Question: Where was the first permanent European settlement on what would become United States soil located?

The first permanent European settlement on what would become United States soil was established in Puerto Rico. In 1508, Juan Ponce de León, a Spanish explorer and lieutenant under Christopher Columbus, founded Caparra, which later became known as San Juan. This settlement marked the beginning of European colonization in the region, with Ponce de León playing a significant role in the conquest and control of the native Taíno population for the purpose of gold mining. The colony's establishment on the islet of Puerto Rico was strategic, as it provided a suitable harbor for trade and defense. By the 1520s, another settlement, San Germán, was founded in the southwestern part of the island, further solidifying European presence in the area.

Plato founded the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in Europe.[5] The city of Alexandria in Egypt, established in 330 BCE, became the successor to Athens as the intellectual cradle of Ancient Greece. There, the great Library of Alexandria was built in the 3rd century BCE. European civilizations suffered a collapse of literacy and organization following the fall of Rome in CE 476.[6]

The history of labor disputes in America substantially precedes the Revolutionary period. In 1636, for instance, there was a fishermen's strike on an island off the coast of Maine and in 1677 twelve carmen were fined for going on strike in New York City.[7] However, most instances of labor unrest during the colonial period were temporary and isolated, and rarely resulted in the formation of permanent groups of laborers for negotiation purposes. Little legal recourse was available to those injured by the unrest, because strikes were not typically considered illegal. The only known case of criminal prosecution of workers in the colonial era occurred as a result of a carpenters' strike in Savannah, Georgia, in 1746.[7]

From the beginning of the country, the colonial administration relied heavily on the industry of enslaved Africans and creole blacks for public works and defenses, primarily in coastal ports and cities, where the tiny colonial population had hunkered down. With no significant industries or large-scale agricultural production as yet, enslaved and free communities lodged around the few littoral settlements, particularly around San Juan, also forming lasting Afro-creole communities. Meanwhile, in the island's interior, there developed a mixed and independent peasantry that relied on a subsistence economy. This mostly unsupervised population supplied villages and settlements with foodstuffs and, in relative isolation, set the pattern for what later would be known as the Puerto Rican Jíbaro culture. By the end of the 16th century, the Spanish Empire was diminishing and, in the face of increasing raids from European competitors, the colonial administration throughout the Americas fell into a "bunker mentality". Imperial strategists and urban planners redesigned port settlements into military posts with the objective of protecting Spanish territorial claims and ensuring the safe passing of the king's silver-laden Atlantic Fleet to the Iberian Peninsula. San Juan served as an important port-of-call for ships driven across the Atlantic by its powerful trade winds. West Indies convoys linked Spain to the island, sailing between Cádiz and the Spanish West Indies. The colony's seat of government was on the forested Islet of San Juan and for a time became one of the most heavily fortified settlements in the Spanish Caribbean earning the name of the "Walled City". The islet is still dotted with the various forts and walls, such as La Fortaleza, Castillo San Felipe del Morro, and Castillo San Cristóbal, designed to protect the population and the strategic Port of San Juan from the raids of the Spanish European competitors.

The French and Spanish established colonies in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. The Spanish colonized Florida in the 16th century, with their communities reaching a peak in the late 17th century. In the British and French colonies, most immigrants arrived after 1700. They cleared land, built houses and outbuildings, and worked on the large plantations that dominated export agriculture. Many were involved in the labor-intensive cultivation of tobacco, the first cash crop of Virginia. With a decrease in the number of British willing to go to the colonies in the eighteenth century, planters began importing more enslaved Africans, who became the predominant labor force on the plantations. Tobacco exhausted the soil quickly, requiring new fields to be cleared on a regular basis. Old fields were used as pasture and for crops such as corn and wheat, or allowed to grow into woodlots.[61]

Official settlements in Alta California were of three types: presidio (military), mission (religious) and pueblo (civil). The Pueblo de los Ángeles was the second pueblo (town) created during the Spanish colonization of California (the first was San Jose, in 1777). El Pueblo de la Reina de los Ángeles—'The Town of the Queen of Angels'[1] was founded twelve years after the first presidio and mission, the Presidio of San Diego and the Mission San Diego de Alcalá (1769). The original settlement consisted of forty-four people in eleven families, recruited mostly from Estado de Occidente. As new settlers arrived and soldiers retired to civilian life in Los Angeles, the town became the principal urban center of southern Alta California, whose social and economic life revolved around the raising of livestock on the expansive ranchos.

The territory was acquired by Great Britain from France following victory in the Seven Years' War and the 1763 Treaty of Paris. Great Britain took over the Ohio Country, as its eastern portion was known, but a few months later closed it to new European settlement by the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The Crown tried to restrict settlement of the thirteen colonies between the Appalachians and the Atlantic, which raised colonial tensions among those who wanted to move west. With the colonials' victory in the American Revolutionary War and signing of the 1783 Treaty of Paris, the United States claimed the territory, as well as the areas south of the Ohio. The territories were subject to overlapping and conflicting claims of the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Virginia dating from their colonial past. The British were active in some of the border area until after the Louisiana Purchase and the War of 1812.

Three points in the charter distinguish it from any other royal patent that had ever been granted.[6] The first of these is the acknowledgment of Indian rights to the soil.[6] This provision was far different than the European doctrine of "possession by right of discovery" which was first exercised by the Pope and soon adopted by the maritime powers as part of the "royal prerogative."[7] The sovereigns of Europe asserted their claims over both Americas with little hesitation, and the rights of the aborigines presented no obstacles to these "enlightened and Christian legislators."[7] Historian Samuel G. Arnold wrote, "Against this abuse...Rhode Island was the first solemn protest."[7] The point that the exclusive right to the land belonged to the aborigines was decided by Roger Williams when he first settled in the colony, and his views were maintained by those who followed him there.[8] These views were set forth by Clarke in his address to the King, and thus became incorporated within the royal charter.[8]

French Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault charted the St. Johns River in 1562, calling it the River of May because that was the month of his discovery. Ribault erected a stone column at his landing site near the river's mouth, claiming the newly discovered land for France.[22] In 1564, René Goulaine de Laudonnière established the first European settlement, Fort Caroline, on the St. Johns near the main village of the Saturiwa. Philip II of Spain ordered Pedro Menéndez de Avilés to protect the interest of Spain by attacking the French presence at Fort Caroline. On September 20, 1565, a Spanish force from the nearby Spanish settlement of St. Augustine attacked Fort Caroline, and killed nearly all the French soldiers defending it.[23] The Spanish renamed the fort San Mateo, and following the ejection of the French, St. Augustine's position as the most important settlement in Florida was solidified. The location of Fort Caroline is subject to debate but a reconstruction of the fort was established on the St. Johns River in 1964.[24]

In 1619, the first representative assembly in America convened in the Jamestown Church, "to establish one equal and uniform government over all Virginia" which would provide "just laws for the happy guiding and governing of the people there inhabiting." This became known as the House of Burgesses (forerunner of the Virginia General Assembly). Initially, only men of English origin were permitted to vote. On June 30, 1619, in what was the first recorded strike in Colonial America, the Polish artisans protested and refused to work if not allowed to vote ("No Vote, No Work").[50][51][52] On July 21, 1619, the court granted the Poles and Slovaks equal voting rights.[53] Afterwards, the labor strike (the first "in American history"[6]) was ended and the artisans resumed their work.[52][54][55][56] Individual land ownership was also instituted, and the colony was divided into four large "boroughs" or "incorporations" called "citties" by the colonists. Jamestown was located in James Cittie.

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (Spanish: Base Naval de la Bahía de Guantánamo), officially known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB (also called GTMO because of the airfield designation code or Gitmo because of the common pronunciation of this code by the U.S. military[1]), is a United States military base located on 45 square miles (120 km2) of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which the U.S. leased for use as a coaling and naval station in 1903 for $2,000 in gold per year until 1934, when the payment was set to match the value in gold in dollars;[2] in 1974, the yearly lease was set to $4,085.[3] The base is on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas U.S. Naval Base.[4] Since the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the Cuban government has consistently protested against the U.S. presence on Cuban soil and called it illegal under international law, alleging that the base was imposed on Cuba by force.


Question: Where was the first permanent European settlement on what would become United States soil located?

The establishment of Jamestown marked the beginning of the first successful English colony in the future United States, founded on May 14, 1607 near Chesapeake Bay. Initiated as a business venture by the London Virginia Company, the colony initially struggled with high mortality rates due to disease, famine, and conflicts with indigenous peoples, while also failing to discover the anticipated gold. The colony's fortunes changed with the cultivation of tobacco as a cash crop, which by the late 17th century, became the cornerstone of Virginia's export economy. This period also saw an influx of wealthier settlers who established large plantations, relying on indentured servants and slaves for labor. The transition from indentured servants to African slaves as the primary workforce was accelerated following the suppression of Bacon's Rebellion in 1676.

The area of the modern city of Jacksonville has been inhabited for thousands of years. On Black Hammock Island in the national Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, a University of North Florida team discovered some of the oldest remnants of pottery in the United States, dating to 2500 BC.[19] In the 16th century, the beginning of the historical era, the region was inhabited by the Mocama, a coastal subgroup of the Timucua people. At the time of contact with Europeans, all Mocama villages in present-day Jacksonville were part of the powerful chiefdom known as the Saturiwa, centered around the mouth of the St. Johns River.[20] One early map shows a village called Ossachite at the site of what is now downtown Jacksonville; this may be the earliest recorded name for that area.[21]

The Jamestown Exposition of 1907 was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the early part of the 20th century. Held from April 26, 1907 to December 1, 1907, attendees included US President Theodore Roosevelt, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, the Prince of Sweden, Mark Twain, Henry H. Rogers, and dozens of other dignitaries and famous persons. A major naval review featuring the United States' Great White Fleet was a key feature. U.S. Military officials and leaders were impressed by the location, and the Exposition site later formed the first portion of the large U.S. Naval Station Norfolk in 1918 during World War I.

However, after the long voyage, their food stores were sufficient only for each to have a cup or two of grain-meal per day. Further, the worst drought in 700 years occurred in the area between 1606 and 1612, affecting the Jamestown colonist and local Powhatan tribeâ€™s ability to produce food and obtain a safe supply of water.[8] In addition to settling, the early colonists were expected to make a profit for the owners of the Company. The early settlers were excited by the apparent availability of gold, and from the outset settlers attempted to produce timber for export, given the seemingly inexhaustible supply within Virginia's virgin forests. However, they could not devote much time to developing commodity products, as they were too busy trying to survive. On June 22, 1607, Newport sailed back for London with Susan Constant and Godspeed carrying a load of supposedly precious minerals, leaving behind the 104 colonists and Discovery (to be used in exploring the area).

On November 9, 1620, they sighted present-day Cape Cod. They spent several days trying to sail south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, where they had obtained permission to settle from the Company of Merchant Adventurers. However, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod hook, well north of the intended area, where they anchored on November 11. The settlers wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact after the ship dropped anchor at Cape Cod, in what is now Provincetown Harbor, in order to establish legal order and to quell increasing strife within the ranks.[21][22][23][24]

In the early 1530s Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his three companions, survivors of a failed Spanish expedition to Florida, were the first Europeans known to have lived among and passed through Coahuiltecan lands. In 1554, three Spanish vessels were wrecked on Padre Island. The survivors, perhaps one hundred persons, attempted to walk southward to Spanish settlements in Mexico. All but one were killed by the Indians.[17] In the early 1570s the conquistador Luis de Carabajal y Cueva campaigned near the Rio Grande, ostensibly to punish the Indians for their 1554 attack on the shipwrecked sailors, more likely to capture slaves.

The first European to visit the region was explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, sailing under the flag of Castile but possibly born in Portugal. Sailing his flagship San Salvador from Navidad, New Spain, Cabrillo claimed the bay for the Spanish Empire in 1542, and named the site "San Miguel".[18] In November 1602, Sebastián Vizcaíno was sent to map the California coast. Arriving on his flagship San Diego, Vizcaíno surveyed the harbor and what are now Mission Bay and Point Loma and named the area for the Catholic Saint Didacus, a Spaniard more commonly known as San Diego de Alcalá. On November 12, 1602, the first Christian religious service of record in Alta California was conducted by Friar Antonio de la Ascensión, a member of Vizcaíno's expedition, to celebrate the feast day of San Diego.[19]

Settler colonialism is a form of colonisation where foreign citizens move into a region and create permanent or temporary settlements called colonies. The creation of settler colonies often resulted in the forced migration of indigenous peoples to less desirable territories through forced migration. This practice is exemplified in the colonies established in the United States, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Argentina, and Australia.[11]

Transatlantic cables are cables that have been laid along the ocean floor to connect North America and Europe. Before the advent of radio, the only means of communication across the Atlantic Ocean was to physically connect the continents with a transatlantic telegraph cable, the first of which was installed from Valentia, Ireland to Heart's Content, Newfoundland in 1858. The first transatlantic telephone cable, TAT-1, was installed in 1955. The first transatlantic fiber optic cable, TAT-8, was installed in 1988. The exchange rate between the United States dollar and British pound is still colloquially known as "cable" by financial marketeers, from the early use of the transatlantic cable for this purpose.

In 1624, the first colonists, mostly Walloons and their slaves-bound servants, arrived to New Netherland by the shipload, landing at Governors Island and initially dispensed to Fort Orange, Fort Wilhelmus and Kievets Hoek. In 1626, Director of the WIC Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from the Lenape natives and started construction of Fort Amsterdam, which grew to become the main port and capital, New Amsterdam. The colony expanded to outlying areas at Pavonia, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Long Island.

Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the area became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the mission system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead,[32] near a boat anchorage around what is today Portsmouth Square. Together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7, 1846, during the Mexican–American War, and Captain John B. Montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, and Mexico officially ceded the territory to the United States at the end of the war. Despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography.[33]


Question: Who portrayed the mother in The Partridge Family?

Shirley Jones, an American actress and singer, is best known for her role as Shirley Partridge, the matriarch of a musical family in the popular television series The Partridge Family (1970-1974). Throughout her extensive career in show business, Jones has appeared in various musical films, including Oklahoma! (1955), Carousel (1956), and The Music Man (1962), and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Elmer Gantry (1960). Her portrayal of the widowed mother of five children in The Partridge Family co-starred her real-life stepson, David Cassidy.

Rose Morgan (Streisand), a shy, plain, middle-aged English literature professor at Columbia University, shares a home with her vain, overbearing mother, Hannah (Bacall). When her attractive sister, Claire (Rogers), starts making preparations for her third wedding to Alex (Brosnan), who used to date her, she begins to feel her loveless life is empty.

Varden's English film roles led to offers from Hollywood, and she moved there at the start of World War II, beginning a long career of playing character and supporting roles. Notable films Varden appeared in include Casablanca (1942), The Major and the Minor (1942), The White Cliffs of Dover (1944), National Velvet (1944), The Green Years (1946), Forever Amber (1947), Strangers on a Train (1951), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Jupiter's Darling (1955), and Witness for the Prosecution (1957).  She played the housekeeper Frau Schmidt in The Sound of Music (1965). Two years later, she had a minor part as Lady Petherington in Doctor Dolittle (1967).[7]

Mama Firefly (whose real name was Gloria Firefly) was a prostitute, and the mother of Rufus, Tiny, and Baby. Baby's father is Captain Spaulding, and the father of Rufus is a man named Rufus (which is why his family calls him R.J for Rufus Junior) and the father of Tiny was Earl Firefly. It is revealed in the sequel, that Mother Firefly has a long criminal record, including several cases of prostitution and theft. She is killed by Wydell in the second film, after she taunts Wydell about his brothers murder.

Lahti made her Broadway debut in 1980 as a replacement in Loose Ends, and went on to star in the Broadway productions of Present Laughter (1982) and The Heidi Chronicles (1989). An eight-time Golden Globe nominee and six-time Emmy Award nominee, she won a Golden Globe for the 1989 TV movie No Place Like Home, and won a Golden Globe and an Emmy in 1998 for her role as Kate Austin in the CBS series Chicago Hope (1995–99). She returned to Broadway in 2009 to star in God of Carnage. She also had a recurring role as Sonya Paxton in the NBC series Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (2009–11), as Doris McGarrett in the CBS series Hawaii Five-0 (2012–16), and Laurel Hitchin in NBC's The Blacklist (2015–17).

In 2001, Michael Emerson won a Primetime Emmy Award for his guest appearance as serial killer William Hinks on The Practice.[34] The Lost producers liked his work on The Practice, so they were keen to cast Emerson in the role of Ben, then known as "Henry Gale", as they thought he would fit the character well.[38] He was originally contracted to appear in just three episodes of Lost,[39][40] making his first appearance midway through the second season, in episode "One of Them". The producers were so impressed by him that they contracted him for a further five episodes, citing the scene at the end of "The Whole Truth" where Ben asks for milk as the moment they knew he was a "keeper".[34] He was then made a part of the regular cast from the third season.[41] Had Emerson not worked out during his initial appearances a different actor would have been cast for the leader of the Others, but it was always intended the survivors would have the leader right under their noses and not realize it.[39] During one episode of the Official Lost Podcast, the producers state they always knew Ben would be the "Big Bad".[42] Emerson had no idea of his character's importance during his second season recurring role. He was told nothing about Ben's backstory and would only receive scripts at the last minute.[43] He enjoyed how the ambiguity of Ben's motives allowed him to "paint it the way [he] please[s]".[32] Sterling Beaumon was cast to play Ben in the flashbacks of episode "The Man Behind the Curtain".[3] Emerson's wife Carrie Preston was cast as Ben's mother following Emerson telling people at parties she was desperate for a part on the show.[43]

Katherine "Kate" Burton (born September 10, 1957) is a Swiss-born British actress, daughter of actor Richard Burton and Sybil Burton. On television, Burton received critical acclaim for performances in Shonda Rhimes's drama series as Ellis Grey on Grey's Anatomy, and as Vice President Sally Langston on Scandal.[1]  She has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards and three Tony Awards.[2]

Geeson's first major film appearance was in To Sir, with Love (1967) alongside Sidney Poitier and pop singer Lulu,[6] and Berserk! (also 1967), co-starring Joan Crawford.[7] She followed these films with the comedy Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (1968). Geeson became well known as a result of a regular role in the BBC early-evening soap opera, The Newcomers. She also had a major role in the mid-70s costume drama Poldark, as Caroline Penvenen (later Caroline Enys).

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

Petersen began his show business career at the age of ten as a Mouseketeer on the Mickey Mouse Club.[2] He appeared in the 1958 movie Houseboat with Sophia Loren and Cary Grant, but achieved stardom playing teenager Jeff Stone from 1958 to 1966 on the ABC family television sitcom The Donna Reed Show. Throughout eight seasons and decades of reruns in syndication, The Donna Reed Show became part of American popular culture and, in 1997, Petersen was honored by the Young Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award for his role on the series.[3]

In 1986's Psycho III, set a month later, Norman continues to struggle, unsuccessfully, against "Mother"'s dominion. He also finds another love interest named Maureen Coyle (Diana Scarwid), who eventually dies at "Mother"'s hand. In the film, Mrs. Spool's corpse is first discovered by sleazy musician Duane Duke (Jeff Fahey), whom Norman kills when Duke tries to use the discovery to blackmail Norman. Tracy Venable (Roberta Maxwell), a reporter interested in Norman's case, finds out that Spool was in fact Norman's aunt - Norma Bates' sister - who was obsessed with Norman's father and killed him when he chose Norma over her. She then kidnapped the infant Norman, believing him to be her child, but she was arrested and institutionalized, leaving Norman to be raised by Norma.


Question: What's one significant factor for the diverse range of fauna in India?

India's vast biodiversity is largely due to its rich history of geological and climatic changes. Many of its species are descendants of Gondwana-originating taxa, with the Indian subcontinent's movement and collision with Laurasia facilitating a significant exchange of species. Despite significant losses from volcanic activity and climate shifts 20 million years ago, mammals migrated into India from Asia via two zoogeographical passes, resulting in a mix of endemic and introduced species. Today, 12.6% of mammals and 4.5% of birds in India are endemic, compared to 45.8% of reptiles and 55.8% of amphibians. Notable endemics include the Nilgiri leaf monkey and the brown and carmine Beddome's toad of the Western Ghats. India is home to 172, or 2.9%, of IUCN-designated threatened species, including the Asian elephant, Asiatic lion, Bengal tiger, Indian rhinoceros, mugger crocodile, and the critically endangered Indian white-rumped vulture, which was nearly wiped out by ingesting diclofenac-treated cattle carcasses.

The province is mostly arid with scant vegetation except for the irrigated Indus Valley. The dwarf palm, Acacia Rupestris (kher), and Tecomella undulata (lohirro) trees are typical of the western hill region. In the Indus valley, the Acacia nilotica (babul) (babbur) is the most dominant and occurs in thick forests along the Indus banks. The Azadirachta indica (neem) (nim), Zizyphys vulgaris (bir) (ber), Tamarix orientalis (jujuba lai) and Capparis aphylla (kirir) are among the more common trees.

Montana is home to a diverse array of fauna that includes 14 amphibian,[96] 90 fish,[97] 117 mammal,[98] 20 reptile[99] and 427 bird[100] species. Additionally, there are over 10,000 invertebrate species, including 180 mollusks and 30 crustaceans. Montana has the largest grizzly bear population in the lower 48 states.[101] Montana hosts five federally endangered speciesâ€“black-footed ferret, whooping crane, least tern, pallid sturgeon and white sturgeon and seven threatened species including the grizzly bear, Canadian lynx and bull trout.[102] The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks manages fishing and hunting seasons for at least 17 species of game fish including seven species of trout, walleye and smallmouth bass[103] and at least 29 species of game birds and animals including ring-neck pheasant, grey partridge, elk, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, whitetail deer, gray wolf and bighorn sheep.[104]

Himachal Pradesh has around 463 bird[33] 77 mammalian, 44 reptile and 80 fish species.[34] Great Himalayan National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Pin Valley National Park are the national Parks located in the state.[34][35] The state also has 30 wildlife sanctuaries and 3 conservation reserves.[35]

Other historians point to colonization as a major factor in both India's deindustrialization and Britain's Industrial Revolution.[55][56][57][77] The capital amassed from Bengal following its 1757 conquest supported investment in British industries such as textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution as well as increasing British wealth, while contributing to deindustrialization and famines in Bengal;[55][56][57][54] following the British conquest, a devastating famine broke out in Bengal in the early 1770s, killing a third of the Bengali population and 5 percent of the national population.[78] Colonization forced the large Indian market to open to British goods, which could be sold in India without tariffs or duties, compared to heavily taxed local Indian producers. In Britain protectionist policies such as high tariffs restricted Indian textile sales. By contrast, raw cotton was imported without tariffs to British factories which manufactured textiles and sold them back to India. British economic policies gave them a monopoly over India's large market and cotton resources.[79][66][80] India served as both a significant supplier of raw goods to British manufacturers and a large captive market for British manufactured goods.[81]

The park is privately owned and operated, its main focus being the preservation of Fiji's indigenous flora and fauna, including reptiles, bird life, amphibians, tropical fish, the Fiji flying fox (Fiji's only native mammal), insects, butterflies and a wide range of trees and shrubs. The park has also won Fiji's 'Excellence in Tourism' award five times since 1996.[2] In addition, the park strives to increase environmental issue awareness and educate local children in conservation. The park regularly offers free classes in which children may learn about Fiji's environment, pollution, and conservation.[3] More than 8000 children have taken these classes.[1] The park is funded only 35% from general admission tickets, the rest coming from private donations.[4]

Three national parks protect portions of the Nilgiris. Mudumalai National Park lies in the northern part of the range where Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu meet, and covers an area of 321 km2. Mukurthi National Park lies in the southwest of the range, in Kerala, and covers an area of 78.5 km2, which includes intact shola-grassland mosaic, a habitat for the Nilgiri tahr. Silent Valley National Park is just to the south and contiguous with these two parks, and covers an area of 89.52 km2. Outside these parks much of the native forest has been cleared for grazing cattle, or has been encroached upon or replaced by plantations of tea, eucalyptus, cinchona and acacia. The entire range, together with portions of the Western Ghats to the northwest and southwest, was included in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in 1986, India's first biosphere reserve. In January 2010, the Nilgiri Declaration[27] set out a wide range environmental and sustainable development goals to be reached by 2015.

Sindh lies between the two monsoons—the southwest monsoon from the Indian Ocean and the northeast or retreating monsoon, deflected towards it by the Himalayan mountains—and escapes the influence of both. The region's scarcity of rainfall is compensated by the inundation of the Indus twice a year, caused by the spring and summer melting of Himalayan snow and by rainfall in the monsoon season.

Pakistan is divided into three major geographic areas: the northern highlands; the Indus River plain, with two major subdivisions corresponding roughly to the provinces of Punjab and Sindh; and the Balochistan Plateau. Some geographers designate additional major regions. For example, the mountain ranges along the western border with Afghanistan are sometimes described separately from the Balochistan Plateau, and on the eastern border with India, south of the Sutlej River, the Thar Desert may be considered separately from the Indus Plain. Nevertheless, the country may conveniently be visualized in general terms as divided in three by an imaginary line drawn eastward from the Khyber Pass and another drawn southwest from Islamabad down the middle of the country. Roughly, then, the northern highlands are north of the imaginary east-west line; the Balochistan Plateau is to the west of the imaginary southwest line; and the Indus Plain lies to the east of that line.

In the oases grow date palms, acacia and eucalyptus trees. In the desert the flora is very sparse and consists of grasses and thornbushes. The indigenous fauna had come close to extinction because of intensive hunting, which has led to a conservation program on Bani Yas island initiated by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in the 1970s, resulting in the survival of, for example, Arabian oryx and leopards. Coastal fish consist mainly of mackerel, perch and tuna, as well as sharks and whales.

The common myna obeys Gloger's rule in that the birds from northwest India tend to be paler than their darker counterparts in South India.[6][7]


Question: Who directed the iconic animated short educational film "Ek Anek Aur Ekta"?

The iconic animated short educational film "Ek Anek Aur Ekta" was directed by Vijaya Mulay. Bhimsain Khurana was responsible for the film's design, animation, and creation. The lyrics of "Hind Desh ke Niwasi" were penned by Pandit Vinay Chandra Maudgalya, and Sadhna Sargam lent her voice to the song "Ek Chidiya, Anek Chidiyan". The film's assistants included S.M. Hasan, Mahesh Taavre, and Girish Rao. "Ek Anek Aur Ekta" received the National Film Award for Best Educational Film and was the first production from the animation studios of the Center for Education Technology. It also won the Best Children's Film award in Japan. The film is celebrated as a masterpiece of Indian animation storytelling and is fondly remembered by the 80s generation as a brilliant representation of unity in diversity.

The Jungle Book is a 1967 American animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Productions. Inspired by Rudyard Kipling's book of the same name, it is the 19th Disney animated feature film. Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, it was the last film to be produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production. The plot follows Mowgli, a feral child raised in the Indian jungle by wolves, as his friends Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear try to convince him to leave the jungle before the evil tiger Shere Khan arrives.

Before the switch from direct-to-video to feature film, the Toy Story 2 crew had been on its own, placed in a new building that was well-separated from the rest of the company by railroad tracks. "We were just the small film and we were off playing in our sandbox," co-producer Karen Jackson said.[5] Lasseter looked closely at every shot that had already been animated and called for tweaks throughout. The film reused digital elements from Toy Story but, true to the company's "prevailing culture of perfectionism, [...] it reused less of Toy Story than might be expected".[17] Character models received major upgrades internally and shaders went through revisions to bring about subtle improvements. The team freely borrowed models from other productions, such as Geri from Pixar's 1997 short Geri's Game, who became the Cleaner in Toy Story 2.[17] Supervising animator Glenn McQueen inspired the animators to do spectacular work in the short amount of time given, assigning different shots to suit each animators' strengths.[18]

His first notable role was as Nihaal, the male lead's best friend in Shree. Then he entered as a new intern in Dill Mill Gayye season 2. Both his roles are comical. He has acted in the movie Vishwavinayak as a child artist.[1] He acted in the movie Hide & Seek.[1] He has also acted in many popular advertisements including Tata Sky ad where he shared screen space with Aamir Khan. most popular add is Cadbury shots man me laddoo foota He had also appeared in SAB TV's serial, Pritam Pyare Aur Woh as the main lead character Pyaare. Along with these serials, he also was the supporting lead in Colors Mrs. Pammi Pyarelal He is currently on Zee TV's Yeh Vaada Raha as Jatin

The song's production process was arduous, with West and his team mixing the track reportedly over 75 times, including after its release as a single. Although he worked with eight different audio engineers and eleven different mix engineers around the world for the track, West still felt dissatisfied with the results and decided to enlist the aid of record producer Timbaland in redoing its drum programming prior to the release of Graduation. West felt "Stronger" paled in comparison to the sampled original, but Daft Punk were delighted by the song, leading to future collaborations. The single's music video was directed by Hype Williams, features sci-fi imagery based on the 1988 anime film Akira, and was shot largely in Tokyo, Japan. Kanye West's use of shutter shades in the music video became a signature of his in the late 2000s.

The comic series was started by Anant Pai in an attempt to teach Indian children about their cultural heritage. He was shocked that Indian students could answer questions on Greek and Roman mythology, but were ignorant of their own history, mythology and folklore. It so happened that a quiz contest aired on Doordarshan in February 1967, in which participants could easily answer questions pertaining to Greek mythology, but were unable to reply to the question "In the Ramayana, who was Rama's mother?".[4][5]

Amar Chitra Katha ("Immortal Captivating (or Picture) Stories") is one of India's largest selling comic book series, with more than 90 million copies sold in 20 Indian languages.[1] Founded in 1967, the imprint has more than 400 titles that retell stories from the great Indian epics, mythology, history, folklore, and fables in a comic book format. It was created by Anant Pai, and published by India Book House. In 2007, the imprint and all its titles were acquired by a new venture called ACK Media. On 17 September 2008, a new website by ACK-media was launched.[2][3]

Films intended for the public were often meant to build morale. They allowed Americans to express their anger and frustration through ridicule and humor. Many films simply reflected the war culture and were pure entertainment. Others carried strong messages meant to arouse public involvement or set a public mood. Cartoons such as Bugs Bunny Bond Rally and Foney Fables pushed viewers to buy war bonds, while Scrap Happy Daffy encouraged the donation of scrap metal, and Disney's The Spirit of '43 implored viewers to pay their taxes.

While working at the Guild Bascom & Bonfigli / Dancer Fitzgerald Sample agency, Luckey first collaborated with copywriter Don Hadley.[5] The two became lifelong friends until Hadley's death in 2007.[1] After leaving the agency, Hadley and Luckey co-created numerous short films for Sesame Street.[2]

The music video for "Hunter" was directed by longtime collaborator Paul White from Me Company, the design firm that produced the artwork of Homogenic and Post, and their respective singles. Computer animation was handled by Digital Domain. The live-action portion of the video was shot in London in 12 takes, with Björk performing in front of a green screen; she wore makeup to simulate baldness and tracking markers were applied to her head and face for subsequent computer graphics work.[24] A second performance was later shot with the singer's face marked up with infrared dots as a reference for animators to create convincing facial contortions, and a paper clay polar bear head was scanned next to Björk's head for modeling guidelines.[24]

The film is often credited with making Amitabh Bachchan a "superstar", two years after he became a star with Zanjeer (1973).[101][114] Some of the supporting actors remained etched in public memory as the characters they played in Sholay; for example, Mac Mohan continued to be referred to as "Sambha", even though his character had just one line.[115] Major and minor characters continue to be used in commercials, promos, films and sitcoms.[38][116] Amjad Khan acted in many villainous roles later in his career. He also played Gabbar Singh again in the 1991 spoof Ramgarh Ke Sholay, and reprised the role in commercials.[117] The British Film Institute in 2002 wrote that fear of Gabbar Singh "is still invoked by mothers to put their children to sleep".[118] The 2012 film Gabbar Singh, named after the character, became the highest grossing Telugu film up to that point.[119] Comedian Jagdeep, who played Soorma Bhopali in the film, attempted to use his Sholay success to create a spinoff. He directed and played the lead role in the 1988 film Soorma Bhopali, in which Dharmendra and Bachchan had cameos.[120]


Question:
Is Greenland part of Europe or North America? (Note: The provided question and the similar question are identical in this case, as no changes were made to the length, text complexity, or semantic style.)

Another example:
**Question**: what is the capital of peru
**Similar Question**: What is Peru's capital city?

Greenland, an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, is situated between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Although geographically part of North America, Greenland has had a long-standing political and cultural connection with Europe, particularly with Norway, Denmark, and Iceland, for over a thousand years. The island's population is predominantly Inuit, whose ancestors started migrating from Canada in the 13th century and eventually spread across the entire island.

From the most northerly point, Ras ben Sakka in Tunisia (37°21' N), to the most southerly point, Cape Agulhas in South Africa (34°51'15" S), is a distance of approximately 8,000 km (5,000 mi);[76] from Cape Verde, 17°33'22" W, the westernmost point, to Ras Hafun in Somalia, 51°27'52" E, the most easterly projection, is a distance of approximately 7,400 km (4,600 mi).[77] The coastline is 26,000 km (16,000 mi) long, and the absence of deep indentations of the shore is illustrated by the fact that Europe, which covers only 10,400,000 km2 (4,000,000 sq mi) – about a third of the surface of Africa – has a coastline of 32,000 km (20,000 mi).[77]

The continent became a battlefield of the Cold War in the late 20th century. Some democratically elected governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay were overthrown or displaced by military dictatorships in the 1960s and 1970s. To curtail opposition, their governments detained tens of thousands of political prisoners, many of whom were tortured and/or killed on inter-state collaboration. Economically, they began a transition to neoliberal economic policies. They placed their own actions within the US Cold War doctrine of "National Security" against internal subversion. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Peru suffered from an internal conflict. South America, like many other continents, became a battlefield for the superpowers during the Cold War in the late 20th century. In the postwar period, the expansion of communism became the greatest political issue for both the United States and governments in the region. The start of the Cold War forced governments to choose between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The Bahamas are a group of about 700 islands and cays in the western Atlantic Ocean, of which only between 30 and 40 are inhabited. The largest of the islands is Andros Island, located 200 kilometres (120 miles) southeast of Florida. The Bimini islands are to its northwest. To the North is the island of Grand Bahama, home to the second-largest city in the country, Freeport. The island of Great Abaco is to its east. In the far south is the island of Great Inagua, the second-largest island in the country. Other notable islands include Eleuthera, Cat Island, San Salvador Island, Acklins, Crooked Island, and Mayaguana. Nassau is the capital and largest city, located on New Providence. The islands have a tropical climate, moderated by the Gulf Stream.

The seven regions considered in the following table are the six traditional ones (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Oceania), plus Middle East (i.e. countries with Islamic majority from the Mediterranean to Iran).

Ankara (English /ˈæŋkərə/;[2] Turkish [ˈɑŋkɑɾɑ] ( listen)), formerly known as Ancyra (Greek: Ἄγκυρα) and Angora, is the capital of the Republic of Turkey. With a population of 4,587,558 in the urban center (2014) and 5,150,072 in its province (2015),[3] it is Turkey's second largest city after former imperial capital Istanbul, having overtaken İzmir.

European diseases (smallpox, influenza, measles and typhus) to which the native populations had no resistance were the overwhelming cause of the depopulation of the Native American population.[42] Cruel systems of forced labor (such as encomiendas and mining industry's mita) under Spanish control also contributed to depopulation. Lower bound estimates speak of a decline in the population of around 20â€“50 per cent, whereas high estimates arrive at 90 per cent.[43] Following this, African slaves, who had developed immunity to these diseases, were quickly brought in to replace them.[citation needed]

While millennia of independent development were interrupted by the Portuguese and Spanish colonization of the late 15th century and the demographic collapse that followed, the continent's mestizo and indigenous cultures remain quite distinct from those of their colonizers. Through the trans-Atlantic slave trade, South America (especially Brazil) became the home of millions of people of the African diaspora. The mixing of races led to new social structures.

The primary source for watershed and discharge data in the table below is Rivers of North America. Conflicting data from other sources, if the difference is greater than 10 percent, is reported in the notes. Discharge refers to the flow at the mouth.[n 1] In the "States, provinces, and image" column, the superscripts "s" and "m" indicate "source" and "mouth". Non-U.S. states appear in italics. Except in the "States, provinces, and image" column, abbreviations are as follows: "km" for "kilometer", "mi" for "mile", "s" for "second", "m" for "meter", and "ft" for "foot".

Belgium (/ˈbɛldʒəm/ ( listen)),[A] officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi) and has a population of about 11 million people. Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups: the Dutch-speaking, mostly Flemish community, which constitutes about 59 percent of the population, and the French-speaking, mostly Walloon population, which comprises about 40 percent of all Belgians. Additionally, there is a small ~1 percent group of German speakers who live in the East Cantons.

In the last million years since the Late Miocene, South America became connected with the continent of North America via the Panama Block that closed the marine Bolivar Trough, leading to the Great American Interchange, the interchange of biota from both continents.[2] The first species discovered to have made the northward migration was Pliometanastes, a fossil ground sloth species, roughly the size of a modern black bear.[2] Several migrations to the Southern Hemisphere were undertaken by tougher, North American mammal carnivores; fewer species migrated in the opposite direction from south to north. The result of the intrusion of North American fauna was that hundreds of South American species became extinct in a relatively short time and that about 60% of present-day South American mammals have evolved from North American species.[3] However, some species were able to adapt and spread into North America. Apart from Pliometanastes, during the Irvingtonian stage of the mammal land stages, around 1.9Â Ma, species as Pampatherium, a giant armadillo, ground sloth Megatherium, giant anteater Myrmecophaga, a Neogene capybara (Hydrochoerus), Meizonyx, opossum Didelphis, and Mixotoxodon followed the route north.[4] The terror bird Titanis was the only discovered South American carnivore species who made the journey into North America.[5]


Question: When is an articulated lorry most at risk of jackknifing?

Jackknifing in Articulated Lorries
An articulated lorry is most likely to jackknife during a skid, when the trailer pushes the towing vehicle from behind, causing it to spin around and face backwards. This phenomenon, which resembles the acute angle of a folding pocket knife, can be triggered by equipment failure, improper braking techniques, or hazardous road conditions such as ice. In dire situations, a driver might intentionally attempt to jackknife the vehicle as a last resort to stop it after brake failure. A jackknife event in a heavy vehicle can be catastrophic for the driver, as the cab can be crushed or severed as it violently swings and attempts to fold under the trailer.

A 'light' symmetrical wing-clip will allow a bird to fly down and land safely while indoors. However such a clip may not prevent the bird from flying when outdoors, since lift is generated in proportion to wind speed. Many escaped birds which are recovered are found to have been clipped. So, while a light clip allows downward flight indoors, it does not prevent a bird gaining lift if it should escape outdoors. Conversely, a more severe clip will certainly render a bird flightless, but it increases the risk of injury if the bird falls and hits a hard surface. In addition to the physical effects of wing-clipping, there can be adverse behavioural effects. Birds use flight as an instinctive reflex action and as their first means of escaping any threat: they take to the air to fly upwards and away from the source of the threat; their fear then dissipates. Where this behaviour is prevented by wing-clipping, this innate reflex action is denied the bird, and its fear will not subside. This may cause behavioural problems for the afflicted bird.[3] When a bird needs to reduce its speed during flight, it employs a 'reverse thrust' action by extending its wing at the wrist joint and using the drag of its primaries as air brakes.[4] While the reduced function of the clipped bird's primaries prevent propulsion and therefore lift, this also reduces braking abilities, so clipped birds may crash-land at higher speeds than full-winged birds. Clipped birds should not be taken outdoors unrestrained, as even clipped birds have been known to fly away when spooked outdoors.

In larger pastures, particularly where a bull is kept with other cattle, the animals may simply be fed from a pickup truck or tractor, the vehicle itself providing some protection for the humans involved. Generally, bulls kept with cows tend to be less aggressive than those kept alone. In herd situations, cows with young calves are often more dangerous to humans. In the off season, multiple bulls may be kept together in a "bachelor herd".

There are several outcomes of gear shifting in motor vehicles. In the case of vehicle noise emissions, there are higher sound levels emitted when the vehicle is engaged in lower gears. The design life of the lower ratio gears is shorter, so cheaper gears may be used, which tend to generate more noise due to smaller overlap ratio and a lower mesh stiffness etc. than the helical gears used for the high ratios. This fact has been used to analyze vehicle-generated sound since the late 1960s, and has been incorporated into the simulation of urban roadway noise and corresponding design of urban noise barriers along roadways.[29]

In the United States, road warning signs with the advisory "Bridge May Be Icy" indicate potentially dangerous roadways above bridge structures.

Although it was uncommon, the drive bands could fall out of adjustment, allowing the car to creep, particularly when cold, adding another hazard to attempting to start the car: a person cranking the engine could be forced backward while still holding the crank as the car crept forward, although it was nominally in neutral. As the car utilized a wet clutch, this condition could also occur in cold weather, when the thickened oil prevents the clutch discs from slipping freely. Power reached the differential through a single universal joint attached to a torque tube which drove the rear axle; some models (typically trucks, but available for cars, as well) could be equipped with an optional two-speed Ruckstell rear axle shifted by a floor-mounted lever which provided an underdrive gear for easier hill climbing. All gears were vanadium steel running in an oil bath.

In Formula One if an accident or inclement weather (typically, heavy rain) prevents normal racing from continuing safely, the Race Director will call for a "safety car" period, which would see marshals wave yellow flags and hold "SC" boards, pending the car in question entering the track. From 2007, all Formula One cars must have LEDs and/or displays fitted to the steering wheel or cockpit, which inform the driver which flags are being waved. A yellow LED is illuminated when the safety car is deployed.

If a leaning ladder is placed at the wrong angle, the risk of a fall is greatly increased. The safest angle for a ladder is 75.5Â°; if it is too shallow, the bottom of the ladder is at risk of sliding, and if it is too steep, the ladder may fall backwards. This angle is achieved by following the 4 to 1 rule for a ladder placed on a vertical wall: for every four feet of vertical height, the ladder foot should move one foot from the wall. Both scenarios can cause significant injury, and are especially important in industries like construction, which require heavy use of ladders.[9]

The Liana endured considerable abuse from the stars while undertaking their laps. In one incident, actor Michael Gambon clipped the final corner, taking the car onto two wheels. It was done in such a spectacular fashion that the corner was named "Gambon Corner". When Lionel Richie drove the Liana, one of the front wheels fell off, invoking Clarkson to coin the term "pulling a Lionel". Trevor Eve also lost a wheel. The former British transport minister Stephen Ladyman added further injury to the Liana by denting the boot when he lost control during practice and slid backwards into a tyre wall. David Soul destroyed the gearbox of two Lianas during his time on the show due to his rough driving style. Patrick Kielty broke the Liana's front suspension during series 4 when he drove on the grass. Christopher Eccleston was the only celebrity to use a Liana with an automatic transmission, because a hesitant Eccleston admitted he was "only qualified to drive an automatic." To accommodate his needs, Top Gear succeeded in borrowing an automatic Liana, of which only 40 existed in the UK. As a reference to his role in Doctor Who, the automatic Liana was shown materialising onto the racing track, with a TARDIS materialisation sound effect played over it.

In the United States, a holder of a driver's license is typically legally allowed to operate a motor vehicle up to 26,000 pounds if no hazardous materials and no more than 16 persons (driver included) are in the vehicle. Most jurisdictions that grant driver's licenses only permit the holder to operate a roadworthy vehicle consisting of four or more wheels. To operate a two-wheel motorized vehicle with a sustainable speed greater than 30 mph (48 km/h) requires an endorsement on the license, typically after successful completion of a theory (written) and practical test.

Gas venting from vehicles powered by LNG may create a flammability hazard if parked indoors for longer than a week. Additionally, due to its low temperature, refueling a LNG-powered vehicle requires training to avoid the risk of frostbite.[103][104]


Question: Who performed "If You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me"?

"If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me" is a song penned by David Bellamy and performed by the American country music duo, The Bellamy Brothers. Initially released in March 1979 as the second single from their album "The Two and Only," this track marked their first number one hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and their second chart-topping success, following their 1976 pop hit "Let Your Love Flow." The song's title, as seen on the original single release, was "... Have a Beautiful Body ...," but it has since been listed as "... Had ..." on the album and in subsequent releases.

"All Through The Night" was the only single released worldwide by Lauper that did not have a music video. It peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Lauper's fourth top five single in the U.S. The song was mostly positively received by critics. An acoustic version was sung by Lauper on her 2005 album, The Body Acoustic. In this version, Shaggy provided backing vocals.

When several of his band members were conscripted into military service during World War II, Williams had trouble with their replacements, and WSFA terminated his contract because of his alcohol abuse. Williams eventually married Audrey Sheppard, who was his manager for nearly a decade. After recording "Never Again" and "Honky Tonkin'" with Sterling Records, he signed a contract with MGM Records. In 1947 he released "Move It on Over", which became a hit, and also joined the Louisiana Hayride radio program.

The original demo of the song was recorded with The Manhattans backing band, "Little Harlem." After hearing a tape of the recording, producer/arranger Bobby Martin decided to re-record the song with MFSB at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia. Recorded in early 1975, Columbia Records officials withheld releasing the song until 14 months later. Lovett had his concerns over when the record came out as well as the record itself. "I was critical, a perfectionist in the studio, and there are still parts of it that make my skin crawl. For example, in one place, the background vocals go off pitch. Somehow, though, that didn't seem to bother anyone else."[1]

The video commences with Till arguing with his girlfriend through a phone call. As soon as Swift, as the protagonist, notices, they begin to communicate by holding up signs through their bedroom windows. Till closes his curtains, and Swift holds up a sign saying, "I love you". As the song's chorus approaches, Swift starts to sing and dance in front of a mirror, changing to different clothing multiple times. Afterward, Swift is sitting in a bench while reading a book. Till arrives and the two converse. Then, Swift, as the antagonist, arrives in a red convertible car and Till gets in it; Swift, the antagonist, kisses him and gives a hostile look towards the protagonist. Suddenly, she is seen cheerleading at a football game while Swift's other persona is in the bleachers, performing in the school band. After scoring the winning touchdown, Till moves toward his girlfriend and finds her flirting with a teammate, resulting in a heated argument which results in their breakup. Meanwhile, Swift, the protagonist stares in amazement. Back in their bedroom windows, they again communicate through signs, Till asked Swift, the protagonist, if she was attending prom and she responded, "no, studying". Swift, however, notices Till has a dejected expression as he leaves and changes her mind. Shortly after, Swift is seen entering prom with a white dress, no longer looking like a nerd, while all her peers stare in amazement. When Till spots her, he walks towards her and Swift, the antagonist in a red dress, attempts to impede him, but he ignores her. Ending the video, Till and Swift reveal folded signs saying "I love you" and kiss. To date, the video has over 770 million views on YouTube, making it the most viewed country song on YouTube.

On November 15, 2004, controversy shrouded Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens when he appeared with actress Nicollette Sheridan (one of the stars of the new hit ABC comedy-drama Desperate Housewives) in an introductory skit which opened that evening's MNF telecast, in which Owens and the Eagles played the Cowboys at Texas Stadium. The skit was widely condemned as being sexually suggestive (see video[5]) and ABC was forced to apologize for airing it (the Eagles went on to win the game, 49-21, with Owens catching three touchdown passes). However, on March 14, 2005, the Federal Communications Commission ruled that the skit did not violate decency standards, because it contained no outright nudity or foul language. Originally, John Madden was supposed to appear in the commercial.

Howard did manual labor while writing songs and pushing his finished material. Eventually he sold some of his compositions and, after a few minor successes, his song, "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down", recorded by Charlie Walker, went to No. 2 on the country music charts in late 1958. A year later Ray Price had a major country hit with "Heartaches By The Number". Simultaneously, a pop version of the song performed by Guy Mitchell went to No. 1 on the pop chart. Buoyed by these two major hits, Howard moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1960. Bringing along a large portfolio of compositions, he signed a contract with Acuff-Rose Music. Howard's songs were so immediately successful that, in 1961 alone, he had fifteen of his compositions on the country music charts, earning him ten BMI awards. Among his biggest hits was "I Fall to Pieces", co-written with Hank Cochran and recorded by Patsy Cline. Cline also recorded his "He Called Me Baby", which was later a No. 1 C&W hit for Charlie Rich as "She Called Me Baby".

"Fool (If You Think It's Over)" was the lead single from Rea's debut album Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? which was recorded at producer Gus Dudgeon's Thames Valley recording studio The Mill. The song's inspiration was the experience Rea's younger sister Paula had had some years previously of being devastated at losing her first boyfriend, "Fool..."'s lyrics being the advice (real or imagined) with which Rea had responded to his sister's experience.[2] Rea would recall that he had written "Fool..." as a song which Al Green might record:[3] (quote:) "I’d always seen it as a Memphis [soul] song [but] I never had the chance to voice my opinion about what I thought about the production" of his own recording of the song [2] of which Rea has elsewhere stated: "[It was in the] wrong key. It ended up being this huge California thing [see California Sound]. It’s the only track I never played guitar on which tells you something about the spirit of it. On top of that, it was just a huge hit. So there was nothing I could do. It was like: 'This is not me!'"[4] Rea did play keyboards on "Fool..." with the track's background vocals provided by Read and the Mill's assistant engineer Stuart Epps.

Millie Jackson, however, took a somewhat different approach. On both studio and live recordings, her version is typically divided into three parts: "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right," "The Rap," and "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right (Reprise)," which together have a running time of over 11 minutes.[6] The first and third parts include the song more or less as originally written, while the second part was written by Jackson herself. Titled "The Rap," the middle segment is a monologue in which an unrepentant Jackson discusses her status as the "other woman" and why she loves it.[7]

In November 1991, the single "Justified & Ancient (Stand by The JAMs)" was released, featuring the lead vocals of country music singer Tammy Wynette, introduced in the sleevenotes as "the first lady of country". This was an upbeat and funky version of the song, the subtitle referencing Tammy Wynette's signature song "Stand by Your Man", and the inclusion of subtle pedal steel guitar also referencing Wynette's country origins. This was the final single to be released commercially by The KLF, following the US release of "America: What Time Is Love?".

Andy Hallett, the actor best known for playing the part of Lorne ('The Host') in the television series Angel, sang the song in that series' final episode.  The politician-spoofing BBC panel show If I Ruled the World was named after the song.


Question: What is the minimum age requirement to purchase a BB gun?

Legal restrictions on purchasing BB guns
Although federal law does not categorize BB guns as firearms, minors are often prohibited from buying them in stores. However, individuals of any age can use BB guns with parental consent if they are under 18. State laws generally align with federal regulations, but certain cities may have stricter definitions of firearms that encompass BB guns, subjecting them to additional restrictions. For instance, in California, BB guns can only be purchased by individuals aged 18 or older. Despite this, there are no specific laws dictating the minimum age for selling BB guns. Typically, toy, replica, and imitation firearms must feature an orange tip during transportation and shipping.

Possession of a dangerous weapon by anyone under 18 is a class A misdemeanor. Giving/loaning/selling a dangerous weapon to someone under 18 is a class I felony.

Within the United Kingdom, side-by-side, over-under, bolt action and lever action shotguns are required to conform to the specification of a 24" minimum barrel length if held on a shotgun certificate. If held on a firearms certificate (the applicant having demonstrated 'good reason' for possession), they must comply with the standard configuration of 12" minimum barrel length, 24" minimum overall length, common with other Section 1 firearms.

The ACT is governed by the Australian Federal Police; all airsoft guns that resemble semi-automatic or automatic military rifles or shotguns adapted for military purpose are considered prohibited weapons, as are an imitation or replica of any firearm (including an imitation or replica pistol, shortened firearm, machine gun or submachine gun) unless it is of a type approved by the Registrar.[7]

In March, the Florida Legislature passed a bill titled the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act. It raises the minimum age for buying rifles to 21, establishes waiting periods and background checks, provides a program for the arming of some school employees and hiring of school police, bans bump stocks, and bars some potentially violent or mentally unhealthy people arrested under certain laws from possessing guns. In all, it allocated around $400 million.[167] Rick Scott signed the bill into law on March 9.[7] The same day, the NRA challenged the law by filing a lawsuit alleging that the ban on gun sales to people under 21 is unconstitutional because it violates the rights that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments conferred to 18- to 21-year-olds, who were classified as adults.[8]

AEG - 1,49J (joules) - max 1,56J Machinegun - 1,49J (joula) - max 1,56J DMR - 2,32J (joules) â€“ max 2,42J (minimum allowed range of action is 20 m, mandatory sidearm and integrated optics to enlarge ) Bolt-action - 3,34J (joules) - max 3,46J (minimum allowed range of action is 30 m, mandatory sidearm and integrated optics to enlarge )

The legal status of Airsoft is that it is not legal to own, trade, transport, display, or play openly.

The legal age to purchase and consume alcohol in Maine is 21, which was instituted in 1987.[20] Minors may consume alcohol at home in the presence of the minor's parents.[21]  Minors may not transport liquor unless required due to the minor's employment, or at the request of their parent, guardian, or custodian.[22]

The minimum driving age in the United Kingdom is 16 for mopeds under 50 cc (3.1 cu in), and 17 for cars and motorcycles. Access to motorcycles producing more than 25 kW (34 hp) is restricted to riders with two years experience or aged 21.[23] The British Overseas Territories and the British Crown dependencies issue their own driving licences. There is no legal requirement for a non-professional driver to carry a driving licence in the UK whilst driving, although it must be produced at a police station within seven days, if required to do so by a police officer.[24]

Certain antique firearms (generally muzzle loading black powder flintlock firearms manufactured before 1 January 1901) can in some states be legally held without a licence.[25] In other states they are subject to the same requirements as modern firearms.[26] All single-shot muzzleloading firearms manufactured before 1 January 1901 are considered antique firearms. Four states require licences for antique percussion revolvers and cartridge repeating firearms, but in Queensland and Victoria a person may possess such a firearm without a licence, so long as the firearm is registered (percussion revolvers require a licence in Victoria).

Importation of airsoft guns (referred officially as toy models by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection), regardless of their legal status by state, requires an Australian Customs B709 Importation of Firearms â€“ Police Confirmation and Certification Form.[2] These forms can be obtained from the relevant state's police department, however some states may require operators hold a valid license for the class of firearm wished to import before the forms will be issued even though airsoft possession is generally not considered a valid reason for obtaining a firearms license.


Question: What is the density of osmium, which is the densest metal?

Osmium, a chemical element with the symbol Os and atomic number 76, is the densest naturally occurring element, boasting a density of 22.59 g/cm3. This hard, brittle, bluish-white transition metal, found primarily as a trace element in alloys and platinum ores, is utilized in manufacturing for its extreme durability and hardness, particularly in alloys with platinum, iridium, and other platinum-group metals for applications such as fountain pen nib tipping and electrical contacts.

In 1901, at the 3rd CGPM conference, the litre was redefined as the space occupied by 1 kg of pure water at the temperature of its maximum density (3.98 °C) under a pressure of 1 atm. This made the litre equal to about 6997100002800000000♠1.000028 dm3 (earlier reference works usually put it at 6997100002700000000♠1.000027 dm3).

Otherwise, metallic bonding can be very strong, even in molten metals, such as Gallium. Even though gallium will melt from the heat of one's hand just above room temperature, its boiling point is not far from that of copper. Molten gallium is therefore a very nonvolatile liquid thanks to its strong metallic bonding.

Notable exceptions are reddish copper and yellowish gold. The reason for their color is that there is an upper limit to the frequency of the light that metallic electrons can readily respond to, the plasmon frequency. At the plasmon frequency, the frequency-dependent dielectric function of the free electron gas goes from negative (reflecting) to positive (transmitting); higher frequency photons are not reflected at the surface, and do not contribute to the color of the metal. There are some materials like indium tin oxide (ITO) that are metallic conductors (actually degenerate semiconductors) for which this threshold is in the infrared,[9] which is why they are transparent in the visible, but good mirrors in the IR.

To alleviate confusion, it is typical when publishing non-avoirdupois weights to mention the name of the system along with the unit. Precious metals, for example, are often weighed in "troy ounces", because just "ounce" would be more likely to be assumed to mean an avoirdupois ounce.

Osmium is obtained commercially as a by-product from nickel and copper mining and processing. During electrorefining of copper and nickel, noble metals such as silver, gold and the platinum group metals, together with non-metallic elements such as selenium and tellurium settle to the bottom of the cell as anode mud, which forms the starting material for their extraction.[46][47] Separating the metals requires that they first be brought into solution. Several methods can achieve this, depending on the separation process and the composition of the mixture. Two representative methods are fusion with sodium peroxide followed by dissolution in aqua regia, and dissolution in a mixture of chlorine with hydrochloric acid.[44][48] Osmium, ruthenium, rhodium and iridium can be separated from platinum, gold and base metals by their insolubility in aqua regia, leaving a solid residue. Rhodium can be separated from the residue by treatment with molten sodium bisulfate. The insoluble residue, containing Ru, Os and Ir, is treated with sodium oxide, in which Ir is insoluble, producing water-soluble Ru and Os salts. After oxidation to the volatile oxides, RuO
4 is separated from OsO
4 by precipitation of (NH4)3RuCl6 with ammonium chloride.

When comparing periodic trends in the size of atoms it is often desirable to apply so-called Goldschmidt correction, which converts the radii to the values the atoms would have if they were 12-coordinated. Since metallic radii are always biggest for the highest coordination number, correction for less dense coordinations involves multiplying by x, where 0 < x < 1. Specifically, for CN = 4, x = 0.88; for CN = 6, x = 0.96, and for CN = 8, x = 0.97. The correction is named after Victor Goldschmidt who obtained the numerical values quoted above.[7]

The proportions of all types of matter and energy have changed over the history of the Universe.[73] Today, ordinary matter, which includes atoms, stars, galaxies, and life, accounts for only 4.9% of the contents of the Universe.[10] The present overall density of this type of matter is very low, roughly 4.5 × 10−31 grams per cubic centimetre, corresponding to a density of the order of only one proton for every four cubic meters of volume.[8] The nature of both dark energy and dark matter is unknown. Dark matter, a mysterious form of matter that has not yet been identified, accounts for 26.8% of the contents. Dark energy, which is the energy of empty space and is causing the expansion of the Universe to accelerate, accounts for the remaining 68.3% of the contents.[10][74][75]

In contrast to a gas, the pressure and the density are provided by separate species, the pressure by the electrons and the density by the ions. The two are coupled through a fluctuating electric field.

Litres are most commonly used for items (such as fluids and solids that can be poured) which are measured by the capacity or size of their container, whereas cubic metres (and derived units) are most commonly used for items measured either by their dimensions or their displacements. The litre is often also used in some calculated measurements, such as density (kg/L), allowing an easy comparison with the density of water.

These casting alloys are mostly used for making crowns, bridges and dentures. Titanium, usually commercially pure but sometimes a 90% alloy, is used as the anchor for dental implants as it is biocompatible and can integrate into bone.


Question: What is the density of osmium, which is the densest metal?

Osmium, with its blue-gray hue, is recognized as the densest stable element, boasting a density nearly double that of lead and marginally higher than iridium. Precise density calculations derived from X-ray diffraction data reveal a density of 7004225620000000000♠22.562±0.009 g/cm3 for iridium, while osmium's density is calculated at 7004225870000000000♠22.587±0.009 g/cm3, further solidifying its status as the densest metal.

This is not a close packed structure. In this each metal atom is at the centre of a cube with 8 nearest neighbors, however the 6 atoms at the centres of the adjacent cubes are only approximately 15% further away so the coordination number can therefore be considered to be 14 when these are included. Note that if the body centered cubic unit cell is compressed along one 4 fold axis the structure becomes face centred cubic (cubic close packed).

Beryllium mirrors are of particular interest. Large-area mirrors, frequently with a honeycomb support structure, are used, for example, in meteorological satellites where low weight and long-term dimensional stability are critical. Smaller beryllium mirrors are used in optical guidance systems and in fire-control systems, e.g. in the German-made Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 main battle tanks. In these systems, very rapid movement of the mirror is required which again dictates low mass and high rigidity. Usually the beryllium mirror is coated with hard electroless nickel plating which can be more easily polished to a finer optical finish than beryllium. In some applications, though, the beryllium blank is polished without any coating. This is particularly applicable to cryogenic operation where thermal expansion mismatch can cause the coating to buckle.[7]

In the late-seventies, two of the international joint ventures succeeded in collecting several hundred ton quantities of manganese nodules from the abyssal plains (18,000 feet, 5.5Â km + depth) of the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.[9] Significant quantities of nickel (the primary target) as well as copper and cobalt were subsequently extracted from this "ore" using both pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods. In the course of these projects, a number of ancillary developments evolved, including the use of near-bottom towed side-scan sonar array to assay the nodule population density on the abyssal silt whilst simultaneously performing a sub-bottom profile with a derived, vertically oriented, low-frequency acoustic beam.[citation needed]

To alleviate confusion, it is typical when publishing non-avoirdupois weights to mention the name of the system along with the unit. Precious metals, for example, are often weighed in "troy ounces", because just "ounce" would be more likely to be assumed to mean an avoirdupois ounce.

When comparing periodic trends in the size of atoms it is often desirable to apply so-called Goldschmidt correction, which converts the radii to the values the atoms would have if they were 12-coordinated. Since metallic radii are always biggest for the highest coordination number, correction for less dense coordinations involves multiplying by x, where 0 < x < 1. Specifically, for CN = 4, x = 0.88; for CN = 6, x = 0.96, and for CN = 8, x = 0.97. The correction is named after Victor Goldschmidt who obtained the numerical values quoted above.[7]

The production of pure alkali metals is somewhat complicated due to their extreme reactivity with commonly used substances, such as water.[5][8] From their silicate ores, all the stable alkali metals may be obtained the same way: sulfuric acid is first used to dissolve the desired alkali metal ion and aluminium(III) ions from the ore (leaching), whereupon basic precipitation removes aluminium ions from the mixture by precipitating it as the hydroxide. The remaining insoluble alkali metal carbonate is then precipitated selectively; the salt is then dissolved in hydrochloric acid to produce the chloride. The result is then left to evaporate and the alkali metal can then be isolated.[8] Lithium and sodium are typically isolated through electrolysis from their liquid chlorides, with calcium chloride typically added to lower the melting point of the mixture. The heavier alkali metals, however, is more typically isolated in a different way, where a reducing agent (typically sodium for potassium and magnesium or calcium for the heaviest alkali metals) is used to reduce the alkali metal chloride. The liquid or gaseous product (the alkali metal) then undergoes fractional distillation for purification.[8]

The d-block elements are all metals which exhibit two or more ways of forming chemical bonds. Because there is a relatively small difference in the energy of the different d-orbital electrons, the number of electrons participating in chemical bonding can vary. This results in the same element exhibiting two or more oxidation states, which determines the type and number of its nearest neighbors in chemical compounds.

Metalloids have properties of both metals and nonmetals, but the term 'metalloid' lacks a strict definition. All of the elements that are commonly recognized as metalloids are in the p-block: boron, silicon, germanium, arsenic, antimony, and tellurium. Metalloids tend to have lower electrical conductivity than metals, yet often higher than nonmetals. They tend to form chemical bonds similarly to nonmetals, but may dissolve in metallic alloys without covalent or ionic bonding. Metalloid additives can improve properties of metallic alloys, sometimes paradoxically to their own apparent properties. Some may give a better electrical conductivity, higher corrosion resistance, ductility, or fluidity in molten state, etc. to the alloy.

Before 1918, many professionals and scientists using the metric system of units defined the standard reference conditions of temperature and pressure for expressing gas volumes as being 15 °C (288.15 K; 59.00 °F) and 101.325 kPa (1.00 atm; 760 Torr). During those same years, the most commonly used standard reference conditions for people using the imperial or U.S. customary systems was 60 °F (15.56 °C; 288.71 K) and 14.696 psi (1 atm) because it was almost universally used by the oil and gas industries worldwide. The above definitions are no longer the most commonly used in either system of units.[3]

The intermetallics form distinct phases, usually as inclusions in a ductile solid solution matrix, but also can form the matrix itself with metal inclusions or form crystalline matter with different intermetallics. Intermetallics are often hard and brittle. Finely distributed intermetallics in a ductile matrix yield a hard alloy while coarse structure gives a softer alloy. A range of intermetallics often forms between the metal and the solder, with increasing proportion of the metal; e.g. forming a structure of Cu-Cu3Sn-Cu6Sn5-Sn.


Question: When did jelly beans become associated with Easter?

Jelly beans, with their egg-like shape, became associated with Easter celebrations in the United States during the 1930s, according to most historians. Although the candy was first mentioned in 1861 by Boston confectioner William Schrafft, who encouraged people to send his jelly beans to soldiers during the American Civil War, it wasn't until July 5, 1905, that jelly beans were advertised in the Chicago Daily News. The ad promoted bulk jelly beans sold by volume for nine cents per pound, as detailed in the book The Century in Food: America's Fads and Favorites.

The recipe for the soft drink Pepsi was first developed in the 1880s by a pharmacist and industrialist from New Bern, North Carolina. He coined the name "Pepsi-Cola" in 1898. As the cola developed in popularity, he created the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1902 and registered a patent for his recipe in 1903.[5] The Pepsi-Cola Company was first incorporated in the state of Delaware in 1919.[6] The company went bankrupt in 1931 and on June 8 of that year, the trademark and syrup recipe were purchased by Charles Guth, who owned a syrup manufacturing business in Baltimore. Guth was also the president of Loft, Incorporated, a leading candy manufacturer, and he used the company's labs and chemists to reformulate the syrup. He further contracted to stock the soda in Loft's large chain of candy shops and restaurants, which were known for their soda fountains, used Loft resources to promote Pepsi, and moved the soda company to a location close by Loft's own facilities in New York City. In 1935, the shareholders of Loft sued Guth for his 91% stake of Pepsi-Cola Company in the landmark case Guth v. Loft Inc. Loft won the suit and on May 29, 1941 formally absorbed Pepsi into Loft, which was then re-branded as Pepsi-Cola Company that same year. Loft restaurants and candy stores were spun off at this time. In the early 1960s, Pepsi-Cola's product lines expanded with the creation of Diet Pepsi and purchase of Mountain Dew.[7]

Examples of candies and treats associated with Christmas are marzipan, toffee, knäck (quite similar to butterscotch), nuts and fruits: figs, chocolate, dates and oranges decorated with cloves.

In the 1930s, Vladimir met Rudolph Kunett, a Russian who had emigrated to America in the 1920s and became a successful businessman in New York City. The Kunett family had been a supplier of grains to Smirnoff in Moscow before the Revolution. In 1933, Vladimir sold Kunett the right to begin producing Smirnoff vodka in North America. He then returned to the United States, quit his sales job, and established his first North American distillery in Bethel, Connecticut, USA in 1933. However, the business in America was not as successful as Kunett had hoped. In 1938 Kunett could not afford to pay for the necessary sales licences, and contacted John Martin, president of Heublein. Heublein was a company that specialized in the import and export of liquors and foreign foods. Using the $14,000 that the Heublein company made from a new product that ended up saving them from bankruptcy, A.1. Steak Sauce, Martin bought the rights to Smirnoff in 1939. His board thought he was mad. Americans were traditionally whiskey drinkers unfamiliar with vodka and so sales were very slow. In a marketing move they changed the product to use whiskey corks instead and branded it as a "white whiskey" with "no taste, no smell".[6] Sales picked up considerably after that.

In the United States, Bush's (Bush Brothers and Company), Van Camp's, B&M (Burnham & Morrill Inc.), Allens, Inc., the H. J. Heinz Company, and the Campbell's Soup Company are well-known producers or brands of packaged baked beans. B&M specializes in Boston-style baked beans often sold in beanpot-shaped jars, and canned brown bread, a traditional regional accompaniment to baked beans, whereas Bush and Van Camp produce multiple flavor varieties of canned beans, some styles using cured bacon to flavor the products.

The National Holiday Laws, promulgated in July 1948, declared nine official holidays. Since many were concentrated in a week spanning the end of April to early May, many leisure-based industries experienced spikes in their revenues. The film industry was no exception. In 1951, the film Jiyū Gakkō recorded higher ticket sales during this holiday-filled week than any other time in the year (including New Year's and Obon). This prompted the managing director of Daiei Film Co., Ltd. to dub the week "Golden Week" based on the Japanese radio lingo “golden time,” which denotes the period with the highest listener ratings.[5] At the time, April 29 was a national holiday celebrating the birth of the Shōwa Emperor. Upon his death in 1989, the day was renamed "Greenery Day."[3] In 2007, Greenery Day was moved to May 4, and April 29 was renamed Shōwa Day to commemorate the late Emperor.[3]

Johnson's Baby is an American brand of baby cosmetics and skin care products owned by Johnson & Johnson. The brand dates back to 1893 when Johnson's Baby Powder was introduced. Product line consists of baby powder, shampoos, body lotions, massage oil, shower gels and baby wipes. The brand has reputation for making baby products that are "exceptionally pure and safe" since at least the 1980s.[1]

The Milky Way bar was created in 1923 by Frank C. Mars and originally manufactured in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The name and taste were taken from a famed malted milk drink (milkshake) of the day, which was in turn named after the Earthâ€™s galaxy.[1][2]

However, marketing for snack foods such as Milky Way has altered since the 1980s, with its focus now being the reverse of what it was. Instead of Milky Way and similar foods (e.g. the Cadbury Fudge) being snack foods that won't prevent one from eating normal meals, modern marketing defines these snacks as ones that will reduce hunger at mealtimes and curb the appetite in-between.[13] By 2003, sweet marketers such as Andrew Harrison of Nestlé were seeing a reduced social stigma attached to not consuming three square meals a day, and thus the falling out of favor of the old Milky Way slogan.[14]

As the glass craft gained knowledge the bottles became thinner. Quality improved in glass formulations and purity, as well as strides in technical improvements in glass-making techniques all aid in placing a piece of sea glass in a loosely defined era. Along with knowledge of historical trading partners that visited the search locations, production sources can be deduced, but a single feature is not a reliable indicator of origin. Many similar features over a broad sample narrow the choices. Particular substances became associated with certain color, and shapes of bottles.[13] These all help define country of origin. Medicines and liquor were often sold in green bottles; olive green was the most common color for gin, but brown was also used as well as cobalt blue. Whiskey was in green and brown bottles also. The liquor bottles for sea shipment were oftentimes square so as to use space more efficiently in shipping crates. Poisons were almost always in blue bottles. Round, mallet, and squat cylinder black glass bottles were all made,[13] and shape correlates to age of the bottles with some overlap. Correlations exist today: brown beer bottles, and of course the globally recognized shape of the Coca-Cola green glass bottle.

When it was first published in "The Jingle Book" in 1899 it read:[1]


Question: Who introduced the first Christmas tree to the United Kingdom?

The tradition of having a Christmas tree in the UK was introduced by Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III, who hailed from Mecklenburg-Strelitz in Germany. In 1800, she introduced the custom of having a Christmas tree at a children's party she hosted. Initially, this tradition was limited to the royal family and did not immediately become widespread among the British public. Queen Victoria, who was familiar with the custom from her childhood, continued the tradition by having a Christmas tree in her room every year. Her excitement about the tree is evident in her journal entry from Christmas Eve 1832.

Æthelberht of Kent's queen Bertha, daughter of Charibert, one of the Merovingian kings of the Franks, had brought a chaplain (Liudhard) with her. Bertha had restored a church remaining from Roman times to the east of Canterbury and dedicated it to Saint Martin of Tours, the patronal saint of the Merovingian royal family. This church, Saint Martin's, is the oldest church in England still in use today. Æthelberht himself, though a pagan, allowed his wife to worship God in her own way, at St Martin's. Probably influenced by his wife, Æthelberht asked Pope Gregory I to send missionaries, and in 596 the Pope dispatched Augustine, together with a party of monks.

The tree, usually a Norway spruce 69 to 100 feet (21 to 30Â m) tall, has been a national tradition each year since 1933.[3] The 2017 Christmas Tree Lighting took place on November 29, 2017; the tree remains on display until January 7, 2018.

Tinsel and several types of garland or ribbon are commonly used to decorate a Christmas tree. Silvered saran-based tinsel was introduced later. Delicate mold-blown and painted colored glass Christmas ornaments were a specialty of the glass factories in the Thuringian Forest, especially in Lauscha in the late 19th century, and have since become a large industry, complete with famous-name designers. Baubles are another common decoration, consisting of small hollow glass or plastic spheres coated with a thin metallic layer to make them reflective, with a further coating of a thin pigmented polymer in order to provide coloration. Lighting with electric lights (Christmas lights or, in the United Kingdom, fairy lights) is commonly done. A tree-topper, sometimes an angel but more frequently a star, completes the decoration.

The earliest written mention of 'running-horses' is a record of Hugh, from the French House of Capet, gifting some as a present to King Athelstan of England in the 9th/10th century.[6] During Athelstan's reign a ban was placed on the export of English horses, such was supposed to be their superiority to continental ones. Continental ones were still permitted for import, and many were brought to England by William the Conqueror. Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury introduced Spanish stallions to the country.[8]

Carols by Candlelight is an annual Australian Christmas tradition that originated in southeastern Australia in the 19th century and was popularised in Melbourne in 1938. The tradition has since spread around the world. It involves people gathering, usually outdoors in a park, to sing carols by candlelight, featuring live performances by both national and international celebrities accompanied by a band or orchestra. Today, the largest such event is held annually at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne's King's Domain Gardens on Christmas Eve since 1938.

The earliest stages of Christianity in Ireland during its 5th century arrival are somewhat obscure, however, native Christian figures including Ailbe, Abbán, Ciarán and Declán, later venerated as saint by the Christians, are known. These were typically in Leinster and Munster. The early stories of these people mention journeys to Roman Britain, Roman Gaul and even Rome itself. Indeed, Pope Celestine I is held to have sent Palladius to evangalise the Gaels in 431, but this did not gather much steam. However, the figure most associated with the Christianisation of Ireland is Patrick (Maewyn Succat), a Romano-British nobleman, who was captured by the Gaels during a raid, as Roman rule in Britain was retracting. Patrick contested with the druí, targeted the local royalty for conversion and re-orientated Irish Christianity to having Armagh as the preeminent seat of power; an ancient royal site associated with the goddess Macha (an aspect of An Morríghan).[2]

In the late 1800s, home-made white Christmas trees were made by wrapping strips of cotton batting around leafless branches creating the appearance of a snow-laden tree. In the 1940s and 1950s, popularized by Hollywood films in the late 1930s, flocking was very popular on the West Coast of the United States. There were home flocking kits that could be used with vacuum cleaners. In the 1980s some trees were sprayed with fluffy white flocking to simulate snow.

The tradition of gift-giving is an old one, but it became associated with Christmas more recently. It is a relic of a pagan custom, namely, the winter solstice which in Europe occurs in December. This was celebrated in ancient Rome with gift-giving during the Saturnalia holiday, which took place that month.[1] As Christianity became increasingly widespread in the Roman lands, the custom of gift-giving continued.[2] Around the year 336 AD the date of December 25 appears to have become established as the day of Jesus's birth, and the tradition of gift-giving was reinterpreted and tied to the story of three Magi giving gifts to baby Jesus; together with another story, that of Santa Claus based on the historical figure of Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century Greek bishop and gift-giver, it slowly became a part of Christmas celebrations.[1][2]

Since the Restoration, there have been many additions and alterations to the regalia.[j] A new set of regalia was commissioned in 1685 for Mary of Modena, the first queen consort to be crowned since the Restoration, Charles II having been unmarried when he took the throne.[68] Another, more elaborate set had to be made four years later when Mary II was crowned as joint sovereign with her husband William III.[52] After the Acts of Union 1707 joined England and Scotland together, the Scottish Crown Jewels were locked away in a chest,[69] and the English Crown Jewels continued to be used by British monarchs. Starting with Queen Anne, gemstones were hired for coronations and replaced with paste and crystals for display in the Jewel House, a practice which continued until the early 20th century.[52]

The rise of puritanism led to accusations of popery in connection with pre-reformation Christmas traditions.[4] When the Puritans took control of government in the mid-1640s they made concerted efforts to abolish Christmas and to outlaw its traditional customs.[16] For 15 years from around 1644, before and during the Interregnum of 1649-1660, the celebration of Christmas in England was forbidden.[16] The suppression was given greater legal weight from June 1647 when parliament passed an Ordinance for Abolishing of Festivals[17] which formally abolished Christmas in its entirety, along with the other traditional church festivals of Easter and Whitsun.[11]