Question: What was the theater number where the Aurora shooting occurred?

The 2012 Aurora shooting took place in Theater 9 of the Century 16 multiplex, part of the Town Center at Aurora mall, situated at 14300 E. Alameda Avenue. According to police reports, the shooter, Holmes, purchased a ticket and took a seat in the front row. Approximately 20 minutes into the movie, he exited Theater 9 through an emergency door next to the screen, which led directly to a less frequented parking area behind the building, keeping the door ajar using a plastic tablecloth holder. At the time, there were roughly 400 individuals inside Theater 9.

The evening following the traffic accident, Ol' Dirty Bastard rushed on-stage unexpectedly as Shawn Colvin took the stage to give her acceptance speech for Song of the Year at the 1998 Grammy Awards, and he announced he had recently purchased expensive clothes in anticipation of winning the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album that he lost to Puff Daddy. As Ol' Dirty Bastard took the stage to a round of applause, he asked the audience, "Please calm down, the music and everything. It's nice that I went and bought me an outfit today that costed a lot of money today, you know what I mean? 'Cause I figured that Wu-Tang was gonna win. I don't know how you all see it, but when it comes to the children, Wu-Tang is for the children. We teach the children. You know what I mean? Puffy is good, but Wu-Tang is the best, Okay? I want you all to know that this is ODB, and I love you all. Peace!" The incident was widely covered in the mainstream media.[11][12]

This version of the musical updates the story to modern day and has Hedwig performing on the abandoned set of Hurt Locker: The Musical,[47] which closed the prior evening midway through its first performance.[48] Hedwig explains that because it closed so quickly, she was able to convince one of the producers to allow her to use what would have been an otherwise empty and unused stage.[49] Faux Playbills for the musical are littered throughout the theater and discuss various elements of the musical, which Hedwig occasionally mentions offhand throughout the musical. Director Michael Mayer stated that they came up with the idea for Hurt Locker: The Musical as a way to explain Hedwig's presence in a Broadway theater.[50] It was also used as a way to update the script to modern day as well as explain how Hedwig would be able to use such stage settings.[51] Various newspapers have commented favorably on the faux Playbills, both an element of the musical and as a piece separate from the musical itself.[51][52]

Shortly after midnight on April 19, Watertown police officer Joseph Reynolds identified the brothers in the Honda Civic and the stolen SUV. A gunfight followed between the brothers and police arriving at the scene on the 100 block of Laurel St.[83][14][84] An estimated 200 to 300 rounds of ammunition were fired and at least one further bomb and several "crude grenades" were thrown.[84][85]

As far back as the Vitascope days, some exhibitors had screened films accompanied by phonographs playing appropriate, though very roughly timed, sound effects; in the style of the Kinetophone described above, rhythmically matching recordings were also made available for march and dance subjects.[86] While Edison oversaw cursory sound-cinema experiments after the success of The Great Train Robbery (1903) and other Edison Manufacturing Company productions, it was not until 1908 that he returned in earnest to the combined audiovisual concept that had first led him to enter the motion picture field. Edison patented a synchronization system connecting a projector and a phonograph, located behind the screen, via an assembly of three rigid shafts—a vertical one descending from each device, joined by a third running horizontally the entire length of the theater, beneath the floor.[87] Two years later, he supervised a press demonstration at the laboratory of a sound-film system of either this or a later design.[88] In 1913, Edison finally introduced the new Kinetophone—like all of his sound-film exhibition systems since the first in the mid-1890s, it used a cylinder phonograph, now connected to a Projecting Kinetoscope via a fishing line–type belt and a series of metal pulleys.[89] While it met with great acclaim in the short term, poorly trained operators had trouble keeping picture in synchronization with sound and, like other sound-film systems of the era, the Kinetophone had not solved the issues of insufficient amplification and unpleasant audio quality. Its drawing power as a novelty soon faded and when a fire at Edison's West Orange complex in December 1914 destroyed all of the company's Kinetophone image and sound masters, the system was abandoned.[90]

First Avenue & 7th St Entry (locally known as The Mainroom and The Entry) are two music venues housed in the same landmark building in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.[1][2] The names are derived from the building's location: the corner of First Avenue and 7th Street in downtown Minneapolis. The building is marked by 531 stars on its exterior along the First Avenue and Seventh Street sides commemorating past venue performers.[3]

George Holliday shot his videotape of the incident from his apartment near the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Osborne Street in Lake View Terrace. Two days later, Holliday called LAPD headquarters at Parker Center to let the police department know that he had a videotape of the incident, but he couldn't find anyone who was interested in seeing the video. He went to KTLA television with his videotape. The station cut ten seconds of the video, before the image was in focus, that showed an extremely blurry shot of King charging at the officers. Later members of the jury said that this cut footage was essential to their decision to acquit the officers.[23] The footage as a whole became an instant media sensation. Portions were aired numerous times, and it "turned what would otherwise have been a violent, but soon forgotten, encounter between the Los Angeles police and an uncooperative suspect into one of the most widely watched and discussed incidents of its kind."[24]

Sullivan drives his son to stay at his Aunt Sara's beach house in Perdition, a town on the shore of Lake Michigan. However, he is ambushed and shot by a disfigured Maguire. As Maguire prepares to photograph the dying Sullivan, Michael, Jr. appears and points a gun at Maguire but cannot muster the will to fire. Sullivan pulls out his gun and kills Maguire, before dying in his son's arms. Mourning his father's death, Michael, Jr. returns to live with the elderly farm couple. Growing up, Michael, Jr. reflects that his father's only fear was that his son would become like him. Michael states he has never held a gun since the fatal encounter between Maguire and his father. When asked if Sullivan was a good or bad man, he replies "he was my father."

In March 2012, after the shooting of Trayvon Martin, Spike Lee was one of many people who used Twitter to circulate a message which claimed to give the home address of the shooter George Zimmerman. The address turned out to be incorrect, causing the real occupants, Elaine and David McClain, to leave home and stay at a hotel due to numerous death threats.[45] Lee issued an apology and reached an agreement with the McClains which reportedly included "compensation", with their attorney stating "The McClainsâ€™ claim is fully resolved".[46][47] Nevertheless, in November 2013, the McClains filed a negligence lawsuit which accused Lee of "encouraging a dangerous mob mentality among his Twitter followers, as well as the public-at-large".[45][48] The lawsuit, which a court filing reportedly valued at $1.2 million, alleged that the couple suffered "injuries and damages" that continued after the initial settlement up through Zimmerman's trial in 2013.[45] A Seminole County judge dismissed the McClains' suit, agreeing with Lee that the issue had already been settled previously.[49]

In its initial airing, the episode aired with a framing device involving Stewie and Brian standing in front of a red curtain and addressing the television audience. The two begin the program by introducing the "very special" episode and, after the episode aired, conclude it by introducing a series of musical numbers.[5] Together, the episode and musical number aired as an hour-long special, in celebration of a week-long "Fox Rocks" television event.[9] The initial airing included musical numbers from the fourth season episode "The Fat Guy Strangler", the sixth season episode "Play It Again, Brian", and the eighth season episode "Business Guy", as well as other numbers, including "You've Got A Lot to See" from "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows", "Shipoopi" from "Patriot Games", and "My Drunken Irish Dad" from the episode "Peter's Two Dads".[4][10][11] In repeats of the episode the usual main title sequence is replaced by a still shot of the show's logo on a black background, whilst the end credits are shown without any musical accompaniment.

The 7th St Entry is a smaller venue (capacity 250) attached to the historic First Avenue (capacity 1500).[18] This space was once used as a restaurant area (the "Greyhound Cafe") in the bus station, before it became the music venue that is known today as "The Entry" among the locals.[19] "The Entry" opened its doors in March 1980 (under club Sam's) as a venue that catered to local bands.[6] The 7th St Entry is a venue where smaller and lesser known bands play (more popular bands play the First Avenue main-room). Several recordings have been recorded live at The Entry, including The Scouting Report's hit song "Over the Ocean"; H端sker D端's first album, Land Speed Record; the song, "Cables," on Big Black's Atomizer album; Rifle Sport's live album, Live at the Entry, Dead at the Exit; and Motion City Soundtrack's, Commit This to Memory live DVD.


Question: Who emerged victorious in the Peloponnesian War and how did they secure their win?

The Peloponnesian War, fought between 431 and 404 BC, was an ancient Greek conflict between the Delian League, led by Athens, and the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta. Historians divide the war into three stages. Initially, during the Archidamian War, Sparta invaded Attica, while Athens used its naval power to attack the Peloponnese and suppress uprisings in its empire. The Peace of Nicias, signed in 421 BC, ended this phase but was soon broken due to renewed conflicts. In 415 BC, Athens launched a major attack on Syracuse in Sicily, which failed disastrously in 413 BC, leading to the final phase of the war. During this period, known as the Decelean War or the Ionian War, Sparta, with Persian support, encouraged revolts in Athens' Aegean and Ionia territories, weakening its empire and naval dominance. The decisive defeat of Athens' fleet at Aegospotami marked the end of the war, with Athens surrendering the following year. Corinth and Thebes advocated for Athens' destruction and the enslavement of its citizens, but Sparta rejected these demands.

Several thinkers suggest that ancient Sparta, not Athens, was the originator of the concept of citizenship.[5] Spartan citizenship was based on the principle of equality among a ruling military elite called Spartiates.[5][9] They were "full Spartan citizens"â€”men who graduated from a rigorous regimen of military training and at age 30 received a land allotment called a kleros, although they had to keep paying dues to pay for food and drink as was required to maintain citizenship.[18] In the Spartan approach to phalanx warfare, virtues such as courage and loyalty were particularly emphasized relative to other Greek city-states.[5]:p.10 Each Spartan citizen owned at least a minimum portion of the public land which was sufficient to provide food for a family, although the size of these plots varied.[5] The Spartan citizens relied on the labor of captured slaves called helots to do the everyday drudgework of farming and maintenance, while the Spartan men underwent a rigorous military regimen, and in a sense it was the labor of the helots which permitted Spartans to engage in extensive military training and citizenship.[18] Citizenship was viewed as incompatible with manual labor.[5] Citizens ate meals together in a "communal mess".[9][18] They were "frugally fed, ferociously disciplined, and kept in constant training through martial games and communal exercises," according to Hosking.[9] As young men, they served in the military. It was seen as virtuous to participate in government when men grew older.[5] Participation was required; failure to appear could entail a loss of citizenship.[5]:p.11 But the philosopher Aristotle viewed the Spartan model of citizenship as "artificial and strained", according to one account.[5]:p.12 While Spartans were expected to learn music and poetry, serious study was discouraged.[9] Historian Ian Worthington described a "Spartan mirage" in the sense that the mystique about military invincibility tended to obscure weaknesses within the Spartan system, particularly their dependence on helots.[18] In contrast with Athenian women, Spartan women could own property, and owned at one point up to 40% of the land according to Aristotle, and they had greater independence and rights, although their main task was not to rule the homes or participate in governance but rather to produce strong and healthy babies.[19]

According to the Athenian playwright Aeschylus, who actually fought at Salamis, the Greek fleet numbered 310 triremes (the difference being the number of Athenian ships).[62] Ctesias claims that the Athenian fleet numbered only 110 triremes, which ties in with Aeschylus's numbers.[63] According to Hyperides, the Greek fleet numbered only 220.[64] The fleet was effectively under the command of Themistocles, but nominally led by the Spartan nobleman Eurybiades, as had been agreed at the congress in 481 BC.[65] Although Themistocles had tried to claim leadership of the fleet, the other city states with navies objected, and so Sparta (which had no naval tradition) was given command of the fleet as a compromise.[65]

The French had achieved mixed results: their situation had improved significantly when compared to the late 1520s, they had made some territorial gains and the treaty was considered an agreement between two equal powers. However, they had failed to change the balance of power in Italy, or break the Habsburg encirclement. Most importantly, their good position would soon be jeopardized by the French Wars of Religion. For the Habsburgs as a whole, the result was mixed too, as the war had weakened their position in the Holy Roman Empire and led to the separation of Charles' realms. However, for the Spanish Empire, the results were much better, as it was left as the sole dominant power in Italy and had successfully withstood the French effort. England fared poorly during the war, and the loss of its last stronghold on the continent damaged its reputation.

It was only now, with the independence of Wessex hanging by a thread, that Alfred emerged as a great king. In May 878 he led a force that defeated the Danes at Edington. The victory was so complete that the Danish leader, Guthrum, was forced to accept Christian baptism and withdraw from Mercia. Alfred then set about strengthening the defences of Wessex, building a new navyâ€”60 vessels strong. Alfred's success bought Wessex and Mercia years of peace and sparked economic recovery in previously ravaged areas.[29]

Even though Athens was already a flourishing democracy before their arrival, the cultural and psychological contributions of the sophists played an important role in the growth of Athenian democracy. Sophists contributed to the new democracy in part by espousing expertise in public deliberation, the foundation of decision-making, which allowed—and perhaps required—a tolerance of the beliefs of others. This liberal attitude would naturally have made its way into the Athenian assembly as Sophists began acquiring increasingly high-powered clients.[17] Continuous rhetorical training gave the citizens of Athens "the ability to create accounts of communal possibilities through persuasive speech".[18] This was extremely important for the democracy, as it gave disparate and sometimes superficially unattractive views a chance to be heard in the Athenian assembly.

However, this alone does not explain the fact that they remained; the remainder of Thespiae was successfully evacuated before the Persians arrived there.[101] It seems that the Thespians volunteered to remain as a simple act of self-sacrifice, all the more amazing since their contingent represented every single hoplite the city could muster.[103] This seems to have been a particularly Thespian trait â€“ on at least two other occasions in later history, a Thespian force would commit itself to a fight to the death.[101]

The Dutch were convinced that they could avoid committing their forces to any further wars. Queen Njinga had been active against the Portuguese, and the Dutch felt secure. When Portuguese reinforcements managed to defeat her at Kavanga in 1646, the Dutch felt obliged to be more aggressive. The Dutch convinced Kongo to join them and Queen Njinga in another venture against the Portuguese. In 1647, Kongo troops participated in the Battle of Kombi, where they soundly defeated the Portuguese field army, after forcing them to fight defensively.

Finally, in mid-August, the Persian army was sighted across the Malian Gulf approaching Thermopylae.[52] With the Persian army's arrival at Thermopylae the Greeks held a council of war.[53] Some Peloponnesians suggested withdrawal to the Isthmus of Corinth and blocking the passage to Peloponnesus.[53] The Phocians and Locrians, whose states were located nearby, became indignant and advised defending Thermopylae and sending for more help. Leonidas calmed the panic and agreed to defend Thermopylae.[53] According to Plutarch, when one of the soldiers complained that, "Because of the arrows of the barbarians it is impossible to see the sun", Leonidas replied, "Won't it be nice, then, if we shall have shade in which to fight them?"[54] Herodotus reports a similar comment, but attributes it to Dienekes.[55]

The "congress" met again in the spring of 480 BC. A Thessalian delegation suggested that the Greeks could muster in the narrow Vale of Tempe, on the borders of Thessaly, and thereby block Xerxes' advance.[40] A force of 10,000 hoplites was dispatched to the Vale of Tempe, through which they believed the Persian army would have to pass. However, once there, being warned by Alexander I of Macedon that the vale could be bypassed through Sarantoporo Pass and that Xerxes' army was overwhelming, the Greeks retreated.[41] Shortly afterwards, they received the news that Xerxes had crossed the Hellespont.[40]

The Hellenic division between the barbarians and the Greeks contrasted in many societies the Greek-speaking culture of the Greek settlements around the Mediterranean to the surrounding non-Greek cultures. Herodotus considered the Persian Wars of the early 5th century BC a conflict of Europa versus Asia (which he considered all land north and east of the Sea of Marmara, respectively). The terms "West" and "East" were not used by any Greek author to describe that conflict. The anachronistic application of those terms to that division entails a stark logical contradiction, given that, when the term "West" appeared, it was used in opposition to the Greeks and Greek-speaking culture.


Question: Who emerged victorious in the Peloponnesian War and how did they secure their win?

After enduring a lengthy siege, Athens was compelled to surrender in 404 BC, followed by the capitulation of its allies. The democratic stronghold of Samos, steadfast in its loyalty, held out a bit longer but was ultimately permitted to evacuate. The terms of surrender resulted in Athens losing its fortifications, navy, and overseas territories. Corinth and Thebes advocated for Athens' destruction and the enslavement of its populace. Nevertheless, Sparta interceded, recognizing Athens' crucial role during Greece's most perilous times. Athens was spared and incorporated into the Spartan sphere of influence, aligning its foreign policy with Sparta's.

The Hellenic division between the barbarians and the Greeks contrasted in many societies the Greek-speaking culture of the Greek settlements around the Mediterranean to the surrounding non-Greek cultures. Herodotus considered the Persian Wars of the early 5th century BC a conflict of Europa versus Asia (which he considered all land north and east of the Sea of Marmara, respectively). The terms "West" and "East" were not used by any Greek author to describe that conflict. The anachronistic application of those terms to that division entails a stark logical contradiction, given that, when the term "West" appeared, it was used in opposition to the Greeks and Greek-speaking culture.

A Greek force of approximately 7,000 men marched north to block the pass in the middle of 480 BC. The Persian army, alleged by the ancient sources to have numbered over one million, but today considered to have been much smaller (various figures are given by scholars, ranging between about 100,000 and 150,000),[10][11] arrived at the pass in late August or early September. The vastly outnumbered Greeks held off the Persians for seven days (including three of battle) before the rear-guard was annihilated in one of history's most famous last stands. During two full days of battle, the small force led by Leonidas blocked the only road by which the massive Persian army could pass. After the second day, a local resident named Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks by revealing a small path that led behind the Greek lines. Leonidas, aware that his force was being outflanked, dismissed the bulk of the Greek army and remained to guard their retreat with 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians, fighting to the death. (Others also reportedly remained, including 400 Thebans; these Thebans mostly reportedly surrendered.)

The Doric state of Sparta, copying the Doric Cretans, instituted a mixed governmental state: it was composed of elements of monarchical, oligarchical, and democratic systems. Isocrates refers to the Spartans as "subject to an oligarchy at home, to a kingship on campaign" (iii. 24).

By the end of this era, Rome had become full of unemployed Plebeians. They then began filling the ranks of the assemblies, and the fact that they were no longer away from Rome made it easier for them to vote. In the principle legislative assembly, the Plebeian Council,[52] any individual voted in the Tribe that his ancestors had belonged to.[53] Thus, most of these newly unemployed Plebeians belonged to one of the thirty-one rural Tribes, rather than one of the four urban Tribes, and the unemployed Plebeians soon acquired so much political power that the Plebeian Council became highly populist.[50] These Plebeians were often angry with the aristocracy, which further exacerbated the class tensions. Their economic state usually led them to vote for the candidate who offered the most for them, or at least for the candidate whose games or whose bribes were the most magnificent. The fact that they were usually uninformed as to the issues before them didn't matter, because they usually sold their votes to the highest bidder anyway.[50] Bribery became such a problem that major reforms were ultimately passed, in particular the requirement that all votes be by secret ballot. A new culture of dependency was emerging, which would look to any populist leader for relief.[54]

Despite the Roman victories at sea, the Roman Republic lost countless ships and crews during the war, due to both storms and battles. On at least two occasions (255 and 253 BC) whole fleets were destroyed in bad weather; the disaster off Camarina in 255 BC counted two hundred seventy ships and over one hundred thousand men lost, the greatest single loss in history.[68] One theory is that the weight of the corvus on the prows of the ships made the ships unstable and caused them to sink in bad weather. Later, as Roman experience in naval warfare grew, the corvus device was made attachable and detachable due to its impact on the navigability of the war vessels.[69]

Sire, be not grieved nor greatly distressed because of what has befallen us. It is not on things of wood that the issue hangs for us, but on men and horses...If then you so desire, let us straightway attack the Peloponnese, or if it pleases you to wait, that also we can do...It is best then that you should do as I have said, but if you have resolved to lead your army away, even then I have another plan. Do not, O king, make the Persians the laughing-stock of the Greeks, for if you have suffered harm, it is by no fault of the Persians. Nor can you say that we have anywhere done less than brave men should, and if Phoenicians and Egyptians and Cyprians and Cilicians have so done, it is not the Persians who have any part in this disaster. Therefore, since the Persians are in no way to blame, be guided by me; if you are resolved not to remain, march homewards with the greater part of your army. It is for me, however, to enslave and deliver Hellas to you with three hundred thousand of your host whom I will choose.[135]

On the fifth day after the Persian arrival at Thermopylae and the first day of the battle, Xerxes finally resolved to attack the Greeks. First, he ordered 5,000 archers to fire a barrage of arrows, but they were ineffective; they fired from at least 100 yards away, according to modern day scholars, and the Greeks' bronze shields and helmets deflected the arrows. After that, Xerxes sent a force of 10,000 Medes and Cissians to take the defenders prisoner and bring them before him.[58][83] The Persians soon launched a frontal assault, in waves of around 10,000 men, on the Greek position.[58] The Greeks fought in front of the Phocian wall, at the narrowest part of the pass, which enabled them to use as few soldiers as possible.[84][85] Details of the tactics are scant; Diodorus says, "the men stood shoulder to shoulder", and the Greeks were "superior in valour and in the great size of their shields."[86] This probably describes the standard Greek phalanx, in which the men formed a wall of overlapping shields and layered spear points protruding out from the sides of the shields, which would have been highly effective as long as it spanned the width of the pass.[87] The weaker shields, and shorter spears and swords of the Persians prevented them from effectively engaging the Greek hoplites.[86][88] Herodotus says that the units for each city were kept together; units were rotated in and out of the battle to prevent fatigue, which implies the Greeks had more men than necessary to block the pass.[89] The Greeks killed so many Medes that Xerxes is said to have stood up three times from the seat from which he was watching the battle.[90] According to Ctesias, the first wave was "cut to ribbons", with only two or three Spartans killed in return.[4]

Thermopylae is arguably the most famous battle in European ancient history, repeatedly referenced in ancient, recent, and contemporary culture. In Western culture at least, it is the Greeks who are lauded for their performance in battle.[123] However, within the context of the Persian invasion, Thermopylae was undoubtedly a defeat for the Greeks.[124] It seems clear that the Greek strategy was to hold off the Persians at Thermopylae and Artemisium;[72] whatever they may have intended, it was presumably not their desire to surrender all of Boeotia and Attica to the Persians.[72] The Greek position at Thermopylae, despite being massively outnumbered, was nearly impregnable.[102] If the position had been held for even a little longer, the Persians might have had to retreat for lack of food and water.[73] Thus, despite the heavy losses, forcing the pass was strategically a Persian victory,[102] but the successful retreat of the bulk of the Greek troops was in its own sense a victory as well. The battle itself had showed what a few free men, willing to do anything for victory against the invaders, could accomplish, and the defeat at Thermopylae had turned Leonidas and the men under his command into martyrs. That boosted the morale of all Greek soldiers in the second Persian invasion.[102]

The First Punic War (264 to 241 BC) was the first of three wars fought between Ancient Carthage and the Roman Republic, the two great powers of the Western Mediterranean. For 23 years, in the longest continuous conflict and greatest naval war of antiquity, the two powers struggled for supremacy, primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters, and also in North Africa.

In past wars on the island of Sicily, Carthage had won by relying on certain fortified strong-points throughout the island, and their plan was to conduct the land war in the same fashion. The mercenary army would operate in the open against the Romans, while the strongly fortified cities would provide a defensive base from which to operate.[20]


Question: Who played the role of Ben Stone's son on Law and Order?

Benjamin "Ben" Stone, a character on Law & Order played by Michael Moriarty, served as the Executive Assistant District Attorney for New York County. He appeared in 88 episodes before his departure at the end of season four. However, it's important to note that Michael Moriarty did not play Ben Stone's son on the show. If you're referring to Stone's son, Elliot Stone, he was portrayed by actor Jamie McShane in a few episodes.

In the episode "What Happens at Home", Kenneth Mitchell guest-starred as Drew Jacobs, a serial killer who murders several women, including his own wife. Madison Leisle guest starred as Jacobs' daughter, Heather. In the episode "25 to Life", Kyle Secor guest-starred as Donald Sanderson, a man who was framed and imprisoned for the murder of his family, and Philip Casnoff guest-starred as James Stanworth, the man responsible for framing Sanderson and murdering his family. Angus Macfadyen guest-starred as Sean McCallister, Emily Prentiss' former boss at Interpol who is murdered by one of the series most notorious criminals, Ian Doyle, played by Timothy V. Murphy. In the episode "The Thirteenth Step", Jonathan Tucker and Adrianne Palicki guest-starred as Raymond Donovan and Sydney Manning, two young lovers who go on a killing spree.

His screen debut was with his brother in the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives; they played Porter and Preston Scavo, sons to Lynette Scavo and Tom Scavo. He and his brother appeared in season 3 of MTV's Teen Wolf as a pair of twin alpha werewolves â€“ Charlie plays Ethan Steiner, and Max plays Aiden Steiner; Charlie also returns for Season 6B of the show.[3] They next appeared in the first season of HBO series The Leftovers.[4][5][6]

Adamson's first role was in the series Cold Case as a fraternity brother of a murder suspect.[4] He also guest-starred in the series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and had a part in the horror movie Dr. Chopper. From 2007 to 2009, he portrayed teenager Charles Antoni on the ABC Family drama Lincoln Heights. In 2009, he starred as Donny in the Disney Channel Original Movie Princess Protection Program alongside Disney stars Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez. He also guest-starred on Disney's Sonny With a Chance.

Burton has been perhaps most prolific in her work on television. She made many television appearances in the late 1980s and 1990s on such episodic shows as  Spenser: For Hire, All My Children, and Brooklyn Bridge.[18] About playing the mother, in her late thirties, of David Schwimmer's character in the short-lived 1994 FOX sitcom, Monty, she said, "you don't really start playing moms in Hollywood until you're in your 40s, and usually the kids are almost your age! When I played Schwimmer's mother, I was 37 and he was, I think, 28. . . that happens a lot in TV and film; you really do end up being close in age to your child, which is nonsensical."[20] In 1996, Burton won a Daytime Emmy award for her performance as a mother dying of breast cancer in the ABC Afterschool Special, 'Notes For My Daughter'.[21] More recently, she made guest appearances as recurring characters on Law & Order, The Practice, The West Wing, Judging Amy and Medium. She also appeared on the HBO miniseries Empire Falls.[18]

Ferrer began his acting career in the early 1980s making guest appearances on episodic television. He played the younger self of his father's character on Magnum P.I in 1981. In 1983, he was given a small part as a waiter in The Man Who Wasn't There. He also had a minor role in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) as the U.S.S Excelsior helm officer. He had a major role in the 1987 action movie RoboCop as aspiring, cocaine-snorting corporate executive Bob Morton. Ferrer's notable later roles include a sinister biker in Valentino Returns, an overzealous engineer in DeepStar Six (1989), a resourceful vigilante in Revenge (1990), Commander Arvid Harbinger in the comedy Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993), Lloyd Henreid in the Stephen King miniseries The Stand (1994), and a drug informant in Traffic (2000).[3] He occasionally took on lead parts as well, such as The Harvest and The Night Flier.

In 1977 he portrayed a husband who physically abused his wife (portrayed by Sally Struthers) in the made-for-TV movie Intimate Strangers, one of the first network features to depict domestic violence. In 1978, Weaver played the trail boss R. J. Poteet in the television mini-series Centennial, in the installment titled "The Longhorns." Weaver also appeared in many acclaimed television films, including 'Amber Waves'(1980) with Kurt Russell. Also in 1980, he portrayed Dr. Samuel Mudd, who was imprisoned for involvement in the Lincoln assassination, in The Ordeal Of Doctor Mudd and starred with his real-life son Robby Weaver in the short-lived NBC police series Stone.[10] In 1983, he played a real estate agent addicted to cocaine in Cocaine: One Man's Seduction. Weaver received probably the best reviews of his career when he starred in the 1987 film Bluffing It, in which he played a man who is illiterate. In February 2002, he appeared on the animated series The Simpsons (episode DABF07, "The Lastest Gun in the West") as the voice of aging Hollywood cowboy legend Buck McCoy.[11]

Aubry D'Arminio of Entertainment Weekly describes "savvy Ben" as a "captivating minor character".[53] Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly praised Emerson's acting in the beginning of season four, calling him "a genius in [the] role".[54] Alan Sepinwall from The Star-Ledger worried "the actor is so good and the character so popular that he's kept alive even though it makes all the heroes look like idiots".[55] Following "Confirmed Dead", Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Jensen felt "Isn't the whole business of Ben manipulating Locke with the promise of Island secrets getting just a little bit old?"[56] SyFy Portal's Dan Compora said that "The more I hate Ben, the more I realize that Michael Emerson is just a very fine actor doing his job".[26] Don Williams of BuddyTV said "consider my mind blown again", referring to the flashforward in "The Economist" where it is revealed that Sayid is working for Ben.[57] Oscar Dahl of BuddyTV called Emerson an acting "god".[58] Chris Carabott from IGN found one of the best moments of "Eggtown", was the power struggle between Locke and Ben, because "Their scenes together are amongst the best in the series and the one that opens "Eggtown" is a perfect display of how well Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn work together. O'Quinn captures Locke's uncertainty perfectly in the opening scene and it's always fun to watch Ben prey on any weakness of character."[59] Kevin Thompson of The Palm Beach Post wrote "with those big ol' eyes of his, [Emerson] could always say more with a lengthy stare than he could with twenty pages of dialogue.... [He has], once again, proved why he has become Lost's star as well as its heart and soul.... an Emmy should belong to [him]."[36] Jennifer Godwin of E! wrote that "no one has ever done better work humanizing a supervillain."[60] Matt Roush of TV Guide puts Ben in "The Shape of Things to Come" in the top 20 moments of the week, stating "Michael Emerson on Lost. It doesn't get better than that".[61] Ben Rawson-Jones of Digital Spy describes Emerson's performance as "fantastic", with "many layers of intrigue and humanity".[31] John Kubicek of BuddyTV also found his performance "fantastic", adding "he nailed it".[62] Critic Kelly Woo, from TV Squad, placed him on second on her list of "Seven new characters that worked", ranking just below Desmond Hume, also from Lost.[63]

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past was originally set up at Touchstone Pictures with Ben Affleck attached to play the lead character, but he opted out of the movie.[3] It was primarily filmed at Castle Hill in Ipswich, Massachusetts[4] The film was also the first pairing of Michael Douglas and Anne Archer since the 1987 hit thriller Fatal Attraction, although they shared no scenes together. Jennifer Garner and Christa B. Allen again appear together for the first time since 13 Going on 30 in 2004, and they again play the older and younger versions of the same character.

From 2011 to 2015, he had a recurring role as Seth Holt on the NBC drama series Parenthood.[27][28][29] In March 2013, Corbett appeared in two episodes of the CBS procedural drama series NCIS: Los Angeles as Special Agent Roy Haines; it was considered to be a planted pilot episode for a spin-off series focusing on his character, but this was ultimately not produced.[30] In 2012, he portrayed teacher Mike Kersjes in the Hallmark television film based on the memoir of the same name, A Smile as Big as the Moon.[31] Corbett provided the voiceover for Applebee's television commercials and, since 2012, has been the voice for Walgreens' television and radio advertisements.[32] In 2014, Corbett appeared alongside Sarah Bolger in Jeff Probst's drama film Kiss Me.[33] The following year, he starred as Garrett Peterson, opposite Jennifer Lopez, in the Rob Cohen-directed erotic thriller The Boy Next Door.[34]

Mara starred in the 2008 film Stone of Destiny, written and directed by Charles Martin Smith, about the theft of the Stone of Scone on Christmas Day, 1950. Mara played Kay Matheson, one of four students that removed the stone in a Scottish nationalist plot. The period adventure-comedy co-starred Billy Boyd, Robert Carlyle and Charlie Cox.[31] Filming began in June 2007 in locations around Glasgow.[32] Mara felt lucky and proud to play a role that was important to people's heritage.[33] She stayed near the Botanic Gardens in the city's West End while filming,[34] attending the film premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on June 21, 2008.[35] The film closed the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2008.[36]


Question: Who performed the theme song for the show "As Told by Ginger"?

The theme song for "As Told by Ginger," titled "I'm in Between," was written by Jared Faber and Emily Kapnek. The song underwent several renditions; initially recorded by Melissa Disney, it was later replaced with a version sung by Cree Summer for the first half of the first season. Eventually, the song was performed by R&B artist Macy Gray for the remainder of the series.

On July 13, 2009, Tori Amos covered the song live during her Sinful Attraction Tour at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California.[90] On October 15, 2009, Kris Allen covered the song for the first time at a concert in Seton High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. His rendition received positive reviews.[91] The song is heard, prominently but briefly, during the climactic fight-scene in the 2005 animated film Robots. Fender, while wearing a skirt, was busy fighting to the beat of the song. An excerpt was used in the comedy film, but was not included on the soundtrack album.[92] Swedish humorist heavy metal band Black Ingvars covered the song for their 2000 album Kids Superhits.[93] The same year, British death metal cover band Ten Masked Men included a rendition of the song on their Return of the Ten Masked Men album.[94] A cover by Ahmet and Dweezil Zappa was featured in the soundtrack of the 2000 film Ready to Rumble.[95] In 2003, the song was covered by American pop punk band Bowling for Soup for the soundtrack of the remake film Freaky Friday and commented that their version was "really, really, dark and really rock, [..] not the kind of 'pop'-py stuff that we usually do."[96] In 2005, power pop band Fountains of Wayne covered the song for their compilation album Out-of-State Plates. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice highlighted their rendition saying the song is "as redolent and fetching as any of [Fountains of Wayne]'s peaks".[97] Japanese pop singer Shiori Takei covered the song of her 2005 album The Note of My Nineteen Years.[98]

"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is a show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach for their 1933 musical Roberta. The song was sung in the original Broadway show by Tamara Drasin. Its first recorded performance was by Gertrude Niesen, who recorded the song with orchestral direction from Ray Sinatra, Frank Sinatra's second cousin,[1] on October 13, 1933. Niesen's recording of the song was released by Victor, catalog# VE B 24454, with the B-side, "Jealousy", featuring Isham Jones and his Orchestra.[2]

The program's theme song was originally titled "Bows and Strings in Teasing" by its composer, Alexander Laszlo, when he composed it for a 1946 Republic Picture, The French Key. When My Little Margie contracted to use his music, Laszlo wrote a new arrangement with added bars of music, which then became the "My Little Margie Theme" from 1952 to 1955.

"You Only Live Twice", performed by Nancy Sinatra, is the theme song to the 1967 James Bond film of the same name. Music was composed and produced by veteran James Bond composer John Barry, with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. The song is widely recognized for its striking opening bars, featuring a simple 2-bar theme in the high octaves of the violins and lush harmonies from French horns. It is considered by some to be among the best James Bond theme songs,[1] and has become one of Nancy Sinatra's best known hits. Shortly after Barry's production, Sinatra's producer Lee Hazlewood released a more guitar-based single version.

Each episode sees Gorman present a stand-up show using PowerPoint, on a particular theme about modern life. Examples include celebrity culture and social media. Each episode features a recurring section called the "Found Poem", in which Gorman reads out a selection of bizarre comments left on news websites, all covering a particular story. Gorman performs the Found Poem with a lone spotlight shining on him, while accompanied by the Billroth String Quartet (Billroth Ensemble from Series 4) playing 'Sarabande' from George Frideric Handel's Keyboard suite in D minor (HWV 437). The title of each episode comes from a line out of the Found Poem.

The theme music featured in the series is entitled Silencium and is performed by John Harle. The arrangement, for chamber orchestra and soprano saxophone solo, was first performed as part of the Canterbury Festival on 22 October 2011.[10] The vocal section is performed by Sarah Leonard.[11]

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

The musical director for Laugh-In was Ian Bernard.[5] He wrote the opening theme music, "Inquisitive Tango", plus the infamous "What's the news across the nation" number. He wrote all the musical "play-ons" that introduced comedy sketches like Lily Tomlin's character, Edith Ann, the little girl who sat in a giant rocking chair, and Arte Johnson's old man who always got hit with a purse. He also appeared in many of the cocktail scenes where he directed the band as they stopped and started between jokes. Composer-lyricist Billy Barnes wrote all of the original musical production numbers in the show, and often appeared on-camera, accompanying Johnson, Buzzi, Worley, or Sues, on a golden grand piano. Barnes was the creator of the famous Billy Barnes Revues of the 1950s and 1960s, and composed such popular hits as "(Have I Stayed) Too Long at the Fair", recorded by Barbra Streisand and the jazz standard "Something Cool" recorded by June Christy.[citation needed]

The first theme song (used from 1956â€“1961) was an arrangement of Charles Strouse's "Sixth Finger Tune", originally written for Milton Scott Michel's 1956 play Sixth Finger in a Five Finger Glove.

The majority of the film's original score was composed by Raymond Wong and performed by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra.[22] The score imitates traditional Chinese music used in 1940s swordplay films.[23] One of Wong's works, Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained, provides a stark contrast between the villainous Axe Gang and the peaceful neighbourhood of Pig Sty Alley, depicted by a Chinese folk song, Fisherman's Song of the East China Sea.[17] Along with Wong's compositions and various traditional Chinese songs, classical compositions are featured in the score, including excerpts from Zigeunerweisen by Pablo de Sarasate and Sabre Dance by Aram Khachaturian.[24] The song, Zhiyao Weini Huo Yitian (只要為你活一天; Only Want to Live One Day for You), is sung in the background by Eva Huang at the end of the film. Written by Liu Chia-chang (劉家昌) in the 1970s, it tells of a girl's memories of a loved one, and her desire to live for him again.[25] Kung Fu Hustle was nominated for Best Original Film Score at the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards.[26]


Question: Where is the Day of the Dead celebrated in Mexico?

The Day of the Dead, or Día de Muertos, is a significant Mexican holiday that is widely celebrated in the Central and Southern regions of Mexico, as well as among Mexican communities in other countries, particularly the United States. This multi-day celebration is also recognized and embraced by various cultures around the world. The core of the festival revolves around families and friends coming together to honor and remember their deceased loved ones, offering prayers and support for their spiritual journey. In 2008, this cherished tradition was officially recognized and added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

Junkanoo festivals are held from Christmas Day morning until sunrise on December 27 after Boxing Day and held again on New Year's Day. It is a carnival featuring parading bands in colorful costumes, singing, dancing, and decorations.

The primary temple festival in Mazuism is Lin Moniang's traditional birthday on the 23rd day of the 3rd month of the Chinese lunar calendar. It is celebrated widely in Taiwan, with the largest festivities[24] around the 8-day, 250-kilometer (160Â mi) annual "inspection tour" of a Mazu idol from the Zhenlan Temple in Taichung to Chaotian Temple in Beigang and back again. The highlight is an incense-cutting ritual used to restore the fires of the Taichung temple. As many as 6,000 join the tour itself, some dressed as medieval standard-bearers and foot-soldiers, and more than 30,000 sometimes arrive for the idol's entry into Beigang.[43] Another major festival is that around the Tianhou Temple in Lukang.[44] Depending on the year, Mazu's festival day may fall as early as mid-April or as late as mid-May:[45]

Some festivals, such as Holy Week and Christmas, are declared as public holidays, and thus, are observed and celebrated nationwide.

Latecomers to Mexico's central plateau, the Mexica thought of themselves, nevertheless, as heirs of the civilizations that had preceded them. For them, arts, sculpture, architecture, engraving, feather-mosaic work, and the calendar, were bequest from the former inhabitants of Tula, the Toltecs.

In Mexico, students from all public (and most private) schools are required to wear uniform (except on special days and/or occasions like holidays in which the school allows students to wear normal clothing rather than the uniform). The uniforms have the school's logo and colors. Most Mexican schools have 2 types of uniforms:

The 2017 Central Mexico earthquake struck at 13:14 CDT (18:14 UTC) on 19 September 2017 with an estimated magnitude of Mw 7.1 and strong shaking for about 20 seconds. Its epicenter was about 55 km (34 mi) south of the city of Puebla. The earthquake caused damage in the Mexican states of Puebla and Morelos and in the Greater Mexico City area, including the collapse of more than 40 buildings.[2][3][4] 370 people were killed by the earthquake and related building collapses, including 228 in Mexico City,[5][6] and more than 6,000 were injured.[7]

Saint Stephen's Day, or the Feast of Saint Stephen, is a Christian saint's day to commemorate Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr or protomartyr, celebrated on 26 December in the Latin Church and 27 December in Eastern Christianity. The Eastern Orthodox Church adheres to the Julian calendar and mark Saint Stephen's Day on 27 December according to that calendar, which places it on 9 January of the Gregorian calendar used in secular contexts. In Latin Christian denominations, Saint Stephen's Day marks the second day of Christmastide.[1][2]

The following is a list of all the original 54 LoterÃa cards, traditionally and broadly recognized in all of Mexico. Below each card name and number, are the riddles (in Spanish) sometimes used to tell the players which card was drawn. However, there are several less traditional sets of cards, depicting different objects or animals.

Rugby in Mexico has a long tradition dating back to the early 1900s when Europeans were migrating to Mexico. Though rugby has been a minor sport in Mexico, the Mexican Rugby Federation was established, and the sport has been steadily increasing in popularity, with around twelve teams competing in the top league. The Mexican national rugby sevens team have achieved some good results in international tournaments, including taking third place at the 2015 NACRA Sevens.

Nine days after the earthquake, at least 361 people had been reported killed.[27][26] At least 74 people were killed in the state of Morelos, 220 in Mexico City, 45 in Puebla, 13 in the State of Mexico, 6 in the state of Guerrero and one in the state of Oaxaca.[27][28][26] In Mexico City, the bodies of 26 students and four instructors were pulled from the rubble of the Enrique C. RÃ©bsamen school; 30 students and 8 adults were still unaccounted for as of the evening of 19 September[update].[29][30] The Mexico City campus of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education suffered damage, with at least 5 people killed and 40 injured.[31]


Question: How many farmers currently reside in the USA?

In the United States, the agricultural sector employed around 3.2 million farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers in 2012, alongside an estimated 757,900 agricultural workers. Among them, 11,500 were animal breeders, while the rest were classified as miscellaneous agricultural workers. The median hourly wage was $9.12, translating to an annual income of $18,970. In 2009, approximately 519,000 individuals under the age of 20 worked on family-owned farms, and an additional 230,000 young people were employed in agriculture. By 2004, women represented roughly 24% of the farming population, with 580,000 women working in agriculture, forestry, and fishing.

There are distinct differences between how hunger is experienced in the rural and urban settings. Rural counties experience high food insecurity rates twice as often as urban counties. It has been reported that approximately 3 million rural households are food insecure, which is equal to 15 percent of the total population of rural households.[40] This reflects the fact that 7.5 million people in rural regions live below the federal poverty line.[40] This poverty in rural communities is more commonly found in Southern states.[40]

Large trade organizations have joined public health advocates in supporting the bill, while groups aligned with individuals and small farms have generally opposed it.[38] However, after Senate adoption of Jon Tester's amendment, which allows for the possible exemption of producers that sell less than $500,000 a year,[39] many large food companies objected, arguing that the exemption puts consumers at risk.[40]

With more than 170,000 square miles (440,000 km2) under the plow, the Missouri River watershed includes roughly one-fourth of all the agricultural land in the United States, providing more than a third of the country's wheat, flax, barley and oats. However, only 11,000 square miles (28,000 km2) of farmland in the basin is irrigated. A further 281,000 square miles (730,000 km2) of the basin is devoted to the raising of livestock, mainly cattle. Forested areas of the watershed, mostly second-growth, total about 43,700 square miles (113,000 km2). Urban areas, on the other hand, comprise less than 13,000 square miles (34,000 km2) of land. Most built-up areas are located along the main stem and a few major tributaries, including the Platte and Yellowstone Rivers.[24][26]

Accurate counts of Buddhists in the United States are difficult. Self-description has pitfalls. Because Buddhism is a cultural concept, individuals who self-describe as Buddhists may have little knowledge or commitment to Buddhism as a religion or practice; on the other hand, others may be deeply involved in meditation and committed to the Dharma, but may refuse the label "Buddhist". In the 1990s, Robert A. F. Thurman estimated there were 5 to 6 million Buddhists in America.

This changed in the early 21st century; the public sector's rate of increase in the amount of food aid dispensed again overtook the private sector's. President George W. Bush's administration undertook bipartisan efforts to increase the reach of the food stamp program, increasing its budget and reducing both the stigma associated with applying for aid and barriers imposed by red tape.[1]
[55] Cuts in the food stamp programme came into force in November 2013, impacting an estimated 48 million poorer Americans, including 22 million children.[56] Commentators have stated hardship could worsen if a new Farm bill is passed: the version currently backed by the Democrats has a further $4 billion worth of cuts,  while the version backed by Republicans would cut food stamps by $40 billion.[57][58]

Amid regular rationing of food in Britain, the United States Department of Agriculture encouraged the planting of victory gardens during the course of World War II. Around one third of the vegetables produced by the United States came from victory gardens.[9] It was emphasized to American home front urbanites and suburbanites that the produce from their gardens would help to lower the price of vegetables needed by the US War Department to feed the troops, thus saving money that could be spent elsewhere on the military: "Our food is fighting," one US poster read.[10] By May 1943, there were 18 million victory gardens in the United States - 12 million in cities and 6 million on farms.[11]

In 2011, surveys indicated more than 5.8 million violent victimizations and 17.1 million property victimizations took place in the United States; according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, each property victimization corresponded to one household, while violent victimizations is the number of victims of a violent crime.[33]

There were 43 households out of which 34.9% were married families living together, 32.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 14.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 18.6% were non-families. 16.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 2.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.84.

There have been concerns over the efficacy of safety practices and food industry pressure on U.S. regulators. A study reported by Reuters found that "the food industry is jeopardizing U.S. public health by withholding information from food safety investigators or pressuring regulators to withdraw or alter policy designed to protect consumers". A survey found that 25% of U.S. government inspectors and scientists surveyed have experienced during the past year corporate interests forcing their food safety agency to withdraw or to modify agency policy or action that protects consumers. Scientists have observed that management undercuts field inspectors who stand up for food safety against industry pressure. According to Dr. Dean Wyatt, a USDA veterinarian who oversees federal slaughterhouse inspectors, "Upper level management does not adequately support field inspectors and the actions they take to protect the food supply. Not only is there lack of support, but there's outright obstruction, retaliation and abuse of power."[31] A growing number of food and beverage manufacturers are improving food safety standards by incorporating a food safety management system which automates all steps in the food quality management process.[32]


Question: Who wrote the country song "I Can Only Imagine"?

"I Can Only Imagine," a song by the Christian rock band MercyMe, was written and composed by the band's lead vocalist, Bart Millard. The song, featuring a prominent piano melody, was penned in response to Millard's father's passing and muses on the experience of Heaven and standing before God. Initially featured on MercyMe's 1999 independent album, The Worship Project, it was later re-recorded and became the fifth track on their major-label debut, Almost There, in 2001.

McMillan wrote "How He Loves" following the death of his best friend, Stephen Coffey.[1] Coffey was a youth minister for MorningStar Ministries. On November 1, 2002, during a church prayer meeting, Coffey prayed out loud "I'd give my life today if it would shake the youth of the nation."[2] That very night, he was in a multi-car accident and died of serious injuries.[3]

"If Hollywood Don't Need You (Honey I Still Do)" is a song written by Bob McDill, and recorded by American country music artist Don Williams.  It was released in November 1982 as the third single from the album Listen to the Radio.  The song was Don Williams' thirteenth number one single on the country chart.  The single went to number one for one week and spent a total of twelve weeks on the chart.[1]

The album is best known for the title track and its classic video, which would go on to win the CMA Award for Video of the Year. In the song, Jones sings of the irreplaceability of country music legends, including Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Conway Twitty, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich, Marty Robbins, Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell. The music video, which was directed by Marc Ball, takes place at a roadside gas station, where the owner shares with Jones his extensive collection of albums and memorabilia from classic country music artists. It was the singer's first music video and featured him looking healthier than he'd had in years. Jones producer Billy Sherrill appears at the beginning of the video playing the bus driver. At the end of the video, future country star Marty Stuart is one of the two young men in the convertible that pulls up at the gas station as the Jones tour bus pulls away. As Bob Allen writes in his book George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend, the song "struck a strong enough chord of empathy with old-time country music lovers to end up number three in Billboard.

"Message in a Bottle" is a song by English rock band The Police. It was released as the lead single from their second studio album, Reggatta de Blanc (1979). Written by the band's lead singer and bassist Sting, the song is ostensibly about a story of a castaway on an island, who sends out a message in a bottle to seek love. A year later, he has not received any sort of response, and despairs, thinking he is destined to be alone. The next day, he sees "a hundred billion bottles" on the shore, finding out that there are more people like him out there. American rock band American Hi-Fi performed a cover of the song for the 2003 film Rugrats Go Wild.

After this, he rewrote the lyrics to "White Collar Worker" with a new chorus and the title "Takin' Care of Business". Along with this he wrote a revised guitar riff, which was the I-VII-IV progression played with a shuffle. Bachman says he then handed over the lyrics to Fred Turner with the thought that Turner would sing the lead vocal. But Turner handed them back, saying Randy should sing the lead as it would give himself a needed vocal break when the band performed live.[2]

According to Jean Ryder, the ex-wife of songwriter Mike Hawker, "I Only Want to Be With You" was written soon after she and Hawker married on 1 December 1961, being inspired by Hawker's intense romantic feelings for his new bride. Ryder, who would later be a member of the Breakaways, had been a member of a vocal chorale, the Vernons Girls. Reportedly, she and Hawker had intended that she herself would record "I Only Want to Be With You". However, no formal arrangement for this eventuality had apparently been made by the autumn of 1963, when Hawker received a phone call from Philips A&R director Johnny Franz. Ryder paraphrases Franz as saying "Look we need something which is going to put this girl into the charts, because everybody is knocking her, everybody is saying she'll never make it [solo] - have you got a song that's a guaranteed hit?" Springfield had already recorded nine solo tracks, none of which was deemed the right vehicle to launch her solo career. With Ryder's permission, Hawker submitted "I Only Want to Be With You" to Franz, having made a demo featuring Ryder singing while keeping the beat by tapping on a biscuit tin lid. Franz, and then Springfield, approved the song, which Springfield recorded in a 25 October 1963 session at Olympic Studios, arranged and conducted by Ivor Raymonde, and recorded by engineer Keith Grant. Jean Ryder was included in the vocal chorale on the session. For unknown reasons, a version with (Dusty's) unadulterated vocals was rejected.[2][3][4]

"I'll Be Home for Christmas" is a Christmas song written by the lyricist Kim Gannon and composer Walter Kent and recorded in 1943 by Bing Crosby, who scored a top ten hit with the song. Originally written to honor soldiers overseas who longed to be home at Christmastime, "I'll Be Home for Christmas" has since gone on to become a Christmas standard.[1]

"I Don't Want This Night to End" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Luke Bryan. It was released in September 2011 as the second single from his album Tailgates & Tanlines. The song, written by Bryan, Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson and Ben Hayslip, is a "guy meets girl" love story.

Ray Charles Robinson[note 1] (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004), known professionally as Ray Charles, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called "Brother Ray." He was often referred to as "The Genius."[2][3] Charles was blind from the age of seven.

"It Don't Hurt Like It Used To" is the only song that Currington co-wrote on his Summer Forever album.[1]  According to Currington, he happened to visit his friends Barlowe and Carter: "Cary and I picked up guitars at the same time and played basically the same chord, and the next thing you know, we were writing the song."[2] He said, "I remember I just started saying all the words that you hear in the beginning of the song, they just started falling out. Shy was like, ‘What was that, man?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, it’s just coming out.’ So we wrote ’em down, and then I guess within an hour the song had basically written itself."[3]


Question: When did universities cease to be free in Australia?

In 1989, the Australian government, under the Hawke Labor administration, started reintroducing fees for university education. This was done through the establishment of the Higher Education Contributions Scheme (HECS), initially suggested by Professor Murray Wells and further refined by economist Bruce Chapman. The scheme introduced a $1,800 fee for all university students, with the government covering the rest. Students could opt to defer this fee, accruing a HECS debt, which would be repaid once their income surpassed a certain threshold. As part of these reforms, Colleges of Advanced Education were integrated into the university sector. The HECS system, despite undergoing modifications, has been supported by both major political parties and remains in place today.

During the post-war Reconstruction era, Virginia adopted a constitution which provided for free public schools, and guaranteed political, civil, and voting rights.[93] The populist Readjuster Party ran an inclusive coalition until the conservative white Democratic Party gained power after 1883.[94] It passed segregationist Jim Crow laws and in 1902 rewrote the Constitution of Virginia to include a poll tax and other voter registration measures that effectively disfranchised most African Americans and many poor European Americans.[95] Though their schools and public services were segregated and underfunded due to a lack of political representation, African Americans were able to unite in communities and take a greater role in Virginia society.[96]

In the 1950s, new academic units and degree programs were established. Another major reform, the General Education (G.E.) Program, was introduced in 1959. The G.E. Program became a series of core courses prescribed for all students at the undergraduate level. Most of these courses were being taught at the then College of Liberal Arts. As a result, U.P. President Vicente Sinco saw fit to reorganize the college into a University College, which would offer the core subjects to be taken during the first two years of the undergraduate program. Meanwhile, the College of Arts and Sciences and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, offered major courses in the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. During President Sinco's term, more institutes and colleges were established. These institutes and colleges include the Institute of Public Administration (1952), the Statistical Center (1953), the Labor Education Center (now the School of Labor and Industrial Relations, established in 1954), the Asian Studies Institute (now the Asian Center, established in 1955), the Institute of Library Science (now the School of Library and Information Studies, established in 1961), and the College of Home Economics (1961).

Since the adoption of summons by writ, baronies thus no longer relate directly to land-holding, and thus no more feudal baronies needed thenceforth to be created. Following the Modus Tenendi Parliamenta of 1419, the Tenures Abolition Act 1660, the Feudal Tenure Act (1662), and the Fines and Recoveries Act of 1834, titles of feudal barony became obsolete and without legal force. The Abolition Act 1660 specifically states: baronies by tenure were converted into baronies by writ. The rest ceased to exist as feudal baronies by tenure, becoming baronies in free socage, that is to say under a "free" (hereditable) contract requiring payment of monetary rents.[8]

Other countries gradually adopted what came to be called the Westminster Model of government, with an executive answerable to parliament, but exercising powers nominally vested in the head of state, in the name of the head of state. Hence the use of phrases like Her Majesty's government or His Excellency's government. Such a system became particularly prevalent in older British dominions, many of whom had their constitutions enacted by the British parliament; examples include Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Irish Free State and the Union of South Africa. Some of these parliaments evolved, were reformed from, or were initially developed as distinct from their original British model: the Australian Senate, for instance, has since its inception more closely reflected the US Senate than the British House of Lords; whereas since 1950 there is no upper house in New Zealand.

Per capita spending on tertiary education is among the highest in the world[citation needed]. Public education is managed by individual states, municipalities and regional school districts. As in all developed countries, primary and secondary education is free, universal and mandatory. Parents do have the option of home-schooling their children, though some states, such as California (until a 2008 legal ruling overturned this requirement[32]), require parents to obtain teaching credentials before doing so. Experimental programs give lower-income parents the option of using government issued vouchers to send their kids to private rather than public schools in some states/regions.

The Open University was founded by the Labour government under Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson was a strong advocate, using the vision of Michael Young. Planning commenced in 1965 under Minister of State for Education Jennie Lee, who established a model for the OU as one of widening access to the highest standards of scholarship in higher education, and set up a planning committee consisting of university vice-chancellors, educationalists and television broadcasters, chaired by Sir Peter Venables. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Assistant Director of Engineering at the time James Redmond, had obtained most of his qualifications at night school, and his natural enthusiasm for the project did much to overcome the technical difficulties of using television to broadcast teaching programmes.

Youth Allowance was introduced from July 1998 and replaced Youth Training Allowance and Newstart Allowance for job seekers under 21 and AUSTUDY for students under 25.

Over the course of the 19th-century Sydney established many of its major cultural institutions. Governor Lachlan Macquarie's vision for Sydney included the construction of grand public buildings and institutions fit for a colonial capital. Macquarie Street began to take shape as a ceremonial thoroughfare of grand buildings. The year 1840 was the final year of convict transportation to Sydney, which by this time had a population of 35,000.[41][46] Gold was discovered in the colony in 1851 and with it came thousands of people seeking to make money.[41][57] Sydney's population reached 200,000 by 1871. Demand for infrastructure to support the growing population and subsequent economic activity led to massive improvements to the city's railway and port systems throughout the 1850s and 1860s.[58]

In the controversial 1971 Gove land rights case, Justice Blackburn ruled that Australia had been terra nullius before British settlement, and that no concept of native title existed in Australian law. Following the 1973 Woodward commission enquiry, in 1976 the Australian federal government under Gough Whitlam enacted the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 to recognise Aboriginal Australians' system of land rights in the Northern Territory. In 1985, the Australian government returned ownership of Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock) to the Pitjantjatjara Aboriginal people. In 1992, the High Court of Australia reversed Justice Blackburn's ruling and handed down its decision in the Mabo Case, declaring the previous legal concept of terra nullius to be invalid and confirming the existence of native title in Australia.

Under Section 41 of the Australian Constitution, Aboriginal Australians always had the legal right to vote in Australian Commonwealth elections if their State granted them that right. This meant that all Aboriginal peoples outside Queensland and Western Australia had a legal right to vote. The right of Indigenous ex-servicemen to vote was affirmed in 1949 and all Indigenous Australians gained the unqualified right to vote in Federal elections in 1962.[187] Unlike other Australians, however, voting was not made compulsory for Indigenous people.


Question: Where do deer mice reside in the United States?

The deer mouse, scientifically known as Peromyscus maniculatus, is a rodent native to North America. It is commonly referred to as the North American deermouse and is widely distributed across the continent, except in the southeast United States and the far north regions.

The plague disease, caused by Yersinia pestis, is enzootic (commonly present) in populations of fleas carried by ground rodents, including marmots, in various areas including Central Asia, Kurdistan, Western Asia, Northern India and Uganda.[10] Due to climate change in Asia, rodents began to flee the dried out grasslands to more populated areas, spreading the disease.[11] Nestorian graves dating to 1338–1339 near Lake Issyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan have inscriptions referring to plague and are thought by many epidemiologists to mark the outbreak of the epidemic, from which it could easily have spread to China and India.[12] In October 2010, medical geneticists suggested that all three of the great waves of the plague originated in China.[13] In China, the 13th-century Mongol conquest caused a decline in farming and trading. However, economic recovery had been observed at the beginning of the 14th century. In the 1330s, a large number of natural disasters and plagues led to widespread famine, starting in 1331, with a deadly plague arriving soon after.[14] Epidemics that may have included plague killed an estimated 25 million Chinese and other Asians during the 15 years before it reached Constantinople in 1347.[15][16]

Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, forests, rain forests, plains, grasslands and other areas including the most developed urban areas, all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the term in popular culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by human factors, most scientists agree that much wildlife is affected by human activities.[2]

However, archeologist, Erik Reed, gives a description which is the most widely accepted as defining the American Southwest, which runs from Durango, Colorado in the north, to Durango, Mexico, in the south, and from Las Vegas, Nevada in the west to Las Vegas, New Mexico in the East. Reed's definition is roughly equivalent to the western half of the Learning Center of the American Southwest's definition, leaving out any portion of Kansas and Oklahoma, and much of Texas, as well as the eastern half of New Mexico. Since this article is about the Southwestern United States, the areas of Sonora and Chihuahua in Mexico will be excluded. The portion left includes Arizona and western New Mexico, the very southernmost part of Utah, southwestern Colorado, the very tip of west Texas, and triangle formed by the southern tip of Nevada. This will be the defined scope which is used in this article, unless otherwise specified in a particular area.[108]

With regulations in place and DDT banned, the eagle population rebounded. The bald eagle can be found in growing concentrations throughout the United States and Canada, particularly near large bodies of water. In the early 1980s, the estimated total population was 100,000 individuals, with 110,000–115,000 by 1992;[2] the U.S. state with the largest resident population is Alaska, with about 40,000–50,000, with the next highest population the Canadian province of British Columbia with 20,000–30,000 in 1992.[2] Obtaining a precise count of bald eagles population is extremely difficult. The most recent data submitted by individual states was in 2006, when 9789 breeding pairs were reported.[125] For some time, the stronghold breeding population of bald eagles in the lower 48 states was in Florida, where over a thousand pairs have held on while populations in other states were significantly reduced by DDT use. Today, the contiguous state with the largest number of breeding pairs of eagles is Minnesota with an estimated 1,312 pairs, surpassing Florida's most recent count of 1,166 pairs. 23, or nearly half, of the 48 contiguous states now have at least 100 breeding pairs of bald eagles.[26] In Washington State, there were only 105 occupied nests in 1980. That number increased by about 30 per year, so that by 2005 there were 840 occupied nests. 2005 was the last year that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife counted occupied nest. Further population increases in Washington may be limited by the availability of late winter food, particularly salmon.[126]

Arizona (/ɛərɪˈzoʊnə, ærɪ-/ ( listen); Navajo: Hoozdo Hahoodzo [xòːztò xɑ̀xòːtsò]; O'odham: Alĭ ṣonak [ˡaɺi ˡʂonak]) is a state in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the Western and the Mountain states. It is the sixth largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is one of the Four Corners states. It has borders with New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California, and Mexico, and one point in common with the southwestern corner of Colorado. Arizona's border with Mexico is 389 miles (626 km) long, on the northern border of the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California.

Various hantaviruses have been found to infect multiple rodent species, and cases of cross-species transmission (host switching) have been recorded.[20][21][22] Additionally, rates of substitution based on nucleotide sequence data reveal that hantavirus clades and rodent subfamilies may not have diverged at the same time.[19][23] Furthermore, hantaviruses have been found in multiple species of shrews and moles.[19][24][25][26]

The term "United States", when used in the geographical sense,
is the contiguous United States, the state of Alaska, the island state of Hawaii, the five insular territories of Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa, and minor outlying possessions.[1] The United States shares land borders with Canada and Mexico and maritime borders with Russia, Cuba, and the Bahamas in addition to Canada and Mexico. The United States's northern border with Canada is the world's longest bi-national land border.

There are many different types of plants including trees, grass, bushes and the occasional shrub. Animals that live there include birds, reptiles, frogs, bats, rats, cats and mammals. The Elf Skink, a small lizard, also populates the area. [9]

Formed approximately 8000 years ago, the Chihuahuan Desert is a relatively dry desert,[4] although it is slightly wetter than the Sonoran Desert to the west.[3] The Chihuahuan Desert spreads across the southeastern portion of the region, covering from southeastern Arizona, across southern New Mexico, and the portion of Texas included in the Southwest.[4] While it is the second largest desert in the United States,[3] only a third of the desert is within the United States, with the rest in Mexico.[5] El Paso is the major city in this desert, with other smaller cities being Las Cruces and Roswell in New Mexico.[3]

The species has been introduced to both the United States and New Zealand. In the United States, it is restricted to two regions within Florida, where it was possibly introduced through the pet trade. Only small populations have been found there, and whether they have caused any ecological damage as an invasive species is unknown.[14] In New Zealand, a several individuals were liberated in various locations in 1897 and 1899, and a further accidental introduction was made in the 1940s. No sightings have been reported of this species since the 1950s.[15]


Question: What was the primary objective of imperial powers like Great Britain in the late 1800s?

The primary objective of imperial powers like Great Britain in the late 19th century was to secure economic benefits through the acquisition of colonies. Initially, it was anticipated that these territories would serve as captive markets for manufactured goods. However, this strategy proved largely unsuccessful except in the case of India. By the 1890s, the focus shifted to the exploitation of colonies for the production of cheap raw materials to fuel domestic industries. Britain found significant profit in India, but not in most other parts of its empire. The Netherlands benefited from the East Indies, while Germany and Italy gained little from their colonies in terms of trade or resources. France experienced slightly more success. Notably, the Belgian Congo under King Leopold II's private enterprise was highly lucrative due to rubber plantation operations, but this came at the cost of severe labor mistreatment. Scandals surrounding these practices pressured the Belgian government to take over the Congo in 1908, resulting in reduced profitability. Similarly, the United States found the Philippines to be more expensive to maintain than initially projected.

Although not part of Western colonization process proper, Western culture entered Japan primarily in the so-called Meiji period (1868â€“1912), though earlier contact with the Portuguese, the Spaniards and the Dutch were also present in the recognition of European nations as strategically important to the Japanese. The traditional Japanese society was virtually overturned into an industrial and militarist power like Western countries such as the United Kingdom, the French Third Republic, and the German Empire.

This process of influence (and imposition) began with the voyages of discovery, colonization, conquest, and exploitation of Portugal and Spain it continued with the rise of the Dutch East India Company, and the creation and expansion of the British and French colonial empires. Due to the reach of these empires, Western institutions expanded throughout the world. Even after demands for self-determination from subject peoples within Western empires were met with decolonization, these institutions persisted. One specific example was the requirement that post-colonial societies were made to form nation-states (in the Western tradition), which often created arbitrary boundaries and borders that did not necessarily represent a whole nation, people, or culture, and are often the cause of international conflicts and friction even to this day. Though the overt colonial era has passed, Western nations, as comparatively rich, well-armed, and culturally powerful states, still wield a large degree of influence throughout the world.

Before the arrival of the British in the late 19th century, the history of the area was turbulent, with periods when empires such as those of Oyo, Kanem-Bornu and Sokoto gained control over large areas, and other periods when the states were more fragmented.[3] Although political structures differed widely between different ethnic groups, it was common for each town or collection of towns to have a recognized ruler, who might in turn be subordinate to the ruler of a larger polity. Thus the Sokoto caliphate was divided into emirates, with the emirs loosely subordinate to the Sultan of Sokoto, although at times acting as independent rulers.[4]

Mercantalism taught that trade was a zero-sum game, with one country's gain equivalent to a loss sustained by the trading partner. Overall, however, mercantilist policies had a positive impact on Britain helping turn it into the world's dominant trader and the global hegemon.[33] One domestic policy that had a lasting impact was the conversion of "waste lands" to agricultural use. Mercantilists believed that to maximize a nation's power, all land and resources had to be used to their utmost, and this era thus saw projects like the draining of The Fens.[34]

The rapid and extensive spread of the various European powers from the early 15th century onwards had a profound impact upon many of the indigenous cultures with whom they came into contact. The exploratory and colonial ventures in the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Pacific often resulted in territorial and cultural conflict, and the intentional or unintentional displacement and devastation of the indigenous populations.

During the 19th century, the major European powers went to great lengths to maintain a balance of power throughout Europe, resulting in the existence of a complex network of political and military alliances throughout the continent by 1900.[24] These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria. When Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors (German: Dreikaiserbund) between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany. This agreement failed because Austria-Hungary and Russia could not agree over Balkan policy, leaving Germany and Austria-Hungary in an alliance formed in 1879, called the Dual Alliance. This was seen as a method of countering Russian influence in the Balkans as the Ottoman Empire continued to weaken.[10] This alliance expanded in 1882 to include Italy, in what became the Triple Alliance.[25]

Following the Berlin Conference at the end of the 19th century, the British, Italians, and Ethiopians sought to claim lands owned by the Somalis such as the Warsangali Sultanate, the Ajuran Sultanate and the Gobroon Dynasty.

This also challenged the Victorian notion that the British Empire had a right to rule by their own superiority over subject races.[42]

His depiction of suburban late Victorian culture in the novel was an accurate reflection of his own experiences at the time of writing.[21] In the late 19th Century the British Empire was the predominant colonial and naval power on the globe, making its domestic heart a poignant and terrifying starting point for an invasion by Martians with their own imperialist agenda.[22] He also drew upon a common fear which had emerged in the years approaching the turn of the century, known at the time as fin de siècle or 'end of the age', which anticipated apocalypse at midnight on the last day of 1899.[18]

With the increasingly rapid growth of independent former Spanish colonies in the South and Central American states in the first part of the 19th century, the Spanish Crown considered Puerto Rico and Cuba of strategic importance. To increase its hold on its last two New World colonies, the Spanish Crown revived the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 as a result of which 450,000 immigrants, mainly Spaniards, settled on the island in the period up until the American conquest. Printed in three languages—Spanish, English, and French—it was intended to also attract non-Spanish Europeans, with the hope that the independence movements would lose their popularity if new settlers had stronger ties to the Crown. Hundreds of non Spanish families, mainly from Corsica, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Scotland, also immigrated to the island.[62]


Question: When did the Battle of Badr occur?

The Battle of Badr, a pivotal conflict in the early Islamic era, occurred on 13 March 624 CE (17 Ramadan, 2 AH in the Islamic calendar) in the Hejaz region of western Arabia, which is now part of Saudi Arabia. This battle marked a significant turning point in the Prophet Muhammad's struggle against his adversaries from the Quraish in Mecca. It is widely regarded in Islamic tradition as a decisive victory due to divine intervention or by secular accounts as a testament to Muhammad's strategic acumen. The battle is one of the few military engagements explicitly mentioned in the Quran. All historical information about the Battle of Badr is derived from Islamic sources, including hadiths and biographies of Muhammad, which were recorded in written form after the event. There is a scarcity of external evidence for the battle prior to the 9th century.

In 611, Sassanid Persia invaded the Byzantine Empire. In 613, a Jewish revolt against the Byzantine Empire joined forces with these Persian invaders to capture Jerusalem in 614. The great majority of Christians in Jerusalem were subsequently deported to Persia.[72] The Jews gained autonomy in Jerusalem, until in 617 when the Persians betrayed agreements and withdrew their forces from the region. With return of the Byzantines in 628, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius promised to restore Jewish rights and received Jewish help in ousting the Persians with the aid of Jewish leader Benjamin of Tiberias. Heraclius later reneged on the agreement after reconquering Palestine by issuing an edict banning Judaism from the Byzantine Empire and thousands of Jewish refugees fled to Egypt, following Byzantine and Ghassanid perpetrated massacres across the Galilee and Jerusalem. (Egyptian) Coptic Christians took responsibility for this broken pledge and still fast in penance.[73]

The Battle of Rorke's Drift, also known as the Defence of Rorke's Drift, was a battle in the Anglo-Zulu War. The defence of the mission station of Rorke's Drift, under the command of Lieutenants John Chard of the Royal Engineers and Gonville Bromhead, immediately followed the British Army's defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879, and continued into the following day.

One of the great ancestors of the Nusaybah family was Ubada Ibn Al-Samet who settled in Jerusalem in the 7th century in the wake of the Arab-Islamic capture of Jerusalem, and who was appointed as a governor by Umar. It is said that the keys of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre were placed in the custody of the family during this period.

On 6 October 1973, Egypt commenced Operation Badr to retake the Sinai, while Syria launched a simultaneous operation to retake the Golan Heights,[citation needed] thereby beginning the Yom Kippur War (known in Egypt as the October War). Egyptian engineering forces built pontoon bridges to cross the Suez Canal, and stormed the Bar-Lev Line, Israel's defensive line along the canal. Though the Egyptians maintained control of most of the east bank of the Canal, in the later stages of the war, the Israeli military crossed the southern section of Canal, cutting off the Egyptian 3rd Army, and occupied a section of the west bank. The war ended following a mutually agreed-upon ceasefire. After the war, as part of the subsequent Sinai Disengagement Agreements, Israel withdrew from the Canal, with Egypt agreeing to permit passage of Israeli ships. The canal was reopened in 1975, with President Sadat leading the first convoy through the canal aboard an Egyptian destroyer.

The Era of Martyrs, which numbered years from the accession of Diocletian in 284, who launched the last yet most severe persecution of Christians, was used by the Church of Alexandria and is still used, officially, by the Coptic Orthodox and Coptic Catholic churches. It was also used by the Ethiopian church. Another system was to date from the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, which as early as Hippolytus and Tertullian was believed to have occurred in the consulate of the Gemini (AD 29), which appears in some medieval manuscripts.

The battle was preceded by the attack on British-controlled Calcutta by Nawab Siraj-ud-daulah and the Black Hole massacre. The British sent reinforcements under Colonel Robert Clive and Admiral Charles Watson from Madras to Bengal and recaptured Calcutta. Clive then seized the initiative to capture the French fort of Chandernagar.[3] Tensions and suspicions between Siraj-ud-daulah and the British culminated in the Battle of Plassey. The battle was waged during the Seven Years' War (1756â€“1763), and, in a mirror of their European rivalry, the French East India Company (La Compagnie des Indes Orientales)[1] sent a small contingent to fight against the British. Siraj-ud-Daulah had a numerically superior force and made his stand at Plassey. The British, worried about being outnumbered, formed a conspiracy with Siraj-ud-Daulah's demoted army chief Mir Jafar, along with others such as Yar Lutuf Khan, Jagat Seths (Mahtab Chand and Swarup Chand), Omichund and Rai Durlabh. Mir Jafar, Rai Durlabh and Yar Lutuf Khan thus assembled their troops near the battlefield but made no move to actually join the battle. Siraj-ud-Daulah's army with 50,000 soldiers, 40 cannons and 10 war elephants was defeated by 3,000 soldiers of Col. Robert Clive, owing to the flight of Siraj-ud-daulah from the battlefield and the inactivity of the conspirators. The battle ended in 11 hours.

The round city of Baghdad is the original core of Baghdad, built by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur in AD 762–767 as the official residence of the Abbasid court. Its official name in Abbasid times was The City of Peace (Arabic: مدينة السلام Madīnat as-Salām). The famous library known as the House of Wisdom was located within its grounds.

When the Gujarat riots erupted in 2002, with their heavy toll of Muslim dead, Moraes left for Ahmedabad the minute the news came through, claiming that since he was a Catholic, Muslims would not see him as an enemy. Even though he was physically in considerable pain by then, he was one of the first on the scene.[4]

An early Arabic work known as Kitab al-Magall or the Book of Rolls (part of Clementine literature) states that Nimrod built the towns of Hadâniûn, Ellasar, Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Rûhîn, Atrapatene, Telalôn, and others, that he began his reign as king over earth when Reu was 163, and that he reigned for 69 years, building Nisibis, Raha (Edessa) and Harran when Peleg was 50. It further adds that Nimrod "saw in the sky a piece of black cloth and a crown." He called upon Sasan the weaver and commanded him to make him a crown like it, which he set jewels on and wore. He was allegedly the first king to wear a crown. "For this reason people who knew nothing about it, said that a crown came down to him from heaven." Later, the book describes how Nimrod established fire worship and idolatry, then received instruction in divination for three years from Bouniter, the fourth son of Noah.[9]

Buddhism in Magadha went into decline due to the invasion of Muhammad Bin Bakhtiar Khilji, during which many of the viharas and the famed universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila were destroyed. It was claimed that thousands of Buddhist monks were massacred during the 12th century.[53][54][55] D. N. Jha suggests, instead, that these incidents were the result of Buddhist-Brahmin skirmishes in a fight for supremacy.[56] In 1540, the great Pathan chieftain, Sher Shah Suri, from Sasaram, took northern India from the Mughals, defeating the Mughal army of Emperor Humayun. Sher Shah declared Delhi his capital.