Question: Who did Puerto Rico belong to before the U.S. acquired it?

Before becoming a U.S. territory in 1898 as a result of the Spanish-American War and the subsequent Treaty of Paris, Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony. Discovered by Christopher Columbus during his second voyage in 1493, the island was inhabited by the indigenous Taíno people. Over the years, it faced attempted invasions by the French, Dutch, and British, but remained under Spanish rule for four centuries. During this time, the island developed a unique Hispanic culture influenced by African slaves, Canarian, and Andalusian settlers. Despite playing a secondary role in the Spanish Empire, Puerto Rico's cultural landscape was significantly shaped by its colonial history.

Telecommunications in Puerto Rico includes radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet. Broadcasting in Puerto Rico is regulated by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC).[369] As of 2007[update], there were 30 TV stations, 125 radio stations and roughly 1 million TV sets on the island. Cable TV subscription services are available and the U.S. Armed Forces Radio and Television Service also broadcast on the island.[370]

The largest and oldest university system is the public University of Puerto Rico (UPR) with 11 campuses. The largest private university systems on the island are the Sistema Universitario Ana G. Mendez which operates the Universidad del Turabo, Metropolitan University and Universidad del Este. Other private universities include the multi-campus Inter American University, the Pontifical Catholic University, Universidad Politécnica de Puerto Rico, and the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón. Puerto Rico has four schools of Medicine and three ABA-approved Law Schools.

The possibility of Spanish intervention in World War II was of concern to the United States, which investigated the activities of Spain's ruling Falange party in Latin America, especially Puerto Rico, where pro-Falange and pro-Franco sentiment was high, even amongst the ruling upper classes.[180] The Falangists promoted the idea of supporting Spain's former colonies in fighting against American domination.[176] Prior to the outbreak of war, support for Franco and the Falange was high in the Philippines.[181] The Falange Exterior, the international department of the Falange, collaborated with Japanese forces against U.S. and Filipino forces in the Philippines through the Philippine Falange.[182]

The Roman Catholic Church was brought by Spanish colonists and gradually became the dominant religion in Puerto Rico. The first dioceses in the Americas, including that of Puerto Rico, were authorized by Pope Julius II in 1511.[223] One Pope, John Paul II, visited Puerto Rico in October 1984. All municipalities in Puerto Rico have at least one Catholic Church, most of which are located at the town center or "plaza". African slaves brought and maintained various ethnic African religious practices associated with different peoples; in particular, the Yoruba beliefs of Santería and/or Ifá, and the Kongo-derived Palo Mayombe. Some aspects were absorbed into syncretic Christianity.

In 1919, Félix Rigau Carrera, "El Aguila de Sabana Grande" (The Eagle from Sabana Grande), the first Puerto Rican pilot, became the first native Puerto Rican to fly an aircraft in the island when he flew his Curtiss JN-4 from Las Casas. At the time, the area was used by the military as an air base and it was also Puerto Rico's first commercial airport, and Rigau Carrera was allowed to perform his historic flight from the air field.[26] Camp Las Casas was eventually closed down, and in 1950 a public housing project by the name of Residencial Fray Bartolome de Las Casas was constructed on its former location.

The Philippine Revolution against Spain began in April 1896. The Spanish–American War came to the Philippines on May 1, 1898, when the United States Navy's Asiatic Squadron, commanded by Commodore George Dewey, defeated the Spanish Pacific Squadron under Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón during the Battle of Manila Bay. On June 12, Philippine revolutionaries declared independence and establishment of the First Philippine Republic. On December 10, 1898, the Treaty of Paris which ended the Spanish–American War was signed. The treaty transferred control of the Philippines from Spain to the United States. This agreement was not recognized by the Philippine revolutionaries, who declared war against the United States on June 2, 1899.[17] The Philippine–American War ensued. In 1901, Emilio Aguinaldo, president of the Malolos Republic, was captured and pledged his allegiance to the American government.[18] The U.S. unilaterally declared an end to the conflict in 1902. Scattered fighting continued, however, until 1913.

A significant number of Puerto Ricans participate as members and work for the U.S. Armed Services, largely as National Guard members and civilian employees. The size of the overall military-related community in Puerto Rico is estimated to be 100,000 individuals. This includes retired personnel.[277] Fort Buchanan has about 4,000 military and civilian personnel. In addition, approximately 17,000 people are members of the Puerto Rico Army and Air National Guards, or the U.S. Reserve forces.[280] Puerto Rican soldiers have served in every U.S. military conflict from World War I to the current military engagement known by the United States and its allies as the War against Terrorism.

The climate of Puerto Rico in the Köppen climate classification is tropical rainforest. Temperatures are warm to hot year round, averaging near 85 °F (29 °C) in lower elevations and 70 °F (21 °C) in the mountains. Easterly trade winds pass across the island year round. Puerto Rico has a rainy season which stretches from April into November. The mountains of the Cordillera Central are the main cause of the variations in the temperature and rainfall that occur over very short distances. The mountains can also cause wide variation in local wind speed and direction due to their sheltering and channeling effects adding to the climatic variation.

The Spanish of Puerto Rico has evolved into having many idiosyncrasies in vocabulary and syntax that differentiate it from the Spanish spoken elsewhere. As a product of Puerto Rican history, the island possesses a unique Spanish dialect. Puerto Rican Spanish utilizes many Taíno words, as well as English words. The largest influence on the Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico is that of the Canary Islands. The Spanish of Puerto Rico also includes Taíno words, typically in the context of vegetation, natural phenomena or primitive musical instruments. Similarly, words attributed to primarily West African languages were adopted in the contexts of foods, music or dances, particularly in coastal towns with concentrations of descendants of Sub-Saharan Africans.[220]

Puerto Rico hosts consulates from 41 countries, mainly from the Americas and Europe, with most located in San Juan.[251] As an unincorporated territory of the United States, Puerto Rico does not have any first-order administrative divisions as defined by the U.S. government, but has 78 municipalities at the second level. Mona Island is not a municipality, but part of the municipality of Mayagüez.[252]


Question: Who did Puerto Rico belong to before the U.S. acquired it?

Before becoming a territory of the United States, Puerto Rico was under Spanish sovereignty. The island was ceded to the U.S. as a result of the Spanish-American War, following the Treaty of Paris in 1898, which also transferred control of the Philippines and Guam. Spain relinquished control over Cuba but did not cede it to the U.S.

The economy of Puerto Rico is classified as a high income economy by the World Bank and as the most competitive economy in Latin America by the World Economic Forum but Puerto Rico currently has a public debt of $72.204 billion (equivalent to 103% of GNP), and a government deficit of $2.5 billion.[281][282] According to World Bank, gross national income per capita of Puerto Rico in 2013 is $23,830 (PPP, International Dollars), ranked as 63rd among all sovereign and dependent territories entities in the world.[283] Its economy is mainly driven by manufacturing (primarily pharmaceuticals, textiles, petrochemicals and electronics) followed by the service industry (primarily finance, insurance, real estate and tourism).[n][o] In recent years, the territory has also become a popular destination for MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions), with a modern convention centre district overlooking the Port of San Juan.[285]

An archipelago among the Greater Antilles, Puerto Rico includes the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller ones, such as Mona, Culebra, and Vieques. The capital and most populous city is San Juan. Its official languages are Spanish and English, though Spanish predominates.[21] The island's population is approximately 3.4 million. Puerto Rico's history, tropical climate, natural scenery, traditional cuisine, and tax incentives make it a destination for travelers from around the world.

The territory of Cuba was inhabited by the Ciboney tribes in the 4th millennium BC.[13] Until the 15th century, it was inhabited by Amerindian tribes which became a colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, when Cuba gained nominal independence as a de facto United States protectorate in 1902. As a fragile republic, Cuba attempted to strengthen its democratic system, but mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1952.[14] Further unrest and instability led to Batista's ousting in January 1959 by the July 26 Movement, which afterwards established communist rule under the leadership of Fidel Castro.[15][16][17] Since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. A point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, a nuclear war nearly broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Cuba is one of the few remaining Marxist–Leninist socialist states, where the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Independent observers have accused the Cuban government of numerous human rights abuses, including arbitrary imprisonment.

On October 30, 1950, Pedro Albizu Campos and other nationalists led a three-day revolt against the United States in various cities and towns of Puerto Rico, in what is known as the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Revolts of the 1950s. The most notable occurred in Jayuya and Utuado. In the Jayuya revolt, known as the Jayuya Uprising, the Puerto Rican governor declared martial law, and attacked the insurgents in Jayuya with infantry, artillery and bombers under control of the Puerto Rican commander. The Utuado uprising culminated in what is known as the Utuado massacre.

In 1914, the Puerto Rican House of Delegates voted unanimously in favor of independence from the United States, but this was rejected by the U.S. Congress as "unconstitutional", and in violation of the 1900 Foraker Act.[77]

The Spanish of Puerto Rico has evolved into having many idiosyncrasies in vocabulary and syntax that differentiate it from the Spanish spoken elsewhere. As a product of Puerto Rican history, the island possesses a unique Spanish dialect. Puerto Rican Spanish utilizes many Taíno words, as well as English words. The largest influence on the Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico is that of the Canary Islands. The Spanish of Puerto Rico also includes Taíno words, typically in the context of vegetation, natural phenomena or primitive musical instruments. Similarly, words attributed to primarily West African languages were adopted in the contexts of foods, music or dances, particularly in coastal towns with concentrations of descendants of Sub-Saharan Africans.[220]

In 1520, King Charles I of Spain issued a royal decree collectively emancipating the remaining Taíno population. By that time, the Taíno people were few in number.[57] Enslaved Africans had already begun to compensate for the native labor loss, but their numbers were proportionate to the diminished commercial interest Spain soon began to demonstrate for the island colony. Other nearby islands, like Cuba, Saint-Domingue, and Guadeloupe, attracted more of the slave trade than Puerto Rico, probably because of greater agricultural interests in those islands, on which colonists had developed large sugar plantations and had the capital to invest in the Atlantic slave trade.[58]

Under the 1898 Treaty of Paris, Spain relinquished all claim of sovereignty over and title to Cuba, with the island to be occupied by the United States. Under the Teller Amendment Congress had already decided against annexation. Cuba gained formal independence on 20 May 1902. Under the new Cuban constitution, however, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations through the Platt Amendment;[11] this, however, was later renounced as part of Franklin Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy.[11] Under the Platt Amendment (1901), Cuba also agreed to lease to the U.S. the naval base at Guantánamo Bay.

The nature of Puerto Rico's political relationship with the U.S. is the subject of ongoing debate in Puerto Rico, the United States Congress, and the United Nations.[255] Specifically, the basic question is whether Puerto Rico should remain a U.S. territory, become a U.S. state, or become an independent country.[256]

In foreign affairs, Roosevelt sought to uphold the Monroe Doctrine and establish the United States as a strong naval power. He inherited the colonial empire acquired in the Spanish–American War; while he ended the U.S. military presence in Cuba, he committed to a long-term occupation of the Philippines. Much of his foreign policy focused on the threats posed by Japan in the Pacific Ocean and Germany in the Caribbean Sea. Seeking to avoid the presence of European empires in the Western Hemisphere, Roosevelt mediated the Venezuela Crisis and declared the Roosevelt Corollary, in which the U.S. promised to uphold legitimate European claims on Latin American countries. Roosevelt also mediated the Russo-Japanese War, for which he won the Nobel Prize. He pursued closer relations with Great Britain, allowing for the beginning of the construction of the Panama Canal, which increased U.S. security and trade opportunities.


Question: When is the release date for Panic at the Disco's new album?

On December 15, 2017, Panic! at the Disco released their fourth live album titled "All My Friends We're Glorious: Death of a Bachelor Live". This album was made available as a limited-edition double-vinyl and for digital download. Just five days after this release, the band surprised fans with a non-album Christmas song called "Feels Like Christmas". However, on December 27, bassist Dallon Weekes announced his departure from the band, marking the end of his eight-year tenure with Panic! at the Disco.

In December 2016, Cabello announced her departure from Fifth Harmony and decided to focus on a solo career. Originally the album was titled “The Hurting. The Healing. The Loving” and Cabello described the new album as "the story of my journey from darkness into light, from a time when I was lost to a time when I found myself again."[4] She wrote, "It was a kind of chapter you never want to read out loud",[5] and explained the 'whole album-making process' helped her deal with her emotions.[6] On November 13, 2017, Cabello revealed that the title of the album would be changed and that the album would be released "early next year".[7]

On August 27, they tweeted that William Control (Aiden) had joined them in the studio to contribute to the album: "@williamcontrol joined us #inthestudio today!"[45][46][47] William also appeared on the set of Black Veil Brides' upcoming music video, playing as the voice of F.E.A.R. (it is to be assumed that the reason he appeared in the studio on August 27, is that he is also the voice of F.E.A.R. on the album).[48]

In an interview with CCM Magazine, John Cooper described the new album as "a roller coaster ride". He states: "We have aggressive tracks, artsy and musical tracks, which is new territory for Skillet. A couple songs are classic American heartland anthems, and a couple songs are signature symphonic-classical rock Skillet. Guitars are dirty and edgier, with absolute shredding solos by Seth." One of the songs mentioned in the interview was titled "Salvation".[30]

At Lollapalooza in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the last date on the Into the Night Tour, the band announced a rest, and complemented saying, "This is our last show for a while, and had no better place to end this tour".[50] The conclusion of the Into the Night Tour signaled the end of the Night Visions album cycle. Lead singer Dan Reynolds joked about the end of the Night Visions cycle, saying that "We're always writing on the road, [so] that second album will come, unless we die at the age of 27 next year. Hopefully we don't die and there will be a second album. I don't know when it will be, but it may come".[51]

The band co-headlined the Weezer & Panic! at the Disco Summer Tour 2016 with Weezer from June to August 2016.[75] The band released a cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in August 2016, on the Suicide Squad soundtrack album.[76][77]

On September 27, 2016, Imagine Dragons began teasing their third studio album with a tweet simply saying "studio". The band continued posting cryptic messages on their Twitter account for the next four months. On January 28, 2017, the band started posting a series of videos teasing the album's first single.[66] The time-lapse videos featured lead singer Dan Reynolds drawing surreal images on a drawing pad. Morse code was hidden in the videos and translated to "objects of same color". On February 1, 2017, Imagine Dragons released "Believer" as the lead single for their next album. "Believer" was used as part of the Super Bowl ad for the Nintendo Switch.[67]

Guitarists Jinxx and Jake told Chris Droney in an interview for Glasswerk National that the band are constantly writing new music, and were planning on recording their next major LP in April 2012.[22] On February 18, Jake tweeted, "Amazing stuff. This next record is going to kick your asses." In a February 2012 interview, Ashley Purdy announced that the band's third studio album was scheduled to be released towards the end of 2012.[23]

On January 9, 2013, work on the sixth Wu-Tang Clan album was announced via the group's official Facebook page.[56] In early March 2013 Method Man announced that the Clan was working on a sixth studio album and it would be released during 2013 in celebration of their 20-year anniversary since 36 Chambers.[57] Cappadonna has said the album is in recording process taking place in New York, Los Angeles and the Wu mansion in New Jersey.[58] RZA has also said he had talked to Adrian Younge about working on a song for the album.[59] On April 11, 2013, it was announced via a press release that their upcoming sixth studio album would be titled, A Better Tomorrow and was set to be released in July 2013.[60] During late April 2013, the Clan performed at the 2013 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.[61] On May 17, a unreleased Wu-Tang song titled "Execution in Autumn" was released for purchase through RZA's record label Soul Temple Records.[62] They performed at the 2013 HOT 97 Summer Jam at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, twenty years after they performed at the first annual Summer Jam concert.[63] On June 5, 2013, the first promotional single "Family Reunion" featuring Masta Killah, Method Man, Ghostface Killah and RZA was released via the Soul Temple Records website.[64]

The film was originally scheduled to be released on January 12, 2018,[16] but was pushed back two weeks from its original release date of January 12, 2018, to January 26, 2018,[17] but was pushed back again from January 26, 2018, to August 17, 2018, after successful test screenings.[15] In April 2018 it was pushed back again from August 17, 2018, to September 14, 2018.[18] It had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2018.[19][20] It was also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2018.[21]

The band's fourth studio album and its corresponding title Synthesis were revealed by Lee in a video posted on the group's Facebook page on May 10, 2017. According to her, the title came from the fact that the album is "the synthesis, the combination, the contrast, the synergy between the organic and the synthetic, also the past and present".[10] She further noted how the new music would be stripped down, performed by an orchestra and would feature elements of electronica and the "synthetic world of beats and sounds".[10] According to her, the process behind the album included the band going through their previous catalog and reworking some of their songs. In addition, two new songs were also recorded for Synthesis.[10] She revealed during a video: "This is a total passion project for me. There are so many layers in our music underneath the huge drums and guitars. I've always wanted to shine a light on some of the gorgeous David Campbell arrangements and programming elements in our songs, and that idea snowballed into completely re-doing them with full orchestra, not just strings, elaborate programming and experimentation".[11] Lee further added that the project "flows like a big, dynamic soundtrack".[11] The rearrangement of the songs was done by David Campbell who had worked with the band during their previous projects and Evanescence members Lee and William B. Hunt.[11]


Question: Who portrays Dorian Tyrell when he dons the mask?

In the movie "The Mask," Dorian Tyrell, portrayed by Peter Greene, is a scheming gangster and the owner of the Coco Bongo nightclub. He plans to take down his boss, Niko, and orchestrates a bank heist by having his girlfriend, Tina Carlyle (Cameron Diaz), scout the bank's layout. Stanley Ipkiss, played by Jim Carrey, is an unlucky bank clerk who becomes entangled in Tyrell's criminal activities when he discovers the magical mask. Upon putting on the mask, Stanley transforms into a mischievous and confident alter-ego, The Mask, who wreaks havoc in Edge City and crosses paths with Tyrell.

The following evening at home, while smoking marijuana, when Alice asks him if he had sex with the two girls, Bill reassures her that he had not. She inquires if he is jealous of men who are attracted to her. He thinks women are more faithful than men. She tells him of a recent fantasy she had about a naval officer they had met on vacation. Disturbed by Alice's revelation, Bill is called by the daughter of a patient who has just died. After visiting the home, he goes to a prostitute named Domino but Alice phones as Domino begins to kiss Bill. Meeting Nick at the jazz club Bill learns that Nick has an engagement where he must play piano blindfolded. Bill learns that to gain admittance, one needs a costume, a mask, and the password, which Nick had written down. Bill goes to a costume shop and offers the owner, Mr. Milich, a generous amount of money to rent a costume. In the shop, Milich catches his teenage daughter with two Japanese men and expresses outrage at their lack of a sense of decency.

One of the most memorable aspects of the show that was developed during the first season was the transformation sequence that changed Diana Prince into her superheroine alter ego. The sequence in the original specials employed a slow fade between two synchronized shots, both filmed with an overcranked camera to create a slow motion effect. A twirling Diana Prince's hair would fall loose as the shot transitioned to a twirling Wonder Woman holding her Diana clothes, which she would stow nearby in a closet or locker. (How she changes back to Diana is never shown, although presumably she must return to the location to retrieve her clothes.) To ensure both segments transitioned smoothly the camera was locked off (secured in place) while Carter's clothing, make-up, and hair was altered between identities, a process Carter said on a DVD commentary typically took about 45 minutes. The spinning transformation was later incorporated into the comics and into animated appearances such as Justice League Unlimited. (Prior to the series in which Carter starred, the transformation was depicted in the comics by way of Diana spinning her magic lasso around her body, with the lasso changing her clothes, or by simply changing at super-human speed.)

The next day, the family agrees to an "alone day" and are left to their own devices. Clark goes to a casino and becomes addicted to gambling, usually losing to a snidey blackjack dealer (Wallace Shawn) who enjoys Clark's humiliation. He spurns Ellen's bedroom advances in favor of watching a gambling lesson on television. Rusty gets a fake ID from a Frank Sinatra look-alike (Toby Huss) and becomes a winning high roller, taking on the pseudonym 'Nick Pappagiorgio'. Audrey starts hanging out with Eddie's free-spirited and gorgeous exotic dancer daughter Vicki (Shae D'Lyn) and her friends. And Ellen begins spending time with Wayne Newton, who has feelings for Ellen. When Clark learns she has gone to visit Newton at his mansion, he drives there and angrily crashes through the picture window of Newton's home.

Kristen's attempt to force Susan into giving the child back ends with the death of Susan's identical sister, Penelope Kent. Fearing she'll be charged with murder, Kristen pretends to be Susan and is forced to marry Susan's boyfriend, Edmund Crumb (Adam Caine).[24] In the meantime, "Susan" and Edmund go on a honeymoon and Laura is arrested for Kristen's murder.[20] Edmund admits to Kristen's "murder" and they soon run into the real Susan who explains that Kristen sold her into a harem; it is then revealed that the dead person was Susan's other sibling, Penelope Kent. To get revenge against Kristen, Susan exchanges her freedom for Kristen to be sold to the harem.[25][26]

In the lair, Christine is forced to don a wedding dress. Raoul finds the lair and attempts to persuade the Phantom to spare Christine, begging him to show compassion. The Phantom refuses, and captures Raoul with the Punjab lasso. The Phantom tells Christine that he will free Raoul if she agrees to stay with him forever, but if she refuses, Raoul will die. Christine, heartbroken, tells the Phantom that it is his soul that is deformed, not his face. As the Phantom and Raoul both plead to her, Christine mournfully wonders what kind of life the Phantom has known. She tells the Phantom that he is not alone and kisses him, showing him compassion for the first time in his life. The Phantom, having experienced kindness at last, understands that he cannot compel Christine to love him, and sets them both free. Raoul hurries Christine out of the lair, but she returns alone to give the Phantom back his ring. The Phantom tells Christine he loves her, before she tearfully exits with Raoul. The weeping Phantom huddles on his throne and covers himself with his cloak. The mob, led by Meg, enters the lair. Meg pulls the Phantom's cloak from the throne, finding only his mask on the seat. She lifts the mask up into the light and gazes at it in wonder as the curtain falls.[38]

A bold attempt by Doran's daughter Arianne Martell and her lover, Ser Arys Oakheart of the Kingsguard, to crown Doran's ward Myrcella Baratheon as queen of Westeros under Dornish law, by which the eldest child succeeds regardless of gender, is thwarted by Doran. In the confusion, one of Arianne's co-conspirators, the knight Gerold "Darkstar" Dayne, attempts to kill Myrcella; she survives but her face is scarred, and Ser Arys is killed. This strains the new Dornish alliance with House Lannister and the Iron Throne. To his daughter, Doran reveals that her brother Quentyn has gone east to bring back "Fire and Blood".

David Anders Holt (born March 11, 1981), known professionally as David Anders, is an American television and stage actor. He is best known for his roles as Julian Sark on Alias, as Adam Monroe on Heroes, as John Gilbert in the TV series The Vampire Diaries, as Victor Frankenstein/Dr. Whale on ABC's Once Upon a Time, and as Blaine "DeBeers" McDonough on iZombie. Although Anders is American, a few of his roles have required him to use a British Home counties accent.

In August 2012, Blake Sheldon was cast in the dual role of Devon and Cooper, both described as "tall, thin and psychopathic." Ultimately Sheldon wound up portraying only Cooper.[41] Season one alum Frances Conroy guest starred as Shachath, the Angel of Death. Eric Stonestreet was scheduled to guest star again, this season as a killer, but the appearance never came to fruition.[42] Mark Margolis recurred as Sam Goodwin, while David Chisum and Amy Farrington guest starred as a caring husband and a troubled mother, respectively.[43] In mid-October, Ian McShane joined the season in the recurring role of Leigh Emerson, a psychotic man who murders people while wearing a Santa Claus suit; he has a vendetta against Sister Jude.[44] Former series co-star Dylan McDermott appeared during the second half of the season as Johnny Morgan, the modern day Bloody Face.

Kyle is confronted with the return of Christine, his former Gulf War partner who was reported missing in action (and presumed dead) in Iraq, and Amanda is jealous of their friendship. When Christine attempts suicide before Kyle and Amanda's wedding, he abandons Amanda to save her. It is later revealed that Christine is not actually Christine, but she is actually Tiffany Hart (Susan Walters), a woman who Nick hired to pretend to be Christine (telling Kyle she had reconstructive surgery). In the psychiatric ward of Wilshire Hospital Tiffany is manipulated by Nick (another war buddy of Kyle's) and the jealous Taylor. After "Christine" sends another suicide letter to Amanda, Amanda visits her and threatens to kill her.

A preview of the first act was staged at Sydmonton (Lloyd Webber's home) in 1985, starring Colm Wilkinson (later the star of the Toronto production) as the Phantom, Sarah Brightman as Kristin (later Christine), and Clive Carter (later a member of the London cast) as Raoul. This very preliminary production used Richard Stilgoe's original unaltered lyrics, and many songs sported names that were later changed, such as "What Has Time Done to Me" ("Think of Me"), and "Papers" ("Notes"). The Phantom's original mask covered the entire face and remained in place throughout the performance, obscuring the actor's vision and muffling his voice. BjÃ¶rnson designed the now-iconic half-mask to replace it, and the unmasking sequence was added.[16] Clips of this preview performance were included on the DVD of the 2004 film production.[22]


Question: Who holds the world record for having the most world records?

Ashrita Furman, born Keith Furman on September 16, 1954, is a renowned Guinness World Records record-breaker. As of 2017, Furman has achieved over 600 official Guinness Records and holds more than 191 records, making him the individual with the most Guinness world records.[1] His record-breaking journey began in 1979 and continues to this day.[2][3]

Beaver's idea became reality when Guinness employee Christopher Chataway recommended University friends Norris and Ross McWhirter, who had been running a fact-finding agency in London. The twin brothers were commissioned to compile what became The Guinness Book of Records in August 1954. A thousand copies were printed and given away.[8]

Peter Andrew Beardsley MBE (born 18 January 1961[1]) is an English former footballer who played as a forward or midfielder between 1979 and 1999. In 1987, he set a record transfer fee in the English game and represented his country 59 times between 1986 and 1996, once as captain, taking part in two FIFA World Cups (1986 and 1990) and UEFA Euro 1988. At club level, he played for Newcastle United, Liverpool and Everton, having also had spells with Carlisle United, Manchester United, Vancouver Whitecaps, Bolton Wanderers, Manchester City, Fulham, Hartlepool United and the Melbourne Knights. He was briefly appointed as the caretaker manager of Newcastle United in 2010.

Eddie Keher of the Rower-Inistioge holds numerous championship scoring records. In 50 championship appearances between 1959 and 1977 he scored 35 goals and 334 points. Not only that but Keher also set and broke a number of individual records. In the 1963 All-Ireland final he scored 14 points, a verifiable record for a final up to that point. In 1971 Keher broke his own record when he captured 2 goals and 11 points in the All-Ireland final against Tipperary. What is more remarkable is the fact that he ended up on the losing side on that occasion. This record was broken by Nicky English in 1989 when he scored 2 goals and 12 points in a 70-minute All-Ireland final. Keher's tally of 6 goals and 45 points in the 1972 championship is also a record.

In 2009, the group set the world record for the longest basketball shot after shooting from the third deck of Kyle Field. The record was jeopardized by Legendary Shots, who made a shot from Birmingham, Alabama's Vulcan statue, but in October 2010, Dude Perfect extended their record with a "cross-tower" shot, which was 216 feet (66 m) high, and the basket was 150 ft (46 m) away from the tower's base.[24] In March 2011, Dude Perfect unofficially[a] extended the record with a shot from the top of NRG Stadium, which lasted 5.3 seconds.[5][25] In January 2014, the group successfully attempted a shot from the 561 ft (171 m)-high Reunion Tower, with Jones and Hilbert holding the basket at the base of the tower.[26]

In the 11 November 2007 episode, Simon Cowell retook his status as the holder of the fastest lap with a time of 1:45.90. According to Clarkson, the cameramen said they had never seen such consistency in the practice laps.[34] However, Cowell was knocked off the top spot in Series 11 by Jay Kay, who now holds the fastest time in the Lacetti, although Clarkson selected the fastest of Jay Kay's times rather than the last run, which was slower than Cowell's time, seemingly due to a dislike of Cowell (he claimed earlier in the episode that Cowell had been at the top of the leaderboard for too long). Had this not happened, Cowell would have been knocked off the top by Grand Designs host Kevin McCloud.

The record for most consecutive games with at least one run scored is 18, shared by the Yankees' Red Rolfe (August 9–August 25, 1939) and the Cleveland Indians' Kenny Lofton (August 15–September 3, 2000). The record for most runs scored by a player in a single game is 7, set by Guy Hecker of the American Association's Louisville Colonels on August 15, 1886. The modern-day record of 6 is shared by fourteen players (eight of whom attained it before 1900). Of the six modern-day players to score 6 runs in a game, the first to perform the feat was Mel Ott of the New York Giants on August 4, 1934 (he repeated the accomplishment ten years later, making him the only player ever to do it twice); the most recent was Shawn Green, then of the Los Angeles Dodgers, on May 23, 2002.

But there are many who attempt long voyages in exceptionally short amounts of time. The current circumnavigation record by bicycle is just 91 days, 18 hours, by Mike Hall.[24]

In 1994 he set a world hour record of 53.040 kilometres (32.958Â mi),[1] beating Graeme Obree.[20]

This section lists females who gave birth to at least 20 children. Numbers in bold and italics are likely to be inexact, some of them having been recorded before the 19th century. Due to females bearing the and usually being monogamous, their records are often shared with or exceeded by their partners.

Of the 44 persons who have served as president, 24 have become the oldest such individual of their time. Herbert Hoover held this distinction for the longest period of any, from the death of Calvin Coolidge in January 1933 until his own death 31 years later. Lyndon B. Johnson held it for the shortest, from the death of Harry S. Truman in December 1972 until his own death only 27 days later.


Question: Who performed on "Great Gig in the Sky"?

"The Great Gig in the Sky," the fifth track on Pink Floyd's 1973 album, "The Dark Side of the Moon," includes musical composition by Richard Wright and wordless vocals performed by Clare Torry.

Dawson left after frequently arguing with Daltrey[7] and after being briefly replaced by Gabby Connolly, Daltrey moved to lead vocals. Townshend, with Entwistle's encouragement, became the sole guitarist. Through Townshend's mother, the group obtained a management contract with local promoter Robert Druce,[14] who started booking the band as a support act. The Detours were influenced by the bands they supported, including Screaming Lord Sutch, Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, Shane Fenton and the Fentones, and Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. The Detours were particularly interested in the Pirates as they also only had one guitarist, Mick Green, who inspired Townshend to combine rhythm and lead guitar in his style. Entwistle's bass became more of a lead instrument,[15] playing melodies.[16] In February 1964, the Detours became aware of the group Johnny Devlin and the Detours and changed their name.[17] Townshend and his roommate Richard Barnes spent a night considering names, focusing on a theme of joke announcements, including "No One" and "the Group". Townshend preferred "the Hair", and Barnes liked "the Who" because it "had a pop punch".[18] Daltrey chose "the Who" the next morning.[19]

The duo began performing their own music in and around New York City – Flansburgh on guitar, Linnell on accordion and saxophone and accompanied by a drum machine or prerecorded backing track on audio cassette. Their atypical instrumentation, along with their songs which featured unusual subject matter and clever wordplay, soon attracted a strong local following. Their performances also featured absurdly comical stage props such as oversized fezzes and large cardboard cutout heads of newspaper editor William Allen White.[7] Many of these props would later turn up in their first music videos. From 1984–87, They Might Be Giants were the house-band at Darinka, a Lower East Side performance club.[8] One weekend a month they played on the stage there and by the end of their three-year stint sold out every performance. On March 30, 1985, TMBG released their 7" flexi-disc, dubbed "Wiggle Diskette" at Darinka. The disc included demos of the songs "Everything Right Is Wrong" and "You'll Miss Me".[citation needed]

He entered the UK Singles Chart in 1978 with his cover of "You're the One That I Want" (Pye 7N 46121) (from the film, Grease) with Hylda Baker, who was in her seventies.[12] The single, which peaked at Number 22 in the UK, was taken from the album, Band On The Trot (Pye PKL 5576). The single was the last professional success of Mullard's life; there followed an uncredited narration on the Glenn Close-led live action 101 Dalmatians, released in 1996 after his death.

On June 7 and 8, 1998, Lehrer performed in public for the first time in 25 years at the Lyceum Theatre, London as part of the gala show Hey, Mr. Producer! celebrating the career of impresario Cameron Mackintosh, who had been the producer of Tom Foolery. The June 8 show was his only performance to date before Queen Elizabeth II. Lehrer sang "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" and an updated version of the nuclear proliferation song "Who's Next?" The DVD of the event includes the former song.[40]

In past tours, an extensive number of solo spots were a usual part of the setlist. They cut this down to a minimum, keeping the set quite tight with the performance of regular songs as the main focus. Slash did have a solo spot with "The Godfather theme", a guitar instrumental piece with the rest of the band backing up and functioning as a lead-in to "Sweet Child o' Mine". As a second new addition, Fortus and Slash were doing a guitar instrumental version of the Pink Floyd song "Wish You Were Here", which worked as a prelude to "November Rain". McKagan took the lead vocals during a regular spot in the set, singing a song from the Guns N' Roses punk cover album "The Spaghetti Incident?". From show to show, he alternated between "New Rose" – the debut single of the British punk rock group The Damned, "Raw Power" – a song by Iggy Pop and the Stooges which he had previously performed at some of the Guns N' Roses shows in 2014, and "Attitude"[140] – a Misfits song he played regularly on the Use Your Illusion Tour and in 2014.[141]

"Spirit in the Sky" is a song written and originally recorded[4] by Norman Greenbaum and released in late 1969. The single became a gold record, selling two million copies from 1969 to 1970 and reached number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (April 18, 1970), where it lasted for 15 weeks in the Top 100. Billboard ranked the record the No. 22 song of 1970.[5] It also climbed to number one on the UK, Australian and Canadian charts in 1970. Rolling Stone ranked "Spirit in the Sky" No. 333 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song was featured on the 1969 album of the same name. Cover versions by Doctor and the Medics and Gareth Gates have also made the number 1 spot in the UK.

(Note: subsequent CD releases of this album contain a paragraph on the sleeve titled "The Last Word," explaining that the Mothers band pictured on the album was not the band that played the music, and in fact all musical duties on the album were performed by Frank Zappa, Ian Underwood, Roy Estrada and Billy Mundi. Jimmy Carl Black, Don Preston, Bunk Gardner and Euclid James "Motorhead" Sherwood were all featured in some capacity on the record.)

Andy Summers' presence on the studio track is considerably less pronounced than on the vast majority of Police songs, and in fact, Sting wanted to record it without him entirely. Having written the song on a synthesizer, he wanted for it to use synthesizer instead of guitar, and to play the synthesizer part himself. Summers thought the synthesizer part should be replaced by guitar, and after considerable argument, they compromised by recording the part on both instruments, with a mix such that the synthesizer drowned out much of Summers's guitar.[4] In live performances this part was played on guitar only, with synthesizer used only for background chords. The bass part for the song is distinctively complex, with music producer and cognitive psychologist Daniel Levitin writing that it "takes this rhythmic play to such an extreme that it can be hard to tell where the downbeat even is."[5] The track was recorded at Air Studios Montserrat.

Brightman performed "Pie Jesu" and "There You'll Be" at the United States Memorial Day concert on 25 May 2008 held on the west lawn of the United States Capitol in Washington DC. The show was broadcast live on PBS before a concert audience of 300,000, as well as to American troops serving around the world on the American Forces Radio and Television Network.[71][72] Brightman made her feature film debut as Blind Mag in the rock musical film Repo! The Genetic Opera which was released on 7 November 2008.[73][74][75] Brightman was cast in the film at the last minute after the original actress who was cast for the role was dropped.[75]

All guitars on the album were tuned down a half-step in order to "make the music a little lower", according to Corgan. On some songs, like "Jellybelly", the first string was tuned down an additional whole step to C♯ (referred to by Corgan as "the 'grunge tuning'"). There was a greater variety to the number of guitar overdubs utilized than on previous albums. Iha said, "[I]n the past, everything had to be overdubbed and layered—guitar overkill. That wasn't really the train of thought this time, although we did that too."[6] "To Forgive" consists of only one live guitar take, while "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" contains approximately 70 guitar tracks.[9] The various sections of "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" were recorded at various times, with different instruments and recording setups, and were digitally composited in Pro Tools.[9] Corgan and Iha shared soloing duties; Iha estimated that the guitar solo duties were divided "half and half" on the record.[6]


Question: What university do all the characters attend in Gossip Girl?

In the third season of Gossip Girl, the main characters pursue various academic paths. Blair, Dan, and Vanessa are all accepted into New York University, where they join Olivia Burke (played by Hilary Duff), who becomes romantically involved with Dan. Nate gains admission to Columbia University. Meanwhile, Serena decides to take a year off from school, Jenny takes on the role of Queen Bee at Constance, and Chuck takes over Bass Industries while Lily van der Woodsen, now his adoptive mother, offers support. The early episodes of the season cover the characters' summer vacation and the period leading up to the start of their university classes. Throughout the season, the influence of "Gossip Girl" as a character becomes slightly less prominent.

Motoki Furuhata (古幡 元基, Furuhata Motoki, called Andrew Hansford in the original English dub) works at the Crown Game Center, a video arcade Usagi frequently visits. In A Scout is Born, an adaptation of the anime's first three episodes by Stuart J. Levy, he is called Andrew Foreman.[49] Motoki also holds a job at the Crown Fruit Parlor and is a KO University student along with Mamoru Chiba. After he recognizes the Sailor Soldiers and learns their true identities, Motoki vows not to tell anyone. In the anime adaptation, Usagi calls him "Big Brother" Motoki (元基お兄さん, Motoki-oniisan) and has a crush on him in the beginning of the series. Motoki and Mamoru also attend the Azabu Institute of Technology. He is pretty naive, and says that he views the girls as younger sisters, oblivious to the fact that they have crushes on him. He has a little sister, Unazuki Furuhata, who is friends with Usagi and the others. His girlfriend is Reika Nishimura, a science student. Later throughout the series, it is revealed that he and Reika knew Setsuna while she was studying at their university. In the continuity of Sailor Moon Crystal, Motoki's background is the same, but he does not know Mamoru, who is still a high school student.

John-Boy Walton's fictional alma mater, Boatwright University, is patterned after Richmond College, which became part of the University of Richmond on Boatwright Drive near Westham Station in The West End of Richmond, Virginia, about seventy miles east of Schuyler.

After throwing a disastrous Sweet Sixteen party for Jenny, Serena retreats to Spain with Poppy and Poppy's boyfriend, Gabriel Edwards. She returns to New York pursued by Gabriel after he broke up with Poppy and finds herself in a new relationship. During a party held by her mother, Serena discovers that Gabriel and Poppy have conned her mother's guests and calls on Blair's aid to obtain their stolen money, breaking up with Gabriel as she pursues Poppy. Blair reluctantly teams up with Chuck and a reformed Georgina, ignoring Lily's wishes that they let her handle it herself, ending with the plan completely back-firing: Serena is arrested, Poppy escapes and Georgina, becoming the scapegoat, eases back into her old ways.

Lehrer attended the Horace Mann School in Riverdale, New York.[2][8] He also attended Camp Androscoggin, both as a camper and a counselor.[9] Lehrer was considered a child prodigy and entered Harvard College at the age of 15 after graduating from Loomis Chaffee School.[2] As a mathematics undergraduate student at Harvard College, he began to write comic songs to entertain his friends, including "Fight Fiercely, Harvard" (1945). Those songs were later named The Physical Revue,[10] a joking reference to a leading scientific journal, The Physical Review.

"Gossip" was written and directed by Paul Lieberstein, a producer and screenwriter for the series who also plays Toby. The episode confirmed the fact that Pam was pregnant, which was strongly hinted in the fifth season finale, "Company Picnic".[1] "Gossip" was the first episode to feature Ellie Kemper as a full cast member; she had guest starred in several episodes at the end of the fifth season as receptionist Erin Hannon.[2] It was also the first episode of The Office to air since the release of the Ed Helms comedy film The Hangover.[2][3] The film was a surprise box office success, grossing more than twice the amount of The 40-Year Old Virgin, which established Steve Carell as a comedy movie star.[3][4][5] Commentators were split on what the success would mean for The Office, with some believing it would allow the show's writers to better realize his potential and write better material for Helms,[2][3] and others expressing concern Helms would not be as dedicated to the Andy Bernard role.[6] One of the interns, portrayed by Elvy Yost, also appeared in an earlier episode from season four, "Job Fair".

A stubborn Serena chooses to stay in prison, until Dan bails her out and the two go to prom together. Her arrest soon adds to her fame as she becomes a local celebrity. On the day of graduation, Gossip Girl sends a blast that further ruins Serena and her friends' reputations. Declaring war on Gossip Girl, Serena finds herself the center of blame when a ticked-off Gossip Girl decides to drop every unreleased piece of gossip she had in store, creating further divide within the group. Sending a text to Gossip Girl, Serena calls a bluff that she knows Gossip Girl's identity, only for Gossip Girl to escape and warning everyone that she'll be pursuing them in college. She spends the summer leaving New York with Carter in pursuit of her father.

Following Charlie's mental breakdown at the Constance Billiard alumni party, Vanessa scouts out Dan's apartment to look for her but instead finds a novel that Dan has been working on and reads it. When Dan calls her if she found Charlie, Vanessa pours out her admiration for Dan's work and suggests that he publish it, further concluding that in the five years that he wrote the novel, she deduced Dan's secret desire to be a part of the Upper East side, one that even surpasses Jenny's from years ago. Dan had been reluctant to publish it, fearing backlash against his friends for writing a novel that satirizes them. Vanessa tells him to stop dropping everything for his friends and instead be a great person, stating that he was a better person before he met Serena. Dan angrily shoots back at her, saying that his life was better before she climbed into his fire escape years ago. Vanessa steals his manuscript and has it published. When asked where the money will be directed, Vanessa reveals that she will be living in Spain and that she'll make sure the money goes to the right place.

Although he comes from a wealthy family, Blaine did not have a happy childhood; his depressed mother committed suicide, his doting grandfather was committed to hospice, and Blaine himself was abused by his nanny. As an adult, his father Angus considers him "a disappointment" after giving him money for failed businesses.[6] According to Angus, he attended Wharton, though did not last a full semester. After some point Angus cut him off financially, leading Blaine to pursue work dealing drugs for Stacey Boss.

"Swan Song" is the ninth episode of the fourth season of the American musical television series Glee, and the seventy-fifth episode overall. Written by Stacy Traub and directed by co-creator Brad Falchuk, it aired on Fox in the United States on December 6, 2012. The episode features the return of special guest stars Whoopi Goldberg as New York Academy of Dramatic Arts (NYADA) dean Carmen Tibideaux and Kate Hudson as NYADA dance instructor Cassandra July, on the eve of the school's Winter Showcase.

The video was filmed at Alexander Hamilton High School, with students in different cliques such as cheerleaders, goths, etc. The video starts with Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith walking into the school in plain black suits and black sunglasses. They walk past the students, not paying attention even when fighting breaks out around them. The pair continues walking as the fire alarm sounds and the sprinklers activate. They take off their sunglasses and a few seconds later the scene rewinds, returning to the start off the video, and again showing Brendon and Spencer as they enter the school. The next part of the music video is shown in photographs rather than film. The pictures depict the pair getting shouted at by teachers, and being taken towards the front doors only to be attacked by the same students involved in the fight earlier. Brendon and Spencer get pushed and beaten through the hallways and down a staircase to where they are finally shown alone and in film again, limping away from the school, with bruises and damaged clothing. Throughout the music video are Jennifer's Body references, such as shirts that read, "I eat boys" and "Jennifer's Body", as well as clips from the film.


Question: What is the origin of the name Marilyn?

The name Marilyn, a combination of the English names Mary and Lynn, originated in the 1920s. It gained significant popularity in the following decades, particularly in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Some variations of the name include Maralyn, Marilynn, Marlyn, Marylyn, Marrilyn, Merilyn, Merrelyn, and Merrilyn.

The name's early roots and origins date back to Ancient Greece mythology. In most other languages it is a name in its own right. In Russian military aircraft, the warning system voice is given the name Nadia.[citation needed]

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

According to the diary of H. J. Whitley, known as the "Father of Hollywood," on his honeymoon in 1886 he stood at the top of the hill looking out over the valley. Along came a Chinese man in a wagon carrying wood. The man got out of the wagon and bowed. The Chinese man was asked what he was doing and replied, "I holly-wood," meaning 'hauling wood.' H. J. Whitley had an epiphany and decided to name his new town Hollywood. "Holly" would represent England and "wood" would represent his Scottish heritage. Whitley had already started over 100 towns across the western United States.[8][9]

In the United States, Mary was consistently the most popular name for girls from 1880 until 1961. It has first fallen below the top 100 most popular names in 2009. By contrast, the latinate (especially Spanish) form Maria rose into the top 100 in 1944, peaking at rank 31 in the 1970s, but also falling below rank 100 once again in 2012.

The name Mary remains more popular in the Southern United States than elsewhere in the country. Mary was the 15th most popular name for girls born in Alabama in 2007,[6] the 22nd most popular name for girls born in Mississippi in 2007,[7] the 44th most popular name for girls in North Carolina,[8] the 33rd most popular name for girls in South Carolina,[9] and the 26th most popular name for girls in Tennessee.[10] Mary was still the most common name for women and girls in the United States in the 1990 census.[11]

Doubling of surnames is also practised by the Dutch. An example is the name of Dutch footballer Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. According to The Guardian, his name derives from "the 17th century, when two farming families in the Enschede area of Holland intermarried. Both the Vennegoor and Hesselink names carried equal social weight, and so – rather than choose between them – they chose to use both. 'Of' in Dutch translates to 'or', which means that a strict translation of his name reads Jan Vennegoor or Hesselink."[5][6]

van is a very common prefix in Dutch language surnames, where it is known as a tussenvoegsel. In those cases it nearly always refers to a certain, often quite distant, ancestor's place of origin; examples of this in English can be found in the names Greta Van Susteren "from Susteren" and Rembrandt van Rijn "from the Rhine".[note 1]

The company identifies the name Mar-a-Lago as Spanish for "Sea-to-Lake."[10]

Very little is known of the historical Lin Moniang.[3] She was apparently a shamaness from a small fishing village on Meizhou Island, part of Fujian's Putian County,[6] in the late 10th century.[3] Her Meizhou was an uneducated and superstitious place, where out of "perhaps a thousand households... not one person [could] read".[14] She probably did not live there, however, but on the nearby mainland.[15][a] During this era, Fujian was greatly sinicized by influxes of refugees fleeing invasions of northern China and Mazu's cult may represent a hybridization of Chinese and local culture.[17] The earliest record of her cult is from two centuries later, an 1150 inscription that mentions "she could foretell a man's good and ill luck" and, "after her death, the people erected a temple for her on her home island".[3]

Lionel Begleiter changed his surname to Bart, said to be derived from when he passed by St Bartholomew's Hospital on the top deck of a bus, after he had completed his National Service with the Royal Air Force. A more likely derivation of Bart is from the silk-screen printing company he founded with John Gorman, G and B Arts.[4][citation needed]


Question: How many seasons exist for the series "From Dusk Till Dawn"?

From Dusk till Dawn: The Series
The show was renewed for a third season on October 26, 2015, which aired between September 6 and November 1, 2016. As of October 31, 2016, the actors have been released from their contracts, indicating that the series may have been unofficially cancelled, with a total of three seasons produced.

On 30 June 2015, it was announced that ABC had renewed Janet King for a second eight-part series.[5] At the ASTRA Conference in September 2016, Dusseldorp confirmed four scripts for the third series had been written.[6] The third series began airing from 25 May 2017, replacing Seven Types of Ambiguity.[7] It focuses on organised crime in the sporting world, with Janet heading up a National Crime Commission investigation. Her former colleague Richard Stirling (Hamish Michael) is now a barrister for some of the athletes involved, while Owen Mitchell (Damian Walshe-Howling) has become the head of the DPP.[7]

In January 2015, Netflix CCO Ted Sarandos stated the series was "eligible to go into multiple seasons for sure" and Netflix would look at "how well [they] are addressing both the Marvel fanbase but also the broader fanbase" in terms of determining if additional seasons would be appropriate.[16] In July 2015, Sarandos said some of the Defenders series would "selectively have multiple seasons as they come out of the gate."[17] Regarding a second season, showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker stated he had "a few ideas", including possibly exploring the "Hero for Hire" aspect of Luke Cage, though noted he was not taking "any of this for granted" in terms of feeling a second season renewal from Netflix was guaranteed.[18] Actor Mike Colter also felt "Heroes for Hire" could be explored in future seasons, as well as further exploring Cage's lifestyle change regarding his relationship with Jessica Jones and introducing the couple's daughter.[19] In December 2016, Netflix renewed the series for a second season,[20] of 13 episodes.[21]

The fourth season began airing on October 10, 2017, and is set to run for 23 episodes on The CW until May 22, 2018.[1]

The first season premiered on June 23, 2011 and concluded on September 8, 2011. It ran for 12 episodes, including a 90-minute pilot. The complete first season was available on Region 1 DVD on May 1, 2012 and Region A Blu-ray on March 11, 2013.

This is a summary of the seven seasons of Melrose Place, an American prime-time soap opera which was broadcast on Fox from 1992 to 1999. In 2004, Soapnet began repeating the series, and all episodes have been released on DVD.

Six series of The Avengers were made between 1961 and 1969. There was an enforced break in filming and transmission towards the end of series five due to financial problems. Television researcher Andrew Pixley and authors Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping in their book The Avengers Dossier: The Unauthorised and Unofficial Guide consider the last eight episodes produced after the break as constituting a short series six, and therefore count seven series in total. Within the internal production of The Avengers the last eight episodes were considered to be a continuation of series five.

Stranger Things is an American science fiction-horror web television series created, written, directed and co-executive produced by The Duffer Brothers, as well as co-executive produced by Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. The first season, released in July 2016, stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono and Matthew Modine, with Noah Schnapp and Joe Keery in recurring roles. For the second season, Schnapp and Keery were promoted to series regulars, along with the additions of Sadie Sink, Dacre Montgomery, Sean Astin and Paul Reiser.

As of May 24, 2017,[update] 58 episodes of The 100 have aired, concluding the fourth season. In March 2017, The CW renewed the series for a fifth season, set to premiere on April 24, 2018.[7][8]

During the first two seasons, the sisters face various evil beings from week to week. However, in the third season, they discover that their ultimate enemy is The Underworld's demonic ruler, The Source of All Evil. Eventually, Prue is killed in the season three finale by The Source's personal assassin, Shax (Michael Bailey Smith). While grieving for their older sister, Piper and Phoebe discover that they also have a younger half-sister, Paige Matthews (Rose McGowan), who had been the secret love child of their witch mother, Patty (Finola Hughes), and her whitelighter (guardian angel) Sam Wilder (Scott Jaeck). Paige's magical abilities represent her dual heritage as both a witch and whitelighter; like Prue, she possesses a form of telekinesis, but she has to verbally call for objects to orb (or, teleport) them to their intended destination. As she attempts to control the two sides of her ancestry, Paige also learns how to orb herself and others, and to heal others with the touch of her hand; she eventually receives her own whitelighter charges to train and protect as they learn witchcraft.

Prior to the premiere, series co-creator Ryan Murphy stated this season of the series would be "more rogue" and "dark" in contrast to its previous cycle, Hotel. Details about its plot and cast were kept secret until the first episode aired, an unusual approach to publicity for the series. As such, it became the first iteration of the series to not release a subtitle prior to the season premiere since its debut. Several potential themes were theorized based on various promotional material produced by FX. After the release of pictures taken from the set in Santa Clarita, it was widely speculated that the season would incorporate the infamous 1580s Roanoke Colony disappearance. The premiere episode revealed the season to be depicted as a paranormal documentary entitled My Roanoke Nightmare which reenacts the experiences of a married couple who relocate to North Carolina. Roanoke has received positive reviews, with critics noting its subdued aesthetic and pacing in comparison to earlier seasons of the series.


Question: Where does the expression "blue moon" originate from?

The term "blue moon," used to denote an intercalary month, may have originated from a folk etymology where "blue" replaced the now-obsolete "belewe," meaning 'to betray.' Thus, the original phrase could be interpreted as "betrayer moon," signifying a full moon that would typically signal the onset of spring but, during an intercalary year, would "betray" the usual timing, requiring people to observe an additional month of fasting during Lent.

Giving an opposite reading to that above, Mark Forsyth claims in his book The Etymologicon that the "prove" in the expression comes from the Latin probare, meaning not so much to show as true as to test (as in proving-ground), and thus that "the exception that proves the rule" is a (prima facie or seeming) exception to a rule or hypothesis which tests whether or not the rule holds in all cases.[5] This echoes the satirical explanation by Ambrose Bierce in the latter's Devil's Dictionary (s.v. exception):

"Robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul" is Rudyard Kipling's adaptation of the phrase, used to criticize the concepts of income redistribution and collectivism.[12] Kipling included the expression in his "Gods of the Copybook Headings", and proposed that it should be featured in "catechisms" of the Conservative Campaign Headquarters. The lesson of the phrase in his version, and of the poem in general, was that "only out of the savings of the thrifty can be made the wage-fund to set other men on the way to be prosperous."[13]

The phrase "black death" (mors nigra) was used in 1350 by Simon de Covino or Couvin, a Belgian astronomer, who wrote the poem "On the Judgment of the Sun at a Feast of Saturn" (De judicio Solis in convivio Saturni), which attributes the plague to a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.[114] In 1908, Gasquet claimed that use of the name atra mors for the 14th-century epidemic first appeared in a 1631 book on Danish history by J.Â I. Pontanus: "Commonly and from its effects, they called it the black death" (Vulgo & ab effectu atram mortem vocatibant).[115] The name spread through Scandinavia and then Germany, gradually becoming attached to the mid 14th-century epidemic as a proper name.[116] In England, it was not until 1823, that the medieval epidemic was first called the Black Death.[117]

"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana" is a humorous saying that is used in linguistics as an example of a garden path sentence or syntactic ambiguity, and in word play as an example of punning, double entendre, and antanaclasis.

The phrase derives from the interpretation of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, by the prophet Daniel as recounted in the Book of Daniel:[2]

It was the Spaniards who gave the world the notion that an aristocrat's blood is not red but blue. The Spanish nobility started taking shape around the ninth century in classic military fashion, occupying land as warriors on horseback. They were to continue the process for more than five hundred years, clawing back sections of the peninsula from its Moorish occupiers, and a nobleman demonstrated his pedigree by holding up his sword arm to display the filigree of blue-blooded veins beneath his pale skinâ€”proof that his birth had not been contaminated by the dark-skinned enemy.[12]

“Nacht” also employs the occasional use of word painting through his music where he uses the music to illustrate the literal meaning of a particular word [4]. These text expressions make general associations between the text and musical setting. This can be seen with the word “duft” translating to “scent” in measure 12. The full poetic phrase “Steigt ein Duft” means “arises a scent,” and this is depicted by a leap upwards in voice from A to G♭. Likewise, the word “verschwiegen” loosely translates to “mutely” or “hushed”, and is performed by conventional singing rather than Sprechstimme, along with prolonged silence with a fermata,[7][unreliable source] though the word more precisely means "discreetly" or "closed-mouthed".

Thoth was originally a moon god. The moon not only provides light at night, allowing time to still be measured without the sun, but its phases and prominence gave it a significant importance in early astrology/astronomy. The cycles of the moon also organized much of Egyptian society's rituals and events, both civil and religious. Consequently, Thoth gradually became seen as a god of wisdom, magic, and the measurement and regulation of events and of time.[35] He was thus said to be the secretary and counselor of the sun god Ra, and with Ma'at (truth/order) stood next to Ra on the nightly voyage across the sky.

The word "foot" was used in Middle English to mean "a person" (c. 1200).[1]
The expression "...to put one's best foot foremost first recorded 1849 (Shakespeare has the better foot before, 1596)".[1] The expression to "...put one's foot in (one's) mouth "say something stupid" was first used in 1942.[1] The expression "put (one's) foot in something" meaning to "make a mess of it" was used in 1823.[1]

Extensive experiments in 1962 by Kaufman and Rock showed that a crucial causative factor in the illusion is a change in the pattern of cues to distance, comparable to the Ponzo illusion. The horizon moon is perceived to be at the end of a stretch of terrain receding into the distance, accompanied by distant trees, buildings and so forth, all of which indicate that it must be a long way away, while these cues are absent from the zenith moon. Experiments by many other researchers have found the same result; namely, when pictorial cues to a great distance are subtracted from the vista of the large-looking horizon moon it looks smaller. When pictorial cues to an increased distance are added into the vista of the zenith moon, it appears larger.


Question: When was the last time the Dolphins participated in the Super Bowl?

The Miami Dolphins have made multiple appearances in the Super Bowl, including their first in Super Bowl VI, where they lost to the Dallas Cowboys. However, they achieved the NFL's only perfect season in 1972, winning all their regular-season games and securing victory in Super Bowl VII. They went on to win Super Bowl VIII, making them the first team to feature in three consecutive Super Bowls and the second to claim consecutive championships. The Dolphins also competed in Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XIX, but were unsuccessful in those matches. Their most recent Super Bowl appearance was in 1984 during Super Bowl XIX.

The Falcons finished the 2001 season with a record of 7â€“9 and missed the playoffs. Jessie Tuggle retired following 14 seasons in Atlanta. On December 6, 2001, Arthur M. Blank reached a preliminary agreement with the Falcons' Taylor Smith to purchase the team. In a special meeting prior to Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans on February 2, 2002, NFL owners voted unanimously to approve the purchase.[11]

Dillon became a significant offensive weapon for the 2004 Patriots, recording 1,635 rushing yards (franchise record) and 12 touchdowns, both career highs, and was named to the Pro Bowl for the fourth time in his career.[10] He also caught 15 passes for 103 yards and another touchdown.[10] His contributions helped lead the team to break the NFL record for the most consecutive regular season victories (18), the record for the most consecutive overall victories (21) and earned the second best regular season record during the year at 14–2.[10] The team's only losses during the year were to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who ended up with the league's best regular season record at 15–1, and a 29–28 loss to the Miami Dolphins on ABC's Monday Night Football.[10]

Skorich led the Browns to a division title in 1971 and a wild-card berth in 1972. In the latter year, the Browns battled the undefeated Miami Dolphins before losing 20–14, as the Dolphins went on to capture their first Super Bowl title with a spotless 17–0 mark. In 1973, the Browns were handicapped by a struggling offense, but remained in contention until the closing weeks of the season, finishing with a 7–5–2 record.

The 2004 Philadelphia Eagles season was the 72nd season for the team in the National Football League (NFL). The Eagles had been one of the most successful teams in the league after the Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb era began in 1999, making it to the playoffs for four straight seasons and to the NFC Championship Game in 2001, 2002, and 2003. However, the team could not reach the Super Bowl, despite being favored in the final two NFC title games. In the offseason, this already championship-level team was reinforced on both sides of the ball by the free agent additions of wide receiver Terrell Owens, defensive end Jevon Kearse, and middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, their third round draft pick in 1998.

The Eagles gained the 2004 NFC Super Bowl berth after 3 consecutive defeats in the NFC Championship Game to the St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (who won Super Bowl XXXVII that year), and Carolina Panthers, respectively. The Eagles hired Andy Reid as their head coach in 1999 following two straight losing seasons.[10] That same year, they used their first-round pick in the NFL draft (the second overall) to select quarterback Donovan McNabb.[10] Although they finished the 1999 regular season with a 5â€“11 record, they became a playoff team in 2000, with McNabb throwing for 3,365 yards and 21 touchdowns while also rushing for 629 yards and another 6 touchdowns.[10]

The Patriots have appeared in the Super Bowl ten times in franchise history, the most of any team, eight of them since the arrival of head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady in 2000. The Patriots have since become one of the most successful teams in NFL history, winning 15 AFC East titles in 17 seasons since 2001, without a losing season in that period. The franchise has since set numerous notable records, including most wins in a ten-year period (126, in 2003–2012), an undefeated 16-game regular season in 2007, the longest winning streak consisting of regular season and playoff games in NFL history (a 21-game streak from October 2003 to October 2004), and the most consecutive division titles won by a team in NFL history (won nine straight division titles from 2009 to 2017). The team owns the record for most Super Bowls reached (eight) and won (five) by a head coach–quarterback tandem. Currently, the team is tied with the 49ers and Cowboys for the second most Super Bowl wins with five, after the Steelers, who have six.

Reeves and Elway guided the Broncos to six post-season appearances, five AFC West divisional titles, three AFC championships and three Super Bowl appearances (Super Bowl XXI, XXII and XXIV) during their 12-year span together. The Broncos lost Super Bowl XXI to the New York Giants, 39–20; Super Bowl XXII to the Washington Redskins, 42–10; and Super Bowl XXIV to the San Francisco 49ers, 55–10; the latter score remains the most lopsided scoring differential in Super Bowl history. The last year of the Reeves-Elway era were marked by feuding, due to Reeves taking on play-calling duties after ousting Elway's favorite offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan after the 1991 season, as well as Reeves drafting quarterback Tommy Maddox out of UCLA instead of going with a wide receiver to help Elway. Reeves was fired after the 1992 season and replaced by his protégé and friend Wade Phillips, who had been serving as the Broncos' defensive coordinator.[18][19][20] Phillips was fired after a mediocre 1994 season, in which management felt he lost control of the team.

Miami finished 12–4–0 in 1985 and, in an epic Monday Night Football showdown, handed the previously-undefeated Chicago Bears their only defeat of the season. After rallying from a 21–3 third quarter deficit in the divisional playoffs to beat the Cleveland Browns 24–21, many people were looking forward to a rematch with Chicago in Super Bowl XX. The Cinderella New England Patriots, the Dolphins' opponents in the AFC Championship, had different plans. New England forced six turnovers on the way to a 31–14 win – the Patriots' first in Miami since 1966. The Patriots had lost 18 games in a row at the Orange Bowl. In 1969, the Boston Patriots had beaten the Dolphins at Tampa Stadium.

On May 19, 2015, the league announced the four finalists that will compete to host either Super Bowl LIII in 2019 or Super Bowl LIV. NFL owners voted on these cities in May 2016, with the first round of voting determining who will host Super Bowl LIII, and the second round deciding the site for Super Bowl LIV. The league had also originally announced in 2015 that Los Angeles would be eligible as a potential Super Bowl LIV site if there is a stadium in place, and a team moved there by the start of the 2018 season.[1][2][3] The league opened the relocation window in January 2016, selecting the former St. Louis Rams to return to Los Angeles; their new stadium in Inglewood, California was, at the time of the vote, not scheduled to open until August 2019 (it began construction in December 2016, giving nearly three years to construct the stadium). This meant that the new stadium was scheduled to be open in time for the game (and the league selected the relocating team just in time to be considered for Super Bowl LIV), but, under the current construction timetable, would require a waiver of league policy to host Super Bowl LIV, as the league does not allow stadiums in their first year of existence to host the Super Bowl to ensure that stadium construction delays and unforeseen problems do not jeopardize the game. In May 2016, the league granted this waiver and confirmed that Los Angeles was still in consideration for Super Bowl LIV.[4] Los Angeles has hosted the Super Bowl seven times, most recently in 1993 with Super Bowl XXVII; that game, along with the four prior Super Bowls in the area, were held at the Rose Bowl while first two Super Bowls in Los Angeles area were held at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. On May 24, 2016, Atlanta was chosen to host Super Bowl LIII, thereby making it ineligible to host Super Bowl LIV. Meanwhile, Los Angeles removed itself from the running for Super Bowl LIV; it was awarded rights to Super Bowl LV shortly thereafter. However, a year later, on May 23, 2017, NFL owners opted to instead award Super Bowl LV to Tampa and give Super Bowl LVI to Los Angeles after it was announced that Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park would open in 2020 due to construction delays.

The Miami Dolphin Honor Roll is a ring around the second tier of Hard Rock Stadium that honor former players, coaches, owners and contributors who have made significant contributions to the franchise throughout their history. Bold indicates those elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.


Question: Who is credited with introducing the principle of uniformitarianism?

Uniformitarianism, a principle that emerged in geology, suggests that the processes we observe today have been occurring at a consistent rate throughout Earth's history. This concept, which posits that "the present is the key to the past," was initially formulated as a counterpoint to catastrophism by British naturalists in the late 18th century. James Hutton, often regarded as the father of modern geology, was among the first to articulate this idea, which was later expanded upon by John Playfair and popularized by Charles Lyell in his influential work, "Principles of Geology," published in 1830. Contemporary geologists view Earth's history as a mix of slow, continuous processes and sporadic, catastrophic events.

Phrenology came about at a time when scientific procedures and standards for acceptable evidence were still being codified.[24] In the context of Victorian society, phrenology was a respectable scientific theory. The Phrenological Society of Edinburgh founded by George and Andrew Combe was an example of the credibility of phrenology at the time, and included a number of extremely influential social reformers and intellectuals, including the publisher Robert Chambers, the astronomer John Pringle Nichol, the evolutionary environmentalist Hewett Cottrell Watson, and asylum reformer William A.F. Browne. In 1826, out of the 120 members of the Edinburgh society an estimated one third were from a medical background.[25] By the 1840s there were more than 28 phrenological societies in London with over 1000 members.[19] Another important scholar was Luigi Ferrarese, the leading Italian phrenologist.[26] He advocated that governments should embrace phrenology as a scientific means of conquering many social ills, and his Memorie Risguardanti La Dottrina Frenologica (1836), is considered "one of the fundamental 19th century works in the field".[26]

The Lý dynasty is credited for laying down a concrete foundation for the nation of Vietnam. Leaving Hoa Lư, a natural fortification surrounded by mountains and rivers, Lý Công Uẩn moved his court to the new capital in present-day Hanoi and called it Thăng Long (Ascending Dragon).[19] Lý Công Uẩn thus departed from the militarily defensive mentality of his predecessors and envisioned a strong economy as the key to national survival. The third emperor of the dynasty, Lý Thánh Tông renamed the country "Đại Việt" (大越, Great Viet).[20] Successive Lý emperors continued to accomplish far-reaching feats: building a dike system to protect rice farms; founding the Quốc Tử Giám,[21] the first noble university; holding regular examinations to select capable commoners for government positions once every three years; organizing a new system of taxation; establishing humane treatment of prisoners. Women were holding important roles in Lý society as the court ladies were in charge of tax collection. The Lý dynasty also promoted Buddhism, yet maintained a pluralistic attitude toward the three main philosophical systems of the time: Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism.[citation needed]

In the 1944 book Tempo and Mode in Evolution, George Gaylord Simpson showed that the fossil record was consistent with the irregular non-directional pattern predicted by the developing evolutionary synthesis, and that the linear trends that earlier paleontologists had claimed supported orthogenesis and neo-Lamarckism did not hold up to closer examination. In 1950, G. Ledyard Stebbins published Variation and Evolution in Plants, which helped to integrate botany into the synthesis. The emerging cross-disciplinary consensus on the workings of evolution would be known as the modern synthesis. It received its name from the 1942 book Evolution: The Modern Synthesis by Julian Huxley.[105][106]

Creatures on adjacent steps were expected to closely resemble each other, an idea expressed in the saying: natura non facit saltum ("nature does not make leaps").[11] This basic concept of the great chain of being greatly influenced the thinking of Western civilization for centuries (and still has an influence today). It formed a part of the argument from design presented by natural theology. As a classification system, it became the major organizing principle and foundation of the emerging science of biology in the 17th and 18th centuries.[11]

In A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896), Andrew Dickson White wrote about Augustine's attempts to preserve the ancient evolutionary approach to the creation as follows:

Muslim astronomers generally accepted the Ptolemaic system and the geocentric model,[16] but by the 10th century texts appeared regularly whose subject matter was doubts concerning Ptolemy (shukūk).[17] Several Muslim scholars questioned the Earth's apparent immobility[18][19] and centrality within the universe.[20] Some Muslim astronomers believed that the Earth rotates around its axis, such as Abu Sa'id al-Sijzi (d. circa 1020).[21][22] According to al-Biruni, Sijzi invented an astrolabe called al-zūraqī based on a belief held by some of his contemporaries "that the motion we see is due to the Earth's movement and not to that of the sky."[22][23] The prevalence of this view is further confirmed by a reference from the 13th century which states:

Ancient Hawaiians were the first to recognize the increasing age and weathered state of the volcanoes to the north as they progressed on fishing expeditions along the islands. The volatile state of the Hawaiian volcanoes and their constant battle with the sea was a major element in Hawaiian mythology, embodied in Pele, the deity of volcanoes. After the arrival of Europeans on the island, in 1880â€“1881 James Dwight Dana directed the first formal geological study of the hotspot's volcanics, confirming the relationship long observed by the natives. 1912 marked the founding of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory by volcanologist Thomas Jaggar, initiating continuous scientific observation of the islands. In the 1970s, a mapping project was initiated to gain more information about the complex geology of Hawaii's seafloor.

Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) is a term used to describe self-directed learning. One may become an autodidact at nearly any point in one's life. Notable autodidacts include Abraham Lincoln (U.S. president), Srinivasa Ramanujan (mathematician), Michael Faraday (chemist and physicist), Charles Darwin (naturalist), Thomas Alva Edison (inventor), Tadao Ando (architect), George Bernard Shaw (playwright), Frank Zappa (composer, recording engineer, film director), and Leonardo da Vinci (engineer, scientist, mathematician).

The Greek botanist Theophrastus (ca. 371 – ca. 287 BC) first mentioned that the wood of trees has rings.[3][4] In his Trattato della Pittura (Treatise on Painting), Leonardo da Vinci was the first person to mention that trees form rings annually and that their thickness is determined by the conditions under which they grew.[5] In 1737, French investigators Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau and Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon examined the effect of growing conditions on the shape of tree rings.[6] They found that in 1709, a severe winter produced a distinctly dark tree ring, which served as a reference for subsequent European naturalists.[7] In the U.S., Alexander Catlin Twining (1801–1884) suggested in 1833 that patterns among tree rings could be used to synchronize the dendrochronologies of various trees and thereby to reconstruct past climates across entire regions.[8] The English polymath Charles Babbage proposed using dendrochronology to date the remains of trees in peat bogs or even in geological strata (1835, 1838).[9]

Many British officers returned from America with the belief in the superiority of the firearm and formations adapted with a greater frontage of firepower.[81] However officers who had not served in America, questioned if the irregular and loose system of fighting which had become prevalent in America was suitable for future campaigns against European powers.[81] In 1788 the British army was reformed by General David Dundas, an officer who had not served in America. Dundas wrote many training manuals which were adopted by the army, the first of which was the Principles of Military Movements.[82] He chose to ignore the light infantry and flank battalions the British army had come to rely on in North America, instead after witnessing Prussian army maneuvers in Silesia in 1784, he pushed for drilled battalions of heavy infantry.[82][83] He also pushed for uniformity in training, eliminating the ability of colonels to develop their own systems of training for their own regiments.[82] Charles Cornwallis an experienced "American" officer who witnessed the same maneuvers in Prussia wrote disparagingly; "their maneuvers were such as the worst general in England would be hooted at for practicing; two lines coming up within six yards of one another and firing until they had no ammunition left, nothing could be more ridiculous".[82] The failure to formally absorb the tactical lessons of the American War of Independence contributed to the early difficulties experienced by the British army during the French Revolutionary Wars.


Question: Who was responsible for introducing the concept of uniformitarianism?

The principle of uniformitarianism was introduced by James Hutton in the late 18th century. His theory, which opposed Abraham Gottlob Werner's Neptunism, suggested that the Earth's geological features were formed through a continuous and consistent process over vast periods of time, rather than by sudden, catastrophic events. Hutton's ideas were based on natural history and did not align with the Biblical account of creation.

Much of the historical debate about causes has focused on the relationship between communicative and other actions, between singular and repeated ones, and between actions, structures of action or group and institutional contexts and wider sets of conditions.[52] John Gaddis has distinguished between exceptional and general causes (following Marc Bloch) and between "routine" and "distinctive links" in causal relationships: "in accounting for what happened at Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, we attach greater importance to the fact that President Truman ordered the dropping of an atomic bomb than to the decision of the Army Air Force to carry out his orders."[53] He has also pointed to the difference between immediate, intermediate and distant causes.[54] For his part, Christopher Lloyd puts forward four "general concepts of causation" used in history:  the "metaphysical idealist concept, which asserts that the phenomena of the universe are products of or emanations from an omnipotent being or such final cause"; "the empiricist (or Humean) regularity concept, which is based on the idea of causation being a matter of constant conjunctions of events"; "the functional/teleological/consequential concept", which is "goal-directed, so that goals are causes"; and the "realist, structurist and dispositional approach, which sees relational structures and internal dispositions as the causes of phenomena".[55]

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]

The writings of Jakob Böhme (1575–1624) spread the doctrine of signatures. He suggested that God marked objects with a sign, or "signature", for their purpose.[2] Plants bearing parts that resembled human body-parts, animals, or other objects were thought to have useful relevance to those parts, animals or objects. The "signature" could sometimes also be identified in the environments or specific sites in which plants grew. Böhme's 1621 book The Signature of All Things gave its name to the doctrine.[1] The English physician-philosopher Sir Thomas Browne in his discourse The Garden of Cyrus (1658) uses the Quincunx pattern as an archetype of the 'doctrine of signatures' pervading the design of gardens and orchards, botany and the Macrocosm at large.

During the 19th century, mathematicians started to formalize all the different branches of mathematics. One of the first to do so was Cauchy; his somewhat imprecise results were later made completely rigorous by Weierstrass, who advocated building calculus on arithmetic rather than on geometry, which favoured Euler's definition over Leibniz's (see arithmetization of analysis). According to Smithies, Cauchy thought of functions as being defined by equations involving real or complex numbers, and tacitly assumed they were continuous:

In later years, Comte developed the 'religion of humanity' for positivist societies in order to fulfil the cohesive function once held by traditional worship. In 1849, he proposed a calendar reform called the 'positivist calendar'. For close associate John Stuart Mill, it was possible to distinguish between a "good Comte" (the author of the Course in Positive Philosophy) and a "bad Comte" (the author of the secular-religious system).[10] The system was unsuccessful but met with the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859) to influence the proliferation of various Secular Humanist organizations in the 19th century, especially through the work of secularists such as George Holyoake and Richard Congreve. Although Comte's English followers, including George Eliot and Harriet Martineau, for the most part rejected the full gloomy panoply of his system, they liked the idea of a religion of humanity and his injunction to "vivre pour autrui" ("live for others"), from which comes the word "altruism".[17]

During the Soviet period, a standardised "universal" school uniform was worn by all schools. Originally of a military style with peaked cap and high collared tunic, by the 1980s boys wore a functional dark blue pattern with shoulder patches identifying the school. For formal occasions such as the first day of term, girls wore white lace collars and aprons dating back to the reign of Catherine the Great. During the initial post Soviet period from 1994 to 2013, the mandatory uniform policy was abandoned and pupils generally wore casual clothing such as jeans, T-shirts and sweaters. However, uniforms were reintroduced under a new education law in September 2013.[52] Among the supporters of the new uniform law of 2013, arguments included tackling social inequality, but also putting an end to the controversial problem of whether school students are allowed to wear traditional religious clothing to school.[53]

Symbolic interaction was conceived by George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton Cooley. Mead argued that people's selves are social products, but that these selves are also purposive and creative, and believed that the true test of any theory was that it was "useful in solving complex social problems".[4] Mead's influence was said to be so powerful that sociologists regard him as the one "true founder" of the symbolic interactionism tradition. Although Mead taught in a philosophy department, he is best known by sociologists as the teacher who trained a generation of the best minds in their field. Strangely, he never set forth his wide-ranging ideas in a book or systematic treatise. After his death in 1931, his students pulled together class notes and conversations with their mentor and published Mind, Self and Society in his name.[4] It is a common misconception that John Dewey was the leader of this sociological theory; according to The Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism, Mead was undoubtedly the individual who "transformed the inner structure of the theory, moving it to a higher level of theoretical complexity".[5] Mind, Self and Society is the book published by Mead's students based on his lectures and teaching, and the title of the book highlights the core concept of social interactionism. The mind refers to an individual's ability to use symbols to create meanings for the world around him. Individuals use language and thought to accomplish this goal. Self refers to an individual's ability to reflect on the way that he/she is perceived by others. Finally, society, according to Mead is where all of these interactions are taking place. A general description of Mead's compositions portray how outside social structures, classes, and power and abuse affect the advancement of self personality for gatherings verifiably denied of the ability to characterize themselves.[6]

Philolaus (4th century BCE) was one of the first to hypothesize movement of the Earth, probably inspired by Pythagoras' theories about a spherical, moving globe. Aristarchus of Samos in the 3rd century BCE had developed some theories of Heraclides Ponticus (speaking of a revolution by Earth on its axis) to propose what was, so far as is known, the first serious model of a heliocentric solar system. Though his original text has been lost, a reference in Archimedes' book The Sand Reckoner (Archimedis Syracusani Arenarius & Dimensio Circuli) describes a work by Aristarchus in which he advanced the heliocentric model.  Archimedes wrote:

Karl Mannheim (March 27, 1893 – January 9, 1947), or Károly Manheim in the original spelling, was a Hungarian-born sociologist, influential in the first half of the 20th century and one of the founding fathers of classical sociology as well as a founder of the sociology of knowledge. He is most known for his book Ideology and Utopia published in 1929 where he argues that ideologies are the true nature of any given society and in trying to achieve utopia, these ideologies affect theories of philosophy and even history.

The disastrous outcome of the January 1863 Uprising had produced a distrust of romanticism, an aversion to ideals and illusions, and turned the search for redemption toward sober thought and work directed at realistic goals. The watchword became "organic work"â€”a term for the campaign for economic improvement, which was regarded as a prime requisite for progress. Poles prepared for such work by studying the natural sciences and economics: they absorbed Charles Darwin's biological theories, Mill's economic theories, Henry Thomas Buckle's deterministic theory of civilization. At length they became aware of the connection between their own convictions and aims and the Positivist philosophy of Auguste Comte, and borrowed its name and watchwords.[52]