id
stringlengths 30
30
| text
stringlengths 358
6.49k
|
|---|---|
39n5acm9henipxuzf1s2x27jw4t9pf | (CNN) -- Only two Republican presidential candidates will appear on the ballot in Virginia next year, regardless of how many are in the race.
Mitt Romney and Ron Paul will have the Dominion State all to themselves. Supporters of Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Jon Huntsman and Michele Bachmann will have to be content with yard signs or donations as ways of cheering on their favorite would-be nominee.
That's because their campaigns failed to gain the requisite 10,000 signatures. It is, to be sure, a self-inflicted wound, a measure of some organizational chaos. But it is also a function of illogically restrictive local laws. They not only impede ballot access but end up denying open representative democracy to operate on the road to the Oval Office.
The United States is the only nation in the world, save Switzerland, that does not have uniform federal ballot access laws, according to Ballot Access News, a website run by Richard Winger that is dedicated to the issue. This may reflect the country's closely held federalism, but it can create chaos in a presidential year. In many cases, the rules are imposed by state party bosses who are less interested in democracy than in rigging the system to benefit their favored candidates.
Take, for example, my home state of New York. It votes reliably Democratic in presidential years, at least since Ronald Reagan thrashed Walter Mondale in 1984. But the state's primary delegates can still be a prize in a protracted Republican nomination fight. In 1999, John McCain had to sue to even have his name appear on the ballot alongside George W. Bush because the Republican state party chair and his committee essentially decided that Bush would be their nominee without the inconvenience of putting it to a vote. Local laws allowed them to restrict ballot access until public pressure and a court injunction overruled their attempted end-run around democracy. Each presidential cycle, the corrupt kabuki continues. |
3x66wabajwiqxickv915cgq5uc83gh | (CNN) -- If George Orwell and Lucille Ball had a love child, his name would be Stephen Colbert.
In the last century, the great critics of corrupt political language were British authors who wrote dystopian novels. In "1984," Orwell described a totalitarian society in which meaningless political language, dubbed Newspeak, veiled horrible truths.
Earlier, In "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley described toddlers conditioned in laboratories to be afraid of books. And in "A Clockwork Orange," Anthony Burgess imagined a world in which ultraviolent teens rampaged in a distinctive English-Russian patois that defined their alienation from society and authority.
Now in the 21st century, there is Colbert's "truthiness" -- political half-truths, quarter-truths and what the website Politifact describes as "Pants-on-Fire" prevarications.
On his Comedy Central show, "The Colbert Report," he introduced "The Word," a regular deconstruction of language contortion designed, in Orwell's notion, to defend the indefensible. (One example: "A Perfect World," as in, journalists should demand to investigate torture, but it's not a perfect world.)
It's sharp political humor and a canny critique of American culture, language and iconography. And it's helped the comic emerge as this nation's court jester, licensed by the youthful cable TV audience to speak truth to power.
Such is Colbert's power and influence that he has been invited to testify before Congress today on the issue of illegal immigration -- and to testify in character. It's as if the Congress of the Eisenhower years invited Harpo Marx to offer testimony by beeping his bicycle horn.
Colbert has long been on to something important about the nature of our political discourse at the beginning of a new postmodern millennium: that ideology has become the lens through which Americans found their particular truth, let the evidence be damned. |
3vhp9mdgrnk8wic8di6onyun0j7fcx | (EW.com) -- When she gets a look at the latest list on Forbes.com, Drew Barrymore won't be smiling anymore.
The magazine ranked her first on its list of "Hollywood's Most Overpaid Actors," reporting that her films only bring in 40 cents for every dollar she is paid as an actress -- and that's without taking into account the fall TV bust "Charlie's Angels," on which Barrymore served as an executive producer.
Eddie Murphy had the unenviable fate of taking second place, though his return ($2.70 for every dollar he's paid) was significantly higher than Barrymore's. While the jury is still out whether "Tower Heist" (opening today) and his stint as Oscars host will bring Murphy the gold in 2012, his fate for 2011 is sealed. See what other big names made the list after the jump.
For this list, Forbes analyzed Hollywood's 40 top-earning actors and their respective compensation for their starring roles in the last five years and compared it to the operating income on those films. Nicolas Cage (#6) might be the person on the list who is simultaneously the most predictable and unexpected entrant.
As a go-to guy for huge action flicks, it seems like he'd generate healthy revenue stream. Then you remember his recent films include "Season of the Witch," "Drive Angry," and more recently "Trespass," which earned a paltry $16,000 in its first weekend. Yes, friends, that's roughly the going rate for a Honda Fit.
Cage's "Trespass" co-star Nicole Kidman also didn't fare well, landing in tenth place. Her ex Tom Cruise -- another tentpole action star with a questionable ability to return on his asking price -- took ninth place, though perhaps December's "Mission: Impossible" -- Ghost Protocol can turn things around for him next year. |
34yb12fsqyorj4ku1r6k8fzbu5qmgl | CHAPTER XVI.
AFTER A MISSING MUSTANG.
"What are you going to do with me?" asked Hank Stiger, after a moment of painful silence, during which Dan glanced toward Henry, to find his friend reviving rapidly.
"You'll find out later, Stiger. I can tell you one thing, you've gotten yourself in a pretty tight box."
"It wasn't my fault,--you forced the shooting," was the sullen response. "Why didn't you leave me alone from the start?"
"Because I am bound to have those papers and the other articles you stole, that's why."
"I took nothing, I swear it."
"Do you expect me to believe you,--after what has happened here, and after that affair of the deer?"
At this Stiger was silent. He wanted to get up and rush at Dan, despite the levelled pistol, but the wounded knee held him back. Had he been a full-blooded Indian he would have suffered in silence, but, being only a half-breed, and of poor Indian and white blood at that, he groaned dismally.
"Dan!" The cry came faintly from Henry, who had slowly raised himself. "Where--what--oh, I remember, now!" And he sank back again.
"It's all right, Henry; I've made Stiger a prisoner."
"A prisoner!" whined the half-breed. "Ain't I suffered enough already? My leg is somethin' fearful!" and he groaned again.
"You brought it all on yourself, Stiger, so you need not complain to me."
"I didn't, you----"
"I won't listen to any more explanations. Throw your knife over here, and be careful you don't hit anybody with it." |
3dzqrbdbslftnnlbq9vm1u98jwps3w | (CNN) -- Sylvia Robinson, a singer-songwriter who went on to become a pioneer in the hip-hop music business, introducing the seminal "Rapper's Delight," died Thursday in New Jersey of congestive heart failure. She was 76.
Best known as an artist for 1973's sultry "Pillow Talk," Robinson was a "trendsetter" in music, publicist Lynn K. Hobson told CNN.
"She was known as the founder of hip-hop," Hobson said. "She was vibrant, with an over-the-top personality."
Robinson's singing, producing and songwriting career dated back to the 1950s, when she recorded as "Little Sylvia" and later as one half of the duo "Mickey & Sylvia." The team's hit "Love Is Strange," which hit the pop charts in early 1957 and reached No. 1 on the rhythm-and-blues chart, found new life three decades later in the 1987 movie "Dirty Dancing." She also produced "Love On a Two-Way Street" for the Moments in 1970.
Born Sylvia Vanterpool, Robinson and her late husband, Joe, founded Sugar Hill Records in 1979 and released the early hip hop hit, "Rapper's Delight," performed by the Sugar Hill Gang. Her eldest son, Joey, was a member of the group she formed.
The song, which adapted the musical track of Chic's "Good Times," began with the familiar lines, "I said a hip hop, a hippie, a hippie to the hip hip hop, you don't stop to rock it."
The label also signed Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, which had success in the 1980s, including the hit "The Message."
Kanye West and Alicia Keys are among the artists who sampled songs associated with Robinson, Hobson said. |
3u5jl4wy5k9m10qekx6sa7i6cgix4z | New Mexico is a state in the southwestern region of the United States of America. It was admitted to the Union as the 47th state on January 6, 1912. It is usually considered one of the Mountain States. New Mexico is fifth largest by area, the 36th-most populous, and the sixth-least densely populated of the 50 United States.
Inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years before European exploration, Nuevo México was colonized by the Spanish in 1598 as part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain. Later, it was part of independent Mexico for a short period before becoming a U.S. territory and eventually a U.S. state as a result of the Mexican–American War. Among U.S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics, including mostly descendants of the original Spanish colonists who have lived in the area for more than 400 years beginning in 1598. It has the second-highest percentage of Native Americans as a proportion of the population after Alaska, and the fourth-highest number of Native Americans after California, Oklahoma, and Arizona. The major Native American nations in the state are Navajo, Pueblo, and Apache peoples. The state's demography and culture are shaped by these strong Hispanic and Native American influences and expressed in the state flag. Its scarlet and gold colors come from the royal standards of Spain, along with the ancient sun symbol of the Zia, a Pueblo-related tribe. |
34s9dkfk73pxndqu7y7qsuvf5wdnyi | Children who spend more time reading with their parents have a greater chance of becoming better readers than those who don't. With help from their parents, children can learn techniques to improve their reading skills.
"A lot of parents think after their child learns to read, they should stop reading to them," Donna George said. "They are sadly mistaken."
George offers her services to parents at the Title I Learning Centers. She said reading aloud to children may be the most valuable thing parents can do. "It is better for children to hear things at a higher level than where they are," George said. "Parents are their child's first teacher." Parents help their children build listening, phonics , comprehension and vocabulary skills when they read aloud to them.
Before parents can identify reading problems, they should escape the enemy----television and limit the time their children spend watching television. George suggested not allowing kids to have a TV in their bedrooms, setting a schedule of when kids can watch or keeping a list of how many programs children watch. Louise Joiners said while her 14-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son enjoy reading, the television sometimes becomes a _ . So she tries to build the situation by suggesting books the entire family will enjoy reading together, like the Harry Potter series.
Parents who do not read themselves should not depend on their children being enthusiastic about it. If parents would read to their children at least 15 minutes every day, children would not have so many problems in school. It is the parents' job to help build that desire in their children, and of course to know what kind of books to read is also important. |
39gaf6dqwr0d5co0x0m8ooeikg9v1g | A State Department special envoy will travel to North Korea this week to try to free Kenneth Bae, the U.S. citizen detained there since November, the State Department and White House said Tuesday.
Ambassador Robert King, the president's special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, will head to Pyongyang at North Korea's invitation, the State Department said.
King, currently traveling in the region, will go to the capital Friday, the White House said.
North Korea's supreme court sentenced Bae in April to 15 years of hard labor. His sister, Terri Chung, told CNN two weeks ago that Bae was recently moved to a hospital because of a serious decline in his health.
The court found Bae guilty of carrying out "serious crimes" against North Korea, including setting up bases in China for the purpose of toppling the North Korean government, encouraging North Korean citizens to bring down the government, and conducting a smear campaign, according to the country's state media.
Kenneth Bae: Please help me
The media also say Bae planned an operation to bring down the government through religious activities.
Chung says her brother was the owner of a tour company who was in North Korea for work.
King will ask Pyongyang to pardon Bae and grant him special amnesty on humanitarian grounds "so that he can be reunited with his family and seek medical treatment," the State Department said.
Bae suffers from severe back and leg pain and has lost more than 50 pounds, Chung told CNN earlier this month. |
336kav9kyqs1yr11lf9606shtuz2y4 | (CNN) -- Tragically, another celebrity has died after years of struggling with addiction, personal demons and multiple stints at rehab. Country singer Mindy McCready's death is in the headlines, but similar tragedies happen every day and you never hear about them.
Take the case of Wyatt D., who went to rehab at least 12 times for treatment of heroin addiction and whose family notified me last summer of his death from drug-related causes. Caroline R. went to rehab five times before medical complications related to severe alcoholism took her life. And Marnie M. died from a cocaine overdose after attending more than one famous rehab where she never received any professional psychological counseling for her troubled past. These aren't their real names, but sadly, they were real people.
All these people desperately wanted to overcome their drug and alcohol problems and, like McCready, they sought help. They attended some of the most recognized facilities in the country, only to be offered the same type of treatment over and over and to have it suggested that something was wrong with them when treatment failed.
Just this week, Drew Pinsky, who treated McCready on the third season of his show "Celebrity Rehab," said in reaction to her death, "Unfortunately, it seems that Mindy did not sustain her treatment." TV show hosts offered the typical platitudes: "Stay in treatment; treatment is effective; please get help."
I'll speculate that something else might have been going on with McCready, as it was for many of the more than 100 people I interviewed who had recently experienced the American addiction treatment system. |
3c2nj6jbkah7msxned0vjquaqlqn2h | Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, army officer, and writer. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. As a Member of Parliament (MP), he represented five constituencies over the course of his career. As Prime Minister, Churchill led Britain to victory during World War II. He led the Conservative Party for fifteen years from 1940 to 1955.
Churchill was born into an aristocratic family, the son of an English politician and American socialite. Joining the British Army, he saw action in British India, the Anglo–Sudan War, and the Second Boer War, gaining fame as a war correspondent and writing books about his campaigns. Moving into politics, before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary, and First Lord of the Admiralty as part of Asquith's Liberal government. During the war, Churchill departed from government following the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign. He briefly resumed active army service on the Western Front as commander in the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He returned to government under Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air, then Secretary of State for the Colonies. After two years out of Parliament, he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Baldwin's Conservative government of 1924–1929, controversially returning the pound sterling in 1925 to the gold standard at its pre-war parity, a move widely seen as creating deflationary pressure on the UK economy. |
37wlf8u1wpquwnvl42kihbuicvsk6v | Oceanography (compound of the Greek words ὠκεανός meaning "ocean" and γράφω meaning "write"), also known as oceanology, is the study of the physical and the biological aspects of the ocean. It is an Earth science covering a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics; plate tectonics and the geology of the sea floor; and fluxes of various chemical substances and physical properties within the ocean and across its boundaries. These diverse topics reflect multiple disciplines that oceanographers blend to further knowledge of the world ocean and understanding of processes within: astronomy, biology, chemistry, climatology, geography, geology, hydrology, meteorology and physics. Paleoceanography studies the history of the oceans in the geologic past.
Humans first acquired knowledge of the waves and currents of the seas and oceans in pre-historic times. Observations on tides were recorded by Aristotle and Strabo. Early exploration of the oceans was primarily for cartography and mainly limited to its surfaces and of the animals that fishermen brought up in nets, though depth soundings by lead line were taken.
Although Juan Ponce de León in 1513 first identified the Gulf Stream, and the current was well-known to mariners, Benjamin Franklin made the first scientific study of it and gave it its name. Franklin measured water temperatures during several Atlantic crossings and correctly explained the Gulf Stream's cause. Franklin and Timothy Folger printed the first map of the Gulf Stream in 1769-1770. Information on the currents of the Pacific Ocean was gathered by explorers of the late 18th century, including James Cook and Louis Antoine de Bougainville. James Rennell wrote the first scientific textbooks on oceanography, detailing the current flows of the Atlantic and Indian oceans. During a voyage around the Cape of Good Hope in 1777, he mapped ""the banks and currents at the Lagullas"". He was also the first to understand the nature of the intermittent current near the Isles of Scilly, (now known as Rennell's Current). |
3cfjtt4sxtqmusj2n94ya9f1f4a7ix | CHAPTER 22.
"Young blighted Albert," said Keggs the butler, shifting his weight so that it distributed itself more comfortably over the creaking chair in which he reclined, "let this be a lesson to you, young feller me lad."
The day was a week after Lord Marshmoreton's visit to London, the hour six o'clock. The housekeeper's room, in which the upper servants took their meals, had emptied. Of the gay company which had just finished dinner only Keggs remained, placidly digesting. Albert, whose duty it was to wait on the upper servants, was moving to and fro, morosely collecting the plates and glasses. The boy was in no happy frame of mind. Throughout dinner the conversation at table had dealt almost exclusively with the now celebrated elopement of Reggie Byng and his bride, and few subjects could have made more painful listening to Albert.
"What's been the result and what I might call the upshot," said Keggs, continuing his homily, "of all your making yourself so busy and thrusting of yourself forward and meddling in the affairs of your elders and betters? The upshot and issue of it 'as been that you are out five shillings and nothing to show for it. Five shillings what you might have spent on some good book and improved your mind! And goodness knows it wants all the improving it can get, for of all the worthless, idle little messers it's ever been my misfortune to have dealings with, you are the champion. Be careful of them plates, young man, and don't breathe so hard. You 'aven't got hasthma or something, 'ave you?" |
3skro2gz71rzp1uoyw81mf313i81k5 | Abby and Emma are outside one day to do something special for someone. They are picking flowers for their mother's birthday.
Right before they are finished picking their flowers to surprise their mother, the girls see that the clouds in the sky have turned grey and that the sun is no longer shining. It looks like it's going to rain soon.
Abby looks down at her small hand of purple flowers and frowns.
"What's wrong, Abby?" Emma asks, turning to look at her sister studying her flowers.
"Well," Abby says, "We got the flowers, but it looks like rain."
Emma looks up at the cloudy sky and nods.
"If it rains, we can't make mommy a mud pie," Abby adds with sadness.
Emma looks down at her own white flowers, counting them, and thinks. After making sure she had four flowers, she looks at Abby with an idea.
"What if we get the mud and take it in the house? That way if it rains, we can still make a cake," Emma says.
"Good idea!" Abby smiles, happy again.
Flowers in hand, the girls grab a yellow pail, placing their flowers on the porch, as they walk towards the mud to get what they need for their mother's birthday cake. |
3skemfqbz35h01e9xhhg1pq9ilc8kp | Register in person, by phone 264-8833, or by mail. Use form given.
178 IN Winchester St, Chicago
Basic Photography
This is an eight-hour course for beginners who want to learn how to use a 35mm camera. The teacher will cover such areas as kinds of film, light, and lenses . Bring your own 35mm camera to class. Course charge: $50. Jan.10,12,17,19, Tues. & Thurs. 6:00~8:00 p.m. Marianne Adams is a professional photographer whose photographs appear in many magazines.
Understanding Computers
This twelve-hour course is for people who don't know very much about computers, but need to learn about them. You will learn what computers are, what they can and can't do, and how to use them. Course charge:$75. Equipment charge:$10. Jan.14,21,28, Sat. 6:00~10:00 p.m. Joseph Saimders is Professor of Computer Science at New Urban University. He has over twelve years of experience in the computer field.
Typing
This course on week-days is for typing. You are tested in the first class and practice at one of eight different skill levels. This allows you to learn at your own speed. Each program lasts 20 hours. Bring your own paper. Course charge:$125. Materials charge:$25. Two hours each evening for two weeks. New classes begin every two weeks. This course is taught by a number of business education teachers who have effectively taught typing courses before.
Oil Painting
Oil paint is easy to use once you learn the basics. When you enroll in this oil painting course, you will learn to draw and paint using many oil painting techniques under complete guidance and instruction. Together--with the teacher's knowledge and your passion--we'll unlock your creativity and develop your potential! Course charge: $35. Jan. 5,12,19,26, Thurs. 2:00---5:00pm. Ralf Ericssion has taught beginners to masters and he has learned that everything builds on just a few basic concepts that he will show you here. |
3ymtujh0dsgfkjhufn5vl4x0ye74tn | The angel alligator was quite the sight! It loved to scream with all its might!
It loved to roll in mud and sun. Then it would go for a run.
But why did it run? Why did it scream?
It had a fork in its butt!
It sat in a trashcan. This was not a smart thing to do! But he did it, oh yes, oh me, oh you!
The alligator had a beard. It was a great beard. But nobody ever talked about his beard. Why? Because they would only see the fork in its butt!
But one day, the alligator made a friend. The friend needed a fork. How was he to eat his spaghetti without a fork?
But...I'm not sure a butt fork is the best way to eat spaghetti.
Do you? |
3kwtyt087039xpdpkjme45tx53z5lm | Dorset (or archaically, Dorsetshire) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the non-metropolitan county, which is governed by Dorset County Council, and the unitary authority areas of Poole and Bournemouth. Covering an area of , Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, and Hampshire to the east. The county town is Dorchester which is in the south. After the reorganisation of local government in 1974 the county's border was extended eastward to incorporate the Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch. Around half of the population lives in the South East Dorset conurbation, while the rest of the county is largely rural with a low population density.
The county has a long history of human settlement stretching back to the Neolithic era. The Romans conquered Dorset's indigenous Celtic tribe, and during the early Middle Ages, the Saxons settled the area and made Dorset a shire in the 7th century. The first recorded Viking raid on the British Isles occurred in Dorset during the eighth century, and the Black Death entered England at Melcombe Regis in 1348. Dorset has seen much civil unrest: in the English Civil War, an uprising of vigilantes was crushed by Oliver Cromwell's forces in a pitched battle near Shaftesbury; the doomed Monmouth Rebellion began at Lyme Regis; and a group of farm labourers from Tolpuddle were instrumental in the formation of the trade union movement. During the Second World War, Dorset was heavily involved in the preparations for the invasion of Normandy, and the large harbours of Portland and Poole were two of the main embarkation points. The former was the sailing venue in the 2012 Summer Olympics, and both have clubs or hire venues for sailing, Cornish pilot gig rowing, sea kayaking and powerboating. |
3483fv8beejzf7rvfweehf8oum7269 | CHAPTER XXIII. THE OVERWHELMING ODDS
At half-past ten that same evening, Blakeney, still clad in a workman's tattered clothes, his feet bare so that he could tread the streets unheard, turned into the Rue de la Croix Blanche.
The porte-cochere of the house where Armand lodged had been left on the latch; not a soul was in sight. Peering cautiously round, he slipped into the house. On the ledge of the window, immediately on his left when he entered, a candle was left burning, and beside it there was a scrap of paper with the initials S. P. roughly traced in pencil. No one challenged him as he noiselessly glided past it, and up the narrow stairs that led to the upper floor. Here, too, on the second landing the door on the right had been left on the latch. He pushed it open and entered.
As is usual even in the meanest lodgings in Paris houses, a small antechamber gave between the front door and the main room. When Percy entered the antechamber was unlighted, but the door into the inner room beyond was ajar. Blakeney approached it with noiseless tread, and gently pushed it open.
That very instant he knew that the game was up; he heard the footsteps closing up behind him, saw Armand, deathly pale, leaning against the wall in the room in front of him, and Chauvelin and Heron standing guard over him.
The next moment the room and the antechamber were literally alive with soldiers--twenty of them to arrest one man. |
3wt783ctpbhij10s8gks4832lpicbn | CHAPTER XXIX.
"Thus doth the ever-changing course of thing! Run a perpetual circle, ever turning; And that same day, that highest glory brings, Brings us to the point of back returning."
DANIEL,
In scenes like that just related, it is not easy to collect details. All that was ever known, beyond the impetuous manner of the assault in which the ruins were carried, was in the dire result. Half the French on the islet were weltering in their blood, and the surface of the rocks was well sprinkled with enemies who had not been more fortunate. It had been a desperate onset, in which mortification increased natural intrepidity, which had been nobly resisted, but in which numbers had necessarily prevailed. Among the English slain was Sir Frederick Dashwood himself; he lay about a yard from his own gig, with a ball directly through his head. Griffin was seriously hurt, but Clinch was untouched, on the low rampart, waving an English Jack--after having hauled down a similar emblem of the French. His boat had first touched the rock, her crew had first reached the ruin, and, of all in her, he himself had taken the lead. Desperately had he contended for Jane and a commission, and this time Providence appeared to smile on his efforts. As for Raoul, he lay in front of his own rampart, having rushed forward to meet the party of Clinch, and had actually crossed swords with his late prisoner, when a musket-ball, fired by the hands of McBean, traversed his body. |
3on104kxqkw7c0loasa68o4z2za4wg | Do you want to spend a holiday in space? Dennis Tito, a businessman, has become the world's first "space tourist". He went on a 10-day visit to the International Space Station. He paid 14 million pounds for his journey. A year later, Martin, a musician from an American band, wanted to do the same. He was only 22 years old and probably very rich too. He had to go for a lot of training to see whether he was fit enough to travel. He is still waiting for his holiday of a lifetime. Many people believe that this is only the start of something new. We made interviews among teenagers from around the world and the following is what they said about space travel. "It's a great idea. I hope space travel will be common in about 50 years' time. I'd really love to do it and I think Mr. Tito was very lucky." (Kate from Australia) "I would like to see our beautiful Earth from space. There are lots of secrets to explore in space and I would go into space if I could." (Ben from China) "I think space travel is really bad for the environment. Maybe in the future they will make a cleaner way of travelling but until they do, I don't want to go. We should look after our own planet first."(Richard from Canada) "It must be very boring and dangerous to sit in that small space shuttle . I'd rather take a plane and go to another place on earth." (Lisa from the UK) So, as you can see, many of our teenagers had different opinions. Whether you like it or not, space travel is going to become an important thing in the future. We are looking forward to hearing your opinions. |
3m0nz3jdp1yt2eutzkdnck4vk4n5z5 | Collections were the inspiration for a project at Thomas Tallis School, which formed part of the Imagine Children's Literature Festival last autumn. Each child (aged 12-13) beatified a box and wrote a story on the subject of collections to throw inside it. The boxes were spread within the Royal Festival Hall's Ballroom. Some were left empty to encourage
The subject chosen by Luren was an imaginative one. "It's a sort o f Cinderella story," she told me, inspired by a collection of letters from her cousin, ha the story these become love letters, burned by a creel stepmother. Lauren's best friend Charlotte is the stepmother. "I'm in Charlotte's story too," says Lauren, "and I get run over." Charlotte's tale was inspired by the girls' coin collection. "We've collected foreign coins for years - since our families went on holiday to Tenerife." she explains. "That was before the Euro, so we put pesetas in." Lauren continues: "I fred a coin in the road, go to get it and get run over. I'm in hospital and then I die." Charlotte adds: "Or she might not die. I haven't decided yet."
Millie Murray, who is a tea-novel author, thinks that setting the subject of collections was a useful inspiration to their creativity rather than a restriction . "In the beginning I thought, 'Will the children be able to do it?'" she says. "But it's been fruitful. Some have their own collection, some have parents who do, and some have wlstten complete stories. It's made them think about something they wouldn't have otherwise, winch can only be a good thing." |
3h7xdtshkcrnoge85tc7hd12s4twg5 | When Mr. Brown entered the classroom that Friday morning, he stopped at the blackboard. For there, on the blackboard, were words in huge red letters: BROWN IS STUPID! Mr. Brown thought for a moment. This could only have been the work of one of the four boys who had been kept in after school the day before. Mr. Brown turned the blackboard around so that the words could not be seen. Half an hour later,Mr. Brown wrote four names on the board: Gerald, Alex, Michael and Laurie. Then he said, "I want these four to stay in the classroom. The rest of you may go to the playground." The four boys came to the blackboard. "One of you has written a most impolite remark on the blackboard," he stared at them and _ , "which one of you did it?" The four boys gathered closer together, afraid of what was to come. "Was it you, Gerald?" Gerald shook his head. "No, it was not me, Sir," he gave the teacher a most sincere look in his wide eyes. "What do you have to say, Alex?" "I don't know anything about it, Sir," said Alex, and his ears turned red. Michael had a bright idea. "Perhaps someone broke in during the night," he said. "And when he saw the lovely red chalk lying there, he wrote something on the blackboard." "Is that the best you can think so, Michael?" asked the teacher. "I only thought ..." "And what about you, Laurie?" Laurie said in a rather low voice, "I didn't do it, Sir. I don't even know what it says on the blackboard." "You really don't know what's written there?" Mr. Brown asked. "And I don't think dear Gerald knows either." "No, Sir. No idea." "Michael, Alex, can either of you tell me what it says on the blackboard?" "No, Sir!" the two boys answered together. Brown walked forward and his fingers seized a schoolboy. He said in his kindest and softest voice to the other three boys, "Very well. I only punish the one who has been telling lies, and you three may go to the playground!" |
39gaf6dqwr0d5co0x0m8ooeijg9v1f | Roger was a grasshopper. He loved to hop. He hopped everywhere by himself. One day when he was hopping around he bumped into a frog sitting on a log. The frog told him his name was Gilbert. Gilbert told Roger that it had been a long time since he bumped into anybody. Roger told him that since both grasshoppers and frogs like to jump they would make great friends. The next day they were hopping through a field and they saw something very strange. In a pond they saw a spider floating on a lily pad. The spider was very sad because he did not have any friends. Roger and Gilbert asked him why he didn't have any friends. The spider told them that everybody would scream and run away when they saw him. Roger and Gilbert told him that he didn't look scary to them and that he could come along with them if he wanted. So Sam the spider said yes, and the three of them began a life time friendship full of adventures. |
36wlnqg78zaxgzk647qnuw35604ebp | Auckland is a city in New Zealand's North Island. Auckland is the largest urban area in the country, with an urban population of around . It is located in the Auckland Region—the area governed by Auckland Council—which includes outlying rural areas and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, resulting in a total population of . A diverse and multicultural city, Auckland is home to the largest Polynesian population in the world. The Māori language name for Auckland is ' or ', meaning "Tāmaki with a hundred lovers", in reference to the desirability of its fertile land at the hub of waterways in all directions. It has also been called "Ākarana", the Māori pronunciation of the English name.
The Auckland urban area (as defined by Statistics New Zealand) ranges to Waiwera in the north, Kumeu in the northwest, and Runciman in the south. Auckland lies between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the south-west, and the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and north-west. The surrounding hills are covered in rainforest and the landscape is dotted with dozens of dormant volcanic cones. The central part of the urban area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. Auckland is one of the few cities in the world to have a harbour on each of two separate major bodies of water. |
37trt2x24qr5rf6yi81ercgxbb1jbm | New York (CNN) -- A woman suspected of snatching an infant from a New York hospital in 1987 told investigators she was frustrated with her inability to give birth, according to court papers filed Monday.
Ann "Annugetta" Pettway has been charged with one count of kidnapping in the abduction of Carlina Renae White, who has since reunited with her biological mother. According to court documents filed in the case Monday, Pettway admitted to taking the girl from a Harlem hospital after suffering several miscarriages.
Pettway, 49, made an initial appearance in federal court Monday afternoon to face the single kidnapping count. She did not speak or enter a plea during the five-minute hearing. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein ordered her held until a February 7 bail hearing.
She was dressed in a blue jail uniform and did not look around as she was escorted into the courtroom. In their second-row seats, White's parents leaned forward for a better view of the woman accused of taking their daughter from them more than 23 years ago.
During an interview with federal investigators Sunday, Pettway allegedly expressed remorse that she "caused a lot of pain," court papers state. After the hearing, defense attorney Robert Baum said he believed Pettway did express remorse but would not say whether he would challenge her statement to investigators before reading the charging documents.
"A lot of facts here have yet to come out," Baum told reporters. He added, "She's hopeful that the ending of this tragedy for everyone will shed new light on her role." |
3rgu30dzta81a6av9xrn5srrn1ajmy | Twenty years ago, Americans were a rare sight in China. But decades later, things have changed greatly. Americans are found in every Chinese province and region and in all walks of life. Much of this change is due to the increasing exchange and improving relationship between the two countries, but what attracts many here is China's rapid development and the huge opportunities that have arisen with that development.
Erik Nilsson has been working for the English newspaper China Daily as a reporter for five years since his graduation from Central Michigan University. Although his original plan was to become a conflict zone reporter in Latin America, he decided to stay at China Daily
Robert Brownell, a former IT engineer with Microsoft in Seattle, is now teaching in China and appreciates the different atmosphere in the school. His actions are a lot less restricted here than they would be in the U.S. "For good students, I can give them candy," he explains. "But in American schools, if you give food to students, they have to be sealed and tested. In China I can pat them on the back and raise my voice. But in America, everything is regulated so much, you just can't do anything."
Kodi Keith Avila, the 30-year- old Hawaiian is running a business English school, New York Minutes, in Beijing. Avila first came to China in 2007 on a scholarship program as a student of University of Hawaii. It was encouragement from his professor that finally convinced him to go to China. "He thought China would overtake other countries in trade, consumption and technology," Avila said."I saw many good opportunities for personal careers or business development in China. So many limousines Audi, Mercedes-Benz, so many businessmen and skyscrapers. One can get a business license in China as long as one has a good business plan"he told China Today.
"I came to China because I am interested in Chinese medicine. Learning Chinese language will help me learn Chinese medicine," Caponigro told China Today. She is not alone among Americans in becoming more and more fascinated with Chinese culture. |
3x1fv8s5jxra9re3fj7bvbiolw5vga | (CNN) -- Svetlana Kuznetsova drew on her vast experience to keep Russia in contention for a fifth Fed Cup tennis title in the final against the Czech Republic on Saturday.
The 26-year-old, who featured in three of her nation's four winning line-ups between 2004 and 2008, helped Russia end the first day on level terms in Moscow after world No. 2 Petra Kvitova continued her remarkable year.
Kvitova, who last weekend added the season-ending WTA Championships title to her July Wimbledon crown, gave the visiting Czechs a 1-0 lead when she beat Maria Kirilenko 6-2 6-2 in the opening singles rubber.
Kuznetsova lost both of her singles matches in the 2004 final, a 3-2 win over France sealed in the deciding doubles tie, but was undefeated in four finals outings in 2007-08.
The former U.S. Open and French Open champion continued that winning run as she beat Lucie Safarova 6-2 6-3.
"I felt colossal pressure. But if I was playing that rubber in the year 2004, I think I would feel really tight and jittery," she told the Fed Cup website.
"Now I have more expertise, and that expertise helped me to motivate myself and to motivate myself in the right direction."
Kuznetsova, ranked 19th, will take on the 21-year-old Kvitova in Sunday's opening reverse singles rubber in their first career meeting.
Kirilenko has a 4-1 career record over Safarova, but they have not met since 2009.
The Czechs have not won the title since 1988, which came five years before the formation of the republic and Slovakia. |
3zazr5xv01ie1z38eu0vqqa5ctxczo | New England is a geographical region comprising six states of the northeastern United States: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and south, and by the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north, respectively. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east and southeast, and Long Island Sound is to the south. Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, is New England's largest city. The largest metropolitan area is Greater Boston, which also includes Worcester, Massachusetts (the second-largest city in New England), Manchester (the largest city in New Hampshire), and Providence (the capital and largest city of Rhode Island), with nearly a third of the entire region's population.
In 1620, Puritan Separatist Pilgrims from England first settled in the region, forming the Plymouth Colony, the second successful English settlement in the Americas, following the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia founded in 1607. Ten years later, more Puritans settled north of Plymouth Colony in Boston, thus forming Massachusetts Bay Colony. Over the next 126 years, people in the region fought in four French and Indian Wars, until the British and their Iroquois allies defeated the French and their Algonquin allies in North America. In 1692, the town of Salem, Massachusetts and surrounding areas experienced the Salem witch trials, one of the most infamous cases of mass hysteria in the history of the Western Hemisphere. |
3r5f3lqfv2kfao0b4z9mlq4m0u8ozy | Flint, Michigan (CNN) -- A few weeks ago, Nicole Mansfield called her daughter in Flint, Michigan. She tried to calm Triana Jones down, but she had bad news.
"She said, 'I might not be home in a week, somebody stole my ID,' " Jones recalled of the conversation almost a month ago. "So she wasn't able to come home."
This wasn't a minor headache, part of the travail of international travel. Jones thought her mother could be in Syria, fighting alongside rebels in the country's bloody civil war.
Nicole Mansfield had converted to Islam several years ago, her daughter told CNN Friday.
Jones wept as she and Gregory Mansfield -- her mother's father -- talked to CNN about the horror they felt seeing images on the Internet this week of a dead woman they are convinced is Nicole Mansfield.
Syrian state-run television aired a story saying that government forces had killed three Westerners. The video package shows a bullet-riddled car, weapons placed on the car hood, a computer, a hand-drawn map of a government military facility and a flag belonging to the al Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.
The camera pans close to bodies arranged in a row, lying on the ground.
Mansfield's relatives told CNN they have no doubt she's one of them.
Though it's unclear how the family knew to look on the Web to see the images, they say the FBI paid the Mansfield family a visit Thursday to ask them about reports that Mansfield was killed in Syria.
"The first time I saw those pictures I had to look again because I didn't even recognize her. I didn't believe it was my mom the first time I saw them," Jones told CNN, choking back tears. "And then I had to look again and I looked at her body and her feet and her hands and her nose and her mouth. And I knew it was her." |
3dpnqgw4llf9il6ijax2au5mexd46b | Overnight, TFboys, a boy band consisting of three middle school students, became the talk all over China. Founded last year, the oldest member of TF boys is only 14. But the number of their followers on Sina Weibo has reached 11 million. Their music videos are also getting millions of views online. Some say that TFboys has become popular only because of their pretty faces. But take a serious look at the three boys, and you may find out what has helped them win over so many people. Wang Junkai, 14, from Chongqing What did you do when you were 8 years old? Wang had become a trainee at TF Entertainment at that age, he still goes to school like other kids during weekdays. But his weekends were filled with training classes. He learned how to sing and dance. He had to do the splits again and again. Many boys couldn't stand it and quit, but Wang didn't give up. Before he finally became a TFboy, the tough guy has been practicing for five years. Wang Yuan, 13, from Chongqing Fans like to call Wang "Er Yuan" because he is a funny guy who's always telling dry jokes. But when he starts to sing, you'd be thrilled by his clear voice and high pitch . The cheerful boy lives a simple life. He doesn't like to compare himself with others. His mobile phone cost only 300 yuan. He's a big fan of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf. He has watched every Pleasant Goat movie at the cinema. Yiyang Qianxi, 13, from Hunan Yiyang is the shortest of the three boys, but he definitely has the most splendid resume . He is a top student. He is an excellent dancer. He takes part in TV shows. He has played different roles in many movies. He is even good at calligraphy . When other teenagers show off their new clothes on Weibo, Yiyang displays his calligraphy work. How can he be good at so many things? " I'd practice dancing while others were chatting," he said. |
369j354ofdapu1z2ebz3jj2p5jdg60 | Jack Brown, an office worker, lives in Washington. He inherited a million dollars when he was 23, but he wasn't happy at all.When his college friends were looking for their jobs, he didn't have to. Jack decided to keep living a simple life like everyone else. He gave $ 10,000 of his money to a charity to help poor children live a happy life. Today he is 36. He still wears cheap shoes and clothes and drives a small car only, but he is very happy. Up to now Jack has helped some children from poor countries all over the world, by sending them each $200 a month. The money is used for the children's study, food, medicine and clothing. Jack receives a report each year on the children's progress They can write to each other, but usually the children do not speak English. When Jack first heard about these children, he wanted to help them. "It was nothing special,"he said."Until I went to these countries and met the children I was helping, I didn't know anything about their life." Once Jack went to meet a little girl in Africa, he said that the meeting was very exciting. "When I met her, I felt very,very happy,"he said."And I saw that the money was _ . It brought me happiness. I want to do everything I can to go on helping these children." |
3qilpralq5vi87zcuu9wth7dbbrn88 | CHAPTER II The Population of Compton Poynsett
He wanted a wife his braw hoose to keep, But favour wi' wooin' was fashous to seek.--Laird o' Cockpen
In the bright lamplight of the dining-table, the new population first fully beheld one another, and understood one another's looks.
There was much family resemblance between the five brothers. All were well-grown well-made men, strong and agile, the countenance pleasing, rather square of mould, eyebrows straight and thick, nose well cut and short, chin firm and resolute-looking, and the complexion very dark in Raymond, Frank, and the absent Miles. Frank's eyes were soft, brown, rather pensive, and absent in expression; but Raymond's were much deeper and darker, and had a steadfast gravity, that made him be viewed as formidable, especially as he had lost all the youthful glow of colouring that mantled in his brother's olive cheek; and he had a short, thick, curly brown beard, while Frank had only attained to a black moustache, that might almost have been drawn on his lip with charcoal.
Charlie was an exception--fair, blue-eyed, rosy, and with a soft feminine contour of visage, which had often drawn on him reproaches for not being really the daughter all his mother's friends desired for her.
And Julius, with the outlines of the others, was Albino, with transparent skin mantling with colour that contrasted with his snowy hair, eyebrows, and the lashes, veiling eyes of a curious coral hue, really not unpleasing under their thick white fringes, but most inconveniently short of sight, although capable of much work; in fact, he was a curiously perfect pink-and-white edition of his dark and bronzed brother the sailor. |
3x87c8jfv6bluordok7ie22jtt6qsa | CHAPTER XXIX
A BOLD SCHEME
The sense of security which Millicent experienced on announcing her engagement was not permanent and in a few days the doubts that had troubled her crept back into her mind. She had never entertained any marked illusions about Clarence and although, now that she was irrevocably pledged to him, she endeavored to fix her thoughts on his most likable qualities, even these appeared in a less favorable light than they had formerly done. The growth of the warmer attachment she had expected to feel was strangely slow, and though it was early to indulge in regrets her heart sometimes grew heavy as she looked forward to the future. Clarence was considerate, attentive and deferential in a polished way, but he lacked something one looked for in a lover. Besides, she was anxious about him; he looked worn, his manner suggested that he was bearing a strain, but this was in his favor, for it roused her compassion. She fancied that the cause of it was financial, and this in a sense was encouraging, because this was a trouble from which she could purchase him immunity.
In the meanwhile she was stirred by mournful memories as she followed the last stages of her brother's journey and visited the lonely spot where he had met his end. Somehow the thought of him encouraged her--George had quietly done his duty, regardless of the cost, and even if her burden proved heavy, which it was premature to admit, she must bear it cheerfully. |
32scwg5hih4v7es1hupqdsgh5tj6pe | Why do you study? Many students would simply reply: "To get good result in the college entrance examination ." For several years, many have spoken out against the exams. Some say they have turned children into studying machines. Others think that one exam cannot possibly _ a student's true level of knowledge. So, should the exams be canceled? Minister of Education Yuan Guiren doesn't think so. "Officials and the rich might take advantage if the college entrance examination were called off . And life would be more difficult for poor children. However, we do need to change the exams," Yuan said on March 7. He has put an exam reforms at the center of his fourth year in office. "I think the exam is a fair way to choose talented people. But it should pay more attention to all-around personal qualities, not just grades," said Cui Shangyu, a Senior 3 student in Sichuan. The college entrance examination was restored in 1977. From then to 2007, 46.85 million people have entered higher education through the exam. According to survey by the Ministry of Education, 90 percent of people who participate believed the college entrance examination could in some way change a person's life, especially for poor students in the countryside. The college entrance examination is not the only way to become a successful person. However, the process of preparing for the exam is a good experience, said Shen Hui, a Math teacher at Gaoyou Middle School in Jiangsu. "Through it students can learn many things, such as how to deal with stress and how to arrange a learning plan." Shen said. |
3x87c8jfv6bluordok7ie22jsncsq5 | My cat's name is Buggleton. She is black and white with big green eyes and very long whiskers, like a bug.
When I woke up this morning, my cat was not inside the house. She is allowed outside, and we have a cat door in the kitchen so she can come and go as she pleases. She comes home at night, sleeps in her special box, and is here for breakfast before going outside for new adventures. We can lock the cat door so she can't go outside when we go on vacation. If we go on vacation for more than a few days, my mom comes over to check on her and feed her.
So it was very weird to wake up and see that she was not home for her morning food! My husband and neighbor and I called for her, but she did not come. Guess where she was? Trapped in the garage overnight! |
3rwe2m8qwha0qiu9zqwh021vsd10nk | Kanye's "Fantasy" conquered reality; the Black Keys locked into a groove; Arcade Fire burned down the suburbs.
(Rolling Stone) -- 5. Jamey Johnson, "The Guitar Song" 1: What does Jamey Johnson keep under all of that hair? Songs. Nashville's gruffest and grittiest star turns out to be its most reliable traditionalist, a Music Row pro who can write a song for every emotional season. Johnson pulled out a whole slew of them -- 25, clocking in north of 105 minutes -- for his double-disc fourth album: acoustic confessions and rugged boogie blues, big weepers and grim reapers, cover tunes and novelty ditties, not to mention "California Riots" and "Playing the Part," a pair of fiercely funny, unrepentantly redneck swipes at the frou-frou blue states.
4. Arcade Fire, "The Suburbs" Arcade Fire don't do anything small -- so leave it to the Montreal collective to make an album of vast, orchestral rock that locates the battle for the human soul amid big houses and manicured lawns.
"The Suburbs" is the band's most adventurous album yet: See the psychotic speed strings on "Empty Room," the Crazy Horse rush of "Month of May," the synth-pop disco of "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)." Win Butler and his wife, Régine Chassagne, sing about suburban boredom, fear of change and wanting to have a kid of their own -- always scaling their intimate confessions to arena-rock levels and finding beauty wherever they look.
3. Elton John and Leon Russell, "The Union" Two rock giants, one largely forgotten, rekindle a friendship and make music that ranks with their best. Producer T Bone Burnett delivers his most spectacular production in memory, filled with shining steel guitar, chortling brass and gospel-time choirs. Ultimately, it's Russell's voice that shines brightest, drawing on the entire history of American popular music in its canny, vulnerable, knowing croon. |
32ktq2v7rdfc4uxmnl0agydoqpmm9f | We live in an amazing world, reading the following news and you will find it yourself. News 1: Bao Xishun is the tallest man in the world. He is 2.36 metres tall. He Pingping is the shortest man in the world. He is only 0.73 metres tall. They are Chinese. On July 13th, Bao Xishun married a girl and He Pingping took part in their wedding ceremony . News 2: In the USA, a seventh-grader, Aidan Murray Medley went fishing in the sea one morning. The 12-year-old boy caught a 250-kilogram shark! It took Aidan 28 minutes to catch the shark. It was so hard that his body lost all feeling. Aidan now has the Florida record . He beat a 232-kilogram catch from 1981. News 3: A young sheep climbs a tree to feed on leaves in a park in the southern Swedish town of Lund. The sheep climbed to a height of seven metres and spent an hour and a half in the tree before returning to the ground. |
3ns0a6kxc48ribjdggweghvkalxgza | CHAPTER VIII
LAST DAYS ON THE FARM
"I believe you are right," said Tom, after he, too, had looked over some of the bits of paper strewn around. "Here is the word 'box' and here is the word 'Saturday.'"
"Yes, and here are the words, 'fast freight,'" added Sam. "This was nothing more than a letter box for the freight thieves."
"But why was it placed here?" questioned Dick. "It's a very out-of-the-way place and hard to get to."
"Maybe somebody had to come this way," answered Tom. "See, here is something of a trail."
"Yes, and here are those same big footprints!" exclaimed Sam. "For all we know they may lead to some house or hut on the mountainside."
Having picked up the majority of the bits of paper and put them in their pockets for future examination, the three Rover boys followed the path or trail they had discovered. It led along the mountainside to where there was a small clearing, backed up by a series of rocks from which a spring gushed forth, sparkling brightly in the sunshine.
"I'd like to get another drink," said Sam; "I am terribly thirsty to-day."
"Wait!" warned Dick, and caught his youngest brother by the arm.
"What's up, Dick?"
"I see a log cabin--over yonder, among the trees."
"Yes, and I see Dangler!" yelled Tom, suddenly. "There he goes, with a big bundle over his shoulder!" And he pointed to the rear of the log cabin. A man was just disappearing behind a fringe of brushwood. The bundle he carried appeared to be tied up in a horse blanket. He was running as hard as he could. |
3kxir214i4gl0knhw8lzkhoaz51249 | CHAPTER III--SOAMES PREPARES TO TAKE STEPS
When Soames entered his sister's little Louis Quinze drawing-room, with its small balcony, always flowered with hanging geraniums in the summer, and now with pots of Lilium Auratum, he was struck by the immutability of human affairs. It looked just the same as on his first visit to the newly married Darties twenty-one years ago. He had chosen the furniture himself, and so completely that no subsequent purchase had ever been able to change the room's atmosphere. Yes, he had founded his sister well, and she had wanted it. Indeed, it said a great deal for Winifred that after all this time with Dartie she remained well-founded. From the first Soames had nosed out Dartie's nature from underneath the plausibility, savoir faire, and good looks which had dazzled Winifred, her mother, and even James, to the extent of permitting the fellow to marry his daughter without bringing anything but shares of no value into settlement.
Winifred, whom he noticed next to the furniture, was sitting at her Buhl bureau with a letter in her hand. She rose and came towards him. Tall as himself, strong in the cheekbones, well tailored, something in her face disturbed Soames. She crumpled the letter in her hand, but seemed to change her mind and held it out to him. He was her lawyer as well as her brother.
Soames read, on Iseeum Club paper, these words:
'You will not get chance to insult in my own again. I am leaving country to-morrow. It's played out. I'm tired of being insulted by you. You've brought on yourself. No self-respecting man can stand it. I shall not ask you for anything again. Good-bye. I took the photograph of the two girls. Give them my love. I don't care what your family say. It's all their doing. I'm going to live new life. 'M.D.' |
3r08vxyt7cv4vn37cq8db0o9uie7wg | CHAPTER IV: AN ARRANGEMENT
"That is serious," said Dick, more intellectually than he had spoken for a long time.
The truth was that Geoffrey knew nothing about his daughter's continued walks and meetings with Dick. When a hint that there were symptoms of an attachment between them had first reached Geoffrey's ears, he stated so emphatically that he must think the matter over before any such thing could be allowed that, rather unwisely on Dick's part, whatever it might have been on the lady's, the lovers were careful to be seen together no more in public; and Geoffrey, forgetting the report, did not think over the matter at all. So Mr. Shiner resumed his old position in Geoffrey's brain by mere flux of time. Even Shiner began to believe that Dick existed for Fancy no more,--though that remarkably easy-going man had taken no active steps on his own account as yet.
"And father has not only told Mr. Shiner that," continued Fancy, "but he has written me a letter, to say he should wish me to encourage Mr. Shiner, if 'twas convenient!"
"I must start off and see your father at once!" said Dick, taking two or three vehement steps to the south, recollecting that Mr. Day lived to the north, and coming back again.
"I think we had better see him together. Not tell him what you come for, or anything of the kind, until he likes you, and so win his brain through his heart, which is always the way to manage people. I mean in this way: I am going home on Saturday week to help them in the honey-taking. You might come there to me, have something to eat and drink, and let him guess what your coming signifies, without saying it in so many words." |
3vj40nv2qinjocrcy7k4z235ga1otm | CHAPTER III--WIN AND SLOW
'The rude will shuffle through with ease enough: Great schools best suit the sturdy and the rough.'
COWPER.
At school Griffith was very happy, and brilliantly successful, alike in study and sport, though sports were not made prominent in those days, and triumphs in them were regarded by the elders with doubtful pride, lest they should denote a lack of attention to matters of greater importance. All his achievements were, however, poured forth by himself and Clarence to Emily and me, and we felt as proud of them as if they had been our own.
Clarence was industrious, and did not fail in his school work, but when he came home for the holidays there was a cowed look about him, and private revelations were made over my sofa that made my flesh creep. The scars were still visible, caused by having been compelled to grasp the bars of the grate bare-handed; and, what was worse, he had been suspended outside a third story window by the wrists, held by a schoolfellow of thirteen!
'But what was Griff about?' I demanded, with hot tears of indignation.
'Oh, Win!--that's what they call him, and me Slow--he said it would do me good. But I don't think it did, Eddy. It only makes my heart beat fit to choke me whenever I go near the passage window.'
I could only utter a vain wish that I had been there and able to fight for him, and I attacked Griff on the subject on the first opportunity. |
3bqu611vfpkxxaesycw5bc74qts99m | Miami (/maɪˈæmi/; Spanish pronunciation: [maiˈami]) is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the seat of Miami-Dade County. The 44th-most populated city proper in the United States, with a population of 430,332, it is the principal, central, and most populous city of the Miami metropolitan area, and the second most populous metropolis in the Southeastern United States after Washington, D.C. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Miami's metro area is the eighth-most populous and fourth-largest urban area in the United States, with a population of around 5.5 million.
Miami is a major center, and a leader in finance, commerce, culture, media, entertainment, the arts, and international trade. In 2012, Miami was classified as an Alpha−World City in the World Cities Study Group's inventory. In 2010, Miami ranked seventh in the United States in terms of finance, commerce, culture, entertainment, fashion, education, and other sectors. It ranked 33rd among global cities. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Miami "America's Cleanest City", for its year-round good air quality, vast green spaces, clean drinking water, clean streets, and city-wide recycling programs. According to a 2009 UBS study of 73 world cities, Miami was ranked as the richest city in the United States, and the world's fifth-richest city in terms of purchasing power. Miami is nicknamed the "Capital of Latin America", is the second largest U.S. city with a Spanish-speaking majority, and the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality. |
3zy8ke4isj31mg8hifcnppmqsszvq9 | RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (CNN) -- An American man fighting for custody of his 9-year-old son has been invited to spend Christmas with the boy's Brazilian family, the family's attorney said Friday.
David Goldman has been locked in a legal battle over custody of his son, Sean Goldman, with the family of the boy's deceased mother.
The family's attorney, Sergio Tostes, said Friday that the legal battle had gone too far.
"It is about time that Sean's family, and I mean all Sean's family, get together. I am authorized by Mrs. Silvana Bianchi to invite you, Mr. Goldman, to spend Christmas night at her house," Tostes said, referring to Sean's maternal grandmother. "This will be a long awaited family reunion"
"I hope you can accept and we can talk logistics," he said, with the boy's grandmother standing next to him.
Tostes also said that the family would consider allowing the boy to go to the United States, perhaps for the holidays, if Sean wants to go. However, "Sean must be heard in court," he said.
There was no immediate response from Goldman.
Earlier Friday, Goldman slammed a decision by a Brazilian Supreme Court justice Thursday that prevented the boy's return to the United States. That decision had "nothing to do with the merits" of the case, he said.
On Wednesday, a lower court unanimously upheld a decision ordering that Sean be returned to his father in New Jersey. That decision was made in accordance with the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abductions. |
39rp059mehtvsncjl5e6748eessbmn | CHAPTER II
MARSHALL HANEY CHANGES HEART
It was well for Haney that Bertie did not see him as he sat above his gambling boards, watchful, keen-eyed, grim of visage, for she would have trembled in fear of him. "Haney's" was both saloon and gambling hall. In the front, on the right, ran the long bar with its shining brass and polished mahogany (he prided himself on having the best bar west of Denver), and in the rear, occupying both sides of the room, stood two long rows of faro and roulette outfits, together with card-tables and dice-boards. It was the largest and most prosperous gambling hall in the camps, and always of an evening was crowded with gamesters and those who came as lookers-on.
On the right side, in a raised seat about midway of the hall, Haney usually sat, a handsome figure, in broad white hat, immaculate linen, and well-cut frock-coat, his face as pale as that of a priest in the glare of the big electric light. On the other side, and directly opposite, Williams kept corresponding "lookout" over the dealers and the crowd. He was a bold man who attempted any shenanigan with Mart Haney, and the games of his halls were reported honest.
To think of a young and innocent girl married to this remorseless gambler, scarred with the gun and the knife, was a profanation of maidenhood--and yet, as he fell now and then into a dream, he took on a kind of savage beauty which might allure and destroy a woman. Whatever else he was, he was neither commonplace nor mean. The visitors to whom he was pointed out as "a type of our modern Western desperado" invariably acknowledged that he looked the part. His smile was of singular sweetness--all the more alluring because of its rarity--and the warm clasp of his big, soft hand had made him sheriff in San Juan County, and his bravery and his love of fair play were well known and admired among the miners. |
3xxu1swe8mvt6z0kqmrcewhvt7da0n | CHAPTER XVI Old Man Coyote is Very Crafty.
Coyote has a crafty brain; His wits are sharp his ends to gain.
There is nothing in the world more true than that. Old Man Coyote has the craftiest brain of all the little people of the Green Forest or the Green Meadows. Sharp as are the wits of old Granny Fox, they are not quite so sharp as the wits of Old Man Coyote. If you want to fool him, you will have to get up very early in the morning, and then it is more than likely that you will be the one fooled, not he. There is very little going on around him that he doesn't know about. But once in a while something escapes him. The coming of Paddy the Beaver to the Green Forest was one of these things. He didn't know a thing about Paddy until Paddy had finished his dam and his house, and was cutting his supply of food for the winter.
You see, it was this way: When the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind first heard what was going on in the Green Forest and hurried around over the Green Meadows and through the Green Forest to spread the news, as is their way, they took the greatest pains not to even hint it to Old Man Coyote because they were afraid that he would make trouble and perhaps drive Paddy away. The place that Paddy had chosen to build his dam was so deep in the Green Forest that Old Man Coyote seldom went that way. So it was that he knew nothing about Paddy, and Paddy knew nothing about him for some time. |
3ouygizwr7y0t36mf5994r6qtxb0p0 | Towards evening, Jennifer was walking on the beach with a gentle breeze blowing through her hair. Looking up at the golden red sun ball, she was surprised by its color, deep red in the middle, softly fading into yellow. She could hear nothing but the waves and the seagulls flying up above in the sky.
The atmosphere relaxed her. This was what she needed. "It's getting late," she thought, "I must go home. My parents will be wondering where I am." She wondered how her parents would react when she got home after the three days she was missing. She kept on walking, directing herself to bungalow 163, where she spent every summer holiday. The road was deserted. She walked slowly and silently. Just in a few hundred meters, she would have been safe in her house.
It was really getting dark now. She wished she had her favorite coat on. It might keep her really warm. She imagined having it with her. This thought dissipated when she finally saw her front door. It seemed different. Nobody had taken care of the outside garden for a few days. She was shocked: her father was usually so strict about keeping everything clean and tidy, and now...
She entered the house. First, she went into the kitchen and saw a note written by her father, "Dear Ellen, there's some coffee ready; I went looking." But where was Ellen? On the right side of the hallway was her parents' room. She went in and saw her. Her mother, lying on the bed, was sleeping. Her face looked so tired, as if she hadn't slept for days. She was really pale. Jennifer would have wanted to wake her up, but she looked too tired. So Jennifer just fell asleep beside her. When Jennifer woke up something was different. She wasn't in her mother's room and she wasn't wearing the old clothes she ran away in. She was in her cozy bed in her pajamas .
It felt so good being back home. Suddenly she heard a voice. "Are you feeling better now, dear?
You know you got us very, very scared." |
3e47sobeyqws69eyeqc9qv7fgckice | (CNN) -- Novak Djokovic is on course for a "fab four" of Australian Open titles when the tournament begins in Melbourne next week -- and the defending champion says all he needs is love.
The Serbian second seed could become the first man to win four straight titles at the opening grand slam of the season and he says he has been in unstoppable form since popping the question to his girlfriend Jelena Risti.
"I got engaged in September," Djokovic told the media assembled under Melbourne's sunny skies Friday. "But since we got engaged I haven't lost a match so I guess the wedding should come very soon!"
The 26-year-old says the couple have yet to set a date for the big day so for now he is able to focus on beginning his on-court campaign in Australia.
Djokovic may be engaged but he is also exploring an on-court relationship with new coach Boris Becker, himself a two-time Australian Open champion.
"It's great to see Boris as elegant as ever he's a legend of our sport," said Djokovic, nodding to Becker, who was watching in the crowd wearing a smart beige blazer.
"He's not been in Australia for 15 years so he's surprised to see how much has been done since then and for me it's an honor to have him alongside other team members.
"We're going to try and make a success of our partnership, it's just the beginning."
Djokovic, who won his first grand slam in Australia in 2008, faces Slovakia's World No.90 Lukas Lacko in the first round. |
3ii4upycoj7fsz8vructj3gjsr7qdt | Abidjan, Ivory Coast (CNN) -- The European Union announced a recovery package of 180 million euros for the Ivory Coast on Tuesday as residents of the African nation attempted to adjust to life with a clear leader and relative stability after months of bloodshed.
Forces arrested former President Laurent Gbagbo after storming his residence on Monday. Gbagbo defied calls to step down after an electoral commission declared he lost a presidential election in November to Alassane Ouattara. Ouattara has been recognized internationally as the legitimate winner.
A violent power struggle followed the standoff, with supporters loyal to both sides taking to the streets in protests since December. Hundreds have been killed, according to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Andris Piebalgs, EU commissioner for development, announced the recovery package on Tuesday.
"We will stand by Ivory Coast and its people by immediately starting to work with the government of President Ouattara to support him in getting the country on the right track towards reconciliation, democracy, economic recovery and sustainable development," he said.
The funding will provide support to ensure basic needs for citizens such as health, water, sanitation and to support the agricultural sector, Piebalgs said in a statement. It also will clear the Ivory Coast's debt accumulated through the European Investment Bank.
Top military brass pledged their support to Ouattara in a ceremony Tuesday at a hotel in Abdijan. Gen. Phillipe Mangou, Gbagbo's former army chief of staff, said on state television that the generals were received by Ouattara and given orders to take measures to restore order in the country. |
337rc3ow052qvjs4qa4r83nwiollvn | Game theory is "the study of mathematical models of conflict and cooperation between intelligent rational decision-makers". Game theory is mainly used in economics, political science, and psychology, as well as logic, computer science and biology. Originally, it addressed zero-sum games, in which one person's gains result in losses for the other participants. Today, game theory applies to a wide range of behavioral relations, and is now an umbrella term for the science of logical decision making in humans, animals, and computers.
Modern game theory began with the idea regarding the existence of mixed-strategy equilibria in two-person zero-sum games and its proof by John von Neumann. Von Neumann's original proof used the Brouwer fixed-point theorem on continuous mappings into compact convex sets, which became a standard method in game theory and mathematical economics. His paper was followed by the 1944 book "Theory of Games and Economic Behavior", co-written with Oskar Morgenstern, which considered cooperative games of several players. The second edition of this book provided an axiomatic theory of expected utility, which allowed mathematical statisticians and economists to treat decision-making under uncertainty.
This theory was developed extensively in the 1950s by many scholars. Game theory was later explicitly applied to biology in the 1970s, although similar developments go back at least as far as the 1930s. Game theory has been widely recognized as an important tool in many fields. With the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences going to game theorist Jean Tirole in 2014, eleven game-theorists have now won the economics Nobel Prize. John Maynard Smith was awarded the Crafoord Prize for his application of game theory to biology. |
3ejplajkemgpliu743ns4qivg8s6zy | The aspect ratio of an image describes the proportional relationship between its width and its height. It is commonly expressed as two numbers separated by a colon, as in "16:9". For an "x":"y" aspect ratio, no matter how big or small the image is, if the width is divided into "x" units of equal length and the height is measured using this same length unit, the height will be measured to be "y" units.
In, for example, a group of images that all have an aspect ratio of 16:9, one image might be 16 inches wide and 9 inches high, another 16 centimeters wide and 9 centimeters high, and a third might be 8 yards wide and 4.5 yards high.
The most common aspect ratios used today in the presentation of films in cinemas are 1.85:1 and 2.39:1. Two common videographic aspect ratios are 4:3 (1.3:1), the universal video format of the 20th century, and (1.7:1), universal for high-definition television and European digital television. Other cinema and video aspect ratios exist, but are used infrequently.
In still camera photography, the most common aspect ratios are 4:3, 3:2, and more recently being found in consumer cameras 16:9. Other aspect ratios, such as 5:3, 5:4, and 1:1 (square format), are used in photography as well, particularly in medium format and large format. |
38f5oaun5ncmyx8ihrmdaxemefw7hg | LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's sister, LaToya Jackson, told a London newspaper she suspects her brother was "murdered" in a conspiracy by "a shadowy entourage."
Michael Jackson "was surrounded by a bad circle," LaToya Jackson told a British newspaper.
London's Daily Mail newspaper paid for the interview, according to a source close to the Jackson family and another source familiar with the interview arrangements. The amount of money paid was not disclosed.
LaToya Jackson was "very candid" throughout the four-hour interview, which took place in Los Angeles, California, last Thursday, said Caroline Graham, the Daily Mail reporter who conducted the interview.
Jackson cited no evidence of a murder conspiracy, Graham said, but she did tell the paper the family has seen results from the private autopsy it ordered. She would not reveal the findings, Graham said. Watch reporter describe LaToya's demeanor »
"There indeed had been concern among several family members about the circumstances around Michael's death," said Bryan Monroe, the last journalist to interview Michael Jackson. "Some folks have hesitated to go as far as saying it was murder."
The Los Angeles coroner could release his autopsy report on Jackson within a week, according to assistant chief coroner Ed Winter.
Los Angeles police Chief William Bratton told CNN last week that he was waiting for the coroner to determine the exact cause of Jackson's death. "And based on those, we will have an idea of what it is we are dealing (with)," he said.
The Jackson family knows that the probe into his June 25 death might turn into a criminal case, a source close to the family told CNN last Thursday. "The family is aware of a potential criminal prosecution," said the source, who did not want to be identified. |
3fq5jj512lo2381d3j6zjmg47lkkn8 | Sunni Islam ( or ) is the largest denomination of Islam. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the exemplary behaviour of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagreement over the choice of Muhammad's successor and subsequently acquired broader political significance, as well as theological and juridical dimensions.
According to Sunni traditions, Muhammad did not clearly designate a successor and the Muslim community acted according to his sunnah in electing his father-in-law Abu Bakr as the first caliph. This contrasts with the Shi'a view, which holds that Muhammad intended his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib to succeed him. Unlike the first three (Rashidun) caliphs, Ali was from the same clan as Muhammad, Banu Hashim, and Shia Muslims consider him legitimate by favour of his blood ties to Muhammad. Political tensions between Sunnis and Shias continued with varying intensity throughout Islamic history and they have been exacerbated in recent times by ethnic conflicts and the rise of Wahhabism.
, Sunni Muslims constituted 87–90% of the world's Muslim population. Sunni Islam is the world's largest religious denomination, followed by Catholicism. Its adherents are referred to in Arabic as ' ("the people of the sunnah and the community") or ' for short. In English, its doctrines and practices are sometimes called "Sunnism", while adherents are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, Sunnites and Ahlus Sunnah. Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as "orthodox Islam". However, other scholars of Islam, such as John Burton believe that there's no such thing as "orthodox Islam". |
39dd6s19jpbtyxnmal6qgea8xy0zeg | John "Mad Jack" Mytton (1796--1834) was a carefree English aristocrat who was born into immense wealth. However, he died a poor man after a life that was once described as " _ ". So, what went wrong?
As a young boy, Jack went to Westminster School, but after only one year he was expelled for fighting with a teacher. He was then sent to Harrow School but only lasted three days before he was also thrown out. He was eventually educated by private tutors.
After school, Jack went to Cambridge University. He arrived with 2,000 bottles of port, but left without graduating - he found university life boring. Later, he joined the army, enlisting with the 7th Hussars. As a young officer, he spent a year with the regiment in France as part of the occupation force after Napoleon's defeat in 1815. Jack passed the time gambling and drinking before resigning his commission. At the age of 21, he returned to his country house just in time to receive his inheritance.
With an annual income of over PS800,000 in today's money, Jack was extremely rich... but it didn't take him long to spend it all. In 1819, he became an MP. In order to secure his seat, he offered voters PS10 notes to vote for him, spending more than PS10,000 in total. However, he found politics dull and went to parliament only once. Back at home, he would often drop bank notes in the gardens of his estate, and gave his servants vast amounts of spending money. Once he lost his racetrack winnings (several thousand pounds) when the wind blew all the money away.
One of Jack's favorite pastimes was hunting. He would go in any kind of weather, occasionally with no clothes on. Sometimes, he would get up in the middle of the night, take off with a gun to look for something to shoot.
Jack also kept a large number of pets. These included about 2,000 dogs. Some were fed on steak and Champagne and even wore livery. A favorite horse had free range inside Halston Hall and would often lie with Jack in front of the fire.
Jack was a bit of a practical joker, too. He once left a horse in the bedroom of a guest. Another visitor fell asleep and woke up to find a live bear and two bulldogs in his bed. In 1826, as a result of a bet, Jack rode his horse into the Bedford Hotel, up the grand staircase and onto the balcony. Then, still sitting on the horse, he jumped off the balcony, landing among the diners in the restaurant below.
Another time, he invited a local doctor to dine at Halston Hall. As soon as the doctor had left, Jack put on a highwayman's costume and raced ahead to rob the unsuspecting man. On another occasion, a passenger in Jack's carriage admitted that he'd never been in an accident, so Jack drove the carriage up a hill and turned it over. He would also slip red-hot coals into people's pockets as a joke.
Eventually, Jack ran out of money and fell into debt. In 1830, he fled to France to avoid his creditors , but returned a couple of years later, ending up in prison in Southwark, London. Jack died there in 1834, a poor, lonely man. [(<<>> 20119 "Hell Raiser")] |
3ioen3p9s7jsqm9zwse0cwyj3oy61i | (CNN) -- Rafael Nadal recovered from a rusty start to power into the second round of Wimbledon with a straight-sets win over Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci on Tuesday.
The two-time champion bounced back in style after losing the first four games of the match against the 80th-ranked Bellucci.
Nadal won the next four, before smashing his South American opponent 7-0 in the first-set tie break and then wrapping up the remaining sets 6-2 6-3.
"It's always tough to make the change from clay to grass, especially when over the last couple of months I played almost every match on tour," said Nadal, who won the French Open earlier this month.
"I had more mistakes than usual and I was very lucky to come back from 4-0."
Champion Kvitova battles through in women's first round
Great Britain's Andy Murray made an impressive start to the tournament as he bids to become the first home winner of the men's singles since Fred Perry in 1936.
The world number four made short work of beating Russia's Nikolay Davydenko 6-1 6-1 6-4, and the British number one also looked in peak physical form following recent fitness concerns.
But it was a day to forget for Australia's men's players, with none making the second round at the All England Club for the first time since 1938.
No. 20 seed Bernard Tomic, who made the quarterfinals last year, slumped to a surprise 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 defeat against Belgian wildcard David Goffin.
"I have slacked off a little bit and look what it's costing me. It's a lack of concentration, not working hard," admitted the 19-year-old after the defeat. |
39ghhavomfrl6glp3trrjyar1jkj4g | (CNN) -- A man suspected of conspiring with a terrorist network responsible for the deaths of five U.S. soldiers in Iraq was arrested Wednesday in Canada, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York.
Faruq Khalil Muhammad, 38, is charged with conspiring to kill Americans abroad and providing material support to a terrorist network that conducted suicide bombings in Iraq, the statement said.
He was arrested by authorities after a U.S. warrant was issued for his arrest.
The five U.S. soldiers were killed on April 10, 2009, when a Tunisian man drove a truck filled with explosives to the gate of a U.S. forward operating base in Mosul, Iraq.
The trucks' detonation destroyed a vehicle in a nearby U.S. convoy, killing Sgt. Gary L. Woods, 24; Sgt. 1st. Class Bryan E. Hall, 32; Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr., 25; Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch, 20; and Pvt. Bryce E. Gaultier, 22, the statement said.
Muhammed is suspected of providing material support for that attack and allegedly sought to conduct attacks himself and become a suicide bomber, the statement said.
"There is no safe harbor for terrorists, including those who endeavor to spread violence from halfway across the world," said U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch in the statement. "Today's arrest demonstrates that we have not forgotten that sacrifice (of U.S. soldiers) and will continue to use every available means to bring to justice all those who are responsible."
It was not immediately clear whether Muhammed had obtained legal representation. |
3wrfbplxraow7at6ide020z2wvyn3s | As the forceful king of Macedonia , Alexander the Great overthrew the Persian Empire, becoming a hero that would survive centuries after his death.
Born in 356 B.C., Alexander III was the son of Philip II and Olympias. Alexander's parents wanted him to receive the finest education, and arranged for him to study under Aristotle, regarded as one of the greatest scholars.
Alexander's father was a strong leader. Philip II built an impressive army and established the Macedonian kingdom; he was even planning to attack Persia shortly before his death.
In 336, Philip was murdered by one of his guards. Although it was obvious that the guard had a personal hatred, there are clues that other people were related to it.
After Alexander was cleared as a suspect, he succeeded his father without opposition, and killed those said to be responsible for his father's murder, as well as all rivals. He was then just 20 years old. He then prepared to attack Persia.
In the spring of 334, Alexander led the army made up of nearly 50,000 soldiers into Asia, which is called "the most powerful military expedition ever to leave Greece", He soundly defeated the Persian army at the Granicus River, sending a strong message to Darius III, leader of the Persian Empire.
In 333, Alexander faced Darius at Issus, a mountain pass. The Macedonian army was greatly outnumbered but able to work the narrow mountain passageway to their advantage. Darius managed to escape. Continuing down the Mediterranean Coast, Alexander took every city in his path.
In 332 Alexander declared Egypt to be part of the Greek Empire and was crowned Pharaoh .
When Alexander left Egypt in 331, he defeated the Persians again and was crowned leader of Asia.
In 323, however, Alexander developed a fever on the way back home and died 10 days later at Babylon. He was just 33 years old. |
3mtmreqs4vimep15jtkxlrqzvkxwax | Syria may be embroiled in a brutal three-year civil war, but that's not stopping the government from holding controversial presidential elections this week.
The election, which has been branded a sham by the West and by the Syrian opposition, is widely expected to return President Bashar al-Assad to power.
CNN International Correspondent Frederik Pleitgen has reported from inside Syria numerous times during the conflict, which has left an estimated 150,000 people dead. He breaks down the key questions ahead of Tuesday's election.
Why is it happening now?
The government says Syria's new constitution stipulates that presidential elections must be held now. The regime says it shows the country is moving forward and that it is the first time a president will be elected by the people rather than appointed. The opposition says the election is a fraud, that voting will be rigged and that the poll serves only to cement Assad's power.
Who are the other candidates?
The other two candidates are relative unknowns. One is Maher Hajjar, an entrepreneur and member of parliament. He keeps out of the limelight and has not been heard from much. Hajjar's election posters declare that "Syria is with Palestine," which seems like a very narrow slogan. Other than that it is unclear what he would change should he win.
The more intriguing candidate is Hassan Nouri, a former economics professor and cabinet minister who told me he had to resign because he was too critical of Assad's government. Nouri studied at the University of Wisconsin and still refers to himself as a Badger. He says the election is an uphill battle for him, but feels he is making headway. His main message is economic. He is for market liberalization and fighting corruption in government and in the private sector. But when it comes to fighting Syria's civil war, Nouri says he wouldn't do anything differently -- and much like Assad, he refers to the regime's three-year assault on the opposition as "fighting terrorism." |
3fe2ercczx8lwky5hqbkus28r0eop1 | Roger Federer and Serena Williams have been named as 2009' s world champions by the International Tennis Federation(ITF) after topping the year-end rankings.
Federer, who wins the honour for the fifth time, completed a career Grand Slam at Roland Garros before winning his 15th Grand Slam ride at Wimbledon.
And Williams won the Australian Open and Wimbledon, her llth major success.
The pair will receive their awards at the annual 1TF world champions dinner in Paris in June.
Federer regained the world number one ranking from Rafael Nadal after his Paris victory and his Wimbledon win over Andy Roddick saw him surpass Pete Sampras' haul of Grand Slam titles.
He was also runner - up at the Australian Open and the US Open and helped his country retain its Davis Cup world group status.
" It is an honour for me to be named ITF world champion for a fifth time.It was an incredible year for me both on and off the court," said the 28 - year - old Swiss star whose wife Mirka gave birth to twin girls in July.
"To win my first Roland, Garros title, break the all - time Grand Slam record and regain the number one ranking is amazing.It means a lot to me to finish the year again at the top."
Williams takes _ for the first time since 2002.As well as her Grand Slam wins, she won the season - ending WTA Championships in Doha.sealing the top ranking in the last event of die year.
She also took the doubles year award with sister Venus after taking their career total to 10 Grand Slam titles.In doing so, she joins Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis as the only players to become singles and doubles world champions in the same year.
American twins Bob and Mike Bryan were named as the men' s doubles world champions for the sixth time in seven years. |
3v26sbztbder9sei68k31obql6jzz0 | San Juan, Puerto Rico (CNN) -- The father of a 7-year-old girl abducted and killed near her north Georgia home this month said Sunday he is "relieved" to have his daughter back in Puerto Rico, where she will be buried this week.
A funeral for Jorelys Rivera will be held Monday in Penuelas, her father, Ricardo Galarza, said. The burial will take place Tuesday, he said.
Services were held Saturday for mourners in Georgia before her body was flown to Puerto Rico.
Galarza told CNN last week that he last saw his daughter two years ago, when she visited for the summer. She was supposed to visit for Christmas this year, Galarza said.
Jorelys disappeared December 2 near a playground at a Canton, Georgia, apartment complex. Searchers found her body in a trash bin three days later. Authorities have accused 20-year-old Ryan Brunn -- a maintenance worker at the complex -- of killing her.
Jorelys died of blunt force trauma to the head and was stabbed and sexually assaulted, according to authorities.
A date for Brunn's arraignment has not been set. David Cannon Sr., one of Brunn's court-appointed attorneys, has said that his client will plead not guilty.
|
37uewgm5ht8lc57joghynrpfzev1r0 | CHAPTER XI
THE CROSSING OF THE RIO GRANDE RIVER
"For gracious' sake, what did we want to retreat for?" demanded Ben, as soon as the command halted and Major Morris had come within speaking distance. The young captain had been at the very front of the firing line, and had seen that complete victory was only the work of a quarter of an hour or less.
"Orders from general headquarters," replied the major, in a low tone. "I fancy the staff is pretty angry, too," he added.
"We could have whipped them with ease."
"So we could, captain, but--" And Major Morris finished with a shrug of his shoulders which meant a good deal.
"I don't believe General Otis would have given such an order had he been here to see what was going on," continued Ben, earnestly.
"Well, we're ordered back to Angat, and that is all there is to it. The army must have supplies, you know."
"Hang the supplies!" muttered Gilmore, but under his breath. "We can get all the supplies we want as we go along." And Ben was rather inclined to agree with him.
There was no help, however, for the turn in the situation; and with crestfallen faces the soldiers moved still further back and went into temporary camp. Only a few had suffered, and the wounded ones were promptly cared for by the hospital corps.
"And how do you feel?" asked Gilbert, as he came up to see Ben. "Does the wound hurt still?" |
3cfvk00fwll5gtd3p2wjwb7x10r6lo | CHAPTER XXV
AN ARRANT KNAVE
In the street below, not far from the house which he had just quitted, Stoutenburg came on Nicolaes and Jan ensconced in the dark against a wall. Beresteyn quickly explained to his friend the reason of his presence here.
"I came with Jan," he said, "because I wished to speak with you without delay."
"Come as far as the cathedral then," said Stoutenburg curtly. "I feel that in this vervloekte street the walls and windows are full of ears and prying eyes. Jan," he added, turning to the other man, "you must remain here and on no account lose sight of that rascal when he leaves this house. Follow him in and out of Haarlem, and if you do not see me again to-night, join me at Ryswyk as soon as you can, and come there prepared with full knowledge of his plans."
Leaving Jan in observation the two men made their way now in the direction of the Groote Markt. It was still very cold, even though there was a slight suspicion in the air of a coming change in the weather: a scent as of the south wind blowing from over the estuaries, while the snow beneath the feet had lost something of its crispness and purity. The thaw had not yet set in, but it was coquetting with the frost, challenging it to a passage of arms, wherein either combatant might completely succumb.
As Stoutenburg had surmised the porch of the cathedral was lonely and deserted, even the beggars had all gone home for the night. A tiny lamp fixed into the panelling of the wall flickered dimly in the draught. Stoutenburg sat down on the wooden bench--dark and polished with age, which ran alongside one of the walls, and with a brusque and febrile gesture drew his friend down beside him. |
3ru7gd8vpot0ucqyo7stexc9ov9ps3 | Sir James Paul McCartney, (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. He gained worldwide fame as the bass guitarist and singer for the rock band the Beatles, widely considered the most popular and influential group in the history of pop music. His songwriting partnership with John Lennon is the most celebrated of the post-war era. After the group disbanded in 1970, he pursued a solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda, and Denny Laine.
McCartney has been recognised as one of the most successful composers and performers of all time. More than 2,200 artists have covered his Beatles song "Yesterday", making it one of the most covered songs in popular music history. Wings' 1977 release "Mull of Kintyre" is one of the all-time best-selling singles in the UK. A two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of the Beatles in 1988, and as a solo artist in 1999), and a 18-time Grammy Award winner, McCartney has written, or co-written, 32 songs that have reached number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and he has 25.5 million RIAA-certified units in the United States. McCartney, Lennon, Harrison and Starr all received appointment as Members of the Order of the British Empire in 1965 and, in 1997, McCartney was knighted for services to music. McCartney is also one of the wealthiest persons in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$1.2 billion. |
37wlf8u1wpquwnvl42kihbuicy86k3 | Assyria was a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire of the ancient Near East and the Levant. It existed as a state from perhaps as early as the 25th century BC in the form of the Assur city-state, until its lapse between 612 BC and 599 BC, spanning the Early to Middle Bronze Age through to the late Iron Age. From the end of the seventh century BC to the mid-seventh century AD, it survived as a geopolitical entity, for the most part ruled by foreign powers, although a number of Neo-Assyrian states arose at different times during the Parthian and early Sasanian Empires between the mid-second century BC and late third century AD, a period which also saw Assyria become a major centre of Syriac Christianity and the birthplace of the Church of the East.
Centered on the Tigris in Upper Mesopotamia (modern northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and the northwestern fringes of Iran), the Assyrians came to rule powerful empires at several times. Making up a substantial part of the greater Mesopotamian "cradle of civilization", which included Sumer, the Akkadian Empire, and Babylonia, Assyria was at the height of technological, scientific and cultural achievements for its time. At its peak, the Assyrian empire stretched from Cyprus and the East Mediterranean to Iran, and from what is now Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus, to the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt and eastern Libya. |
3zr9aiqjub9e4ak3hlhl1tvv2b904n | CHAPTER IX
KIT'S REWARD
On the morning after their arrival, Kit and Macallister went to the Metropole. Macallister wore a neat blue uniform, a cap with the company's badge, and spotless white deck-shoes. His talk was careless and now and then his eyes twinkled. Kit's look was moody, and he wore plain duck clothes. He did not know if he was the company's servant and rather thought he was not; Don Arturo had sent for him, and he was probably going to be dismissed.
When they went up the drive to the big square hotel Macallister looked about.
"Don Arturo's a great man, but he has no' much eye for beauty," he remarked. "When his architect built the Metropole his model was a block. Maybe the cube style's economical. We get the maist room inside wi' the least span o' wall, but if I was a Spaniard, I'd make a bomb and blow up the ugly thing."
He stopped and putting his head on one side studied the hotel. "Bulk has value, if it's properly relieved. The old Greeks kenned; they used the square but they broke the line wi' pillars and cornices. Maybe, if ye worked in two, three mouldings and ran a _loggia_ along the front----"
"I didn't know you were an architect," Kit said impatiently.
"Ye dinna ken a' old Peter's talents," Macallister rejoined with a grin. "Architecture's useful and man has done fine work in stone, but for a pattern o' lightness, strength and beauty ye'll need to take a modern steel steamship. She must bear strains and stresses ye dinna bother aboot on land. A town hall, for example, is no designed for plunging through a steep head sea. Man! wi' a rule and a scriber, I'd design ye a better building than yon hotel." |
3vp0c6efsgwpmbvopexywomm0pnm6f | Los Angeles (CNN) -- The story of a king overcoming a speech impediment to lead his people through World War II took top honors at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards.
"The King's Speech" won the best picture, best actor, best director and best original screenplay Oscars at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre Sunday night.
The saga of how a college student created Facebook, which is now credited helping citizens overthrow their leader in the Mideast, lost out on the big awards, but "The Social Network" did win Oscars for best musical score, film editing and best adapted screenplay.
Natalie Portman, who played a ballet dancer in "Black Swan," was given the best actress Academy Award. Portman also won Golden Globe and SAG best actor trophies in recent weeks.
When "King's Speech" director Tom Hooper accepted the best director Oscar, he noted that it was his mother who found the script for him.
"The moral of this story is listen to your mother," Hooper said.
"King's Speech" writer David Seidler pointed out that at 73, he was the oldest person to ever win best original screenplay.
"My father always said to me I would be a late bloomer," Seidler said, noting that at 73 he is the oldest winner ever in the category. "I hope that record is broken quickly and often."
Colin Firth, who portrayed the stuttering King George VI in "The King's Speech," completed his sweep of best actor honors with the Oscar win."I have a feeling my career has just peaked," said Firth, who also won a Golden Globe and the SAG award. |
3ts1ar6uqqe2k1hcm1yd7c29zdlf7j | CHAPTER VI.
A drooping daisy changed into a cup, In which her bright-eyed beauty is shut up. WORDSWORTH.
"So there you are up for the day--really you look very comfortable," said Ethel, coming into the room where Margaret lay on her bed, half-raised by pillows, supported by a wooden frame.
"Yes, is not it a charming contrivance of Richard's? It quite gives me the use of my hands," said Margaret.
"I think he is doing something else for you," said Ethel; "I heard him carpentering at six o'clock this morning, but I suppose it is to be a secret."
"And don't you admire her night-cap?" said Flora.
"Is it anything different?" said Ethel, peering closer. "Oh, I see--so she has a fine day night-cap. Is that your taste, Flora?"
"Partly," said Margaret, "and partly my own. I put in all these little white puffs, and I hope you think they do me credit. Wasn't it grand of me?"
"She only despises you for them," said Flora.
"I'm very glad you could," said Ethel, gravely; "but do you know? it is rather like that horrid old lady in some book, who had a paralytic stroke, and the first thing she did that showed she had come to her senses was to write, 'Rose-coloured curtains for the doctors.'"
"Well, it was for the doctor," said Margaret, "and it had its effect. He told me I looked much better when he found me trying it on."
"And did you really have the looking-glass and try it on?" cried Ethel. |
3gdtjdapvubcqpecituwg2id7nm8m3 | Brasília (Portuguese pronunciation: [bɾaˈziljɐ]) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located atop the Brazilian highlands in the country's center-western region. It was founded on April 21, 1960, to serve as the new national capital. Brasília and its metro (encompassing the whole of the Federal District) had a population of 2,556,149 in 2011, making it the 4th most populous city in Brazil. Among major Latin American cities, Brasília has the highest GDP per capita at R$61,915 (US$36,175).
The city has a unique status in Brazil, as it is an administrative division rather than a legal municipality like other cities in Brazil. The name 'Brasília' is commonly used as a synonym for the Federal District through synecdoche; However, the Federal District is composed of 31 administrative regions, only one of which is Brasília proper, with a population of 209,926 in a 2011 survey; Demographic publications generally do not make this distinction and list the population of Brasília as synonymous with the population of the Federal District, considering the whole of it as its metropolitan area. The city was one of the main host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Additionally, Brasília hosted the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. |
3uj1cz6izhpw128f4sjfgr7sxq85sn | Country singer and songwriter Adrienne Young brings together music and agricultural activities.She even included seeds in the album cover of her first CD.
Adrienne Young wants people to know that she supports the movement in America to increase local farming.She offers information about agricultural issues on her Web site.And now part of the moneyfrom her third and newest release, "Room to Grow",will be donated to help support community gardens.
Adrienne Young's family has lived in Florida for seven generations.Her ancestors helped develop the agriculture industry there.The state of Florida is the nation's second largest producer of fruits and vegetables, 'after California.
Adrienne Young has said that her interest in nature was shaped by the fact that she did not grow up on a farm.She grew up in a house her grandfather build on what had been farmland two generations ago.But the land was developed and was now part of a highway.
Adrienne Young has teamed up with two organizations that support local farming and gardening efforts.One is the American Community Gardening Association.The other is FoodRoutes,a group she has represented for several years.
FoodRoutes says buying locally grown food is not only about taste and freshness.The group says buying locally also helps to strengthen local economies and protect the environment.Exports say food in the United States travels all average of more than three thousand kilometers from farm to store. |
3igi0vl647kltzms1bysq3xdqoinoe | Once upon a time there a little girl named Ana. Ana was a smart girl. Everyone in Ana's school knew and liked her very much. She had a big dream of becoming spelling bee winner. Ana studied very hard to be the best she could be at spelling. Ana's best friend would help her study every day after school. By the time the spelling bee arrived Ana and her best friend were sure she would win. There were ten students in the spelling bee. This made Ana very nervous, but when she looked out and saw her dad cheering her on she knew she could do it. The spelling bee had five rounds and Ana made it through them all. She was now in the finals. During the final round James, the boy she was in the finals with, was given a really hard word and he spelled it wrong. All Ana had to do was spell this last word and she would be the winner. Ana stepped to the microphone, thought really hard and spelled the word. She waited and finally her teacher said "That is correct". Ana had won the spelling bee. Ana was so happy. She won a trophy. Ana also won a big yellow ribbon. The whole school was also happy, and everyone clapped for her. The whole school went outside. They had a picnic to celebrate Ana winning. |
32utubmz7gweia6szxfxu0rr6m1vbo | The modern English word green comes from the Middle English and Anglo-Saxon word grene, from the same Germanic root as the words "grass" and "grow". It is the color of living grass and leaves and as a result is the color most associated with springtime, growth and nature. By far the largest contributor to green in nature is chlorophyll, the chemical by which plants photosynthesize and convert sunlight into chemical energy. Many creatures have adapted to their green environments by taking on a green hue themselves as camouflage. Several minerals have a green color, including the emerald, which is colored green by its chromium content.
In surveys made in Europe and the United States, green is the color most commonly associated with nature, life, health, youth, spring, hope and envy. In Europe and the U.S. green is sometimes associated with death (green has several seemingly contrary associations), sickness, or the devil, but in China its associations are very positive, as the symbol of fertility and happiness. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, when the color of clothing showed the owner's social status, green was worn by merchants, bankers and the gentry, while red was the color of the nobility. The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci wears green, showing she is not from a noble family; the benches in the British House of Commons are green, while those in the House of Lords are red. Green is also the traditional color of safety and permission; a green light means go ahead, a green card permits permanent residence in the United States. It is the most important color in Islam. It was the color of the banner of Muhammad, and is found in the flags of nearly all Islamic countries, and represents the lush vegetation of Paradise. It is also often associated with the culture of Gaelic Ireland, and is a color of the flag of Ireland. Because of its association with nature, it is the color of the environmental movement. Political groups advocating environmental protection and social justice describe themselves as part of the Green movement, some naming themselves Green parties. This has led to similar campaigns in advertising, as companies have sold green, or environmentally friendly, products. |
3ewijtffvo7wwchw6rtyaf7mfqc0ei | The mother of the 13-year-old Dutch girl Laura Dekker, whose plans to make a solo sailing trip around the world have recently made world headlines, has spoken out against the trip. "It breaks my heart to think that because of this I could lose contact with my daughter," she said in an interview. "I have never before made such a difficult decision. But I must accept the consequences. I would rather have a live daughter who I will never see again than a dead daughter."
It is the first time that Laura's mother, Babs Muller, has spoken out against the trip. Laura's parents are divorced and the girl has lived with her father since she was six. Her father Dick Dekker supports Laura's plans. However, the Dutch Child Protection Board has decided to place the girl under supervision for two months to ascertain whether she is mentally and physically capable of undertaking the journey.
Ms Muller says she is confident that Laura is technically capable of making the journey. "She can sail like the devil. That's not the problem." However, she is afraid of the problems a 13-year-old girl can encounter in the harbors of Third-World countries and of the psychological pressure of being alone for such a long period on the ocean. "The most important thing, in my eyes, is that she is not yet an adult."
Ms Muller says she told Laura once before that she was opposed to the idea. Her daughter replied, "If you forbid me, you will have ruined my entire life. Then I'll never want to see you again." However, Laura's mother says that reports that a camera team is planning to follow her around the world could change her opinion about the trip. |
39ghhavomfrl6glp3trrjyar04wj4x | Started in 1636, Harvard University is the oldest of all the colleges and universities in the United States. Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Dartmouth were opened soon after Harvard. In the early years, these schools were nearly the same. Only young men went to college. All the students studied the same subjects, and everyone learned Latin and Greek. Little was known about science. And few people knew that one kind of school could teach everything that was known about the world. When the students graduated, most of them became ministers or teachers. In 1782, Harvard started a medical school for young men who wanted to become doctors. Later, lawyers could study in Harvard's law school. In 1825, besides Latin and Greek, Harvard began to teach modern languages, such as French and German. Soon it began to teach American history. As knowledge increased, Harvard and other colleges began to teach many new subjects. Students were allowed to choose the subjects that interested them. Today, there are many different kinds of colleges and universities. Most of them are made up of smaller schools that deal with special fields of learning. There's so much to learn that one kind of school can't offer all. |
3pdjhanyk5g3uxudyhhl4jeqkauh6m | The campaign is over. The celebrations have ended. And the work for US president-elect Barack Obama has begun.
The 47-year-old politician rose to the highest post because of his stand against the war in Iraq and his plans to fix a weak economy. But what will the first 47-year-old African-American president do for race relations?
Obama's victory appears to have given blacks and other minorities a true national role model. For years, many looked to athletes and musicians for inspiration. As Darius Turner, an African-American high school student in Los Angeles, told the Los Angeles Times, "Kobe doesn't have to be everybody's role model anymore."
Recent polls also suggest that Obama's victory has given Americans new optimism about race relations. For example, a USA Today poll found that two-thirds of Americans believe relations between blacks and whites "will finally be worked out". This is the most hopeful response since the question was first asked during the civil rights revolution in 1963.
However, it's still too early to tell whether Obama's presidency will begin to solve many of the social problems facing low-income black communities.
Although blacks make up only 13 percent of the US population, 55 percent of all prisoners are African-American. Such numbers can be blamed on any number of factors on America's racist past, a failure of government policy and the collapse of the family unit in black communities.
It is unlikely that Obama will be able to reverse such trends overnight. However, Bill Bank, an expert of African-American Studies, says that eventually young blacks need to find role models in their own communities. "That's not Martin Luther King, and not Barack Obama," he told the Los Angeles Times. "It's actually the people closest to them. Barack only has so much influence."
In the opinion of black British politician Trevor Phillips, Obama's rise will contribute more to multiculturalism than to race relations in the US.
"When the G8 meets, the four most important people in the room will be the president of China, the prime minister of India, the prime minister of Japan and Barak Obama," he told London's The Times newspaper. "It will be the first time we've seen that on our television screens. That will be a huge psychological shift for both the white people and the color1ed ones in the world." |
3eo896nrawv5n10fiuszr6mjhhujt3 | Chapter 9
Chivalry or Villainy
From her cabin port upon the Kincaid, Jane Clayton had seen her husband rowed to the verdure-clad shore of Jungle Island, and then the ship once more proceeded upon its way.
For several days she saw no one other than Sven Anderssen, the Kincaid's taciturn and repellent cook. She asked him the name of the shore upon which her husband had been set.
"Ay tank it blow purty soon purty hard," replied the Swede, and that was all that she could get out of him.
She had come to the conclusion that he spoke no other English, and so she ceased to importune him for information; but never did she forget to greet him pleasantly or to thank him for the hideous, nauseating meals he brought her.
Three days from the spot where Tarzan had been marooned the Kincaid came to anchor in the mouth of a great river, and presently Rokoff came to Jane Clayton's cabin.
"We have arrived, my dear," he said, with a sickening leer. "I have come to offer you safety, liberty, and ease. My heart has been softened toward you in your suffering, and I would make amends as best I may.
"Your husband was a brute--you know that best who found him naked in his native jungle, roaming wild with the savage beasts that were his fellows. Now I am a gentleman, not only born of noble blood, but raised gently as befits a man of quality.
"To you, dear Jane, I offer the love of a cultured man and association with one of culture and refinement, which you must have sorely missed in your relations with the poor ape that through your girlish infatuation you married so thoughtlessly. I love you, Jane. You have but to say the word and no further sorrows shall afflict you--even your baby shall be returned to you unharmed." |
3a7y0r2p2ooc4i9zn4twg97pubkxjy | Usenet is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose UUCP dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was established in 1980. Users read and post messages (called "articles" or "posts", and collectively termed "news") to one or more categories, known as newsgroups. Usenet resembles a bulletin board system (BBS) in many respects and is the precursor to Internet forums that are widely used today. Discussions are threaded, as with web forums and BBSs, though posts are stored on the server sequentially. The name comes from the term "users network".
One notable difference between a BBS or web forum and Usenet is the absence of a central server and dedicated administrator. Usenet is distributed among a large, constantly changing conglomeration of servers that store and forward messages to one another in so-called news feeds. Individual users may read messages from and post messages to a local server operated by a commercial usenet provider, their Internet service provider, university, employer, or their own server.
Usenet has significant cultural importance in the networked world, having given rise to, or popularized, many widely recognized concepts and terms such as "FAQ", "flame", and "spam". |
3hrmw88u16qu8099nphhnncvo2rm01 | CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
DESCRIBES A MOST AMAZING SURPRISE, AND TREATS OF HANS EGEDE.
When the starving missionary had taken the edge off his appetite, he closed the clasp-knife with which he had been eating.
"Now, my friend," he said, looking at Rooney, "I have eaten quite enough to do me good in my present condition,--perhaps more than enough. You know it is not safe for starving men to eat heartily. Besides, I am anxious to give some food to the poor fellows who are with me. One of them has met with a severe accident and is dying I fear. He does not belong to my party, I found him on the mainland and brought him here just before the storm burst on us, intending to take him on to Godhaab. He stands more in need of food than sleep, I think."
"Come, then, we will go to him at once," said Rooney, tying up the remains of Egede's breakfast. "How did he come by his accident?" continued the sailor, as the party walked up towards the bushes.
"The girl who takes care of him--his daughter, I think--says he was injured by a bear."
"If it is a case of broken bones, perhaps I may be of use to him," said Rooney, "for I've had some experience in that way."
Egede shook his head, "I fear it is too late," he replied. "Besides, his mind seems to give him more trouble even than his wasted frame. He has come, he says, from the far north, and would certainly have perished after his accident if it had not been for the care and kindness of the women who are with him--especially the younger woman. See, there she comes. Her father must have awakened, for she rests near him at night and never leaves him in the morning till he wakes up." |
3l4d84milzsfis9ki0badnjv6ovjhr | A degree (in full, a degree of arc, arc degree, or arcdegree), usually denoted by ° (the degree symbol), is a measurement of a plane angle, defined so that a full rotation is 360 degrees.
It is not an SI unit, as the SI unit of angular measure is the radian, but it is mentioned in the SI brochure as an accepted unit. Because a full rotation equals 2 radians, one degree is equivalent to radians.
The original motivation for choosing the degree as a unit of rotations and angles is unknown. One theory states that it is related to the fact that 360 is approximately the number of days in a year. Ancient astronomers noticed that the sun, which follows through the ecliptic path over the course of the year, seems to advance in its path by approximately one degree each day. Some ancient calendars, such as the Persian calendar, used 360 days for a year. The use of a calendar with 360 days may be related to the use of sexagesimal numbers.
Another theory is that the Babylonians subdivided the circle using the angle of an equilateral triangle as the basic unit and further subdivided the latter into 60 parts following their sexagesimal numeric system. The earliest trigonometry, used by the Babylonian astronomers and their Greek successors, was based on chords of a circle. A chord of length equal to the radius made a natural base quantity. One sixtieth of this, using their standard sexagesimal divisions, was a degree. |
3lo69w1su3d7dm291f5582kmu67lg1 | A cowboy named Steve wanted to take a vacation from his farm that was named Raindrop. He could not make up his mind where to go, so he saddled his horse and rode east. The sun was setting in the west and it was orange. A cold wind was blowing from north to south. Steve rode through a forest of pear trees next to his farm.
The first place he came to was a small town full of quiet people and its name was Silence. No one would talk to Steve. He kept riding. The town was next to a forest of maple trees.
The second town he came to was very cold and its name was Ice. Steve was afraid his horse would freeze if he stayed there. Everyone in the town was wearing large coats and mittens. The second town was next to a forest of pine trees.
The third town he came to was warm and it was named Sunny. There were palm trees on the beach. Steve and his horse went to the beach and played in the ocean. Steve took off his boots. Steve's hat got wet in the water. He had to leave it on the beach to dry. Eventually Steve and his horse got hot. They rode east again.
Eventually Steve arrived back at his farm. This confused him because he thought he had been riding in a different direction. Steve learned that there really was no place like home. He put his horse in the barn and went back into his house. |
3kakfy4pgu24t9iflx18xs3l9oji35 | Li Siyi, a student from Jinan Foreign Language School, takes up a new habit. She refuses to believe everything that she reads. "Not everything in books is true," she said. Many other students in her school think the same thing as Li. They learned this through finding a mistake in their Chinese textbook. They learned a Tang poem, Ci Beigu Shanxia, last year. There was a picture that showed a boat in full sail on a river. "But according to the famous line from the poem, feng zheng yifan xuan, the sail shouldn't be spread ," said Zhang Jiayi, Li's classmate. To get the right answer, the students turned to their Chinese teacher, Liu Yan. Liu and the students looked up books, searched on the Internet and made sure that the People's Education Press had really made a mistake about the picture. The students wrote a letter to them about the mistake. "I think my students did a right thing but I never expected a reply," said Liu. "I took it as a way of letting them know the importance of spirit of questioning." To their surprise, one month later, they got the reply from Gu Zhenbiao, the expert of Chinese textbooks in middle schools. Gu said sorry for the mistake and he also said he really thinks the students are very great. When Liu read the letter loudly to all the students, everyone was excited. "We are very happy we have our own ideas!" said Li. |
3zqig0flqeg66d43uobthe4cgzhvwq | The Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) is a serially based system of numbering cataloging records in the Library of Congress in the United States. It has nothing to do with the contents of any book, and should not be confused with Library of Congress Classification.
The LCCN numbering system has been in use since 1898, at which time the acronym LCCN originally stood for Library of Congress Card Number. It has also been called the Library of Congress Catalog Card Number, among other names. The Library of Congress prepared cards of bibliographic information for their library catalog and would sell duplicate sets of the cards to other libraries for use in their catalogs. This is known as centralized cataloging. Each set of cards was given a serial number to help identify it.
Although most of the bibliographic information is now electronically created, stored, and shared with other libraries, there is still a need to identify each unique record, and the LCCN continues to perform that function.
Librarians all over the world use this unique identifier in the process of cataloging most books which have been published in the United States. It helps them reach the correct cataloging data (known as a cataloging record), which the Library of Congress and third parties make available on the Web and through other media. |
3ns0a6kxc48ribjdggweghvkam1gzg | Buenos Aires ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the South American continent's southeastern coast. "Buenos aires" can be translated as "fair winds" or "good airs", but the first one was the meaning intended by the founders in the 16th century, by the use of the original name "Real de Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Ayre". The Greater Buenos Aires conurbation, which also includes several Buenos Aires Province districts, constitutes the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas, with a population of around 17 million.
The city of Buenos Aires is neither part of Buenos Aires Province nor the Province's capital; rather, it is an autonomous district. In 1880, after decades of political infighting, Buenos Aires was federalized and removed from Buenos Aires Province. The city limits were enlarged to include the towns of Belgrano and Flores; both are now neighborhoods of the city. The 1994 constitutional amendment granted the city autonomy, hence its formal name: Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (Autonomous City of Buenos Aires). Its citizens first elected a chief of government (i.e. mayor) in 1996; previously, the mayor was directly appointed by the President of the Republic. |
3tdxmtx3cbu3qs5x4zz64vf5ks26i7 | CHAPTER XXI
HOP LUNG AND THE FISH
By the end of the first week all of the boys felt thoroughly at home on Big Horn Ranch. They had visited many points of interest, including the cowboys' bunkhouse and also the big range to the eastward, and they had likewise tramped over a number of the hills and tried their hand at fishing in the river.
"It certainly is one dandy place," remarked Jack to the others one day when they were coming up to the house from the river, each with a fair-sized string of fish to his credit.
"We certainly never had such fishing as this in the East," answered Gif, as he looked at his string admiringly. "Just look at the size of 'em, will you?"
"I wonder what Hop Lung will say when he sees them," remarked Fred.
"I've got a scheme!" cried Andy. "Let's have a little fun," and thereupon he unfolded to the others what he had in mind to do. They readily agreed to his suggestion, and all came up to the ranch house by a roundabout way. Then Spouter called out loudly:
"Hop Lung! Hop Lung! Come out here a minute!"
A moment later the Chinese cook appeared, a long soup ladle in on one hand and a carving knife in the other.
"You callee me?" he queried.
"Yes," answered Spouter. "I want you to come around to the front of the house and tell me what you know about this," and he motioned to the cook to follow him around to the big veranda. |
38bquhla9w0fbh1spajsdo8dmvzmoz | One morning, Ann's neighbor Tracy found a lost dog wandering around the local elementary school. She asked Ann if she could keep an eye on the dog. Ann said that she could watch it only for the day. Tracy took photos of the dog and printed off 400 FOUND fliers , and put them in mailboxes. Meanwhile, Ann went to the dollar store and bought some pet supplies, warning her two sons not to fall in love with the dog. At the time, Ann's son Thomas was 10 years old, and Jack, who was recovering from a heart operation, was 21 years old. Four days later Ann was still looking after the dog, whom they had started to call Riley. When she arrived home from work, the dog threw itself against the screen door and barked madly at her. As soon as she opened the door, Riley dashed into the boys' room where Ann found Jack suffering from a heart attack. Riley ran over to Jack, but as soon as Ann bent over to help him the dog went silent. "If it hadn't come to get me, the doctor said Jack would have died," Ann reported to a local newspaper. At this point, no one had called to claim the dog, so Ann decided to keep it. The next morning Tracy got a call. A man named Peter recognized his lost dog and called the number on the flier. Tracy started crying, and told him, "That dog saved my friend's son." Peter drove to Ann's house to pick up his dog, and saw Thomas and Jack crying in the window. After a few moments Peter said, "Maybe Odie was supposed to find you, maybe you should keep it." |
3q8gyxhfep2guljj76tf1m3abmr5cw | Computers have been used in teaching for more than twenty years. But a new book says that only now are they changing education. And it predicts that a lot more is about to happen.
The book is called "Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns." "Disruptive Innovation" is a theory developed by lead author Clayton Christensen, a professor at the prefix = st1 /HarvardBusinessSchool. He says organizations almost always use new, creative technology only to continue what they already do.
New technology should change organizations, he says, and disrupt them in a good way. They should use the technology to do things differently--for example, to serve more needs. The book says the needed disruptive force in education is computer-based learning.
Michael Horn, another author of "Disrupting Class", told us about a Bostonpublic that he visited. Every student at Lilla G. Frederick Middle School inDorchester,Massachusetts, has a laptop computer. One class was learning about storms. Michael Horn says the laptops made it possible to truly individualize the lessons, to divide materials by ability level and learning style. At the end of the class, the students all took part in a discussion led by the teacher.
Computer-based learning offers a way for students to take advanced courses not offered at their school, or to retake classes they failed. It also serves those who cannot physically attend school, and students who receive home schooling.
Computer-based learning includes online courses. Enrollments in online courses have grown sharply. In 2007, the United Stateshad about one million enrollments, not including college courses. Students could be enrolled in more than one course, through schools or education companies. High school students make up about seventy percent of the enrollment. Still, nationally, only about one percent of all high school courses last year were taught online.
But the authors of "Disrupting Class"predict it will be ten percent in about six years. And their research suggests that the number will be about fifty percent by 2019. And Michael Horn says the future of online learning could be even greater in developing countries. |
36u2a8vag1zwf75ralfa02ebb61kyd | (CNN) -- The names on the formal, state-government-erected memorial signs by the sides of Ohio highways are not famous to the outside world.
But once you know the story behind them, you understand completely. You look at those signs and you offer a silent word of thanks.
Usually stretches of highways around the country are named for politicians, or for renowned figures from American history, or perhaps for singing stars or athletes or Hollywood actors who were born in the area.
For the last several years, though, whenever I've been in Ohio I have noticed the highway signs with the unfamiliar names.
Last week I got in touch with the Ohio Department of Transportation to ask about them.
The answer makes you want to pause humbly.
On August 31, 2009, Marine Lance Cpl. David R. Hall, of Elyria, Ohio, was killed in an explosion while serving in Garmsir, Afghanistan. He was 31; he worked at a Ford assembly plant back home before joining the Marines.
In most cases of fallen service members, there is a solemn funeral ceremony when their remains are returned home, and a respectful obituary in the local newspaper. It can feel all too fleeting.
But in Ohio, in recent years, there has been an effort to do more.
Which is why the Ohio General Assembly authorized that a stretch of State Route 2 in Lorain County -- David Hall's home county -- be named, now and forever, to honor him.
"After the General Assembly votes to name a portion of a highway, we manufacture the signs and put them up at the designated places," said Steve Faulkner, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation. He said that two signs are usually erected, each facing a different direction, so that people in cars on either side of the highway will see the honoree's name. |
3pq8k71nhxkp7cy2ioo532t830laap | Washington (CNN) -- While Jeb Bush is still publicly noncommittal about a possible presidential bid, his family is far less circumspect.
And if recent comments by George P. Bush are any indication, Jeb Bush's eldest son got the go-ahead from the family. The bigger question, of course, is whether Jeb Bush got the go-ahead -- from himself.
While George P. told ABC that "I think it's more than likely that he's giving this a serious thought in moving forward," it's still unclear whether his father is actually willing to dive into a presidential bid.
One source with knowledge of Jeb Bush's thinking tells CNN "wanting to do this and doing it are two different things." In fact this source adds, "He hasn't made a decision yet despite reports to the contrary. He is seriously considering and is going through a thoughtful process. He appreciates the warm wishes and support, but he is a methodical guy and won't change his timeline."
That timeline anticipates Jeb Bush making a decision by the end of the year. While some donors may be waiting to see what Bush does before they commit to a candidate, the source says Bush himself has not asked for them to stay on the sidelines. "They are calling him, but all he is saying is he hasn't made a decision. There is no organized outreach sanctioned by him."
Several donors told CNN that that in private sessions, Bush has not given any more indication than he has publicly about his intentions. One of the donors said "he is behaving as if he is looking at it seriously," but his reluctance to talk about it is "wearing thin." |
36wlnqg78zaxgzk647qnuw3562wbei | CHAPTER XXIII.
LAID UP.
Harriet Holden was sitting in Elizabeth's boudoir. "And he had the effrontery," the latter was saying, "to tell me what I must do and must not do! The idea! A miserable little milk-wagon driver dictating to me!"
Miss Holden smiled.
"I should not call him very little," she remarked.
"I didn't mean physically," retorted Elizabeth. "It is absolutely insufferable. I am going to demand that father discharge the man."
"And suppose he asks you why?" asked Harriet. "You will tell him, of course, that you want this person discharged because he protected you from the insults and attacks of a ruffian while you were dining in Feinheimer's at night--is that it?"
"You are utterly impossible, Harriet!" cried Elizabeth, stamping her foot. "You are as bad as that efficiency person. But, then, I might have expected it! You have always, it seems to me, shown a great deal more interest in the fellow than necessary, and probably the fact that Harold doesn't like him is enough to make you partial toward him, for you have never tried to hide the fact that you don't like Harold."
"If you're going to be cross," said Harriet, "I think I shall go home."
At about the same time the Lizard entered Feinheimer's. In the far corner of the room Murray was seated at a table. The Lizard approached and sat down opposite him. "Here I am," he said. "What do you want, and how did you know I was in town?" |
3f1567xtnw53p9vefe7rx7xt1yzq93 | I call my story the story of a bad boy, partly to distinguish myself from those faultless young gentlemen, and partly because I really was not an angle. I may truthfully say I was a friendly, impulsive teenager. I didn't want to be an angel. In short, I was a real human boy, such as you may meet anywhere in New England.
Whenever a new scholar came to our school, I used to ask him " My name's Tom Bailey; what's your name?" If the name struck me favorably, I shook hands with the new pupil _ , but if it didn't, I would turn and walk away, for I was particular on this point.
I was born in Rivermouth almost fifty years ago, but, before I became very well acquainted with that pretty New England town, my parents moved to New Orleans. I was only eighteen months old at the time of the move, and it didn't make much difference to me where I was, because several years later, when my father proposed to take me North to be educated, I had my own view on the subject. I instantly kicked over the little boy, Sam, who happened to be standing by me at the moment, and declared that I would not be taken away to live among a lot of Yankees! You see I was what is called " a Northern man with Southern principles," I had no recollection of New England: my earliest memories were connected with the South. I knew I was born in the North, but hoped nobody would find it out. I never told my schoolmates I was a Yankee, because they talked about Yankees in a scornful way which made me feel that it was quite a shame not to be born in the South.
And this impression was strengthened by Aunt Chloe, who said, "There wasn't no gentlemen in the North no way."
With this picture of Northern civilization in my eye, the readers will easily understand my terror at the bare thought of being transported to Rivermouth to school, and possibly will forgive me for kicking over little Sam, when my father announced this to me. As for kicking little Sam, I always did that, more or less gently, when anything went wrong with me.
My father was greatly troubled by this violent behavior. As little Sam picked himself up, my father took my hand in his and led me thoughtfully to the library. He appeared strangely puzzled on learning the nature of my objections to going North.
"Who on earth, Tom, has filled your brain with those silly stories?" asked my father calmly.
"Aunt Chloe, sir, she told me."
My father devoted that evening and several evenings to giving me a clear account of New England: its early struggles, its progress, and its present condition. I was no longer unwilling to go North; on the contrary, the proposed journey to a new world full of wonders kept me awake nights. Long before the moving day arrived I was eager to be off. My impatience was increased by the fact that my father had purchased for me a fine little Mustang pony, and shipped it to Rivermouth two weeks before the date set for our own journey. The pony completely resigned me to the situation. The pony's name was Gitana, which is the Spanish for "gypsy", so I always called her Gypsy.
Finally the time came to leave the vine-covered mansion among the orange-trees, to say goodbye to little Sam(I am convince he was heartily glad to get rid of me), and to part with Aunt Chloe. I imagine them standing by the open garden gate; the tears are rolling down Aunt Chloe's cheeks; they and the old home fade away. I am never to see them again! |
3s06ph7ksr4rbvoe6fmei28bkfy1ds | Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the western United States. The state is the tenth largest by area, the least populous and the second least densely populated state in the country. Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. The state population was estimated at 586,107 in 2015, which is less than 31 of the largest U.S. cities including neighboring Denver. Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city, with population estimated at 63,335 in 2015.
The western two-thirds of the state is covered mostly by the mountain ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie called the High Plains. Almost half of the land in Wyoming is owned by the U.S. government, leading Wyoming to rank sixth by area and fifth by proportion of a state's land owned by the federal government. Federal lands include two national parksGrand Teton and Yellowstonetwo national recreation areas, two national monuments, several national forests, historic sites, fish hatcheries, and wildlife refuges.
Original inhabitants of the region include the Crow, Arapaho, Lakota, and Shoshone. Southwestern Wyoming was in the Spanish Empire and then Mexican territory until it was ceded to the United States in 1848 at the end of the Mexican–American War. The region acquired the name "Wyoming" when a bill was introduced to the U.S. Congress in 1865 to provide a "temporary government for the territory of Wyoming". The name was used earlier for the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, and is derived from the Munsee word "", meaning "at the big river flat". |
3tayzsbpll8425psm9hhik4gc90s2d | (CNN) -- Thus far, NBC's late-night transition has been like butter.
Jay Leno hosted his final episode of "The Tonight Show" on February 6 with massive celebrity support and even bigger ratings, and Jimmy Fallon took over on February 17 with the same level of excitement.
But there's still one more piece of the Peacock's puzzle left to be added: Seth Meyers.
At 12:35 a.m., the 40-year-old "Saturday Night Live" star will step behind the desk of "Late Night" and occupy a chair once filled by David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and, directly before him, his pal and fellow "Saturday Night Live" alum Fallon.
With that kind of history, it goes without saying that there's pressure on Meyers not to screw up. Yet instead of marching in and tearing down "Late Night's" past, Meyers is planning to keep tradition intact while playing to his strengths.
After 12 years on "SNL," nine of which he served as head writer, Meyers is by all accounts more of a cerebral comedian than a performer. His colleagues give him credit for being the guy who'd rather set up the joke than steal the thunder, and some of his best work doesn't even include his face. See: Tina Fey as Sarah Palin:
Or Louis C.K. as Abraham Lincoln:
Or Amy Poehler killing it as a rapping Sarah Palin:
"There's the class clown, and then there's the guy who sits in the back and says an aside about the class clown," Meyers said to The Wall Street Journal. "That's me." |
3kibxj1wd5uklt1p4y6cybg9xusoks | (CNN) -- Defending English Premier League champions Manchester City had to come from behind twice to snatch a 2-2 draw at improved Liverpool Sunday.
Liverpool stumbled to a 3-0 defeat at West Bromwich Albion on the opening day of the season, but could count themselves unfortunate not to claim three points at Anfield.
Martin Skrtel headed them ahead from a Steven Gerrard corner after 34 minutes, but the visitors drew level after Yaya Toure capitalized on hesitancy just after the hour mark.
Liverpool responded almost immediately as a long-range free kick from Luis Suarez eluded City goalkeeper Joe Hart to put them 2-1 ahead.
Man Utd and pacesetting Chelsea win
But they could not hold their lead and in the 80th minute Skrtel was the villain as his back pass fell short of Pepe Reina and Carlos Tevez swooped to round the home goalkeeper and equalize.
Both sides had chances to claim three points in a frantic finish with substitute Andy Carroll's header cleared off the line by City's new signing Jack Rodwell.
Joe Allen, one of new manager Brendan Rogers' summer acquisitions, had a fine game on his Anfield debut.
"Here at Anfield the atmosphere was fantastic, as I expected. I'm looking forward to playing here this season.
"The style of Brendan's play is a big, positive factor for everyone, and the players are looking forward to playing under Brendan Rodgers," he told Sky Sports.
Arsenal drew blank for the second straight EPL fixture after being held to a 0-0 draw at Stoke in the earlier kickoff Sunday. |
3strjbfxowr0yl6x0fsbslmww4ftkt | Odisha (; formerly Orissa, ) is one of the 29 states of India, located in eastern India. It is surrounded by the states of West Bengal to the north-east, Jharkhand to the north, Chhattisgarh to the west and north-west, and Andhra Pradesh to the south. Odisha has of coastline along the Bay of Bengal on its east, from Balasore to Ganjam. It is the 9th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. It is also the 3rd most populous state of India in terms of tribal population.
Odia (formerly known as "Oriya") is the official and most widely spoken language, spoken by 33.2 million according to the 2001 Census.
The ancient kingdom of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka in 261 BCE resulting in the Kalinga War, coincides with the borders of modern-day Odisha. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April 1936, as a province in British India, and consisted predominantly of Odia-speaking regions. April 1 is celebrated as Odisha Day. The region is also known as Utkala and is mentioned in India's national anthem, "Jana Gana Mana". Cuttack was made the capital of the region by Anantavarman Chodaganga in c. 1135, after which the city was used as the capital by many rulers, through the British era until 1948. Thereafter, Bhubaneswar became the capital of Odisha. |
3137onmdkg5t7gshkti1v7u2l9nego | There once was a zoo worker named Charlie. He really liked his job that allowed his to meet new people every day and take care of zoo animals. One day, Charlie showed up at the zoo that he worked at and saw that a turtle had escaped! He quickly picked up the radio and told all of the other workers to look out for the missing Turtle named Brian. Because of this, the zoo had to close down for the whole day! They were trying so hard, but still could not find any clue to where the turtle went. Finally, a girl named Samantha went on the radio and said that she found Brian eating lettuce in the Polar Bear cage. She also told everyone that the Polar Bears were protecting Brian! For hours, the zoo team tried to find a way to get Brian out of the cage without getting hurt themselves. Charlie finally had an idea. He was going to take a stuffed turtle from the gift shop, sneak into the cage, put the Polar Bears to sleep for a little bit, and then place the stuffed turtle where Brian was eating his lettuce. Charlie's plan worked, but the Polar Bears woke up and weren't happy! They took the stuffed turtle and ripped it up! Samantha went to find some fish to make them happy again as Charlie told Brian the turtle to never run off again. |
3x87c8jfv6bluordok7ie22jtttqsx | Georgetown University is a private research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. Founded in 1789 as Georgetown College, the university has since grown to comprise nine undergraduate and graduate schools, among which are the School of Foreign Service, School of Business, Medical Center, and Law School. Georgetown's main campus is located on a hill above the Potomac River. Georgetown offers degree programs in forty-eight disciplines, enrolling an average of 7,500 undergraduate and 10,000 post-graduate students from more than 130 countries. The campus is identifiable by its flagship Healy Hall, which is a National Historic Landmark.
The university is especially known for preparing leaders for careers in government and international affairs. Georgetown's notable alumni include U.S. President Bill Clinton, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, CIA Director George Tenet, and King Felipe VI of Spain, as well as the royalty and heads of state of more than a dozen countries. In 2015, Georgetown had 1190 active-duty alumni working for the U.S. Foreign Service, more than any other school in the country. Also, Georgetown ranked second in 2014 by the average number of graduates serving in the U.S. Congress, with 20 members of Congress counted as alumni. |
3zak8w07i4edl8eiwr83extp0am0u6 | CHAPTER XII
THE FEVER PATIENT
When Harding scrambled to his feet, with his pistol still aimed, Clarke laughed.
"You're not only very rash--and very clumsy--but you're lucky. That's the only vacant tepee in the whole village. And my friends don't seem to have heard you."
They moved on very quickly and cautiously, and when they reached the thick willow bluff, where they were comparatively safe, Harding felt easier.
It was noon when they stumbled into camp, Harding ragged and exhausted, and Clarke limping after him in an even more pitiable state. The doctor had suffered badly from the hurried march; but his conductor would brook no delay, and the grim hints he had been given encouraged him to put forth his utmost exertion.
Blake was alive, but when Harding bent over him he feared that help had come too late. His skin looked harsh and dry, his face had grown hollow, and his thick, strong hair had turned lank and was falling out. His eyes were vacant and unrecognizing when he turned them upon Harding.
"Here's your patient," the American said to Clarke. "We expect you to cure him, and you had better get to work at once."
Then his face grew troubled as he turned to Benson.
"How long has he been like that?" he asked.
"The last two days. I'm afraid he's very bad."
Harding sat down with a smothered groan. Every muscle seemed to ache; he could scarcely hold himself upright; and his heart was very heavy. He would miss Blake terribly. It was hard to think of going on without him; but he feared that this was inevitable. He was filled with a deep pity for the helpless man; but after a few moments his weary face grew stern. He had done all that he was able, and now Clarke, whom he believed to be a man of high medical skill, must do his part. If he were unsuccessful, it would be the worse for him. |
3s96kq6i9m4skf0n8y6oo8r6ctfdtt | 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. |
3pdjhanyk5g3uxudyhhl4jeqj4qh65 | CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
LAURIE MAKES MISCHIEF, AND JO MAKES PEACE
Jo's face was a study next day, for the secret rather weighed upon her, and she found it hard not to look mysterious and important. Meg observed it, but did not trouble herself to make inquiries, for she had learned that the best way to manage Jo was by the law of contraries, so she felt sure of being told everything if she did not ask. She was rather surprised, therefore, when the silence remained unbroken, and Jo assumed a patronizing air, which decidedly aggravated Meg, who in turn assumed an air of dignified reserve and devoted herself to her mother. This left Jo to her own devices, for Mrs. March had taken her place as nurse, and bade her rest, exercise, and amuse herself after her long confinement. Amy being gone, Laurie was her only refuge, and much as she enjoyed his society, she rather dreaded him just then, for he was an incorrigible tease, and she feared he would coax the secret from her.
She was quite right, for the mischief-loving lad no sooner suspected a mystery than he set himself to find it out, and led Jo a trying life of it. He wheedled, bribed, ridiculed, threatened, and scolded; affected indifference, that he might surprise the truth from her; declared he knew, then that he didn't care; and at last, by dint of perseverance, he satisfied himself that it concerned Meg and Mr. Brooke. Feeling indignant that he was not taken into his tutor's confidence, he set his wits to work to devise some proper retaliation for the slight. |
32eyx73oy091l2yhq4riytuc9z5urg | CHAPTER XI.
One thing is wanting in the beamy cup Of my young life! one thing to be poured in; Ay, and one thing is wanting to fill up The measure of proud joy, and make it sin.--F. W. F.
Hopes that Dr. May would ever have his mind free, seemed as fallacious as mamma's old promise to Margaret, to make doll's clothes for her whenever there should be no live dolls to be worked for in the nursery.
Richard and Ethel themselves had their thoughts otherwise engrossed. The last week before the holidays was an important one. There was an examination, by which the standing of the boys in the school was determined, and this time it was of more than ordinary importance, as the Randall scholarship of £100 a year for three years would be open in the summer to the competition of the first six boys. Richard had never come within six of the top, but had been past at every examination by younger boys, till his father could bear it no longer; and now Norman was too young to be likely to have much chance of being of the number. There were eight decidedly his seniors, and Harvey Anderson, a small, quick-witted boy, half a year older, who had entered school at the same time, and had always been one step below him, had, in the last three months, gained fast upon him.
Harry, however, meant Norman to be one of the six, and declared all the fellows thought he would be, except Andersen's party. Mr. Wilmot, in a call on Ethel and Flora, told them that he thought their brother had a fair chance, but he feared he was over-working himself, and should tell the doctor so, whenever he could catch him; but this was difficult, as there was a great deal of illness just then, and he was less at home than usual. |
3e7tuj2egcm900r9as17x8quio5d9q | CHAPTER X.
As Susy's footsteps died away, Clarence closed the door, walked to the window, and examined it closely. The bars had been restored since he had wrenched them off to give ingress to the family on the day of recapture. He glanced around the room; nothing seemed to have been disturbed. Nevertheless he was uneasy. The suspicions of a frank, trustful nature when once aroused are apt to be more general and far-reaching than the specific distrusts of the disingenuous, for they imply the overthrow of a whole principle and not a mere detail. Clarence's conviction that Susy had seen Pedro recently since his dismissal led him into the wildest surmises of her motives. It was possible that without her having reason to suspect Pedro's greater crime, he might have confided to her his intention of reclaiming the property and installing her as the mistress and chatelaine of the rancho. The idea was one that might have appealed to Susy's theatrical imagination. He recalled Mrs. McClosky's sneer at his own pretensions and her vague threats of a rival of more lineal descent. The possible infidelity of Susy to himself touched him lightly when the first surprise was over; indeed, it scarcely could be called infidelity, if she knew and believed Mary Rogers's discovery; and the conviction that he and she had really never loved each other now enabled him, as he believed, to look at her conduct dispassionately. Yet it was her treachery to Mrs. Peyton and not to himself that impressed him most, and perhaps made him equally unjust, through his affections. |
3strjbfxowr0yl6x0fsbslmww87tkt | Sang Lan is a former member of the national women's gymnastic team. She hurt herself seriously in a competition at the Goodwill Games held in Long Island, New York in 1998. She has been on a wheelchair since then. Although she was disabled, Sang Lan believed that she would walk again one day. She kept on exercising all year round, and was sure that she would stand up. When she was in New York, she caught the hearts of Americans. Many people called her "a brave and confident girl". She became an international symbol of courage and was very popular in the United States. The brave girl has been a college student in Peking University now. Her dream of going to college has come true. "'Get up from where you fall' is the most ordinary thing for a gymnast. And it's my motto ." Sang said, "I'll spend my time scientifically and work hard on my studies so as to be a winner in life." ,. |
32vnztt0a7424442by00lpwibry4rv | 1. Penguins Mate for Life During the mid-2000s, films like "Happy Feet" made penguins all the rage, and young lovers went around spreading the facts like "penguins mate for life." While the idea is sweet, it's not exactly true. Penguins usually stick with their partners through the mating season, but when it's time to mate again, they choose whomever is convenient, not necessarily their old flame. 2. Vincent Van Gogh Cut Off His Entire Ear This is not entirely true. It was not his entire ear - just the tip of the lobe - and some say he didn't even do it. Van Gogh lived with artist Paul Gauguin, who had quite a violent temper, and many believe Gauguin actually did the cutting. Either way, Van Gogh did reportedly send the tip to a prostitute. 3. Napoleon Bonaparte was Short Everyone knows Napoleon Bonaparte was a tiny man - after all, his nickname was "le Petit Corporal." His reputation for being short even inspired the phenomenon known as the "Napoleon complex." In reality, Napoleon stood around 5 feet and 7 inches tall, which was very average back in the day. Many believe his nickname was meant as a term of endearment, not a reference to his height. 4. Ben Franklin Preferred a Turkey to a Bald Eagle The bald eagle is certainly a well-known representation of America, but legend has it that if Ben Franklin had his way, a turkey would have been much better. In reality, Franklin wrote a letter to his daughter mocking the eagle symbol used in a seal by the Society of the Cincinnati, a private military group. He said it looked like a turkey and may as well be one. 5. You Have Five Senses If you remember learning about the senses in elementary school, you know humans possess five: sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste. Most scientists agree, however, that you have more like 10-20 senses, including pain, hunger, thirst, temperature, and more. 6. George Washington had Wooden Teeth George Washington is known for three things: being the first president, chopping down a cherry tree, and having wooden teeth. At least one of these is certainly not true. While Washington did have bad teeth, his dentures were not wooden. 7. Einstein was a Bad Student If you ever made bad grades and pulled the old "Albert Einstein used to make bad grades" card with your parents or teachers, you are lucky you got away with it. In reality, Einstein was at the top of his class and mastered calculus when he was barely a teenager. The reputation he developed for being a bad student had more to do with his behavior. He liked to talk back to his teachers. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.