posits that microorganisms are responsible for the onset of illnesses, was first suggested by Girolamo Fracastoro in 1546 and further developed by Marcus von Plenciz in 1762. This concept was initially met with skepticism, as Galen's miasma theory was widely accepted. The germ theory's emergence in the late 1850s, through the work of Louis Pasteur, and its subsequent expansion by Robert Koch in the 1880s, gradually replaced the miasma theory. By the end of the 1880s, the germ theory had gained significant traction, leading to the discovery of the specific microorganisms responsible for various diseases during a "golden era" of bacteriology. The understanding of viruses as disease-causing agents followed in the 1890s.

Originating in China, it spread west along the trade routes across Europe and arrived on the British Isles from the English province of Gascony. The plague seems to have been spread by flea-infected rats, as well as individuals who had been infected on the continent. Rats were the reservoir hosts of the Y. pestis bacteria and the Oriental rat flea was the primary vector.

The Black Death was a pneumonic plague pandemic, which reached England in June 1348. It was the first and most severe manifestation of the Second Pandemic, caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria. The term "Black Death" was not used until the late 17th century.

Among the first to identify the brain as the major controlling center for the body were Hippocrates and his followers, inaugurating a major change in thinking from Egyptian, biblical and early Greek views, which based bodily primacy of control on the heart.[7] This belief was supported by the Greek physician Galen, who concluded that mental activity occurred in the brain rather than the heart, contending that the brain, a cold, moist organ formed of sperm, was the seat of the animal soulâ€”one of three "souls" found in the body, each associated with a principal organ.[8]

Food can transmit pathogens which can result in the illness or death of the person or other animals. The main mediums are bacteria, viruses, mold, and fungus (which is Latin for mushroom). It can also serve as a growth and reproductive medium for pathogens. In developed countries there are intricate standards for food preparation, whereas in lesser developed countries there are less standards and enforcement of those standards. Another main issue is simply the availability of adequate safe water, which is usually a critical item in the spreading of diseases.[2] In theory, food poisoning is 100% preventable. However this cannot be achieved due to the number of persons involved in the supply chain, as well as the fact that pathogens can be introduced into foods no matter how many precautions are taken. The five key principles of food hygiene, according to WHO, are:[3]

Although early medical experimentation was often performed, the use of a control group to provide an accurate comparison for the demonstration of the intervention's efficacy, was generally lacking. For instance, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who campaigned for the introduction of inoculation (then called variolation) to prevent smallpox, arranged for seven prisoners who had been sentenced to death to undergo variolation in exchange for their life. Although they survived and did not contract smallpox, there was no control group to assess whether this result was due to the inoculation or some other factor. Similar experiments performed by Edward Jenner over his smallpox vaccine were equally conceptually flawed.[15]

Taking into account the inconsistencies in the theory of coevolution, Ramsden et al. (2009) have proposed that the patterns seen in hantaviruses in relation to their reservoirs could be attributed to preferential host switching directed by geographical proximity and adaptation to specific host types.[19] Ulrich et al. (2010) have proposed that the observed geographical clustering of hantavirus sequences may have been caused by an isolation-by-distance mechanism.[22] Upon comparison of the hantaviruses found in hosts of orders Rodentia and Soricomorpha, Yanagihara et al. (2011) have proposed that the evolutionary history of the hantavirus consists of a complex mix of both host switching and codivergence and suggest that ancestral shrews or moles rather than rodents may have been the early original hosts of ancient hantaviruses.[24]

After 1750 the discipline began to take its modern shape.[21][22] John Haygarth demonstrated the importance of a control group for the correct identification of the placebo effect in his celebrated study of the ineffective remedy called Perkin's tractors. Further work in that direction was carried out by the eminent physician Sir William Gull, 1st Baronet in the 1860s.[15]

Support for the theory that meiosis arose from prokaryotic transformation comes from the increasing evidence that early diverging lineages of eukaryotes have the core genes for meiosis. This implies that the precursor to meiosis was already present in the prokaryotic ancestor of eukaryotes. For instance the common intestinal parasite Giardia intestinalis, a simple eukaryotic protozoan was, until recently, thought to be descended from an early diverging eukaryotic lineage that lacked sex. However, it has since been shown that G. intestinalis contains within its genome a core set of genes that function in meiosis, including five genes that function only in meiosis.[11] In addition, G. intestinalis was recently found to undergo a specialized, sex-like process involving meiosis gene homologs.[12] This evidence, and other similar examples, suggest that a primitive form of meiosis, was present in the common ancestor of all eukaryotes, an ancestor that arose from an antecedent prokaryote.[4][13]

He did not suggest a potential function. In 1838, Matthias Schleiden proposed that the nucleus plays a role in generating cells, thus he introduced the name "cytoblast" (cell builder). He believed that he had observed new cells assembling around "cytoblasts". Franz Meyen was a strong opponent of this view, having already described cells multiplying by division and believing that many cells would have no nuclei. The idea that cells can be generated de novo, by the "cytoblast" or otherwise, contradicted work by Robert Remak (1852) and Rudolf Virchow (1855) who decisively propagated the new paradigm that cells are generated solely by cells ("Omnis cellula e cellula"). The function of the nucleus remained unclear.[4]

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.


Question: Who proposed the concept that microorganisms are involved in causing diseases?

The concept that microorganisms can cause disease was initially established by Agostino Bassi, an Italian scientist. Through a series of experiments conducted from 1808 to 1813, Bassi demonstrated that a specific disease affecting silkworms, known as calcinaccio, was caused by a "vegetable parasite". This discovery was crucial for the French silk industry, which was suffering due to the disease. The "vegetable parasite" is now identified as Beauveria bassiana, a fungus that is pathogenic to insects and was named in honor of Bassi.

In late medieval England a mysterious sweating sickness swept through the country in 1485 just before the Battle of Bosworth Field. Noting the similar symptoms which overlap with hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (see below), several scientists have theorised that the virus may have been the cause of the disease.[49][50] The hypothesis was criticised because sweating sickness was recorded as being transmitted from human to human, whereas hantaviruses were not known to spread in this way.[51] Limited transmission via human-to-human contact has since been shown in Hantavirus outbreaks in Argentina.[52]

There has been controversy about the best way to define the organism[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] and indeed about whether or not such a definition is necessary.[25][26] Several contributions[27] are responses to the suggestion that the category of "organism" may well not be adequate in biology.[28][pageÂ needed]

Historically, the kingdom Monera was divided into four divisions based primarily on Gram staining: Firmicutes (positive in staining), Gracilicutes (negative in staining), Mollicutes (neutral in staining) and Mendocutes (variable in staining).[2] Based on 16S ribosomal RNA phylogenetic studies of the late microbiologist Carl Woese and collaborators and colleagues at the University of Illinois, the monophyly of the Gram-positive bacteria was challenged,[3] with major implications for the therapeutic and general study of these organisms. Based on molecular studies of the 16S sequences, Woese recognised twelve bacterial phyla. Two of these were both Gram-positive and were divided on the proportion of the guanine and cytosine content in their DNA. The high G + C phylum was made up of the Actinobacteria and the low G + C phylum contained the Firmicutes.[3] The Actinobacteria include the Corynebacterium, Mycobacterium, Nocardia and Streptomyces genera. The (low G + C) Firmicutes, have a 45â€“60% GC content, but this is lower than that of the Actinobacteria.[1]

Starting in the late 19th century there had been many accounts by scientists and physicians on the antibacterial properties of the different types of moulds including the mould penicillium but they were unable to discern what process was causing the effect.[17] The effects of penicillium mould would finally be isolated in 1928 by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming, in work that seems to have been independent of those earlier observations.[18] Fleming recounted that the date of his discovery of penicillin was on the morning of Friday 28 September 1928.[19] The traditional version of this story describes the discovery as a serendipitous accident: in his laboratory in the basement of StÂ Mary's Hospital in London (now part of Imperial College), Fleming noticed a Petri dish containing Staphylococcus that had been mistakenly left open was contaminated by blue-green mould from an open window, which formed a visible growth.[20] There was a halo of inhibited bacterial growth around the mould. Fleming concluded that the mould released a substance that repressed the growth and caused lysing of the bacteria.[21]

Previously, one of the first applications of spatial analysis in epidemiology is the 1832 "Rapport sur la marche et les effets du choléra dans Paris et le département de la Seine".[8] The French geographer Charles Picquet represented the 48 districts of the city of Paris by halftone color gradient according to the number of deaths by cholera per 1,000 inhabitants. In 1854 John Snow determined the source of a cholera outbreak in London by marking points on a map depicting where the cholera victims lived, and connecting the cluster that he found with a nearby water source. This was one of the earliest successful uses of a geographic methodology in epidemiology. While the basic elements of topography and theme existed previously in cartography, the John Snow map was unique, using cartographic methods not only to depict but also to analyze clusters of geographically dependent phenomena.

Italian physician Andrea Caesalpino (1519–1603) studied medicine and taught botany at the University of Pisa for about 40 years eventually becoming Director of the Botanic Garden of Pisa from 1554 to 1558. His sixteen-volume De Plantis (1583) described 1500 plants and his herbarium of 260 pages and 768 mounted specimens still remains. Caesalpino proposed classes based largely on the detailed structure of the flowers and fruit;[59] he also applied the concept of the genus.[67] He was the first to try and derive principles of natural classification reflecting the overall similarities between plants and he produced a classification scheme well in advance of its day.[68] Gaspard Bauhin (1560–1624) produced two influential publications Prodromus Theatrici Botanici (1620) and Pinax (1623). These brought order to the 6000 species now described and in the latter he used binomials and synonyms that may well have influenced Linnaeus's thinking. He also insisted that taxonomy should be based on natural affinities.[69]

Beginning in the second half of the 19th century, American rates of sexually transmitted diseases skyrocketed. Causes cited by historians include effects of the American Civil War, and the ignorance of prevention methods promoted by the Comstock laws.[2]:137–8,159 To fight the growing epidemic, sexual education classes were introduced to public schools for the first time, teaching about venereal diseases and how they were transmitted. They generally taught that abstinence was the only way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.[2]:179–80 Condoms were not promoted for disease prevention; the medical community and moral watchdogs considered STDs to be punishment for sexual misbehavior. The stigma on victims of these diseases was so great that many hospitals refused to treat people who had syphilis.[2]:176

Although Greek and Roman evolutionary ideas died out in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire, they were not lost to Islamic philosophers and scientists. In the Islamic Golden Age of the 8th to the 13th centuries, philosophers explored ideas about natural history. These ideas included transmutation from non-living to living: "from mineral to plant, from plant to animal, and from animal to man."[31]

In 1538, Vesalius wrote Epistola, docens venam axillarem dextri cubiti in dolore laterali secandam (A letter, teaching that in cases of pain in the side, the axillary vein of the right elbow be cut), commonly known as the Venesection Letter, which demonstrated a revived venesection, a classical procedure in which blood was drawn near the site of the ailment. He sought to locate the precise site for venesection in pleurisy within the framework of the classical method. The real significance of the book is his attempt to support his arguments by the location and continuity of the venous system from his observations rather than appeal to earlier published works. With this novel approach to the problem of venesection, Vesalius posed the then striking hypothesis that anatomical dissection might be used to test speculation.

The term "psychobiology" has been used in a variety of contexts, emphasizing the importance of biology, which is the discipline that studies organic, neural and cellular modifications in behavior, plasticity in neuroscience, and biological diseases in all aspects, in addition, biology focuses and analyzes behavior and all the subjects it is concerned about, from a scientific point of view. In this context, psychology helps as a complementary, but important discipline in the neurobiological sciences. The role of psychology in this questions is that of a social tool that backs up the main or strongest biological science. The term "psychobiology" was first used in its modern sense by Knight Dunlap in his book An Outline of Psychobiology (1914).[8] Dunlap also was the founder and editor-in-chief of the journal Psychobiology. In the announcement of that journal, Dunlap writes that the journal will publish research "...bearing on the interconnection of mental and physiological functions", which describes the field of behavioral neuroscience even in its modern sense.[8]


Question: Who proposed the concept that microorganisms are involved in the causation of diseases?

Robert Koch is credited with establishing the germ theory of disease by formulating four key criteria, known as Koch's postulates, which scientifically link specific microorganisms to the causation of diseases. This theory emerged from Koch's groundbreaking research on anthrax, where he utilized pure cultures of the pathogen obtained from infected animals to validate the connection.

In 1840, Germain Hess proposed Hess's law, an early statement of the law of conservation of energy, which establishes that energy changes in a chemical process depend only on the states of the starting and product materials and not on the specific pathway taken between the two states. In 1847, Hermann Kolbe obtained acetic acid from completely inorganic sources, further disproving vitalism. In 1848, William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (commonly known as Lord Kelvin) established the concept of absolute zero, the temperature at which all molecular motion ceases. In 1849, Louis Pasteur discovered that the racemic form of tartaric acid is a mixture of the levorotatory and dextrotatory forms, thus clarifying the nature of optical rotation and advancing the field of stereochemistry.[78] In 1852, August Beer proposed Beer's law, which explains the relationship between the composition of a mixture and the amount of light it will absorb.  Based partly on earlier work by Pierre Bouguer and Johann Heinrich Lambert, it established the analytical technique known as spectrophotometry.[79] In 1855, Benjamin Silliman, Jr. pioneered methods of petroleum cracking, which made the entire modern petrochemical industry possible.[80]

The concepts behind clinical trials are ancient. The Book of Daniel chapter 1, verses 12 through 15, for instance, describes a planned experiment with both baseline and follow-up observations of two groups who either partook of, or did not partake of, "the King's meat" over a trial period of ten days. Persian physician Avicenna, in The Canon of Medicine (1025) gave similar advice for determining the efficacy of medical drugs and substances.[15]

HACCP is believed to stem from a production process monitoring used during World War II because traditional "end of the pipe" testing on artillery shell's firing mechanisms could not be performed, and a large percentage of the artillery shells made at the time were either duds or misfiring.[1] HACCP itself was conceived in the 1960s when the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) asked Pillsbury to design and manufacture the first foods for space flights. Since then, HACCP has been recognized internationally as a logical tool for adapting traditional inspection methods to a modern, science-based, food safety system. Based on risk-assessment, HACCP plans allow both industry and government to allocate their resources efficiently in establishing and auditing safe food production practices. In 1994, the organization of International HACCP Alliance was established initially for the US meat and poultry industries to assist them with implementing HACCP and now its membership has been spread over other professional/industrial areas.[2]

The use of HACCP for water quality management was first proposed nearly 20 years ago.[22] Thereafter, a number of water quality initiatives applied HACCP principles and steps to the control of infectious disease from water, and provided the basis for the Water Safety Plan (WSP) approach in the third edition of the World Health Organization (WHO) report,[23] which has been described as "a way of adapting the HACCP approach to drinking water systems".[24]

Food can transmit pathogens which can result in the illness or death of the person or other animals. The main mediums are bacteria, viruses, mold, and fungus (which is Latin for mushroom). It can also serve as a growth and reproductive medium for pathogens. In developed countries there are intricate standards for food preparation, whereas in lesser developed countries there are less standards and enforcement of those standards. Another main issue is simply the availability of adequate safe water, which is usually a critical item in the spreading of diseases.[2] In theory, food poisoning is 100% preventable. However this cannot be achieved due to the number of persons involved in the supply chain, as well as the fact that pathogens can be introduced into foods no matter how many precautions are taken. The five key principles of food hygiene, according to WHO, are:[3]

The doctrine of signatures, dating from the time of Dioscorides and Galen, states that herbs resembling various parts of the body can be used by herbalists to treat ailments of those body parts. A theological justification, as stated by botanists such as William Coles, was that God would have wanted to show men what plants would be useful for.

The principle behind immunization is to introduce an antigen, derived from a disease-causing organism, that stimulates the immune system to develop protective immunity against that organism, but that does not itself cause the pathogenic effects of that organism. An antigen (short for antibody generator), is defined as any substance that binds to a specific antibody and elicits an adaptive immune response.[1]

Neisseria gonnorhoeae is named for Albert Neisser who isolated it as the causative agent of the disease gonorrhea in 1978.[45][3] Galen (130 AD) coined the term "gonorrhea" from the Greek gonos which means "seed" and rhoe which means "flow".[46][47] Thus gonorrhea means "flow of seed", a description referring to the white penile discharge, assumed to be semen, seen in male infection.[45]

The earlier conceptions[which?] likely[original research?] had little influence on 18th-century European geological explanations for the formation of Earth. Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749â€“1817) proposed Neptunism, where strata represented deposits from shrinking seas precipitated onto primordial rocks such as granite. In 1785 James Hutton proposed an opposing, self-maintaining infinite cycle based on natural history and not on the Biblical account.[10][11]

In the medieval Islamic world, the scholar al-Jāḥiẓ (776 – c. 868) wrote his Book of Animals in the 9th century. Conway Zirkle, writing about the history of natural selection in 1941, said that an excerpt from this work was the only relevant passage he had found from an Arabian scholar. He provided a quotation describing the struggle for existence, citing a Spanish translation of this work: "Every weak animal devours those weaker than itself. Strong animals cannot escape being devoured by other animals stronger than they. And in this respect, men do not differ from animals, some with respect to others, although they do not arrive at the same extremes. In short, God has disposed some human beings as a cause of life for others, and likewise, he has disposed the latter as a cause of the death of the former."[32] Al-Jāḥiẓ also wrote descriptions of food chains.[33]


Question: Where did this instance of product tampering take place?

The Chicago Tylenol murders, a notorious case of product tampering, occurred in the Chicago metropolitan area in 1982. The incident involved Tylenol capsules laced with potassium cyanide, resulting in seven deaths. This tragic event sparked several copycat crimes, leading to further fatalities.

In June 2015, hundreds of concert-goers in Bali District, Taiwan were severely injured in the Formosa Fun Coast explosion, including fifteen who died later in hospital,[104] after three tons of corn starch powder mixed with food colouring was sprayed onto the crowd at a high velocity, causing a massive explosion.[105]

In January 1988, Griffey, at the age of 18, attempted to commit suicide by swallowing 277 aspirin pills but wound up in intensive care in Providence Hospital in Mount Airy, Ohio.[95] Griffey Jr. cited arguments with his father, Ken Griffey Sr., depression, and anger as reasons for his attempted suicide.[96] On his failed attempt, Griffey Jr. stated, "It seemed like everyone was yelling at me in baseball, then I came home and everyone was yelling at me there. I got depressed. I got angry. I didn't want to live."[96] He stated that he had also previously contemplated taking his own life, but he had not acted on it until this incident.[96] After Griffey swallowed the aspirin, his girlfriend's mother drove him to the hospital.[96] While in intensive care, he ripped the IV from his arm in order to stop an argument between him and his father.[96] Both Griffey Jr. and his father have stated that the incident changed their relationship, and there is now more understanding on both sides.[96]

In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.

In ancient Rome, the duty was often given to a slave (termed the praegustator). Roman Emperor Claudius was killed by poison in AD 54 even though he hired a food taster named Halotus.[1] Tasters were sometimes coerced.[2] Over history, presidents and royal families have hired food tasters or sacrifices, because of the fear of being poisoned. Queen Durdhara, the Mauryan empress, ate food that was prepared for her husband and died.[3]

Around 1890, Colonel Lilly turned over the day-to-day management of the business to his son, J. K., who ran the company for thirty-four years. Although the 1890s were a tumultuous decade economically, the company flourished and came out stronger than ever.[10][24] In 1894 Lilly purchased a manufacturing plant to be used solely for creating capsules. The company also made several technological advances in the manufacturing process, including automating its capsule production. Over the next few years the company annually created tens of millions of capsules and pills.[25]

The challenge of mass-producing this drug was daunting. On March 14, 1942, the first patient was treated for streptococcal septicemia with US-made penicillin produced by Merck & Co.[32] Half of the total supply produced at the time was used on that one patient. By June 1942, just enough US penicillin was available to treat ten patients.[33] In July 1943, the War Production Board drew up a plan for the mass distribution of penicillin stocks to Allied troops fighting in Europe.[34] The results of fermentation research on corn steep liquor at the Northern Regional Research Laboratory at Peoria, Illinois, allowed the United States to produce 2.3 million doses in time for the invasion of Normandy in the spring of 1944. After a worldwide search in 1943, a mouldy cantaloupe in a Peoria, Illinois market was found to contain the best strain of mould for production using the corn steep liquor process.[35] Pfizer scientist Jasper H. Kane suggested using a deep-tank fermentation method for producing large quantities of pharmaceutical-grade penicillin.[36][37] Large-scale production resulted from the development of a deep-tank fermentation plant by chemical engineer Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau.[38] As a direct result of the war and the War Production Board, by June 1945, over 646 billion units per year were being produced.[34]

Initially Popeye's chief superhuman characteristic was his indestructibility, rather than super strength, which was attributed to his having rubbed the head of Bernice the Whiffle Hen numerous times after being shot. Popeye later attributed his strength to spinach.[79][80] The popularity of Popeye helped boost spinach sales. Using Popeye as a role model for healthier eating may work; a 2010 study revealed that children increased their vegetable consumption after watching Popeye cartoons.[81] The spinach-growing community of Crystal City, Texas, erected a statue of the character in recognition of Popeye's positive effects on the spinach industry. There is another Popeye statue in Segar's hometown, Chester, Illinois, and statues in Springdale and Alma, Arkansas (which claims to be "The Spinach Capital of the World"), at canning plants of Allen Canning, which markets Popeye-branded canned spinach. In addition to Allen Canning's Popeye spinach, Popeye Fresh Foods markets bagged, fresh spinach with Popeye characters on the package. In 2006, when spinach contaminated with E. coli was accidentally sold to the public, many editorial cartoonists lampooned the affair by featuring Popeye in their cartoons.[82]

Baldwin contended that after seven years of these issues, he hit a breaking point, and on April 11, 2007, left an angry voicemail message in response to another unanswered arranged call, in which Baldwin called his 11-year-old daughter a "rude, thoughtless little pig".[74] He contends that the tape was sold to TMZ which released the recording, despite laws against publishing media related to a minor without the permission of both parents.[75] Baldwin admitted that he made a mistake, but asked not to be judged as a parent based on a bad moment.[76] He later admitted to Playboy in June 2009 that he contemplated suicide over the voicemail that leaked to the public. Of the incident, he said, "I spoke to a lot of professionals, who helped me. If I committed suicide, [ex-wife Kim Basinger's side] would have considered that a victory. Destroying me was their avowed goal."[77]

In 1918, just before the end of the war, an American court overturned a conviction against Margaret Sanger. In this case, the judge ruled that condoms could be legally advertised and sold for the prevention of disease.[9][dubious – discuss] There were still a few state laws against buying and selling contraceptives, and advertising condoms as birth control devices remained illegal in over thirty states.[2]:266 But condoms began to be publicly, legally sold to Americans for the first time in forty-five years.[2]:192–3 Through the 1920s, catchy names and slick packaging became an increasingly important marketing technique for many consumer items, including condoms and cigarettes.[2]:197 Quality testing became more common, involving filling each condom with air followed by one of several methods intended to detect loss of pressure. Several American companies sold their rejects under cheaper brand names rather than discarding them.[2]:204,206,221–2 Consumers were advised to perform similar tests themselves before use, although few actually did so.[2]:223 Worldwide, condoms sales doubled in the 1920s.[2]:210

When Mrs. Chesterfield's hands get stuck to her head because her hair gel is switched with glue, she accuses all of the Ross children. Meanwhile, Tony and Jessie attempt to go on a date, but in all of the chaos, they miss their dinner reservation, movie, and carriage ride. At the end, Jessie apologizes to Tony for them missing their third first date. Ravi plays the part of a detective along with Mr. Kipling. In the end, Mrs. Chesterfield's pet chihuahua, Zeus, is revealed as the culprit.


Question: How many sunflower paintings did Van Gogh create?

Van Gogh's Sunflower Paintings
Vincent van Gogh created two series of sunflower paintings, one in 1887 in Paris and the other in 1888 in Arles. The Paris series portrayed sunflowers lying on the ground, while the Arles series featured sunflowers in a vase. Both sets were connected in van Gogh's mind to his friend Paul Gauguin, who purchased two of the Paris versions. Van Gogh later hoped to impress Gauguin with the Sunflowers paintings, which became part of the Décoration for the Yellow House, prepared for Gauguin's guestroom in Arles. After Gauguin left, van Gogh envisioned the major versions as part of the Berceuse Triptych and included them in his Les XX exhibit in Brussels.

Charles Morice (fr) two years later tried to raise a public subscription to purchase the painting for the nation. To assist this endeavour, Gauguin wrote a detailed description of the work concluding with the messianic remark that he spoke in parables: "Seeing they see not, hearing they hear not". The subscription nevertheless failed. Vollard eventually sold the painting for 2,500 francs (about $10,000 in year 2000 US dollars) in 1901 to Gabriel Frizeau (fr), of which Vollard's commission was perhaps as much as 500 francs.[10]

The cover of Dylan's album Self Portrait (1970) is a reproduction of a painting of a face by Dylan.[384] Another of his paintings is reproduced on the cover of the 1974 album Planet Waves. In 1994 Random House published Drawn Blank, a book of Dylan's drawings.[385] In 2007, the first public exhibition of Dylan's paintings, The Drawn Blank Series, opened at the Kunstsammlungen in Chemnitz, Germany;[386] it showcased more than 200 watercolors and gouaches made from the original drawings. The exhibition coincided with the publication of Bob Dylan: The Drawn Blank Series, which includes 170 reproductions from the series.[386][387] From September 2010 until April 2011, the National Gallery of Denmark exhibited 40 large-scale acrylic paintings by Dylan, The Brazil Series.[388]

The Zhoubi suanjing, written in dialogue form and with regularly presented problems, is concerned with the application of mathematics to astronomy. In one problem which sought to determine the height of the Sun from the Earth and the diameter of the Sun, Chen Zi (陳子) instructs Rong Fang (榮方) to wait until the shadow cast by the 8 chi tall gnomon is 6 chi (one chi during the Han was 33 cm), so that a 3-4-5 right-angle triangle can be constructed where the base is 60,000 li (one li during the Han was the equivalent of 415 m or 1362 ft), the hypotenuse leading towards the sun is 100,000 li, and the height of the sun is 80,000 li.[85] Like the Jiuzhang suanshu, the Zhoubi suanjing also gives mathematical proof for the "Gougu Theorem" (勾股定理; i.e. where c is the length of the hypotenuse and a and b are the lengths of the other two sides, respectively, a2 + b2 = c2), which is known as the Pythagorean theorem in the West after the Greek mathematician Pythagoras (fl. 6th century BCE).[86]

The painting has many copiers, one, The Challenger, was an inspiration for the sides of delivery trucks for Challenge Dairies whose heritage was latter added to butter cartons in stores.

A particular genre that developed was the nocturnal scene lit by candlelight, which looked back to earlier northern artists such as Geertgen tot Sint Jans and more immediately, to the innovations of Caravaggio and Elsheimer. This theme played out with many artists from the Low Countries in the first few decades of the seventeenth century, where it became associated with the Utrecht Caravaggisti such as Gerrit van Honthorst and Dirck van Baburen, and with Flemish Baroque painters such as Jacob Jordaens. Rembrandt van Rijn's (1606-1669) early works from the 1620s also adopted the single-candle light source. The nocturnal candle-lit scene re-emerged in the Dutch Republic in the mid-seventeenth century on a smaller scale in the works of fijnschilders such as Gerrit Dou and Gottfried Schalken.

Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? is a painting by French artist  Paul Gauguin. Gauguin inscribed the original French title in the upper left corner: D'où Venons Nous / Que Sommes Nous / Où Allons Nous.  The inscription the artist wrote on his canvas has no question mark, no dash, and all words are capitalized. In the upper right corner he signed and dated the painting: P. Gauguin / 1897.[1] The painting was created in Tahiti, and is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, US.

The pastime of viewing plants and appreciating flowers throughout the four seasons was established in Japan early on through the aristocracy. Waka poetry anthologies such as the Man'yōshū and Kokin Wakashū from the Heian period (794–1185) included many poems on the topic of flowers.[4] During this time, Buddhism was introduced to Japan starting in the 6th century through China and Korea. Offering flowers at Buddhist altars became common. Although the lotus is widely used in India where Buddhism originated, in Japan other native flowers for each season were selected for this purpose.[4] While in China the Buddhist priests were the first instructors of flower arrangement, in Japan they only introduced its crudest elements. For a long time the art had no meaning and was merely the placing in vases, without system, of the flowers to be used as temple offerings and before ancestral shrines. The first flower arrangements worked out with a system were known as shin-no-hana, meaning "central flower arrangement". A huge branch of pine or cryptomeria stood in the middle, and around the tree were placed three or five seasonable flowers. These branches and stems were put in vases in upright positions without attempt at artificial curves. Generally symmetrical in form, the arrangements appeared in Japanese religious pictures of the 14th century. It was the first attempt to represent natural scenery. The large tree in the center represented distant scenery, plum or cherry blossoms middle distance, and little flowering plants the foreground. The lines of these arrangements were known as centre and sub-centre.[5] Later on, among other types of Buddhist offering, placing mitsu-gusoku became popular in the Kamakura (1185–1333) and Nanboku-chō periods (1336–1392).[4] Various Buddhist scriptures have been named after flowers such as the Kegon-kyo (Flower Garland Sutra) and Hokke-kyo (Lotus Sutra). The Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga (Scroll of Frolicking Animals and Humans) depicts lotus being offered by a monk(ey) in front of a frog mimicking the Buddha.[4][6]

In Flower Town, Dunno gets into heaps of trouble. First, he becomes convinced that the sun is falling and manages to scare half the town before Doono, Dunno's brainy antithesis (his name is derived from the Russian "знаю", I know) clears everything up. Then he proceeds to try music, art, and poetry, but his unorthodox endeavors only irritate his friends, and he is forced to quit. Next, ignoring the warnings of Swifty, Dunno crashes Bendum and Twistum's car into the Cucumber River and ends up in the hospital. He then gets into a fight with his best friend Gunky for not ending his friendships with the girl-shorties Pee-Wee and Tinkle.

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red was a work of installation art placed in the moat of the Tower of London, England, between July and November 2014, commemorating the centenary of the outbreak of World War I. It consisted of 888,246 ceramic red poppies, each intended to represent one British or Colonial serviceman killed in the War. The artist was Paul Cummins, with setting by stage designer Tom Piper.[2] The work's title was taken from the first line of a poem by an unknown World War I soldier.

The fifth edition (Grove V), in nine volumes, was edited by Eric Blom and published in 1954. This was the most thoroughgoing revision of the work since its inception, with many articles rewritten in a more modern style and a large number of entirely new articles. Many of the articles were written by Blom personally, or translated by him. An additional Supplementary Volume, prepared for the most part by Eric Blom, followed in 1961. Blom died in 1959, and the Supplementary Volume was completed by Denis Stevens. The fifth edition was reprinted in 1966, 1968, 1970, 1973, and 1975.[10]


Question: Who is the actress that portrays Penny in the Big Bang Theory series?

Kaley Cuoco, the actress who plays Penny on The Big Bang Theory, is an accomplished American actress. Born on November 30, 1985, she began her career with several supporting roles in films and television before landing the role of Bridget Hennessy on the popular ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules (2002-2005). Following this, she appeared as Billie Jenkins on the final season of Charmed (2005-2006). Since 2007, Cuoco has starred as Penny in the hit CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, a role that has earned her numerous accolades including Satellite, Critics' Choice, and People's Choice Awards. Her filmography also includes roles in To Be Fat like Me (2007), Hop (2011), and Authors Anonymous (2014). In 2014, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In October 2017, Cuoco established her own production company, Yes, Norman Productions.

In 2005, she was cast in her breakout role in the ABC series Grey's Anatomy, as Dr. Addison Montgomery, the estranged spouse of Derek Shepherd ("Dr. McDreamy", played by Patrick Dempsey).

From 2004 to 2012, Bowen portrayed Julie Mayer on Desperate Housewives.[2] She currently models for Miss Selfridge.[citation needed] She has also had recurring or guest starring roles on such shows as One Tree Hill (with friend Sophia Bush), Boston Public and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In the film Red Riding Hood she appears as one of "The Three Ashleys." Most recently[when?], she played the role of Candace in the esoteric adventure film Eye of the Dolphin. She also starred in the Lifetime Original film Girl, Positive, an experience that allowed her to help spread the message among youth that "HIV is something you can protect yourself from." [3]

Greer is also a voice actress, voicing the character of Cheryl on the animated comedy series Archer, a character which has been compared to her role on Arrested Development,[16] and the character of Wendy Park on the stop-motion animated sitcom Glenn Martin, DDS.[11] Greer has also portrayed two characters on Two and a Half Men; Bridget Schmidt the ex-wife of Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher), Myra a love interest of Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen), and the sister of Herb Melnick (Ryan Stiles).[17]

Sex and the City 2 was released in May 2010. The film stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Kim Cattrall, and Noth, who reprised their roles again, as well as Handler, Eigenberg, Lewis, and Garson. It also features cameos from Liza Minnelli, Miley Cyrus, and Penélope Cruz. The film is set two years after the events of the first film. It was critically panned but a commercial success at the box office.[citation needed]

Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell, played by Robert Knepper, is a fictional character from the American television series Prison Break. He is part of the main group of characters in the series and is part of the Fox River Eight. After guest-starring in the series' second episode, "Allen", the actor became one of the regular cast members.

Wally has several girlfriends through the series' run, with Mary Ellen Rogers (Pamela Baird, occasionally as Pamela Beaird, April 16, 1958 – June 6, 1963) and Julie Foster (Cheryl Holdridge, January 7, 1961 – April 11, 1963) making many appearances (Holdridge had earlier played girlfriend Gloria Cusick in two 1959 episodes). Carol Sydes (aka Cindy Carol) appears as Wally's first girlfriend, Penny Jamison, in "Wally's Girl Trouble", and later appears as classmate and date Alma Hanson.

Monica is portrayed by American actress Courteney Cox.[43] Crane and Kauffman had originally written the role of Monica for comedian Janeane Garofalo,[44] their first choice,[45] because they were attracted to her "edgier and snarkier" voice.[44] However, Garofalo ultimately turned down the offer.[46] Actress Jami Gertz was also offered the role but declined,[47][48] while actress Leah Remini auditioned for Monica before ultimately being cast as Carrie Heffernan in the sitcom The King of Queens in 1998;[49] Remini would eventually guest star in an episode of Friends.[50] Before being cast as Monica in Friends, Cox was best known for appearing in singer Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" music video;[13] within the television industry for her recurring role as Lauren Miller, Alex P. Keaton's girlfriend, on the sitcom Family Ties; and Melissa Robinson in the comedy film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), opposite Jim Carrey.[20] After guest starring on the sitcom Seinfeld as Meryl,[51] main character Jerry Seinfeld's girlfriend,[52] the producers offered Cox the role of Monica's spoiled best friend Rachel because the actress "had this cheery, upbeat energy", which was significantly different than how they had envisioned Monica at the time.[15] Feeling she was not "quirky" enough to portray Rachel,[53] Cox lobbied in favor of playing Monica instead because she was drawn to the character's "strong" personality,[21] but the producers feared that she was not "tough" enough for the role,[54] which was offered to actress Jennifer Aniston, alongside whom Cox would eventually co-star.[54] Meanwhile, a close competitor for the role was actress Nancy McKeon;[55][56] Littlefield recalled having greatly enjoyed both actress' auditions equally, and left the final decision up to Crane and Kauffman.[11] Ultimately, Cox won the role over McKeon because the creators noticed "something fresh" in her audition;[11] Kauffman elaborated that Cox ultimately "brought a whole bunch of other colors" to Monica than what they had first envisioned back when they were considering Garofalo for the part.[57] Meanwhile, Aniston ultimately won the role of Rachel.[54]

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

In 2008, she had a leading role as Sannie Laing, Sandra's mother, in Skin, the biopic about Sandra Laing. The film explores the issues of the girl being classified as "Coloured" by the South African authorities during Apartheid, although her parents were white. In 2011, Krige appeared in the BBC's final season of Spooks, playing Russian double agent Elena Gavrik.[6] Krige also featured in the final season of the BBC drama Waking the Dead, in 2011.[7] In recent years, Krige appeared in films Solomon Kane, The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Thor: The Dark World.[8] She played the role of Amira in the first and second series of Tyrant for F/X, and has recently worked for the BBC on the series The Syndicate and Partners in Crime. In 2016, she appeared on the Netflix mystery series The OA.[9]

This episode was written by Gary Janetti, who has been with the show since its first season when he wrote "Brian: Portrait of a Dog".[1][2] This episode is Janetti's second writing credit for the season, since he also wrote "Stewie Goes for a Drive".[3] The episode was directed by Joe Vaux, this being his first directing credit for the series. This episode featured Cate Blanchett as Penelope.


Question: What is the functional difference between the rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum?

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is an organelle found in eukaryotic cells, consisting of an interconnected network of membrane-enclosed sacs or tubes. The ER is present in most eukaryotic cells, except for red blood cells and spermatozoa. There are two types: rough and smooth. The rough ER has ribosomes on its surface, facilitating protein synthesis, and is particularly prominent in cells like hepatocytes. The smooth ER, lacking ribosomes, is involved in lipid metabolism, steroid hormone production, and detoxification, being especially abundant in liver and gonad cells of mammals.

In anatomy, serous membrane (or serosa) is a smooth tissue membrane consisting of two layers of mesothelium, which secrete serous fluid. The inner layer that covers organs (viscera) in body cavities is called the visceral membrane. A second layer of epithelial cells of the serous membrane, called the parietal layer, lines the body wall. Between the two layers is a potential space, mostly empty except for a few milliliters of lubricating serous fluid that is secreted by the two serous membranes.[1]

The key to neural function is the synaptic signaling process, which is partly electrical and partly chemical. The electrical aspect depends on properties of the neuron's membrane. Like all animal cells, the cell body of every neuron is enclosed by a plasma membrane, a bilayer of lipid molecules with many types of protein structures embedded in it. A lipid bilayer is a powerful electrical insulator, but in neurons, many of the protein structures embedded in the membrane are electrically active. These include ion channels that permit electrically charged ions to flow across the membrane and ion pumps that actively transport ions from one side of the membrane to the other. Most ion channels are permeable only to specific types of ions. Some ion channels are voltage gated, meaning that they can be switched between open and closed states by altering the voltage difference across the membrane. Others are chemically gated, meaning that they can be switched between open and closed states by interactions with chemicals that diffuse through the extracellular fluid. The interactions between ion channels and ion pumps produce a voltage difference across the membrane, typically a bit less than 1/10 of a volt at baseline. This voltage has two functions: first, it provides a power source for an assortment of voltage-dependent protein machinery that is embedded in the membrane; second, it provides a basis for electrical signal transmission between different parts of the membrane.

Acid phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.2, acid phosphomonoesterase, phosphomonoesterase, glycerophosphatase, acid monophosphatase, acid phosphohydrolase, acid phosphomonoester hydrolase, uteroferrin, acid nucleoside diphosphate phosphatase, orthophosphoric-monoester phosphohydrolase (acid optimum)) is a phosphatase, a type of enzyme, used to free attached phosphoryl groups from other molecules during digestion. It can be further classified as a phosphomonoesterase. Acid phosphatase is stored in lysosomes and functions when these fuse with endosomes, which are acidified while they function; therefore, it has an acid pH optimum.[1] This enzyme is present in many animal and plant species.[2]

Entry into host cells is thought to occur by attachment of virions to cellular receptors and subsequent endocytosis. Nucleocapsids are introduced into the cytoplasm by pH-dependent fusion of the virion with the endosomal membrane. Subsequent to release of the nucleocapsids into cytoplasm, the complexes are targeted to the ER-Golgi Intermediate compartments (ERGIC) through microtubular associated movement resulting in the formation of viral factories at ERGIC.

The original functional differentiation was a division of caudal and rostral. This was based upon the observation that the lesioning of the rostral reticular formation induces a hypersomnia in the cat brain. In contrast, lesioning of the more caudal portion of the reticular formation produces insomnia in cats. This study has led to the idea that the caudal portion inhibits the rostral portion of the reticular formation.

Class I MHC molecules bind peptides generated mainly from degradation of cytosolic proteins by the proteasome. The MHC I:peptide complex is then inserted via endoplasmic reticulum into the external plasma membrane of the cell. The epitope peptide is bound on extracellular parts of the class I MHC molecule. Thus, the function of the class I MHC is to display intracellular proteins to cytotoxic T cells (CTLs). However, class I MHC can also present peptides generated from exogenous proteins, in a process known as cross-presentation.

Thermoregulation in organisms runs along a spectrum from endothermy to ectothermy. Endotherms create most of their heat via metabolic processes, and are colloquially referred to as warm-blooded. When the surrounding temperatures are cold, endotherms increase metabolic heat production to keep their body temperature constant, thus making the internal body temperature of an endotherm more or less independent of the temperature of the environment.[6] One metabolic activity, in terms of generating heat, that endotherms are able to do is that they possess a larger number of mitochondria per cell than ectotherms, enabling them to generate more heat by increasing the rate at which they metabolize fats and sugars.[7] Ectotherms use external sources of temperature to regulate their body temperatures. They are colloquially referred to as cold-blooded despite the fact that body temperatures often stay within the same temperature ranges as warm-blooded animals. Ectotherms are the opposite of endotherms when it comes to regulating internal temperatures. In ectotherms, the internal physiological sources of heat are of negligible importance; the biggest factor that enables them to maintain adequate body temperatures is due to environmental influences. Living in areas that maintain a constant temperature throughout the year, like the tropics or the ocean, have enabled ectotherms to develop a wide range of behavioral mechanisms that enable them to respond to external temperatures, such as sun-bathing to increase body temperature, or seeking the cover of shade to lower body temperature.[7][6]

All cells, whether prokaryotic or eukaryotic, have a membrane, which envelops the cell, separates its interior from its environment, regulates what moves in and out, and maintains the electric potential of the cell. Inside the membrane, a salty cytoplasm takes up most of the cell volume. All cells possess DNA, the hereditary material of genes, and RNA, containing the information necessary to build various proteins such as enzymes, the cell's primary machinery. There are also other kinds of biomolecules in cells.

The cell nucleus contains the majority of the cell's genetic material in the form of multiple linear DNA molecules organized into structures called chromosomes. Each human cell contains roughly two meters of DNA. During most of the cell cycle these are organized in a DNA-protein complex known as chromatin, and during cell division the chromatin can be seen to form the well-defined chromosomes familiar from a karyotype. A small fraction of the cell's genes are located instead in the mitochondria.


Question: When was the most recent Christmas Day that saw snowfall in England?

On Christmas Day in 2009, a white Christmas was experienced in various regions of Britain due to heavy snowfall brought by easterly winds in the preceding week. This was the first white Christmas in the UK since 2004, causing significant travel disruptions as icy roads and snow made travel difficult, exacerbated by daytime melting followed by nighttime refreezing.

In countries of Central Europe (for this purpose, roughly defined as the German-speaking countries of Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and possibly other places) the main celebration date for the general public is Christmas Eve (December 24). The day is usually a fasting day; in some places children are told they'll see a golden pig if they hold fast until after dinner. When the evening comes preparation of Christmas Dinner starts. Traditions concerning dinner vary from region to region, for example, in Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia, the prevailing meal is fried carp with potato salad and fish (or cabbage) soup. However, in some places the tradition is porridge with mushrooms (a modest dish), and elsewhere the dinner is exceptionally rich, with up to 12 dishes. This in fact reveals that when Christmas comes around all the kids get presents from neighbours and house guest. Even the house pet got a little something to gnaw on.

Christmas Day and Boxing Day are both statutory holidays in New Zealand. While Boxing Day is a standard statutory holiday, Christmas Day is one of the three-and-a-half days of the year where all but the most essential businesses and services must close. Many of New Zealand's Christmas traditions are similar to those of Australia in that they are a mix of United Kingdom and North American traditions conducted in summer. New Zealand celebrates Christmas with mainly traditional northern hemisphere winter imagery, mixed with local imagery. The Pōhutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa), which produces large crimson flowers in December, is an often used symbol for Christmas in New Zealand, and subsequently the pōhutukawa has become known as the New Zealand Christmas tree.[147] Unlike the United Kingdom's 'Father Christmas' or 'Saint Nick', New Zealand uses the name 'Santa'.

In the Canadian provinces where English is the predominant language, Christmas traditions are largely similar to those of the United States, with some lingering influences from the United Kingdom and newer traditions brought by immigrants from other European countries. Mince pies, plum pudding, and Christmas cake are traditionally served as Christmas dinner desserts, following the traditional meal of roast turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and winter vegetables. Christmas table crackers are not uncommon and, in some parts of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, Christmas traditions include mummers.[46][47]

The custom of merrymaking and feasting at Christmastide first appears in the historical record during the High Middle Ages (c 1100–1300).[3] This almost certainly represented a continuation of pre-Christian midwinter celebrations in Britain of which—as the historian Ronald Hutton has pointed out—"we have no details at all."[3] Personifications came later, and when they did they reflected the existing custom.

In most of Ulster in the north of Ireland, the day is usually known as Boxing Day, especially in Northern Ireland and County Donegal (chiefly East Donegal and Inishowen).

Until Victorian times, Father Christmas was concerned with adult feasting and merry-making. He had no particular connection with children, nor with the giving of presents, nocturnal visits, stockings or chimneys. But as later Victorian Christmases developed into child-centric family festivals, Father Christmas became a bringer of gifts. The popular American myth of Santa Claus arrived in England in the 1850s and Father Christmas started to take on Santa's attributes. By the 1880s the new customs had become established, with the nocturnal visitor sometimes being known as Santa Claus and sometimes as Father Christmas. He was often illustrated wearing a long red hooded gown trimmed with white fur.

In 1978, he was guest in the song "Don't Panic England", from the band Doctors of Madness. In 2004, he and Captain Sensible turned on the Christmas lights in Cambridge, causing some controversy.[2]

The article on Ash Wednesday in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica says that, after the Protestant Reformation, the ashes ceremony was not forbidden in the Church of England, a statement that may explain the research by Blair Meeks that the Anglican tradition "never lapsed in this observance".[83] It was even prescribed under King Henry VIII in 1538 and under King Edward VI in 1550, but it fell out of use in many areas after 1600.[67] In 1536, the Ten Articles issued by authority of Henry VIII commended "the observance of various rites and ceremonies as good and laudable, such as clerical vestments, sprinkling of holy water, bearing of candles on Candlemas-day, giving of ashes on Ash-Wednesday".[84] After Henry's death in January 1547, Thomas Cranmer, within the same year, "procured an order from the Council to forbid the carrying of candles on Candlemas-day, and the use of ashes on Ash-Wednesday, and of palms on Palm-Sunday, as superstitious ceremonies", an order that was issued only for the ecclesiastical province of Canterbury, of which Cranmer was archbishop.[85][86][87] The Church Cyclopædia states that the "English office had adapted the very old Salisbury service for Ash-Wednesday, prefacing it with an address and a recital of the curses of Mount Ebal, and then with an exhortation uses the older service very nearly as it stood."[71][88] The new Commination Office had no blessing of ashes and therefore, in England as a whole, "soon after the Reformation, the use of ashes was discontinued as a 'vain show' and Ash Wednesday then became only a day of marked solemnity, with a memorial of its original character in a reading of the curses denounced against impenitent sinners".[89] The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in the 19th century, observed Ash Wednesday: "as a day of fasting and humiliation, wherein we are publicly to confess our sins, meekly to implore God's mercy and forgiveness, and humbly to intercede for the continuance of his favour".[90] In the 20th century, the Book of Common Prayer provided prayers for the imposition of ashes.[91]

In his allegorical play Summer's Last Will and Testament,[8] written in about 1592, Thomas Nashe introduces for comic effect a miserly Christmas character who refuses to keep the feast. He is reminded by Summer of the traditional role that he ought to be playing: "Christmas, how chance thou comâ€™st not as the rest, / Accompanied with some music, or some song? / A merry carol would have graced thee well; / Thy ancestors have used it heretofore."[9]

In 1678 Josiah King reprinted his 1658 pamphlet with additional material. In this version, the restored Father Christmas is looking better: "[he] look't so smug and pleasant, his cherry cheeks appeared through his thin milk white locks, like [b]lushing Roses vail'd with snow white Tiffany ... the true Emblem of Joy and Innocence."[25]


Question: When did Muhammad Ali win his Olympic gold medal?

At the age of 18, Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, claimed the gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. This victory marked the beginning of his professional boxing career and set the stage for his later achievements, including winning the WBA, WBC, and lineal heavyweight titles from Sonny Liston in 1964. After converting to Islam, he changed his name to Muhammad Ali, symbolizing his rejection of what he considered his "slave name" and standing as a symbol of racial pride and resistance during the Civil Rights Movement.

On July 21, 2012, Jackson became a licensed boxing promoter when he formed his new company, TMT (The Money Team). Licensed to promote in New York, he was in the process of being licensed in Nevada (where most major fights are held in the U.S.). A former amateur boxer, Jackson signed gold medalist and former featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa and middleweight Olympic medalist Andre Dirrell.[147] On July 29, 2012, he and the famed boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr., signed IBF featherweight champion Billy Dib. They unveiled plans to challenge the box-office dominance of mixed martial arts and change the landscape of boxing with TMT Promotions.[148] Boxer Zab Judah also expressed interest in making a deal with Jackson.[149] In December 2012, Mayweather and Jackson parted company, with Jackson taking over the promotion company and founding SMS Promotions[150] with Gamboa, Dirrell, Dib, James Kirkland, Luis Olivares and Donte Strayhorn in his stable.

1984 Olympic gold medalist in men's double sculls, Paul Enquist, started his rowing career at Washington State.

In the 1963–64 season, the Royals achieved a 55–25 record,[15] which put them second place in the Eastern Division. Under new coach Jack McMahon, Robertson flourished, and for the first time in his career, he had a decent supporting cast: second scoring option Jack Twyman was now supplemented by Jerry Lucas and Wayne Embry, and fellow guard Adrian Smith helped Robertson in the backcourt. Robertson led the NBA in free-throw percentage, scored a career-high 31.4 points per game, and averaged 9.9 rebounds and 11.0 assists per game.[1] The averages for his first five NBA seasons are a triple-double: 30.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 10.6 assists per game. He won the NBA MVP award and became the only player other than Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain to win it from 1960 to 1968.[3] Robertson also won his second All-Star Game MVP award that year after scoring 26 points, grabbing 14 rebounds, and dishing off 8 assists in an East victory. In the postseason, the Royals defeated the Philadelphia 76ers, but then were dominated by the Celtics 4 games to 1.[3]

There has been a football tournament at every Summer Olympic Games since 1900, except at the 1932 games in Los Angeles.[110] Before the inception of the World Cup, the Olympics (especially during the 1920s) were the most most prestigious international event. Originally, the tournament was for amateurs only.[36] As professionalism spread around the world, the gap in quality between the World Cup and the Olympics widened. The countries that benefited most were the Soviet Bloc countries of Eastern Europe, where top athletes were state-sponsored while retaining their status as amateurs. Between 1948 and 1980, 23 out of 27 Olympic medals were won by Eastern Europe, with only Sweden (gold in 1948 and bronze in 1952), Denmark (bronze in 1948 and silver in 1960) and Japan (bronze in 1968) breaking their dominance. For the 1984 Los Angeles Games, the IOC decided to admit professional players. FIFA still did not want the Olympics to rival the World Cup, so a compromise was struck that allowed teams from Africa, Asia, Oceania and CONCACAF to field their strongest professional sides, while restricting UEFA and CONMEBOL teams to players who had not played in a World Cup. Since 1992 male competitors must be under 23 years old, and since 1996, players under 23 years old, with three over-23 year old players, are allowed per squad. A women's tournament was added in 1996; in contrast to the men's event, full international sides without age restrictions play the women's Olympic tournament.[111]

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer (February 9, 1975, Page 4-C), Carl Lombardo put up $1.3 million for the Wepner-Ali heavyweight title bout. According to a Time article, "In Stitches", Ali was guaranteed $1.5 million and Wepner signed for $100,000. This was considerably more than Wepner had ever earned and he therefore did not need any coaxing. Wepner spent eight weeks near the Catskill Mountains under the guidance of Al Braverman (trainer and noted cutman) and Bill Prezant (manager). Prezant prophesied that the fight would be a big surprise. This bout was the first time Wepner had been able to train full-time.[8] The fight was held on March 24 at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio, south of Cleveland. Before the fight, a reporter asked Wepner if he thought he could survive in the ring with the champion, to which Wepner allegedly answered, "I've been a survivor my whole life ... if I survived the Marines, I can survive Ali."[citation needed]

Ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics, Barcelona legally barred Messi from representing Argentina at the tournament as it coincided with their Champions League qualifying matches.[282] After interference from newly appointed Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola, who had won the tournament in 1992, Messi was permitted to join Sergio Batista's under-23 squad in Beijing.[283] During the first match, he scored the opening goal and assisted another in their 2–1 victory over the Ivory Coast. Following a 1–0 win in the next group match against Australia, ensuring their quarter-final qualification, Messi was rested during the game against Serbia, while his side won the match to finish first in their group. Against the Netherlands, he again scored the first goal and assisted a second strike to help his team to a 2–1 win in extra time. After a 3–0 semi-final victory over Brazil, Messi assisted the only goal in the final as Argentina defeated Nigeria to claim Olympic gold medals.[284] Along with Riquelme, Messi was singled out by FIFA as the stand-out player from the tournament's best team.[285]

The 1980 U.S. team, which featured a number of future NBA players, was the youngest American national team ever assembled. This team featured: Mark Aguirre, Rolando Blackman, Sam Bowie, Michael Brooks, Bill Hanzlik, Alton Lister, Rodney McCray, Isiah Thomas, Darnell Valentine, Danny Vranes, Buck Williams and Al Wood.[11] Unable to compete in the Olympics due to the boycott, it instead participated in the "Gold Medal Series", a series of games against NBA all-star teams in various U.S. cities, recording a 5â€“1 record.[11] It was coached by Dave Gavitt.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, the United States went unbeaten and earned gold medal honors, defeating the 2006 World champion Spain in the final game. Wade led the team in scoring throughout the tournament and tallied a game-high 27 points in 27 minutes on 75% field goal shooting and added 4 steals, 2 assists and 2 rebounds in the game.[121] For the tournament, he averaged a team-high 16 points in 18 minutes on 67% field goal shooting, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2.3 steals, as the United States lived up to their Redeem Team moniker and captured gold medal honors for the first time since 2000.[121][122]

Howard was named on 5 March 2006 to the 2006–2008 USA Basketball Men's Senior National Team program.[1] As the team's regular starting center, he helped lead the team to a 5–0 record during its pre-World Championship tour, and subsequently helped the team win the bronze medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship.[1] During the FIBA Americas Championship 2007, Howard was on the team which won its first nine games en route to qualifying for the finals and a spot for the 2008 Olympics.[111] He started in eight of those nine games, averaging 8.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg and led the team in shooting .778 from the field.[112] In the finals, he made all seven of his shots and scored 20 points as the USA defeated Argentina to win the gold medal.[113]

After breaking out with his first hit album "Pack That Smack" in 1986 and "Bombay City" the next year, he became the highest-selling English rock musician in India and the only one in the country to be awarded Gold Discs in this category.[4] "Pack That Smack" became his first album to be released by a national record company, CBS. This was an anti-drugs themed album, especially against addiction to Heroin which contained songs such as Down with Brown, Just a Hippie, as well as socio-political satire such as Mr Minister – a nursery rhyme-styled song on politician who went to sleep once elected to power; and So Wie Du – a recording of an award-winning live performance. Bombay City contained hits such as Ocean Queen, Against you/Against me, and a hilarious take on the condition of telephone services in India, Ode to Graham Bell.


Question: Who is eligible to vote for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award?

The NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, introduced in the 1982-83 season, is bestowed annually to the top defensive player in the regular season. This prestigious accolade is determined by a panel of 124 sportswriters and broadcasters from the U.S. and Canada, who submit votes for first, second, and third place. Each first-place vote earns five points, second-place votes receive three points, and third-place votes are awarded one point. The winner is the player with the highest cumulative point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes received.

Players who are not automatically eligible had to declare their eligibility for the draft by notifying the NBA offices in writing no later than 60 days before the draft. For the 2017 draft, this date fell on April 23. After that date "early entry" players were able to attend NBA pre-draft camps and individual team workouts to show off their skills and obtain feedback regarding their draft positions. Under the CBA a player may withdraw his name from consideration from the draft at any time before the final declaration date, which is 10 days before the draft. Under current NCAA rules, players have until May 24 (10 days after the draft combine) to withdraw from the draft and retain college eligibility.

The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was established in 1989 as an expansion franchise, and such notable NBA stars as Shaquille O'Neal, Penny Hardaway, Patrick Ewing, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Steve Francis, Dwight Howard, Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis, and Hedo Türkoğlu have played for the club throughout its young history. As of 2017[update], the franchise has played in the NBA playoffs for exactly half of its existence (14 playoff appearances in 28 years), and twice went to the NBA Finals, in 1995 and 2009. Orlando has been the second most successful of the four expansion teams brought into the league in 1988 and 1989 in terms of winning percentage, after fellow Floridian team Miami Heat.

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

^ 1: Reggie Harding played and graduated from Detroit Eastern High School in January but he played high school basketball in Nashville, Tennessee prior to the draft.[70][71]
^ 2: While Ndudi Ebi was originally born and raised in London, England, he also holds Nigerian nationality due to his parents being born and raised there.
^ 3: Andray Blatche was born and raised in Syracuse, New York and holds American nationality, but he had become a naturalized Filipino since June 2014 and has officially represented the Philippines since.
^ 4: Satnam Singh officially marks the first ever player to be taken from India in the NBA. He also marks the first time since 2005 after their latest ruling on high school players that someone directly from high school would be taken in the draft, albeit as a postgraduate senior.
^ 5: Thon Maker was born in Wau, Sudan at the time, but Wau has now since become a part of South Sudan instead due to war. Even then, though, he would be raised as an Australian representative.
^ 6: Thon Maker would become the first high schooler (and second overall high school postgraduate student) to be selected from the nation of Canada instead of somewhere in the United States of America. Also, while Thon attended classes at Orangeville Prep, he would play basketball games for the Athlete Institute nearby in Mono, Ontario as well.

The four players listed below are the only players who have officially recorded a quadruple-double in an NBA game. Except for Thurmond, who retired before the award was established in 1983, all of them have won NBA Defensive Player of the Year at least once.[89]

The Leigh Matthews Trophy is awarded to the best player in the competition as voted by the AFL Players Association:

Triple threat is the position when a player facing a defender receives a pass but has not dribbled yet. The offensive player's feet are slightly wider than shoulder width and slightly on the balls of their feet, their knees flexed, with both hands on the basketball in front of them or almost resting on their thigh, presenting the defender with an opponent able to move in any direction. One foot is held as the pivot and the other slightly ahead. From this, the player can choose from three options: to jump-shoot, to dribble (drive) past the defender or to pass it to a teammate. There are also options to get the defender out of their defensive stance by using jab steps and pump fakes.

In the first election to be held under the 2007 revisions, two managers and three executives were elected in December 2007 as part of the 2008 election process. The next Veterans Committee elections for players were held in December 2008 as part of the 2009 election process; the main committee did not select a player, while the panel for preâ€“World War II players elected Joe Gordon in its first and ultimately only vote. The main committee voted as part of the election process for inductions in odd-numbered years, while the pre-World War II panel would vote every five years, and the panel for umpires, managers, and executives voted as part of the election process for inductions in even-numbered years.

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

The CAF Awards is an awards evening held to honour the best African association football players. It is conferred by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).