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32n49tqg3gi9z010tjf1zp7lo78var | Sam Allred suffers from a rare and incurable kidney disease. One day, when his sister was playing a song repeatedly, Sam sang along. His sister thought it was funny so she recorded it and posted the video online. The video -- and Sam -- became a hit. Only 8 years old at the time, he couldn't have expected the response. "(The television show) The Doctors called and wanted me on their show so they paid for me to go to California," says Sam, now 13, "and we got to stay in a hotel where all the movie stars stayed." During that visit to California, Angie Allred, Sam's mother, had an idea about Sam writing a children's book. Together, she and Sam wrote Opening Hearts, which tells Sam's experience of living with a chronic illness. "I wrote the book to teach people to be kinder to people," Sam says. Moreover, Sam wanted to send pillows to sick children staying in hospitals around the country to make their stay more comfortable, an idea that came from a time when he was in the hospital. "A few kind boys came in with pillows and they gave me one and it meant a lot to me that someone cared about kids in the hospital," says Sam. Angie thought of starting a nonprofit organization to provide a way for people to contribute money to realize Sam's ideas. She named the nonprofit Kindness for Kids. Since then, Sam has taken pillows to children staying at Providence Hospital in Anchorage. Sam's father, Scott Allred, owns a small business that contracts shipping services with FedEx Ground. He asked the company for help. "FedEx Ground learned about Sam's pillow project," says Erin Truxal, manager of public relations for FedEx Ground. "We thought, 'What a perfect way for us to get involved.'" The company provided shipping services for Sam to ship about 5,000 pillows to hospitals. Sam wants to send more pillows to all of the children's hospitals in every state. His goal is simple: "Kids in the hospital as happy as they were before they got sick," he says. |
39jec7537u1xsfyydxbs5kx9odbcvy | (CNN) -- Syrian state TV aired Saturday what it said was a confession by citizen journalist Ali Mahmoud Othman, who activists say was arrested in March after he helped foreign journalists escape from the besieged city of Homs.
Othman helped run a media center in Baba Amr area of Homs, which provided information to international news media during a months-long crackdown on the civilian neighborhood by government forces.
Reporters Without Borders, the journalist watchdog group, said last month it was "extremely concerned" for the life of Othman after his detention.
Othman was transferred to Damascus two days after his arrest by the intelligence services in Aleppo on March 28, the group said.
Activists fear he may have been subjected to torture in detention.
Rafiq Lutf, described as a Syrian media researcher, told the state TV program he had spoken to Othman for seven hours uninterrupted, all of it videotaped.
His subject states his name is "Ali Othman aka Al-Jid from Baba Amr of Homs. I work as photography director and live streaming with Khalid Abu Salah at the media center. I communicate with the satellite channels, on top of them Al Jazeera, Arabiya, CNN, BBC, Sky News and Turkish channel TRT."
In the interview Othman describes how the media operation was set up in Baba Amr, and talks about demonstrations and the role of armed groups.
It is unclear under what circumstances the interview was taped.
But Heather Blake, UK representative for Reporters Without Borders, said: "Research by our organization and many other organizations indicates that many human rights defenders who are detained have been shown to give false confessions under much duress and torture. |
3jjvg1ybebxxkgrdt6xkq2xst5g5bm | (CNN) -- It was far from vintage Barcelona, but it was enough to keep alive the Catalan club's dwindling hopes of retaining the Spanish league title.
With white handkerchiefs waving in the Camp Nou to indicate the fans' frustration at what appeared to be another disappointing setback, Lionel Messi came to the rescue on Sunday to earn a 2-1 victory against Athletic Bilbao.
Having been knocked out of the Champions League, then losing the Copa del Rey final to Real Madrid, Gerardo Martino's team had been staring down the barrel of an unthinkable fourth successive defeat.
With Atletico Madrid having gone seven points clear at the top of the table with Friday's 2-0 win over Elche, it would've spelled disaster if Barca could not recover from Aritz Aduriz's opener for the fourth-placed Basques.
The early signs weren't good.
After Messi had a goal ruled out for offside, Aduriz hit the Barca woodwork with a spectacular overhead kick, then Alexis Sanchez smacked the Bilbao bar when it seemed easier to score.
Aduriz ghosted through Barca's frail defense to slot in a low shot five minutes after the break, and teammate Markel Susaeta had an effort ruled out for offside soon after.
To the home supporters' intense relief, Pedro provided the equalizer in the 72nd minute with his 15th league goal this season, diverting a low shot from Sanchez into the net from close range.
Soon after that, Messi picked himself up after being fouled on the edge of the penalty area and fired a free-kick through the wall. |
3qecw5o0kh1xg2lutso5qw3ey2f5tq | The 18-meter-tall Rubber Duck arrived in Beijing on Friday. It was placed on waters in the International Garden Expo Park, where the Yongding River passes through. The Rubber Duck exhibition was designed by Dutch artist, Florentijn Hofman. It was part of the activities of Beijing Design Week, which ran from September 26 to October 3 in 2013. The Rubber Duck stayed in the park until September 23, then moved to the Summer Palace, a famous Beijing tourist spot, where it was on display until October 26. The duck is made of over 200 pieces of rubber. It was guarded not only by staff, but also by 10 volunteers wearing yellow T-shirts and hats with a rubber duck logo. Sun Yidong, a volunteer who guided visitors to the duck, said the art brought energy to the traditional Chinese park. "Seeing the giant Rubber Duck makes me feel like I'm a kid again." Sun said. Because of the rain on Friday, there were not too many people coming to see it. The Expo workers said they expected more people to come and visit the duck on weekends. Zhao Yan said she had been following news about the duck since 2007, when the duck began its journey. "I even considered going to Hong Kong to see it. It's great that the duck is in Beijing," Zhao said. Before arriving in Beijing, the Rubber Duck traveled to 13 cities in nine countries. "The aim of the Rubber Duck is simply to bring everyone back to their childhood again," said Zeng Hui, a leader of the Beijing Design Week Organizing Committee Office. "It can be a toy for adults." ,. |
3s4aw7t80bir169p6e34zdnj4vp4lc | CHAPTER VII
THE ARRIVAL OF SONGBIRD
"So you've made some enemies as well as some friends, eh?" remarked Songbird Powell, after he had been registered, taken up to his room, and had listened to what the Rover boys had to tell. "No use of talking, it doesn't take you fellows long to stir things up!"
"You said you had a surprise for us, Songbird," returned Tom. "I'm dying by inches to know what it is."
"Maybe it's a new poem," put in Sam with a grimace at his brothers.
"I've got a poem--several of them, in fact," answered Songbird, "but I didn't have those in mind when I spoke. Who do you suppose I met yesterday morning, in Ithaca, while I was waiting for the train?"
"Dora Stanhope and the Lanings," answered Tom promptly.
"No. Tad Sobber."
"Tad Sobber!" exclaimed the Rover boys in concert.
"Songbird, are you sure of it?" demanded Dick.
"Sure? Wasn't I talking to him!"
"But--but--I thought he was lost in that hurricane, when the _Josephine_ was wrecked."
"No. It seems he escaped to a vessel bound for England; but his uncle, Sid Merrick, was lost, and so were most of the others. Sobber just got back from England--came in on one of the ocean liners, so he told me."
"How did he act?" asked Tom.
"Where was he going?" added Sam.
"Did he seem to have any money?" came from Dick.
All of the Rovers were intensely interested, and showed it plainly.
"Say, one question at a time, please!" cried Songbird, "You put me in mind of a song I once wrote about a little boy: |
32utubmz7gweia6szxfxu0rr6vvbvg | (CNN) -- They were a Parisian group of artists that gave birth to the Impressionism art movement, so it is perhaps fitting that one of their devotees records the French Open with those broad brushstrokes.
Year after year, Joel Blanc makes the short pilgrimage from his Paris studio to the Stade Roland Garros for the tennis year's second grand slam, aiming to encapsulate the tournament's magic onto his canvas.
In a style reminiscent of those Impressionist forefathers, he brings to life in his paintings what he witnesses taking place in front of him on the famous red clay courts.
"When I begin the painting, I don't know exactly what will happen but I know what I want to introduce in the beginning. After, it's a story of life," he told CNN's Open Court show.
"I know how it begins, but I don't know how it finishes."
A key principle of Impressionism was to paint outdoors rather than inside a studio, so it's a style tailor-made to Blanc's own way of working.
It's an approach that has won over tennis stars such as Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal -- both fans and owners of the Frenchman's paintings -- or television companies, who invite him to cover sporting events.
Making his first visit to depict the action on the main court of Philippe Chatrier in 2004, Blanc has returned every year since, attracted by both the stadium and the French Open's allure and charm.
"Roland Garros is my favorite place," says the 68-year-old. "It's very special, it's near to my studio, I'm like a neighbor. |
338jkrmm26z4hz6gouyxkogcfu2hav | Susie woke up early on Saturday morning. She was very happy because her cousin, Mary, was coming to visit today. She was also happy about the new kittens. They were only a few weeks old, and so cute!
Susie ran into the kitchen. Her mother was cooking breakfast.
"I can't wait to show Mary the new kittens," Susie announced to her mother. "Do you think her mother is going to allow her to have one?"
"I don't know," Susie's mom answered. "I hope so. Six kittens - that's too many! I only want to keep two kittens. She is going to be here soon."
Susie hurried through breakfast and ran outside to wait on Mary. She jumped up and down with excitement when she saw a car turn into the driveway. Susie ran toward the car as Mary opened the door.
"We have new kittens," Susie announced with a smile. "Mom says you can take one home."
"Can I Mommy, please," Mary asked her mother.
"I need to think about it," said Mary's mother.
"Come on!" Susie said and ran toward the barn where the kittens were. Mary ran after her.
Mary and Susie played with the kittens all day. |
3l0kt67y8egu3qizfuocro5lsuksyw | Some people collect stamps. Other people collect works of art or musical instruments. But a man in the American state of Maryland collects secrets.
For the past 10 years, people have been sending Frank Warren postcards and other objects with secrets written on them. He now has a million secrets. "It's a drawing of a lift. And the secret says: 'I feel guilty when I take lifts for one floor, so I limp when I get out.'" Frank said.
Ten years ago, Mr. Warren created an art project called PostSecret. People then began to send him postcards, other objects and emails telling their secrets. Every Sunday, he chooses 10 secrets and puts them on the website.
Mr. Warren says he created PostSecret so people could share their secrets in a safe place. "I was struggling with secrets in my own life. And it was by creating this safe place where others could share their secrets with me, I think that space was something I needed just as much as they did."
He has published six books full of the secrets people have shared with him. One secret in each book is his. Eric Perry delivers mail for the U.S. Postal Service. He has brought thousands of secrets to Frank's home over the past three years. "I have a couple of the books that Frank's given me and I've read them all and my family has read them all and it's wild!"
The project itself was once one of Frank's secrets. His wife Jan didn't know exactly what he was doing until the first book was published. The publisher told him that the address was going to be on the book, and he refused. However, the address was there just because of the contract between them. Actually Warren wasn't very happy about that.
Some people tell Frank of their secret desire to kill themselves. So he and the PostSecret community have raised more than $1 million to help prevent suicides . |
33ppungg385i71srwrqqfl9rcntrzo | James lives in Hawaii and his mother lives in Korea. James speaks English (he never learned Korean), and his mom only speaks Korean. They communicate perfectly.
Eric is from Honduras, but he lives in the U.S. Eric just started learning English and speaks very little. But, everyday Eric reads the latest local US news on the Web, with no problem.
What these people (and close to 60 million others around the world) share is a remarkable, free software program called Babylon.
Babylon may well be the most advanced translation software in the world, and it's a must-have for anyone whose life goes beyond the borders of their own language or those who want it to.
Once you download it, you can simply highlight the part in practically any format, and it's instantly translated into the language of your choice. You can use it to translate a website, email, word doc, pdf, and actually any document in any format you can think of.
You can write a document in your native language, and Babylon will instantly translate it into another before you send it.
The program translates 75 languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Indian, and Russian. It also includes up-to-date encyclopedias , dictionaries, and spell checkers.
Babylon is a long way from early translation software that would, more often than not, make an unreadable text with grammar errors that was better suited for making laughs than comprehension. Babylon's ability to understand and translate is perfect. In fact, businesses are adopting Babylon as the standard when it comes to translating commercial communications and other important documents.
Babylon is also a great tool for people who are learning another language. Use it anytime you come across a word or passage you don't understand.
What users enjoy most is the program's ability to open up a different world to them. Whether it's surfing a news site in a different country, or being able to properly communicate with a family member or friend overseas, Babylon can make it happen.
Best of all, Babylon is free! To get your free copy, visit Babylon.com. |
3c6fju71tqtai3a34zjc6pn9dunyu6 | (CNN) -- A magnitude-4.4 earthquake rattled residents of southern California early Tuesday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, authorities said. However, police and fire officials said they had received calls from residents awakened by the quake. Its epicenter was 11 miles east-southeast of the Los Angeles Civic Center, the USGS reported. It struck at 4:04 a.m.
"First it was a small one and then a big one," said Chris Curiel, who was working at the Vallejo Mini Market in Whittier, a town near the epicenter. "It felt like the floor was sinking."
He said merchandise on the shelves began shaking, but there was no damage. Because his market is a gas station, earthquakes are a bit more worrisome, he said.
Curiel said he knew immediately an earthquake was happening, and he has felt one before.
Ravi Singh, night shift supervisor at a 7-Eleven in Pico Rivera -- the town a mile east-northeast of the epicenter -- told CNN he was making coffee when the store's windows started rattling. There was no damage, he said. "Everything is fine."
iReporter says "it sounded like there were kids dancing upstairs"
Although the temblor was centered 11 miles below the Earth's surface, according to USGS, the movement was enough to awaken some southern Californians.
"It felt like two quick jolts," said CNN's Rosalina Nieves. "I felt some shaking, and I wasn't sure if it was just my upstairs neighbor ... but then you definitely felt two quick jolts." She said the movement lasted for a couple of seconds. |
3z2r0dq0jhe3smkalexct301cu6e22 | The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a measurement standards laboratory, and a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. Its mission is to promote innovation and industrial competitiveness.
NIST's activities are organized into laboratory programs that include Nanoscale Science and Technology, Engineering, Information Technology, Neutron Research, Material Measurement, and Physical Measurement.
The Articles of Confederation, ratified by the colonies in 1781, contained the clause, "The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective states—fixing the standards of weights and measures throughout the United States". Article 1, section 8, of the Constitution of the United States (1789), transferred this power to Congress; "The Congress shall have power...To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures".
In January 1790, President George Washington, in his first annual message to Congress stated that, "Uniformity in the currency, weights, and measures of the United States is an object of great importance, and will, I am persuaded, be duly attended to", and ordered Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson to prepare a plan for Establishing Uniformity in the Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the United States, afterwards referred to as the Jefferson report. On October 25, 1791, Washington appealed a third time to Congress, "A uniformity of the weights and measures of the country is among the important objects submitted to you by the Constitution and if it can be derived from a standard at once invariable and universal, must be no less honorable to the public council than conducive to the public convenience", but it was not until 1838, that a uniform set of standards was worked out. |
34s6n1k2zvjldixkllnnt2wna8jlh4 | New York (CNN) -- A self-described "ex-madam" who claims she supplied fellow city comptroller candidate Eliot Spitzer with escorts several years ago is facing charges of illegally distributing prescription drugs, authorities said.
Kristin Davis, 38, was arrested on Monday night and charged with selling Adderall, Xanax and other drugs. She's also accused of orchestrating the sale of approximately 180 oxycodone pills for cash.
The candidate was released Tuesday on $100,000 bail, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for September 5. Prosecutors said she will have strict pretrial supervision.
"Prescription drug abuse is the fastest-growing drug problem in this country, resulting in more overdose deaths than heroin and cocaine combined, and this office has a zero tolerance policy towards anyone who helps to spread this plague at any level," Preet Bharara, Manhattan U.S. Attorney, said in a statement.
Spitzer, Weiner and why New York is talking about sex
Davis is charged with four counts of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute a controlled substance. She faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each count, if convicted.
Prosecutors allege that from 2009 through 2011 Davis bought ecstasy pills, Adderall pills and Xanax pills from an FBI cooperating witness at least once a month, paying hundreds of dollars for each purchase. She told the witness she provided these drugs to people at house parties, authorities say.
An attorney for Davis was could not be immediately reached for comment.
Davis' campaign manager, Andrew Miller, said he was aware of the arrest but couldn't provide any information. |
34fnn24dcm9txoko3yb4ydvtean5yi | Time was running out, and Mark Dickinson wasn't sure whether he'd get to see his dying 2-year-old grandson one last time. A long line at Los Angeles International Airport's security checkpoint had kept him from getting to his gate on time.
His grandson Caden would be taken off life support in a matter of hours in Denver, Colorado, with or without his grandfather's presence, according to CNN affiliate KABC.
"I was kind of panicking because I was running late, and I really thought I wasn't going to make the flight," Dickinson told KABC.
That's when a pilot from Southwest Airlines stepped up and held the flight at the gate until Dickinson arrived. The pilot was standing by the air bridge waiting for him when Dickinson arrived in socks, so rushed that he just grabbed his shoes at security and ran through the terminal.
"I told him, 'Thank you so much. I can't tell you how much I appreciated that.' And he said, 'No problem. They can't leave without me anyway,'"Dickinson told KABC.
Authorities say Dickinson's grandson, Caden Rodgers, suffered a head injury after his mother's boyfriend threw him across the room. The boyfriend reportedly told police he was drunk and high on marijuana at the time. The child later died and the boyfriend has been charged with first-degree murder, according to the Aurora Sentinel.
Thanks to the pilot, Dickinson made it to Colorado in time to say goodbye to his grandson. Most airlines would punish any staff member who holds up a flight, according to consumer advocate Christopher Elliott, who broke the story of the sympathetic pilot on his blog. However, a Southwest spokeswoman said the pilot's actions were praiseworthy.
"You can't hold a plane for every late customer, but I think we would all agree that these were extenuating circumstances and the pilot absolutely made the right decision," Southwest spokeswoman Marilee McInnis said. "I don't think you could ask for a better example of great service for our customers." |
3k2755hg5s3i1aimde1z74c5lm5dfn | Newark ( or also locally ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County. As one of the nation's major air, shipping, and rail hubs, the city had a population of 277,140 in 2010, making it the nation's 67th most-populous municipality, after being ranked 63rd in the nation in 2000. For 2015, the Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated a population of 281,944, an increase of 1.7% from the 2010 enumeration, ranking the city the 70th largest in the nation. Newark is the second largest city in the New York metropolitan area, located approximately west of lower Manhattan.
Settled in 1666 by Puritans from New Haven Colony, Newark is one of the oldest European cities in the United States. Its location at the mouth of the Passaic River (where it flows into Newark Bay), has made the city's waterfront an integral part of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Today, Port Newark-Elizabeth is the primary container shipping terminal of the busiest seaport on the American East Coast. In addition, Newark Liberty International Airport was the first municipal commercial airport in the United States, and today is one of its busiest. |
326o153bmiyqvwiqi3htpmr59llde0 | CHAPTER II. SHEER GOSSIP
"Where are the other children?" asked Miss Cornelia, when the first greetings--cordial on her side, rapturous on Anne's, and dignified on Susan's--were over.
"Shirley is in bed and Jem and Walter and the twins are down in their beloved Rainbow Valley," said Anne. "They just came home this afternoon, you know, and they could hardly wait until supper was over before rushing down to the valley. They love it above every spot on earth. Even the maple grove doesn't rival it in their affections."
"I am afraid they love it too well," said Susan gloomily. "Little Jem said once he would rather go to Rainbow Valley than to heaven when he died, and that was not a proper remark."
"I suppose they had a great time in Avonlea?" said Miss Cornelia.
"Enormous. Marilla does spoil them terribly. Jem, in particular, can do no wrong in her eyes."
"Miss Cuthbert must be an old lady now," said Miss Cornelia, getting out her knitting, so that she could hold her own with Susan. Miss Cornelia held that the woman whose hands were employed always had the advantage over the woman whose hands were not.
"Marilla is eighty-five," said Anne with a sigh. "Her hair is snow-white. But, strange to say, her eyesight is better than it was when she was sixty."
"Well, dearie, I'm real glad you're all back. I've been dreadful lonesome. But we haven't been dull in the Glen, believe ME. There hasn't been such an exciting spring in my time, as far as church matters go. We've got settled with a minister at last, Anne dearie." |
3dhe4r9ocwb1c0g1r9n0t6ldpalg2l | Political parties in the United States are mostly dominated by a two-party system. However, the United States Constitution has always been silent on the issue of political parties; at the time it was signed in 1787, there were no parties in the nation. Indeed, no nation in the world had voter-based political parties. The need to win popular support in a republic led to the American invention of voter-based political parties in the 1790s. Americans were especially innovative in devising new campaign techniques that linked public opinion with public policy through the party.
Political scientists and historians have divided the development of America's two-party system into five eras. The first two-party system consisted of the Federalist Party, who supported the ratification of the Constitution, and the Democratic-Republican Party or the Anti-Federalists, who opposed the powerful central government, among others, that the Constitution established when it took effect in 1789.
The modern two-party system consists of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Several third parties also operate in the U.S., and from time to time elect someone to local office. The largest third party since the 1980s is the Libertarian Party.
The United States Constitution Is silent on the subject of political parties. The Founding Fathers did not originally intend for American politics to be partisan. In Federalist Papers No. 9 and No. 10, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, respectively, wrote specifically about the dangers of domestic political factions. In addition, the first President of the United States, George Washington, was not a member of any political party at the time of his election or throughout his tenure as president. Furthermore, he hoped that political parties would not be formed, fearing conflict and stagnation, as outlined in his Farewell Address. |
3x4mxao0bgoed6nml46jghf9vs5rws | CHAPTER XXIII
THE HAVERLEY FINANCES AND MRS. ROBINSON
"It bothers the head off of me," said Molly Tooney to Mike, as she sat eating her supper in the Cobhurst kitchen, "to try to foind out what thim two upstairs is loike, anyway, 'specially her. I've been here nigh onto two weeks, now, and I don't know her no betther than when I fust come. For the life of me I can't make out whether she's a gal woman or a woman gal. Sometimes she's one and sometimes t'other. And then there's he. Why didn't he marry and settle before he took a house to himself? And in the two Sundays I've been here, nather of thim's been to church. If they knowed what was becomin' to thim, they'd behave like Christians, if they are heretics."
Mike sat at a little table in the corner of the kitchen with his back to Molly, eating his supper. He had enough of the Southern negro in him to make him dislike to eat with white people or to turn his face toward anybody while partaking of his meals. But he also had enough of a son of Erin in him to make him willing to talk whenever he had a chance. Turning his head a little, he asked, "Now look a here, Molly; if a man's a heretic, how can he be a Christian?"
"There's two kinds of heretics," said Molly, filling her great tea-cup for the fourth time, and holding the teapot so that the last drop of the strong decoction should trickle into the cup; "Christian heretics and haythen heretics. You're one of the last koind yoursilf, Mike, for you never go nigh a church, except to whitewash the walls of it. And you'll never git no benefit to your own sowl, from Phoebe's boardin' the minister, nather. Take my word for that, Mike." |
3gs6s824sqxty8vusxp27xaztitnwm | CHAPTER XXXII. THE TEST OF DAY-DREAMS
Faith's meanest deed more favour bears, Where hearts and wills are weighed, Than brightest transports, choicest prayers, That bloom their hour and fade.-—J. H. NEWMAN.
That return to Brompton was the signal for the numerous worries awaiting Clement. First, the doctors thought him much improved, but declared that a return to full work at St. Matthew's would overthrow all the benefit of his long rest, and would not hear of his going back, even with another curate, for an experiment.
Then all went down to Vale Leston together. Mr. Ed'dard was welcomed with rapture by his old flock. Alda had been almost ill with excitement and delight, and had not words enough to show her ecstasy over her beautiful daughter, nor her gratitude to Geraldine, to whose management she insisted on attributing the glorious result. In vain did Geraldine disclaim all diplomacy, Lady Vanderkist was sure that all came of her savoir faire. At any rate, it was really comfortable to be better beloved by Alda than ever in the course of her life! Alda even intimated that she should be well enough to come to Brompton to assist in the choice of the trousseau, and the first annoyance was with Clement for not allotting a disproportioned sum for the purpose. He declared that Francie ought not to have more spent on her than was reserved for her sisters, especially as it would be easy for her to supply all deficiencies, while Alda could not endure that the future Lady Ivinghoe should have an outfit unworthy of her rank, even though both Wilmet and Geraldine undertook to assist. |
3z3zlgnnsiuha76yy56h6uu70723qd | Jamey really wanted a pet dog, so he went to ask his parents.
"Mom, Dad, can I we get a dog?"
Jamey's mom and dad thought about this, and then answered him.
"Having a pet can be a lot of work, Jamey. When you own a dog, you have to feed him, and take him for walks, and clean up after him. You even have to do those things when you would rather be playing or watching TV. If you promise to help take care of him, we'll get a dog."
Jamey was very happy to hear this! The next weekend, his mom and dad took him to a big building where puppies and kittens without homes were kept. It was very noisy inside! Jamey looked at a big yellow dog first.
"This dog is pretty big, Jamey," his father said. "He might need a bigger yard to run around in than we have."
Jamey thought that Dad was right about that. The next dog Jamey looked at was a very small white dog. It barked over and over again as Jamey and his mother looked at it.
"This dog is very noisy Jamey. He might need a lot of attention from you. Do you think you want to give this puppy that much attention?"
Jamey wasn't sure he could give the little white dog all the time it needed to be happy. Finally Jamey looked at a third dog, a brown dog that was bigger than the white dog, but smaller than the yellow one. The dog came over to Jamey right away and seemed to love to be petted and fussed over.
"Do you like the brown dog?" asked Jamey's dad.
"Yes!" said Jamey. "Can we get him?"
"Will you feed him and walk him every afternoon when you get home from school?" asked Jamey's mom.
"I promise," said Jamey.
"In that case, I guess we have a dog!"
This made Jamey very happy. |
3zv9h2yqqd7mu42kae5nyjctp9rw3l | A police cruiser draped in black banners and topped with a rose sat in front of the Jupiter, Florida, police department Monday morning, paying testament to a 20-year department veteran killed Sunday while helping escort President Barack Obama through Palm Beach County.
Officer Bruce St. Laurent, 55, was traveling with the presidential motorcade around 4:45 p.m. Sunday southbound on Interstate 95 through West Palm Beach when he pulled his motorcycle onto an on ramp, so he could stop traffic from accessing the highway, according to a statement released Monday by Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera.
The statement said St. Laurent drove into the path of a 1994 Ford F150 driven by Susan Holloway, 56, of West Palm Beach, as she was accelerating to merge onto the interstate. Holloway hit the brakes to avoid the crash, but she hit St. Laurent's motorcycle, knocking the officer from his motorcycle and trapping him under her pickup when the vehicles came to rest, the statement said.
Jupiter Police Chief Frank Kitzerow said St. Laurent was transported to nearby St. Mary's Medical Center, where he died Sunday.
Barbera told CNN the statement details preliminary findings, and the ongoing investigation "could take months." When the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Highway Patrol complete their investigation, state attorneys will determine whether any charges will be filed in the case.
CNN senior photojournalist Peter Morris, who was in the motorcade, said this presidential caravan was longer than normal. In addition to the standard package of SUVs, he said three buses, including the president's campaign bus, comprised Sunday's motorcade south through Florida. Morris said motorcycle police often act as escorts and handle intersection control for motorcades. |
3j4q2z4uty3e158m8phjbr54zyaqwh | Jeremy Wirick, 9, has been back in school for less than two months, but he has already had several asthma attacks. A recent attack happened on October 2, after he pushed himself too hard in gym class. Running, power walking, jogging and push-ups took their toll. When Jeremy got home an hour or two later, he was out of breath. He needed to use a nebulizer, a machine that helps send medicine quickly to the lungs, to get his breathing back to normal.
Asthma attacks like Jeremy increase in September and October. More than six times as many asthma sufferers who are elementary-school age need hospital treatment in the fall as in the summer.
Experts believe many factors can contribute to back-to-school asthma. Kids get together in close spaces, they start passing viruses around. A viral infection can cause an asthma attack. There are also certain fall allergies that can cause attacks. Exercise is another common cause of an attack. Besides, the stress of school can make asthma worse.
Parents can play a big role in helping kids with asthma start the school year right. Dawne Gee's10-year-old son, Alexander, has had asthma since he was a baby. Before the school year starts, she tells school workers in writing about her son's asthma.
The Gees live in Kentucky, which has passed laws allowing students to carry their asthma medication with them at school. Alexander's mom makes sure he has his inhaler with him when he goes to school and that he keeps it on hand at all times. In Delaware, where Jeremy lives, kids are allowed to carry their inhalers at school.
The American Lung Association says that about 6.2 million American children suffer from asthma. Asthma is the chronic illness that causes students to miss the most days of school. There are many things that schools can do to help students control their asthma |
3ihr8nyam71hsrony6wbguw3ahhp4b | CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE SCARBOROUGH CORRESPONDENCE.
It was as Mountjoy had said. The squire had written to him a letter inviting him to Tretton, and telling him that it would be the best home for him till death should have put Tretton into other hands. Mountjoy had thought the matter over, sitting in the easy-chair in his brother's room, and had at last declined the invitation. As his letter was emblematic of the man, it may be as well to give it to the reader:
"My dear father,--I don't think it will suit me to go down to Tretton at present. I don't mind the cards, and I don't doubt that you would make it better than this place. But, to tell the truth, I don't believe a word of what you have told to the world about my mother, and some of these days I mean to have it out with Augustus. I shall not sit quietly by and see Tretton taken out of my mouth. Therefore I think I had better not go to Tretton.
"Yours truly,
"MOUNTJOY SCARBOROUGH."
This had not at all surprised the father, and had not in the least angered him. He rather liked his son for standing up for his mother, and was by no means offended at the expression of his son's incredulity. But what was there in the prospect of a future lawsuit to prevent his son coming to Tretton? There need be no word spoken as to the property. Tretton would be infinitely more comfortable than those rooms in Victoria Street, and he was aware that the hospitality of Victoria Street would not be given in an ungrudging spirit. "I shouldn't like it," said the old squire to himself as he lay quiet on his sofa. "I shouldn't like at all to be the humble guest of Augustus. Augustus would certainly say a nasty word or two." |
3ccz6ykwr7jewncgvmjozw224zl597 | Jake wanted to eat an orange. He liked fruit, and the only fruits in the house were apples, which he didn't like, oranges, and strawberries, which made him itchy. But his mother had put oranges on top of the refrigerator. Jake couldn't reach the top of the refrigerator. He got the stool that he used to reach things in the cupboards. But the stool wasn't tall enough on its own. He thought if he stood on the edge of the kitchen sink he could reach the oranges. (The kitchen sink was right next to the refrigerator). So he used the stool to get up to the edge of the sink, and then he stood on the edge of the sink to get the oranges. He took one out of the bag and then put the bag back on top of the refrigerator. Then he used the stool to climb back down again with his orange. He sat at the kitchen table, peeled the orange, and ate it. Then he took all of the pieces of orange peel and threw them away in the yard waste. |
3mb8lzr5bftcf8ysr6qk6ucf2rrklf | The Observer is a British newspaper published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its sister papers "the Guardian" and the "Guardian Weekly", whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993, it takes a social liberal or social democratic line on most issues. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
The first issue, published on 4 December 1791 by W.S. Bourne, was the world's first Sunday newspaper. Believing that the paper would be a means of wealth, Bourne instead soon found himself facing debts of nearly £1,600. Though early editions purported editorial independence, Bourne attempted to cut his losses and sell the title to the government. When this failed, Bourne's brother (a wealthy businessman) made an offer to the government, which also refused to buy the paper but agreed to subsidise it in return for influence over its editorial content. As a result, the paper soon took a strong line against radicals such as Thomas Paine, Francis Burdett and Joseph Priestley.
In 1807, the brothers decided to relinquish editorial control, naming Lewis Doxat as the new editor. Seven years later, the brothers sold "The Observer" to William Innell Clement, a newspaper proprietor who owned a number of publications. The paper continued to receive government subsidies during this period; in 1819, of the approximately 23,000 copies of the paper distributed weekly, approximately 10,000 were given away as "specimen copies", distributed by postmen who were paid to deliver them to "lawyers, doctors, and gentlemen of the town." Yet the paper began to demonstrate a more independent editorial stance, criticising the authorities' handling of the events surrounding the Peterloo Massacre and defying an 1820 court order against publishing details of the trial of the Cato Street Conspirators, who were alleged to have plotted to murder members of the Cabinet. The woodcut pictures published of the stable and hayloft where the conspirators were arrested reflected a new stage of illustrated journalism that the newspaper pioneered during this time. |
3ymtujh0dsgfkjhufn5vl4x0zdn4t2 | Twenty years are just a blink in time. But 20 years is also long enough for a man to grow up. It is always painful. For Andre Agassi, maturing in the spotlight of international tennis competition was even harder.
On September 3, the American tennis player said a tearful goodbye to his 21-year career after a third-round defeat in the US Open. The 36-year-old tried his best, but was unable to keep up with German Benjamin Becker, _ years his _
"The scoreboard said I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn't say is what I've found," Agassi said to the fans. "I have found inspiration and you willed me to succeed." It was an emotional speech at the end of a long career.
Agassi hated tennis as a teenager as much as he loves it now. His father made him play when he was a child. He got bored, and became a rebel . The strict training that his father pushed upon him got in the way of his wild lifestyle. He grew hair long, wore colourful clothes and spat at a judge. Over the years, he has made bad jokes during news conferences Asked what he would say to his 17-year-old self, Agassi answered, "I would say, I understand you a lot more than I want to be you."
The turning point in Agassi's career came in 1992 when he unexpectedly won his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon. It was the first time Agassi understood what real champions finally understand: winning is a test of courage and not just power, it's a marathon, not a sprint .
And what a marathon Agassi was about to begin. He cut his long hair, got fitter and tightened up emotionally. On the court, he was ranked No. 1 for almost two years. His lowest point came in 1997 when his ranking dropped to No. 141. He didn't quit though. "I knew that I would try to get the most out of myself every day from that day forward. That was my promise," he said. "That never stopped." |
3yz8upk3vtmxf09y871n9yvqabnucm | CHAPTER XVII
THE PASSAGE OF THE MOUNTAINS
Kermode had been gone a fortnight when Prescott reached the camp and heard from Ferguson and others of his latest exploit. He smiled as he listened to their stories, but that he should find people willing to talk about the man did not surprise him. Kermode was not likely to pass unnoticed: his talents were of a kind that seized attention. Where he went there was laughter and sometimes strife; he had a trick of winning warm attachment, and even where his departure was not regretted he was remembered.
Ferguson insisted on taking Prescott in, for his comrade's sake, and late one evening he sat talking with him beside the stove. His house was rudely put together, shingle-roofed and walled with shiplap boards that gave out strong resinous odors. The joints were not tight and stinging draughts crept in. Deep snow lay about the camp and the frost was keen.
"I can't venture to predict Kermode's movements," said the clergyman. "It was his intention to make for a camp half-way to the coast, but he may change his mind long before he gets there."
"Yes," Prescott replied; "that's the kind of man he is."
Ferguson smiled.
"You and Kermode strike me as differing in many ways; yet you seem strongly attached to him."
"That's true," Prescott assented. "I can't see that I owe him anything, and he once led me into a piece of foolishness that nobody but himself could have thought of. I knew the thing was crazy, but I did it when he urged me, and I've regretted it ever since. Still, when I meet the fellow I expect I shan't have a word of blame for him." |
3tui152zzbnl04sjb1syi1fa3rrq1k | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Eleven-year-old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover liked football, basketball and playing video games with his little brother.
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy says the effects of bullying are becoming more severe.
But on April 6, after enduring what his mother called "relentless" bullying at school, Carl hanged himself with an extension cord in the family's Springfield, Massachusetts, home.
"What could make a child his age despair so much that he would take his own life? That question haunts me to this day, and I will probably never know the answer," Sirdeaner Walker said in a House Education and Labor Committee hearing on school bullying.
"He had just started secondary school in September, and we had high hopes," she said. "But I knew something was wrong, almost from the start." Watch Sirdeaner Walker describe finding her son's body »
He didn't want to say at first, she said, but reluctantly told her of classmates who called him names, "saying he acted gay and calling him faggot," Walker said.
"Hearing that, my heart just broke," she said.
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-New York, said the emotional and physical effects of bullying are becoming more severe and that the acts of bullying can continue outside school.
According to the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center, about 30 percent of school-aged children in the United States are estimated to be involved in bullying, as either a bully or the target of a bully.
Steve Riach, the founder of Heart of a Champion Foundation -- a nonprofit organization that says it offers educators an "innovative and effective approach to developing character in the lives of their students" -- said his organization has learned that students recognize that school safety cannot be accomplished only with security guards and metal detectors. |
3zppdn2slvwes6596ncr3q8firy9ep | Asthma is thought to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Environmental factors include exposure to air pollution and allergens. Other potential triggers include medications such as aspirin and beta blockers. Diagnosis is usually based on the pattern of symptoms, response to therapy over time, and spirometry. Asthma is classified according to the frequency of symptoms, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), and peak expiratory flow rate. It may also be classified as atopic or non-atopic where atopy refers to a predisposition toward developing a type 1 hypersensitivity reaction.
There is no cure for asthma. Symptoms can be prevented by avoiding triggers, such as allergens and irritants, and by the use of inhaled corticosteroids. Long-acting beta agonists (LABA) or antileukotriene agents may be used in addition to inhaled corticosteroids if asthma symptoms remain uncontrolled. Treatment of rapidly worsening symptoms is usually with an inhaled short-acting beta-2 agonist such as salbutamol and corticosteroids taken by mouth. In very severe cases, intravenous corticosteroids, magnesium sulfate, and hospitalization may be required. |
3ruiqrxjbbonzegac62llupurrkll7 | CHAPTER XXIX.
THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE.
44--33.
The murderers of Cæsar had expected the Romans to hail them as deliverers from a tyrant, but his great friend Marcus Antonius, who was, together with him, consul for that year, made a speech over his body as it lay on a couch of gold and ivory in the Forum ready for the funeral. Antonius read aloud Cæsar's will, and showed what benefits he had intended for his fellow-citizens, and how he loved them, so that love for him and wrath against his enemies filled every hearer. The army, of course, were furious against the murderers; the Senate was terrified, and granted everything Antonius chose to ask, provided he would protect them, whereupon he begged for a guard for himself that he might be saved from Cæsar's fate, and this they gave him; while the fifteen murderers fled secretly, mostly to Cisalpine Gaul, of which Decimus Brutus was governor.
Cæsar had no child but the Julia who had been wife to Pompeius, and his heir was his young cousin Caius Octavius, who changed his name to Caius Julius Cæsar Octavianus, and, coming to Rome, demanded his inheritance, which Antonius had seized, declaring that it was public money; but Octavianus, though only eighteen, showed so much prudence and fairness that many of the Senate were drawn towards him rather than Antonius, who had always been known as a bad, untrustworthy man; but the first thing to be done was to put down the murderers--Decimus Brutus was in Gaul, Marcus Brutus and Cassius in Macedonia, and Sextus Pompeius had also raised an army in Spain. |
37fmassaycr9w4ms0qgefb1xxhzib1 | How do you feel when you stay in hospital alone? Jenny, 13, a US student, feels bored. She knows the feeling because she has been in hospital many times herself. One day, she thought of an idea--if patients could get some books to read, they would feel better. So, from May, she and many of her friends began to collect books for hospital patients. In six months the students collected 1,250 books at school. They decided to donate the books to the North Shore Medical Centre, a children's hospital next door to their school. "There are books for kids of all ages, from babies up to high school level." said Jenny. The students put the books into "early readers", "middle readers" and "advanced readers". Then they wrote their best wishes to patients on bookmarks and letters, put the books in big boxes and donated them to the hospital. "We wrote things like, "Keep on reading!' and 'Hope you feel better!," said John, 14, Jenny's brother. "And we also wrote some funny things to make them laugh." Frank, 12, and Steven, 14, helped carry 16 large boxes of books into a car. "I think these books will make me a lot of patients feel happy." said Frank. Steven shared his opinion. "It is really the most meaningful thing that I have ever done in my life." |
3018q3zvoiqh6tkjkzarysii381rae | CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
CONTAINS MORE THAN ONE SURPRISE, AND TOUCHES ON "LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM."
One quiet and beautiful Sabbath morning, the inhabitants of the South Sea Island village wended their way to the House of God which they had so recently erected. Among them were Will Osten and his friends, with the clergyman's wife and daughter.
Poor Wandering Will was very unhappy. The sunshine was bright, the natives were blithe, and the birds were joyous, but our hero was despondent! The fact was that he had fallen head and ears in love with Flora Westwood, and he felt that he might as well have fallen in love with the moon--as far as any chance of getting married to her was concerned. Will was therefore very miserable, and, like all ardent and very youthful lovers, he hugged his misery to his bosom--rather enjoyed it, in fact, than otherwise. In short, if truth must be told, he took pleasure in being miserable _for her sake_! When he allowed himself to take romantic views of the subject, and thought of the heights of bliss that _might_ be attained, he was, so to speak, miserably happy. When he looked the stern realities in the face, he was miserably sad.
That Sabbath morning poor Will felt more impressed than ever with the hopelessness of his case, as he walked slowly and silently to church beside the modest Flora and her mother. He also became impressed with the ridiculousness of his position, and determined to "overcome his weakness." He therefore looked at Flora with the intention of cutting a joke of some sort, but, suddenly recollecting that it was Sunday, he checked himself. Then he thought of getting into a serious talk, and was about to begin, when his eye happened to fall on Thackombau, who, in honour of the day, had got himself up with unusual care, having covered his shoulders with a cotton jacket, his loins with a lady's shawl, and his head with a white night-cap--his dark tatooed legs forming a curious and striking contrast to the whole. |
3l4d84milzsfis9ki0badnjv58nhjk | Practicing yoga is a helpful, popular way to keep fit. It has many followers around the world. There are many kinds of yoga. You may have heard of "hot yoga" before. Now, in India, a new kind of yoga, water yoga, is becoming more and more popular among the local people. In the city of Agra, people practice yoga in water. It is more difficult to practice yoga in water than on land. But practicing yoga in water can be good for your flexibility . Harish Chaturvedi, a lawyer, teaches people water yoga _ --even the poor people can learn from him. "Water yoga can become more popular than other kind of yoga, because the body does not get tired so quickly," he said. "Everybody can learn to swim, but if they learn yoga at the same time, they will never feel tired." "The level of Oxygen is very high in water, and you will not have any breathing problem," he added. Harish believes that water yoga really helps people to keep away from illness. He mainly trains children. He has classes at the swimming pool of a local sports room regularly. Many children are interested in it and come to team from him. "Harish is very good at performing yoga in water," said Sudhir Narayan, a water yoga student. "He is teaching children free of cost and that is a very good thing." |
3wz36bjev3gz5i23u2fiti368x4tbg | It was Christmas Eve. When everyone went to bed, Bunny couldn't fall asleep. He still couldn't think of what he wanted as a special Christmas present. He wondered how Santa -- Father Christmas would know what to bring him if he didn't know himself.,. . As he was sitting up in bed, Bunny heard a big noise on the roof and a sound downstairs. It was Santa Claus, he realized. Bunny jumped out of bed and ran down the hall to the stairs. He hoped to take a look at the old man before Santa left for his next stop. By the time Bunny was at the bottom of the stairs, everything was silent again. Lots of presents were put under the Christmas tree, but Santa was gone. A little disappointed , Bunny turned to climb back upstairs when he heard a cry. "Hello," said Bunny. "Is somebody there?" He was answered by another cry. Bunny looked around the big pile of presents to see what was making the noise. Right under the tree was a funny looking brown animal with big feet and sad eyes. It also had antlers on its head. Bunny almost mistook it for a dog. "Are you a reindeer?" asked Bunny. "Yes," replied the brown animal with antlers. "My name is Ralph." "And you were pulling Santa's sled ?" "I was until I got air-sick," replied Ralph. "Santa had to leave me here and go on with the other seven reindeer." "Isn't it a bit unusual for a reindeer to get air-sick? I mean, isn't flying what reindeer are famous for?" "Not me, I'm afraid. It makes me scared. I always feel sick when it comes to flying," replied Ralph. "But everyone wanted me to pull Santa's sled, so when it was my turn I gave it a try. I'm afraid I just wasn't _ for the job. Now I'm stuck here and I don't know how to get back to the North Pole." "Well, if you like, you can stay with us as a friend," said Bunny. As he made the offer, Bunny suddenly realized the special present he wanted from Santa was a new friend! |
3tk8ojtym1lgm472i2xypkwgnz4vpf | CHONGQING, China (CNN) -- Anna He is like a lot of kids about to turn 10. She plays with her brother, fights with her sister, practices piano, hates vegetables and is adapting to her new life -- adapting, because even though she's Chinese, this little girl seems far from happy about living in China.
Anna He, 9, finds it hard to adjust to life after she was returned to her biological parents, Jack and Casey He.
"I always hate staying in China," she says. "It's one of the worst places I have ever been. When I first went to the big city, there was so [much] pollution and so [it] always makes me feel bad. I also don't like the smell."
Her new life in China began after the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled last year that Anna should be returned to her biological parents, Jack and Casey He, known in China as He Shaoqiang and Qin Luo respectively.
The decision ended a six-year custody battle.
Anna was born prematurely while her parents were in Memphis, Tennessee, on temporary work visas. Unable to cope financially, they decided to give her up temporarily until they were able to get back on their feet.
That's when Jerry and Louise Baker stepped in and agreed to take temporary custody of Anna, when she was 4 weeks old. The Bakers said they made a verbal agreement with the Hes to take care of Anna until she was 18.
But the Hes dispute that. They wanted their daughter back soon after her first birthday and eventually went to court to have their parental rights restored. After a bitter legal battle, the Hes finally prevailed and Anna was returned to her parents. Anna was given a six-month transition period to adjust to her biological family before the Hes left the United States. |
317hq483i7sbxdbp3gln661rfkbnim | Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland and the second largest city of Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship ("province") with a population of 349,103 (March 2011). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of the Vistula River, and is located approximately to the southeast of Warsaw by road.
One of the events that greatly contributed to the city's development was the Polish-Lithuanian Union of Krewo in 1385. Lublin thrived as a centre of trade and commerce due to its strategic location on the route between Vilnius and Kraków; the inhabitants also had the privilege of free trade in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Lublin Parliament session of 1569 led to the creation of a real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, thus creating the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Lublin also witnessed the early stages of Reformation in the 16th century. A Calvinist congregation was founded and certain groups of radical Arians also appeared in the city, making it an important global centre of Arianism. At the turn of the centuries, Lublin was also recognized for hosting a number of outstanding poets, writers and historians of the epoch. |
3xcc1odxdlb9t9r09v7dosxn7k6qrr | Robert Fredy was general manager of a large hotel in Ashbury park. New Jersey. One cold day two years ago when he stopped his car at a traffic light, Stephen Pear man, an out-of-work taxi and truck driver, walked up to Fredy's car hoping to earn some change by washing his windshield.Like many motorists who try to keep the beggars off, Fredy turned on the wipers to show he wasn't interested.
Pearman put his head close to the window."Come on, mister.Give me a chance.I need a job," he said.Something in Stephen Pearman's voice moved Robert Fredy.In the seconds before traffic started moving again, Fredy handed a business card and told him to call if he was serious.
"My friends told me he was just pulling my leg, "said Pearman."But I said, " No, he's a
businessman.I need to give it a shot."
Two days later,29-year-old Pearman appeared in the manager's office of the big hotel.Fredy gave him a job and housing and lent him pocket money while training him.
Today, Pearman works full time setting up the hotel's dining halls for business meetings.In the past two years, he has found a flat, married and repaid Fredy's loans.
"Mr.Fredy gave me a second chance, "says Pearman, " And I took advantage of it.I could have just come here a while, eaten up and left.But there is no future in washing windshields."
Ordinarily, Fredy keeps away from the street people."But Pearman seemed so honest and open, asking for a chance rather than just money," Fredy says, "I don't hand my business card to just anybody.But I'm glad I did in this case." |
3fk0yff9pzgtro4y4e6xvcly8cavvi | BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- "Easy money, fast and effective."
Investors protest outside the headquarters of DMG, one of many companies accused of defrauding the public.
That was the name of one of the businesses in which millions of Colombians deposited their life savings after being promised short-term returns of as much as 150 percent.
But government officials say the businesses were pyramid schemes that raked in at least $200 million from 3 million people.
The government has said it knows who most of those responsible are, but they have escaped. The government is tracking them down.
Sergio Munoz is among those who lost their savings.
"That was for my children," he said. "Now, it comes to light that they have robbed us. It was with complicity of the authorities who permit this -- knowing that it is illegal for it to be permitted."
The government says the businesses defrauded the public by offering false promises of a sure investment.
Wilson Rodriguez handed over the equivalent of $80,000 to a money man who offered him what he thought were assets in hotels and property in exchange.
Now, he doesn't know whom to approach.
"I don't even have enough to care for my family," he said. "I lent money and what I make from my salary goes to pay off debts. I have nothing. I lost everything."
Infuriated investors have demonstrated outside the headquarters of several companies in question across the nation.
Worried that the situation has already led to physical altercations and riots, President Alvaro Uribe asked that authorities act immediately to bring those responsible to justice. |
32vnztt0a7424442by00lpwibxtr4p | The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. The largest territory of the empire after 962 was the Kingdom of Germany, though it also came to include the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Burgundy, the Kingdom of Italy, and numerous other territories.
On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title continued in the Carolingian family until 888 and from 896 to 899, after which it was contested by the rulers of Italy in a series of civil wars until the death of the last Italian claimant, Berengar, in 924.
The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne and beginning a continuous existence of the empire for over eight centuries. Some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, describing a gradual assumption of the imperial title and role. |
3xcc1odxdlb9t9r09v7dosxn7mlqra | François Hollande, the newly-inaugurated President of France, may be as notable for what he has not done as for what he has.
He has never held national elective office despite being at the center of French politics for more than a decade, and he has never been married despite a three-decade relationship and four children with Ségolène Royale, another of the country's top Socialist politicians.
Hollande led the Socialist Party for 11 years and was leader when Royale ran unsuccessfully for president against Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007.
Hollande and Royale split up a month before that election, and he is now seeing journalist Valérie Trierweiler, who appeared, smiling with him, as he celebrated his victory Sunday.
He immediately spooked markets, and Germany, France's key ally in the European Union, with his victory speech.
"Austerity can no longer be something that is inevitable," he said, apparently undercutting the belt-tightening that his predecessor and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have urged on European countries beset by debt.
Hollande emerged as his party's candidate for president after the downfall of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was once considered the Socialist favorite to defeat Sarkozy.
But Strauss-Kahn was arrested in May 2011 after a New York hotel maid alleged that he tried to rape her. Charges against the former IMF chief were later dropped in the United States, but he has been warned he could be investigated in France over accusations he participated in a prostitution ring.
But Hollande was not an accidental candidate despite the way he has come to power, one commentator said. |
3x73llyyq1eb1i05xy326u0cf5nnhg | Montenegro ( ; Montenegrin: "Crna Gora"/Црна Гора, , meaning "Black Mountain") is a sovereign state in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the southwest and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast, Kosovo to the east, and Albania to the southeast. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as the Old Royal Capital ("prijestonica").
In the 9th century, three Serbian principalities were located on the territory of Montenegro: Duklja, roughly corresponding to the southern half; Travunia, the west; and Rascia, the north. In 1042, "archon" Stefan Vojislav led a revolt that resulted in the independence of Duklja from the Byzantine Empire and the establishment of the Vojislavljević dynasty. After passing through the control of several regional powers and the Ottoman Empire in the ensuing centuries, it became a part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1918, which was succeeded by the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1945.
After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992, the republics of Serbia and Montenegro together established a federation as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, although its status as the legal successor to Yugoslavia was opposed by other former republics and denied by the United Nations; in 2003, it renamed itself Serbia and Montenegro. On the basis of an independence referendum held on 21 May 2006, Montenegro declared independence on 3 June of that year. It was officially named Republic of Montenegro until 22 October 2007. |
34fnn24dcm9txoko3yb4ydvtddmy5f | Tony was riding his bike home from school. Then he saw Cindy riding her bike in front of him.
Tony yelled, "Hey, Cindy!" Then he rode faster to catch up with her.
Cindy said, "Tony! Hey! Where are you going?"
"I'm going to the empty lot on Maple Street to ride my bike. The other kids are going to be there. Do you want to come?"
"Sure," said Cindy.
Tony and Cindy rode to Maple Street, to the empty lot. The empty lot did not have a house on it. Instead, it had big hills of dirt, and it had trees cut down on the ground. There was a low part that became a pond after it rained. The lot had been empty for a couple of years, because times were bad and the builder couldn't find a buyer for another house. The kids had ridden their bikes over the hills of dirt, around the cut trees, and through the muddy pond. There were bike trails all over the empty lot. There were even places where the kids could jump their bikes.
There were three other children riding their bikes at the empty lot when Tony and Cindy arrived: Lana, Billy and Chris.
Cindy said, "I am calling my mom to let her know that I'm here."
Tony said, "That's a good idea. Can I use your phone when you're done?"
Cindy said "Sure! Keep it for now. I'm going to go on the jump path. I was scared to try it last time. I don't want to break my phone if I fall. I'm leaving my backpack here, too."
"Okay." said Tony. "I'll watch. You'll do good." |
3k9fobbf2hjdnejvoji0ymtjvavnlx | Have you ever tried to understand something new on your own but found it a bit too difficult in books or on the Internet? Don't be worriedyou can get help at Khan Academy . Khan Academy is an online learning website created in 2007 by Salman Khan, an American teacher. In order to provide "a free world-class education to anyone anywhere",Khan offers more than 4,200 free micro lectures atkhanacademy.org. The classes cover fields like mathematics, biology, chemistry and finance. They usually last for just 10 to 15 minutes. Unlike traditional classes, Khan mainly offers courses for students below college level. The classes can also help those who are planning to take the SAT, an exam often required for students who wish to enter a college or university in the US. So how can you start your learning journey at Khan Academy? First of all,enter the website with a personal e-mail account .Your personal homepage at Khan Academy is designed to help you learn math. You can take a pre-test first to see your level. The academy then suggests exercises at the right level for you. It also allows you to watch videos and improve yourself until you reach level 5the highest level. If you are interested in other subjects, click "LEARN" to see all topics on offer. Try "Art History",for example. This will take you to all the things in that area like text articles, videos and questions. You can also put key words into the search box to see related topics. Don't worry if you find it difficult to follow the courses in English. The courses have been translated into other languages, such as Chinese. Hundreds of Khan's courses in Chinese can be found on Netease (www. 163. com),which offers translations of courses from Harvard, Yafe, Oxford,Cambridge and other top universities. |
3ftop5warfo47s3oks4p7vkek60j0u | CHAPTER I.
_A YOUNG FAKIR._
"I'm going to try it. Deacon Jones says I can have the right to run both things for ten dollars, and Uncle Nathan is going to lend me money enough to get the stock."
"What scheme have you got in your head now, Teddy Hargreaves?" and Mrs. Fernald looked over her spectacles at the son of her widowed sister, who was literally breathless in his excitement.
"I'm going to run a cane an' knife board at the Peach Bottom fair, and try to make money enough to pay the debt mother owes on the place."
"You're crazy--mad as a March hare! The idea of a child like you setting yourself up to earn three or four hundred dollars, when your father worked all his life and couldn't get so much together."
Mrs. Fernald really appeared to be angry, and she really believed there was good cause why she should lose her temper. The thought that little Teddy--a "whiflet" she called him--should set up his opinion in such matters against his elders, and attempt to earn in one season an amount which Seth Hargreaves had never been able to repay during his thirty-six years of life, was so preposterous that the good lady looked upon the boy's assertion as positive proof that he was not only ready but willing to "fly in the face of Providence."
"I shall try it all the same," Teddy replied in a most provokingly matter-of-fact tone, "an' I'm going down to see Uncle Nathan this very minute." |
3h7xdtshkcrnoge85tc7hd12tl7gw2 | Paul had just left college and was offered an interview for a position in a company in New York. As he needed to move from Texas to New York if he got the job, he wanted to talk about the decision with someone before accepting it. But his parents had died. He remembered that his father had suggested he should turn to an old friend of his family if he needed advice. The older man said, "Go to New York and have the interview. But I want you to go on a train and I want you to get a private compartment . Don't take anything to write with, anything to listen to or anything to read, and don't talk to anybody except when you order the meal. Call me when you get to New York and I will tell you what to do next." At first, Paul followed the advice closely. The trip took two days. As he had brought along nothing to do, he quickly became bored. He realized he was being forced into quite time - he could do nothing but think. About three hours outside New York City he broke the rules, asked for a pencil and paper and kept writing down the thoughts until the train arrived in New York. Paul called the family friend from the train station. "Thank you, Uncle I know what you wanted. You wanted me to think. And now I know what to do.""I guessed you could understand my idea, Paul," came the reply, "Good luck." Now, years later, Paul runs a company in New York. And he always spends a couple of days being alone with no phone, no television and no people to think quietly. |
31ibvunm9sz4vri84z1tdqicls3vfw | Oracle Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation, headquartered in Redwood Shores, California. The company specializes primarily in developing and marketing database software and technology, cloud engineered systems and enterprise software products — particularly its own brands of database management systems. In 2015, Oracle was the second-largest software maker by revenue, after Microsoft.
The company also develops and builds tools for database development and systems of middle-tier software, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, customer relationship management (CRM) software and supply chain management (SCM) software.
Larry Ellison co-founded Oracle Corporation in 1977 with Bob Miner and Ed Oates under the name Software Development Laboratories (SDL). Ellison took inspiration from the 1970 paper written by Edgar F. Codd on relational database management systems (RDBMS) named "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks." He heard about the IBM System R database from an article in the "IBM Research Journal" provided by Oates. Also derived from Codd's theories, Ellison wanted to make Oracle's product compatible with System R, but failed to do so as IBM kept the error codes for their DBMS a secret. SDL changed its name to Relational Software, Inc (RSI) in 1979, then again to Oracle Systems Corporation in 1982, to align itself more closely with its flagship product Oracle Database. At this stage Bob Miner served as the company's senior programmer. On March 12, 1986, the company had its initial public offering. In 1995, Oracle Systems Corporation changed its name to Oracle Corporation, officially named Oracle, but sometimes referred to as Oracle Corporation, the name of the holding company. Part of Oracle Corporation's early success arose from using the C programming language to implement its products. This eased porting to different operating systems (most of which support C). |
3fe2ercczx8lwky5hqbkus28r7copd | CHAPTER XXX
JACINTA CAPITULATES
The _Carsegarry_ was not a fast vessel. Like most of the ocean tramp species, she had been built to carry the largest possible cargo on a very moderate consumption of coal, and speed was a secondary consideration. She had also been in the warmer seas for some time, with the result that every plate beneath her water-line was foul, and as she fell in with strong northwest breezes, she was an unusually long while on the way to Liverpool. Austin was thus not astonished to find a letter from Jefferson, written four or five days after he left Las Palmas, waiting him at Farquhar's brokers, which made it evident that his comrade had got to work again.
He smiled a trifle grimly as he read it, for he fancied that its optimistic tone had cost Jefferson--who alluded to his apprehensions about his arm very briefly--an effort, for the fact that he was asked to cable as soon as he had seen a doctor appeared significant. The rest of the letter concerned financial affairs.
"We have had a rough preliminary survey, and the result is distinctly encouraging," he read. "After making a few temporary repairs I expect to bring her on to Liverpool, and there is every reason to believe we can dispose of her for a good round sum. I could have got £10,000, ex-cargo, as she lies here. Palm oil, it also appears, is scarce and dear, at up to £30 the ton, from which it seems to me that your share should approximate £7,000. I have to mention that Brown is on his way to Liverpool and wants you to communicate with him at the address enclosed." |
33ppungg385i71srwrqqfl9rboazre | My mommy has a really cool job! She makes costumes for movie stars. She works in the attic of our house, so I get to see her work all the time. I watch every movie I can, and try to learn all of the different costumes by heart. Mommy says if I work hard and keep up my practice, one day I'll get to to make costumes for movie stars too! That job sounds like heaven.
One day I was in the attic, helping Mommy make a boot for a costume. They were covered in little beads, and mom had to sew them on. She kept dropping the needles on the ground. Then I was helping by picking them up. I was also helping by moving the lamp around so Mommy could see the boot better.
"Ouch!" I said. "I accidentally stuck my finger with the needle!"
My mommy looked at my finger, and gave it a kiss. "Welcome to the life of a costumer!" |
3ihr8nyam71hsrony6wbguw3ahb4pk | Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. It is situated by Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a population of approximately 580,000 in the urban area and about 1 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area.
Gothenburg was founded as a heavily fortified, primarily Dutch, trading colony, by royal charter in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus. In addition to the generous privileges (e.g. tax relaxation) given to his Dutch allies from the then-ongoing Thirty Years' War, the king also attracted significant numbers of his German and Scottish allies to populate his only town on the western coast. At a key strategic location at the mouth of the Göta älv, where Scandinavia's largest drainage basin enters the sea, the Port of Gothenburg is now the largest port in the Nordic countries.
Gothenburg is home to many students, as the city includes the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology. Volvo was founded in Gothenburg in 1927. The original, parent Volvo Group and the now separate Volvo Car Corporation are still headquartered on the island of Hisingen in the city. Other key companies are SKF and Astra Zeneca.
Gothenburg is served by Göteborg Landvetter Airport southeast of the city center. The smaller Göteborg City Airport, from the city center, was closed to regular airline traffic in 2015. |
340ugxu9dy1te9fyzowszqjfu4kvua | (CNN) -- Fang Lizhi, a famed Chinese democracy activist, has died in the United States, where he fled in exile more than 20 years ago, fellow activists said.
He was 76.
Fang died Friday in Tucson, Arizona, according to Wang Dan, a prominent student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square student protests.
"My most, most respected teacher Fang Lizhi has died," Wang wrote on Facebook. "I am immensely sad. I hope that the Chinese people will forever remember him, that in our history there was a thinker named Fang (Lizhi) who inspired a 1989 generation and awakened the people to aspire to human rights and democracy."
He added, "Sooner or later, there will be a day when China will be proud of Fang Lizhi."
Fang, an accomplished astrophysicist, served as vice president of the elite University of Science and Technology at Hefei, Anhui province. He was dismissed from his job and expelled from the Communist Party in 1987, blamed for sympathizing with student protesters.
He was one of the three noted intellectuals who were publicly criticized during the "anti-bourgeois liberalization" campaign at that time, though Fang continued to speak out for democracy.
In early 1989, he wrote an open letter to Communist Party leader Deng Xiaoping, calling for the release of Chinese political prisoners.
After the bloody crackdown during the Tiananmen protests on June 4, 1989, Fang and his wife Li Shuxian sought refuge inside the U.S. embassy in Beijing.
A year later, they were allowed to leave China for Britain and were soon after granted political refuge in the United States. |
3io1lgzlk9xa1mtkvdnfr6lrhyj86r | CHAPTER VI
ON CRIFFELL HILL
The sun burned down on the heather. Below, in the curving glen where the heath gave place to white bent-grass, a burn flashed like a silver riband among the stones; above, the long ridge of Criffell ran up against the clear blue sky. Grouse were calling as they skimmed the steep downward slope, and a curlew's wild cry fell sharply from the summit of the hill. These were sounds that delighted Andrew, for he loved the fellside almost as he loved the sea; but his lips were set and his brows knitted as he stood waist-deep in the heather.
Whitney was toiling up the hill beside Elsie a short distance farther on, and Dick was behind them; but, seeing Andrew stop, they waited until he came up.
"It's rather steep," said Elsie, giving Andrew a sympathetic glance. "Here's a nice flat stone; we'll rest for a few minutes."
She sat down on a slab of lichened granite, and Dick found a place beside her.
"I wonder why Andrew loaded himself up with that heavy ruck-sack on a day like this?" he said. "I suppose there's a pair of marine glasses and a chart, and a parallel rule and compass, inside of it. Andrew thinks he'd get lost if he didn't carry the lot about when he risks himself ashore."
"They're all there," Andrew replied somewhat grimly. "Still, it wasn't the bag that stopped me."
"I'm sorry we forced the pace," Elsie said. "You were going well at the bottom." |
3var3r6g1p10qszov999867i1lh8ot | Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- A young, female suicide bomber was behind a blast in Pakistan that killed at least 46 people and injured 105 others at a food distribution point, an official said Sunday.
Zakir Hussain Afridi, the top government official in Bajaur Agency, Pakistan, said that the preliminary investigation into the explosion shows that a girl between the ages of 16 and 18 blew herself up. The determination was made from remains of the bomber that were recovered.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for Saturday's blast in that Asian nation's tribal region.
Azam Tariq, the central spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, told CNN in a phone call that it targeted people who had formed what he called a pro-government and anti-Taliban group.
The blast took place about 600 meters from a U.N. World Food Programme distribution point at a security checkpoint in Khar, according to Amjad Jamal, a spokesman for the agency. He said that more than 300 people were going through a security screening to get food and other items at the time of the explosion.
Khar is the headquarters of Bajaur Agency, one of the seven districts of Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Jamal said that those who had been internally displaced during military efforts in Bajaur Agency get a month's supply of food and other goods.
Afridi said that the suicide bomber was in a burqa, a traditional full-body covering worn by some Muslim women. He said she was stopped for a security check at a checkpoint, where she detonated herself. |
3kyqyyshyv7c7nvfchkpuyljdmtdo4 | The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Paul Whittaker; the editor is John Lehmann and the editor-at-large is Paul Kelly.
Available nationally (in each state and territory), "The Australian" is the biggest-selling national newspaper in the country, with a circulation of 116,655 on weekdays and 254,891 on weekends in 2013, figures substantially below those of top-selling local newspapers in Sydney ("The Daily Telegraph"), Melbourne ("The Herald Sun"), and Brisbane ("The Courier-Mail"). Its chief rivals are the business-focused "Australian Financial Review", and on weekends, "The Saturday Paper". In May 2010, the newspaper launched the first Australian newspaper iPad app. "The Australian" is owned by News Corp Australia.
"The Australian" is published by News Corp Australia, an asset of News Corp, which also owns the sole dailies in Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin and the most popular metropolitan dailies in Sydney and Melbourne. News Corp's Chairman and Founder is Rupert Murdoch.
"The Australian" integrates content from overseas newspapers owned by News Corp Australia's parent, News Corp, including "The Wall Street Journal" and "The Times" of London.
The first edition of "The Australian" was published by Rupert Murdoch on 15 July 1964, becoming the third national newspaper in Australia following shipping newspaper "Daily Commercial News" (1891) and "Australian Financial Review" (1951). Unlike other Murdoch newspapers, it was neither a tabloid nor an acquired publication. From its inception "The Australian" struggled for financial viability and ran at a loss for several decades. |
3bxqmrhwkzyaomlplwv1cu024ntmuu | (CNN) -- In the sight of Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer, the man who would be king awaits his destiny.
Diminutive and unassuming, Lionel Messi's faith in his ability has never been in question -- but a God-like shadow has always haunted him.
If Diego Maradona is a deity to Argentines, then Messi is a prophet.
"He was our water in the desert," national coach Alejandro Sabella said of Messi after his side's World Cup quarterfinal victory over Belgium.
Messi may not be Moses -- the ability to turn a rock into a pool of water is a stretch too far even for the Barcelona star -- but his football powers frequently attract supernatural praise.
After his two goals against Nigeria, opposition coach Stephen Keshi declared that Messi was of a different planet -- specifically Jupiter, although he didn't explain why.
Messi's achievements are well documented -- 381 goals in 466 matches for Barcelona, three European Champions League titles and six Spanish La Liga triumphs only tell half the story.
Four times he has been named world player of the year, while his face is posted on billboards across the world, with sponsors clamoring for his signature.
And yet, back where it all began, he does not receive the same affection as he does in the streets of Catalunya.
"The name of Maradona will always be a heavy burden on Messi's shoulders," says Cristina Perez, one of Argentina's leading sports journalists.
Maradona only ever won a Spanish Cup with Barcelona, before guiding Napoli to two Italian league titles, but it was on the international stage where he truly left his mark -- most notably leading Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986. |
3zsano2jcf7o3z14a4wo23y5mp3sfk | Pali is a Prakrit language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of much of the earliest extant literature of Buddhism as collected in the "Pāli Canon" or "Tipiṭaka" and is the sacred language of some religious texts of Hinduism and all texts of "Theravāda" Buddhism.
The word Pali is used as a name for the language of the Theravada canon. According to the Pali Text Society's Dictionary, the word seems to have its origins in commentarial traditions, wherein the "Pāli" (in the sense of the line of original text quoted) was distinguished from the commentary or vernacular translation that followed it in the manuscript. As such, the name of the language has caused some debate among scholars of all ages; the spelling of the name also varies, being found with both long "ā" and short "a" , and also with either a retroflex or non-retroflex "l" sound. Both the long ā and retroflex ḷ are seen in the ISO 15919/ALA-LC rendering, Pāḷi; however, to this day there is no single, standard spelling of the term, and all four possible spellings can be found in textbooks. R. C. Childers translates the word as "series" and states that the language "bears the epithet in consequence of the perfection of its grammatical structure". |
36tfcyns44agdce9z4qb4wrahatxho | Namibia has free education for both Primary and secondary education levels. Grades 1–7 are primary level, grades 8–12 secondary. In 1998, there were 400,325 Namibian students in primary school and 115,237 students in secondary schools. The pupil-teacher ratio in 1999 was estimated at 32:1, with about 8% of the GDP being spent on education. Curriculum development, educational research, and professional development of teachers is centrally organised by the National Institute for Educational Development (NIED) in Okahandja.
Namibia (i/nəˈmɪbiə/, /næˈ-/), officially the Republic of Namibia (German: Republik Namibia (help·info); Afrikaans: Republiek van Namibië) is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Although it does not border Zimbabwe, a part of less than 200 metres of the Zambezi River (essentially a small bulge in Botswana to achieve a Botswana/Zambia micro-border) separates it from that country. Namibia gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek, and it is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the Commonwealth of Nations. |
31uv0mxwnqc77o5jzgp1cp15oxoi50 | Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Named after George Washington, the first President of the United States, the state was made out of the western part of the Washington Territory, which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 in accordance with the Oregon Treaty in the settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889. Olympia is the state capital. Washington is sometimes referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from Washington, D.C., the capital of the U.S., which is often shortened to Washington.
Washington is the 18th largest state with an area of 71,362 square miles (184,827 sq km), and the 13th most populous state with over 7 million people. Approximately 60 percent of Washington's residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area, the center of transportation, business, and industry along Puget Sound , an inlet of the Pacific Ocean consisting of numerous islands, deep fjords, and bays carved out by glaciers. The remainder of the state consists of deep temperate rainforests in the west, mountain ranges in the west, central, northeast and far southeast, and a semi-arid basin region in the east, central, and south, given over to intensive agriculture. Washington is the second most populous state on the West Coast and in the Western United States, after California. Mount Rainier, an active stratovolcano, is the state's highest elevation at almost 14,411 feet (4,392 m) and is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States. |
3pxx5px6lxyuqm3uo2o1yddelnvbak | CHAPTER VIII.
POMPEII.
On the evening of the day on which the excursion to Vesuvius was made, Rollo came into Mrs. Gray's room, wearing a somewhat disturbed countenance. He told Mrs. Gray that he had got some bad news for her.
"Ah," said Mrs. Gray, "I'm sorry to hear that. What is the bad news?"
"Philippe is engaged for to-morrow," said Rollo, "and so he cannot go with us to Pompeii."
"O, how sorry I am!" said Josie. "What shall we do?"
"How is he engaged?" asked Mrs. Gray.
"He is going with a party to Baiæ."
"Where is Baiæ?" asked Josie. "Is it any where near Pompeii?"
"No," said Rollo; "it is exactly in the opposite direction. It is on the sea coast to the west, and Pompeii is on the sea coast to the east."
"What is there to be seen at Baiæ?" asked Mrs. Gray.
"Nothing but old ruins," said Rollo, contemptuously. "I don't see why people should want to go so far, and take away our guide, just to see old ruins. Besides, there are plenty of old ruins at Pompeii.
"But, Mrs. Gray," continued Rollo, "I don't think we need any guide at all to go to Pompeii. We can go by ourselves."
"Do you think so?" said Mrs. Gray.
"Why, you see I can engage a carriage to take us there myself," said Rollo. "I shall say 'Pompeii!' to the coachman, and point that way. And when we get to Pompeii, we shall find uncle George there, and then we shall get along well enough." |
3pxx5px6lxyuqm3uo2o1yddekgoabx | Johnny and his class were looking forward to a fun day in art class. The teacher gave the class paint, brushes and other items to use to make their drawings. Johnny's friend Kevin used a straw to blow paint on his paper. It looked very cool. Lisa used markers to make a picture of her and her dog. Lisa has several pets, but her favorite one is her dog, Ben. Tony used a potato to make stars. He then put the potato into different colors of paint and made a nice pattern. Johnny used feathers to make his picture. When they had finished, the class chose which picture was the best. Johnny got second place and was very excited. Then it was time for lunch and the class had a party. They had hamburgers with ketchup and had cake for dessert. It was a very fun day for the whole class. They all went home tired and happy. Johnny took a nap when he went home. |
3u84xhcdicdb6vqtlfud7syhk9r4z0 | The famous car Rolls-Royce has been largely hand-made and always one of the most expensive cars on the market.
In fact, Rolls-Royce is made up of two men's names, Charles S. Rolls and Henry Royce. They came from very different backgrounds, received very different educations and when they met; their careers were going in very different directions.
In 1903, Royce bought a second-hand France Decauville car. He found the car unreliable, difficult to start and overheated. Royce decided he could do better himself and set about building two-cylinder car of his own design. The first of these, built almost completely by Royce himself, was a success in almost every way: it started easily, ran smoothly and was very reliable. It never failed to impress everyone who saw it rode in the car, including Rolls.
While he was a university student at Cambridge, Rolls acquired a French Peugeot. It was the first automobile seen at Cambridge and by the time Rolls finished his studies, he was probably the most skilled driver in Britain. In 1902, Rolls went into the business of selling cars and became a leading automobile
. He was looking for a British car to market when he was told that Henry Royce had designed and built a two-cylinder automobile.
In 1904, Royce and Rolls joined together to build and sell motor car. They combined their talents--Royce the engineer and Rolls the salesman and businessman.
And, just two years later, the partnership produced the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, a milestone car acclaimed by many by the time as the " best in the world". Over the years the automaker built a legendary reputation. |
3wetl7aqwt8shln0edie8jzg5a853u | Elizabeth Blackwell was born on February 3, 1821 in Bristol, England. Her father was a rich sugar businessman at the time. Because her parents thought boys and girls should be equal, Elizabeth received the same education as her brothers.
In 1832, her father's business was destroyed by fire, so her family moved to New York City. But her father's business there failed. Then in 1837, the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Not long after, her father died. After her father's death, Elizabeth, at the age of 16, had to go to work.
When she was 24, she visited her dying friend Mary. Her friend said, "You're young and strong, you should become a doctor." That was nearly impossible for a woman in the middle of the nineteenth century. But she knew this was what she was going to do.
After several rejections from medical schools, she finally was accepted by Geneva Medical College. By studying hard, she graduated successfully in 1849.
After graduating from medical school, she went to Paris to learn more about medicine. She wanted to be a surgeon, but a serious eye problem forced her to give up the idea.
When she returned to America in 1851, she found it difficult to start her own practice because she was a woman. In 1857, Elizabeth and her sister, also a doctor, along with another woman doctor, managed to open a new hospital, the first for women and children. Besides, she also set up the first medical school for women in 1868, where she taught the women students about disease prevention. It was the first time that the idea of preventing disease was taught in a medical school.
Elizabeth Blackwell started the British National Health Society in 1871, which helped people learn how to stay healthy. In 1889, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman doctor in the United States. Most importantly, she fought for the admission of women to medical colleges.
Elizabeth Blackwell died on May 3, 1910, when she was 89.She opened a world of chances for women. She always fought for what was right in all her life. In 1949 the Blackwell medal was established. It's given to women who have excellent achievements in the field of medicine. She'll always be remembered as a great woman. |
308xblvesi4mp3pbqdant32okcarb4 | Barbara was driving her six-year-old son, Benjamin, to his piano lesson. They were late. There was always so much to do, and Barbara, a night-duty nurse at the local hospital, had recently worked extra hours. She was tired. "Mom!" Ben cried. "Look!" Just ahead, a car had lost control on the icy road and wildly rolled over, and then crashed into a telephone pole. Barbara went over. Thank goodness she was a nurse -- she might be able to help these unfortunate passengers. Then she stopped. What about Ben? She couldn't take him with her. Little boys shouldn't see scenes like this one. But was it safe to leave him alone? For a little moment Barbara thought of going on her way. Someone else was sure to come along. No! "Ben, honey, promise me you'll stay in the car!" "I will, Mommy," he said as she ran. Two girls of high school age were in the car. One was dead and the driver was still breathing. But if help came soon, the girl would live. A trucker had pulled up and was calling for help on his cell phone. Soon Barbara heard the ambulance sirens . Later, Barbara was able to meet the families of the victims . They expressed their gratitude for the help she had provided. |
3urfvvm165iantk80llvkwwbjt0uzc | BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the children's sites CBBC and CBeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize. The BBC has had an online presence supporting its TV and radio programmes and web-only initiatives since 1994 but did not launch officially until December 1997, following government approval to fund it by TV licence fee revenue as a service in its own right. Throughout its short history, the online plans of the BBC have been subject to harassment from its commercial rivals, which has resulted in various public consultations and government reviews to investigate their claims that its large presence and public funding distorts the UK market.
The website has gone through several branding changes since it was launched. Originally named BBC Online, it was then rebranded as BBCi (which itself was the brand name for interactive TV services) before being named bbc.co.uk. It was then renamed BBC Online again in 2008, however the service uses the branding "BBC". The web-based service of the BBC is one of the most visited websites (fifty-fifth most visited according to Alexa in January 2013) and the world's largest news website. As of 2007, it contained over two million pages. |
3uxuoq9okex7oa04blcltbri2mta70 | First recognized in 1900 by Max Planck, it was originally the proportionality constant between the minimal increment of energy, E, of a hypothetical electrically charged oscillator in a cavity that contained black body radiation, and the frequency, f, of its associated electromagnetic wave. In 1905 the value E, the minimal energy increment of a hypothetical oscillator, was theoretically associated by Einstein with a "quantum" or minimal element of the energy of the electromagnetic wave itself. The light quantum behaved in some respects as an electrically neutral particle, as opposed to an electromagnetic wave. It was eventually called the photon.
Classical statistical mechanics requires the existence of h (but does not define its value). Eventually, following upon Planck's discovery, it was recognized that physical action cannot take on an arbitrary value. Instead, it must be some multiple of a very small quantity, the "quantum of action", now called the Planck constant. Classical physics cannot explain this fact. In many cases, such as for monochromatic light or for atoms, this quantum of action also implies that only certain energy levels are allowed, and values in between are forbidden. |
3bwi6rsp7g9aenhgrqe7puh9n4le7z | When Gretchen Baxter gets home from work as a New York City book editor, she checks her Blackberry at the door. 'I think we are attached to these devices in a way that is not always positive,' says Baxter,who'd rather focus at home on her husband and 12-year-old daughter. 'It's there and it beckons . That's human nature (but)...we kind of get crazy sometimes and we don't know where it should stop.'
Americans are connected at unprecedented levels93% now use cell phones or wireless devices;one third of those are 'smart phones' that allow users to browse the Web and check e-mail,among other things. The benefits are obvious: checking messages on the road,staying in touch with friends and family,efficiently using time once spent waiting around. The downside:often,we're effectively disconnecting from those in the same room.
That's why,despite all the technology that makes communicating easier than ever,2010 was the Year We Stopped Talking to One Another. From texting at dinner to posting on Facebook from work or checking e-mail while on a date,the connectivity revolution is creating a lot of divided attention,not to mention social anxiety. Many analysts say it's time to step back and reassess.
'What we're going to see in the future is new opportunities for people to be plugged in and connected like never before,' says Scott Campbell. 'It can be a good thing,but I also see new ways the traditional social fabric is getting somewhat torn apart.'
Our days are filled with beeps and pings*----many of which pull us away from tasks at hand or face-to-face conversations. We may feel that the distractions are too much,but we can't seem to stop posting,texting or surfing.
'We're going through a period of adjustment and rebalancing,' says Sherry Turkle and she wants to remind people that technology can be turned off.
'Our human purposes are to really have connections with people,' she says. 'We have to reclaim it. It's not going to take place by itself.' |
3jnqlm5ft4mhysu220kg6yqlkey2ld | I'm Marie. I work in a nursing home and my job is to look after the old people. Alice is one of them. She's a very nice old woman. This year, Alice had a difficult time. She went to hospital twice. In November, I finally could get her back to her "home". Alice hoped that her daughter could come to visit her on Christmas Eve because she wanted to be with her family, like the old days. But her daughter was coming after Christmas, so she was very sad. I also felt sad because she would be alone on the holiday! On Christmas Eve, I took her to a candlelight service at church that night. I didn't take her to my church. I took her to the church in her old neighborhood. We got there early and I let her sit near the door, so people could see her when they came in. Soon some of her friends came to the church and they all talked to her and sat with her. Alice got a lot of love from her old and new friends there. She said she loved the gift like this. That night, I thought I got the best gift: the smile on Alice's face. . |
3mmn5bl1wz4qps866cz0pla2rda3ma | Mahātmā Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the leader of the Indian independence movement against British rule. Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (Sanskrit: "high-souled", "venerable")—applied to him first in 1914 in South Africa—is now used worldwide. In India, he is also called Bapu ji (Gujarati: endearment for "father", "papa") and Gandhi ji. He is unofficially called the "Father of the Nation"
Born and raised in a Hindu merchant caste family in coastal Gujarat, western India, and trained in law at the Inner Temple, London, Gandhi first employed nonviolent civil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, in the resident Indian community's struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for various social causes and for achieving "Swaraj" or self-rule.
Gandhi famously led Indians in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to "Quit India" in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years, upon many occasions, in both South Africa and India. He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian "dhoti" and shawl, woven with yarn hand-spun on a "charkha". He ate simple vegetarian food, and also undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and political protest. |
3ftyuglfsulqzdpx72oqlslsvfzd5l | How do you usually celebrate your birthday? Playing a soccer game may not be your first choice. But Lu Han, the former EXO singer, did just that and showed has an unusual side of him. Lu Han celebrated his 25th birthday by playing a soccer game with players from Beijing No.47 High School on April 19th in Beijing, a day before his birthday. He scored three goals in the game. Lu Han has often shown on Weibo that he is a big soccer fan and his favorite soccer team is Manchester United. He said more than once that he used to dream of becoming a professional soccer player. So what was Lu Han's performance like on the pitch ?Fan Zhiyi, the former captain of the Chinese national soccer team, played with Lu Han in a friendly match in 2013. He thought that Lu Han is a top amateur player. ,A, B, C, D. |
31z0pcvwukfc36zdhl32oghap7n7ti | "I believe you're the right person to write an advice column for the students called Dear Amy!" Jenny, editor of the school newspaper, said to Andy, who finally agreed to accept the job if Jenny promised not to tell it to anyone else. At first it wasn't too bad. Most of the letters he received were interesting and quite easy to answer. Then came a letter from a person named Joe. "Dear Amy," it began, "I'm in real trouble. I've wanted to be a songwriter all my life, but my parents don't even let me take music lessons. I have a guitar, but they both get angry if I play. I've tried explaining, but they didn't listen. I feel sad. Should I run away from home? Maybe that will make my parents agree." The letter signed "Joe". Andy thought about this letter for a long time. Should he advise someone to run away from home? Probably not. But didn't Joe have a right to be a songwriter if he wanted to? Andy thought hard, but couldn't think out a good answer. Andy couldn't sleep. He just worried about poor Joe. At a bar a few days later, Eleanor, a girl in Andy's maths class, sat down next to him and asked, " What's wrong with you? You look a little worried." "I guess I do," said Andy. "If you get a problem, why don't you try writing to Dear Amy about it?" asked Eleanor. Andy sighed. But Eleanor continued, "In fact, I guess Dear Amy is rather busy with other problems. She still hasn't answered the _ letter I wrote her last week. You'd better read it -- it may even make the most hard-hearted person cry! It was supposed to be from a songwriter named Joe." |
3iq1vmjrytkb2toxqia577iowa1a9r | ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- In 1989, the warnings were dire. The Spike Lee film "Do the Right Thing," critics and columnists said, would provoke violence and disrupt race relations.
Spike Lee: "I wanted to do a film that would try to show what was happening at the time."
"This movie is dynamite under every seat," wrote Newsweek's Jack Kroll.
Other commentators believed the film would harm the candidacy of David Dinkins, an African-American who was running for mayor of New York. It might even spark riots at movie theaters, they thought.
Instead, what the film provoked was ... talk. There were no riots. Dinkins was elected. "Do the Right Thing" had a successful run at the box office -- if not as successful as Lee and his supporters hoped -- and was nominated for two Academy Awards.
Twenty years later, the film still maintains a hold on the imagination. In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked it as one of the 100 best American films. Roger Ebert, who has written he cried when he first saw the film at the Cannes Film Festival, still considers the film a wonder: "Spike Lee had done an almost impossible thing. He'd made a movie about race in America that empathized with all the participants," he wrote in 2001.
So what is the thing about "Do the Right Thing?" Watch Spike Lee describe things in his own words »
Part of its staying power is in its boldness, both in look and action. Lee's first two films, "She's Gotta Have It" (1986) and "School Daze" (1988), had marked him as a rising young filmmaker. But it was "Do the Right Thing," made when Lee was just 32, that showcased his confidence, from the deliberately striking color scheme (bright reds and oranges that make a hot day seem even hotter) to its heightened -- sometimes stagy -- atmosphere, to its grim, documentary-style riot climax. |
3iq1vmjrytkb2toxqia577ioxcj9ad | Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds that matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and that all phenomena, including mental phenomena and consciousness, are identical with material interactions.
Materialism is closely related to physicalism, the view that all that exists is ultimately physical. Philosophical physicalism has evolved from materialism with the discoveries of the physical sciences to incorporate more sophisticated notions of physicality than mere ordinary matter, such as: spacetime, physical energies and forces, dark matter, and so on. Thus the term "physicalism" is preferred over "materialism" by some, while others use the terms as if they are synonymous.
Materialism belongs to the class of monist ontology. As such, it is different from ontological theories based on dualism or pluralism. For singular explanations of the phenomenal reality, materialism would be in contrast to idealism, neutral monism, and spiritualism.
Despite the large number of philosophical schools and subtle nuances between many, all philosophies are said to fall into one of two primary categories, which are defined in contrast to each other: Idealism, and materialism.[a] The basic proposition of these two categories pertains to the nature of reality, and the primary distinction between them is the way they answer two fundamental questions: "what does reality consist of?" and "how does it originate?" To idealists, spirit or mind or the objects of mind (ideas) are primary, and matter secondary. To materialists, matter is primary, and mind or spirit or ideas are secondary, the product of matter acting upon matter. |
30lb5cdzncau778s2e7bvp84368z0u | CHAPTER III
LIGHTFOOT TELLS HOW HIS ANTLERS GREW
It is hard to believe what seems impossible. And yet what seems impossible to you may be a very commonplace matter to some one else. So it does not do to say that a thing cannot be possible just because you cannot understand how it can be. Peter Rabbit wanted to believe what Lightfoot the Deer had just told him, but somehow he couldn't. If he had seen those antlers growing, it would have been another matter. But he hadn't seen Lightfoot since the very last of winter, and then Lightfoot had worn just such handsome antlers as he now had. So Peter really couldn't be blamed for not being able to believe that those old ones had been lost and in their place new ones had grown in just the few months of spring and summer.
But Peter didn't blame Lightfoot in the least, because he had told Peter that he didn't like to tell things to people who wouldn't believe what he told them when Peter had asked him about the rags hanging to his antlers. "I'm trying to believe it," he said, quite humbly.
"It's all true," broke in another voice.
Peter jumped and turned to find his big cousin, Jumper the Hare. Unseen and unheard, he had stolen up and had overheard what Peter and Lightfoot had said.
"How do you know it is true?" snapped Peter a little crossly, for Jumper had startled him.
"Because I saw Lightfoot's old antlers after they had fallen off, and I often saw Lightfoot while his new ones were growing," retorted Jumper. |
3z7ishfuh0vcpwdvxikqo4emms2z8b | Doctor Who is a British science-fiction television programme produced by the BBC since 1963. The programme depicts the adventures of the Doctor, a Time Lord—a space and time-travelling humanoid alien. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-travelling space ship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Accompanied by companions, the Doctor combats a variety of foes, while working to save civilisations and help people in need.
The show is a significant part of British popular culture, and elsewhere it has become a cult television favourite. The show has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of whom grew up watching the series. The programme originally ran from 1963 to 1989. There was an unsuccessful attempt to revive regular production in 1996 with a backdoor pilot, in the form of a television film. The programme was relaunched in 2005 by Russell T Davies, who was showrunner and head writer for the first five years of its revival, produced in-house by BBC Wales in Cardiff. The first series of the 21st century featured Christopher Eccleston in the title role and was produced by the BBC. Doctor Who also spawned spin-offs in multiple media, including Torchwood (2006–2011) and The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011), both created by Russell T Davies; K-9 (2009–2010); and a single pilot episode of K-9 and Company (1981). There also have been many spoofs and cultural references to the character in other media. |
3vzlgyjeyla24xe35qwi43vfd6mzx4 | Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- A Pakistani court Monday gave police two weeks to prepare their case for charging five Americans whom police suspect of planning terrorist attacks.
Authorities have said they plan to prosecute the five men -- who are being held in jail -- under the country's anti-terrorism act.
A court hearing was set for January 18.
Police have said they are confident that the Americans were planning terrorist acts, according to Tahir Gujjrar, deputy superintendent of police in Sargodha, where the men were arrested December 9.
Gujjrar told CNN a preliminary investigation suggests that the men came to Pakistan to wage jihad and had sought to link up with Jaish-e-Mohammed and Jamaat-ud-Dawa militant organizations, neither of which showed interest, he said. The men wanted to martyr themselves, he said.
Jaish-e-Mohammed is the group believed to be responsible for the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl.
But Mohammed Ameer Khan Rokhri, an attorney representing the men, said they testified on the Quran, the Muslim holy book, "that they have no connection with any banned organization," including Jaish-e-Mohammed or al Qaeda.
They told the court, "We are going to Afghanistan to help the Muslims who have been injured by the NATO forces and other Afghan forces," the attorney said. And they said the didn't intend to commit any crime in Pakistan, he said.
The five young men are identified as Ahmed Abdullah Minni, Umar Farooq, Aman Hassan Yemer, Waqar Hussain Khan and Ramy Zamzam. All are in their early 20s except Yemer, who, according to the interrogation report from Pakistani police, is 18 years old. Two of the suspects are Pakistani-American, two are Yemeni-American, and one is Egyptian-American. |
33foty3kemlh63i06jr3ywqtz391cr | The Central African Republic (CAR; Sango: Ködörösêse tî Bêafrîka; French: République centrafricaine pronounced: [ʁepyblik sɑ̃tʁafʁikɛn], or Centrafrique [sɑ̃tʀafʁik]) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo to the south and Cameroon to the west. The CAR covers a land area of about 620,000 square kilometres (240,000 sq mi) and had an estimated population of around 4.7 million as of 2014[update].
What is today the Central African Republic has been inhabited for millennia; however, the country's current borders were established by France, which ruled the country as a colony starting in the late 19th century. After gaining independence from France in 1960, the Central African Republic was ruled by a series of autocratic leaders; by the 1990s, calls for democracy led to the first multi-party democratic elections in 1993. Ange-Félix Patassé became president, but was later removed by General François Bozizé in the 2003 coup. The Central African Republic Bush War began in 2004 and, despite a peace treaty in 2007 and another in 2011, fighting broke out between various factions in December 2012, leading to ethnic and religious cleansing of the Muslim minority and massive population displacement in 2013 and 2014. |
3tmsxrd2x60qk1o5nar4aqxwqg01w2 | Billy Dengler, a 14-year-old boy, is in the eighth grade. A month after he was born, Billy's mother, Terri, noticed that his eyes weren't quite as big as a normal baby's. She took Billy to the hospital, and the doctor said Billy would never be able to see. Although Billy can't see, he has never let that hold him back or make him different. Billy began teaching himself computer programming by using a screen reader when he was just seven years old. He is a certified Google developer now. Google even tried to offer him a job last year when he discovered a problem in one of its _ , but Billy wasn't old enough. Billy's dream school would be Stanford University or MIT, where he could get a very good education in computer science. After he leaves school, whether he will go to work at a company like Google or design a software company of his own is still to be decided. However, he says he will definitely do something great. "It's a sighted world," Billy said. "You can't let anything get in the way of your dreams, and if you do that, you can't move forward and make your dreams come true." |
3ywrv122cszv3xjlrvli7cz7ki3u8d | (CNN) -- Once Usain Bolt got out of the starting blocks, no one was going to beat him at the world championships.
Two years ago at the worlds, the Jamaican false started in the 100-meter final and was disqualified. His countryman and training partner, Yohan Blake, took advantage to claim gold in Daegu, South Korea.
There was no false start for Bolt on Sunday in rainy Moscow and he captured his second world title in the 100 meters.
His time of 9.77 seconds was well off his world record of 9.58 seconds but still good enough to comfortably beat American Justin Gatlin and Jamaican Nesta Carter.
Bolt now owns six world championship gold medals to go along with six gold medals at the Olympics.
"I am happy but I wanted to do better," Bolt was quoted as saying by the BBC. "My legs were sore after the semifinals."
Perhaps mindful of what happened in South Korea, Bolt's start was cautious and Gatlin led him early. But after getting fully into his stride, Bolt -- despite not feeling at his best -- eased past Gatlin and coasted home.
Gatlin finished in 9.85 seconds and Carter in 9.95.
"I thought I had it for a second but then I saw these long legs coming on my right side," Gatlin told reporters.
Bolt last year called himself a "living legend" and the result in Moscow on Sunday won't diminish his confidence.
It likely also lifted Jamaican sport.
Jamaica was left reeling when two-time 200-meter Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, former 100-meter world-record holder Asafa Powell and Olympic relay gold medalist Sherone Simpson tested positive for banned substances before the world championships. |
320duz38g7m1iwe9yutssn7urg6jg0 | When Frank began his story, we all listened. "I grew up in San Pedro. My Dad was a fisherman, and he loved the sea. He had his own boat, but it was hard making a living on the sea. He worked hard and would stay out until he caught enough to feed the family. Not just enough for our family, but also for his Mom and Dad and the other kids that were still at home." He looked at us and said, "I wish you could have met my Dad. He was a big man, and he was _ from pulling the nets and fighting the seas for his catch. When you got close to him, he smelled the ocean."
Frank's voice dropped a bit. "When the weather was bad, he would drive me to school. He would pull right up in front, and it seemed like everybody would be standing around and watching. Then he would lean over and give me a big kiss on the cheek and tell me to be a good boy. It was so embarrassing for me. Here I was twelve years old, and my Dad would lean over and kiss me good-bye!"
He paused and then went on, "I remember the day I thought I was too old for a good-bye kiss. When we got to the school and came to a stop, he had his usual big smile. He started to lean toward me, but I put my hand up and said, 'No, Dad.' It was the first time I had ever talked to him that way, and he had this surprised look on his face. I said, ' Dad, I'm too old for a good-bye kiss. I'm too old for any kind of kiss.' My Dad looked at me for the longest time, and his eyes started to tear up. I had never seen him cry. He turned and looked our the windshield. ' You're right,' he said. ' You are a big boy... a man. I won't kiss you anymore..'"
For the moment, Frank got a funny look on his face, and the tears began to well up in his eyes. "It wasn't long after that when my Dad went to sea and never came back."
I looked at Frank and saw that tears were running down his cheeks. Frank spoke again. " Guys, you don't know what I would give to have my Dad give me just one more kiss on the cheek... to feel his rough old face... to smell the ocean on him... to feel his arm around my neck. I wish I had been a man then. If I had been a man, I would never have told my Dad I was too old for a good-bye kiss." |
32scwg5hih4v7es1hupqdsgh68d6p3 | Japan ( "Nippon" or "Nihon" ; formally "" or "Nihon-koku", meaning "State of Japan") is a sovereign island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the southwest.
The kanji that make up Japan's name mean "sun origin". 日 can be read as "ni" and means "sun", while 本 can be read as "hon" or "pon" and means "origin". Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet "Land of the Rising Sun" in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, which make up about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area and often are referred to as home islands. The country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions, with Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one. The population of 127 million is the world's eleventh largest. Japanese people make up 98.5% of Japan's total population. Approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan.
Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, particularly from Western Europe, has characterized Japan's history. |
3bxqmrhwkzyaomlplwv1cu024ikumj | When Marilynne Robinson published her first novel, Housekeeping, in 1980, she was unknown in the literary world. But an early review in The New York Times ensured that the book would be noticed. "It's as if, in writing it, she broke through the ordinary human condition with all its dissatisfactions, and achieved a kind of transfiguration ," wrote Anatole Broyard, with an enthusiasm and amazement that was shared by many critics and readers. The book became a classic, and Robinson was recognized as one of the outstanding American writers of our time. Yet it would be more than twenty years before she wrote another novel.
During the period, Robinson devoted herself to writing nonfiction. Her essays and book reviews appeared in Harper's and The New York Times Book Review, and in 1989 she published Mother Country: Britain, the Welfare State, and Nuclear Pollution, criticizing severely the environmental and public health dangers caused by the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in England--and the political and moral corruption . In 1998, Robinson published a collection of her critical and theological writings, The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought, which featured reassessments of such figures as Charles Darwin, John Calvin, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Aside from a single short story--"Connie Bronson," published in The Paris Review in 1986--it wasn't until 2004 that she returned to fiction with the novel Gilead, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Her third novel, Home, came out this fall.
Her novels could be described as celebrations of the human--the characters in them are unforgettable creations. Housekeeping is the story of Ruth and her sister Lucille, who are cared for by their eccentric Aunt Sylvie after their mother commits suicide. Robinson writes a lot about how each of the three is changed by their new life together. Gilead is an even more close exploration of personality: the book centres on John Ames, a seventy-seven-year-old pastor who is writing an account of his life and his family history to leave to his young son after he dies. Home borrows characters from Gilead but centers on Ames's friend Reverend Robert Boughton and his troubled son Jack. Robinson returned to the same territory as Gilead because, she said, "after I write a novel or a story, I miss the characters--I feel like losing some close friends." |
3u4j9857oebc7k5whzchomboj2o7bx | (CNN) -- Fans of "Dancing With the Stars" know how grueling the competition can be.
Contestants practice for hours a day, and almost every season some celebs are brought low by injury. So how in the world will Valerie Harper, who just months ago announced that she had a terminal form of cancer, go for that mirror ball trophy?
Apparently with the same spirit that caused the "Rhoda" actress to offer this up for fans:
"I hope you dance! I hope you dance," Harper told CNN on Wednesday. " And that's what I'm saying to everybody, that's just my message. Dance."
'DWTS' thinks big for 17th season cast
Harper announced in March that she had been diagnosed with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, a condition in which cancer cells spread into the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. But Harper told CNN that she does not have brain cancer.
"I have lung cancer," she said. "It is situated in the lining of the brain; it's not even in the brain."
Her husband, Tony Cacciotti, encouraged her to sign on with the hit ABC dance competition, she said. He runs the couple's production company and had been considering her participation for a few years.
The actress said she initially resisted the idea.
"I said, 'Give me one good reason,' " Harper recalled. "He said, 'You have cancer! Get up there, and show people that you can dance and do -- and the doctors said it's fine to exercise. Encourage people to move, to exercise, to do all the things that will be good for them, and mainly not to sit in the house and glower and worry and feel sorry for yourself because you have this disease and anything else.'" |
34bbwhlwhab1k7k3vhca2pei8uciw1 | Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- A Los Angeles County grand jury has indicted the former city administrator of Vernon, California, an industrial city that borders scandal-plagued Bell, on three felony counts after an investigation into questionable business practices.
Court documents show that Donal O'Callaghan has been indicted on two counts of conflict of interest and a count of public officer crime related to the misappropriation of public funds.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office says the counts against O'Callaghan, 54, involve an alleged misappropriation of more than $140,000.
"The law prevents public officials from making contracts the have a personal interest in and Mr. O'Callaghan made a contract that paid his wife money," said deputy District Attorney Max Huntsman. "We're alleging he paid her more than $140,000."
The grand jury was looking into business deals between O'Callaghan and his wife, Kimberly McBride.
According to Vernon city records, the city hired McBride in 2009 as a $40-per-hour consultant and for "administrative account services."
"It's preposterous that he was indicted for the hiring of his wife, which was done with the knowledge and consent of the city attorney and the City Council of Vernon," defense lawyer Mark Werksman told CNN.
"We are seeing an overreaction and hysterical response to the scandal in neighboring Bell," he said. "They are looking for examples of municipal government corruption behind every bush. But it isn't here."
Huntsman disagreed with Werksman's contention.
'I think it's a reaction to Vernon, which has a long history of criminal behavior by public officials. We heard complaints against Mister O'Callaghan, looked into the law and found a basis for the charges," Huntsman said. "The fact that it coincides with criminal charges against officials in Bell has to do with raised public awareness about corruption in municipal governments." |
3z4gs9hpnvap58264i01jkps1h577u | There are records of fingerprints taken many centuries ago. The ancient Babylonians pressed the tips of their fingerprints into clay to record business trade. The Chinese used ink-on-paper finger impressions for business. However, fingerprinting wasn't used as a method for identifying criminals until the 19th century.
In 1858, Sir William Herschel was working as an official of the Hooghly district in Jungipoor, India.In order to reduce fraud , he had people living in the district record their fingerprints when signing business documents. A few years later, Scottish doctor Henry Faulds was working in Japan when he discovered fingerprints left by artists on ancient pieces of clay.This finding inspired him to begin investigating fingerprints.In 1880, Faulds wrote to his cousin, the famous naturalist Charles Darwin, and asked for help with developing a fingerprint classification system.Darwin refused, but sent the letter to his cousin, Sir Francis Gallon, who was an eugenicist . Gallon began collecting fingerprints and eventually gathered some 8, 000 different samples to analyze. In 1892, he published a book called "Fingerprints", in which he outlined a fingerprint classification system--the first existence.
Around the same time, Juan Vucetich, a police officer in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was developing his own version of a fingerprinting system.In 1892, Vucetich was called in to assist with the investigation of the two boys murdered in Necoche, a village near Buenos Aires. Their mother, Francisca Rojas, accused a neighbour named Velasquez. But when Vucetich compared the fingerprints found at the murder scene to those of both Velasquez and Rojas, _ matched Rojas' exactly.She admitted her crime. This was the first time fingerprints had been used in a criminal investigation.Vucetich called his system comparative dactyloscopy . It's still used in many Spanish-speaking countries.
Sir Edward Henry, in charge of the Metropolitan Police of London, soon became interested in using fingerprints to catch criminals. In 1896, he added to Gallon's technique, creating his own classification system, the Henry Classification System. It is the primary method of fingerprint classification throughout most of the world. |
3g0wwmr1uvkoebz8goqwf8sd6njqn5 | There was once a beautiful nymph called Echo. But Echo had one failing; she was fond of talking, and whether in chat or argument, would have the last word. As she was good company, she and Zeus became good friends. However, Zeus' wife, Hera, became jealous. She followed Zeus to the earth to find out what he was doing and Zeus asked Echo to distract Hera until he could escape. Later when Hera discovered she had been tricked, she became very angry. She turned on Echo and said, "You shall lose the use of your tongue because you cheated me. You'll have the last word, bur no longer have the power to speak first." So from that moment on, Beautiful Echo was hardly able to hold a conversation because she could only repeat the last words of those around her. She became very embarrassed and hid herself deep in the woods.
One day a handsome young man called Narcissus came into the woods. He had been hunting deer and lost his way. However, the moment Echo saw him, she fell in love with him. She followed him, wishing to tell him but unable to begin a conversation. Oh, how she wished she could speak first. Unfortunately, Narcissus was far too busy worrying about where his companions might be and how he could find his way home.
Eventually Narcissus, with Echo following behind along, came to a pool of water in the middle of the woods. Feeling thirsty, Narcissus bent down to drink. As he did so, he saw a beautiful creature in the water staring up at him. He immediately bent over and said to him, "I love you!" Echo, nearby, and seeing her chance, immediately responded ".... I love you!" But it was too late. Narcissus was already in love, with himself.
The stranger seemed to rise up closer to Narcissus who was so involved that he entirely failed to notice Echo. "I want to stay and look at this beautiful sight forever," he whispered dreamily to himself."... Forever," repeated Echo sadly. "Come here," called Narcissus to his reflection as he moved his head and the creature seemed to move away. "...Here." responded Echo. Narcissus bent back down to see his reflection more clearly. "So beautiful! I've never seen anything so beautiful!" "....So beautiful!" responded Echo truthfully.
Narcissus remained by the water refusing all Echo's silent offers of food and drink until he died. Where he had been, a flower grew in his place, as beautiful as Narcissus himself. As for Echo, from that time forward, she also didn't eat or drink till she turned to rocks and all that was left was her voice. Even now you can still hear Echo trying to attract Narcissus' attention by repeating his words and still see Narcissus as a beautiful flower growing near a pool. |
3z2r0dq0jhe3smkalexct301cwa2ey | Mozilla Firefox (or simply Firefox) is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary the Mozilla Corporation. Firefox is available for Windows, macOS and Linux operating systems, with its Firefox for Android available for Android (formerly Firefox for mobile, it also ran on the discontinued Firefox OS), and uses the Gecko layout engine to render web pages, which implements current and anticipated web standards. An additional version, Firefox for iOS, was released in late 2015, but this version does not use Gecko due to Apple's restrictions limiting third-party web browsers to the WebKit-based layout engine built into iOS.
Firefox was created in 2002 under the name "Phoenix" by Mozilla community members who desired a standalone browser, rather than the Mozilla Application Suite bundle. Even during its beta phase, Firefox proved to be popular with its testers and was praised for its speed, security, and add-ons compared to Microsoft's then-dominant Internet Explorer 6. Firefox was released in November 2004, and was highly successful with 60 million downloads within nine months, which was the first time that Internet Explorer's dominance was challenged. Firefox is considered the spiritual successor of Netscape Navigator, as the Mozilla community was created by Netscape in 1998 before their acquisition by AOL. |
379j5ii41og9t86ivkfh8zzairjlee | (CNN) -- Tiger Woods will go into the final round of The Barclays four shots off the lead after completing his second successive round of two-under-par 69.
It marked a slight improvement after the world No. 1 ended his rain-delayed second round five shots behind the same pacemaker, Matt Kuchar, earlier Saturday.
However, Kuchar -- who can move to the top of the FedEx Cup standings above current leader Woods if he wins the $1.44 million first prize -- was caught at the top by fellow American Gary Woodland after 54 holes.
Kuchar carded a third-round 70, while Woodland went around two shots better to join him on 12 under.
They were one shot ahead of Kevin Chappell, who broke the course record at Liberty National in New Jersey with a flawless nine-birdie 62. It was the second time he has posted that score this season, and lifted the 27-year-old up from 43rd place at the halfway stage.
Kuchar, 35, triumphed at The Barclays in 2010 when it was played at Ridgewood Country Club, and is seeking his third victory this year.
Woods -- who has won a leading five times on the PGA Tour in 2013 -- moved up from a tie for eighth as he birdied two of his last three holes.
He also started with a birdie, but three bogeys in five holes in the windy conditions set him back again.
However, the 14-time major winner got a shot back at the eighth hole and picked up another at 13 before a strong finish left him in a tie for fourth with Englishman David Lynn, who also shot 69. |
3k772s5np8b77cns4z0jg76317uheh | LONDON--A morning's train ride away, across the Channel, English kids talk about Liverpool's soccer team in aprefix = st1 /Parispub. Some Parisians have even started to go to work in London. In the 19thcentury, Charles Dickens compared the two great rival cities, London and Paris, in "A Tale of Two Cities." These days, it might be A Tale of One City. Parisians are these days likely to smile in sympathy at a visitor's broken French and respond in polite English. As jobs grew lack at home over recent years, perhaps 250,000 Frenchmen moved across the Channel. With an undersea tunnel, they could travel between cities in three hours. The European Union freed them from immigration and customs. Paris, rich in beauty, is more attractive. But Londonfeels more full of life, and more fun until the pubs shut down. "For me, the difference is that Londonis real, alive," said Trevor Wheeler, a banker. Chantal Jaouen, a professional designer, agrees. "I am French, but I'll stay in London," she said. There is, of course, the other view. Julie Lenoux is a student who moved to Londontwo years ago. "I think people laugh more inParis," she said. In fact, London and Paris, with their obvious new similarities, are beyond the cold descriptions. As the European Union gradually loosened controls, Londoners _ intoParisto shop, eat and buy property. "Both cities have changed beyond recognition." Said Larry Collins, a writer and sometimes a Londoner. Like most people who know both well, he finds the two now fit together comfortably. "I first fell in love with Parisin the 1950s, and it is still a wonderful place," Collins said. "But if I had to choose, it would be London. Things are so much more ordered, and life is better." But certainly not cheaper. In fancy parts of London, rents can be twice those on Avenue Foch in Paris. Deciding between London and Parisrequires a lifestyle choice. Like Daphne Benoit, a French journalism student with perfect English, many young people are happy to be close enough so they don't have to choose. "I love Paris, my little neighborhood, the way I can walk around a centre, but life is so structured," she said. "InLondon, you can be who you want. No one cares." |
30jnvc0or9kw4fdxdqvjaovhkgbqh7 | The Bantu languages (), technically the Narrow Bantu languages as opposed to "Wide Bantu", a loosely defined categorization which includes other Bantoid languages, constitute a traditional branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and "Ethnologue" counts 535 languages. Bantu languages are spoken largely east and south of present-day Cameroon, that is, in the regions commonly known as Central Africa, Southeast Africa, and Southern Africa. Parts of the Bantu area include languages from other language families (see map).
Estimates of number of speakers of most languages vary widely, due both to the lack of accurate statistics in most developing countries and the difficulty in defining exactly where the boundaries of a language lie, particularly in the presence of a dialect continuum.
The Bantu language with the largest total number of speakers is Swahili; however, the majority of its speakers know it as a second language. According to Ethnologue, there are over 180 million second-language (L2) speakers, but only about 2 million native speakers.
Other major languages include Zulu with 27 million speakers (15.7 million L2) and Shona with about 11 million speakers (if Manyika and Ndau are included). Ethnologue separates the largely mutually intelligible Kinyarwanda and Kirundi, which, if grouped together, have 12.4 million speakers. |
3jaoywh7vi4sycf1n9zvglyzrocl91 | Definitions of "Southeast Asia" vary, but most definitions include the area represented by the countries (sovereign states and dependent territories) listed below. All of the states except for East Timor are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The area, together with part of South Asia, was widely known as the East Indies or simply the Indies until the 20th century. Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands[citation needed] are considered part of Southeast Asia though they are governed by Australia.[citation needed] Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea. Papua New Guinea has stated that it might join ASEAN, and is currently an observer.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India are geographically considered part of Southeast Asia. Eastern Bangladesh and the Seven Sister States of India are culturally part of Southeast Asia and sometimes considered both South Asian and Southeast Asian. The Seven Sister States of India are also geographically part of Southeast Asia.[citation needed] The rest of the island of New Guinea which is not part of Indonesia, namely, Papua New Guinea, is sometimes included so are Palau, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands, which were all part of the Spanish East Indies.[citation needed] |
382m9cohehfccytc4y7izmvtvo5eu6 | Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated /1e6 round 1 million inhabitants , it is the world's 14th-most-populous country, and the ninth-most-populous Asian country. Vietnam is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, Thailand across the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest, and the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia across the South China Sea to the east and southeast. Its capital city has been Hanoi since the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1976, with Ho Chi Minh City as a historical city as well.
The northern part of Vietnam was part of Imperial China for over a millennium, from 111 BC to AD 939. An independent Vietnamese state was formed in 939, following a Vietnamese victory in the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive Vietnamese imperial dynasties flourished as the nation expanded geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the Indochina Peninsula was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century.
Following a Japanese occupation in the 1940s, the Vietnamese fought French rule in the First Indochina War, eventually expelling the French in 1954. Thereafter, Vietnam was divided politically into two rival states, North Vietnam (officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam), and South Vietnam (officially the Republic of Vietnam). Conflict between the two sides intensified in what is known as the Vietnam War, with heavy intervention by the United States on the side of South Vietnam from 1965 to 1973. The war ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975. |
39kfrkbfinvf5yq68d737jvkuy9yoi | A group of frogs were travelling through the woods. Two of them, Nick and Jack, fell into a deep pit . All the other frogs gathered around the pit. When they saw how deep the pit was, they told Nick and Jack that they were as good as dead. Nick and Jack ignored what the other frogs said and tried to jump up out of the pit with all of their strength. The other frogs went on telling them to stop, and that they were as good as dead. Nick listened to them and gave up. Finally, he fell down and died. Jack continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the frogs around the pit shouted at him to stop the pain and just die. Jack jumped even harder and finally got out. When he was out, the other frogs asked, "Did not you hear us?" Jack explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him all the time. |
3pjuzcgdj6gxj5vitkqrbgct7vf89i | New York (CNN) -- A self-described "ex-madam" who claims she supplied fellow city comptroller candidate Eliot Spitzer with escorts several years ago is facing charges of illegally distributing prescription drugs, authorities said.
Kristin Davis, 38, was arrested on Monday night and charged with selling Adderall, Xanax and other drugs. She's also accused of orchestrating the sale of approximately 180 oxycodone pills for cash.
The candidate was released Tuesday on $100,000 bail, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for September 5. Prosecutors said she will have strict pretrial supervision.
"Prescription drug abuse is the fastest-growing drug problem in this country, resulting in more overdose deaths than heroin and cocaine combined, and this office has a zero tolerance policy towards anyone who helps to spread this plague at any level," Preet Bharara, Manhattan U.S. Attorney, said in a statement.
Spitzer, Weiner and why New York is talking about sex
Davis is charged with four counts of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute a controlled substance. She faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each count, if convicted.
Prosecutors allege that from 2009 through 2011 Davis bought ecstasy pills, Adderall pills and Xanax pills from an FBI cooperating witness at least once a month, paying hundreds of dollars for each purchase. She told the witness she provided these drugs to people at house parties, authorities say.
An attorney for Davis was could not be immediately reached for comment.
Davis' campaign manager, Andrew Miller, said he was aware of the arrest but couldn't provide any information. |
3vd82fohkqo22vp1clpeas31sipocf | Johnson went to Penquay for the weekend. He arrived there late on Friday evening. The landlady of the guest house, Mrs. Smith, answered the door and showed him to his room. Johnson was very tired and went straight to bed. He slept well and didn't wake up until nine o'clock the next morning.
Johnson went downstairs for breakfast. Because there were no other guests, Mrs. Smith invited him to have breakfast with her family. Her only daughter, Catherine, about 13, was already sitting in the dining-room. Mrs. Smith went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Johnson noticed there were four places at the table and asked Catherine if there was another guest. Catherine told him that it was an empty place. And it used to be her father's place. Her father had been a fisherman. Three years before he had gone out in his boat, and had never returned. Her mother always kept that place for him and made his breakfast every morning. Catherine showed him his photo on the wall. Johnson said nothing, but looked very puzzled . At that moment Mrs. Smith returned. She served four cups of tea, and put one in the empty place. Looking at the empty chair, Johnson was more puzzled.
Suddenly, Johnson heard footsteps outside the door and a tall man with a black beard walked into the room. Johnson looked scared. It was the man in the photo. He jumped up and ran out of the room. The man asked, "What's the matter?" Catherine said, "I don't know. He's a guest from London. He's here because a tall man with a black beard tried to kill him." "Catherine," the man said, "have you been telling stories again?" "Stories, father? Me?" the girl laughed. |
34yb12fsqyorj4ku1r6k8fzbva1gm1 | In 1886 explorer Robert Peary traveled to Greenland for the U.S. Navy. Before his journey, no one knew Greenland's size or shape. On Peary's first trips, he explored Greenland, mapping parts of it.
When Peary returned to the United States, he went to a businessman to sell some furs. There he met Matthew Henson, an African American mechanic, builder and navigator. When Peary went to Nicaragua on a Navy mission ,Henson went with him. When that job was over, the two headed to the Arctic.
Henson and Peary set sail for Greenland. When they landed, Henson built a house for their base camp. Peary and his men set out to explore the land by dog sledge . Henson was injured and had to stay at the base. While there, he made friends with the Inuit, the native people.
In 1895 Henson, Peary and Hugh Lee went out on another dog sledge journey. This time, they found Greenland's northernmost point. They now knew that the North Pole lay under the frozen Arctic Ocean. Peary had hoped to cross the ice. but the group ran out of food and returned to base camp. In the years that followed, Peary and Henson tried several times to reach the North Pole, but each time they failed. On one trip, Peary's feet froze, and he lost his toes .
Peary and Henson planned last trip when Peary was 53 years old. They started across the sea ice from Ellesmere Island, which is located north of Canada. The temperature dropped as low as--51 degrees Celsius. The explores' cheeks froze , and they suffered snow blindness from the sun's glare. They experienced high winds and storms, and they also faced a hidden danger. Under the frozen ocean were powerful currents . The ice moved and broke apart leaving open water, called leads. Twice Peary fell into leads. But eventually he and Henson became the first persons to reach the North Pole. |
3vnxk88kkcivuhrv1d113uw1ip69v6 | Every child has written their names on the beach at some point.
But whereas most people's "handwriting" is washed away, one super-rich Arab sheikh has ensure that his graffiti will last a little longer.
Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, 63, has scrawled his name in sand on an island he owns with letters so big that they be seen from space.
The word "HAMAD" measures 1,000 meters high and is a staggering two miles long from the "H" to the "D" on the Al Futaisi Island.
And rather than allow the writing to be washed away by the ocean, the letters actually form waterways that absorb the encroaching tide. The ruler's name is even visible on Google's map service.
Hamad dreamed up the idea and had his workmen work hard for weeks to craft the enormous piece of sand graffiti. It is not known how much it cost to make.
However, the sheikh boasts a personal fortune second to the Saudi king's.
Hamad, also known as the "Rainbow Sheikh", is a member of the Abu Dhabi Ruling Family.
He is understood to have some 200 cars including seven Mercedes 500 SELs painted in different colors of the rainbow which he stores in a giant pyramid.
The Arab sheikh had a taste for doing things on a large scale. He built the world's largest truck--eight times the size of the Dodge Power Wagon, with four bedrooms inside the cabin.
Hamad constructed a motor home in the shape of a giant globe which is exactly 1 millionth the size of the actual earth.
Alongside his displays of wealth he has become a well-known philanthropist in medicine and supplied a complete Kinney stone operating theatre to a public hospital in Morocco where he continues to fund its stuff. |
3nd9uoo81k23a8s9gk9nu56aovkwl0 | Late in the evening, the wind blew hard around the little house. The sound of the wind is like someone crying. It made the old woman nervous. She had not been getting much sleep lately, but with the wind making the spooky noise, she didn't know what else to do but lie down and try to rest a little.
Once she lay down to try to sleep, many memories of her life in the little house kept her mind busy. She still was having trouble falling asleep. She remembered being a little girl and her dad putting the finishing touches on the house. Her mom loved the big kitchen, and she and her younger sister had their own room in the back.
It was in this, her old bedroom, that she was trying to sleep. The crying sound got louder. It didn't seem like it was outside. It sounded like it was coming from the other side of the bed. When she turned and looked, she saw her younger sister. She still looked five years old. The old woman couldn't remember her any other way, as she had died from a sickness at age five.
"What's wrong?" she asked her sister. "I miss you. I am so lonely," answered the little girl, who was so thin you could see through her. The old lady closed her eyes and reached for her sister. That is how they found her the next day, holding her pillow and smiling.
"She died in her sleep." "It is best that way." |
32svav9l3f9pnrzh999vguf2xx1a3f | Do you like Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf ? It's an interesting cartoon movie. Do you want to know what they do in their village every day? I'm Nuan Yangyang. On school days, I always go to school at 8:00 in the morning. Then I go home at four fifteen in the afternoon. Then I do my homework at 5:00 in the afternoon. I have no homework on weekends. I'm Fei Yangyang. I want to be healthy, so I always get up at six o'clock in the morning. And I run to a sports club to play sports at 8:15 in the morning. Then I play games with my friends and get home at three o'clock in the afternoon. I'm Lan Yangyang. I love eating and sleeping. And I don't like doing sports. I have meals at home but I never wash the dishes . I'm Mei Yangyang. I am a pretty girl. I like going to clothes stores. The clothes there are nice, so I often buy nice skirts there. I go to a singing club on weekends. I'm Xi Yangyang. I like helping others. So I usually take the bus to the English club at ten thirteen in the morning. There I help two kids learn to speak English. |
3ifs6q0hjij8dq3ubc2950bx15ois5 | beep ...beep ... There went the bell! Robbie opened his eyes. He had been sitting in the room for a whole day, and now it was time for him to do something. Robbie looked out of the window. It was still snowing heavily and there was ice on the window. It was another cold day. Robbie was told to turn the heat on before the family got home. And he _ Then Robbie was told to do some cleaning work at once. It was an easy job for him, but a tough one for his master, Helen. He kept on working until every room was clean and tidy. For now, he had to cook supper for the family. The first thing Robbie did was to get the big pot in the kitchen. Then he put some water in the pot and put it on the stove. He used one of his hands to cut up a chicken and added the pieces to the water to make a good soup. Then he got some tomatoes, cabbages and carrots to make a vegetable salad. At ten past eight he laid the table. Then he put some bread, the chicken soup and the salad on it. What a sweet smell! The moment he turned on the lights, the whole family came home. "The soup smells great, Victor," said Helen. "You really know how to tell Robbie what to do." Robbie is one robot that really saves the family a lot of work. |
3k2755hg5s3i1aimde1z74c5lk4dfi | AUSTIN, Texas (CNN) -- Lady Bird Johnson, who was first lady during the 1960s and in her later years became an advocate for beautifying public landscapes, died Wednesday, family spokesman Tom Johnson said. She was 94.
Lady Bird Johnson's real name was Claudia.
She was the widow of Lyndon Baines Johnson, sworn in as the nation's 36th president on November 22, 1963, just hours after President John F. Kennedy's assassination.
Lady Bird Johnson was briefly hospitalized last month with a low-grade fever. She was released and returned to her Austin home on June 28. After suffering a stroke in 2002 that limited her ability to speak, she communicated chiefly by writing.
Upon news of her death, Texas Gov. Rick Perry ordered flags in the state to be flown at half-staff.
"Lady Bird Johnson embodied all that is beautiful and good about the great state of Texas," Perry said. "She inspired generations of Americans with her graceful strength, unwavering commitment to family and keen sense of social justice."
The former first lady was born Claudia Alta Taylor in 1912 in Karnack, Texas, a small town near the Louisiana line. She got her unusual nickname while still a toddler from her nurse, who proclaimed the child was as "purty as a lady bird."
Lady Bird attended St. Mary's Episcopal School for Girls, a junior college near Dallas and then transferred to the University of Texas at Austin. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1933, then stayed an extra year to earn a journalism degree. |
3e7tuj2egcm900r9as17x8quipn9d6 | CHAPTER X
LORD TONY
I
A quarter of an hour later citizen-commandant Fleury was at last ushered into the presence of the proconsul and received upon his truly innocent head the full torrent of the despot's wrath. But Martin-Roget had listened to the counsels of prudence: for obvious reasons he desired to avoid any personal contact for the moment with Carrier, whom fear of the English spies had made into a more abject and more craven tyrant than ever before. At the same time he thought it wisest to try and pacify the brute by sending him the ten thousand francs--the bribe agreed upon for his help in the undertaking which had culminated in such a disastrous failure.
At the self-same hour whilst Carrier--fuming and swearing--was for the hundredth time uttering that furious "How?" which for the hundredth time had remained unanswered, two men were taking leave of one another at the small postern gate which gives on the cemetery of St. Anne. The taller and younger one of the two had just dropped a heavy purse into the hand of the other. The latter stooped and kissed the kindly hand.
"Milor," he said, "I swear to you most solemnly that M. le duc de Kernogan will rest in peace in hallowed ground. M. le curé de Vertou--ah! he is a saint and a brave man, milor--comes over whenever he can prudently do so and reads the offices for the dead--over those who have died as Christians, and there is a piece of consecrated ground out here in the open which those fiends of Terrorists have not discovered yet." |
3qy5dc2mxrk4ict8z9roh4gt69ufu2 | Children can spend hours a day looking at computer screens and other digital devices . Some eye doctors say this leads to an increase in "computer vision syndrome ." Nathan Bonilla-Warford is an optometrist in Tampa, Florida. He has seen an increase in problems in children. "A lot more children come into the office either because their parents have noticed that they have headaches or red or watery eyes or discomfort, or because their nearsightedness appears to be increasing and they're worried," he says. Dr. Bonilla-Warford says part of the problem is that children may be more likely to pay no attention to early warning signs than adults. "Even if their eyes start to feel uncomfortable or they start to get a headache, they're less likely to tell their parents, because they don't want to have the game or the computer or whatever taken away," he explains. He says another part of the problem is that people blink less often when they use digital devices. He says, "A person who uses an electronic device blinks about one third as much as we normally do in everyday life. And so that can result in the front part of the eye drying and not staying protected like normal." Eye doctors offer suggestions like following which is known as the 20/20/20 rule. That means every twenty minutes look away twenty feet or more for at least twenty seconds from whatever device you're using. Other suggestions include putting more distance between you and the device and using good lighting. Of course, another way is to spend less time looking at screens. Many experts say children should spend no more than two hours a day using digital devices--with no screen time for children under two. But not all eye doctors have noticed an increase in problems in children. Dr. David Hunter, from Children's Hospital Boston, has not seen an increase in his practice. "While it is possible to develop _ looking at screens for a long period of time, there's certainly no proof that it actually causes any damage to the eyes." he says. |
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