Question: How many countries does Cadbury distribute its products to?

Cadbury, a renowned British confectionery company, now wholly owned by Mondelez International, operates in over 50 countries around the globe. This international presence allows Cadbury to share its beloved products, such as Dairy Milk chocolate, Creme Eggs, and Roses selection boxes, with consumers worldwide, solidifying its status as one of Britain's most successful exports.

Nutty Bars in the United States are a snack manufactured by McKee Foods under the brand title of Little Debbie. The snack consists of four wafers sandwiched together in a peanut butter mixture and covered in chocolate. The packages generally come in sealed packs of 2 wafers. A serving size (57g), has 310 calories, 18g of fat with 8g of it being saturated fat, and 20g of sugar. They are now referred to as "Nutty Buddy" due to a name change.[1]

Land O'Lakes, Inc. is a member-owned agricultural cooperative based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb of Arden Hills, Minnesota, focusing on the dairy industry. The co-op states that it has about 3,600 direct producer-members, 1,000 member-cooperatives, and about 10,000 employees who process and distribute products for about 300,000 agricultural producers;[1] handling 12 billion pounds of milk annually.[2] It is ranked third on the National Cooperative Bank Co-op 100 list of mutuals and cooperatives.[3] The co-op is one of the largest producers of butter and cheese in the United States.

Empire Brands was established by Sergey Titov, a former interpreter with no prior commercial experience. In Soviet Russia almost no one had 'commercial experience' so Titov became a model for expanding distribution across the country. Collis went from town to town trying to find suitable individuals who could be taught how business worked - buying, warehousing, distributing and selling at a profit. The plan was to establish approved distributors in each major town and give them exclusive rights for that town because there were numerous towns with populations over 100,000 which each had the potential to be as large a market for Smirnoff vodka as the whole of Belgium or Holland or a US state like Connecticut. Outside the Soviet state apparatus there were no national organisations that could market and distribute Smirnoff.

In Malaysia, the displaying of cigarette packets in advertisements with a general warning on long-time smoking that came into effect in June 1976 has been banned since 1995. However, this has not stopped tobacco companies from advertising their products. There are also restrictions on tobacco advertising after the ban of displaying of cigarette packaging, print media advertising is restricted to only one page and advertising on television should not be more than 15 seconds. They have found ways to continue to build their brands by using brand names for a bistro and cybercafes such as Benson & Hedges Bistro and Sampoerna A International Cyberworld, for stationery, accessories, clothing like Dunhill, Marlboro Classics, Davidoff, Perilly's, Pall Mall, John Player Specials, Winfield and Winston. Tobacco companies also sponsor holiday tours like Mild Seven Seafarers Club, Peter Stuyvesant Travel and Tours, Kent Holidays and Salem Holidays as well as concerts and entertainment events. All of these are indirect advertising strategies employed by tobacco companies. Tobacco advertising continued without the display of cigarette packaging until January 2003, when the Malaysian federal government banned even such indirect advertising of tobacco brands, except in certain establishments licensed to sell tobacco products. Formula One Grand Prix and other sporting events are still allowed to use tobacco sponsorship. In 2009, Malaysian government halted the branding of cigarettes as "light" or "mild" on all smoking packages and has decided to place graphic images on the cigarette packs to show the adverse long-term effects of excessive smoking.

Vermeer Corporation is a manufacturer of industrial and agricultural equipment.[1] The privately held company distributes products globally from seven production facilities and offices in Pella, Iowa, United States and multiple locations worldwide. Founded in 1943 by Gary Vermeer, as Vermeer Manufacturing Company, the company is in its third generation of family management under President and CEO Jason Andringa as well as other members of the third generation.[2][3] Vermeer serves the construction, landscaping, environmental, excavation, and forage markets domestically and internationally from locations in the Netherlands, Germany, Mainland China, Singapore, Hong Kong(China), Canada, and Brazil, as well as various wholly and partially owned subsidiaries in the United States.[4] Serving customers in more than 60 nations, Vermeer equipment and solutions are backed by a worldwide sales and support network of independent Vermeer equipment dealers.

After a company reorganization and transition to non-family management in 1953, Lilly continued to expand its global presence. In the 1960s Lilly operated thirteen affiliate companies outside the United States.[60] In 1962, with an acquisition from Distillers Company, the company established a major factory in Liverpool, England. In 1968, Lilly built its first research facility, the Lilly Research Centre Limited, outside the United States near London, England.

The book itself holds a world record, as the best-selling copyrighted book of all time. As of the 2017 edition, it is now in its 62nd year of publication, published in 100 countries and 23 languages. The international franchise has extended beyond print to include television series and museums. The popularity of the franchise has resulted in Guinness World Records becoming the primary international authority on the cataloguing and verification of a huge number of world records; the organisation employs official record adjudicators authorised to verify the authenticity of the setting and breaking of records.[2]

The Coca-Cola Company is a multinational corporation manufacturing various beverages. The corporation also implements umbrella branding within the individual brands for various flavored beverages including:

As of 2009, Armani has a retail network of 60 Giorgio Armani boutiques, 11 Collezioni, 122 Emporio Armani, 94 A/X Armani exchange, 1 Giorgio Armani Accessori, and 13 Armani Junior stores spread over 37 different countries.

As part of West Coast's (and the AFL's in general) efforts to develop the game outside of Australia, the club partners with a number of internationally based football clubs, providing them with guernseys and other equipment. There are currently Eagles-affiliated clubs (also referred to as "sister clubs") in Cambodia (the Cambodian Eagles), Canada (the Toronto Eagles), China (the Shanghai Eagles), Italy (the Milano Eagles), and Sweden (the Karlstad Eagles).[67] West Coast is also responsible for sponsoring FootyWILD, a program similar to Auskick held in KwaZulu-Natal, a province of South Africa.[68]


Question: What does it signify to dream about waking up?

False Awakening
McCreery proposes that the phenomenological likeness between false awakenings and primary delusional experiences is not accidental, but rather stems from their shared origins in sleep-related phenomena. He posits that primary delusions, much like hallucinations and secondary delusions, are the result of stage 1 sleep processes intruding into the waking state of a person. This intrusion is thought to occur due to the individual's heightened state of arousal, which can induce brief episodes of sleep, or "micro-sleeps," during waking hours.

The main function of the ARAS is to modify and potentiate thalamic and cortical function such that electroencephalogram (EEG) desynchronization ensues.[24][25] There are distinct differences in the brain’s electrical activity during periods of wakefulness and sleep: Low voltage fast burst brain waves (EEG desynchronization) are associated with wakefulness and REM sleep (which are electrophysiologically similar); high voltage slow waves are found during non-REM sleep. Generally speaking, when thalamic relay neurons are in burst mode the EEG is synchronized and when they are in tonic mode it is desynchronized.[25] Stimulation of the ARAS produces EEG desynchronization by suppressing slow cortical waves (0.3–1 Hz), delta waves (1–4 Hz), and spindle wave oscillations (11–14 Hz) and by promoting gamma band (20 – 40 Hz) oscillations.[16]

The poem serves as an allegory about a king "in the olden time long ago" who is afraid of evil forces that threaten him and his palace, foreshadowing impending doom. As part of "The Fall of the House of Usher", Poe said, "I mean to imply a mind haunted by phantoms â€” a disordered brain" [1] referring to Roderick Usher.

American philosopher George Santayana wrote a short piece entitled "Queen Mab" which appeared in his 1922 book Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies. This particular soliloquy considers English literature as an indirect form of self-expression in which the English writer "will dream of what Queen Mab makes other people dream" rather than revealing him or herself.[8]

The central symptom of sleep paralysis is being unable to move during awakening.[1]

Yet another interpretation is this: The place at which Jacob stopped for the night was in reality Mount Moriah, the future home of the Temple in Jerusalem.[citation needed] The ladder therefore signifies the "bridge" between Heaven and earth, as prayers and sacrifices offered in the Holy Temple soldered a connection between God and the Jewish people. Moreover, the ladder alludes to the giving of the Torah as another connection between heaven and earth. In this interpretation, it is also significant that the Hebrew word for ladder, sulam (סלם) and the name for the mountain on which the Torah was given, Sinai (סיני) have the same gematria (numerical value of the letters).

Marnie Parsons describes the work as a "semiotic catastrophe", arguing that the words create a discernible narrative within the structure of the poem, though the reader cannot know what they symbolise. She argues that Humpty tries, after the recitation, to "ground" the unruly multiplicities of meaning with definitions, but cannot succeed as both the book and the poem are playgrounds for the "carnivalised aspect of language". Parsons suggests that this is mirrored in the prosody of the poem: in the tussle between the tetrameter in the first three lines of each stanza and trimeter in the last lines, such that one undercuts the other and we are left off balance, like the poem's hero.[17]

Episodes of sleep paralysis can occur in the context of several medical conditions (e.g., narcolepsy, hypokalemia).  When episodes occur independent of these conditions or substance use, it is termed "isolated sleep paralysis" (ISP).[14][21] When ISP episodes are more frequent and cause clinically significant distress and/or interference, it is classified as "recurrent isolated sleep paralysis"(RISP). Episodes of sleep paralysis, regardless of classification, are generally short (1â€“6 minutes), but longer episodes have been documented.[7] With RISP the individual can also suffer back-to-back episodes of sleep paralysis in the same night, which is unlikely in individuals who suffer from ISP.[14]

The ascending reticular activating system is an important enabling factor for the state of consciousness.[23] The ascending system is seen to contribute to wakefulness as characterised by cortical and behavioural arousal.[5]

The video reuses clips from the film Loser (2000), to tell a different story from the film, based instead on the song lyrics. Jason Biggs plays a nerdy character and Mena Suvari is the love interest who unexpectedly invites the protagonist to an Iron Maiden concert. In some versions of the music video a large glitter ball falls from the ceiling and strikes him on the head. He wakes up having fallen asleep while doing his homework, revealing his brief romance with Suvari to have been all a dream.

Jacob (Arabic: يَعْقُوب, translit. Yaʿqūb) is revered in Islam as a prophet and patriarch. Muslim scholars drew a parallel with Jacob's vision of the ladder[11] and Muhammad's event of the Mi'raj.[12] The ladder of Jacob was interpreted by Muslims to be one of the many symbols of God, and many saw Jacob's ladder as representing in its form the essence of Islam, which emphasizes following the "straight path". The twentieth-century scholar Martin Lings described the significance of the ladder in the Islamic mystic perspective:


Question: Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 crashes into the sea?

On November 23, 1996, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961, a Boeing 767-200ER, was hijacked by three Ethiopian nationals seeking asylum in Australia while en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, with intermediate stops in Brazzaville, Lagos, and Abidjan. The aircraft, which was on an international service, was forced to make a crash-landing in the Indian Ocean near Grande Comore, Comoros Islands, due to a lack of fuel. This tragic incident resulted in the deaths of 125 out of the 175 passengers and crew members on board, including the hijackers. The official report on the accident confirmed that four passengers managed to survive without injury.

This disputed region is known for the Atlantique Incident which occurred on August 1999. The Indian IAF's MiG-21FL fighters shot down the Pakistan Navy's recconnaisance plane,[9] the Breguet Atlantique which was carrying 16 naval officers on board, for an alleged airspace violation of Indian airspace on August 10, 1999. The episode took place just a month after the Kargil War, creating a tense atmosphere between India and Pakistan.[10]

In December 1992, C-130s from the 2d Airlift Squadron deployed to Mombasa, Kenya, to participate in Operation PROVIDE RELIEF. The aircraft and crews delivered tons of food and other relief supplies to small airstrips throughout Somalia. 23rd Wing Flying Tiger C-130s were also been tasked to assist in other humanitarian relief efforts, to include Hurricane Andrew in Florida. They also airdropped relief supplies into Bosnia-Herzogovina and flew relief missions into Sarajevo for more than 28 months.

On October 29, search teams recovered two large human bones that they suspected might belong to Fossett. These bones were found 0.5 miles (0.80Â km) east of the crash site.[90][91] Tennis shoes with animal bite marks on them were also recovered. On November 3, California police coroners said that DNA profiling of the two bones by a California Department of Justice forensics laboratory confirmed a match to Fossett's DNA. Madera County Sheriff John Anderson said Fossett would have died on impact in such a crash, and that it was not unusual for animals to drag remains away.[90]

In May 1994, the deployed 41st Airlift Squadron led the evacuation, known as Operation Tiger Rescue, of U.S. personnel from Yemen.

MSY reopened to commercial flights on September 13, 2005, with four flights operated by Delta Air Lines to Atlanta and a Northwest Airlines flight to Memphis. Slowly, service from other carriers began to resume, with limited service offered by Southwest Airlines, Continental Airlines, and American Airlines. Eventually, all carriers announced their return to MSY, with the exception of America West Airlines (which merged into US Airways two weeks later) and international carrier TACA. In early 2006, Continental Airlines (since merged into United Airlines) became the first airline to return to pre-Katrina flight frequency levels, and in September 2006, to pre-Katrina seat capacity levels.

The climactic scene, which features the breakup of the ship directly before it sinks as well as its final plunge to the bottom of the Atlantic, involved a tilting full-sized set, 150 extras, and 100 stunt performers. Cameron criticized previous Titanic films for depicting the liner's final plunge as a graceful slide underwater. He "wanted to depict it as the terrifyingly chaotic event that it really was".[11] When carrying out the sequence, people needed to fall off the increasingly tilting deck, plunging hundreds of feet below and bouncing off of railings and propellers on the way down. A few attempts to film this sequence with stunt people resulted in some minor injuries, and Cameron halted the more dangerous stunts. The risks were eventually minimized "by using computer generated people for the dangerous falls".[11]

On Monday, 6 July 1998, at 00:00 HKT, Kai Tak International Airport saw its last commercial departure, Cathay Pacific Flight 251 to London Heathrow Airport, after over 73 years of operation. The next day, Cathay Pacific Flight 889 from New York John F. Kennedy International Airport piloted by Captain Paul Horsting, was the first arrival to the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong. Also on board were Captain Mike Lowes and First Officer Kelvin Ma.[30] This flight was also the world's first nonstop transpolar flight from New York to Hong Kong. The flight, dubbed Polar One, takes about 16 hours between Hong Kong and New York Kennedy, saving about three to four hours compared to the one stop flight via Vancouver. It is Cathay Pacific's longest nonstop flight, and one of the longest in the world at 8,055 mi (12,963 km).[31]

At the time of accident, the aircraft was carrying 137 passengers and one non-revenue passenger in the cockpit jumpseat, along with a crew of seven. The Captain was Kenneth McCullers. He was described by others as an "above average" pilot, who was "comfortable" to fly with because of his excellent judgement and ability to exercise command. The First Officer was described by other captains as a conscientious pilot with excellent knowledge of aircraft systems and company flight procedures and techniques. All three flight crew, including the captain, the first officer and the second officer, were reported having no sleep or health problems, and had passed all proficiency checks without issues.[1]:1.5

Into the Wild is a 1996 non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer. It is an expansion of a 9,000-word article by Krakauer on Christopher McCandless titled "Death of an Innocent", which appeared in the January 1993 issue of Outside.[1] The book was adapted to film in 2007, directed by Sean Penn with Emile Hirsch starring as McCandless. "Into the Wild" is an international bestseller which has been printed in 14 languages and 173 editions and formats.[2] The book is widely used as high school and college reading curriculum.[2] "Into the Wild" has been lauded by many reviewers but has also been described by Alaskan reporter, Craig Medred, as being "something invented" by its author.[3]

The auditions for the character of Marcy had been scheduled to take place on September 11, 2001.[3] The scene the producers had chosen for the auditioning actresses was the build-up to Marcy's sex scene with Paul. In the scene, Marcy is convinced that all the students are doomed and despite Paul's reassurances, she describes their situation as "like being on a plane, when you know it's gonna crash. Everybody around you is screaming 'We're Going Down! We're Going Down!' and all you want to do is grab the person next to you and fuck them, because you know you're going to be dead soon, anyway." Eli Roth and the producers tried to cancel the Marcy auditions, but the general chaos caused by the attacks made it impossible for them to reach many of the actresses who were scheduled to try out for the role.


Question:
Where is Mount St. Helens located on a map? (Actually, this is an exact copy of the original question, so let's modify it slightly for uniqueness)

**Similar Question**: Where can Mount St. Helens be found on a map?

Mount St. Helens, also recognized as Louwala-Clough by the native Cowlitz people and Loowit by the Klickitat, is an active stratovolcano situated in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It is positioned 96 miles (154 km) south of Seattle, Washington, and 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Portland, Oregon. The mountain derives its English name from Lord St Helens, a British diplomat and acquaintance of explorer George Vancouver, who surveyed the area in the late 18th century. Mount St. Helens is nestled within the Cascade Range and is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, which is a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire that encompasses over 160 active volcanoes. This volcanic peak is renowned for its ash eruptions and pyroclastic flows.

Nearly all of the lakes in Minnesota are found within the borders of the Cary and Mankato drifts. For this reason, it is necessary to consider in some detail the nature and distribution of these two drift sheets.

The Upper Peninsula is the northern of the two major peninsulas that make up the U.S. state of Michigan. It may also be referred to as the UP or Upper Michigan. The peninsula is bounded on the north by Lake Superior, on the east by the St. Marys River, on the southeast by Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and on the southwest by Wisconsin.

Arizona is home to one of the most well-preserved meteorite impact sites in the world. Created around 50,000 years ago, the Barringer Meteorite Crater (better known simply as "Meteor Crater") is a gigantic hole in the middle of the high plains of the Colorado Plateau, about 25 miles (40 km) west of Winslow. A rim of smashed and jumbled boulders, some of them the size of small houses, rises 150 feet (46 m) above the level of the surrounding plain. The crater itself is nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) wide, and 570 feet (170 m) deep.

The Intermontane Plateaus come to an end at the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevada. The Cascades consist of largely intermittent, volcanic mountains, many rising prominently from the surrounding landscape. The Sierra Nevada, further south, is a high, rugged, and dense mountain range. It contains the highest point in the contiguous 48 states, Mount Whitney (14,505 ft or 4,421 m). It is located at the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties, just 84.6 mi or 136.2 km west-northwest of the lowest point in North America at the Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park at 279 ft or 85 m below sea level.[8]

The Hollywood Sign on Mount Lee is not actually in Hollywood but is instead to the north in the Hollywood Hills.[40]

A detailed photogrammetric map (at a scale of 1:50,000) of the Khumbu region, including the south side of Mount Everest, was made by Erwin Schneider as part of the 1955 International Himalayan Expedition, which also attempted Lhotse. An even more detailed topographic map of the Everest area was made in the late-1980s under the direction of Bradford Washburn, using extensive aerial photography.[37]

Most of the volcanoes have a main, central vent from which the most recent eruptions have occurred. The peaks are composed of layers of solidified andesitic to dacitic magma, and the more siliceous (and explosive) rhyolite.

Now, map the counters onto the map, getting this:

Mount Ngauruhoe was used as a stand-in for the fictional Mount Doom in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, achieving worldwide exposure.[8][9][10]

Montana is one of the nine Mountain States, located in the north of the region known as the Western United States. It borders North Dakota and South Dakota to the east. Wyoming is to the south, Idaho is to the west and southwest, [15] and three Canadian provinces, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, are to the north.


Question: Where does the Mary River begin and end?

The Mary River, located in Queensland, Australia, originates at Booroobin in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, west of Landsborough. It flows northward through several towns, including Kenilworth, Gympie, Tiaro, and Maryborough, before discharging into the Great Sandy Strait near River Heads, approximately 17 km (11 mi) south of Hervey Bay. The river's mouth is close to internationally significant wetlands recognized by the Ramsar Convention and the UNESCO Fraser Island World Heritage Area, which are popular tourist destinations attracting thousands of visitors annually.

The River Vyrnwy, which begins at Lake Vyrnwy, flows eastwards through Powys before forming part of the border between England and Wales, joining the Severn near Melverley, Shropshire. The Rea Brook flows north from its source in the Stiperstones and joins the Severn at Shrewsbury. The River Tern, after flowing south from Market Drayton and being joined by the River Meese and the River Roden, meets the Severn at Attingham Park.

Valles Marineris is located along the equator of Mars, on the east side of the Tharsis Bulge, and stretches for nearly a quarter of the planetâ€™s circumference. The canyon system starts in the west with Noctis Labyrinthus; proceeding to the east are Tithonium and Ius chasmata, then Melas, Candor and Ophir chasmata, then Coprates Chasma, then Ganges, Capri and Eos chasmata; finally it empties into an outflow channel region containing chaotic terrain that ends in the basin of Chryse Planitia.

The river flows through many important Italian cities, including Turin (Torino), Piacenza and Ferrara. It is connected to Milan through a net of channels called navigli, which Leonardo da Vinci helped design. Near the end of its course, it creates a wide delta (with hundreds of small channels and five main ones, called Po di Maestra, Po della Pila, Po delle Tolle, Po di Gnocca and Po di Goro) at the southern part of which is Comacchio, an area famous for eels. The Po valley was the territory of the Roman Cisalpine Gaul, divided into Cispadane Gaul (South of the Po) and Transpadane Gaul (North of the Po). The Po begins in the Alps, and is in Italy, and flows eastward.

The Valley of a Thousand Hills is a valley between Pietermaritzburg, and Durban, South Africa. The Umgeni River meets the Msunduzi River (Duzi River) in the valley, and the Dusi Canoe Marathon is run through the area every year.

Bhavani river originates from Nilgiri hills of the Western Ghats, enters the Silent Valley National Park in Kerala and flows back towards Tamil Nadu.[citation needed] The Bhavani is a 217-kilometre (135 mi) long perennial river fed mostly by the southwest monsoon and supplemented by the northeast monsoon. Its watershed drains an area of 0.62 million hectares (2,400 sq mi) spread over Tamil Nadu (87%), Kerala (9%) and Karnataka (4%). The main river courses majorly through Coimbatore district and Erode district in Tamil Nadu. About 90 per cent of the river's water is used for agriculture irrigation.

Beyond central London, the river passes Bermondsey, Wapping, Shadwell, Limehouse, Rotherhithe, Millwall, Deptford, Greenwich, Cubitt Town, Blackwall, New Charlton and Silvertown, before flowing through the Thames Barrier, which protects central London from flooding by storm surges. Below the barrier, the river passes Woolwich, Thamesmead, Dagenham, Erith, Purfleet, Dartford, West Thurrock, Northfleet, Tilbury and Gravesend before entering the Thames Estuary near Southend-on-Sea.

The river was one of the features along which the "Greenville Treaty Line" ran beginning in 1795, per the Treaty of Greenville that ended the Northwest Indian War in the Ohio Country, effectively becoming the western boundary of the United States and remaining so briefly.

The upper Cuyahoga River, starting at 1,093 feet (333 m) over 84 miles (135 km) from its mouth, drops in elevation fairly steeply, creating falls and rapids in some places; the lower Cuyahoga River only drops several feet along the last several miles of the lower river to 571 feet (174 m)[4] at the mouth on Lake Erie, resulting in relatively slow-moving waters that can take a while to drain compared to the upper Cuyahoga.

The river is a relatively recent geological formation, formed by the advance and retreat of ice sheets during the last ice age. The final glacial retreat, which occurred 10,000–12,000 years ago, caused changes in the drainage pattern near Akron. This change in pattern caused the originally south-flowing Cuyahoga to flow to the north. As its newly reversed currents flowed toward Lake Erie, the river carved its way around glacial debris left by the receding ice sheet, resulting in the river's winding U-shape. These meanderings stretched the length of the river (which was only 30 miles (50 km) when traveled directly) into a 100-mile (160 km) trek from its headwaters to its mouth. The depth of the river (except where noted below) ranges from 3 to 6 ft (1 to 2 m).

Carlos Rivera (Carlos Ponce) becomes Mary's husband in season eight after a guest appearance five seasons earlier in the episode "Here Comes Santa Claus". (While Jessica Biel was absent from the show, her character of Mary continues with the help of Carlos.) Mary and Carlos even have a son, Charles "Charlie" Miguel. Although Mary files for divorce from Carlos and even signs away custody of her son (in the two-part season nine finale), by the season ten finale they are back together and expecting twin girls, and Mary is graduating college. In the beginning of season 11, it is mentioned that Mary gave birth to her twins over the summer and is teaching at a high school and coaching a girls high school basketball team in New York, where she and Carlos live with their three children.


Question: Where is Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest held?

The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, an annual competitive eating event featuring hot dogs, takes place every Independence Day. This iconic competition is hosted at the flagship location of Nathan's Famous Corporation, situated at the intersection of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Brooklyn's Coney Island neighborhood, New York City.

On the August 18, 2007 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, for the first time in more than six years, Buffer returned to pro-wrestling ring announcing duties at Madison Square Garden in a boxing match between pro boxer Evander Holyfield (who was substituting for Montel Vontavious Porter) and pro wrestler Matt Hardy. Buffer appears in the Royal Rumble 2008 commercial, in which he begins to say "Let's get ready to rumble!" only to be superkicked by Shawn Michaels, causing him to fall over. As well as being in the commercial for the event, he was the guest ring announcer during the Royal Rumble match itself.

The multimillion-dollar renovation upgraded all of the guest rooms and created luxury suites. The D also added a fine Italian steakhouse, Joe Vicari's Andiamo Italian Steakhouse,[20] and opened the first American Coney Island[21] outside of Michigan on the building's Fremont Street frontage. The property also features three distinct bars: Longbar,[22] said to be the longest bar in Nevada at just fewer than 100 feet long; D Bar – a permanent outdoor bar on Fremont Street Experience featuring flair bartenders as well as dancing bartenders;[23] and Vue Bar inside the second floor casino.[24] The property's Fremont Street façade was enhanced with the addition of an exterior escalator and interactive video exhibition created by former Cirque du Soleil producer Roger Parent, which together feature more than 40 giant flat-screen monitors combined with hundreds of feet of LED signage.[25] Parent is also responsible for the casino's interior escalator which uses LED technology and music depicting vintage imagery to transport guests to the vintage second-floor casino.[26]

Dunkin' Donuts has a close relationship with the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots, making commercials at the start of each team's season for promotions. Dunkin’ Donuts also sponsors other professional sports teams, including the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Philadelphia Eagles, and Tampa Bay Rays. In January 2014, English football club Liverpool announced a multimillion-pound global partnership with the company.[26] Dunkin' Donuts signed a sponsorship deal with the National Women's Hockey League in December 2015. As part of the multi-year agreement, Dunkin’ Donuts is the official hot, iced and frozen coffee of the NWHL.[27] In 2001, Dunkin' Donuts purchased the naming rights for the former Providence Civic Center, and renamed it the Dunkin' Donuts Center. The center is currently the home court for the NCAA and BigEast Providence Friars men's basketball team from Providence College as well as home ice for the AHL Providence Bruins hockey team. In reference to the Center's long association with local college basketball, it is often known locally as "The Dunk". In 2015, Dunkin' Donuts was announced as the named sponsor of the baseball park in Hartford, Connecticut, new home of the Hartford Yard Goats baseball team. It will be named Dunkin' Donuts Park.

From the mid-1960s until her death in 1975, Mary Catherine "Mom" Unser (mother of Jerry, Bobby, and Al) was a well-known fixture at the race. She became famous for her spicy chili.[23] Each year, she would treat the participants to a cook-out in the garage area.

Because of the 40-yard push in the competition, most Sprint Cup drivers did not participate in the competition and usually sat next to the crew chief during the event. Typically, a team engineer, a member of the public relations staff, or a driver's wife steered the car during the 40-yard dash. This practice became widespread after the Richard Childress Racing No. 31 team put driver Jeff Burton's wife Kim in the car for the push, winning the 2009 challenge (the car even carried her name, not Jeff's name, above the window). This practice was a weight advantage in the contest, as the cars are not weighed with the driver, while side windows are removed and extra grip tape is applied to the sides to give the mechanics extra grip during the push.

Two years later, the Braves put together one of the most memorable seasons in baseball history. After a dismal 4–18 start, the Braves seemed to be on pace for a last place finish. On July 4, 1914, the Braves lost both games of a doubleheader to the Brooklyn Dodgers. The consecutive losses put their record at 26–40 and the Braves were in last place, 15 games behind the league-leading New York Giants, who had won the previous three league pennants. After a day off, the Braves started to put together a hot streak, and from July 6 through September 5, the Braves went 41–12.[17] On September 7 and 8, the Braves took two of three games from the New York Giants and moved into first place. The Braves tore through September and early October, closing with 25 wins against six losses, while the Giants went 16–16.[18] They were the only team, under the old eight-team league format, to win a pennant after being in last place on the Fourth of July. They were in last place as late as July 18, but were close to the pack, moving into fourth on July 21 and second place on August 12.[19]

Due to natural gas shortage concerns in the northeastern U.S. and surplus nature gas in the rest of the country, many new LNG import and export terminals are being contemplated in the United States. Concerns about the safety of such facilities create controversy in some regions where they are proposed. One such location is in the Long Island Sound between Connecticut and Long Island. Broadwater Energy, an effort of TransCanada Corp. and Shell, wishes to build an LNG import terminal in the sound on the New York side. Local politicians including the Suffolk County Executive raised questions about the terminal. In 2005, New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton also announced their opposition to the project.[21] Several import terminal proposals along the coast of Maine were also met with high levels of resistance and questions. On Sep. 13, 2013 the U.S. Department of Energy approved Dominion Cove Point's application to export up to 770 million cubic feet per day of LNG to countries that do not have a free trade agreement with the U.S.[22] In May 2014, the FERC concluded its environmental assessment of the Cove Point LNG project, which found that the proposed natural gas export project could be built and operated safely.[23] Another LNG terminal is currently proposed for Elba Island, Ga.[24] Plans for three LNG export terminals in the U.S. Gulf Coast region have also received conditional Federal approval.[22][25] In Canada, an LNG export terminal is under construction near Guysborough, Nova Scotia.[26]

On January 27, 2012, Richman announced his retirement from food challenges.[26] No exact reason was given as to why Richman retired, other than moving on and wishing his audience farewell. Explaining the show's re-tooling to become Man V. Food Nation, Scripps Networks chairman Ken Lowe cited concerns over ensuring Adam Richman's health if the show had continued in its previous format.[27] Rumors Richman had since turned vegan were found to be untrue, though it is true he has since lost about 70 pounds. On Friday, August 5, 2016, Adam tweeted "I honestly have begun to feel bad for those buying in to the tabloid rumors suggesting Iâ€™m anything but an omnivore."[28]

The Cuyahoga River[7] (/ˌkaɪ.əˈhɒɡə/ KY-ə-HOG-ə, or /ˌkaɪ.əˈhoʊɡə/ KY-ə-HOH-gə[8][9][10][11]) is a river in the United States, located in Northeast Ohio, that feeds into Lake Erie. The river is famous for having been so polluted that it "caught fire" in 1969. The event helped to spur the environmental movement in the US.

Hall appeared at the Garvey 1989 Celebrity Ski Classic and at the Altitude Comedy Festival 2008 in the ski resort of Meribel in France. He also appeared – albeit briefly – in the 2006 Cheap Seats (ESPNCL) episode titled "Steve Garvey Celebrity Skiing".


Question: Who is the author of the book "My Country, My Life"?

"My Country, My Life" is an autobiography penned by L.K. Advani, a prominent Indian politician who held the position of Deputy Prime Minister from 2002 to 2004 and was the Leader of the Opposition in the 15th Lok Sabha. The book, which spans 1,040 pages, was launched on March 19, 2008, by Abdul Kalam, the former President of India. It chronicles Advani's life experiences and significant events in Indian politics and history, dating back to the early 20th century. The book achieved bestseller status in the non-fiction category, with Advani joining the ranks of bestselling authors alongside Archer. The official book website reports sales exceeding 1,000,000 copies.

In 2004 his memoir, The Tour: A Life Between the Lines, was published.

In 1911, Carver complained that his laboratory had not received the equipment which Washington had promised 11 months before. He also complained about Institute committee meetings.[23] Washington praised Carver in his 1911 memoir, My Larger Education: Being Chapters from My Experience.[24] Washington called Carver "one of the most thoroughly scientific men of the Negro race with whom I am acquainted."[25] After Washington died in 1915, his successor made fewer demands on Carver for administrative tasks.

Mohammad Abu-Koash, a Palestinian representative, said, "It was ironic that Israel which claimed to be representing Jews everywhere was campaigning against a Jewish professor who had been nominated for the post of Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The candidate was the author of 54 books on international law. Palestine doubted that those who had campaigned against him had read that many books. The candidate's nomination was a victory for good sense and human rights, as he was a highly qualified rapporteur. If Israel was concerned about human rights it would have ended its prolonged occupation."[110]

All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten is a book of short essays by American minister and author Robert Fulghum. It was first published in 1986.

During his war years, Fingleton decided to take up book writing, in addition to newspaper journalism, and began compiling a book about the Bodyline series during his spare time in the army, a topic that was still deep in the Australian consciousness, using his inside knowledge as a participant in that Ashes campaign.[83] As Fingleton had worked for the government's censors, he was one of only a few who knew of the effect of the Bodyline controversy in politics, as he had been aware of the cables that had been sent by government officials.[89] Fingleton received advice and encouragement from the eminent British cricket writer Neville Cardus,[90] and suffered a setback when, after finishing half the book, he sent his manuscript to be reviewed. It was lost in the post, and he had forgotten to make a copy.[91] Fingleton finished his book Cricket Crisis in 1946 but it was rejected by the publishers Collins, who had already published a book by Ray Robinson named Between Wickets on the same topic.[92] They were also concerned about the marketability of a book that criticised Bradman—still the dominant player of the time and an idolised figure—strongly.[92] Fingleton then published with Cassell, and the book was widely acclaimed and is still regarded as the best first-hand account of the Bodyline controversy and of the classic cricket books at large.[93] It was well known for its stylish writing and analytical value.[93] Fingleton expressed his views forthrightly and interspersed the account with analyses and profiles of those involved in the Bodyline series, including Bradman, Jardine, Larwood, Warner and McCabe. He criticised Bradman's unorthodox approach in backing away from the bowling and questioned his aloof attitude towards his teammates.[94] This angered Bradman, who wrote in his 1949 book Farewell to Cricket in reply to Fingleton, claiming that as Fingleton was an inferior batsman, his record gave him "scarcely...any authority to criticise my methods."[95] The debate continued on, with replies in subsequent publications citing statistics.[96]

The García family is an example of this phenomenon. In How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, Alvarez succeeds in altering the events of her own life to create fiction.[3] The family is displaced to the United States after living an established, upper-class life in the Dominican Republic, and is forced to face the challenges which come along with being an immigrant family in a foreign land. Julia Alvarez herself was not born in the Dominican Republic, but in the United States. After her parents' failed attempt at a life in America, she returned to the Dominican Republic at the age of three months as her parents preferred the dictatorship of Trujillo to the US. Clearly in the novel, this is not the case, however throughout, the reader witnesses the Garcia family assimilate into American society. Although their Hispanic roots are reflected in their personalities, it is evident that the stories which focus on the four daughters depict many problems that normal North American girls do.[4]

The suit acknowledged that Seeger himself had not claimed to be an author of the song, stating of the song in his autobiography, "No one is certain who changed 'will' to 'shall.' It could have been me with my Harvard education. But Septima Clarke, a Charleston schoolteacher (who was director of education at Highlander and after the Civil Rights Movement was elected year after year to the Charleston, S.C. Board of Education) always preferred 'shall.' It sings better." He also reaffirmed that the decision to copyright the song was a defensive measure, with his publisher apparently warning him that "if you don't copyright this now, some Hollywood types will have a version out next year like 'Come on Baby, We shall overcome tonight'". Furthermore, the liner notes of Seeger's compilation album If I Had a Hammer: Songs of Hope & Struggle contained a summary on the purported history of the song, stating that "We Shall Overcome" was "probably adapted from the 19th-century hymn, 'I'll Be All Right'", and that "I'll Overcome Some Day" was a "possible source" and may have originally been adapted from "I'll Be All Right".[42]

Mutsuhiro Watanabe (Japanese: 渡邊睦裕, 1 January 1918 – 1 April 2003) – nicknamed by his prisoners as "the Bird" – was an Imperial Japanese Army corporal in World War II who served at POW camps in Omori, Naoetsu (present day Jōetsu), Niigata, Mitsushima (present day Hiraoka) and at the Civilian POW Camp at Yamakita. After Japan's defeat, the US Occupation authorities classified Watanabe as a war criminal for his mistreatment of prisoners of war (POWs), but he managed to evade arrest and was never tried in court. Watanabe ordered one man to report to him to be punched in the face every night for two weeks, and practiced judo on an appendectomy patient. One of his prisoners was American track star and Olympian Louis Zamperini, who tells his story in the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, later adapted into a feature film directed by Angelina Jolie. Zamperini reported that Watanabe beat his prisoners often, causing them serious injuries. It is said Watanabe made one officer sit in a shack, wearing only a fundoshi undergarment, for four days in winter, and that he tied a sixty-five-year-old prisoner to a tree for days. According to Hillenbrand's book, Watanabe had studied French, in which he was fluent, and had interest in the French school of nihilist philosophy.

Macari currently lives in Stoke-on-Trent and works as a pundit for MUTV on several shows. He is a regular guest on Match Day Live before Manchester United home and away games. As well as phone-in shows such as Wednesday Night Phone-in he occasionally does punditry for Sky Sports, and also writes regular comment pieces for the Stoke-on-Trent newspaper The Sentinel. He has given several guest talks at Staffordshire University on the Sports Journalism courses. Macari also owns the "Lou Macari Chip Shop" on Chester Road, near Old Trafford. He wrote his autobiography in October 2009 called Football, My Life.

Sixty years ago, I survived a Chinese attack in North Korea. And as a result I wrote a book that, having survived that, that I haven't had a bad day since. Today I have to reassess that.[153]


Question: What does it signify to be on parole?

Being on parole signifies a conditional early release from prison, where the individual must adhere to specific rules and regulations until the end of their original sentence term. This concept originated from the medieval practice of freeing prisoners who pledged their word, derived from the French term "parole," meaning "spoken words."

The word is a Law French term meaning "dead pledge," originally only referring to the Welsh mortgage (see below), but in the later Middle Ages was applied to all gages and reinterpreted by folk etymology to mean that the pledge ends (dies) either when the obligation is fulfilled or the property is taken through foreclosure.[1]

Prison View Golf Course, a 6,000-yard (5,500Â m), 9-hole, 72-par golf course, is located on the grounds of Angola.[51] Prison View, the only golf course on the property of an American prison,[86] is between the Tunica Hills and Camp J, at the intersection of B-Line Road and Camp J Road.[87] All individuals wishing to play are required to provide personal information 48 hours before their arrival, so the prison authorities can conduct background checks. Convicted felons and individuals on visitation lists are not permitted to play on the golf course.[51] Current prisoners at Angola are not permitted to play on the golf course.[86]

The next morning, Vic goes to ICE to start his new job. He asks Olivia where his family is but she refuses to tell him. She then breaks the news that he won't be working on the streets for ICE. His job is to produce daily reports about gang related activity, and will involve no active investigation on his part - crime data will be provided to him, and he will be required to analyze it and reach an opinion as to what the crimes reveal about gangland politics. Vic refuses this desk job, but Olivia tells him that if he doesn't take the job for the next three years he will be prosecuted for all his confessed crimes. Likewise, he'll be prosecuted if he breaches any of the terms of his employment, which are extremely restrictive: notably, Vic has to wear a suit and tie, is not authorized to carry a weapon on the job, and is not to have any direct role in police work. Olivia makes it clear that she will be monitoring him closely for any breach of the rules which will allow her to prosecute him.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates the Region III Parole Division headquarters in Houston. The Houston VI district parole office is located on the grounds of the headquarters. The Houston I, Houston II, Houston III, Houston IV, and Houston VII are located in other places in Houston. The Houston V district parole office is in Pasadena.[48] The agency also operates the Joe Kegans Unit state jail facility in Downtown Houston.[49]

Off-licence (sometimes known as off-sales or informally offie) is a term used in the United Kingdom and Ireland for a shop licensed to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption off the premises, as opposed to a bar or public house which is licensed for consumption at the point of sale (on-licence). The term also applies to the licence granted to the establishment itself.

The Troubled Teen Industry is a loosely connected series of for-profit wilderness therapy programs, boot camps, therapeutic boarding schools, and residential treatment centers. These facilities house youth after parents sign away custody of their children. These children can be sent to these facilities for any reason, without committing a crime, without a trial, and without legal representation. Solitary confinement is used widely in these programs, including wilderness programs, where children are left alone for weeks in the wilderness. Some programs place children in solitary rooms. Other times, "code silence," or "comm block," is used, which means that the child is not allowed to speak, and the other inmates must ignore them and pretend they do not exist. This practice was documented at Island View.[23]

The practice is used when a prisoner is considered dangerous to themselves or to others, is suspected of organizing or being engaged in illegal activities outside of the prison, or, as in the case of a prisoner such as a pedophile or witness, is at a high risk of being harmed by another inmate or inmates. The latter example is a form of protective custody. Solitary confinement is also the norm in Supermax prisons where prisoners who are deemed dangerous or of high risk are held. It may be hard to determine the number of people currently being held in solitary confinement because some prisons have a hard time defining it. However, it is estimated that 80,000 to 100,000 people are currently in solitary confinement.[1]

A justice of the peace in Australia is typically someone of good stature in the community who is authorised to witness and sign statutory declarations and affidavits and to certify copies of original documents. Criteria for appointment vary widely, depending on the state. For example, in Queensland, a justice of the peace (qualified) must complete an exam prior to being eligible for appointment, whereas in Victoria, a person need only prove good character by way of references.

The parity of a function describes how its values change when its arguments are exchanged with their negations. An even function, such as an even power of a variable, gives the same result for any argument as for its negation. An odd function, such as an odd power of a variable, gives for any argument the negation of its result when given the negation of that argument. It is possible for a function to be neither odd nor even, and for the case f(x) = 0, to be both odd and even.[20] The Taylor series of an even function contains only terms whose exponent is an even number, and the Taylor series of an odd function contains only terms whose exponent is an odd number.[21]

"An acknowledgment is a formal [oral] declaration before an authorized public officer. It is made by a person executing [signing] an instrument who states that it was their free act and deed." That is, the person signed it without undue influence and for the purposes detailed in it.[31] A certificate of acknowledgment is a written statement signed (and in some jurisdictions, sealed) by the notary or other authorized official that serves to prove that the acknowledgment occurred. The form of the certificate varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but will be similar to the following:


Question: What are the origins of the Stations of the Cross?

The Stations of the Cross, also referred to as the Way of the Cross, the Way of Sorrows, or the Via Crucis, comprise a series of depictions illustrating Jesus Christ's final day leading to his crucifixion, accompanied by prayers. Originating from the veneration of the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, which is traditionally held as the route Jesus took to Mount Calvary, the practice serves to facilitate a spiritual journey for Christians, encouraging reflection on Christ's Passion. This devotion has gained widespread popularity and is a common feature in various Western Christian denominations, encompassing Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and Roman Catholic churches.

The presence of a group of female disciples of Jesus at the crucifixion of Jesus is found in all four Gospels of the New Testament. There have been different interpretations how many and which women were present. It may be different from different gospels

The oldest extant depiction of the execution of Jesus in any medium seems to be the second-century or early third-century relief on a jasper gemstone meant for use as an amulet, which is now in the British Museum in London. It portrays a naked bearded man whose arms are tied at the wrists by short strips to the transom of a T-shaped cross. An inscription in Greek on the obverse contains an invocation of the redeeming crucified Christ. On the reverse a later inscription by a different hand combines magical formulae with Christian terms.[14] The catalogue of a 2007 exhibition says: "The appearance of the Crucifixion on a gem of such an early date suggests that pictures of the subject (now lost) may have been widespread even in the late second or early third century, most likely in conventional Christian contexts".[15][16][17]

The Rings of Saturn (German: Die Ringe des Saturn: Eine englische Wallfahrt - An English Pilgrimage) is a 1995 novel by the German writer W. G. Sebald. Its first-person narrative arc is the account by a nameless narrator (who resembles the author in typical Sebaldian fashion[1]) on a walking tour of Suffolk. In addition to describing the places he sees and people he encounters, including translator Michael Hamburger, Sebald discusses various episodes of history and literature, including the introduction of silkworm cultivation to Europe and the writings of Thomas Browne, which attach in some way to the larger text. The book was published in English in 1998. A film, Patience (After Sebald), directed by Grant Gee and released in 2012, is based on this book.

In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Christmas "Sequence" or "Prose" was introduced in Northern European monasteries, developing under Bernard of Clairvaux into a sequence of rhymed stanzas. In the 12th century the Parisian monk Adam of Saint Victor began to derive music from popular songs, introducing something closer to the traditional Christmas carol.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that Jesus died on a cross, however, their prophet Gordon B. Hinckley stated that "for us the cross is the symbol of the dying Christ, while our message is a declaration of the living Christ." When asked what was the symbol of his religion, Hinckley replied "the lives of our people must become the only meaningful expression of our faith and, in fact, therefore, the symbol of our worship."[41][42] Prophet Howard W. Hunter encouraged Latter-day Saints "to look to the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of your membership."[43] Images of LDS temples and the Angel Moroni (who is found in statue on most temples) are commonly used to symbolize the LDS faith.[44]

Since at least the legalization of Christianity by the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century, Europe has been an important centre of Christian culture, even though the religion was inherited from Africa and the Middle East and important Christian communities have thrived outside Europe such as Oriental Orthodoxy and the Church of the East since the time of Christ. Christian culture has been an important force in Western civilization, influencing the course of philosophy, art, and science.[3][4]

The appearance of the crown of thorns in art, notably upon the head of Christ in representations of the Crucifixion or the subject Ecce Homo arises after the time of St. Louis and the building of the Sainte-Chapelle. The Catholic Encyclopedia reported that some archaeologists had professed to discover a figure of the crown of thorns in the circle which sometimes surrounds the chi-rho emblem on early Christian sarcophagi, but the compilers considered that it seemed to be quite as probable that this was only meant for a laurel wreath.

Some authors claim that Gelasius replaced Lupercalia with the "Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary,"[13] but researcher Oruch says that there is no written record of Gelasius ever intending a replacement of Lupercalia.[13] Some researchers, such as Kellog and Cox, have made a separate claim that the modern customs of Saint Valentine's Day originate from Lupercalia customs.[13][14][15] Other researchers have rejected this claim: they say there is no proof that the modern customs of Saint Valentine's Day originate from Lupercalia customs, and the claim seems to originate from misconceptions about festivities.[13][14][15]

Spanish tradition says the true origin of the run began in northeastern Spain during the early 14th century. While transporting cattle in order to sell them at the market, men would try to speed the process by hurrying their cattle using tactics of fear and excitement. After years of this practice, the transportation and hurrying began to turn into a competition, as young adults would attempt to race in front of the bulls and make it safely to their pens without being overtaken. When the popularity of this practice increased and was noticed more and more by the expanding population of Spanish cities, a tradition was created and stands to this day.[5]

Christian tradition, starting from the 8th century, states that he was the first icon painter. He is said to have painted pictures of the Virgin Mary and Child, in particular the Hodegetria image in Constantinople (now lost). Starting from the 11th century a number of painted images were venerated as his autograph works, including for example, the Black Madonna of Częstochowa and Our Lady of Vladimir. He was also said to have painted Saints Peter and Paul, and to have illustrated a gospel book with a full cycle of miniatures.[40][41]


Question: What are the origins of the Stations of the Cross?

The Stations of the Cross, also known as the Way of the Cross, emerged from the tradition of pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Pilgrims sought to replicate the Via Dolorosa, the path Jesus is believed to have taken carrying his cross to his crucifixion. The practice of recreating holy places was already established, as evidenced by the religious complex of Santo Stefano in Bologna, Italy, which mimicked not only the Church of the Holy Sepulchre but also other significant locations such as Mount of Olives and Valley of Josaphat.

The globus cruciger (Latin for "cross-bearing orb"), also known as the orb and cross, is an orb (Latin: globus) surmounted (Latin: gerere, to wear) by a cross (Latin: crux). It has been a Christian symbol of authority since the Middle Ages, used on coins, in iconography, and with a sceptre as royal regalia.

The painting contains several references to the number 3, which represents the Christian belief in the Holy Trinity. The Apostles are seated in groupings of three; there are three windows behind Jesus; and the shape of Jesus' figure resembles a triangle. The painting can also be interpreted using the Fibonacci series: 1 table, 1 central figure, 2 side walls, 3 windows and figures grouped in threes, 5 groups of figures, 8 panels on the walls and 8 table legs, and 13 individual figures.[11] There may have been other references that have since been lost as the painting deteriorated.

By promising a spiritual transformation at a time of great turmoil, the manifestos tempted many figures to seek esoteric knowledge. Seventeenth-century occult philosophers such as Michael Maier, Robert Fludd, and Thomas Vaughan interested themselves in the Rosicrucian world view.[1] According to historian David Stevenson, it was influential to Freemasonry as it was emerging in Scotland.[4] In later centuries, many esoteric societies have claimed to derive from the original Rosicrucians. Rosicrucianism is symbolized by the Rosy Cross or Rose Cross.

According to legend, the Christian apostle and martyr Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, was crucified on an X-shaped cross.[6] Use of the familiar iconography of his martyrdom, showing the apostle bound to an X-shaped cross, first appears in the Kingdom of Scotland in 1180 during the reign of William I. It was again depicted on seals used during the late 13th century, including on one used by the Guardians of Scotland, dated 1286.[6]

One legend says that a monk in a desolated monastery somewhere between Cordoba and Sevilla had a vision of a little boy, telling him to pray. The monk had spent several hours praying and then he made a figure of the child.[12]

The Portuguese Way (Spanish: Camino Portugués, Portuguese: Caminho Português) begins at Lisbon or Porto in Portugal.[1] From Porto, along the Douro River, pilgrims travel north crossing the Ave, Cávado, Lima and Minho rivers before entering Spain and then passing through Padron before arriving at Santiago. It is the second most popular way, after the French one. The route is 610 km long starting in Lisbon or 227 km long starting in Porto. From Lisbon, the starting point is Lisbon Cathedral, crossing the Thermal Hospital of Caldas da Rainha (1485) and heading to the Alcobaça Monastery (1252), which was an albergue (hostel) for medieval pilgrims who could only stay there for a single night. Using Roman roads, pilgrims headed to Coimbra and had to reach Porto before night falls, as the gates of the city closed, once in the pilgrims headed to Church of São Martinho de Cedofeita (c. 1087).

A major work of the iconography of mercy is the altarpiece of Caravaggio (1606/07) in Naples, which was commissioned by the Confraternità del Pio Monte della Misericordia for their church. This charity brotherhood was founded in 1601 in Naples. The artist painted the Seven Works of Mercy in one single composition. Regarding the sharp contrasts of the painting’s chiaroscuro, the art historian Ralf van Bühren explains the bright light as a metaphor for mercy, which "helps the audience to explore mercy in their own lives".[24]

Beyond this, in front of the South wall of the Basilica are two rectangular pillars always known as the Pillars of Acre. They were thought to be booty taken by the Venetians from Acre after their great victory over the Genoese there in 1258, but this traditional story has also had to be revised. The pillars actually came from the church of St Polyeuktos in Constantinople (524-7), and were probably taken by the Venetians soon after the fourth crusade in 1204. The ruins of this church were discovered in 1960 and it was excavated in the 1990s, when capitals were found, which matched the pillars.[16]

In 1264 Pope Urban IV instituted the feast of Corpus Christi ("the Body of Christ") with the publication of the papal bull Transiturus. He asked the Dominican theologian, Thomas Aquinas, to write the texts for the Mass and Office of the feast.[22] This included such famous hymns as Panis angelicus, and Verbum Supernum Prodiens the last two strophes of which form the Benediction hymn O Salutaris Hostia. The last two verses of Pange Lingua, are sung as the hymn Tantum Ergo, also used at Benediction.

December 16 is the first day of the Christmas Novena, a devotion consisting of prayer said on nine successive days, the last one held on Christmas Eve. The Novena is promoted by the Catholic Church as a staple of Christmas, and is very similar to the posadas celebrated in Mexico. It is a call for an understanding of the religious meaning of Christmas, and a way to counter the commercialism of the Christmas season. Individual traditions concerning the Novena may vary, but most families set up a "pesebre" (manger scene), sing religious Christmas carols called villancicos accompanied by tambourines, bells, and other simple percussion instruments, and read verses from the Bible as well as an interpretation which may change from year to year. Novenas serve as beautiful religious gatherings as well as learning environments for young children since kids have a central and active role in the celebration of the Novenas (they read prayers, sing, and play instruments guided by their family). From December 16 to 24, games called "aguinaldos"[66] are played after having made a "pinky promise" deciding the prize for the winner and the punishment for the loser. The games include "Hablar y no contestar" (Talk but don't answer), "DÃ© pero no reciben" (Give but don't receive), "Pajita en boca" (Straw in the mouth), "Tres pies" (Three feet), "Beso robado" (Stolen kisses), and "Si y al no" (Yes or no). Churches offer dawn and nightly masses during the nine days of the novena, culminating with the Misa de Gallo (Rooster's Mass) on Christmas Eve at midnight.


Question: What are the origins of the Stations of the Cross?

Stations of the Cross
Following the fall of Jerusalem to Muslims in 1187, Franciscans were later permitted to return to the Holy Land in the 13th century. Saint Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan order, held a deep reverence for the Passion of Christ, being the first to receive stigmata. In 1217, he established the Custody of the Holy Land to protect and foster devotion to sacred sites. Their stewardship was formally acknowledged in 1342 by Pope Clement VI, who designated the Franciscans as official guardians of holy places.[9] While accounts from travelers during the 12th to 14th centuries, such as Riccoldo da Monte di Croce, Burchard of Mount Sion, and James of Verona, allude to a "Via Sacra" or sacred route followed by pilgrims, there is no direct correlation to the Stations of the Cross as known today.[10] The term "stations," referring to the specific stopping points along the Via Sacra in Jerusalem, was first used by English pilgrim William Wey in the mid-15th century. He recounted pilgrims retracing Christ's path to the cross. A book titled Geystlich Strass (German: "spiritual road"), published in 1521, included illustrations depicting the stations within the Holy Land.[10]

The poem most likely originated in the poetry that Gray composed in 1742. William Mason, in Memoirs, discussed his friend Gray and the origins of Elegy: "I am inclined to believe that the Elegy in a Country Church-yard was begun, if not concluded, at this time [August 1742] also: Though I am aware that as it stands at present, the conclusion is of a later date; how that was originally I shall show in my notes on the poem."[16] Mason's argument was a guess, but he argued that one of Gray's poems from the Eton Manuscript, a copy of Gray's handwritten poems owned by Eton College, was a 22-stanza rough draft of the Elegy called "Stanza's Wrote in a Country Church-Yard". The manuscript copy contained many ideas which were reworked and revised as he attempted to work out the ideas that would later form the Elegy. A later copy was entered into Gray's commonplace book and a third version, included in an 18 December 1750 letter, was sent to Thomas Wharton. The draft sent to Walpole was subsequently lost.[17]

Methodism or the Methodist movement[nb 1] is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity which derive their inspiration from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother Charles Wesley were also significant early leaders in the movement. It originated as a revival within the 18th century Church of England and became a separate denomination after Wesley's death. The movement spread throughout the British Empire, the United States, and beyond because of vigorous missionary work,[3] today claiming approximately 80 million adherents worldwide.[4][nb 2]

Some early Christian rulers, however, interpreted this story as indications that it should be their subjects who should give gifts to their superiors, and insisted on tributes and tithes during that period. This changed around the turn of the millennium following the popularity of the Good King Wenceslas story based on the life of another historical person claimed to be a gift-giver, Saint Wenceslaus.[2] Christmas gift-giving to superiors became less common, and around the time of the Protestant Reformation, customs of gift-giving to children became increasingly widespread in Europe.[2] The custom spread to the United States around the 19th century. This also coincided with the desire of some elites to reduce the rowdiness of adult Christmas celebrations, which in some places were tied to begging, as "bands of young men, often rowdy, would "wassail" from home to home and demand handouts from the gentry". Another related aspect was the growing desire by parents to keep children at home, away from the "corrupting" influence of the urban streets.[3][4]

The practice is popular in the Catholic Church as an act of both penance and charity. In addition, the Methodist church teaches that the works of mercy are a means of grace which lead to holiness[1] and aid in sanctification.[2]

The Portuguese Way (Spanish: Camino Portugués, Portuguese: Caminho Português) begins at Lisbon or Porto in Portugal.[1] From Porto, along the Douro River, pilgrims travel north crossing the Ave, Cávado, Lima and Minho rivers before entering Spain and then passing through Padron before arriving at Santiago. It is the second most popular way, after the French one. The route is 610 km long starting in Lisbon or 227 km long starting in Porto. From Lisbon, the starting point is Lisbon Cathedral, crossing the Thermal Hospital of Caldas da Rainha (1485) and heading to the Alcobaça Monastery (1252), which was an albergue (hostel) for medieval pilgrims who could only stay there for a single night. Using Roman roads, pilgrims headed to Coimbra and had to reach Porto before night falls, as the gates of the city closed, once in the pilgrims headed to Church of São Martinho de Cedofeita (c. 1087).

The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (French: L'Ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem[55]) is a working order of charitably minded men and women whose philanthropy is expressed principally through its two foundations: the St. John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem and St. John Ambulance. The order traces its origins to the Knights Hospitaller of the Crusades, who served the Abbey of St. Mary's small hospital for sick pilgrims in Jerusalem in the 12th century. It was established in the United Kingdom in 1831 and given a royal charter by Queen Victoria in 1888,[56] and has existed in Canada in some form for many years,[57] but was only officially brought into the Canadian honours system in 1995. The governor general is the Prior and Chief Officer in Canada, while the lieutenant governors serve as Vice-Prior in their respective province.[58] Each is also automatically appointed as a Knight or Dame of Justice or Grace upon being sworn into their viceregal office. Members of the Royal Family may also hold the level of Bailiffs or Dames Grand Cross, with the post-nominal letters GCStJ.

According to Freud, religion originated in pre-historic collective experiences that became repressed and ritualized as totems and taboos.[11] He stated that most, if not all religions, can be traced back to early human sacrifice including Christianity in which Christ on the cross is a symbolic representation of killing the father and eating the father figure is shown with ‘the body of Christ’, also known as Communion. In this work, Freud attributed the origin of religion to emotions such as hatred, fear, and jealousy. These emotions are directed towards the father figure in the clan from the sons who are denied sexual desires towards the females. Freud attributed totem religions to be a result of extreme emotion, rash action, and the result of guilt.[12]

In the Ante-Nicene Period (literally before the First Council of Nicaea in 325), following the Apostolic Age, both incredible diversity and unifying characteristics lacking in the apostolic period emerged simultaneously.[citation needed] Part of the unifying trend was an increasingly harsh rejection of Judaism and of Jewish practices. By the beginning of the Nicene period, the Christian faith had spread throughout Western Europe and the Mediterranean Basin, and to North Africa and the East: see Early centers of Christianity. The Mediterranean Christianity journey consisted of 48 cities that St John visited to get the gentiles to join the Christian community.

One section of the Way of St. James runs through the German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Hesse following the course of the historic trade route, the Via Regia from Görlitz via Bautzen, Kamenz, Großenhain, Wurzen, Leipzig, Merseburg, Naumburg (Saale), Erfurt, Gotha, Eisenach and Vacha to Fulda. It has a length of 500 km. On 6 July 2003 the first section to Erfurt was opened in Königsbrück. The opening of the second section followed on 11 October 2003 in Vacha. The section along the historic "Via Regia" is also called the Ecumenical Pilgrims' Way (Ökumenischer Pilgerweg).

According to legend, the Christian apostle and martyr Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, was crucified on an X-shaped cross.[6] Use of the familiar iconography of his martyrdom, showing the apostle bound to an X-shaped cross, first appears in the Kingdom of Scotland in 1180 during the reign of William I. It was again depicted on seals used during the late 13th century, including on one used by the Guardians of Scotland, dated 1286.[6]


Question: Where does the water originate from to fill up Lake Eyre?

During the wet season, Lake Eyre receives water from rivers in the northeastern part of the Lake Eyre Basin, specifically in the outback regions of southwest and central Queensland. The Channel Country serves as a conduit for this water, with the depth of the lake dependent on the volume of monsoon rains. The lake's annual rainfall averages between 100 and 150 millimeters.

Water flow in the Arkansas River (as measured in central Kansas) has dropped from approximately 248 cubic feet per second (7 m³/s) average from 1944-1963 to 53 cubic feet per second (1.5 m³/s) average from 1984–2003, largely because of the pumping of groundwater for irrigation in eastern Colorado and western Kansas.

The Red River's watershed covers 65,590 square miles (169,900 km2)[3] and is the southernmost major river system in the Great Plains. Its drainage basin is mostly in the states of Texas and Oklahoma, but also covers parts of Arkansas and Louisiana. Its basin is characterized by flat, fertile agricultural land, with only a few major cities. The drainage basin of the Red River is very arid and receives little precipitation. As a result, much of the river above the Texas–Oklahoma border is intermittent, and until the river is past its great bend south in Arkansas, the flow varies widely. Most of the agriculture in the basin is sustained by groundwater, which is recharged with rainfall and riverflow. The lower course of the river flows through a series of marshes and swamps, where its flow is dramatically moderated.

The west coast of Florida relies on desalinization for its fresh water; the quantity demanded is too great for the land to provide. Nitrates in the underground water system and high levels of mercury also impact the quality of fresh water the park receives.[97] In 1998 a Florida panther was found dead in Shark Water Slough, with levels of mercury high enough to kill a human.[107] Increased occurrences of algal blooms and red tide in Biscayne Bay and Florida Bay have been traced to the amounts of controlled water released from Lake Okeechobee.[108] The brochure given to all visitors at Everglades National Park includes a statement that reads, "Freshwater flowing into the park is engineered. With the help of pumps, floodgates, and retention ponds along the park's boundary, the Everglades is presently on life support, alive but diminished."[97]

The train continued over mountains until it finally came down East Cow Creek into the Harney Basin, in a region known today as the Oregon High Desert. The expression on Meek's face "changed to one of complete bewilderment, as if he were seeing the country for the first time."[6] When trapping in this area 10 years prior, the alkaline lakes flooded a large portion of the valley. But now it was a drought year, the lakes were small and everything looked different. They continued south along the Silvies River and out into the lake-bed where they turned west. As they made their way to Silver Creek there were some in the forward company who insisted they continue west to find a pass over the Cascades. Meek wanted to follow Silver Creek to the north, but they refused to follow him.

Isostatic rebound from the retreat of the last glaciers results in a steady rise of Lake Simcoe, particularly at its south end, and is further responsible for the deep organic sediments that have accumulated in its one-time shallow southern arm, known as the Holland Marsh. Here, organic deposits created by vegetation have largely kept pace with the steady rise in water level, and today supports extensive market gardening. All rivers, and most streams, flowing into the lake have wide, deep, navigable mouths as a consequence of the rising waters drowning the river channels.

The traditional owners of the area are the Kalkadoon, Mitakoodi, Kukatj, Guthaarn, Mayi-Yapi, Mayi-Kulan, Mayi-Thakurti, Ngawun, Wanamara, Mbara, Yirandali and Gugu-Badhun peoples who have inhabited the area for thousands of years.[3]

South East Queensland has reformed its water sector in 2008. Under the new structure three state-owned authorities (Seqwater, LinkWater and the SEQ Water Grid Manager) are in charge of bulk water supply:

Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake by volume in the world, containing 22–23% of the world's fresh surface water.[3][6][7] With 23,615.39 km3 (5,670 cu mi) of fresh water,[1] it contains more water than the North American Great Lakes combined.[8] With a maximum depth of 1,642 m (5,387 ft),[1] Baikal is the world's deepest lake.[9] It is considered among the world's clearest[10] lakes and is considered the world's oldest lake[11] – at 25–30 million years.[12][13] It is the seventh-largest lake in the world by surface area.

Water covers some 70% of the Earth's surface. Approximately 97.2% of it is saline, just 2.8% fresh. Potable water is available in almost all populated areas of the Earth, although it may be expensive and the supply may not always be sustainable. Sources where water may be obtained include:

The term "full pool" describes the lake at 560 feet (170.7 m) above sea level and indicates the level at which the lake begins to flow over the dam's spillway, if no gates are opened.[34] Normal lake levels are generally somewhere below full pool, depending upon the season. During the drought from 1953 to 1955, lake levels dropped to their historical low, 547.44 feet (166.86 m) AMSL.[34] The highest recorded lake levels were in December 1982, when the lake crested at 564 feet (172 m).[34]


Question:
Who is the founder of Google and when was the company founded?

(Note: the original question actually contains two questions in one, but I kept the same structure in the similar question.)

Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who were Ph.D. students at Stanford University at the time. They established Google as a privately held company on September 4, 1998. Initially focusing on Internet-related services and products such as search, advertising technologies, and cloud computing, Google has since expanded into software and hardware development. Page and Brin own approximately 14% of Google's shares and control 56% of the stockholder voting power through supervoting stock. The company's initial public offering (IPO) occurred on August 19, 2004, and its headquarters, known as the Googleplex, is located in Mountain View, California. In August 2015, Google restructured to become a subsidiary of a new parent company, Alphabet Inc., with Sundar Pichai taking over as CEO of Google and Larry Page becoming CEO of Alphabet.

For the weekend of May 21–23, 2010, Google changed the Google logo on its homepage to a Google Doodle of a fully playable version of the game[130] in recognition of the 30th anniversary of the game's release. The game featured the ability to play both Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man simultaneously.[131] After finishing the game, the website automatically redirected the user to a search of Pac-Man 30th Anniversary.[132] Companies across the world experienced slight drops in productivity due to the game, estimated to be valued at the time as $120,000,000 (approximately €95,400,000; £83,000,000). However, The Official ASTD Blog noted that the total loss, "spread out across the entire world isn't a huge loss, comparatively speaking".[133] In total, the game devoured around 4.8 million hours of work productivity that day.[73] Some organizations even temporarily blocked Google's website from workplace computers the Friday it was uploaded, particularly where it violated regulations against recreational games.[134][135][136] Because of the popularity of the Pac-Man doodle, Google later allowed access to the game through a separate web page.[137] On March 31, 2015, Google Maps added an option allowing a Pac-Man style game to be played using streets on the map as the maze.[138]

FIRE was founded by Alan Charles Kors, a libertarian professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvey A. Silverglate, a civil-liberties lawyer in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[3] Silverglate remains on FIRE's board,[4] while Kors is Chairman Emeritus. Since March 23, 2006, FIRE's President has been Greg Lukianoff, who previously served as interim president.[5]

Melvil Dewey (1851â€“1931) was an American librarian and self-declared reformer.[5] He was a founding member of the American Library Association and can be credited with the promotion of card systems in libraries and business.[6] He developed the ideas for his library classification system in 1873 while working at Amherst College library. He applied the classification to the books in that library, until in 1876 he had a first version of the classification. In 1876, he published the classification in pamphlet form with the title A Classification and Subject Index for Cataloguing and Arranging the Books and Pamphlets of a Library.[7] He used the pamphlet, published in more than one version during the year, to solicit comments from other librarians. It is not known who received copies or how many commented as only one copy with comments has survived, that of Ernest Cushing Richardson.[8] His classification system was mentioned in an article in the first issue of the Library Journal and in an article by Dewey in the Department of Education publication "Public Libraries in America" in 1876.[9] In March 1876, he applied for, and received copyright on the first edition of the index.[10] The edition was 44 pages in length, with 2,000 index entries, and was printed in 200 copies.[11]

Irenaeus, was of the opinion that he was their founder.

USC maintains a strong tradition of innovation and entrepreneurship, with alumni having founded companies such as Lucasfilm, Myspace, Salesforce.com, Intuit, Qualcomm, Box, Tinder, and Riot Games.[21] As of 2014, the university has produced the fourth largest number of billionaire alumni out of all undergraduate institutions in the world.[22]

In 1892, Prafulla Chandra Ray rented house at 91 Upper Circular Road, Kolkata and founded Bengal Chemical Works with a capital of â‚¹700 (US$11).[3][4] Ray founded the company as an individual initiative with the intention with fostering a spirit of entrepreneurship among the Bengali youth, and provide an alternative to jobs from the colonial British government. The company presented its herbal products the 1893 session of the Indian Medical Congress in Kolkata.[5]

Founded in October 1913 by the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, a Jewish service organization in the United States, its original mission statement was "to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people". Its ultimate purpose is "to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike, and to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens".[1] The ADL has 29 offices in the United States and three offices in other countries, with its headquarters located in New York City. Abraham Foxman had been the national director since 1987. In November 2014, it was announced that Jonathan Greenblatt would succeed Foxman as national director in July 2015.[3] The national chair is Barry Curtiss-Lusher.[4]

The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), or Dewey Decimal System, is a proprietary library classification system first published in the United States by Melvil Dewey in 1876.[1] It has been revised and expanded through 23 major editions, the latest issued in 2011, and has grown from a four-page pamphlet in 1876. It is also available in an abridged version suitable for smaller libraries. It is currently maintained by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), a non-profit cooperative that serves libraries. OCLC licenses access to an online version for catalogers called WebDewey.

The World Wide Web (sometimes abbreviated "www" or "W3") is an information space where documents and other web resources are identified by URIs, interlinked by hypertext links, and can be accessed via the Internet using a web browser and (more recently) web-based applications.[79] It has become known simply as "the Web". As of the 2010s, the World Wide Web is the primary tool billions use to interact on the Internet, and it has changed people's lives immeasurably.[80][81][82]

In the opening scene of the episode, Stewie is seen going through Brian's internet history, which includes searches about himself on the internet search engine Google. Later, after going to the bar to drink, Brian talks to Bill, the father from The Family Circus syndicated comic strip. After Bill tells him he should have tried harder on writing his book, Brian responds by yelling that all Bill does is "judge" other people, and demands for him to go home and "fuck [his] wife in the face", to which Bill agrees. This is also later recognized by Peter the next day, when he is seen reading the funnies, and murmurs to himself, "this is a very shocking Family Circus."[2][12]


Question: Who did the Dominican Republic gain independence from?

The Dominican Republic secured its independence from Haiti on February 27, 1844, through the Dominican Independence War. Prior to this, Hispaniola, the island shared by both nations, had been under Haitian governance for 22 years following the 1822 invasion of the former Spanish colony, then known as the Republic of Spanish Haiti. The criollo class, after rebelling against Spanish rule in 1821, had briefly united with Haiti before seeking and achieving independence.

Cuban literature began to find its voice in the early 19th century. Dominant themes of independence and freedom were exemplified by José Martí, who led the Modernist movement in Cuban literature. Writers such as Nicolás Guillén and José Z. Tallet focused on literature as social protest. The poetry and novels of Dulce María Loynaz and José Lezama Lima have been influential. Romanticist Miguel Barnet, who wrote Everyone Dreamed of Cuba, reflects a more melancholy Cuba.[279]

Initially, the Dominions conducted their own trade policy, some limited foreign relations and had autonomous armed forces, although the British government claimed and exercised the exclusive power to declare wars. However, after the passage of the Statute of Westminster the language of dependency on the Crown of the United Kingdom ceased, where the Crown itself was no longer referred to as the Crown of any place in particular but simply as "the Crown". Arthur Berriedale Keith, in Speeches and Documents on the British Dominions 1918â€“1931, stated that "the Dominions are sovereign international States in the sense that the King in respect of each of His Dominions (Newfoundland excepted) is such a State in the eyes of international law". After then, those countries that were previously referred to as "Dominions" became Commonwealth realms where the sovereign reigns no longer as the British monarch, but as monarch of each nation in its own right, and are considered equal to the UK and one another.

Associations with Mozambique followed suit and were sustained after that country won its sovereignty in 1975. Angola was also granted South African loans. Other countries which formed relationships with South Africa were Liberia, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mauritius, Gabon, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and the Central African Republic. Although these states condemned apartheid (more than ever after South Africa's denunciation of the Lusaka Manifesto), South Africa's economic and military dominance meant that they remained dependent on South Africa to varying degrees[clarification needed].

In the early 19th century, Puerto Rico spawned an independence movement that, due to harsh persecution by the Spanish authorities, convened in the island of St. Thomas. The movement was largely inspired by the ideals of Simón Bolívar in establishing a United Provinces of New Granada and Venezuela, that included Puerto Rico and Cuba. Among the influential members of this movement were Brigadier General Antonio Valero de Bernabé and María de las Mercedes Barbudo. The movement was discovered, and Governor Miguel de la Torre had its members imprisoned or exiled.[61]

The Jones Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1916 to serve as the new organic law in the Philippines, promised eventual independence and instituted an elected Philippine senate. The Tydings–McDuffie Act (officially the Philippine Independence Act; Public Law 73-127) approved on March 24, 1934, provided for self-government of the Philippines and for Filipino independence (from the United States) after a period of ten years. World War II intervened, bringing the Japanese occupation between 1941 and 1945. In 1946, the Treaty of Manila (1946) between the governments of the U.S. and the Republic of the Philippines provided for the recognition of the independence of the Republic of the Philippines and the relinquishment of American sovereignty over the Philippine Islands.

Originally populated by the indigenous Taíno people, the island was claimed in 1493 by Christopher Columbus for Spain during his second voyage. Later it endured invasion attempts from the French, Dutch, and British. Four centuries of Spanish colonial government influenced the island's cultural landscapes with waves of African slaves, Canarian, and Andalusian settlers. In the Spanish Empire, Puerto Rico played a secondary, but strategic role when compared to wealthier colonies like Peru and the mainland parts of New Spain.[22][23] Spain's distant administrative control continued up to the end of the 19th century, helping to produce a distinctive creole Hispanic culture and language that combined elements from the Native Americans, Africans, and Iberians.[24] In 1898, following the Spanish–American War, the United States acquired Puerto Rico under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. The treaty took effect on April 11, 1899.[4]

Under the government of Rafael Trujillo (1930–1961) water service provision was first provided centrally through the General Directorate of Water Systems (Dirección General de Acueductos) in the Ministry of Public Works and Irrigation (Secretaría de Fomento, Obras Públicas y Riego). However, in 1955 all responsibilities and assets were transferred to the city councils (Ayuntamientos), a model which failed by 1962. The government of President Joaquín Balaguer thus created INAPA through Law 5994 on July 30, 1962, again administering all water systems centrally.

Cuba has conducted a foreign policy that is uncharacteristic of such a minor, developing country.[161][162] Lesser known actions include the 1959 missions to the Dominican Republic.[163] The expedition failed, but a prominent monument to its members was erected in their memory in Santo Domingo by the Dominican government, and they feature prominently at the country's Memorial Museum of the Resistance.[164]

On July 25, 1898, during the Spanish–American War, Puerto Rico was invaded by the United States with a landing at Guánica. As an outcome of the war, the Jones–Shafroth Act granted all the inhabitants of Puerto Rico U.S. citizenship in 1917. The U.S. granted Puerto Ricans the right to democratically elect their own governor in 1948. In 1950, the Truman Administration allowed for a democratic referendum in Puerto Rico to determine whether Puerto Ricans desired to draft their own local constitution without affecting the unincorporated territory status with the U.S.[14] A local constitution was approved by a Constitutional Convention on February 6, 1952, ratified by the U.S. Congress, approved by President Truman on July 3 of that year, and proclaimed by Gov. Muñoz Marín on July 25, 1952, the anniversary of the 1898 arrival of U.S. troops. Puerto Rico adopted the name of Estado Libre Asociado (literally translated as "Free Associated State"), officially translated into English as Commonwealth, for its body politic.[15][16]

The Netherlands Antilles remained an overseas territory of the Netherlands. It was granted self-rule in 1954. In 1986, Aruba was granted autonomy, separately from the other islands. On October 10, 2010 the Netherlands Antilles was dismantled. Like Aruba, the islands CuraÃ§ao and Sint Maarten became constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius became special municipalities of the Netherlands.