Question: Band who had a hit with "Heart and Soul" crossword clue?

"Heart and Soul," a hit song by the British pop group T'Pau, featuring the distinctive vocals of Carol Decker with layered lyrics, was released in 1987 as their debut single from the album "Bridge of Spies." Its popularity soared after being featured in a Pepe Jeans advertisement, leading it to achieve the No. 4 spot on both the US and UK music charts.

"I Ran (So Far Away)",[1] also released as "I Ran", is a song by English new wave band A Flock of Seagulls. It was released in 1982 as their third single and it was the second single from their self-titled debut album. It was the band's most successful single, topping the chart in Australia, and reaching numbers seven and nine in New Zealand and the United States respectively.

After the release of "Catfish" (a top 10 R&B hit) in 1976, the major hits started to dry up and the Tops left ABC after an album recorded in Philadelphia with the MFSB musicians resulted in only minor chart success in 1978. The group disappeared from the recording scene until the early 1980s. Signing a deal with Casablanca Records, the Tops made a comeback in 1981 with the #1 R&B hit "When She Was My Girl". Produced by David Wolfert, it just missed the Billboard pop Top 10, peaking at #11. The group also scored a UK Top 10 hit with the song and had another hit there with the follow-up, "Don't Walk Away".

"For the Love of Money" is a soul/funk song that was written and composed by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, and Anthony Jackson; it was recorded by Philadelphia soul group The O'Jays for the album Ship Ahoy. Produced by Gamble and Huff for Philadelphia International Records, "For the Love of Money" was issued as a single in late 1973 (see 1973 in music), with "People Keep Tellin' Me" as its b-side. The single peaked at number three on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart, and at No. 9 on Billboard's Pop Singles chart in spring 1974. Though the album version of the song was over seven minutes long, it received substantial radio airplay. The song's title comes from a well-known Bible verse, 1 Timothy 6:10: "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (This translation is from the King James Version of the Bible.)

"Pumped Up Kicks" is a song by American indie pop band Foster the People. It was released as the group's debut single in September 2010, and the following year was included on their EP Foster the People and their debut album, Torches. "Pumped Up Kicks" became the group's breakthrough hit and was one of the most popular songs of 2011. The song was written and recorded by frontman Mark Foster while he was working as a commercial jingle writer. Contrasting with the upbeat musical composition, the lyrics describe the homicidal thoughts of a troubled youth.

Procol Harum subsequently made a second promotional clip, using "Scopitone" technology. By this time, Robin Trower and B.J. Wilson had replaced Royer and Harrison in the band, so only three of the five musicians on the recording are represented. No performance footage appears in this film – only scenes of the five musicians cavorting around London and running across fields. The same lineup, with Fisher wearing a monk's cowl, mimed to the song on Top of the Pops, although Brooker sang live. Black-and-white footage of the performance has been shown online. The song represents 1967 in the 2004 release Top of the Pops 40th Anniversary 1964–2004 DVD.

The Bootleg Beatles are a Beatles tribute band. They have performed over 4,000 times since their establishment in March 1980.

"Middle of the Road" uses a 4/4 time signature.[5] Hynde has acknowledged that "Middle of the Road" uses the same chords as the Rolling Stones' song "Empty Heart" and that it doesn't have much melody.[4] She says that it uses basic chords and that it is like "a regular R&B song," going on to say that "it's like taking a basic format, like the blues, and just giving it new lyrics."[4] She describes Robbie McIntosh's guitar solo as "nifty."[4] Audio Magazine compared the song's structure to that of Dobie Gray's "The 'In' Crowd."[6]

Little Richard's next hit single, "Long Tall Sally" (1956), became his first to reach No. 1 on the R&B chart and the first to reach the top ten of the pop charts in both America and Britain. Like "Tutti Frutti", it sold over a million copies. Following his success, Little Richard built up his backup band, The Upsetters, with the addition of saxophonists Clifford "Gene" Burks and leader Grady Gaines, bassist Olsie "Baysee" Robinson and guitarist Nathaniel "Buster" Douglas.[46] Little Richard began performing on package tours across the United States, often appearing last, where he would steal the show. Art Rupe described the differences between Little Richard and a similar hitmaker of the early rock and roll period by stating that, while "the similarities between Little Richard and Fats Domino for recording purposes were close", Little Richard would sometimes stand up at the piano while he was recording and that onstage, where Domino was "plodding, very slow", Little Richard was "very dynamic, completely uninhibited, unpredictable, wild. So the band took on the ambience of the vocalist."[47]

The Beautiful South regrouped in 2003, with new recruit Alison Wheeler taking on the role of female singer. This lineup recorded Gaze in 2003, following it with 2004's Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs, an album of unusually arranged cover tunes including "Livin' Thing", "You're The One That I Want", "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and "I'm Stone in Love With You". One track from the album, "This Old Skin", was presented as a cover of a song by an obscure band called "The Heppelbaums"; it was later revealed to be an original Heaton/Rotheray composition.

Beyond just the loss of a musician's soul, music critic Nick DeRiso hears in the song a theme of loss of innocence, which would have been particularly meaningful to the 1960s generation as they moved into the 1970s.[3] He also hears the song reflecting the fate of most famous bands, who pay for their fame through the effects of bad choices, bad management decisions and other problems.[3] Band drummer and vocalist Levon Helm acknowledges that the theme of the song is "selling your soul for music."[7] According to author Neil Minturn, "Daniel and the Sacred Harp," earlier band songs "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" and another song from Stage Fright, "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show," all recount episodes of American history."[8]


Question: Is season 7 of Homeland the final season?

Homeland (season 7) was confirmed to be followed by an eighth season, but it is not the final season. The series was renewed for both seasons in August 2016. This season saw Maury Sterling, Jake Weber, and Linus Roache elevated to series regulars, with Sterling having been a recurring character since the beginning, and Weber and Roache joining in the sixth season. Production for the seventh season commenced on September 11, 2017, in Richmond, Virginia, and concluded in Budapest, Hungary on March 29, 2018.

The series was ordered by CBS on May 8, 2015. On October 23, 2015, CBS picked up Limitless for a full season of 22 episodes.[5] On May 18, 2016, CBS confirmed Limitless would not be part of the network's 2016â€“2017 lineup, and on May 25, 2016, CBS executive Craig Sweeny announced the series had been cancelled after one season.[6]

Me, Myself & I is an American comedy television series that aired on CBS from September 25, to October 30, 2017. The series stars Bobby Moynihan, Jack Dylan Grazer, John Larroquette, Brian Unger, Jaleel White, Kelen Coleman, Christopher Paul Richards, Reylynn Caster, and Skylar Gray. On May 12, 2017, it was ordered to series.[1] The series premiered September 25, 2017, on CBS and was given a thirteen episode order.[2] On November 1, 2017, CBS pulled the series from the schedule after six low-rated episodes, leaving seven episodes unaired, and announced that the series will remain in production for all thirteen episodes and will return to the schedule at a later date.[3][4]

The Walking Dead premiered in the United States on October 31, 2010, exclusively shown on cable television channel AMC[7] and internationally on Fox International Channels.[8] As a result of very favorable Nielsen ratings that rank the show unprecedentedly high for a cable series, AMC has renewed the series each year. Beginning with its third season, The Walking Dead has attracted the most 18- to 49-year-old viewers of any cable or broadcast television series.[9][10][11] Its eighth season debuted on October 22, 2017,[12][13] and it has been renewed for a ninth season to debut in late 2018.[14] The series has been well received by critics and nominated for several awards, including the Writers Guild of America Award for New Series and the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama.[15][16][17] An AMC spin-off series, Fear the Walking Dead, debuted on August 23, 2015.[18][19]

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

Sabrina High will not be returning full-time but the iTunes cover art for the season features Sabrina and her newborn daughter implying she will make appearances. Mary Schmucker has stated this will be her final season. Rebecca Schmucker has stated it will also be the final season for her and Abe, making it possible that season 4 will be the last.

The show earned $80 million in advertising sales for the first nine months of 2013, and merchandise has generated another $400 million in revenue.[8][9][10] The series ended on March 29, 2017, with the hour-long finale "End of an Era".[11]

On November 10, 2015, the network renewed the series for a sixth cycle;[15] which premiered on September 14, 2016.[16] In August 2015, co-creator Ryan Murphy commented on the sixth year, stating, "The next thing we're crafting up is very very different than [Hotel], not smaller. But just not opulent. More rogue and more dark."[17] In October 2015, when questioned about clues and hints alluding to the sixth season (as has been the status quo since the first season of the series) in Hotel, Murphy revealed he had yet to definitively decide on a theme, "This is an interesting year in that the idea that weâ€™re dealing with I've mentioned in several seasons. It's been there before. We've actually talked about it a lot on the show. I might do that for season 7 but I'm leaning towards that for season 6." In January 2016, FX president John Landgraf revealed that the season will be "principally set in the present", with a dual timeline in "echoes of the past". He also confirmed a fall 2016 premiere.[18] At the 2016 PaleyFest, Murphy divulged that the two previous ideas [the writers] had been considering had been merged into season six, saying it will involve children and operatic themes.[19] The season will consist of 10 episodes, the least in a given cycle, in the show's history; with the finale scheduled to air November 16, 2016.[20][21] On September 1, 2016, it was reported by Entertainment Weekly that the season was possibly subtitled The Mist, as a Rotten Tomatoes page and TV Guide magazine had printed; which was later proven untrue.[22] There is a direct connection to Freak Show with an exploration of the Mott family origin.[23]

In May 2018, outgoing showrunner Marc Guggenheim revealed that the Longbow Hunters, a villainous organization in DC Comics, would be teased in the sixth season finale before being introduced in the seventh season.[25] Following the conclusion of the sixth season, which marked the first time in the series' history where the season's main antagonist was still at large, Guggenheim's successor Beth Schwartz confirmed that Ricardo Diaz / Dragon would return and, like his comic book counterpart, establish the Longbow Hunters, "a legendary group of assassins Diaz recruits to get back at Team Arrow for toppling his nascent criminal empire at the end of season 6."[26][27]

On 11 February 2013, Ben Stephenson, BBC Controller for Drama, announced that he had commissioned a 2013 Christmas special, and a third series of eight episodes to air in 2014.[15] The fourth series aired in the US in 2015, finishing its eight-episode run on 17 May.[16] A Christmas special aired in 2015 as well.

Filming began on August 31, 2016, at Titanic Studios in Belfast,[37] and ended in February 2017.[38][39][40] In an interview with the showrunners, it was announced that the filming of the seventh season would be delayed until later in the year due to necessary weather conditions for filming. The showrunners stated "We're starting a bit later because, you know, at the end of this season, winter is here, and that means that sunny weather doesn't really serve our purposes any more. We kind of pushed everything down the line so we could get some grim, gray weather even in the sunnier places that we shoot."[41]


Question: The German princes who selected the Holy Roman Empire rulers were known as what?

The Prince-electors, also known as Kurfürst in German or Kurfiřt in Czech, were the noblemen who held the privilege of electing the Holy Roman Emperor. These influential figures were a crucial part of the Holy Roman Empire's electoral college, wielding significant power in the selection of the empire's leader.

The kingdom of Kongo was governed in concert by the Mwene Kongo and the royal council[22] known as the ne mbanda-mbanda[23], roughly translating as "the top of the top". It was composed of twelve members[24] divided into three groups.  One group were bureaucrats, another who were electors and a last of matrons. Senior officials chose the Mwene Kongo or king who served for life following their choice. Electors varied over time, and there was probably never a completely fixed list; rather, senior officials who exercised power did so. Many kings tried to choose their successor, not always successfully. One of the central problems of Kongo history was the succession of power, and as a result the country was disturbed by many rebellions and revolts.

According to the Chronicles of Gallus Anonymus, the first legendary Polish ruler, Siemowit, who began the Piast Dynasty, was chosen by a wiec. The veche (Russian: вече, Polish: wiec) was a popular assembly in medieval Slavic countries, and in late medieval period, a parliament. The idea of the wiec led in 1182 to the development of the Polish parliament, the Sejm.

During the reign of Władysław IV (1632–48), the liberum veto: a policy of parliamentary procedure was developed, based on the assumption of the political equality of every "gentleman", with the corollary that unanimous consent was needed for all measures.[1] A single member of parliament's belief that a measure was injurious to his own constituency (usually simply his own estate), even after the act had been approved, became enough to strike the act. It became increasingly difficult to undertake action. The liberum veto also provided openings for foreign diplomats to get their ways, through bribing nobles to exercise it.[1] Thus, one could characterise Poland–Lithuania in its final period (mid-18th century) before the partitions as already in a state of disorder and not a completely sovereign state; almost as a vassal state,[5] or in modern terms, a Russian satellite state, with Russian tsars effectively choosing Polish kings. This applies particularly to the last Commonwealth King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who for some time had been a lover of Russian Empress Catherine the Great.

In the Federal Supreme Courts (see Judiciary of Germany) and the office of the Federal Prosecutor General, the duties of law clerks are performed by wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter (German for "scientific assistant"). With few exceptions, they are lower court judges or civil servants, assigned for a period of three years to the respective Federal Court, and their clerkships serve as a qualification for a higher judgeship. However, some justices of the Federal Constitutional Court (who have the right to select their wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter personally) prefer clerks from outside the courts or the civil service, especially those who are or were professors of law and who often hire people from academia (sometimes even young law professors). The clerks of the Federal Constitutional Court are deemed very influential and are therefore dubbed the (unofficial) Dritter Senat ("Third Senate") as opposed to the two official "senates" of 8 justices each which form the court.

The Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, the federal constitution, stipulates that the structure of each Federated State's government must "conform to the principles of republican, democratic, and social government, based on the rule of law" (Article 28). Most of the states are governed by a cabinet led by a Ministerpräsident (minister-president), together with a unicameral legislative body known as the Landtag (State Diet). The states are parliamentary republics and the relationship between their legislative and executive branches mirrors that of the federal system: the legislatures are popularly elected for four or five years (depending on the state), and the minister-president is then chosen by a majority vote among the Landtag’s members. The minister-president appoints a cabinet to run the state's agencies and to carry out the executive duties of the state's government.

In the years following the emperor's death, generals of the Roman army fought each other for control of the Empire and neglected their duties in preventing invasions. Provincials became victims of frequent raids by foreign tribes, such as the Carpians, Goths, Vandals, and Alamanni, along the Rhine and Danube Rivers in the western part of the Empire, as well as attacks from Sassanids in the eastern part of the Empire. Additionally, in 251, the Plague of Cyprian (possibly smallpox) broke out, causing large-scale mortality which may have seriously affected the ability of the Empire to defend itself.

The practical source of an emperor's power and authority was the military. The legionaries were paid by the Imperial treasury, and swore an annual military oath of loyalty to the emperor (sacramentum).[197] The death of an emperor led to a crucial period of uncertainty and crisis. Most emperors indicated their choice of successor, usually a close family member or adopted heir. The new emperor had to seek a swift acknowledgement of his status and authority to stabilize the political landscape. No emperor could hope to survive, much less to reign, without the allegiance and loyalty of the Praetorian Guard and of the legions. To secure their loyalty, several emperors paid the donativum, a monetary reward. In theory, the Senate was entitled to choose the new emperor, but did so mindful of acclamation by the army or Praetorians.[195]

Trần Thủ Độ viciously purged members of the Lý nobility; some Lý princes escaped to Korea, including Lý Long Tường. After the purge, the Trần emperors ruled the country in similar manner to the Lý kings. Noted Trần dynasty accomplishments include the creation of a system of population records based at the village level, the compilation of a formal 30-volume history of Đại Việt (Đại Việt Sử Ký) by Lê Văn Hưu, and the rising in status of the Nôm script, a system of writing for Vietnamese language. The Trần dynasty also adopted a unique way to train new emperors: when a crown prince reached the age of 18, his predecessor would abdicate and turn the throne over to him, yet holding the title of Retired Emperor (Thái Thượng Hoàng), acting as a mentor to the new Emperor. Despite continued Champa-Khmer attacks, the Trần managed to arrange several periods of peace with them.[citation needed][23]

Although the emperor held supreme power, he more often sought the advice of his cabinet and other ministers before making decisions and when revoking them.[27] He often assembled leading officials for debates or discussions on policy, known as court conferences (tingyi 廷議). Various issues were debated at these gatherings, such as installment of new emperors, enfeoffment of nobles, the establishment of new ancestral temples, reforms to the state religion, the monetary or tax systems, management of government monopolies on salt and iron (when they existed during Western Han), the introduction of new laws or the repeal of old ones, complex lawsuits, or whether or not to declare war on a foreign country or accept peaceful negotiation.[27] Although the emperor could reject the decisions reached by his court conference, he did so at the risk of alienating his leading ministers. More often than not, he was forced to accept the majority consensus of his ministers, whose individual opinions were equally tallied regardless of their standing or salary-rank.[28]

Under Charlemagne, the Franks established an empire that was recognized as the Holy Roman Empire by the Pope in Rome, offending the Roman Emperor in Constantinople. The crowning of the Emperor by the Pope led to the assumption that the highest power was the papal hierarchy, establishing, until the Protestant Reformation, the civilization of West Christendom. The Latin Rite Catholic Church of western and central Europe headed by the Pope split with the eastern, Greek-speaking Patriarchates during the Great Schism. Meanwhile, the extent of each expanded, as British Isles, Germanic peoples, Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, Scandinavia, Baltic peoples and the other non-Christian lands of the northwest were converted by the Western Church, while Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Georgia were converted by the Eastern Church.


Question: What were the German princes who selected the Holy Roman Empire's emperor known as?

Prince-Electors, also known as Kurfürsten in German, were the group of high-ranking nobles who had the exclusive right to elect the King of the Romans, who would eventually be crowned as the Holy Roman Emperor. This practice began in the 13th century and continued until the end of the Holy Roman Empire. After Charles V, the last Emperor to be crowned by the Pope in 1530, his successors were elected Emperors by the electoral college, with each being referred to as "Elected Emperor of the Romans." The Electors typically confirmed the Habsburg succession, with all Emperors from 1440 onwards, except for Charles VII of the House of Wittelsbach, coming from the Austrian House of Habsburg.

Senators had an aura of prestige and were the traditional governing class who rose through the cursus honorum, the political career track, but equestrians of the Empire often possessed greater wealth and political power. Membership in the equestrian order was based on property; in Rome's early days, equites or knights had been distinguished by their ability to serve as mounted warriors (the "public horse"), but cavalry service was a separate function in the Empire.[n 12] A census valuation of 400,000 sesterces and three generations of free birth qualified a man as an equestrian.[156] The census of 28 BC uncovered large numbers of men who qualified, and in 14 AD, a thousand equestrians were registered at Cadiz and Padua alone.[n 13][157] Equestrians rose through a military career track (tres militiae) to become highly placed prefects and procurators within the Imperial administration.[158][159]

The rulers of the Vijayanagara empire maintained the well-functioning administrative methods developed by their predecessors, the Hoysala, Kakatiya and Pandya kingdoms, to govern their territories and made changes only where necessary.[57] The King was the ultimate authority, assisted by a cabinet of ministers (Pradhana) headed by the prime minister (Mahapradhana). Other important titles recorded were the chief secretary (Karyakartha or Rayaswami) and the imperial officers (Adhikari). All high-ranking ministers and officers were required to have military training.[58] A secretariat near the king's palace employed scribes and officers to maintain records made official by using a wax seal imprinted with the ring of the king.[59] At the lower administrative levels, wealthy feudal landlords (Goudas) supervised accountants (Karanikas or Karnam) and guards (Kavalu). The palace administration was divided into 72 departments (Niyogas), each having several female attendants chosen for their youth and beauty (some imported or captured in victorious battles) who were trained to handle minor administrative matters and to serve men of nobility as courtesans or concubines.[60]

Under the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, Austria-Hungary received the mandate to occupy and administer the Ottoman Vilayet of Bosnia, while the Ottoman Empire retained official sovereignty. Under this same treaty, the Great Powers (Austria-Hungary, the United Kingdom, France, the German Empire, Italy, and the Russian Empire) gave official recognition to the Principality of Serbia as a fully sovereign state, which four years later transformed into a kingdom under Prince Milan IV Obrenović who thus became King Milan I of Serbia. Serbia's monarchs, at the time from the royal House of Obrenović that maintained close relations with Austria-Hungary, were content to reign within the borders set by the treaty.[1]

Although the influence of Turkic nobility continued in the Ottoman court until Mehmet II (see Çandarlı Halil), the Ottoman ruling class slowly came to be ruled exclusively by the devshirme, creating a separate social class.[20] This class of rulers was chosen from the brightest of devshirme and hand-picked to serve in the Palace institution, known as the Enderun.[21] They had to accompany the Sultan on campaigns, but exceptional service would be rewarded by assignments outside the palace.[22] Those chosen for the Scribe institution, known as Kalemiye were also granted prestigious positions. The Religious institution, İlmiye, was where all orthodox Muslim clergy of the Ottoman Empire were educated and sent to provinces or served in the capital.[23]

When Peter the Great was proclaimed emperor in 1721, his and his successors' recognition of the imperial title was delayed by the Habsburgs, the other claimant successors of the Roman Empire, until 1742, during the War of Austrian Succession. Russia's entry into European affairs created a recurring alliance between Russia and Austria often directed against the Ottomans and France. Russia and Austria were allies during the War of the Polish Succession (1733–1738), the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), and from 1787 to 1791 the monarchies both waged separates wars against the Ottomans (the Austro-Turkish War (1787-1791) and the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)). Both countries participated in the first and third partition of Poland.

The dual-structure configuration of legions/auxilia established by Augustus remained essentially intact until the late 3rd century, with only minor modifications made during that long period. The senior officers of the army were, until the 3rd century, mainly from the Italian aristocracy. This was divided into two orders, the senatorial order (ordo senatorius), consisting of the c. 600 sitting members of the Roman Senate (plus their sons and grandsons), and the more numerous (several thousand-strong) equites equo publico or "knights granted a public horse" i.e. knights hereditary or appointed by the Emperor. Hereditary senators and knights combined military service with civilian posts, a career-path known as the cursus honorum, typically starting with a period of junior administrative posts in Rome, followed by five to ten years in the military and a final period of senior positions in either the provinces or at Rome.[45] This tiny, tightly knit ruling oligarchy of under 10,000 men monopolised political, military and economic power in an empire of c. 60 million inhabitants and achieved a remarkable degree of political stability. During the first 200 years of its existence (30 BC – AD 180), the empire suffered only one major episode of civil strife (the Civil War of 68–9). Otherwise, attempts at usurpation by provincial governors were few and swiftly suppressed.

Historically the prime minister and senators are selected by the governor general as a representative of the queen, though in modern practice the monarch's duties are ceremonial. Consequently, the prime minister while technically selected by the governor general is for all practical purposes selected by the party with the majority of seats. That is, the party that gets the most seats normally forms the government, with that party's leader becoming prime minister. The prime minister is not directly elected by the general population, although the prime minister is almost always directly elected as an MP within his or her constituency. Again senators while technically selected at the pleasure of the monarch, are ceremonially selected by the governor general at the advice (and for most practical purposes authority) of the prime minister.

With the military faltering and with widespread loss of confidence in the Kaiser, Germany moved towards surrender. Prince Maximilian of Baden took charge of a new government as Chancellor of Germany to negotiate with the Allies. Negotiations with President Wilson began immediately, in the hope that he would offer better terms than the British and French. Wilson demanded a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary control over the German military.[184] There was no resistance when the Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann on 9 November declared Germany to be a republic. The Kaiser, kings and other hereditary rulers all were removed from power and Wilhelm fled to exile in the Netherlands. Imperial Germany was dead; a new Germany had been born as the Weimar Republic.[185]

The emperor, who enjoyed paramount social status, was the head of the government administration. His rule was virtually absolute, although civil officials, representing the competing interests of different state organs, scrutinized his decisions.[16] Although the Grand Commandant had a nominal role as commander-in-chief, the emperor served as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.[17] The emperor had the sole right to appoint central government officials whose salary-rank was 600-dan or higher.[18] The emperor also appointed the leading officials at the provincial, commandery, and county levels of government.[18] Appointees to office were usually recommended men from the commanderies, family relatives of high officials, or student graduates of the Imperial University. This institution was established in 124 BC, and provided a Confucian-based education for those entering civil service.[19]

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


Question: Who performed "I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock 'n' Roll)"?

"I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock 'n' Roll)" is a song penned by Nick Lowe and initially popularized by Dave Edmunds. It was featured on Edmunds's 1977 album Get It and subsequently released as a live version by Nick Lowe's Last Chicken in the Shop on the Live Stiffs Live album.

The new line-up performed at the 1972 Reading Festival. Barcus Berry instrument pick-ups, now sported by the band's string trio, allowed them to have proper amplification on stage for their instruments, which had previously been all but drowned out by all the sound of the electrified instruments. The band released their second album, ELO 2 in 1973, which produced their second UK top 10 and their first US chart single, an elaborate version of the Chuck Berry classic "Roll Over Beethoven".[21] ELO also made their first appearance on American Bandstand show. During the recording of the third album, Gibson was let go after a dispute over money, Mik Kaminski joined as violinist and Walker left since touring was keeping him away from his family too much, while remaining cellist Edwards finished the cello parts. The resulting album, On the Third Day, was released in late 1973, with the American version featuring the popular single "Showdown".

"Ride Like the Wind" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Christopher Cross. It was released in February 1980 as the lead single from his Grammy-winning self-titled debut album. It reached number 2 on the US charts for four consecutive weeks, behind Blondie's "Call Me". On the album's inner sleeve, Christopher Cross dedicated this song to Lowell George, formerly of the band Little Feat, who had died in 1979. It features backing vocals by Michael McDonald and a guitar solo by Cross.

The cover features Viv Nicholson, who became famous in 1961 in the UK for winning a large amount of money on the football pools and then rapidly squandering it. The song's title was inspired by Sandie Shaw's 1969 single "Heaven Knows I'm Missing Him Now".

According to Sarah Maloy from Billboard, "I Knew You Were Trouble" is a departure from Swift's characteristic country songs, and blends pop and dubstep in its composition,[20][21] The song begins as a typical pop rock, sock hop music with jaunty guitar sounds and Swift singing the lyrics which describes the early stages of a romantic affair; the tune soon changes its composition.[7][22][23] Featuring instrumentation from bass guitar, electric guitar and keyboards, "I Knew You Were Trouble"'s chorus is built around "whirring" sub-bass according to Mark Hogan from Spin magazine, with digitally tweaked vocal hooks and dubstep,[24][25] while Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine noted that the bass drops "fit naturally into the song's slick pop-rock arrangement and make its melodic hook all the more potent."[2] During the middle eight of the song, most of the background music stops and Swift sings in a shrill voice the lines "you never loved me, or her, or anyone, or anything".[26] As per the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, the song is set in common time with a moderately fast tempo of 154 beats per minute, and switches to half time during the chorus.[27] It is set in the key of E♭ minor with Swift's vocal ranging from B♭3 to E♭5.[27] The song follows a I–V–vi–IV chord progression.[27]

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" has been used twice in television commercials – each time using session musicians recreating the style of the Marvin Gaye version. For the 1985 Levi's 501 commercial, "Launderette", featuring male model Nick Kamen, agency BBH and director Roger Lyons, owing to budgetary constraints, brought in Karl Jenkins and Mike Ratledge to recreate the sound of the Marvin Gaye original with Tony Jackson, a Barbadian background singer for Paul Young, handling vocals and P. P. Arnold on backing vocals.[21][31][32][33][34] The commercial's success prompted Tamla-Motown to re-release Gaye's single with the Levi's 501 logo on the sleeve — "an example of integrated marketing almost before the term was invented".[35][36] The record went to number eight on the UK Singles chart, marking its second chart performance.[21] A year later, in 1986, Buddy Miles was the singer for the clay animation group The California Raisins which sang it as part a TV advertising campaign.[37]

With a PBS special and numerous morning talk show appearances under their collective belt, Rockapella was noticed by the producers of an up-and-coming children's geography game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?. Shortly before the show's premiere, Keyes had decided to leave Rockapella to launch his legal career, but was still part of the band when they auditioned and were hired to write and perform the show's theme song as well as appearing as the comic relief house band. Keyes was replaced by Scott Leonard, who had just returned from a career as the lead singer in a Tokyo Disneyland electronic rock band. Between Leonard joining the band and the start of their television break, Rockapella began to pick up fame, starring in a Whoopi Goldberg HBO comedy special Chez Whoopi, a Taco Bell commercial, and opened for acts such as Chuck Berry, Styx, Billy Joel, and their a cappella idols The Persuasions, who the group had met on the Do It A Cappella special. They also performed on Jay Leno's first New Year's Eve episode of The Tonight Show in 1992.[3]

Winter played many of the instruments on the track, including keyboards, saxophone and timbales.[3] As the release's only instrumental cut, the song was not initially intended to be on the album, and was only included on a whim as a last-minute addition. It was originally released as the B-side to "Hangin' Around", but the two were soon reversed by the label when disc jockeys nationwide in the United States, as well as in Canada, were inundated with phone calls and realized this was the hit. The song features a "double" drum solo, with Ruff on drums and Winter on percussion. In fact, the working title of the song was "The Double Drum Song".[4] The single was one of the few No. 1 chart records to include an extended passage featuring the ARP 2600 synthesizer. The group performed the song on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1973.[5]

It was featured in the 1998 film The Wedding Singer (in which Idol appears), on the American TV series My Name Is Earl and on the British TV series Blackpool. It was also featured in the 1993 film True Romance during the scene where Alabama is being tattooed. It was also featured in the skate video CKY.

"As Tears Go By" was one of the first original compositions by Jagger and Richards, as until that point The Rolling Stones had chiefly been performing blues standards. A story surrounding the song's genesis has it that Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham locked Jagger and Richards in a kitchen in order to force them to write a song together, even suggesting what type of song he wanted: "I want a song with brick walls all around it, high windows and no sex." The result was initially named "As Time Goes By", the title of the song Dooley Wilson sings in the film Casablanca. It was Oldham who replaced "Time" with "Tears".

The song was later re-recorded by Lauper, for her album The Body Acoustic, an album in which she recorded acoustic versions of her favorite songs. This version included vocals by Shaggy. Charles Andrews of Audio/Video Revolution said of this version, "Acoustic guitar strumming continues into "All Through the Night" and then – whoa! – who's that toaster? It's Shaggy, ducking in and out with his own rapid-fire lyric take, an inspired bit of casting that turns the romantic ballad on its head."[22] The song is also one of her more popular songs that she performs in live concerts.[23]


Question: Where did Latin American countries fit in the post-World War II global scenario?

In the aftermath of World War II, Latin American countries recognized the need for collective security to protect their territorial integrity against potential external threats, particularly from Soviet or communist aggression. This led to the establishment of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, commonly known as the Rio Treaty, in 1947. The following year, during the Ninth International Conference of American States, led by U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall, 21 member states committed to combating communism in the region. This conference also marked the transformation of the Pan American Union into the Organization of American States (OAS), which began operations in December 1951. The transition was seamless, with Alberto Lleras Camargo, the Director General of the Pan American Union, becoming the OAS's first Secretary General.

The Cold War started placing immense pressure on developing nations to align with one of the superpower factions. Both promised substantial financial, military, and diplomatic aid in exchange for an alliance, in which issues like corruption and human rights abuses were overlooked or ignored. When an allied government was threatened, the superpowers were often prepared and willing to intervene.

With the breakup of the Soviet Union into separate nations, and with the re-emergence of the nation of Russia, the world of pro-U.S. and pro-Soviet alliances broke down. Different challenges presented themselves, such as climate change as well as the threat of nuclear terrorism. Regional powerbrokers and dictators such as Saddam Hussein in Iraq challenged the peace with a surprise attack on the small nation of Kuwait in 1991. President George H. W. Bush organized a coalition of allied and Middle Eastern powers which successfully pushed back the invading forces, but stopped short of invading Iraq and capturing Hussein; as a result, the dictator was free to rule unchecked for another twelve years. After the Gulf War, many scholars, such as Zbigniew Brzezinski, claimed the lack of a new strategic vision for U.S. foreign policy resulted in many missed opportunities for its foreign policy. During the 1990s, the United States mostly scaled back its foreign policy budget as well as its cold war defense budget which amounted to 6.5% of GDP while focusing on domestic economic prosperity under President Clinton, who succeeded in achieving a budget surplus for 1999 and 2000. The United States also served as a peacekeeper in the warring ethnic disputes in the former Yugoslavia by cooperating as a U.N. peacekeeper.

Since the 1980s, anarchism has grown into a strong political force in Latin America, with the development of Fejuve (1979),[163] CIPO-RFM (1980s),[164] Zapatistas (1994),[165] Horizontilidad (2001)[166] and the Oaxaca Uprising (2006).[167] Around the turn of the 21st century, anarchism grew in popularity and influence as part of the anti-war, anti-capitalist, and anti-globalisation movements.[168] Anarchists became known for their involvement in protests against the meetings of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Group of Eight (G8) and the World Economic Forum (WEF). Some anarchist factions at these protests engaged in rioting, property destruction, and violent confrontations with police. These actions were precipitated by ad hoc, leaderless, anonymous cadres known as black blocsâ€”other organisational tactics pioneered in this time include security culture, affinity groups and the use of decentralised technologies such as the internet.[168] A significant event of this period was the confrontations at WTO conference in Seattle in 1999.[168] According to anarchist scholar Simon Critchley, "contemporary anarchism can be seen as a powerful critique of the pseudo-libertarianism of contemporary neo-liberalism [...] One might say that contemporary anarchism is about responsibility, whether sexual, ecological or socio-economic; it flows from an experience of conscience about the manifold ways in which the West ravages the rest; it is an ethical outrage at the yawning inequality, impoverishment and disenfranchisment that is so palpable locally and globally".[169]

Strategically, Brazil was of great importance because of its having the closest point in the Americas to Africa where the Allies were actively engaged in fighting the Germans and Italians. For the Axis, the Southern Cone nations of Argentina and Chile were where they found most of their South American support, and they utilised it to the fullest by interfering with internal affairs, conducting espionage, and distributing propaganda.[44][45][46]

One paper notes that sudden shifts in comparative advantage for specific countries have led said countries to become protectionist: "The shift in comparative advantage associated with the opening up of New World frontiers, and the subsequent “grain invasion” of Europe, led to higher agricultural tariffs from the late 1870s onwards, which as we have seen reversed the move toward freer trade that had characterized mid-nineteenth-century Europe. In the decades after World War II, Japan’s rapid rise led to trade friction with other countries. Japan’s recovery was accompanied by a sharp increase in its exports of certain product categories: cotton textiles in the 1950s, steel in the 1960s, automobiles in the 1970s, and electronics in the 1980s. In each case, the rapid expansion in Japan’s exports created difficulties for its trading partners and the use of protectionism as a shock absorber."[22]

During and after World War II, US leaders expanded the concept of national security and used its terminology for the first time to explain America’s relationship to the world. For most of US history, the physical security of the continental United States had not been in jeopardy. But by 1945, this invulnerability was rapidly diminishing with the advent of long-range bombers, atom bombs, and ballistic missiles. A general perception grew that the future would not allow time to mobilize, that preparation would have to become constant. For the first time, American leaders would have to deal with the essential paradox of national security faced by the Roman Empire and subsequent great powers: Si vis pacem, para bellum — If you want peace, prepare for war.[50]

Throughout the Cold War years, the U.S. acted as a barrier to socialist revolutions and targeted populist and nationalist governments that were aided by the communists. The CIA overthrew other governments suspected of turning pro-communist, such as Guatemala in 1954 under Jacobo Arbenz Guzman. The CIA Operation PBSUCCESS eventually led to the 1954 coup that removed Arbnez from power. The operation drew on an initial plan first considered in 1951 to oust Arbenz named Operation PBFORTUNE. Arbenz, who was supported by some local communists, was ousted shortly after he had redistributed 178,000 acres (720Â km2) of United Fruit Company land in Guatemala. United Fruit had long monopolized the transportation and communications region there, along with the main export commodities, and played a major role in Guatemalan politics. Arbenz was out shortly afterwards, and Guatemala came under control of a repressive military regime.

In 1871, Germany became united and established themselves as the leading industrial nation on the European mainland.[20] Their desire to dominate the mainland helped them to become a core nation. After the First World War, Europe was decimated, and the position for new core nations was opening up.[21] This culminated with the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War, when Britain was forced to sacrifice its hegemony, allowing the United States and the Soviet Union to become world superpowers and major cores.[22] The USSR lost its core status following its collapse in 1991.[23]

The war happened in the moment of an important national conflict: racial segregation. White America was united in its cause but in Black America, there was opposition. While Roosevelt was describing the Allied War goals as democratic, Walter Francis White, the executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said that colored people had to "fight for the right to fight".[66] Many blacks were weighing their loyalty to the country against loyalty to their race. To address the identity problem, the Office of War Information (that had control and influence on the contents and subjects of American motion pictures.[67]) decided to collaborate with Black leaders to try to improve Hollywood's portrayal of colored people and obtain their support to the Allied cause, but it was a failure.[68]

The term was first used to describe nations with greater than great power status as early as 1944, but only gained its specific meaning with regard to the United States, the United Kingdom and its empire and the Soviet Union after World War II. This was because the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union had proved themselves to be capable of casting great influence in global politics and military dominance. The term in its current political meaning was coined by Dutch-American geostrategist Nicholas Spykman in a series of lectures in 1943 about the potential shape of a new post-war world order. This formed the foundation for the book The Geography of the Peace, which referred primarily to the unmatched maritime global supremacy of the British Empire and United States as essential for peace and prosperity in the world.


Question: Where did the phrase "hat trick" originate from?

The phrase "hat trick" originated in cricket in 1858 when H. H. Stephenson took three wickets with three consecutive balls. Spectators collected money and bought him a hat as a reward, leading to the term's first use in print in 1865. The expression later spread to other sports such as hockey, soccer, water polo, and team handball.

By 1943, the term acronym had been used in English to recognize abbreviations (and contractions of phrases) that were pronounced as words.[31] (It was formed from the Greek words ἄκρος, akros, "topmost, extreme" and ὄνομα, onoma, "name.") For example, the army offense of being absent without official leave was abbreviated to "A.W.O.L." in reports, but when pronounced as a word (awol), it became an acronym.[33] While initial letters are commonly used to form an acronym, the original definition was "a word made from the initial letters or syllables of other words",[34] for example UNIVAC from UNIVersal Automatic Computer.[35]

These ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football Association (The FA) in 1863, which first met on the morning of 26 October 1863 at the Freemasons' Tavern in Great Queen Street, London.[31] The only school to be represented on this occasion was Charterhouse. The Freemason's Tavern was the setting for five more meetings between October and December, which eventually produced the first comprehensive set of rules. At the final meeting, the first FA treasurer, the representative from Blackheath, withdrew his club from the FA over the removal of two draft rules at the previous meeting: the first allowed for running with the ball in hand; the second for obstructing such a run by hacking (kicking an opponent in the shins), tripping and holding. Other English rugby clubs followed this lead and did not join the FA and instead in 1871 formed the Rugby Football Union. The eleven remaining clubs, under the charge of Ebenezer Cobb Morley, went on to ratify the original thirteen laws of the game.[31] These rules included handling of the ball by "marks" and the lack of a crossbar, rules which made it remarkably similar to Victorian rules football being developed at that time in Australia. The Sheffield FA played by its own rules until the 1870s with the FA absorbing some of its rules until there was little difference between the games.[32]

The term's coinage for political purposes has been attributed to Frank Kent, a writer for the Baltimore Sun[6] whose essay "Fat Cats and Free Rides" appeared in the American Mercury, a magazine of commentary run by H. L. Mencken.[7] Kent wrote:

The French term régiment is considered to have entered military usage in Europe at the end of the 16th century, when armies evolved from collections of retinues who followed knights, to formally organised, permanent military forces. At that time, regiments were usually named after their commanding colonels, and disbanded at the end of the campaign or war; the colonel and his regiment might recruit from and serve several monarchs or countries. Later, it was customary to name the regiment by its precedence in the line of battle, and to recruit from specific places, called cantons. The oldest regiments which still exist, and their dates of establishment, include the Spanish 9th Infantry Regiment “Soria” (originally the Tercio de Nápoles)[2] (1505), Swedish Life Guards (1521), the British Honourable Artillery Company (1537) and the King's Own Immemorial Regiment of Spain, first established in 1248 during the conquest of Seville by King Ferdinand the Saint.[3]

Crowley often told the story of an October 28, 1922, game between Notre Dame and Georgia Tech in which the Fighting Irish players said Hail Mary prayers together before scoring each of the touchdowns, before winning the game 13-3. According to Crowley, it was one of the team’s linemen, Noble Kizer (a Presbyterian), who suggested praying before the first touchdown, which occurred on a fourth and goal play at the Tech 6-yard line during the second quarter. Quarterback Harry Stuhldreher, another of the Horsemen, threw a quick pass over the middle to Paul Castner for the score. The ritual was repeated before a third and goal play, again at Tech’s six, in the fourth quarter. This time Stuhldreher ran for a touchdown, which sealed the win for Notre Dame. After the game, Kizer exclaimed to Crowley, "Say, that Hail Mary is the best play we've got." Crowley related this story many times in public speeches beginning in the 1930s.[2]

The phrase "parson's nose" comes from the notion that an English parson may 'have his nose up in the air', upturned like the chicken's rear end. The term must have been known as early as around 1400 AD, when a carpenter had been contracted to provide new choir stalls for St Mary's Church, Nantwich.[verification needed] The vicar was either slow to pay the artisan, or did not pay at all. In retaliation, on the last misericord in the stalls, the carpenter carved a bird with an image of that Vicar's face with protuberant nose as rump. The carving is still visible today.[5]

It is not uncommon for acronyms to be cited in a kind of false etymology, called a folk etymology, for a word. Such etymologies persist in popular culture but have no factual basis in historical linguistics, and are examples of language-related urban legends. For example, cop is commonly cited as being derived, it is presumed, from "constable on patrol,"[43] and posh from "port out, starboard home".[44] With some of these specious expansions, the "belief" that the etymology is acronymic has clearly been tongue-in-cheek among many citers, as with "gentlemen only, ladies forbidden" for golf, although many other (more credulous) people have uncritically taken it for fact.[44][45] Taboo words in particular commonly have such false etymologies: shit from "ship/store high in transit"[36][46] or "special high-intensity training" and fuck from "for unlawful carnal knowledge", or "fornication under consent/command of the king".[46]

Said of a team when it scores eight runs in one inning. Broadcaster Eric Nadel used this term on 8 August 2015 when the Texas Rangers sent eight men across home plate in the 11th inning, defeating the Seattle Mariners 11-3. May also be used when a team gets the opposing pitcher charged with eight runs over one inning or a series of innings.

A mondegreen /ˈmɒndɪɡriːn/ is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase as a result of near-homophony, in a way that gives it a new meaning. Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to clearly hear a lyric, substitutes words that sound similar and make some kind of sense.[1][2] American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term in 1954, writing about how as a girl she had misheard the lyric "...and laid him on the green" in a Scottish ballad as "...and Lady Mondegreen".[3]

It is sometimes claimed that, ironically, the song was originally sung in support of the Jacobite cause: the word "send" in the line "Send him victorious" could imply that the king was absent. However, the Oxford English Dictionary cites examples of "[God] send (a person) safe, victorious, etc." meaning "God grant that he may be safe, etc.". There are also examples of early eighteenth century Jacobean drinking glasses which are inscribed with a version of the words and were apparently intended for drinking the health of King James II and VII.


Question: What was the song played by the Titanic band when the ship sank?

There has been much debate about the last song played by the band on the RMS Titanic. According to some accounts, including that of first-class passenger Mrs. Vera Dick, the final tune was the hymn "Nearer, My God, to Thee". However, Harold Bride, one of the ship's wireless operators, claimed in a 1912 interview that he heard the song "Autumn" before the ship sank. It's unclear if Bride was referring to the hymn tune "Autumn" or the popular waltz "Songe d'Automne", but neither was in the White Star Line's songbook. Bride's account is considered more credible by some, as he was one of the few people who could have heard the band's final moments, having floated off the deck before the ship went down. Mrs. Dick, on the other hand, had left by lifeboat an hour and 20 minutes earlier, making it impossible for her to have heard the band's last song. The idea that the band played "Nearer, My God, to Thee" may have originated from the wrecking of the SS Valencia in 1906, which received significant press coverage in Canada and could have influenced Mrs. Dick's recollection.

In 1991, Zevon, once again a solo artist, released Mr. Bad Example. This album featured the modest pop hit "Searching for a Heart" and the rocker "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead", later used as the title of the neo-noir film of the same name, directed by Gary Fleder; after some skirmishing over the unauthorized use of Zevon's song title, the Zevon track was licensed to play over the film's end credits. Zevon also sang lead vocals on the song "Casey Jones" from the Grateful Dead tribute album Deadicated, although the cut is credited to his regular collaborator David Lindley.

The song appears in The Acoustic Album (2006). It was performed in 2006 by the New England octogenarian chorus group Young@Heart. The group's performance was led by former chorus member Fred Knittle, who suffered from congestive heart failure and breathed with assistance from an oxygen tank. The performance was originally planned to be a duet between Knittle and Bob Salvini, another former chorus member, but Salvini died shortly before the show. Knittle performed it as a solo, as a tribute to his friend.[38] The performance was initially recorded for a British documentary that aired on Channel 4; footage of the performance was uploaded to YouTube in November 2006 to positive response.[39][40] An expanded version of the film, titled Young@Heart, debuted at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival and was released in US theatres in 2008.[41][42]

Yet, the song was one of the most popular of 1911, bested only by Alexander's Ragtime Band by Irving Berlin.[3] According to Dillon's 1966 obituary in The New York Times, the song sold over five million score sheets and recordings.[4]

Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance-disaster film directed, written, co-produced and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the ship during its ill-fated maiden voyage.

The song has been recorded numerous times from the early 1920s into the 21st century. Layton himself recorded the song as part of the duo Layton & Johnstone in 1927. Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Orchestra played the song in their 1932 film short The Yacht Party. Notable uses have included being the theme song for the radio program This Is Jazz in the 1940s.
According to Dick Biondi, Freddy Cannon's 1959 version became the first record in the rock era to have a full brass section. It reached number 3 on the Billboard chart in early 1960. The song was performed by Harry Connick Jr. in a September 2005 NBC Katrina fundraiser, "A Concert For Hurricane Relief", that raised over $50 million.[4]

A version was sung during World War I with the line "When this bloody war is over" in place of the original title.[9] The tune was used in the 1969 film, Oh! What a Lovely War with the title "When This Lousy War Is Over". The tune was used in Alan Price's song Changes, which was written for the 1973 film O Lucky Man! and later became a hit when used in the 1987 Volkswagen Golf television commercial. The tune was in the labor protest movement due to its wide popularity. "Dump the Bosses Off Your Backs" (words by John Brill) was published in the IWW "Little Red Songbook" and has been recorded by dozens of artists including Utah Phillips, Anne Feeney, and Joe Glazer. A Norwegian version was used in the film Trollhunter.

The tradition of using two separate songs was broken when the BBC revived the show. Instrumental music opened each episode of the third series. However, the closing credits were accompanied by Mark Knopfler's song "Why Aye Man", taken from his album The Ragpicker's Dream. Incidental music was used for the fourth series and for the special. However, when the character of Dennis reveals a photograph of all of the original group taken in Germany, "Breakin' Away" begins and continues over the final credits of the show. A CD is now available entitled 'The Best of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet One & Two' and contains 29 tracks of vocal music and instrumentals.

In 1912, the RMS Titanic sank in the northern Atlantic Ocean. After this, wireless telegraphy using spark-gap transmitters quickly became universal on large ships. In 1913, the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea was convened and produced a treaty requiring shipboard radio stations to be manned 24 hours a day. A typical high-power spark gap was a rotating commutator with six to twelve contacts per wheel, nine inches (229Â mm) to a foot wide, driven by about 2,000 volts DC. As the gaps made and broke contact, the radio wave was audible as a tone in a magnetic detector at a remote location. The telegraph key often directly made and broke the 2,000 volt supply. One side of the spark gap was directly connected to the antenna. Receivers with thermionic valves became commonplace before spark-gap transmitters were replaced by continuous wave transmitters.

In October 2005, several radio stations temporarily stopped playing "New Orleans Is Sinking", out of sensitivity to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which had devastated the city in early September of that year.[14][15][16] However it received considerable pirate radio and relief site play and gained some notoriety and praise in New Orleans due to its attitudinal proximity to the city's culture.

"And When I Die" is a song written by American singer Laura Nyro. It was first recorded by American folk group Peter, Paul and Mary in 1966. Nyro then recorded it on her 1967 debut album More Than a New Discovery. However, the song is probably best known for its third version by American rock group Blood, Sweat & Tears, which reached number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and became a Gold record. The song gives a positive outlook about death, stating, in the chorus, "And when I die/and when I'm gone/there'll be one child born and a world/to carry on/to carry on."[1]


Question: When was the wheel first introduced to North America?

Although wheels were not widely utilized in the Americas before European contact, small wheeled objects, likely toys, have been found at Mexican archeological sites, some dating back to 1500 BC. The primary reason for the lack of large-scale wheel development in the Americas was the absence of domesticated large animals to pull wheeled vehicles. The American Bison, which was not domesticated by Native Americans, and extinct horse species were not available for this purpose. The llama, the only large domesticated animal in the Western hemisphere, did not spread widely beyond the Andes before Columbus' arrival.

In the 10th century, Icelandic and Norwegian Vikings settled in the southern part of the island, while the Thule Inuit culture was introduced in the north of the island and expanded southward.

Much ground sloth evolution took place during the late Paleogene and Neogene of South America while the continent was isolated. At their earliest appearance in the fossil record, the ground sloths were already distinct at the family level. The presence of intervening islands between the American continents in the Miocene allowed a dispersal of forms into North America. A number of mid- to small-sized forms are believed to have previously dispersed to the Antilles. They were hardy as evidenced by their diverse numbers and dispersals into remote areas given the finding of their remains in Patagonia (Cueva del Milodón)[4] and parts of Alaska.

Technological advances had moved the open water wheel into an enclosed turbine or water motor. In 1848 James B. Francis, while working as head engineer of Lowell's Locks and Canals company, improved on these designs to create a turbine with 90% efficiency.[citation needed] He applied scientific principles and testing methods to the problem of turbine design. His mathematical and graphical calculation methods allowed the confident design of high-efficiency turbines to exactly match a site's specific flow conditions. The Francis reaction turbine is still in wide use today. In the 1870s, deriving from uses in the California mining industry, Lester Allan Pelton developed the high efficiency Pelton wheel impulse turbine, which utilized hydropower from the high head streams characteristic of the mountainous California interior.

Native American cultures along the river were diverse, developing specialized adaptations to the many different environments.[3] By the time of European contact, the eastern Piney Woods were dominated by the numerous historic tribes of the Caddoan Confederacy. They found plentiful game and fish, and also had good land for cultivating staple crops.[3] The middle part of the Red River was dominated by Wichita and Tonkawa. This area was prairie, where Native Americans constructed portable and temporary tepees for housing. They practiced limited farming and followed game in seasonal, nomadic hunting cycles.[3] The Plains division of the Lipan Apache dominated the western Red River area until the 18th century, when they were displaced by invading Comanche from the north.[3]

The historical region now known as China experienced a history involving mechanics, hydraulics and mathematics applied to horology, metallurgy, astronomy, agriculture, engineering, music theory, craftsmanship, naval architecture and warfare. By the Warring States period (403–221 BC), inhabitants of the Warring States had advanced metallurgic technology, including the blast furnace and cupola furnace, while the finery forge and puddling process were known by the Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 220). A sophisticated economic system in imperial China gave birth to inventions such as paper money during the Song Dynasty (960–1279). The invention of gunpowder during the mid 9th century led to an array of inventions such as the fire lance, land mine, naval mine, hand cannon, exploding cannonballs, multistage rocket and rocket bombs with aerodynamic wings and explosive payloads. With the navigational aid of the 11th century compass and ability to steer at high sea with the 1st century sternpost rudder, premodern Chinese sailors sailed as far as East Africa.[2][3][4] In water-powered clockworks, the premodern Chinese had used the escapement mechanism since the 8th century and the endless power-transmitting chain drive in the 11th century. They also made large mechanical puppet theaters driven by waterwheels and carriage wheels and wine-serving automatons driven by paddle wheel boats.

Ceramic, lithic, shell, and European artifacts, perhaps certain faunal remains, and aspects of longhouse interments indicate the Christian site belongs to the period when Europeans, perhaps Étienne Brûlé in 1615, first entered Neutralia. As such, the identification of the intensity of foreign manifestations are important in identifying the pervasiveness of the effect of Europeans on Neutral relationships. The Illinois Country's former inhabitants returned shortly after the war ended; the Miami, Potowatomie, Sauk, and Fox tribes became dominant in the region. The Ohio Country, which was nearer to the core of Iroquois territory, remained depopulated for longer, as the Iroquois controlled it by right of conquest as a hunting ground. The Lenape settled along the Allegheny River beginning in the 1720s. It was not until the 1740s and 1750s that the Shawnee began to return to the southern and central areas of the region, and the Miami began to resettle the western portions.

In the East, churn drills were invented as early as 221 BC during the Chinese Qin Dynasty,[10] capable of reaching a depth of 1500 m.[6] Churn drills in ancient China were built of wood and labor-intensive, but were able to go through solid rock.[11] The churn drill appears in Europe during the 12th century.[6] In 1835 Isaac Singer is reported to have built a steam powered churn drill based off the method the Chinese used.[12] Also worth briefly discussing are the early drill presses; they were machine tools that derived from bow-drills but were powered by windmills and water wheels. Drill presses consisted of the powered drills that could be raised or lowered into a material, allowing for less force by the user.

Modern archaeologists have unearthed Han iron farming tools throughout China, from Inner Mongolia in the north to Yunnan in the south.[30] The spade, shovel, pick, and plow were used for tillage, the hoe for weeding, the rake for loosening the soil, and the sickle for harvesting crops.[30] Depending on their size, Han plows were driven by either one ox or two oxen.[31] Oxen were also used to pull the three-legged iron seed drill (invented in Han China by the 2nd century BCE), which enabled farmers to plant seeds in precise rows instead of casting them out by hand.[32] While artwork of the Wei (220–265 CE) and Jin (265–420 CE) periods show use of the harrow for breaking up chunks of soil after plowing, it perhaps first appeared in China during the Eastern Han (25–220 CE).[33] Irrigation works for agriculture included the use of water wells, artificial ponds and embankments, dams, canals, and sluice gates.[34]

The Thule people are the ancestors of the current Greenlandic population. No genes from the Paleo-Eskimos have been found in the present population of Greenland.[44] The Thule Culture migrated eastward from what is now known as Alaska around 1000, reaching Greenland around 1300. The Thule culture was the first to introduce to Greenland such technological innovations as dog sleds and toggling harpoons.

During the Achaemenid Empire, around 600 BC the Persians first began to use the abacus.[16] Under the Parthian, Sassanian and Iranian empires, scholars concentrated on exchanging knowledge and inventions with the countries around them â€“ India, China, and the Roman Empire, when it is thought to have been exported to other countries.


Question: Most home runs hit by two teammates in one season?

In Major League Baseball (MLB), the 50 home run club is an exclusive group that 29 players have joined, with nine of them achieving this feat multiple times. These sluggers consist of 17 right-handed batters, 11 left-handed batters, and one switch hitter. Remarkably, four players, including two current members, have accomplished this milestone with a single team. The New York Yankees hold the distinction of having five players reach this milestone while on their roster: Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Alex Rodriguez, and Aaron Judge. Ten players in this club are also members of the prestigious 500 home run club, with two of them, Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez, also belonging to the 3,000 hit club. Ten of these players have been awarded the Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in the same year they hit 50 home runs. Mantle is the only player to have achieved the Major League Triple Crown alongside hitting 50 home runs, leading both leagues in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in (RBI). Mantle and Maris, known as the M&M Boys, are the only teammates to have joined the 50 home run club in the same season, hitting a combined 115 home runs in 1961, setting the single-season record for home runs by a pair of teammates. Albert Belle is the only player to have recorded 50 or more doubles in addition to hitting 50 home runs. Prince Fielder, at 23 years and 139 days, was the youngest player to join this club, while Barry Bonds, at age 37, was the oldest.

The Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame has inducted 167 players, consisting of 138 Mexicans, 16 Cubans, 12 from the United States, and one Puerto Rican.[12][13] Distinguished players include MLB stars Roy Campanella and Monte Irvin, who played in the Mexican League in the 1940s. Nicknamed "El Bambino Mexicano", or the Mexican Babe Ruth, Héctor Espino was inducted in the Mexican Hall of Fame in 1988, after playing with San Luis Potosí, and Tampico from 1962 to 1984. His 453 home runs remained the record until Nelson Barrera surpassed him in 2001. Espino still holds the all-time records in many offensive categories.

The 1919 season was the first in which the Yankees played games at the Polo Grounds on Sundays; until then, blue laws had banned Sunday baseball in New York state. The Yankees' attendance more than doubled in 1919, rising to about 619,000.[52] The Giants soon moved to force the Yankees out of the Polo Grounds, in an effort to secure more Sunday home games.[53] On December 26, 1919, the Yankees made an agreement with the Red Sox to purchase outfielder Babe Ruth for $25,000 cash and $75,000 in promissory notes. The deal, which was announced on January 5, 1920, was called "the most famous transaction in sports" by author Glenn Stout.[54] After tying for the MLB home run lead in 1918 with the Athletics' Tilly Walker (with 11), Ruth broke the single-season record with 29 in 1919.[55] At the same time, he sought a new contract that would double his $10,000 yearly salary.[56] After the trade, Boston did not win another World Series championship until 2004; an alleged jinx against the Red Sox, which was known as the Curse of the Bambino (after a nickname for Ruth), was first brought up when they lost the 1986 World Series and became widely discussed after Dan Shaughnessy authored a book with the title.[57] The deal became a symbol of "how things [would] always go wrong for the Red Sox and right for the Yankees", according to Stout.[58]

On August 22, 2007, Griffey was selected as an all-time Rawlings Gold Glove winner, on a list of nine players considered the greatest defensive players in the last fifty years.[45] He finished the season with 78 runs, 146 hits, 24 doubles, one triple, 30 home runs, 93 RBIs, and a .277 batting average.

The two teams' pitching staffs combined for 30 strikeouts. Until 2008, this would be the All-Star Game record for most combined strikeouts in a single game.[2] Each of the 12 pitchers used by both leagues had at least one strikeout with Ferguson Jenkins leading the way with six strikeouts in three innings of work.[3]

One of the oddest features at the Polo Grounds were the deep dimensions in straight away center field. The wall was so far away from home plate, at 483 feet (147 m), that few players ever hit home runs over it. Before its 1923 reconstruction, only Babe Ruth ever reached the centerfield stands; after 1923 only four players would reach the distant centerfield bleachers. The entire 60-foot (18 m) wall in dead center field was considered in play, as were the clubhouse windows on the in-play side of the wall. The ground rules of the Polo Grounds were set up so that if a ball went through an open window in the clubhouse, it was a ground rule double, rather than a home run. Since no ball ever reached that area in the life of the stadium, that rule was never tested.

There was no scoring until the 14th inning when the Mets would take the lead on a Wally Backman single and an error by left fielder Billy Hatcher. The Astros would get the run back in the bottom of the 14th when Hatcher (in a classic goat-to-hero-conversion-moment) hit one of the most dramatic home runs in NLCS history, off the left field foul pole. In the 16th inning, Darryl Strawberry doubled to lead off the inning and Ray Knight drove him home in the next at-bat. The Mets would score a total of three runs in the inning to take what appeared an insurmountable 7–4 lead. With their season on the line, the Astros would nonetheless rally for two runs to come to within 7–6. Kevin Bass came up with the tying and winning runs on base; however Jesse Orosco would strike him out, ending the game. At the time the 16-inning game held the record for the longest in MLB postseason history. The Mets won the series, 4-2.

The Philadelphia Phillies were the first of the current major-league teams to train in Florida, when they spent two weeks in Jacksonville, Florida in 1889.[14] Spring training in Florida began in earnest in 1913, when the Chicago Cubs played in Tampa, and the Cleveland Indians in Pensacola. One year later, two other teams moved to Florida for spring training, the real start of the Grapefruit League. Except for a couple of years during World War II, when travel restrictions prevented teams training south of the Potomac and Ohio rivers, Florida hosted more than half of the spring training teams through 2009. Since 2010, major league teams have been equally divided during spring training, with 15 teams in Florida and 15 teams in Arizona.[15] All but six of the major league teams have gone to spring training in Florida at one time or another. Many of the most famous players in baseball history (Ruth, Gehrig, Musial, Cobb, Mays, DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, and many more) have called Florida home for 4â€“6 weeks every spring.[16]

After the 1998 season, Wells was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for Roger Clemens, who had just completed two consecutive Cy Young Award-winning seasons. In a regular season that included another perfect game by a Yankees pitcher, this one by David Cone, New York led the AL East with 98 wins and beat the Rangers in the ALDS. This led to an ALCS against the rival Red Sox. New York won the first two games en route to a 4–1 series win, and went on to sweep the Braves in the 1999 World Series. The postseason results gave the 1998–99 Yankees a 22–3 playoff record, and the team held a 12-game winning streak in World Series competition dating back to 1996.[255] Although the 2000 Yankees had an 87–74 regular season record that was the worst among playoff qualifiers,[256] the team won consecutive playoff series to claim the AL championship. New York's pennant placed them in the 2000 World Series against the cross-town Mets, the first Subway Series in 44 years.[257] With a four games to one victory, the Yankees gained their third successive title.[258] As of 2016, the 2000 Yankees are the most recent MLB team to repeat as World Series champions and the Yankees of 1998–2000 are the last team to win three consecutive World Series.[145]

DiMaggio recorded base hits in 56 consecutive games for the Yankees during the 1941 season, breaking the MLB record of 44 games that had been set by Willie Keeler in 1897. His hitting streak lasted from May 15 to July 17, when DiMaggio failed to record a hit during a game against the Indians at Cleveland Stadium.[118] After winning the AL pennant, the Yankees met the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1941 World Series, prevailing in five games. In Game 4, the Yankees trailed 4–3 in the ninth inning and were on the verge of defeat when Tommy Henrich struck out; Dodgers catcher Mickey Owen was unable to field the pitch, allowing Henrich to reach base. That began a four-run game-winning rally, and New York won the championship in Game 5 the following day.[119]

Ellsbury finished the season with career highs in home runs (32), hits (212), RBIs (105), runs (119), and batting average (.321).[61] He won his first Gold Glove Award, and finished as one of only two qualifying players to complete the season with a 1.000 fielding percentage. Jacoby was awarded a Silver Slugger Award for his hitting, joining teammate Adrian Gonzalez as the only American League players to win both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards in 2011. Ellsbury was voted the American League Comeback Player of the Year, and finished second in the 2011 American League Most Valuable Player Award balloting, with 242 points, losing to Justin Verlander (280).[62][63]


Question: Who is the actor that portrays Dr. Avery on Grey's Anatomy?

Jesse Wesley Williams is an American actor, director, educator, and activist, most recognized for portraying Dr. Jackson Avery on the popular ABC series Grey's Anatomy. Williams has also appeared in a variety of other roles, including Holden in The Cabin in the Woods (2012), Officer Eddie Quinlan in Brooklyn's Finest (2009), and Leo in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008). He notably played civil rights leader Rev. James Lawson in the 2013 film The Butler.

Christian has played Mike Montgomery, lead character Aria Montgomery's younger brother, on the Freeform television series Pretty Little Liars,[8] since 2010. Other acting credits include appearances on television series True Blood, Grey's Anatomy and Back to You with Laura Marano, and in the 2011 film Kill the Irishman. Christian starred in the 2013 film The Starving Games, a parody of The Hunger Games films.[9][10]

Jenna Boyd was born in Bedford, Texas and moved with her parents and younger brother Cayden (also an actor) to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career. After a few small roles on television and film, Boyd's big break came when she was cast in The Missing, alongside Cate Blanchett and Evan Rachel Wood. Boyd's performance was praised in critical reviews of this film, although the film itself was not particularly well received. Previously she had been in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star playing the daughter of a family hired by the title character (David Spade) to help him recapture his childhood. In 2005 Boyd played the Leukemia-suffering Bailey Graffman in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Her recent roles include the Lifetime miniseries The Gathering in which she played the daughter of a doctor (Peter Gallagher) searching for his wife and in the Ghost Whisperer episode "Children of Ghosts" she played a troubled teenager living in a foster home. In 2017, she played Paige Hardaway, the "practice girlfriend" of the autistic main character, Sam Gardener, in the Netflix Original Series Atypical.

Months later, Hunt goes to visit April, who had moved back to her parents' farm in Moline, Ohio. In the wake of the tragic aviation accident, he offers her an attending position at the hospital. When she gets back to Seattle Grace, she resumes her sexual relationship with Avery, despite claiming she wants to re-virginise. April has a pregnancy scare and Jackson promises that he will be there every step of the way, even marry her, if she tests positive. When April finds out that she is not pregnant, she is overjoyed, but inadvertently hurts Jackson's feelings by saying that they dodged a bullet, seemingly thrilled that they don't have to get married anymore. Jackson breaks up with April.

Guillory was to be a lead in the television series The Oaks, expected to begin airing in 2008. She joined Bahar Soomekh, Matt Lanter, Romy Rosemont, Jeremy Renner, Michael Rispoli and Shannon Lucio in the series, which follows the intertwining stories of three families—a young couple in 1968 who have lost a child, a family of four in 1998, and a pregnant couple in 2008—who are haunted by the same spirit in their house. The television series began filming on 5 November 2007 on location in Pasadena, California. Guillory will play Jessica, the 2008 couple's neighbour, a woman who has Asperger syndrome who went to school with the husband (and father-to-be) and shares a secret with him.[21][22]

Theodore Peter James Kinnaird Taptiklis[1] (born 16 December 1984), better known as Theo James, is an English actor known for his roles as Jed Harper in Bedlam (2011), Walter William Clark, Jr. in the crime drama Golden Boy (2013), Tobias "Four" Eaton in the film adaptations of The Divergent Series, and David in Underworld: Awakening (2012) and Underworld: Blood Wars (2016).

James Martin Lafferty (born July 25, 1985) is an American actor, director and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Nathan Scott on The CW teen drama television series One Tree Hill from 2003 to 2012.

Aidan Turner (born 19 June 1983)[1][2] is an Irish actor. He is best known for his roles as Kíli in the three-part fantasy film The Hobbit[3][4] and Ross Poldark in the 2015 BBC adaptation of The Poldark Novels by Winston Graham. Notable television roles include those of Dante Gabriel Rossetti in Desperate Romantics,[5] Ruairí McGowan in The Clinic,[6] and John Mitchell in the supernatural drama series Being Human.[7][8]

Grey's Anatomy has been well received among critics. The show holds an average of 71% positive score on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.7/10 score at IMDB site.[176] The A.V. Club gave an insight on both the overwhelming success and lows in the quality of the hit medical drama saying, "The quality arc for the show is all over the place, starting with a steady build in the first season, then skyrocketing into phenomenon in season two, then leveling off and dipping in season three, before having some seriously bumpy moments in seasons four (interrupted by the writers’ strike) and five. The climb begins again in season six"[177] Samantha Highfill of Entertainment Weekly in a review wrote, " I believe the show’s best season to date is season 2. Let me make it clear that I’m not saying seasons 3 through 9 were bad. In my opinion, there have only been a few lulls in the show’s history, and most of them didn’t last a full season." adding, "I still enjoy the show, and I’ll honestly never stop watching. By any standards, Grey’s Anatomy has been successful television, ranking highly in the ratings for nine seasons and entering the cultural lexicon via phrases as cloying yet catchy as "McDreamy.", the show has had its periods of being intensely irritating, and it has had its periods when it seems as if Shonda Rhimes has taken leave of her faculties, but it’s also got an amazingly high batting average, particularly with every solid season that passes along in this second act of its run." The site lauded the show saying, "On average, it’s been very good TV, filled with interesting, driven characters who run the gamut of professions within the show’s hospital setting. It’s been, by turns, a good soap, a good romantic comedy, a good medical drama, and a good interpersonal show about an unexpected workplace family."[178]

Spencer played the role of a blogging enthusiast in Twix advertisements, and portrayed Miss Farrell, a love interest of Don Draper's, on AMC's Mad Men in 2009. In early 2011, she landed the lead role on ABC drama pilot Grace by Krista Vernoff.[6] Spencer had previously played the title character in another Krista Vernoff drama pilot, Introducing Lennie Rose, in 2005.[7] Spencer appeared in a recurring role as Dr. Erin Jameson on the TNT series Hawthorne in 2010, and since 2011 has had a recurring role as Dana "Scottie" Scott, Gabriel Macht's character's old rival, on the USA Network legal drama Suits.[8][9]

Matt, in medical school classes and interning at Wilshire, begins a romance with closeted film actor Alan Ross (Lonnie Schuyler). Alan lies publicly about his sexual orientation, fearing that revealing his homosexuality would blacklist him in Hollywood. Behind Alan's back Matt begins a short-lived relationship with David (Rob Youngblood), who took his old social-services job at Wilshire Hospital, but feels guilty about cheating on Alan. He breaks up with Alan after he enters a lavender marriage with co-star Valerie Madison (Jeri Ryan) as a publicity move. When Matt contracts meningitis from a patient he becomes addicted to painkillers, stealing pills from the hospital's stores.


Question: How long of a prison sentence did the Menendez brothers receive for the murder of their parents?

Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were convicted of murdering their parents, were initially tried separately with both juries failing to reach a verdict, resulting in a mistrial. During the retrial, where they were tried together, the jury did not accept their defense of years of abuse and they were both sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Although four of the accused denied involvement with MK, Mandela and the other five accused admitted sabotage but denied that they had ever agreed to initiate guerrilla war against the government.[141] They used the trial to highlight their political cause; at the opening of the defence's proceedings, Mandela gave his three-hour "I Am Prepared to Die" speech. That speech—which was inspired by Castro's "History Will Absolve Me"—was widely reported in the press despite official censorship.[142] The trial gained international attention; there were global calls for the release of the accused from the United Nations and World Peace Council, while the University of London Union voted Mandela to its presidency.[143] On 12 June 1964, justice De Wet found Mandela and two of his co-accused guilty on all four charges; although the prosecution had called for the death sentence to be applied, the judge instead condemned them to life imprisonment.[144]

During the Middle Ages, crime and punishment were dealt with through blood feuds (or trial by ordeal) between the parties. Payment to the victim (or their family), known as wergild, was another common punishment, including for violent crimes. For those who could not afford to buy their way out of punishment, harsh penalties included various forms of corporal punishment. These included mutilation, whipping, branding, and flogging, as well as execution. Västgötalagen specifies exactly how much to pay, if anything, depending on who was slain. The primary form of state-administered punishment during ancient times and the Middle Ages was banishment or exile. Though a prison, Le Stinche, existed as early as the 14th century in Florence,[4] incarceration was not widely used until the 19th century. Rather, it was used to detain prisoners before trial or for imprisoning people without judicial process.

The New York City Department of Corrections reported that in fiscal year 2012 more than 14.4 percent of all adolescents detained at Rikers Island between the ages of 16 and 18 were held in at least one period of solitary confinement while detained.[10]:131–132 The average length of time young people spent in solitary confinement at Rikers Island was 43 days. More than 48 percent of adolescents at this institution have diagnosed mental health problems.[10]:132 As violence associated with the crack epidemic became increasingly common, new measures were taken. The Red ID card system, instituted in the early 1990s, was a way of identifying inmates with histories of inciting riots, cuttings, stabbings, and other dangerous behaviors. It almost always meant the convict had spent time in a notorious ward designated for punitive confinement called "The Bing" (HDM 5 Block). Prisoners Pavle Stanimirović, James Rosado, Tyrone Green, Pedro Hernandez, Willie Bosket, Hector Rivera, Ángel Díaz, John Maldonado and Dominick Pollatti all spent time in "The Bing."

3. Dale Cregan; in September 2012, 29-year-old one-eyed Dale Cregan walked into a Greater Manchester police station and confessed to murdering two policewomen who had responded to a hoax call at a house in Mottram. He had reported a false incident of vandalism at the house, and when the officers responded he fired gunshots and hurled grenades at them. Cregan was also wanted by the police for the murders of Mark Short at a Droylsden pub in May that year, and of the murder of Mark Short's father David at his home in Clayton 10 weeks later; both men were shot. Cregan admitted all four murders at his trial in May 2013. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and the judge recommended that he should never be released. Cregan was initially held in a mainstream prison, but within a few months he had been transferred to a mental hospital.

As death row prisoner Mark Ford Brady (Roy Scheider) nears his end, he asks to see Detective Goren in hopes of extending his sentence, and leads him to hidden scrapbooks which chronicle unsolved cases and victims. When Detectives Eames and Goren uncover the identities of the women and victims in Brady's scrapbooks, they come across a familiar picture:  it is of Goren's mother, Frances (Rita Moreno). Through the help of his older brother, Frank (Tony Goldwyn), Goren learns a troubling secret about his mother and her relationship with Brady, including time they spent together nine months before Goren was born.  Goren's mother dies in hospice, and his possible father is executed, the same week.

3. Garry Newlove; a 47-year-old father-of-three dies in August 2007 after being attacked by a gang of teenagers outside his home in Warrington, Cheshire, the culmination of a long-running campaign of anti-social behaviour in the locality. Nine teenagers are quickly arrested; five of them are charged with murder. Three are convicted of the murder five months later and receive life sentences with recommended minimum terms of between 12 and 17 years. In the months and years that follow, his widow is actively involved in campaigning against the type of youth gang grime (often drink or drug fuelled) which has resulted in serious crimes like the death of her husband, and is later elevated to the House of Lords, as well as being appointed Victim's Commissioner by the Conservative government.

On 2 October 2008, Castroneves was charged with conspiracy and six counts of tax evasion by a grand jury for purportedly failing to report to the IRS about $5.5 million in income between 1999 and 2004, according to court documents. Each count carried a maximum five-year prison sentence. His business manager and sister Kati, and his lawyer Alan Miller were charged with assisting Castroneves in the supposed scheme. All three defendants surrendered to authorities in Florida on Friday, 3 October 2008. Castroneves pleaded not guilty to these charges on 3 October, and was ordered released on $10 million bail.[12][13] Castroneves was replaced by Will Power during the duration of his tax evasion court case.[14] The IRS claimed that Castroneves owed $2.3 million in taxes.[15] A guilty verdict would have likely ended Castroneves' racing career.

In the kids for cash scandal, Mid-Atlantic Youth Services Corp, a private prison company which runs juvenile facilities, was found guilty of paying two judges, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, $2.8 million to send 2,000 children to their prisons for such crimes as trespassing in vacant buildings and stealing DVDs from Wal-Mart.[70][71]

Gann's family wrote to Sigler on multiple occasions, requesting that he declare the escaped prisoner dead in order to free up benefits for his children. Although the family never heard again from Gann, Sigler refused to declare him dead, saying that he was likely in Mexico. Gann had been imprisoned in Angola after escaping from the Opelousas Parish Jail on April 29, 1956, where he was serving a relatively minor charge for car theft.

Angola has the largest number of inmates on life sentences in the United States. As of 2009 Angola had 3,712 inmates on life sentences, making up 74% of the population that year. Some 32 inmates die each year; only four generally gain parole each year.[114] Louisiana's tough sentencing laws result in long sentences for the inmate population, who have been convicted of armed robbery, murder, and rape. In 1998 Peter Applebome of The New York Times wrote, "It's impossible to visit the place and not feel that a prisoner could disappear off the face of the earth and no one would ever know or care."[54]