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3u8ycdagxpgltf71fioy4ww0xwp0qo | One day Magneson took a walk in the park. He passed some trees and a pond. In the pond was a duck named George. George's wife was also in the pond. Her name was Nancy.
Magneson walked over to the tree. Nancy flew up into the tree. She wanted to warn Magneson about the killer squirrel who lived inside of the tree. A few years before, the squirrel had thrown a chestnut at George and Nancy's son. He was knocked out, and the squirrel took him away. He was never seen again.
Magneson asked what their son's name was. They said it was Leonard. But Magneson was only making small talk. He didn't believe the story about the killer squirrel. Even if there was one, there were many rocks by the pond that he could throw at the squirrel. He could also hide in the tall grass.
George and Nancy were sorry to see that Magneson wouldn't listen. They flew away, singing a sad song. A short time later, the squirrel came out of the tree and threw a giant walnut at Magneson. No one ever saw Magneson again. |
3tr2532vipuzl3p3mhk6gwu5x1aj63 | Brownie and Spotty were neighbor dogs who met every day to play together. Like pairs of dogs you can find in any neighborhood, these two loved each other and played together so often that they had worn a path through the grass of the field between their houses. One evening, Brownie's family noticed that Brownie hadn't returned home. They went looking for him with no success. Brownie didn't show up the next day, and, although they made their efforts to find him, by the next week he was still missing, Curiously, Spotty showed up at Brownie's house alone, barking and jumping. Busy with their own lives, they paid no attention to the nervous little neighbor dog. Finally, one morning Spotty refused to take "no" for an answer. Ted, Brownie's owner, was continuously disturbed by the angry, determined little dog. Spotty followed Ted about, barking all the time, then rushing toward a nearby empty lot and back, as if to say, "Follow me! It's urgent!" Eventually, Ted followed Spotty across the empty lot as Spotty stopped to race back and barked encouragingly. The little dog led the man to a deserted spot a half mile from the house. There Ted found his beloved Brownie alive, one of his legs crushed in a steel trap . Frightened, Ted now wished he had taken Spotty's earlier appeals seriously. Then Ted noticed something. Spotty had done something else besides leading Brownie's human owner to his trapped friend. In a circle around the injured dog, Ted found some food remains of every meal. Brownie had been fed that week! Spotty had been visiting Brownie regularly, in the hope of keeping his friend alive. Spotty had actually stayed with Brownie to protect him from hunger and other dangers, and keep his spirits up. Brownie's leg was carefully treated and he soon got well again. For many years thereafter the two families watched the faithful friends chasing each other down that well-worn path between their houses. |
32xvdsjfpzx14acn2clv6b5aktg2mr | It was Jessie Bear's birthday. She was having a party. She asked her two best friends to come to the party. She made a big cake, and hung up some balloons.
Soon her friend Lion came over. Then her friend Tiger came over. Lion and Tiger brought presents with them.
Jessie hugged her friends. She asked them if they would like to have cake.
Yes! said Lion. Yes yes! said Tiger. Jessie cut the cake, and they all ate it together. Then Jessie opened her presents. She got a new jump rope and a fun game. She asked Lion and Tiger to play the game with her.
The friends played and played. They all had a good time. Soon it was time for the party to be over.
Lion and Tiger hugged Jessie and said goodbye to her. Thanks for a great birthday! Jessie Bear told her two best friends. |
3ovhno1ve61o6r9meqv6awsnwe6dzr | Jimmy was 2 years old. One day his mom was out and his dad took care of him. Someone gave Jimmy a little tea set as a gift and it was one of his favorite toys. Dad was in the living room watching the evening news. Then Jimmy brought his dad a little cup of "tea". In fact, it was just water. After some cups of tea, his dad said to him, "Jimmy, you are a nice good boy. I love you." Later, Jimmy's mom came home. His dad made her wait in the living room to watch Jimmy bring him a cup of tea. "It's the cutest thing," he said to his wife. Mom waited. Jimmy came down the hall with a cup of tea for his dad. She watched him drink it up and laughed. Then she said: "Did you know that the only place he is tall enough to get water from is the toilet ?" |
33ukmf9319kz14wkuo63tc9sfijtte | CHAPTER VI
Maraton spent three hours and a half that morning in conclave with the committee appointed for his reception, and for that three hours and a half he was profoundly bored. Every one had a good deal to say except Richard Graveling, who sat at the end of the table with folded arms and a scowl upon his face. The only other man who scarcely opened his lips during the entire time, was Maraton himself. Peter Dale, Labour Member for Newcastle, was the first to make a direct appeal. He was a stalwart, grim-looking man, with heavy grey eyebrows and grey beard. He had been a Member of Parliament for some years and was looked upon as the practical leader of his party.
"We've heard a lot of you, Mr. Maraton," he declared, "of your fine fighting methods and of your gift of speech. We'll hear more of that, I hope, at Manchester. We are, so to speak, strangers as yet, but there's one thing I will say for you, and that is that you're a good listener. You've heard all that we've got to say and you've scarcely made a remark. You won't object to my saying that we're expecting something from you in the way of initiative, not to say leadership?"
Maraton glanced down the table. There were five men seated there, and, a little apart from all of them, David Ross, who had refused to be shaken off. Excepting him only, they were well-fed and substantial looking men. Maraton had studied them carefully through half-closed eyes during all the time of their meeting, and the more he had studied them, the more disappointed he had become. There was not one of them with the eyes of a dreamer. There was not one of them who appeared capable of dealing with any subject save from his own absolutely material and practical point of view. |
3a1cohj8njvqybd1rwejoxahq5p8h4 | A friend of mine named Paul received an expensive car from his brother as a Christmas present.On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office,a street urchin was walking around the shining car."Is this your car,Paul?"he asked.
Paul answered,"Yes,my brother gave it to me for Christmas." The boy was surprised."You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn't cost you nothing?Boy,I wish..." He hesitated.
Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for.He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the boy said surprised Paul greatly.
"I wish," the boy went on,"that I could be a brother like that." Paul looked at the boy in surprise, then he said again, "Would you like to take a ride in my car?"
"Oh yes,I'd love that."
After a short ride,the boy turned and with his eyes shining,said,"Paul,would you mind driving in front of my house?"
Paul smiled a little.He thought he knew what the boy wanted.He wanted to show his neighbours that he could ride home in a big car. But Paul was wrong again. "Will you stop where those two steps are?" the boy asked.
He ran up to the steps. Then in a short while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled brother. He sat him down on the step and pointed to the car.
"There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn't cost him a cent. And some day I'm going to give you one just like it...then you can see for yourself all the nice things in the Christmas windows that I've been trying to tell you about."
Paul got out and lifted the boy to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began an unforgettable holiday ride.
:urchin hesitate neighbour crippled cent |
3mrnmeiqw56412sizp4x2hhph63dlf | The baby elephant, Sheila, was moved out of Belfast Zoo because of fears she might be hit by bombers during the Belfast Blitz of 1941. She was one of the lucky ones. A lot of the animals were killed because of fears they might escape during the bombing and attack people. They included a tiger, a black bear, a wolf, a penguin, and two polar bears. But Sheila was walked down the road by zoo-keepers to a nearby house where a woman took her in and kept her in her backyard for several months until the bombing was over. The woman has never been identified and the zoo knows her only as "the elephant angel". As the zoo celebrates its 75thbirthday, people have decided to try to find the elephant's saver. Mark Challis is the manager of Belfast Zoo. He explained a bit more about Sheila's story. "Well, we know that Sheila, the elephant that was in the zoo at that time spent some time living with a lady relatively near to the zoo and we have one sweet photo, you can see it on our zoo website." "In the photo you can see the elephant with the lady in her back garden and that's almost all we know. So we're just trying to find a little bit more information and we are not even sure if the lady is alive today, but maybe her relatives or somebody will recognize the back of that house and we can fill in some detail on this story." Once the bombing was over, Sheila went back to the zoo and lived for another quarter of a century. She died of a skin disease in 1966. |
3q8gyxhfep2guljj76tf1m3abma5cf | Buckingham Palace has a history that dates back over 500 years and has changed hands on numerous occasions, however, much of the building that remains standing today is from the original structure built in the early 1700's.
In the beginning Buckingham Palace was originally known as Buckingham House. However, in 1762 George III liked the house so much that he bought it for 28,000 and renamed it "The Queen's House". The reason for this was down to the fact that he bought the house to give to his wife Charlotte. Shortly after he did this, work soon began in order to remodel the house with the help of Sir William Chambers. This trend then continued with the accession of George IV in 1820 when he decided to reconstruct the house but he still used it for the same purpose that his father did.
One of the biggest physical changes to the house occurred several years later when the king had a change of mind. It was in 1826 that King George IV set about transforming the house into what it is known today, Buckingham Palace. He did this with the help of an architect known as John Nash.
The work that Nash carried out involved doubling the size of the main block through adding a new suite of rooms on the garden side facing the west. He then faced this with mellow Bath stone, which reflected the French neo-classical influence favored by George IV. Many of the rooms that Nash added still remain pretty much unchanged today.
The palace as it stands today acts as not only the London residence of Her Majesty the Queen but also the administrative headquarters of the Royal Household. It is in fact one of the few working royal palaces that remain in the world today. The state rooms are extensively used by the Queen as well as members of the royal family as a way of receiving and entertaining guests on state, ceremonial and official occasions. |
3z3zlgnnsiuha76yy56h6uu71bxq34 | (CNN) -- The list of those on the program for superstar pop singer Whitney Houston's funeral covers the spectrum of the entertainment world.
Actor Kevin Costner, who starred with Houston in the 1992 hit movie "The Bodyguard," will speak at the service on Saturday, according to a source with knowledge of the funeral plans.
Gospel singer Kim Burrell told CNN's Jason Carroll she will sing, "I Believe in You and Me," a selection made by the Houston family. The song was included in the soundtrack from "The Preacher's Wife," a 1996 film starring Houston.
The ceremony also will feature performances by Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and Aretha Franklin, who is Houston's godmother. Singer Roberta Flack will attend, but it was unclear whether she would perform.
Houston's ex-husband, Bobby Brown, has been officially invited to the funeral, according to Houston representative Kristen Foster.
Brown was openly emotional at a show in Mississippi on Saturday night following news of Houston's death, then pulled out of a performance in Nashville on Sunday night and flew to Los Angeles.
He will rejoin New Edition Thursday night for a performance in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, according to a New Edition publicist. Brown considers performing as therapy to get him through a difficult time, a source close to Brown said.
Foster said gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, actor-director Tyler Perry, producer Clive Davis, composer and music director Rickey Minor and Houston's cousin, Dionne Warwick, are among those on the program for the funeral.
Minor, who worked with Houston, told CNN that he will be involved with the funeral's music and that the New Jersey Mass Choir will perform. |
3cfvk00fwll5gtd3p2wjwb7x1rz6le | Skipping classes, particularly big lectures where an absence is likely to go undetected, is a tradition among college undergraduates. These days, however, some professors say they're seeing more _ , as students make the most of new technologies as learning aids.
Americ Azevedo taught an "Introduction to Computers" at the University of California, Berkeley, US last semester. By visiting the course's website, the 200 enrolled students could download audio recordings or watch digital videos of the lectures, as well as read the instructor's detailed lecture notes.
But there was one big problem: So many of the undergraduates relied on the technology that at times only 20 or so actually showed up for class.
Doug Suda, 19, a student in Azevedo's class last semester, said he skipped about three-quarter of the lectures. It's largely because he was busy with an off-campus job and was taking the course to fulfill a business major requirement. At the end of the term, Suda prepared hurriedly for the final exam by watching videos of about 15 lectures over three days. "If I hadn't that... I would probably fail the class," said Suda, who instead received a B-plus.
Despite the concerns about absenteeism, schools are increasingly experimenting with ways to let students watch or listen to lectures on their computers or digital music players, like iPods. Last month, Harvard Medical School began "Podcasting" lectures. Students can download them into digital musical players, and study while they, say, go for a walk.
As many academics accept the electronic innovation, others are pushing back. To encourage attendance, they are applying low-tech tactics, like giving more surprising quizzes or cutting back their online offerings.
Lee Chanian, a UCLA economics professor, says "too much technology leads to passive learning environment and encourage more absenteeism". He now puts fewer lecture materials online, and provides extensive notes only for the most complicated topics. |
3tmsxrd2x60qk1o5nar4aqxwrucw12 | CHAPTER FOUR.
DIVERS MATTERS.
Charles Hazlit, Esquire, was a merchant and a shipowner, a landed proprietor, a manager of banks, a member of numerous boards and committees, a guardian of the poor, a volunteer colonel, and a good-humoured man on the whole, but purse-proud and pompous. He was also the father of Aileen.
Behold him seated in an elegant drawing-room, in a splendid mansion at the "west end" (strange that all aristocratic ends would appear to be west ends!) of the seaport town which owned him. His blooming daughter sat beside him at a table, on which lay a small, peculiar, box. He doated on his daughter, and with good reason. Their attention was so exclusively taken up with the peculiar box that they had failed to observe the entrance, unannounced, of a man of rough exterior, who stood at the door, hat in hand, bowing and coughing attractively, but without success.
"My darling," said Mr Hazlit, stooping to kiss his child--his only child--who raised her pretty little three-cornered mouth to receive it, "this being your twenty-first birthday, I have at last brought myself to look once again on your sainted mother's jewel-case, in order that I may present it to you. I have not opened it since the day she died. It is now yours, my child."
Aileen opened her eyes in mute amazement. It would seem as though there had been some secret sympathy between her and the man at the door, for he did precisely the same thing. He also crushed his hat somewhat convulsively with both hands, but without doing it any damage, as it was a very hard sailor-like hat. He also did something to his lips with his tongue, which looked a little like licking them. |
3b2x28yi3wft3krryp7pi8bsp1l6bz | The or is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional daimyō. The period was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, a stable population, "no more wars", and popular enjoyment of arts and culture. The shogunate was officially established in Edo on March 24, 1603, by Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration on May 3, 1868, after the fall of Edo.
A revolution took place from the time of the Kamakura shogunate, which existed with the Tenno's court, to the Tokugawa, when the "samurai" became the unchallenged rulers in what historian Edwin O. Reischauer called a "centralized feudal" form of shogunate. Instrumental in the rise of the new-existing bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu, the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Already powerful, Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area. He maintained two million "koku" of land, a new headquarters at Edo, a strategically situated castle town (the future Tokyo), and also had an additional two million "koku" of land and thirty-eight vassals under his control. After Hideyoshi's death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control from the Toyotomi family. |
3zgvpd4g6thvng5j0gvlf0a90diztb | CHAPTER XLV.
PUBLISHING POETRY IN A MAN-OF-WAR.
A day or two after our arrival in Rio, a rather amusing incident occurred to a particular acquaintance of mine, young Lemsford, the gun-deck bard.
The great guns of an armed ship have blocks of wood, called _tompions_, painted black, inserted in their muzzles, to keep out the spray of the sea. These tompions slip in and out very handily, like covers to butter firkins.
By advice of a friend, Lemsford, alarmed for the fate of his box of poetry, had latterly made use of a particular gun on the main-deck, in the tube of which he thrust his manuscripts, by simply crawling partly out of the porthole, removing the tompion, inserting his papers, tightly rolled, and making all snug again.
Breakfast over, he and I were reclining in the main-top--where, by permission of my noble master, Jack Chase, I had invited him--when, of a sudden, we heard a cannonading. It was our own ship.
"Ah!" said a top-man, "returning the shore salute they gave us yesterday."
"O Lord!" cried Lemsford, "my _Songs of the Sirens!_" and he ran down the rigging to the batteries; but just as he touched the gun-deck, gun No. 20--his literary strong-box--went off with a terrific report.
"Well, my after-guard Virgil," said Jack Chase to him, as he slowly returned up the rigging, "did you get it? You need not answer; I see you were too late. But never mind, my boy: no printer could do the business for you better. That's the way to publish, White-Jacket," turning to me--"fire it right into 'em; every canto a twenty-four-pound shot; _hull_ the blockheads, whether they will or no. And mind you, Lemsford, when your shot does the most execution, your hear the least from the foe. A killed man cannot even lisp." |
3napmvf0zwfij750y6j6nt8kq74276 | Yokohama's population of 3.7 million makes it Japan's largest city after the Special Wards of Tokyo. Yokohama developed rapidly as Japan's prominent port city following the end of Japan's relative isolation in the mid-19th century, and is today one of its major ports along with Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, Hakata, Tokyo, and Chiba.
Yokohama was a small fishing village up to the end of the feudal Edo period, when Japan held a policy of national seclusion, having little contact with foreigners. A major turning point in Japanese history happened in 1853–54, when Commodore Matthew Perry arrived just south of Yokohama with a fleet of American warships, demanding that Japan open several ports for commerce, and the Tokugawa shogunate agreed by signing the Treaty of Peace and Amity.
It was initially agreed that one of the ports to be opened to foreign ships would be the bustling town of Kanagawa-juku (in what is now Kanagawa Ward) on the Tōkaidō, a strategic highway that linked Edo to Kyoto and Osaka. However, the Tokugawa shogunate decided that Kanagawa-juku was too close to the Tōkaidō for comfort, and port facilities were instead built across the inlet in the sleepy fishing village of Yokohama. The Port of Yokohama was officially opened on June 2, 1859. |
39ghhavomfrl6glp3trrjyar1dhj41 | The scope and legality of the government's warrantless electronic surveillance programs was discussed Tuesday as a federal appeals court reviewed a lower U.S. court's injunction that would block collection of data from two plaintiffs who are suing
Activist Larry Klayman, an attorney who heads the group "Freedom Watch," filed suit last year based on published reports of wrongdoing from whistleblower Edward Snowden. The former contractor with the National Security Agency accused authorities of misusing some of the capabilities he observed, and acting without a judicial or statutory basis.
Klayman, using himself as an aggrieved party from the surveillance, used the lawsuit to accuse the government of conducting "a secret and illegal government scheme to intercept and analyze vast quantities of domestic telephonic communications," along with communications "from the internet and electronic service providers."
Tuesday he said he has the standing to bring the suit as a customer of Verizon, one of the companies known to be cooperating with warrantless surveillance. But when the appeals panel asked him for documented proof he had been targeted, Klayman said only that the broad scope of the surveillance made it likely.
The other plaintiff is Charles Strange, whose son Michael was an NSA cryptologist and Navy SEAL in Afghanistan in 2011 when he was killed in the downing of his helicopter by insurgents. The father told reporters he has been the target of secret intelligence gathering because he's been asking questions about the circumstances surrounding his son's death.
Both men late last year won a preliminary injunction that would have barred the government from collecting data on them, and it ordered authorities to destroy any data already gathered. |
3a7y0r2p2ooc4i9zn4twg97pu6vxjz | John H.Johnson was born in a family in Arkansas City in 1918.His father died in an accident when John was six.He was reaching high school age, but his hometown offered no high schools for the blacks.
Fortunately he has a strong-willed and caring mother.John remembers that his mother told him many times, "Son, you can be anything you really want to be if you just believe." She told him not to be dependent on others, including his mother."You have to earn success", said she, "all the people who work hard don't succeed, but the only people who do succeed are those who work hard."
These words came from a woman with less than a third grade education.She also knew that believing and working hard don't mean everything.So she worked hard as a cook for two years to save enough to take her son to Chicago.
Chicago in 1933 was not the Promised Land that black southerners were looking for.John's mother could not find work.But here John could go to school, and learned the power of words--as an editor of a newspaper.His wish was to publish a magazine for the blacks.
While others discouraged him, John's mother offered him more words to live by: " _ ." She also let him sell her furniture to get the 500 dollars he needed to start the Negro magazine.
It's natural that difficulties and failures followed John closely until he became very successful.He always keeps his mother's words in mind."Son, failure is not in your dictionary." Now John H.Johnson is one of the 400 richest people in America--worth 150 million dollars. |
323q6sjs8igzdqnozakpypr3dg5hfb | Office Open XML (also informally known as OOXML or Microsoft Open XML (MOX)) is a zipped, XML-based file format developed by Microsoft for representing spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents. The format was initially standardized by Ecma (as ECMA-376), and by the ISO and IEC (as ISO/IEC 29500) in later versions.
Starting with Microsoft Office 2007, the Office Open XML file formats have become the default target file format of Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office 2010 provides read support for ECMA-376, read/write support for ISO/IEC 29500 Transitional, and read support for ISO/IEC 29500 Strict. Microsoft Office 2013 and Microsoft Office 2016 additionally support both reading and writing of ISO/IEC 29500 Strict.
In 2000, Microsoft released an initial version of an XML-based format for Microsoft Excel, which was incorporated in Office XP. In 2002, a new file format for Microsoft Word followed. The Excel and Word formats—known as the Microsoft Office XML formats—were later incorporated into the 2003 release of Microsoft Office.
Microsoft announced in November 2005 that it would co-sponsor standardization of the new version of their XML-based formats through Ecma International as "Office Open XML". The presentation was made to Ecma by Microsoft's Jean Paoli and Isabelle Valet-Harper.
Microsoft submitted initial material to Ecma International Technical Committee TC45, where it was standardized to become ECMA-376, approved in December 2006. |
3l0kt67y8egu3qizfuocro5lrv3ysm | Bob woke up to go to his first day of school on Monday. He woke up to his dog barking at him. His parents gave him a ride to school. When he arrived at school, he went to his first class which was gym class. In gym class, his gym teacher made him run laps around the track because he had been late to class. After he had ran his laps, he played baseball with his friends. Bob had wanted to play kickball or basketball, but his friends had chosen to play baseball. After gym class was over, he went to English class. In English class, he read a story about a lady who had fallen in love with a kitty. One day the kitty jumped out of the window in the lady's house and never came back. The lady was sad and wondered why her kitty would leave her. Bob was very moved by the story. After English class was over, he went to his third class of the day which was math. Bob kept quiet in his math class because he didn't know the answers to most of the questions the teacher was asking. After his math class, he went to the fourth and last class of the day which was arts and crafts. In arts and crafts, Bob painted a picture that he was very proud of. When art class was over, Bob was happy because he had finished his first day of school. He was excited to go to school on Tuesday and Wednesday. |
3i2pta7r3tun65e5jbygngb9cslkq1 | In December,2010,many American newspapers publish a list of the best books of the year. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen is one of the most repeatedly praised books on this year's list of favorites. It tells about the ups and downs of the Berglund family over many years. Mr.Franzen fills the book with sharp observations about American politics, culture and society.
Jennifer Egan's book A Visit from the Goon Squad takes place in 13 chapters over 40 years. The story moves back and forth in time,from different viewpoints. One main character is former rock musician Bennie Salazar who works for a record company. The other main character is a troubled young woman named Sasha who works for Bennie. The reader learns about their pasts and those of their friends.
The main character in The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman is a failing English Language newspaper published in Rome,Italy. Each chapter of the book tells about a reporter or editor working for this paper. Their stories are filled with intelligence and great personality.
Two of the most popular nonfiction books of 2010 were about rock and roll stars. Just Kids is by rock singer Patti Smith. It tells about her friendship with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe in the 1960s and 1970s before they became famous. Life is the autobiography of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. It is an honest and exciting look at the development of rock and roll and the wild times this famous band has experienced.
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand tells about a man named Louis Zamperini. She tells about his extraordinary survival story after his plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean during Would War Two.
Stacy Schiff has received great praise for her book Cleopatra: A Life. It tells about one of the most misrepresented and famous women in his story, Cleopatra. She ruled ancient Egypt about 2,000 years ago. One critic said Ms. Schiff has brought Cleopatra to life again by unearthing her story from centuries of lies. |
38f71oa9gtwl54ozq702quzzux9fmd | (CNN) -- For their extraordinary efforts to help change the world and better the lives of others, 10 everyday people will receive $50,000 and a chance for much more.
This select group -- the top 10 CNN Heroes of 2012 -- was revealed Thursday.
All the top 10 were nominated by CNN's global audience and profiled earlier this year on CNN. They will be honored at "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," a globally broadcast event that airs live December 2 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
At the tribute show, hosted by Anderson Cooper in Los Angeles, one of the top 10 will be named CNN Hero of the Year and receive an additional $250,000 to continue their work.
The Hero of the Year is decided by a public vote. Through November 28, you can vote for your favorite Hero at CNNHeroes.com or from your mobile device.
This is the sixth year CNN has conducted its annual search for CNN Heroes. In those years, the campaign has profiled more than 180 people on CNN and CNN.com.
Here are the top 10 Heroes of 2012, in alphabetical order:
Pushpa Basnet Pushpa Basnet was shocked to learn that many children in Nepal have to live in prisons with their parents. In 2005, she started a children's center that has provided support, such as housing, education and medical care, to more than 140 children of incarcerated parents.
Wanda Butts Wanda Butts lost her son in a drowning accident six years ago. In his memory, she started the Josh Project, a nonprofit that taught nearly 1,200 children -- most of them minorities -- how to swim. |
39gaf6dqwr0d5co0x0m8ooeijeov1q | There once was a boy named Kevin. He met Jessica one afternoon at a park on a hot summer day. They both started talking and became great friends. They spent the whole day together and ate their lunches together next to the pond. Kevin sure enjoyed the park more than he liked going to the beach or store. There were many ducks, frogs, birds and chipmunks playing around the pond. In fact, one of the chipmunks even came up and stole Kevin's car keys when he was eating! Kevin knew that he needed to go have his keys, but the chipmunk ran with an evil smile on its face. Eventually, the chipmunk ran into its hole that he called home. Kevin tried everything he could to have the chipmunk come out with his keys, but he couldn't find out how to make the little guy give up. Finally, Jessica came over and placed a potato chip at the opening to the hole. In seconds, the chipmunk came out with the keys and dropped them in front of Kevin right before grabbing the chip and running back into the hole. The chipmunk then went in to have his snack and left Kevin and Jessica alone. Kevin thought that maybe next time he could go to the park in the early spring or winter so that the chipmunks would be busy sleeping during the cold weather months. Kevin then said goodbye to Jessica and went home. |
3kkg4cdwkiyw048ghh0eu4wo58b942 | Hong Kong (CNN) -- An Australian teenager reported missing two months ago has been found alive in dense bushland not far from his home, local police say.
Matthew Allen, 18, was last seen at his family home near Westleigh, a suburb about 30 kilometers (20 miles) away from Sydney, on November 27.
Police feared the worst as the teen had not taken his mobile phone with him or accessed his bank accounts.
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Extensive searches by police and emergency services failed to find him.
On Saturday, two hikers told police that they had spotted a "disorientated man" in bushland not far from Westleigh.
When rescuers reached Allen, he was in a bad way suffering from exhaustion and dehydration.
Local media said he was emaciated, covered in leeches and mosquito bites and his feet and lower legs were suffering from gangrene.
It was believed he had been in the bush the entire nine weeks he was missing, police said.
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''He was in such a poor state,'' Detective Acting Inspector Glyn Baker told the Sydney Morning Herald.
''He was completely exhausted, completely dehydrated, suffered significant weight loss, somewhere up to 50%. He was suffering from partial blindness and he had leeches all over him.''
He was winched out by a rescue helicopter and taken to a nearby hospital, where he was reunited with his family.
Allen went missing during a record heatwave when Sydney endured temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius. |
3ls2amnw5fq6wwzkh3q9uxsivriqo1 | CHAPTER III
The morning of departure arrived. The men-at-arms were drawn up in the court like so many statues of steel; Leonard Ashton sat on horseback, his eyes fixed on the door; Gaston d'Aubricour, wrapped in his gay mantle, stood caressing his Arab steed Brigliador, and telling him they should soon exchange the chilly fogs of England for the bright sun of Gascony; Ralph Penrose held his master's horse, and a black powerful charger was prepared for Eustace, but still the brothers tarried.
"My Eleanor, this should not be!" said Reginald as his wife clung to him weeping. "Keep a good heart. 'Tis not for long. Take heed of your dealings with cousin Fulk. She knows not what I say. Father Cyril, keep guard over her and my boy, in case I should meet with any mishap."
"I will, assuredly, my son," said the Chaplain, "but it is little that a poor Priest like me can do. I would that grant to the Clarenhams were repealed."
"That were soon done," said Reginald, "but it is no time for a loyal vassal to complain of grievances when his liege lord has summoned him to the field. That were to make the King's need be his law. No! no! Watch over her, good father, she is weak and tender. Look up, sweet heart, give me one cheerful wish to speed me on my journey. No? She has swooned. Eleanor! my wife--"
"Begone, begone, my son," said Father Cyril, "it will be the better for her." |
3ggai1sqevye2s4pz5a1ioewxrqmcw | CHAPTER VI--SOAMES BREAKS THE NEWS
In leaving the Court Soames did not go straight home. He felt disinclined for the City, and drawn by need for sympathy in his triumph, he, too, made his way, but slowly and on foot, to Timothy's in the Bayswater Road.
His father had just left; Mrs. Small and Aunt Hester, in possession of the whole story, greeted him warmly. They were sure he was hungry after all that evidence. Smither should toast him some more muffins, his dear father had eaten them all. He must put his legs up on the sofa; and he must have a glass of prune brandy too. It was so strengthening.
Swithin was still present, having lingered later than his wont, for he felt in want of exercise. On hearing this suggestion, he 'pished.' A pretty pass young men were coming to! His own liver was out of order, and he could not bear the thought of anyone else drinking prune brandy.
He went away almost immediately, saying to Soames: "And how's your wife? You tell her from me that if she's dull, and likes to come and dine with me quietly, I'll give her such a bottle of champagne as she doesn't get every day." Staring down from his height on Soames he contracted his thick, puffy, yellow hand as though squeezing within it all this small fry, and throwing out his chest he waddled slowly away.
Mrs. Small and Aunt Hester were left horrified. Swithin was so droll! |
3tr2532vipuzl3p3mhk6gwu5wuc6jd | Time flies. Your time in junior high school will come to an end in a few months. Let's look back over the last three years. What were the highs and lows? For Zhang Xiaomeng, a senior high school girl from Jiangsu, meeting her best friend Hua Xuan was the best part of her time at junior high school. They went to class together, had lunch together, and even went to the washroom together. Having one or two best friends is important, said Xu Zheng, a teacher from Jiangsu. "Students have secrets. They don't want to tell their parents,"Xu added. However, being too rebellious in junior high is the biggest _ for Liu Anqing, a senior high school student from Fujian. "I didn't listen to my parents. I quarreled with my mother every week," said Liu. "I wish I could go back to that time and get on well with them." Time also needs to be taken care of. Zhang Zihua, 15, from Shanxi, thought he had plenty of time to prepare for the big exam at the end of Junior 3. Then one day, he was told: "The exam is in 100 days." "We need a strong knowledge base to pass the exam. But I didn't care about it," said Zhang. Gu Xiaoli, a teacher from Jiangsu, said that it's never too late to catch up. "No matter your regrets about wasted time, you can always pick things up from now," said Gu. |
3ojsz2atdswai4ongpl4l0bwab0755 | Many American presidents in the 19thcentury were born in poor families. They spent their childhood in little wooden rooms. They got little education . Washington and Lincoln, for example, never went to school and they taught themselves. Lincoln once did jobs of a worker, shopkeeper and post officer in his early years. A large number of U. S. presidents had experiences in the army. The two best known were Ulysses Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Grant was a general in the American Civil War and Eisenhower was a hero in the Second World War. It happened that they graduated from the same school--West Point Military Academy . One may be surprised to learn that both of them did not do well in the school. Eisenhower, for example, was once fined because he broke the rules of the school. The jobs of U. S. presidents are tiring. He must _ anything important which happens both at home and abroad. Every day, a lot of work waits for him to do, and he has to make many important decisions. When Franklin Roosevelt was a child, he was once brought to visit President Taft. The old president said to him, "When you grow up, you should not be president. It's a tiring job." |
37trt2x24qr5rf6yi81ercgxbb1bje | NEW YORK (CNN) -- An oil painting was returned Tuesday to the estate of a Jewish art dealer who was forced to consign the painting and other artwork under Nazi Germany before fleeing the country.
"Portrait of a Musician Playing a Bagpipe" was done in 1632 by an unknown artist.
The painting, "Portrait of a Musician Playing a Bagpipe," was done in 1632 by an unknown painter from the Northern Netherlandish school, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in southern New York.
It was owned by Max Stern, an art dealer who had a gallery in Dusseldorf, Germany, until 1937, when the Nazis' Reich Chamber for Fine Arts ordered him to liquidate the gallery and its inventory, the statement said.
Stern, who died in 1987, left no heirs. He and his wife had founded the Max Stern Art Restitution Project, which directly benefits Concordia University and McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and Hebrew University in Jerusalem, according to a statement from U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The painting was returned Tuesday -- Holocaust Remembrance Day -- to Clarence Epstein of Concordia University on behalf of the executors of the estate, said Lou Martinez of the immigration agency.
It was returned in a ceremony at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, he said.
The painting had been owned by Philip Mould Ltd., a London, England, gallery, when Lawrence Steigrad, a New York art dealer, bought it in 2008, the New York attorney's office said.
Neither had any idea of the painting's past. Philip Mould Ltd. had purchased the painting the year before from Lempertz Auction House. The same auction house sold the painting in 1937 after Stern was forced to liquidate, without receiving any proceeds from the sale, the New York attorney's office said. |
384pi804xs1x6vme7md3zwb1giv0sv | As we know, on Saturday, millions of people around the world will celebrate Saint Patrick's Day, which honors Patron Saint (or main religious figure) of Ireland. Communities across the United States will host parades, parties, and other festivities to mark the occasion.
This year, cities like Boston, New York, and Chicago have organized massive events celebrating Saint Patrick's Day. In New York City, hundreds of thousands of people will gather to watch the Saint Patrick's Day parade--the nation's largest. It is one of the most watched parades in the world. Last year, almost 2 million spectators and more than 150,000 participants filled the streets. The parade, first held in 1776, is also one of the oldest.
Chicago also throws a big celebration. Every year, the Chicago River, which crosses the city, glows green as event organizers dump about 40 pounds of fluorescence, a powerful dye, into the water.
Boston keeps its parade rolling for three hours or more. It is the nation's second-largest parade. The city will also salute one of its most famous former residents, President John F. Kennedy, by opening the exhibit "A Journey Home: John F. Kennedy and Ireland," at his official library.
Patron Saint lived in Britain in the early fifth century, when it was still part of the Roman Empire. He was captured and sold into slavery in Ireland when he was only 16.He eventually escaped slavery and turned to a life of religious devotion. He trained to become a minister and set out to spread Christianity throughout Ireland. After 30 years as a religious leader, Patrick died on March 17, 1461.Saint Patrick's Day is always celebrated on March 17.In Ireland, it is an official holiday. |
30h4udglt2ixwhdt4aw72od3w1tpmj | When talking with young Swedish students, Mo Yan showed respect for Chinese authors that he learned writing from, particularly Shen Congwen, who was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize.
"Lu Xun, Lao She, Mao Dun and Shen Congwen, they are more qualified for the Nobel Prize than me," he said,. Among the writers he learned from, he said he especially felt close to Shen Congwen, as they have similar life experiences.
Both of them left school early and did not get formal education. Shen quit after high school and Mo only finished the fifth grade. They both joined the army after school. " We both learned from the book of life," said Mo.
The themes of their writing are also similar. Both writers have their hometown as the theme and root of their writings. Shen'works are mostly about his hometown, Xiangxi, and most of Mo's stories are set in his hometown, Gaomi, in Shandong Province.
Mo said he also learned from Shen how to deal with characters in a fiction. Unlike most Chinese writers, Shen has a humanistic touch towards all of his characters. Said Mo, "In his works, there are no particularly bad person or good person. Even gangsters and thieves have their humane side," he said.
"I try to use the same approach in my writing. It shows the ability of a novelist when he treats all the characters as humans," he said.
Mo said he also learned Lu Xun's depth and Lao She's humor. "They are all my teachers, and I am the student," he said. "I feel ashamed from my heart that teachers did not get the prize, but the student got it." |
3glb5jmzfxvofaehoy7hppchlq5gd2 | Rocky's been a fictional hero for decades, but in Edmonton, Alberta, today there's a hero named Rocky who is definitely real -- only he's 8 years old and has four legs.
This Rocky, a Labrador retriever-husky mix, is being hailed for pulling a 9-year-old girl from an icy river on Easter Sunday. His owner, Adam Shaw, 27, is getting similar praise.
"If that man and dog weren't there -- I just try not to think of it," Miranda Wagner, the mother of Samara, 9, and her 10-year-old sister, Krymzen, said in an interview with CNN affiliate CTV.
"I just want to give him a big hug and tell him he's my hero. If he wasn't there I wouldn't have my girls," Wagner said. "Doctors said two more minutes and Samara would have been gone."
Rocky and Shaw's heroics played out on the icy North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton on Sunday afternoon. The girls were tobogganing in a riverside park when they ended up on ice extending from the riverbank, their father, Corey Sunshine, told CNN affiliate CBC.
"From what I was told was, one of the toboggans came off the snowbank and onto the ice and they were trying to come back and the ice broke," he said.
Shaw said he was walking on a bridge over the river when he heard screams. Looking down on the river he saw one girl in the icy water and her sister trying to pull her out.
By the time he and Rocky sprinted down to the river, both girls were in the water. |
3ii4upycoj7fsz8vructj3gjsondqq | THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CNN) -- The International Criminal Court at the Hague issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for a five-year campaign of violence in Darfur.
Al-Bashir waves to supporters in the sudanese capital, Khartoum on Wednesday.
It is the first arrest warrant ever issued for a sitting head of state by the world's only permanent war crimes tribunal.
Bashir is charged with seven counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The warrant does not mention genocide, but the court may issue an amended warrant to include that charge later, ICC spokeswoman Laurence Blairon said.
But Sudan's minister of information and communications said the country does not plan to cooperate with the "white man's tribunal."
Kamal Obaid said: "Sudan perceives those decisions as an insult directed at (Sudan's) nationalism and sovereignty ... The government relies on the strong will of the people and on a national consensus not seen before and (stands) by decisions taken by its council of ministers and parliament and restates what it always confirmed."
Speaking on Sudanese TV, he added: "The Security Council and international community must bear full responsibility toward any escalation produced by those clumsy decisions." Watch a pro-Bashir rally in Sudan »
Five of the counts against Bashir are for crimes against humanity and include murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, and rape, Blairon said. The other two are for war crimes, for intentionally directing attacks against civilians and for pillaging.
"Bashir's official capacity as head of state does not exclude criminal responsibility or get him immunity," Blairon said in announcing the warrant. |
3tgoyf991xmt1uqyuymn34hwh9muuk | In Christianity, an archbishop (, via Latin "archiepiscopus", from Greek , from -, "chief", and , "bishop") is a bishop of higher rank or office. In some cases, like the Lutheran Church of Sweden, it is the denomination leader title. Like popes, patriarchs, metropolitans, cardinal bishops, diocesan bishops, and suffragan bishops, archbishops are in the highest of the three traditional orders of bishops, priests, also called presbyters, and deacons. An archbishop may be granted the title, or ordained as chief pastor of a metropolitan see or another episcopal see to which the title of archbishop is attached.
Episcopal sees are generally arranged in groups in which the bishop who is the ordinary of one of them has certain powers and duties of oversight over the other sees. He is known as the metropolitan archbishop of that see. In the Roman Catholic Church, canon 436 of the Code of Canon Law indicates what these powers and duties are for a Latin Rite metropolitan archbishop, while those of the head of an autonomous ("sui iuris") Eastern Catholic Church are indicated in canon 157 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
As well as the much more numerous metropolitan sees, there are 77 Roman Catholic sees that have archiepiscopal rank. In some cases, such a see is the only one in a country, such as Luxembourg or Monaco, too small to be divided into several dioceses so as to form an ecclesiastical province. In others, the title of archdiocese is for historical reasons attributed to a see that was once of greater importance. |
3k2755hg5s3i1aimde1z74c5ll3fdl | Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making it Connecticut's third-largest city after the coastal cities of Bridgeport and New Haven. Census Bureau estimates since then have indicated Hartford's fall to fourth place statewide, as a result of sustained population growth in the coastal city of Stamford.
Hartford is nicknamed the "Insurance Capital of the World", as it hosts many insurance company headquarters and insurance is the region's major industry. The city was founded in 1635 and is among the oldest cities in the United States. It is home to the nation's oldest public art museum (Wadsworth Atheneum), the oldest publicly funded park (Bushnell Park), the oldest continuously published newspaper ("The Hartford Courant"), and the second-oldest secondary school (Hartford Public High School). It also is home to Trinity College, a private liberal arts college, and the Mark Twain House where the author wrote his most famous works and raised his family, among other historically significant attractions. Twain wrote in 1868, "Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see this is the chief." |
3olf68ytn91k33fat4axh34zz6jaf2 | Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islands, which consist of(...)Diaoyu Dao, Huangwei Yu, Chiwei Yu, Nanxiao Dao, Beixiao Dao, Nan Yu, Bei Yu, Fei Yu and other islands, are in the northeast of China's Taiwan Island, in the waters between 123deg20'-124deg40'E and 25deg40'-26deg00'N . They belong to the Taiwan Island. The total area of these islands is about 5.69 square kilometers. Diaoyu Dao, in the western tip of the area, covers an area of about 3.91 square kilometers and is the largest island in the area. The highest part on the island stands 362 meters above the sea level. Huangwei Yu, which is about 27 kilometers to the northeast of Diaoyu Dao, is the second largest island in the area, with a total area of about 0.91 square kilometers and a highest height of 117 meters. Chiwei Yu, about 110 kilometers to the northeast of Diaoyu Dao, is the easternmost island in the area. It covers an area of about 0.065 square kilometers and stands 75 meters above the sea level. Ancient ancestors in China first discovered and named Diaoyu Dao through their fishing activities on the sea. In China's historical books, Diaoyu Dao is also called Diaoyu Yu or Diaoyu Tai. The earliest historical record of the names of Diaoyu Dao, Chiwei Yu and other places can be found in the book Voyage with a Tail Wind published in 1403. It shows that China had already discovered and named Diaoyu Dao by the 14th and 15th centuries. These historical reports clearly show that Diaoyu Dao and Chiwei Yu belong to China. The sea waters around Diaoyu Dao is traditionally Chinese fishing ground. Chinese fishermen have been involved in fishing activities in these waters for generations . |
3kms4qqvk2qqfgow5vnmbh7v5xikfr | CHAPTER XI
VON BEHRLING'S FATE
It seemed to Louise that she had scarcely been in bed an hour when the more confidential of her maids--Annette, the Frenchwoman--woke her with a light touch of the arm. She sat up in bed sleepily.
"What is it, Annette?" she asked. "Surely it is not mid-day yet? Why do you disturb me?"
"It is barely nine o'clock, Mademoiselle, but Monsieur Bellamy--Mademoiselle told me that she wished to receive him whenever he came. He is in the boudoir now, and very impatient."
"Did he send any message?"
"Only that his business was of the most urgent," the maid replied.
Louise sighed,--she was really very sleepy. Then, as the thoughts began to crowd into her brain, she began also to remember. Some part of the excitement of a few hours ago returned.
"My bath, Annette, and a dressing-gown," she ordered. "Tell Monsieur Bellamy that I hurry. I will be with him in twenty minutes."
To Bellamy, the twenty minutes were minutes of purgatory. She came at last, however, fresh and eager; her hair tied up with ribbon, she herself clad in a pink dressing-gown and pink slippers.
"David!" she cried,--"my dear David--!"
Then she broke off.
"What is it?" she asked, in a different tone.
He showed her the headlines of the newspaper he was carrying.
"Tragedy!" he answered hoarsely. "Von Behrling was true, after all,--at least, it seems so."
"What has happened?" she demanded.
Bellamy pointed once more to the newspaper.
"He was murdered last night, within fifty yards of the place of our rendezvous." |
3f0bg9b9mpn8ksy7rrq1wx9p4iny7y | I have a friend who is a princess of the piggies. No, really! She lives in a piggy castle and has piggy gowns and piggy balls and a piggy carriage, though no piggy crown. She loves being a princess, but sometimes it gets boring. There's only so much fun to be had walking around a castle. She likes to cook too. So sometimes, she goes to the kitchen. She has a lot of fun in the kitchen making new foods. She likes to pretend she's a cook! Someday she wants to be a piggy princess cook! One of her favorite things to cook is pea soup. She loves soup, and pea soup most of all, even if tomato is pretty good too. She doesn't like vegetable or chicken soup at all. She grows her own peas, mushes them up in the soup, and then stirs it all up with a spoon. She also cooks it on the stove. She loves to cook, and I love to eat. We're best friends! |
3570y55xzpjrdl98kuuv2ami4rhgy7 | Birmingham is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Jefferson County. The city's population was 212,237 in the 2010 United States Census. In the 2010 US Census, the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of about 1,128,047, which is approximately one-quarter of Alabama's population.
Birmingham was founded in 1871, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, through the merger of three pre-existing farm towns, notably, former Elyton. It was named for Birmingham, England, the UK's second largest city and then major industrial city. The Alabama city annexed smaller neighbors and developed as an industrial and railroad transportation center, based on mining, the new iron and steel industry, and railroading. Most of the original settlers who founded Birmingham were of English ancestry. The city was developed as a place where cheap, non-unionized, and African-American labor from rural Alabama could be employed in the city's steel mills and blast furnaces, giving it a competitive advantage over unionized industrial cities in the Midwest and Northeast.
From its founding through the end of the 1960s, Birmingham was a primary industrial center of the southern United States. Its growth from 1881 through 1920 earned its nicknames as "The Magic City" and "The Pittsburgh of the South". Its major industries were iron and steel production, plus a major component of the railroading industry. Rails and railroad cars were both manufactured in Birmingham. Since the 1860s, the two primary hubs of railroading in the Deep South have been nearby Atlanta and Birmingham. The economy diversified in the latter half of the 20th century. Banking, telecommunications, transportation, electrical power transmission, medical care, college education, and insurance have become major economic activities. Birmingham ranks as one of the largest banking centers in the United States and as one of the most important business centers in the Southeast. |
3r0t90iz1sceai83o2c65juz1ylgcb | (CNN) -- The two young women were as different as could be when they met in a small farming village outside Uganda's capital in 2004.
Orphans perform at the opening ceremony for their new home in Mutungo, Uganda.
Brittany Merrill was a 19-year-old Southern Methodist University broadcast journalism student from an affluent family in suburban Atlanta, Georgia.
She was teaching literature in Uganda for the summer when she decided to visit Mutungo, a crowded shantytown of mud huts and wooden shacks, where children in torn clothes ran around in bare feet, and people lingered in the noisy streets to avoid the oppressive heat inside their homes.
At 22 years old, Sarah Kamara felt God had called on her to take in homeless children begging on Mutungo's streets. In addition to her own daughter, Kamara was caring for 23 children in her one-room home. Some were AIDS orphans, others had been abandoned by families who had too many children.
But Kamara took them in, alienating herself from neighbors, relatives and her husband, who briefly separated from her in protest.
Despite Kamara's broken English and Merrill's culture shock, the two found common ground in their compassion for the children, whose zeal for life was unmitigated by the poverty, disease and death that had brought them to Kamara's home.
"They taught me about what is meaningful in this world and gave me purpose," Merrill said of the children. "Their love and faith has challenged my heart. They shook me out of my complacency."
Merrill left Uganda determined to help Kamara realize her dream of opening a full-fledged orphan home, where sets of "mamas" and "uncles" would care for children in separate living spaces, nurturing their emotional, physical and spiritual needs. |
3l4d84milzsfis9ki0badnjv59bhja | A Sudanese woman has been freed from prison a month after being sentenced to die by hanging for refusing to renounce her Christian faith.
"I am a Christian," Meriam Yehya Ibrahim told the judge at her sentencing hearing in May, "and I will remain a Christian."
An appeals court in Sudan ruled that a lower court's judgment against the 27-year-old was faulty, her lawyer, Mohaned Mustafa El-Nour, said Monday. He declined to elaborate.
An international controversy erupted over Ibraham's conviction in May by a Sudanese court on charges of apostasy, or the renunciation of faith, and adultery. Ibrahim was eight months pregnant when was sentenced to suffer 100 lashes and then be hanged.
"I'm so frustrated. I don't know what to do," her husband, Daniel Wani told CNN in May. "I'm just praying." Wani, uses a wheelchair and "totally depends on her for all details of his life," Ibrahim's lawyer said.
Ibrahim was reunited with her husband after getting out of custody, her lawyer said Monday.
Ibrahim gave birth to a girl in a prison last month, two weeks after she was sentenced. She was in the women's prison with her 20-month-old son, but Sudanese officials said the toddler was free to leave at any time, according to her lawyer.
The criminal complaint filed by a brother, a Muslim, said her family was shocked to find out Ibrahim had married a Christian, U.S. citizen Daniel Wani, after she was missing for several years, according to her lawyer. A Muslim woman's marriage to a Christian man is not considered legal in Sudan, thus the adultery charge. |
3r2ur8a0iagq5t0w3hl1o5obt80oxk | (CNN) -- The Renault Formula One team have agreed to pay damages to their former driver Nelson Piquet Jr. and his ex-world champion father after accusing the pair of lying in the controversial "crashgate" affair.
Renault have confirmed on their official website that they were wrong to issue a press release in September 2009, in which they claimed the Piquets had lied by suggesting the team had forced Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
At the time, Piquet Jr. stated he was ordered to crash by team bosses in order to help teammate Fernando Alonso win the race.
And when the case was heard by the World Motor Sport Council, Renault were handed a two-year suspended F1 ban, enabling the pair to sue for libel in British courts.
Admitting they libeled the duo, a Renault statement read: "The team accepts -- as it did before the World Motor Sport Council -- that the allegations made by Nelson Piquet Junior were not false.
"It also accepts that Mr Piquet Junior and his father did not invent these allegations in order to blackmail the team into allowing him to drive for them for the remainder of the 2009 season.
"As a result, these serious allegations contained in our press release were wholly untrue and unfounded, and we withdraw them unequivocally.
"We would like to apologise unreservedly to Mr Piquet Junior and his father for the distress and embarrassment caused as a result.
"As a mark of the sincerity of our apology and regret, we have agreed to pay them a substantial amount of damages for libel as well as their costs, and have undertaken not to repeat these allegations at any time in the future. |
3oonkj5dkcjjsqxvyltjz8xja53ob2 | iTunes ( or ) is a media player, media library, online radio broadcaster, and mobile device management application developed by Apple Inc. It is used to play, download, and organize digital downloads of music and video (as well as other types of media available on the iTunes Store) on personal computers running the macOS and Microsoft Windows operating systems. The iTunes Store is also available on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
Through the iTunes Store, users can purchase and download music, music videos, television shows, audiobooks, podcasts, movies, and movie rentals (in some countries), available on the iPhone and iPod Touch (fourth generation onward). Application software for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch can be downloaded from the App Store. iTunes 12.5 is the most recent major version of iTunes, available for Mac OS X v10.9.5 or later and Windows 7 or later; it was released on September 13, 2016. iTunes 12.2 added Apple Music to the application, along with the Beats 1 radio station, and iTunes 12.5 offers a refinement of the Apple Music interface.
On May 11, 2017, Microsoft announced that iTunes would be coming to the Windows Store by the end of the year.
In the latest version of iTunes released on September 12, 2017 (iTunes 12.7), Apple removed the App Store and Ringtone section of the software. iTunes U was also merged with the podcasts section. |
30mvjzjnhmdm3mr1koni06l7n2x9jj | 12-year-old Robert Looks Twice appears to be the typical all-American boy. He is the quarterback of his school's football team, student council president and one of the top students in his class.
But he hasn't forgotten his Lakota Sioux root. Unlike most children on the reservation , he keeps his hair long, a symbol of strength, and he performs at powwows , traditionally known as wacipis, where he is a champion of the traditional Lakota dance. Robert was inspired to start dancing by his grandfather, John Tail, who had a small role in the famous film about Indian Amercans, Dances with Wolves. Six years ago, John passed away, and Robert wears little wolves on his clothes in his memory.
We are told that his last name, " Looks Twice", came about because his ancestors were cautious and always took a second look.
Robert lives in a trailer with his grandmother, uncle and eight other cousins. When he gives us a tour, the trailer is falling apart. " It is getting ready to cave in ," says Robert about the kitchen floor. The family also put trash bags on the ceiling, because it's leaking. " When it rains it gets all my shirts wet," he says of another leak in his bedroom. Often the electricity goes off and the family have to use the burners on the stove to heat the house.
This kind of poverty is typical of the reservation. The reservation is the third poorest county in America, and Robert's community, Manderson, is known for its high crime rate. But despite all the temptations of drugs and alcohol around him, Robert remain focused on being the first person in his family to go to college and then a very big dream.
" I want to be the first Native American President," Robert said. " I want to build better houses and clean up the reservation, because it's bad. Get people off the drugs and alcohol and spend that money on their children. Build a better school and playground. Try to get a mall down here to help people get work." |
3os46crslfz8cypx36ypjk5zstuv6n | Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, (; ; born 2 March 1931) is a former Soviet statesman. He was the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, having been General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. He was the country's head of state from 1988 until 1991 (titled as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989, as Chairman of the from 1989 to 1990, and as Soviet Union]] from 1990 to 1991).
Gorbachev was born in Stavropol Krai in 1931 into a peasant Ukrainian–Russian family, and in his teens, operated combine harvesters on collective farms. He graduated from Moscow State University in 1955 with a degree in law. While he was at the university, he joined the Communist Party, and soon became very active within it. In 1970, he was appointed the First Party Secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee, First Secretary to the Supreme Soviet in 1974, and appointed a candidate member of the Politburo in 1979. Within three years of the death of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, following the brief "interregna" of Andropov and Chernenko, Gorbachev was elected general secretary by the Politburo in 1985. Before he reached the post, he had occasionally been mentioned in Western newspapers as a likely next leader and a man of the younger generation at the top level. |
3yt88d1n08yvz483l0mka8iy1unk31 | (CNN) -- Donald Sterling has agreed to the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Sterling's attorneys told CNN on Wednesday.
Last week, Sterling's estranged wife, Shelly, agreed to sell the franchise to Ballmer for an NBA record $2 billion. The Sterlings are co-owners of the team through a family trust.
Donald Sterling initially indicated he would fight the sale and filed a lawsuit against the National Basketball Association.
The suit has yet to be withdrawn, attorneys Bobby Samini and Maxwell Blecher, said, but that likely will happen this week.
"Donald Sterling officially announces today, the NBA and Donald Sterling and Shelly Sterling have agreed to sell the Los Angeles Clippers to Steve Ballmer for $2 billion and various additional benefits. All disputes and outstanding issues have been resolved," Samini said in a written statement.
Blecher said he thought that Sterling worked out a resolution with the league or with Shelly Sterling.
The NBA was expected to issue a news release commenting on Wednesday's developments.
As of 8 p.m. ET, the NBA had not received a sale agreement with Donald Sterling's signature, a source with detailed knowledge of the negotiations said. The source said Sterling was in a room with his two attorneys, going through the deal.
NBA owners still have to approve the sale to Ballmer, who has indicated he would keep the team in Los Angeles. Ballmer, according to Forbes magazine, is worth $20.3 billion.
Ballmer has tried to buy a NBA team before. Last year, he and investor Chris Hansen were set to purchase the Sacramento Kings, but the NBA nixed the deal because the duo would have moved the franchise to Seattle. |
35ldd5557a4wlqgdrirz67r42ypkmt | Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) is a free and open international standard file format for 2D vector graphics, raster graphics, and text, and is defined by ISO/IEC 8632.
All graphical elements can be specified in a textual source file that can be compiled into a binary file or one of two text representations. CGM provides a means of graphics data interchange for computer representation of 2D graphical information independent from any particular application, system, platform, or device. CGM was developed by W3C in 1999 As a metafile, i.e., a file containing information that describes or specifies another file, the CGM format has numerous elements to provide functions and to represent entities, so that a wide range of graphical information and geometric primitives can be accommodated. Rather than establish an explicit graphics file format, CGM contains the instructions and data for reconstructing graphical components to render an image using an object-oriented approach.
Although CGM is not widely supported for web pages and has been supplanted by other formats in the graphic arts, it is still prevalent in engineering, aviation, and other technical applications.
The initial CGM implementation was effectively a streamed representation of a sequence of Graphical Kernel System primitive operations. It has been adopted to some extent in the areas of technical illustration and professional design, but has largely been superseded by formats such as SVG and DXF. |
3qavnhz3em463vp6ffdvcg9jw24lah | John is six years old. He can read and write well. But he can't tell the time. His mother, Mrs Brown teaches him many times, but he still can't tell. He would say "breakfast time" "lunchtime" and "teatime" instead of saying eight o'clock, twelve o'clock and four o'clock in the afternoon. His mother doesn't know how to help him One day, John's aunt, Mary, comes to see his mother. His mother tells her about that. His aunt says, "Let me help you. I think I can help him." When John comes home after school, Mary begins to teach him. "Can you _ , John?" she asks. "Yes. One, two, three, four..." John says. "That's fine. Now I put the long hand on twelve and the short hand on one-that is one o'clock If I put the short hand on two, what is the time?" "Two o'clock " "Good. And on three?" "Three o'clock. " Then it is four o'clock in the afternoon, and John's aunt asks him, "What time is it now, John?" "Teatime, Aunt, and I am very hungry ," John looks at the clock and answers. |
3aapld8ucch9wv5puupeft643bjhtw | What do you call a school with no tests, no grades, no classes, and no teachers? Students of the Met School and their parents think it to be the best school in the world. The school is in Rhode Island, USA. Dennis Littky opened it in 1996. He was fired from two other schools, because many parents of the school students were happy with his unusual ideas. The school takes poor kids who are failing at schools. Nearly everybody has already given up these students and their parents want to try anything. The Met School gives Littky a great place to try out his new ideas. "The word that most kids use when they talk about high school is 'boring'," says Littky. "But no one would say the Met was boring." Advisors (not teachers) work with small groups of students for four years. Students spend almost half of their school time learning real-life skills , such as working for business , spending time with government people, and helping teach younger children. Instead of tests, the students give shows about their work outside school. In fact, students work harder here than in other schools. All the students from the Met graduate and can choose to go to a good university . Now, Bill Gates is starting schools like this one around the USA. |
3uj1cz6izhpw128f4sjfgr7sxv6s5i | The United States presidential election of 2000 was the 54th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 7, 2000. Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-incumbent governor of Texas and the eldest son of the 41st President George H. W. Bush, narrowly defeated the Democratic nominee Al Gore, then-incumbent vice president and former Senator for Tennessee, as well as various third-party candidates including Ralph Nader.
Incumbent Democratic President Bill Clinton was ineligible to serve a third term due to term limitations in the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution, and Vice President Gore was able to secure the Democratic nomination with relative ease. Bush was seen as the early favorite for the Republican nomination and, despite a contentious primary battle with Senator John McCain and other candidates, secured the nomination by Super Tuesday. Bush chose former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney as his running mate, while Gore chose Senator Joe Lieberman as his. Both major party candidates focused primarily on domestic issues, such as the budget, tax relief, and reforms for federal social insurance programs, although foreign policy was not ignored. Clinton and Gore often did not campaign together, a deliberate decision resulting from the Lewinsky sex scandal two years prior. |
3vfjci1k4zzigkxm6z21uetl16srga | Bob was only seven years old. One night Bob was at home alone while his parents were out for a party. He had often stayed alone before,so he wasn't afraid. As he waited for his parents to return home,he watched a film on TV. His eyes became heavier and heavier as time passed by. Suddenly Bob's eyes opened wide--what was the sound in the next room? Bob heard the window being opened slowly. For a minute,Bob was so frightened that he could not move,and his body felt like ice. He knew that he couldn't lose his head and began to think of the things he could do. Again he heard the sound of someone trying to climb into his home through the window. Bob's drums were standing in the corner near the TV. "Wait,maybe there is something I can do,"thought Bob. He beat on his drums as hard as he could. The sound was so terrible that Bob surprised even himself. He also surprised the man in the window,who ran away as fast as possible.How clever he was! |
36tfcyns44agdce9z4qb4wrahmbxhu | The United Nations Environment Programme is an agency of United Nations and coordinates its environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded by Maurice Strong, its first director, as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Conference) in June 1972 and Environment has overall responsibility for environmental problems among United Nations agencies but international talks on specialized issues, such as addressing climate change or combating desertification, are overseen by other UN organizations, like the Bonn-based Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. UN Environment activities cover a wide range of issues regarding the atmosphere, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, environmental governance and green economy. It has played a significant role in developing international environmental conventions, promoting environmental science and information and illustrating the way those can be implemented in conjunction with policy, working on the development and implementation of policy with national governments, regional institutions in conjunction with environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs). UN Environment has also been active in funding and implementing environment related development projects.
UN Environment has aided in the formulation of guidelines and treaties on issues such as the international trade in potentially harmful chemicals, transboundary air pollution, and contamination of international waterways. Relevant documents, including scientific papers, are available via the UNEP Document Repository. |
3tycr1gotcj743xer7tut90s60qlzo | Anguilla is a British overseas territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The territory consists of the main island of Anguilla, approximately 16 miles (26 km) long by 3 miles (5 km) wide at its widest point, together with a number of much smaller islands and cays with no permanent population. The island's capital is The Valley. The total land area of the territory is 35 square miles (90 km), with a population of approximately ( estimate).
Anguilla has become a popular tax haven, having no capital gains, estate, profit or other forms of direct taxation on either individuals or corporations. In April 2011, faced with a mounting deficit, it introduced a 3% "Interim Stabilisation Levy", Anguilla's first form of income tax.
On 7 September 2017, the Category 5 Hurricane Irma hit the island. As of the next day, one death had been reported; the island also sustained extensive damage to many buildings, including government ones, as well as its electricity infrastructure and water supply. The UK government summarized this as "severe and in places critical" damage. A few days later, Hurricane Jose largely bypassed Anguilla. |
30og32w0subzh8937xvwlr3zmcynec | "Tammy! Come here, please! Mother needs your help in the kitchen." Her father called out to her. Tammy was in her room, getting ready to do her homework. "Yes, Daddy!" she replied. "I'll be right there." She hurried out of her bedroom and down the hallway. She was only nine years old. Her elder sister, Ella, had just moved away to go to a performing arts high school in another city. Her brother, Harry, was in middle school and always got home late. With Ella leaving home, Tammy was expected to do a lot more than she had ever done before, especially now, because her mother was ill. Her father was in the kitchen. "Tammy, I know you usually do your homework right now, but with things being different, we all have to change a little bit. I'll help you and Harry with your homework later on, OK?" Her father had an apron on over his clothes, and he looked kind of funny. He was doing the dishes and he always splashed water all over when he did that. After helping her father with the dishes, Tammy helped set the table. After supper, her father helped her and Harry with their homework, and then they played a board game so that their mother could lie down for a while. The next morning, Tammy got up early on her own because she wanted to help her mother with breakfast. She made orange juice and even put bread in the toaster and got out the butter so that her mother could sleep for a few more minutes. When her mother got up half an hour later, she was very surprised and moved to see the breakfast on the dining table. She gave Tammy a big hug. "Thank you, Tammy. You really are mother's little helper now, aren't you?" |
3bdcf01ogxu7zdn9vlrbf2rq011ly2 | Stephen Hawking was born on January 8, 1942. He is known for his contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity , especially in the context of black holes. He experienced extreme difficulties and obstacles in his life, which only made him stronger. Finally he contributed much to the careers he devoted to and became one of the most famous scientists in the world.
Hawking was outstanding in his school life. After a successful period of education at St. Albans School, the entrance of Oxford opened to him. In March 1959, at the age of 17, Hawking took the scholarship examination with the aim of studying natural sciences at Oxford. Then Hawking went to Cambridge to do research in cosmology.
When Stephen Hawking was dreaming about his future, he faced extreme difficulties and obstacles. Symptoms of disorder first appeared while he was enrolled at Cambridge; he lost his balance and fell down a flight of stairs, hitting his head. The diagnosis of motor neuron disease came when Hawking was 21, shortly before his first marriage, and doctors said he would not survive more than two or three years. Hawking gradually lost the use of his arms, legs, and voice, and is now almost completely paralyzed .
Despite his disease, he describes himself as "lucky" --- not only has time to make influential discoveries, but also has, in his own words, "a very attractive family".
As someone has said, when we meet frustration, someone fights, someone cries, someone escapes, someone tries. Hawking succeeds because he tries. |
37z929rlg98ym4j55o1dj7d6dz7tsr | CHAPTER SEVEN
AMY'S VALLEY OF HUMILIATION
"That boy is a perfect cyclops, isn't he?" said Amy one day, as Laurie clattered by on horseback, with a flourish of his whip as he passed.
"How dare you say so, when he's got both his eyes? And very handsome ones they are, too," cried Jo, who resented any slighting remarks about her friend.
"I didn't say anything about his eyes, and I don't see why you need fire up when I admire his riding."
"Oh, my goodness! That little goose means a centaur, and she called him a Cyclops," exclaimed Jo, with a burst of laughter.
"You needn't be so rude, it's only a 'lapse of lingy', as Mr. Davis says," retorted Amy, finishing Jo with her Latin. "I just wish I had a little of the money Laurie spends on that horse," she added, as if to herself, yet hoping her sisters would hear.
"Why?" asked Meg kindly, for Jo had gone off in another laugh at Amy's second blunder.
"I need it so much. I'm dreadfully in debt, and it won't be my turn to have the rag money for a month."
"In debt, Amy? What do you mean?" And Meg looked sober.
"Why, I owe at least a dozen pickled limes, and I can't pay them, you know, till I have money, for Marmee forbade my having anything charged at the shop."
"Tell me all about it. Are limes the fashion now? It used to be pricking bits of rubber to make balls." And Meg tried to keep her countenance, Amy looked so grave and important. |
3gdtjdapvubcqpecituwg2id6l4m8u | (CNN) -- Oscar Pistorius faced another day of relentless cross-examination Friday as the prosecution challenged his account of the killing of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel has accused the athlete of hiding the truth about the death of Steenkamp, whom he shot last year through a closed toilet door in his home in Pretoria, South Africa.
His questions again sought to undermine Pistorius' reliability and credibility and to portray the Olympic athlete as someone who was inventing his version of events and "tailoring" evidence to suit his story.
As Nel turned once again to the early hours of Valentine's Day 2013, he repeatedly challenged Pistorius over his actions in the moments leading up to Steenkamp's death.
The prosecution's argument is that Pistorius shot Steenkamp intentionally after a heated argument. Pistorius does not deny shooting her but insists that he mistook her for an intruder.
Pistorius said he thought he heard the toilet door opening before he fired.
"I didn't intend to shoot. My firearm was pointed at the door because that's where I believed that somebody was," he said. "When I heard a noise, I didn't have to think, and I fired -- I fired my weapon. It was an accident."
Nel, known in South African legal circles for his bulldog-like approach to cross-examination, responded to Pistorius' testimony almost with scorn.
"Your version is so improbable that nobody would ever think that it was reasonably, possibly true," he said.
Nel then hammered Pistorius on whether he had known Steenkamp was in the toilet when he fired. |
3bf51chdtva8gm8yws14vi4z7fq0h2 | Aristocracy (Greek ἀριστοκρατία "aristokratía", from ἄριστος "" "excellent", and κράτος "" "power") is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class. The term derives from the Greek "aristokratia", meaning "rule of the best".
At the time of the word's origins in ancient Greece, the Greeks conceived it as rule by the best qualified citizens—and often contrasted it favourably with monarchy, rule by an individual. In later times, aristocracy was usually seen as rule by a privileged group, the aristocratic class, and was contrasted with democracy.
The concept evolved in Ancient Greece, whereby a council of leading citizens was commonly empowered and contrasted with representative democracy, in which a council of citizens was appointed as the "senate" of a city state or other political unit. The Greeks did not like the concept of monarchy, and as their democratic system fell, aristocracy was upheld.
In Ancient Rome, the Republic consisted of an aristocracy—as well as consuls, a senate, and a tribal assembly. In the Middle Ages and early modern era, aristocracies primarily consisted of an influential aristocratic class, privileged by birth, and often by wealth, land and property. Since the French Revolution, aristocracy has generally been contrasted with democracy, in which all citizens should hold some form of political power. However, this distinction is often oversimplified. |
30budkltxdvvrj3x3xzara3dvz65es | Leah Catches a Fish
Leah loved to eat fish as a young girl. She saw fish as good food. But she asked, "Where do fish come from?" "People have to catch them," Daddy said." Leah wanted to know how to catch a fish.
"People have caught fish from a pole, line, and hook for a long time," Daddy said." "I am about to show you how to that."
"Let's take a lunch with us," Daddy said. Leah chose some fries with ketchup and a bean sandwich. Leah also like sweets. She brought some candy bears. Leah has strange tastes.
Daddy drove to a nearby lake. It was early. Leah was yawning in daddy's car.
The people at the lake had special times for young people learning to fish. They talked with Leah about them. Leah was excited.
Daddy took Leah to a small spot on the lake. Daddy showed Leah how to put a worm on the hook as something to get the fish. Daddy said other like things like grasshoppers, corn, or tiny fish could also get the fish.
Leah lifted her pole and dropped her line in the water. The small red and white float was there on the water. It was easy to see that from the blue water and sunny sky.
Leah said, "Daddy I'm bored."
Daddy told her that sometimes you need to wait.
After a short wait, the float went under!
"Leah, you have a fish!" Daddy yelled.
Leah lifted up her line and took the small fish out of the water.
"Daddy, I can catch fish", she happily said. |
3vzlgyjeyla24xe35qwi43vfdakxz8 | CHAPTER XXXIV
The lamps were lit; their luster reflected itself in the polished wood; good wine was passed round the dinner-table; before the meal was far advanced civilization had triumphed, and Mr. Hilbery presided over a feast which came to wear more and more surely an aspect, cheerful, dignified, promising well for the future. To judge from the expression in Katharine's eyes it promised something--but he checked the approach sentimentality. He poured out wine; he bade Denham help himself.
They went upstairs and he saw Katharine and Denham abstract themselves directly Cassandra had asked whether she might not play him something--some Mozart? some Beethoven? She sat down to the piano; the door closed softly behind them. His eyes rested on the closed door for some seconds unwaveringly, but, by degrees, the look of expectation died out of them, and, with a sigh, he listened to the music.
Katharine and Ralph were agreed with scarcely a word of discussion as to what they wished to do, and in a moment she joined him in the hall dressed for walking. The night was still and moonlit, fit for walking, though any night would have seemed so to them, desiring more than anything movement, freedom from scrutiny, silence, and the open air.
"At last!" she breathed, as the front door shut. She told him how she had waited, fidgeted, thought he was never coming, listened for the sound of doors, half expected to see him again under the lamp-post, looking at the house. They turned and looked at the serene front with its gold-rimmed windows, to him the shrine of so much adoration. In spite of her laugh and the little pressure of mockery on his arm, he would not resign his belief, but with her hand resting there, her voice quickened and mysteriously moving in his ears, he had not time--they had not the same inclination--other objects drew his attention. |
3cp1to84pt13w3rhad49p9uoz3g252 | CHAPTER XX
Julian and Furley left the place together. They looked for the Bishop but found that he had slipped away.
"To Downing Street, I believe," Furley remarked. "He has some vague idea of suggesting a compromise."
"Compromise!" Julian repeated a little drearily. "How can there be any such thing! There might be delay. I think we ought to have given Stenson a week--time to communicate with America and send a mission to France."
"We are like all theorists," Furley declared moodily, stopping to relight his pipe. "We create and destroy on palter with amazing facility. When it comes to practice, we are funks."
"Are you funking this?" Julian asked bluntly.
"How can any one help it? Theoretically we are right--I am sure of it. If we leave it to the politicians, this war will go dragging on for God knows how long. It's the people who are paying. It's the people who ought to make the peace. The only thing that bothers me is whether we are doing it the right way. Is Freistner honest? Could he be self-deceived? Is there any chance that he could be playing into the hands of the Pan-Germans?"
"Fenn is the man who has had most to do with him," Julian remarked. "I wouldn't trust Fenn a yard, but I believe in Freistner."
"So do I," Furley assented, "but is Fenn's report of his promises and the strength of his followers entirely honest?"
"That's the part of the whole thing I don't like," Julian acknowledged. "Fenn's practically the corner stone of this affair. It was he who met Freistner in Amsterdam and started these negotiations, and I'm damned if I like Fenn, or trust him. Did you see the way he looked at Stenson out of the corners of his eyes, like a little ferret? Stenson was at his best, too. I never admired the man more." |
3xxu1swe8mvt6z0kqmrcewhvul30aw | CHAPTER V
FOLLOWING A TRAIL
Frank had started early for a walk with one of his school friends. Returning through the town at three in the afternoon, he saw people talking in groups. They presently met one of their chums.
"What is going on, Vincent?"
"Why, have you not heard? Faulkner, the magistrate, has been shot."
"Shot!" the two boys exclaimed. "Do you mean on purpose or accidentally?"
"On purpose. The servants heard a gun fired close by, and a minute later his horse galloped up to the door. Two men ran along the drive, and, not a hundred yards from the house, found him lying shot through the body. Three of the doctors went off at once. Thompson came back ten minutes ago, for some instruments, I believe. He stopped his gig for a moment to speak to the Rector, and I hear he told him that it might be as well for him to go up at once, as there was very little probability of Faulkner's living through the night."
"Well, I can't say that I am surprised," Frank said. "He has made himself so disliked, there are so many men who have a grudge against him, and he has been threatened so often, that I have heard fellows say dozens of times he would be shot some day. And yet I suppose no one ever really thought that it would come true; anyhow it is a very bad affair."
Leaving the other two talking together, Frank went on home. Mrs. Troutbeck was greatly shocked at the news. |
3uouji6mtdeliyktz3xanbg0bpwux1 | (TIME.com) -- Two of Emily Cunningham's three children have food allergies. And protecting her kids is taking toll on the family budget.
When she was nine months old, Cunningham's four-year-old daughter Elena ate a spoonful of yogurt and broke out in hives. Elena is allergic to eggs, tree nuts, dairy and peanuts, and even brief contact with one of the these hard-to-avoid items is all it takes to set off a potentially life-threatening immune reaction.
Cunningham's eight-month-old son Wyatt has a bad dairy allergy too.
In order to keep their kids safe and healthy, Emily Cunningham, a stay-at-home mother from Charlotte, North Carolina who writes the AllergenMenuMom blog, and her husband keep a completely allergy-free home, buying only food products that are free of any trace of their children's triggers.
But that protection comes at a high price. Between breathing medications and epipens of epinephrine, a drug used to treat anaphylactic shock, the Cunninghams spend about $1,000 a month to safeguard their children from their allergies, and that's before the grocery bill. Emily estimates her family spends $80 a month just on rice milk.
TIME.com: How nut allergies made me monogamous
About 4% to 6% of U.S. children under age 18 have food allergies, and the latest statistics show this percentage may be on the rise.
Why so many kids are experiencing allergies to common food items still isn't clear, although experts suspect that some of the trend can be attributed to improved public health and sanitation efforts that may have made us too clean to build strong enough immunity to common allergens found in food and the environment. Kids not eating things like nuts and shellfish at an earlier age may also contribute to the rise in food allergies. |
32z9zlut1lktj30hyd3flj0h5jdhoi | Chapter 9
TWO PLACES VACATED
Set down by the omnibus at the corner of Saint Mary Axe, and trusting to her feet and her crutch-stick within its precincts, the dolls' dressmaker proceeded to the place of business of Pubsey and Co. All there was sunny and quiet externally, and shady and quiet internally. Hiding herself in the entry outside the glass door, she could see from that post of observation the old man in his spectacles sitting writing at his desk.
'Boh!' cried the dressmaker, popping in her head at the glass-door. 'Mr Wolf at home?'
The old man took his glasses off, and mildly laid them down beside him. 'Ah Jenny, is it you? I thought you had given me up.'
'And so I had given up the treacherous wolf of the forest,' she replied; 'but, godmother, it strikes me you have come back. I am not quite sure, because the wolf and you change forms. I want to ask you a question or two, to find out whether you are really godmother or really wolf. May I?'
'Yes, Jenny, yes.' But Riah glanced towards the door, as if he thought his principal might appear there, unseasonably.
'If you're afraid of the fox,' said Miss Jenny, 'you may dismiss all present expectations of seeing that animal. HE won't show himself abroad, for many a day.'
'What do you mean, my child?'
'I mean, godmother,' replied Miss Wren, sitting down beside the Jew, 'that the fox has caught a famous flogging, and that if his skin and bones are not tingling, aching, and smarting at this present instant, no fox did ever tingle, ache, and smart.' Therewith Miss Jenny related what had come to pass in the Albany, omitting the few grains of pepper. |
3e7tuj2egcm900r9as17x8quifs9dr | On the Origin of Species, published on 24 November 1859, is a work of scientific literature by Charles Darwin which is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Darwin's book introduced the scientific theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. It presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution. Darwin included evidence that he had gathered on the Beagle expedition in the 1830s and his subsequent findings from research, correspondence, and experimentation.
Various evolutionary ideas had already been proposed to explain new findings in biology. There was growing support for such ideas among dissident anatomists and the general public, but during the first half of the 19th century the English scientific establishment was closely tied to the Church of England, while science was part of natural theology. Ideas about the transmutation of species were controversial as they conflicted with the beliefs that species were unchanging parts of a designed hierarchy and that humans were unique, unrelated to other animals. The political and theological implications were intensely debated, but transmutation was not accepted by the scientific mainstream. |
3dpnqgw4llf9il6ijax2au5mfcu46n | CHAPTER VI.
NOT IN LOVE.
Reginald Morton, as he walked across the bridge towards the house, was thoroughly disgusted with all the world. He was very angry with himself, feeling that he had altogether made a fool of himself by his manner. He had shown himself to be offended, not only by Mr. Twentyman, but by Miss Masters also, and he was well aware, as he thought of it all, that neither of them had given him any cause of offence. If she chose to make an appointment for a walk with Mr. Lawrence Twentyman and to keep it, what was that to him? His anger was altogether irrational, and he knew that it was so. What right had he to have an opinion about it if Mary Masters should choose to like the society of Mr. Twentyman? It was an affair between her and her father and mother in which he could have no interest; and yet he had not only taken offence, but was well aware that he had shown his feeling.
Nevertheless, as to the girl herself, he could not argue himself out of his anger. It was grievous to him that he should have gone out of his way to ask her to walk with him just at the moment when she was expecting this vulgar lover,--for that she had expected him he felt no doubt. Yet he had heard her disclaim any intention of walking with the man! But girls are sly, especially when their lovers are concerned. It made him sore at heart to feel that this girl should be sly, and doubly sore to think that she should have been able to love such a one as Lawrence Twentyman. |
38f5oaun5ncmyx8ihrmdaxemfuah7z | Steve Jobs, the designer of Apple Computer, wasn't smart when he was at school. At that time, he was not a good student and he always made trouble with his schoolmates. Then he dropped out . But he was full of new ideas. After he left college, Steve Jobs worked as a video game designer. He worked there for only several months and then he went to India. He hoped that the trip would give him some new ideas and give him a change in life. Steve Jobs lived on a farm in California for a year after he returned from India. In 1975, he began to make a new type of computer. He designed the Apple computer with his friend . He chose the name"Apple"just because it could help him to remember a happy summer he once spent in an apple tree garden. His Apple computer was such a great success that Steve Jobs soon became famous all over the world. ,. |
3y54sxro1lle1hb9utwdy8vuxnetua | Two best friends lived in a small town. They grew up together and did everything together. One boy was named James, and he was a cute, fat kid who was always picked on. And then the other boy was named Alex, and he was handsome and cool. They were opposites, but they didn't care. Alex would always protect James from the bullies because James was weak.
One day, James was being teased by the bullies, Gordon and Johnny, but Alex wasn't there to save him. James didn't know what to do and was scared. But then he remembered all of the times Alex stood up for him. James looked up to Alex and he thought of him as his hero. James wanted to protect himself and not have Alex always come to help. So this time, James got up and was brave. He stood up to Gordon and Johnny and told them that he wasn't scared. The bullies didn't know what to do and then gave up. They went away to look for more fun things to do. Alex saw the whole thing and was proud of James for being brave.
Now James and Alex protect each other and stand up for each other. They still are the best of friends. |
3u088zljvktqdc3nrrn4wlemmu30wk | Julio loves to visit his grandmother.He doesn't get to visit her very often because his family lives in a city that is six hours away.His grandmother lives in a big wooden house on a farm .It is old and looks as if it has secret hiding places .
On the third Sunday of June ,Julio's parents took him to his grandmother's .Since it was summer vacation ,he was going to stay at grandmother's for a whole mother ! His cousins Mario and Linda would soon be arriving .They would also be staying at their grandmother's this summer.
A big porch wraps around two sides of the house .Julio sat in the porch swing .He could see the trees that circle the house.They had been planted as a windbreak .They protect the house from the wind and blowing dirt .The house is in the middle of a large ,flat field.
Julio watched the dirt road that leads to the house .He couldn't wait for his cousins to get there !Mario was his age ,and Linda was a year younger .They had fun together .Last summer they spent one whole morning making a fort out of sacks of seed .Then Uncle Henry had taken them on a tractor ride.
Julio remembered another time with his cousins .They had gone out to explode the fields.Julio touched an electric fence and got a shock .Then they found an old snakeskin .Nothing like that ever happened at his own home!
Julio could smell the dinner that his grandmother was cooking .It made him hungry.
Finally he saw a cloud of dust coming up the road."They 're here! There're here!" He shouted. |
3b2x28yi3wft3krryp7pi8bspwh6bl | Steven Spielberg's new movie Lincolnpaints a vivid and breath-taking picture of the 16th U.S. president and his determination to end slavery. Spielberg based his film on parts ofTeam of Rivals, a book by Doris Kearns Goodwin. He makes Abraham Lincoln relevant today by presenting a cunning political mind trying to overcome Washington's all too familiar political divisions.
In previous movies, Lincoln was shown as a simple yet almost perfect man. But Spielberg's Lincolnis different. "I was determined to make a movie about a working president dealing with real problems. Not some angel," Spielberg said.
We watch the president first ending slavery and then the war.
The film's adviser, historian Eric Martin, explains how Lincoln's thinking evolved.
"His main objective when the war began was not the freeing of the slaves but to keep the country united. Lincoln realizes that in order to keep the country together, the question of slavery will have to be addressed," Martin said.
The film focuses on the last four months of his presidency.
In the movie, the arguments among political enemies seem very similar to the problems we see in Washington today. The disagreements were bitter.
The film turns to Lincoln's relationships with his wife and kids, his beliefs and constant self-examination. Daniel Day-Lewis, the actor who plays Lincoln, offers an Oscar-worthy performance as the 16th President. Not only is his physical similarity to the president incredible, he is able to capture many of Lincoln's mannerisms and his high-pitched, almost lady-like voice.
"I found it very easy to play the role of Lincoln because the real man himself was so open. When I was researching his history to prepare for the part, one of the most surprising things I found was just how accessible he was. Even in war-time, when he was in great danger, he was always willing to meet with others and share his ideas," Day-Lewis said.
Spielberg's Lincolnwill head to the Oscars. But more important it will make history. |
33cid57104t6jaql60ylp8vdr8w3lk | 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. |
3mb8lzr5bftcf8ysr6qk6ucf2s8lkz | CHAPTER XLIV.
BROOKE BURGESS TAKES LEAVE OF EXETER.
[Illustration]
The time had arrived at which Brooke Burgess was to leave Exeter. He had made his tour through the county, and returned to spend his two last nights at Miss Stanbury's house. When he came back Dorothy was still at Nuncombe, but she arrived in the Close the day before his departure. Her mother and sister had wished her to stay at Nuncombe. "There is a bed for you now, and a place to be comfortable in," Priscilla had said, laughing, "and you may as well see the last of us." But Dorothy declared that she had named a day to her aunt, and that she would not break her engagement. "I suppose you can stay if you like," Priscilla had urged. But Dorothy was of opinion that she ought not to stay. She said not a word about Brooke Burgess; but it may be that it would have been matter of regret to her not to shake hands with him once more. Brooke declared to her that had she not come back he would have gone over to Nuncombe to see her; but Dorothy did not consider herself entitled to believe that.
On the morning of the last day Brooke went over to his uncle's office. "I've come to say good-bye, Uncle Barty," he said.
"Good-bye, my boy. Take care of yourself."
"I mean to try."
"You haven't quarrelled with the old woman,--have you?" said Uncle Barty.
"Not yet;--that is to say, not to the knife." |
3qfufysy9yf51eztk30640iz89n4fc | (CNN) -- The stepmother of a missing 10-year-old North Carolina girl joined police as they searched for the girl's body Monday, the same day the girl's father landed behind bars.
Elisa Baker, who police said last week admitted to writing a fake ransom note a day after the girl's disappearance was reported, was taken by police to a search site near a home she lived in three years ago, according to CNN affiliate WSOC.
Earlier on Monday, shortly after 3 a.m., Adam Troy Baker was arrested in Catawba County on eight charges, including five counts of submitting worthless checks and three counts of failing to appear in court.
Police earlier acknowledged that Adam Baker faced bad-check charges, which are unrelated to the disappearance of his daughter, Zahra Clare Baker. But they did not initially arrest him, as he had been helping authorities in their search.
Zahra was reported missing October 9. But no one other than a family member has reported seeing her since September 25, when a woman saw her at a furniture store.
Elisa Baker was arrested on October 10, initially on several charged unrelated charges, including writing worthless checks. Last week, she was additionally charged with obstruction of justice -- a felony -- after leaving the ransom note at the family's home.
Authorities on Friday ended an unsuccessful search at a North Carolina landfill for a mattress connected to Zahra's disappearance, said police in Hickory.
The adolescent's disappearance is being investigated as a homicide, police said. Local, state and federal authorities, along with cadaver dogs, are continuing to search Caldwell County and thereabouts for signs of Zahra. |
3uj1cz6izhpw128f4sjfgr7sxzys5i | Jack Johnson is one of the most popular singer-songwriters in the world. Jack was born on May 18, 1975 in Hawaii. Being the son of a famous surfer, Jack naturally has an interest in surfing. Most of his life lessons were learned in the water. At the age of 17, Jack entered the finals of the Pineline Masters---the world's most famous surfing competition. Everyone thought Jack would become a professional surfer like his father. Unluckily, one month later, he had a deadly accident while surfing and was seriously hurt. Life is like a revolving door. When it closes, it also opens. Jack started to practice playing the guitar and write songs when he was staying in hospital. At first, his father thought Jack only did it for fun, but soon he was surprised at the great progress his son had made. When studying in the university, Jack didn't stop practicing his guitar skills. He played the guitar for school parties. He wrote songs and sang for his teachers and friends. They liked his songs. His first music album Brushfire Fairytalescame out in 2001. It was a great success. His second album,On and On, was much like his first one. They were filled with sweet, easy-going songs that everybody liked listening to. Later, Jack had lots of concerts in and out of America. He became popular all over the world. Jack had five albums by 2010 and more than 15 million copies of them were sold. His music doesn't fit into any of the popular music styles like pop, rock, R&B or hip-hop. It is more like fold music, played with a guitar and beautiful voice. When listening to his songs, you feel like lying on the beach enjoying the warm sunshine. Jack is a talent, though he himself says he is only a surfer who loves music. In his songs we can find his secret of success: Whatever happens in our lives, we have to accept it and do the best we can. |
3k772s5np8b77cns4z0jg76301veh2 | Betty and I are best friends. Our birthdays are on the same day, so every year we have a birthday party together. But this year we had a costume party instead. While we were writing the invitations, my mom came in and asked, "Nancy, what about inviting John?" John had been in our class for only a few months, but he was already getting better grades in math than anyone else in our class. "Mom, he wears the same pants to school every day. How could he even afford a costume?" Mom said nothing. The next day, mom gave me an envelope with a shopping card in it. "I thought it would be nice for you to give this to John." Mom said. But how? We didn't want to make John embarrassed. We discussed it for a long time. Finally, Betty and I had a good idea. On the day of our party, John arrived, in an old sheet ,but still in the same brown pants as usual. Before eating the birthday cake, Betty said in a loud voice, "Now it's time for the great prize game." It was a math game. None of us were surprised when John gave the right answer first and walked off with the envelope. Everything went well as we planned. John wore a new pair of pants and a new shirt the next week. He felt happy. So did we. |
3h8dhmccw9bthwa0epswnh4ativkd5 | LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A will from Michael Jackson written in 2002 has been located, but it may be one of several, the Jackson family lawyer said Tuesday.
Though a 2002 Michael Jackson will has been located, the family's lawyer says there may be others.
"We need a certain amount of time to look at that," lawyer Londell McMillan said, referring to whether other wills exist. "I don't personally know, but it's possible."
Until now, the Jackson family has said it has not seen a will for the singer.
Without a legal will, the division of his estate would be decided in court.
The 2002 will surfaced Monday after a Los Angeles judge gave the singer's mother, Katherine Jackson, temporary control of her son's "tangible personal property."
The pop icon's three children -- ages 7, 11 and 12 -- were also placed under the temporary guardianship of Katherine Jackson.
McMillan said he has seen the will but would not disclose its details.
"There is a process called 'probating the will' that will validate any will in due course," he said.
Probate is the legal process to prove whether a will is authentic and valid. The process is used to pass on items in the will from the deceased to the beneficiaries.
The biological mother of Jackson's two oldest children, Debbie Rowe, will be invited to a hearing Monday in which the judge will consider who should have custody of them. She has not publicly indicated whether she will challenge the Jacksons for custody. |
3nkqq8o39y57ksfc83wyt4d8uzbud9 | CHAPTER XIX.
"IS IT TANTI?"
Reginald Morton entertained serious thoughts of cleansing himself from the reproach which Larry cast upon him when describing his character to his mother. "I think I shall take to hunting," he said to Mary.
"But you'll tumble off, dear."
"No doubt I shall, and I must try to begin in soft places. I don't see why I shouldn't do it gradually in a small way. I shouldn't ever become a Nimrod, like Lord Rufford or your particular friend Mr. Twentyman."
"He is my particular friend."
"So I perceive. I couldn't shine as he shines, but I might gradually learn to ride after him at a respectful distance. A man at Rome ought to do as the Romans do."
"Why wasn't Hoppet Hall Rome as much as Bragton?"
"Well;--it wasn't. While fortune enabled me to be happy at Hoppet Hall--"
"That is unkind, Reg."
"While fortune oppressed me with celibate misery at Hoppet Hall, nobody hated me for not hunting;--and as I could not very well afford it, I was not considered to be entering a protest against the amusement. As it is now I find that unless I consent to risk my neck at any rate five or six times every winter, I shall be regarded in that light."
"I wouldn't be frightened into doing anything I didn't like," said Mary.
"How do you know that I shan't like it? The truth is I have had a letter this morning from a benevolent philosopher which has almost settled the question for me. He wants me to join a society for the suppression of British sports as being barbarous and antipathetic to the intellectual pursuits of an educated man. I would immediately shoot, fish, hunt and go out ratting, if I could hope for the least success. I know I should never shoot anything but the dog and the gamekeepers, and that I should catch every weed in the river; but I think that in the process of seasons I might jump over a hedge." |
336kav9kyqs1yr11lf9606shu512yt | Flanders is the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium, although there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, language, politics and history. It is one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. The demonym associated with Flanders is Fleming, while the corresponding adjective is Flemish. The official capital of Flanders is Brussels, although Brussels itself has an independent regional government, and the government of Flanders only oversees the community aspects of Brussels life such as (Flemish) culture and education.
In historical contexts, Flanders originally refers to the County of Flanders (Flandria), which around AD 1000 stretched from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary. The core of historical Flanders is situated within modern-day Flanders and corresponds to the provinces West Flanders and East Flanders, but it sometimes stretched into what is now France and the Netherlands. Nevertheless, during the 19th and 20th centuries it became increasingly commonplace to use the term "Flanders" to refer to the entire Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, stretching all the way to the River Maas, as well as cultural movements such as Flemish art. In accordance with late 20th century Belgian state reforms the area was made into two political entities: the "Flemish Community" () and the "Flemish Region" (). These entities were merged, although geographically the Flemish Community, which has a broader cultural mandate, covers Brussels, whereas the Flemish Region does not. |
3hfnh7hemhei4jimtkd1pojg5argqf | On Sundays my father always wore that dull gray apron - the one with the race cars all over it. The ritual began after breakfast when Dad always announced: "Go ahead everyone. I'll take care of the dishes!" With that my mother disappeared into the folds of the Sunday paper. Off came the suit coat he had worn to church that morning. Up went the shirtsleeves. On went that apron. For the next hour Dad did the dishes, singing ballads like "I Had a Hat When I Came In" and "Who Put the Chow in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder?"
I suppose it was strange for a boy's father to wear an apron - even one with race cars - but I never thought much of it until the day that Dad broke with tradition. It was the last Sunday in August. My father seemed in an expansive mood as we walked home from church together.
"Tommy," he said letting my name roll off his tongue. My mind raced ahead of his words: The birds and the bees? A new bike? A part-time job?
"There comes a time in every boy's life when he must take on responsibilities." This was important. I might even get to back the car out of the driveway.
"Responsibilities?" I asked.
"Yes. It's time you took a greater role in the household." Power tools? Boss my baby brother?
"Starting today, I want you to do the dishes on Sunday morning so your mother and I can work the crossword puzzle together."
"The dishes!?"
"Anything wrong with taking over the dishes, son?"
I started to say something about a man's job or woman's work, but I knew immediately that my protests would fall on deaf ears.
I didn't taste a bit of breakfast that morning. Dad seemed in a jovial mood as he described an exceptional Yankee game seen through the eyes of Mel Allen on the radio last night.
"Mickey Mantle drove the ball right over the center field wall," he said. "Just a straight line climb in right out of the stadium." He looked out the window as if trying to pick the ball out of the cloud formations. I tried to imagine Mickey Mantle wearing an apron.
Suddenly, everything grew quiet. My sister began to clear the table. My brother was scraping the last of the egg from his plate. And then that ancient family ritual that had filled so many Sunday mornings came to an end. My father announced: "Let's go read the paper, Hon."
"Aren't you doing the dishes?" my mother asked in puzzlement.
"Your oldest son has generously offered to fill the position."
My brother and sister stopped cold. So this was what my life had come to. A dark angel sat on my left shoulder and reminded me that I could hit a baseball farther than anyone in my class. I could bench-press my weight. I knew three declensions in Latin, the language of Caesar. Ask me to run through a rainstorm. Command me to ride the roller coaster - backward. These things I would do. But I could never do those dishes. There was nothing left but to refuse.
People often say there is a special chemistry between a father and a son. He came back into the kitchen just as I was about to storm out. He had loosened his tie and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt - ready to relax. In his right hand was the old apron.
"I want you to have this, Tommy. It'll keep your clothes from getting wet." And before I could mount a protest, he had put the thing on me. "Thanks, Son. Your mother and I appreciate this."
With that he disappeared into the Sunday paper. I looked down at the plastic. It had seen better days. I could see my dad reaching for the dishes. The dark angel flew off. Soon I was singing about Mrs. Murphy's chowder. The words came out of nowhere. And out of nowhere I knew the kind of man I wanted to be. |
30lsnf239uvf8rmwhxn3eiyt4kji2f | Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) -- The message the brother and sister read aloud is one addressed to a missing father: 9-year-old Najwa and 8-year-old Tirad reciting the words in unison, "Our mother's starting to worry about you."
Their mom, Ensaf Haidar, is indeed worried, but she's also pained. She knows how much her children yearn to see their dad, but she just doesn't know what to tell them.
How can she begin to explain that their dad has languished in a Saudi prison for almost a year? How can she expose her kids to a brutal reality she feels they're not ready to face?
"They're always asking me, 'When is Dad coming home?' " Haidar said. "Telling me, 'Mom, I miss Dad so much.' "
Haidar struggles with the dilemma every day.
"It often feels like the world is against me," she said. "When I see how the children are deprived of their father, this is what bothers me the most."
Her three children, including 5-year-old Myriam, think their father's just delayed by work. But Raif Badawi, 30, has been imprisoned since being arrested in June. He is accused of, among other things, breaking Sharia law and starting a website that infringed on religious values.
According to Haidar, her husband just wanted to encourage discussion about religion in his homeland. But starting a liberal Internet forum in conservative Saudi Arabia can be a dangerous pursuit.
"No one wanted to take his case," said Waleed Abualkhair, Badawi's attorney. "Because they believed that anyone who'd take this kind of case, that means he destroys his (own) reputation. But I don't believe in that. I believe that everyone has his right to have a lawyer. And I believe that Raif is innocent." |
3z2r0dq0jhe3smkalexct301cuxe2t | CHAPTER VI: HERR VON KWARL
Herr Von Kwarl sat at his favourite table in the Brandenburg Cafe, the new building that made such an imposing show (and did such thriving business) at the lower end of what most of its patrons called the Regentstrasse. Though the establishment was new it had already achieved its unwritten code of customs, and the sanctity of Herr von Kwarl's specially reserved table had acquired the authority of a tradition. A set of chessmen, a copy of the Kreuz Zeitung and the Times, and a slim- necked bottle of Rhenish wine, ice-cool from the cellar, were always to be found there early in the forenoon, and the honoured guest for whom these preparations were made usually arrived on the scene shortly after eleven o'clock. For an hour or so he would read and silently digest the contents of his two newspapers, and then at the first sign of flagging interest on his part, another of the cafe's regular customers would march across the floor, exchange a word or two on the affairs of the day, and be bidden with a wave of the hand into the opposite seat. A waiter would instantly place the chessboard with its marshalled ranks of combatants in the required position, and the contest would begin.
Herr von Kwarl was a heavily built man of mature middle-age, of the blond North-German type, with a facial aspect that suggested stupidity and brutality. The stupidity of his mien masked an ability and shrewdness that was distinctly above the average, and the suggestion of brutality was belied by the fact that von Kwarl was as kind-hearted a man as one could meet with in a day's journey. Early in life, almost before he was in his teens, Fritz von Kwarl had made up his mind to accept the world as it was, and to that philosophical resolution, steadfastly adhered to, he attributed his excellent digestion and his unruffled happiness. Perhaps he confused cause and effect; the excellent digestion may have been responsible for at least some of the philosophical serenity. |
3ymu66obin85rqjjauq7garfexsgh0 | The phone rings. It's a friend who wants to tell you his or her latest health problems. You hate to be impolite and cut your friend off, but what can you do? Stephanie Winston, author of Stephanie Winston's Best Organizing Tips, offers his advice: Don't ask questions like "What's new?" They give the information that you have time to talk. After "hello", get right to the heart of the matter. Time your calls wisely. If you make a call right before lunch or dinner, or at the end of the workday, people chat less. Set a time limit. Start with, "Hi, I've only got a few minutes, but I wanted to talk to you about...." Or, "Gee, I'd love to talk more, but I only have a couple of minutes before I have to leave." Jump on a pause. Even the most talkative caller has to pause now and then. Quickly say, "It has been great talking with you." Then end the conversation. Forget niceties. Some people just don't take a hint. Cut your caller off and say, "I'd like to talk to you longer, but I'm afraid I have no enough time. Good bye." Then hang up. Find "a partner in crime". If nothing else works, ask someone in your home to help you. For example, one woman gives a sign to her husband, who shouts, "Jane, I think the roast chicken is burning." Avoid the phone completely. Use an answering machine to screen calls. If you have an important message for a chatterbox, leave the message when he or she isn't in. |
3uj1cz6izhpw128f4sjfgr7sxvrs53 | Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is an autonomous territory south to Mainland China and east to Macao in East Asia. With around 7.2 million Hong Kongers of various nationalities in a territory of 1,104 km, Hong Kong is the world's fourth most densely populated country or territory.
Hong Kong used to be a British colony with the perpetual cession of Hong Kong Island from the Qing Empire after the First Opium War (1839–1842). The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and acquired a 99-year lease of the New Territories from 1898. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during the Second World War until British control resumed in 1945. The Sino-British Joint Declaration signed between the United Kingdom and China in 1984 paved way for the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997, when it became a special administrative region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China with a high degree of autonomy.
Under the principle of "one country, two systems", Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative and judiciary powers. In addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of "appropriate fields". Hong Kong involves in international organizations, such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the World Trade Organization (WOR), actively and independently. |
37m28k1j0qd08516cu1iw1wrtqzja4 | (CNN) -- Three people, including two former Auburn University football players, were killed late Saturday and three others were wounded in a shooting in an off-campus apartment complex in Auburn, Alabama, police said Sunday.
A manhunt was under way in Montgomery, about 55 miles west of Auburn, for a suspect in the case, said Auburn Police Chief Tommy Dawson. He identified the suspect as Desmonte Leonard, 22, of Montgomery.
Officers received a call reporting the shooting at the University Heights apartments clubhouse about 10:03 p.m. Saturday, Dawson said. Arriving officers found Edward Christian, 20, dead at the scene. Christian, of Valdosta, Georgia, was off the football team due to an injury, Dawson said.
Former player Ladarious Phillips, 20, and Auburn resident Demario Pitts, 20, died later at a hospital, he said. Two others, including current Auburn sophomore offensive lineman Eric Mack, 20, of Cameron, South Carolina, were taken to East Alabama Medical Center in the nearby town of Opelika.
Mack was released from the medical center about 11 a.m. Sunday after being treated for a gunshot wound, hospital spokesman John Atkinson said.
Dawson said 20-year-old John Robertson was in critical condition and undergoing surgery Sunday at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. Robertson was shot in the head, Dawson said.
A third man, 19-year-old Xavier Moss, was treated and released from East Alabama Medical Center. Both Moss and Robertson are from Roanoke, Alabama, authorities said.
Police have a motive in the shooting, but Dawson would not release it, saying "that's for the courtroom, later on." |
31qtrg6q2tdxqy27ndkiwj0a5jbyp2 | A raion (also rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states (such as part of an oblast). The term is from the French ""rayon"" (meaning "honeycomb, department"), which is both a type of a subnational entity and a division of a city, and is commonly translated in English as "district".
The term "raion" also can be used simply as a kind of administrative division without anything to do with ethnicity or nationality. A raion is a standardized administrative entity across most of the former Soviet Union and is usually a subdivision two steps below the national level. However, in smaller USSR republics, it could be the primary level of administrative division (Administrative divisions of Armenia, Administrative divisions of Azerbaijan). After the fall of the Soviet Union, some of the republics dropped "raion" from their use (Armenia).
In Bulgaria, it refers to an internal administrative subdivision of a city not related to the administrative division of the country as a whole, or, in the case of Sofia municipality a subdivision of that municipality.
The word "raion" (or "rayon") is often used in translated form: ; ; ; , "raioni"; ; ; ; ; and .
Fourteen countries have or had entities that were named "raion" or the local version of it. |
3u5nzhp4lr2b43ciddguaj57fjbphz | Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the last monarch of the House of Tudor.
Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed two-and-a-half years after Elizabeth's birth. Anne's marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Her half-brother, Edward VI, ruled until his death in 1553, bequeathing the crown to Lady Jane Grey and ignoring the claims of his two half-sisters, Elizabeth and the Roman Catholic Mary, in spite of statute law to the contrary. Edward's will was set aside and Mary became queen, deposing Lady Jane Grey. During Mary's reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels.
In 1558, Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. She depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers, led by William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley. One of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement was to evolve into the Church of England. It was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir to continue the Tudor line. She never did, despite numerous courtships. As she grew older, Elizabeth became famous for her virginity. A cult grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, and literature of the day. |
3wj1oxy92agboo5nlq4r7bnddcd8ab | New York (CNN) -- Popular science-fiction author Harry Harrison, whose book "Make Room! Make Room!" was the basis for the 1973 film "Soylent Green," about a futuristic society and its fictional food, has died, his publisher said Wednesday. He was 87.
Born in 1925 in Stamford, Connecticut, Harrison was best known for his 12 novels about the futuristic character "Slippery Jim" DeGriz, also known as the Stainless Steel Rat. Harrison also was the main writer for the "Flash Gordon" comic strip during the 1950s and '60s, according to his publisher, Tor Books.
Harrison started his career as an illustrator before switching to writing. He is a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
"He believed science fiction was important, that it caused people to think about our world and what it could become," Tor Books' publisher Tom Doherty wrote in a blog post.
On learning of his death, fiction author Harlan Ellison said, "It's a day without stars in it."
Ellison, who says he knew Harrison since 1952, said the author was one of the funniest guys who ever lived.
"Harry was one of those who you thought would go on forever like a wind-up toy," Ellison told CNN.
Harrison's death comes after notable science fiction author Ray Bradbury passed away in June.
Tributes to Harrison poured in on Twitter after his death was announced.
"Thank you for sharing your mind, kind sir!" wrote @hijadecano on Twitter.
"Heaven has to make room, make room for Harry Harrison," wrote @petdance.
Tor Books will be publishing Harrison's memoir in December, according to a spokesperson for the publisher. |
3rxcac0yirpcyfiq7qw13xygbdq8gz | Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from New Guinea island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji.
The region includes the four countries of Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea.
Besides these independent countries, Melanesia also includes:
The name "Melanesia" (in French "Mélanésie" from the Greek , "black", and , "islands") was first used by Jules Dumont d'Urville in 1832 to denote an ethnic and geographical grouping of islands whose inhabitants he thought were distinct from those of Micronesia and Polynesia.
The name "Melanesia" ("islands of dark [people]") is one of several toponyms sharing similar etymologies, ultimately meaning "land of the blacks" or similar meanings, in reference to the dark skin of the inhabitants. The concept among Europeans of Melanesia as a distinct region evolved gradually over time as their expeditions mapped and explored the Pacific. Early European explorers noted the physical differences among groups of Pacific Islanders. In 1756 Charles de Brosses theorized that there was an 'old black race' in the Pacific who were conquered or defeated by the peoples of what is now called Polynesia, whom he distinguished as having lighter skin. In the first half of the nineteenth century Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent and Jules Dumont d'Urville identified Melanesians as a distinct racial group. |
3ob0cao74hp5dh4j40cdnayjjs6yh2 | India, officially the Republic of India ("Bhārat Gaṇarājya"), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country (with over 1.2 billion people), and the most populous democracy in the world. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast; and Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE. In the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, and Buddhism and Jainism arose. Early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires; the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, and Sikhism emerged, all adding to the region's diverse culture. Much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate; the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal Empire. In the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance and led to India's independence in 1947. |
3r9wasfe2zgl4bni5wqwywv89vszf3 | Around 1300, centuries of prosperity and growth in Europe came to a halt. A series of famines and plagues, including the Great Famine of 1315–1317 and the Black Death, reduced the population to around half of what it was before the calamities. Along with depopulation came social unrest and endemic warfare. France and England experienced serious peasant uprisings, such as the Jacquerie and the Peasants' Revolt, as well as over a century of intermittent conflict in the Hundred Years' War. To add to the many problems of the period, the unity of the Catholic Church was shattered by the Western Schism. Collectively these events are sometimes called the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages.
Despite these crises, the 14th century was also a time of great progress in the arts and sciences. Following a renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman texts that took root in the High Middle Ages, the Italian Renaissance began. The absorption of Latin texts had started before the Renaissance of the 12th century through contact with Arabs during the Crusades, but the availability of important Greek texts accelerated with the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks, when many Byzantine scholars had to seek refuge in the West, particularly Italy. |
333u7hk6i9fy6c4iw4skm24xew1djb | Norfolk () is a county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the west and north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea and, to the north-west, The Wash. The county town is Norwich. With an area of and a population of 859,400, Norfolk is a largely rural county with a population density of 401 per square mile (155 per km²). Of the county's population, 40% live in four major built up areas: Norwich (213,000), Great Yarmouth (63,000), King's Lynn (46,000) and Thetford (25,000).
The Broads is a network of rivers and lakes in the east of the county, extending south into Suffolk. The area is not a National Park although it is marketed as such. It has similar status to a national park, and is protected by the Broads Authority.
Norfolk was settled in pre-Roman times, with camps along the higher land in the west, where flints could be quarried. A Brythonic tribe, the Iceni, inhabited the county from the 1st century BC to the end of the 1st century AD. The Iceni revolted against the Roman invasion in AD 47, and again in 60 led by Boudica. The crushing of the second rebellion opened the county to the Romans. During the Roman era roads and ports were constructed throughout the county and farming was widespread. |
3kakfy4pgu24t9iflx18xs3la3r3it | CHAPTER IV
A TRAIL IS FOUND AND LOST
By this time several carriages had come up, also a number of folks on bicycles and on foot, and to all of these the situation had to be explained. Among the last to put in an appearance was Captain Putnam, and he was at once all attention, and desired to know how seriously Dick and Frank were injured.
"It was an outrageous piece of work," he said.
"Still, to be fair, we must admit that the broken brake is largely responsible for what happened, after the start down hill was made."
"But I couldn't help the brake breaking," pleaded the general utility man. "I did my best, and was thrown out--"
"I am not finding fault with you, Snugger," cut in the captain, shortly. "Let it pass, and leave the stage to be taken care of by the Cedarville blacksmith. But I wish we might lay hands on the rascal who is responsible for the start of the mishap."
"They have found a coin such as we used when as we were in Africa," said Dick. "I think that furnishes a clew."
"In what way, Rover?"
"Those coins were also used by Dan Baxter and Josiah Crabtree."
"And you think one or the other, or both, are in this neighborhood again?"
"It looks plausible, doesn't it?"
"Yes, but--it would be very strange. I should think they would give this locality a wide berth."
"Hardly. Josiah Crabtree isn't done with the Stanhopes, to my mind, and Baxter will get square with us if he can." |
3ph3vy7djlxnfx9dvl0w2kh841fzw4 | We're unleashing the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, for the week ending November 15, 2014. We don't get any new songs this week...but things do get shaken up a bit. It all starts in fifth place, where Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj dip a notch with "Bang Bang." Jessie says she wanted to assemble this lineup for a long time - she says she only met the other two after the song went to number one on iTunes. Jessie also says she wanted to use Nicki five years ago on her debut single, "Do It Like A Dude." Taking over fourth place is Maroon 5 with "Animals." This band has been around for 20 years...but not always under this name. The Los Angeles group formed in 1994 as Kara's Flowers, and released one album under that name in 1997. Four years later the members re-grouped as Maroon 5, and the rest is chart history. Holding in third place is Tove Lo with "Habits (Stay High)." Where did that name come from? This Swedish artist's real name is Ebba Tove Elsa Nillson. "Lo" is Swedish for lynx - a species of wildcat that Tove says she fell in love with as a little girl. After eight weeks, Meghan Trainor falls off the Hot 100 pedestal: "All About That Bass" falls to second place. Last week, she and Miranda Lambert sang this song at the Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, and Meghan kicks off a headlining North American tour next February in Vancouver, Canada. Taylor Swift re-takes the Hot 100 title, with "Shake It Off" - giving her three total weeks at the top - but that's only the beginning of her phenomenal week. Taylor's 1989 album just opened at number one by selling 1.2 million domestic copies. That's the largest sales week since The Eminem Show sold 1.3 million copies, way back in 2002. That's a wrap for this week, but as you know, the chart is always changing. Come back in seven days for an all-new lineup. |
37wlf8u1wpquwnvl42kihbuibstk6p | The stinker was that no one let the elf in. He had waited at the door for four whole hours, but was afraid to knock in case the noise would wake the humans. This elf was the tooth fairy's helper, but one day hoped to work in the North Pole. That would never happen if he couldn't even help the tooth fairy with teeth on his first day working for her.
It was almost morning now. Soon the children would wake up and run out the front door with their books for school. Inside, the tooth fairy would be wondering what was keeping him. "It's too dangerous to stay at this door," the elf thought, "The children might see me."
Just then he heard the alarm clocks go off inside. He dove into a nearby bush and hid, hoping that his green uniform would help him match the color of the bush's leaves. |
3bdcf01ogxu7zdn9vlrbf2rq010yle | Do you ever run out of great books to read? So what should I read next? Is fast-paced crime fiction your thing?
Try the new Patricia Cornwell book,
(Putnam). She is such an able writer and handles complex forensic intelligence with ease. You need to be prepared, though, for the world you're entering--
, let's say.
If peace is more your thing, try Mary Pipher's wonderful new book,
Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World (Riverhead). Mary is a lovely, comfortable writer who takes the reader through her personal awakening after reputation and fortune came her way. Even if you've never experienced life as a bestselling writer (as she has done, in her book years back,
), you'll totally understand and sympathize with her renewed need for privacy, distance and quiet.
What if you want a straightforward, totally thrilling read with vivid characters, set about World War II? You cannot go wrong with Jim Lehrer's new novel,
(Random House), about a young Marine whose life is changed forever when he meets a woman on his way to war. His relationship with her lasts him through danger and hardship, and there's an impressive ending. See our interview with the productive novelist/newsman in the current issue of Reader's Digest (March, on stands now), by the way, for insight into the very talented Mr. Lehrer and what interests him.
Well, what about something wickedly funny and totally offbeat? Does the name Carrie Fisher do anything for you? Try her vivid and new life in Hollywood and elsewhere,
(Simon & Schuster). Be prepared for humor as sharp as knives. |
3dpnqgw4llf9il6ijax2au5meyx64z | (CNN) -- Condolences continued to pour in late Sunday night following the death of heavy metal rocker Ronnie James Dio, who lost his battle with stomach cancer earlier in the day.
"Today my heart is broken, Ronnie passed away at 7:45 a.m. 16th May," his wife, Wendy Dio, said in a message on his official website.
Dio, 67, followed Ozzy Osbourne as Black Sabbath's lead vocalist in 1979.
"Many, many friends and family were able to say their private goodbyes before he peacefully passed away," she wrote. "Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all."
The rock community paid tribute to Dio in messages late Sunday.
"In addition to his powerhouse vocal ability, Ronnie was a true gentleman who always emanated great warmth and friendship to us and everyone around him," KISS said. "We will miss him."
Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian called Dio's death a big loss.
"So many memories of Ronnie. Toured together many times. He always had a kind word and a smile, and he loved the Yankees," Ian said.
Musician Slash summed up the loss in one sentence: "Ronnie died at 7:45 a.m., but his music will live for eternity."
Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx, who became friends with Dio while touring Europe, said the rocker will be missed.
"I still have this image of him standing on stage in front of 100,000 belting out 'Man on the Silver Mountain' and remember the shivers it sent up my spine," Sixx said.
He called Dio "one of the kindest souls I have ever met and his talent was beyond inspirational to so many of us." |
3u088zljvktqdc3nrrn4wlemm3f0we | (CNN) -- Whether it's breaking records on the piste, or making hit records in the studio, Tina Maze is determined to do things her way.
The 29-year-old, who broke ranks with her national skiing federation to set up her own team, last weekend had the satisfaction of breaking the iconic all-time World Cup points record of the legendary Hermann Maier as she shrugged off pre-race death threats.
The Slovenian has celebrated her numerous victories by turning cartwheels and, even more daringly, once famously unzipped her ski suit to reveal her under clothing to photographers after some rivals had wrongly accused her of gaining an aerodynamic advantage by placing padding in her sports bra.
But not content with just grabbing the sporting headlines, Maze is also hitting the high notes in a fledgling career as a pop star -- inspired by influences such as Alicia Keys, Jessie J and, of course, Lady Gaga.
A leading Slovenian music producer persuaded Maze to record a number he had written. Given her maverick reputation and single-minded approach, the title could not have been more apt:-- "My Way is My Decision" -- and it proved an instant hit, quickly reaching No. 1 in the Slovenian charts.
The accompanying video -- which sees Maze moving in time to the catchy up tempo song -- has had over a million hits on YouTube.
At one point, Maze dons a skiing helmet and uses a ski as a mock guitar, but fooling aside it is clear she has more than a modicum of musical talent. |
3r5f3lqfv2kfao0b4z9mlq4m17moz3 | CHAPTER XI.
ROB.
Blinks was not the only dog on the Loudon place. There was another one, a much larger fellow, named Rob.
Rob was a big puppy, in the first place, and then he grew up to be a tall, long-legged dog, who was not only very fond of Harry and Kate, but of almost everybody else. In time he filled out and became rather more shapely, but he was always an ungainly dog--"too big for his size," as Harry put it.
It was supposed that Rob was partly bloodhound, but how much of him was bloodhound it would have been very difficult so say. Kate thought it was only his ears. They resembled the ears of a picture of a beautiful African bloodhound that she had in a book. At all events Rob showed no signs of any fighting ancestry. He was as gentle as a calf. Even Blinks was a better watch-dog. But then, Rob was only a year old, and he might improve in time.
But, in spite of his general inutility, Rob was a capital companion on a country ramble.
And so it happened, one bright day toward the close of April, that he and Harry and Kate went out together into the woods, beyond Aunt Matilda's cabin. Kate's objects in taking the walk were wild flowers and general spring investigations into the condition of the woods; but Harry had an eye to business, although to hear him talk you would have supposed that he thought as much about ferns and flowers as Kate did. |
31hq4x3t3saa3rb0wfzmxg3pjn5ls2 | Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that evolved out of the practices, liturgy and identity of the Church of England following the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. The word "Anglican" itself has its background in "ecclesia anglicana", a medieval Latin phrase dating to the 12th century or earlier, which means the "English Church".
Adherents of Anglicanism are called "Anglicans". The majority of Anglicans are members of national or regional ecclesiastical provinces of the international Anglican Communion, which forms the third-largest Christian communion in the world, after the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. They are in full communion with the See of Canterbury, and thus the Archbishop of Canterbury, whom the communion refers to as its "primus inter pares". He calls the decennial Lambeth Conference, chairs the meeting of primates, and the Anglican Consultative Council. Some churches that are not part of the Anglican Communion also consider themselves Anglican, including those that are part of the Continuing Anglican movement and the Anglican realignment movement.
Anglicans base their Christian faith on the Bible, traditions of the apostolic Church, apostolic succession ("historic episcopate"), and writings of the Church Fathers. Anglicanism forms one of the branches of Western Christianity; having definitively declared its independence from the Holy See at the time of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. Many of the new Anglican formularies of the mid-16th century corresponded closely to those of contemporary Protestantism. These reforms in the Church of England were understood by one of those most responsible for them, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, as navigating a middle way between two of the emerging Protestant traditions, namely Lutheranism and Calvinism. By the end of the century, the retention in Anglicanism of many traditional liturgical forms and of the episcopate was already seen as unacceptable by those promoting the most developed Protestant principles. |
3a7y0r2p2ooc4i9zn4twg97ptzkxj9 | The tooth fairy's trash became another man's treasure Saturday when a discolored molar that once belonged to John Lennon was put up for auction.
The winning bid came in at 19,500 pounds (U.S. $31,200), according to auction results posted online.
Michael Zuk, a Canadian dentist, is claiming responsibility for the winning bid. Omega Auction House, which sold the tooth, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.
Lennon gave the tooth to Dorothy "Dot" Jarlett when she worked as his housekeeper at his Kenwood home in Weybridge, Surrey, according to her son, Barry. Jarlett, who was employed between 1964 and 1968, developed a warm relationship with Lennon, her son said.
"She was very close with John, and one day whilst chatting in the kitchen, John gave my mother the tooth (he had been to the dentist to have it removed that day) and suggested giving it to my sister as a souvenir, as she was a huge Beatles fan," he said. "It has been in the family ever since."
With the exception of the past two years, the tooth has been in Canada for 40 years after Dot Jarlett's daughter married a Canadian.
Barry Jarlett, who said his mother is now 90 years old, said it was the right time to pass it on rather than to risk the tooth getting lost.
Karen Fairweather, the owner of Omega Auction House, told CNN last month that the tooth is too fragile for DNA testing but she has no doubt about its authenticity. |
3f6kkywmnb1up2v3b2kcf9lenbund3 | Editor's note: Join Roland S. Martin for his weekly sound-off segment on CNN.com Live at 11:10 a.m. ET Wednesday. If you're passionate about politics, he wants to hear from you. A nationally syndicated columnist, Martin has said he will vote for Barack Obama in November. He is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith" and "Speak, Brother! A Black Man's View of America." Visit his Web site for more information.
Roland Martin says Howard Dean bucked other leaders and insisted on a 50-state Democratic strategy.
(CNN) -- If Sen. Barack Obama is able to prevail over Sen. John McCain on Tuesday, all of those Democrats who ripped Howard Dean's 50-state strategy over the last four years should call the head of the Democratic National Committee and offer a heartfelt apology.
First in line should be New York Sen. Charles Schumer, Chicago, Illinois, Rep. Rahm Emanuel and my CNN colleague, political strategist James Carville.
When Democrats were in the final stages of winning back Congress in 2006, those three were at odds with Dean, saying he should forget about his pie-in-the-sky plan to have the Democratic Party competitive in all 50 states.
They reasoned that money spent on get-out-the vote efforts in non-congressional elections was futile, and all the effort should be on reclaiming Congress.
But Dean resisted their suggestions, weathering repeated calls for him to resign after that election.
Dean's insistence on having a Democratic Party that existed in the heartland, and not just California, New York and Massachusetts, was brilliant in that it made clear that the party recognized the rest of America. iReport.com: What would you ask Obama? |
33lkr6a5kekyskkbs5mtn6qxmobt11 | CHAPTER XII
THE WHITE WITCH
I descended from the litter and told the others what the old fellow had said. Robertson did not want to come, and indeed refused to do so until I suggested to him that such conduct might prejudice a powerful person against us. Umslopogaas was indifferent, putting, as he remarked, no faith in a ruler who was a woman.
Only Hans, although he was so tired, acquiesced with some eagerness, the fact being that his brain was more alert and that he had all the curiosity of the monkey tribe which he so much resembled in appearance, and wanted to see this queen whom Zikali revered.
In the end we started, conducted by Billali and by men who carried torches whereof the light showed me that we were passing between houses, or at any rate walls that had been those of houses, and along what seemed to be a paved street.
Walking under what I took to be a great arch or portico, we came into a court that was full of towering pillars but unroofed, for I could see the stars above. At its end we entered a building of which the doorway was hung with mats, to find that it was lighted with lamps and that all down its length on either side guards with long spears stood at intervals.
"Oh, Baas," said Hans hesitatingly, "this is the mouth of a trap," while Umslopogaas glared about him suspiciously, fingering the handle of his great axe. |
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