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List of religious populations Which religion is the largest? Which religion is the smallest? Our planet’s population of about 8 billion people follows myriad religions in widely varying numbers. The following tables draw from information available at the World Religion Database at Boston University and is based on data for the...
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Do U.S. college athletes get paid? In the United States college athletics is a multibillion-dollar industry, with ticket sales, merchandise, and broadcast and streaming rights all being major revenue sources for universities. Of course, none of that money comes in without the athletes. But unlike professional athletes, who are often...
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Carlo Maria Viganò Carlo Maria Viganò is a Roman Catholic archbishop and a former papal nuncio (ambassador) to the United States whose frequent public criticism of Pope Francis (2013– ) and rejection of the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) led to his being charged by the Holy See with the canonical crime of schism in...
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desi Desi, term broadly used to describe individuals, traditions, and products originating from the Indian subcontinent and its diaspora. Derived from the Sanskrit word desa, meaning “land” or “country,” the word desi has historically been used within the subcontinent to mean “local” or “indigenous.” In...
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cost of attendance (COA) COA, part of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), is the estimated cost of attending a college or university. It factors in several expenses that college students and their families are expected to cover. COA is used to determine how much financial aid you could potentially...
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Energy sector: Investing in stocks that fuel the economy Em-power your portfolio.Energy powers our world, but the energy sector itself is one of the smaller of the 11 Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) sectors in the stock market. It’s smaller because of its narrow focus on the traditional fossil fuel energy industry—you won’t find any...
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403(b) plan A 403(b) plan is a tax-deferred, employer-sponsored retirement savings plan available to public schools and other tax-exempt organizations. It allows educators, government employees, and nonprofit employees to make pretax contributions up to a certain limit. These 403(b) plans are tax advantaged,...
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Mr. Olympia Mr. Olympia, annual bodybuilding competition sanctioned by the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation (formerly the International Federation of BodyBuilders). It was first held in 1965 in Brooklyn, New York, but it has grown into a global contest hosted by cities around the world and...
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bento Bento, a Japanese-style single-serving meal traditionally packaged in a lacquered multi-compartment container called a bento box and served for lunch. The meal typically includes a starch of either rice or noodles, along with a protein, such as fish, meat, or eggs, accompanied by pickled vegetables...
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Battle of Harran The religious fervor of the First Crusade was over by 1104 as the new crusader lords attempted to secure their hold on the captured lands and to fend off further Muslim assaults. One of those lords, Count Baldwin of Edessa, joined forces with Prince Bohemond of Antioch to conquer the territory...
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SIMPLE IRA A “Savings Incentive Match PLan for Employees” (SIMPLE) IRA is a tax-deferred, employer-sponsored retirement savings plan designed for small businesses (usually with 100 or fewer employees) to provide a retirement plan to their employees. Employees with SIMPLE plans can make contributions, and...
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457(b) plan A 457(b) plan is a tax-advantaged retirement savings plan available to local government workers and some employees of nonprofit organizations. It’s similar to a 401(k) plan, but one that’s available to firefighters, law enforcement officers, municipal employees, and other civil servants. As with...
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Kōhei Uchimura Kōhei Uchimura is a former Japanese gymnast who is considered one of the greatest male gymnasts of all time, renowned for his near-perfect execution of highly difficult routines. During an incredible run of success he won an unprecedented six consecutive all-around golds at the world championships...
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prospectus A prospectus is a legal document that every publicly traded stock, mutual fund, and exchange-traded fund (ETF) files with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It lays out basic financial information as well as the mission of the company or fund. Mutual funds and ETFs usually include key...
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Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRA A SEP IRA is a tax-deferred retirement plan for those who are self-employed, small business owners, or who earn additional self-employment income. SEP IRAs are often easier to administer than 401(k) plans, so many small businesses use them to help their employees prepare for retirement....
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HODL (crypto) HODL is a cryptocurrency slang term that refers to holding a crypto coin or token for the long term. It comes from a typo in a 2013 thread titled “I AM HODLING” posted on BitcoinTalk, a cryptocurrency forum. The misspelled term in its all-cap format attained viral popularity among crypto investors...
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broker-dealer A broker-dealer is typically a firm whose business is buying and selling stocks, bonds, and funds for itself and for others. Broker-dealers thus perform both the work of brokers, who buy and sell securities for the accounts of their clients, and dealers, who buy and sell securities for their own...
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Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), more commonly known as “the Iran nuclear deal,” is a 2015 agreement between Iran and several world powers to restrict Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief of international sanctions on Iran. The deal was negotiated by the Democratic...
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Battle of Grunwald Battle of Grunwald, battle fought on July 15, 1410, between the villages of Grunwald and Tannenberg (Polish: Stębark) in northeastern Poland (formerly East Prussia) that marked a major Polish-Lithuanian victory over the Knights of the Teutonic Order. The battle ended of the order’s expansion along...
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Sabrina Ionescu Sabrina Ionescu is an American professional basketball player who is a standout guard, known for her all-around play. Ionescu first gained widespread recognition during her record-breaking career at the University of Oregon, where she made NCAA history as the only player in Division I men’s or...
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Battle of Grand Port Battle of Grand Port, naval battle between France and Britain on August 22–27, 1810, at Île de France (Mauritius), which was one of the last French overseas possessions to be captured by Britain. The Indian Ocean island was used as a base for raids on British trade into 1810, as well as to support...
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Battle of Guam When they were attacking Guam from July 21 to August 10, 1944, U.S. forces were not only acquiring a fine harbor and a number of airfields to use during World War II (and beyond), but they were also liberating U.S. territory; ceded by Spain after the Spanish American War, Guam, the southernmost of...
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Battle of Dessau By April 1626, the Thirty Years’ War had been raging across the German states and Central Europe for eight years, and following a catastrophic defeat suffered at Stadtlohn, the German Protestant cause seemed lost. There was new hope when Christian IV of Denmark entered the war in 1625, but the next...
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Battle of Chios The naval defeat of Philip V of Macedon at the Battle of Chios in 201 bce was the last large-scale naval battle between fleets sent out by independent Greek states. At the time, it was thought that it had secured independence for the smaller states, but in fact it only opened the way for Roman...
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Battle of Cuzco Manco Inca, son of Atahuallpa, brought a force of 400,000 warriors with him when he launched his assault on Cuzco in May 1536. Sheltering in the recently conquered Inca capital, the Spanish conquistadors resorted to desperate measures, but still succeeded in withstanding a ten-month siege, which...
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Doug Burgum Doug Burgum is an American politician and businessman who serves as the Republican governor of North Dakota (2016– ). Burgum previously was CEO (1983–91) of Great Plains Software, and he later became a venture capitalist and real estate investor. He transitioned into politics in 2016, when he won...
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Jannik Sinner Jannik Sinner is an Italian tennis player who is a leading star in the generation of players rising in the wake of the indomitable Big Three (Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal). In 2024 he won his first major, at the Australian Open, and attained the number one ranking on the men’s...
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Robert Kardashian Robert Kardashian was an Armenian American businessman and lawyer in Los Angeles who became well known in the mid-1990s for his involvement in O.J. Simpson’s murder trial. He and Simpson had been friends for decades, and he acted as a liaison between the defendant and the rest of the legal team....
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Investing in speculative start-up stocks? 14 alternative fundamentals to follow You can’t look at the P/E if the company has no E.You just bought shares in a hot new company whose stock price, you believe, has the potential to go sky-high. As a responsible investor, you now have to do your homework by regularly evaluating the company’s fundamentals. But then you hit a snag,...
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Battle of Flores The Battle of Flores, fought August 30–31, 1591, between Spain and England off Flores Island in the Azores, was a Spanish victory, showing the resurgence of Spain’s naval power after the debacle of the 1588 armada. For the English, the heroic fight put up by Richard Grenville’s Revenge became a...
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Theodore McCarrick Theodore McCarrick is a former Roman Catholic archbishop and cardinal who, after being accused of sexually abusing teenage boys and young men between the 1970s and the early 21st century, was the first American prelate in history to resign (2018) from the Sacred College of Cardinals. He was later...
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Materials sector: Investing in the building blocks of the economy It’s a material world.Humans have long had an insatiable appetite for materials—natural resources, chemicals, building products, and everything in between. Materials-focused companies, including those listed in the S&P 500, operate to satisfy our demand for these physical products. Materials are...
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Saeed Jalili Saeed Jalili is the conservative, hard-line candidate in Iran’s 2024 presidential election, facing the reformist Masoud Pezeshkian in a runoff. Among the conservative candidates, Jalili was considered to be more austere and ideology-driven than his main rival Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and more...
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hostile architecture Hostile architecture, urban design strategy that uses elements of the built environment to guide or restrict certain behaviors in public spaces, such as sleeping, skateboarding, using illicit substances, urinating in public, and loitering. Such design elements tend to target not only skateboarders...
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Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is an establishment figure in Iranian politics, known for his pragmatic top-down management style and plagued by recurrent corruption scandals. He is considered close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as the former commander of its air force (1997–2000). He...
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Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta was an American artist regarded as one of the most gifted in the fantasy and science-fiction genres. His distinct style, epitomized by muscular men and voluptuous women commonly rendered with a dark palette, was an obvious influence on many of his contemporaries. Born Frank Frazzetta...
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3x3 basketball 3x3 basketball, variation of basketball played on a half-court between teams of three players. Pronounced “three-ex-three,” this condensed version of basketball was established as a professional sport in the early 21st century. The game focuses on speed, versatility, and agility more than on the...
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Communication services sector: Investing in companies that entertain and inform It’s what we’re talking about.Telecommunications have become the mainstay for how we connect, communicate, and entertain. Whether it’s via a smartphone, television, or computer, there are a myriad of ways for consumers to chat, work, shop, solve problems, date, and more, and all of it is...
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Battle of Edington Vikings from all over Scandinavia had been raiding the British Isles for more than half a century before the birth of the Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great, the sovereign of the West Saxon kingdom of Wessex. The arrival of a Danish “great army” in East Anglia in 865, however, marked the start of a...
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Battle of Camarón A defensive action fought on April 30, 1863, with suicidal courage during France’s ill-fated intervention in Mexico, the Battle of Camarón is a foundational legend of the French Foreign Legion. Captain Jean Danjou, who led the legionnaires, enjoys the strange distinction of having his wooden hand...
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Liu Cixin Liu Cixin is a Chinese science-fiction author best known for his Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy of novels. The first novel of the trilogy, The Three-Body Problem (2006), won the 2015 Hugo Award for best novel in its English translation and has sold over 3 million copies in English and 30...
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K-pop K-pop, abbreviated colloquial term for popular music from South Korea. K-pop is typically used to describe “idol music” made by artists trained by entertainment companies to become pop music stars. K-pop includes upbeat pop, dance music, and ballads. It can incorporate a variety of influences,...
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Leslie Leiserowitz Leslie Leiserowitz is an Israeli chemist known for his work, conducted in collaboration with Israeli chemist Meir Lahav, on the crystal forms of organic molecules. Leiserowitz received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 1956. Shortly after...
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Ariarne Titmus Ariarne Titmus is an Australian swimmer who burst onto the international swim scene in 2018 by winning three gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. She solidified her standing in 2019 when she beat American swimmer Katie Ledecky—considered by some to be the...
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Understanding sequence risk and its impact on your retirement savings Avoid selling low for cash flow.Imagine you’ve scrimped and saved for decades to build a decent nest egg. You’re ready to retire and know how much you can withdraw from your retirement account each year. But then stocks take a dive. You retire into a bear market, and at the end of a couple of rough...
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Micro-investing: Your gateway to financial empowerment? Mighty oaks grow from tiny acorns.Looking for a logical way to get started with investing? If you only have a few dollars to spare, then you may be interested in micro-investing. With lots of options for automation, plus user-friendly trading platforms, micro-investing can feel like a...
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Battle of Belleau Wood The Allies’ victory at the Battle of Belleau Wood, which occurred in France from June 1 to June 26, 1918, greatly boosted morale amid the Germans’ Spring Offensive. The battle was the first major engagement of the U.S. army in World War I, and, only 39 miles from Paris, marked the closest the...
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bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers that occurred on September 15, 2008. It was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history at that time, and it was among the most significant events of the financial crisis of 2007–08. Lehman Brothers was founded in 1850 by...
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list of civilians detained by foreign governments and groups They are often journalists, attempting to bring news from difficult places to the rest of the world. But sometimes they are athletes, or tourists, or aid workers. The phenomenon of governments detaining foreign nationals and using them to negotiate on the geopolitical stage continues to play out...
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spitting cobra Spitting cobra, one of several species of cobras that, when threatened, can shoot or eject venom directly from their fangs. Spitting cobras typically spray venom in self-defense. All spitting cobras belong to the Elapidae family, but not all spitting cobras belong to the Naja genus (true cobras)...
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Kamasutra Kamasutra, the oldest extant Indian prose treatise (sutra) on the subject of pleasure (kama)—sexual pleasure, desire, love, and the pleasures of good living generally conceived. Popularly known for its depiction of positions for sexual intercourse, the text is more broadly about the life of...
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list of kings of Saudi Arabia The Saud dynasty was established under the rule of Muhammad ibn Saud in the 18th century and has since ruled three successive states, followed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (established in 1932). Although dynastic succession has often passed from father to son, the Saud dynasty is not strictly...
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Annuity riders: A way to customize your retirement income But don’t get taken for a ride.Annuities are designed to provide retirement income and help you meet your financial needs as you age. Purchasing an annuity is a little like buying a car. They come in several varieties and have standard features (the base model), but you may want to add some bells...
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Timeline of the American Revolution In 1775, 13 British colonies in North America began an eight-year insurrection that changed the course of history. What caused the American Revolution? And what happened during the conflict? From controversial taxes to the battlefield and beyond, we explore the road to revolution and the creation...
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list of 10 expensive weddings Very few couples are able to say “money is no object” when planning their wedding. For the ultra-wealthy, however, extravagant weddings are often a sign of status and prestige. Here are 10 weddings that took extravagance to new heights. Said Gutseriev’s father, oil and media mogul Mikhail...
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blue light Blue light is a category of visible light with a wavelength roughly between 380 and 500 nanometers (nm). Blue light is perceived as the color blue, though it may also be present in light perceived as another color, particularly white light. Blue light can be divided into two subcategories:...
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Amazon Alexa Amazon Alexa, virtual assistant program developed and sold by the e-commerce company Amazon. Users can interact with Alexa by speaking to any device programmed to include it. The program is most commonly found on smart speakers (e.g., the Amazon Echo), smart displays, television sets, and glasses...
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Nicola Olyslagers Nicola Olyslagers is the first Australian woman to jump 2 meters (6 feet 6.74 inches) in the high jump. At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, the track-and-field athlete earned a silver medal and set a personal best record with a jump of 2.02 meters (6 feet 7.53 inches); the competition was held in...
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effective altruism Effective altruism, in ethics, a theory of conduct and a movement that centers on identifying ways to benefit others and then mobilizing and utilizing resources to bring those benefits to fruition. Effective altruism attempts to identify pressing social issues as well as corresponding solutions. As...
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Jacob Elordi Jacob Elordi is an Australian actor who gained overnight fame for his work in the Netflix romantic comedy The Kissing Booth (2018) and cemented his stardom with the HBO drama series Euphoria (2019– ). While these roles established him as a teen heartthrob, Elordi sought to prove himself as a...
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disc golf Disc golf, a creative variant of traditional golf in which players throw plastic flying discs on a course. The goal of disc golf is to land the disc in a series of basket targets and complete the course with the fewest number of throws. The sport arose spontaneously in many different locations soon...
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J. Max Bond, Jr. J. Max Bond, Jr. was an American architect and educator who is considered one of the nation’s foremost Black architects. His career was characterized not only by excellence in building but also by his dedication to recognizing and addressing social inequities in his field. Bond was born to Ruth...
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The franchise disclosure document (FDD): An all-in-one rulebook, guidebook, and almanac A 23-step business tango.Somewhere along the path toward becoming a franchisee, you’ll come across a comprehensive document that outlines almost everything you need to know about the business you’re looking to purchase. It’s called the franchise disclosure document, aka the FDD. The FDD is a legal...
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Jill Stein Jill Stein is a former practicing physician and an environmental activist who has run as the candidate of the Green Party of the United States in multiple elections. She is currently campaigning to become the Green Party’s 2024 presidential nominee. Born to Russian Jewish parents and raised in the...
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Boy George Boy George is a British singer-songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the British new wave band Culture Club, which rose to fame in the early 1980s. Boy George, known for his androgynous appearance, with often flamboyant makeup and clothing, was a trailblazing icon of 1980s music and fashion....
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America the Beautiful America the Beautiful, patriotic American hymn, regarded as the United States’ unofficial national anthem and one of the country’s best-known songs. The song extols the grandeur of the American landscape as well as the nation’s ideals. The lyrics were written by American poet, author, and educator...
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Adam Strange Adam Strange, fictional superhero introduced by DC Comics in 1958 and occasionally reintroduced to readers in decades that followed. Adam Strange—not to be confused with Doctor Stephen Strange of Marvel Comics, who first appeared in July 1963—is perhaps the most intellectual of all comic...
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Little House on the Prairie Little House on the Prairie, American television family drama that aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) network for nine seasons (1974–83) and was loosely based on the series of “Little House” children’s books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The show consistently ranked among the top programs...
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GitHub GitHub, open-source software development reference platform that allows users to share, edit, and store their programming code online or make it accessible to multiple users via cloud computing. The website and GitHub app have features such as version control, source code management, and revision...
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Mamie (“Peanut”) Johnson Mamie (“Peanut”) Johnson was an American baseball player known for being the only woman to pitch in the Negro leagues. Mamie Belton’s parents separated when she was young, and she initially lived with her grandmother. Although she remained in touch with her father, it was her mother’s family who...
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Siri Siri, digital assistant included within Apple devices’ operating system. Siri was introduced with the iPhone 4S in October 2011; it was the first widely available virtual assistant available on a major tech company’s smartphone. Siri was named after the shortened version of the Norwegian name...
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This Land Is Your Land This Land Is Your Land, popular song written by American folk singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie. It has been embraced as a protest song and as an alternative patriotic anthem for the United States because of its themes of inclusion and equality. Guthrie penned the lyrics to “This Land Is Your Land”...
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artistic gymnastics Artistic gymnastics, the most popular and widely recognized discipline of gymnastics that includes events such as balance beam, floor exercise, and rings. Each event in artistic gymnastics involves the use of different apparatus and equipment to showcase an athlete’s strength, agility, balance,...
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What to expect from Iran’s presidential election of 2024 Iran held the first round of an early presidential election on June 28 after its hard-line president, Ebrahim Raisi, died unexpectedly in a helicopter crash on May 19. Raisi, one of the few figures trusted by both the security establishment and the regime’s clerical guardians, was expected to...
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Siege of Acre Siege of Acre, Napoleon’s unsuccessful siege of the Ottoman-controlled, walled city of Acre (today in northwest Israel) that lasted from March 18 to May 20, 1799. It was his first setback in the Egyptian campaign and one of his few defeats, and it marked the end of his hopes of carving out an...
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Charlotte Rampling Charlotte Rampling is a prolific English actress known for taking on seductive and complicated roles, including as a concentration camp survivor who has a sadomasochistic relationship with a former SS officer in the controversial 1974 film The Night Porter. Rampling has been in more than 100 movies...
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major types of pollinators Pollination is essential to the perpetuation of the vast majority of the world’s wild plants—and thus the perpetuation of nearly all terrestrial ecosystems—as well as to the production of most of the fruit and seed crops that feed humanity. The importance of this seemingly simple movement of...
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European robin European robin, (Erithacus rubecula), songbird species known for its bright orange face and breast. The European robin is classified as belonging to the Muscicapidae, a bird family that includes Old World flycatchers. The species is found throughout Europe and in parts of western Asia, northern...
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history of artificial intelligence (AI) History of artificial intelligence (AI), a survey of important events and people in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) from the early work of British logician Alan Turing in the 1930s to advancements at the turn of the 21st century. AI is the ability of a digital computer or...
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Alexander Girard Alexander Girard was an American architect and furniture, textile, graphic, and industrial designer whose vibrant, whimsical designs brought an element of joy to Mid-Century Modernism. Girard’s father was a French-Italian antiques dealer; his mother, an American, came from a family that was also in...
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Narcissus Narcissus, oil painting by Caravaggio (byname of Michelangelo Merisi) created between 1597 and 1599. It belongs to the early part of Caravaggio’s career, and comparatively little is known about his work at this stage. Indeed, some critics have even questioned whether this painting is actually by...
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Iván Zamorano Iván Zamorano is one of the most recognized Chilean football (soccer) players of all time. He gained fame as a great scorer in Europe. His popularity led the way for later Chilean stars to play in Europe. Playing sports from a young age—Zamorano’s father signed him up for the local soccer team when...
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Chinese zodiac Chinese zodiac, annual classification system in Chinese culture following the Chinese lunar calendar yingyang li (literally, “heaven-earth”) in which each year in a 12-year cycle is assigned an animal and each animal is associated with a personality that typifies the year and those born during that...
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Charles H. Bennett Charles H. Bennett is an American physicist noted for his work in quantum cryptography and quantum teleportation. Bennett graduated from Brandeis University with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1964. He received a doctorate in 1970 from Harvard University, where he worked on computer...
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Schitt’s Creek Schitt’s Creek, Canadian television sitcom about a rich family that loses its wealth and must temporarily move into a motel in a small town with the tongue-in-cheek name of Schitt’s Creek. The show aired for six seasons from 2015 to 2020. By metrics of awards and international viewership, Schitt’s...
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Chuck Palahniuk Chuck Palahniuk is an American author known for darkly comic and often disturbing novels—in particular, Fight Club (1996), which was adapted into a controversial film of the same name in 1999. Born in Pasco, a city in southeastern Washington, Palahniuk grew up in the rural town of Burbank, where...
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Diversify your portfolio with commodity ETFs And potentially protect against inflation.Commodities are the basic materials that help our economy run. Commodities include the crude oil that powers most of our vehicles and the natural gas and heating oil that keep our homes warm in the winter. Copper is the conduit that electrifies our...
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Cryptocurrency ETFs: Crypto exposure, listed on traditional exchanges But that doesn’t make it less volatile.Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) set the crypto markets buzzing in early 2024, when the first batch of spot price ETFs received approval from U.S. regulators. A few months later, Ethereum spot price ETFs crossed an important regulatory hurdle. The approval...
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How much will it cost me to buy a franchise? Four kinds of start-up costs.Buying a franchise may be a worthwhile investment in the long run, but it will take a lot of work, and it certainly isn’t cheap. Some franchises cost more than others, but regardless of the price, you’ll need to dish out a good chunk of change—anywhere from a few grand...
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Calculating your Social Security benefits? Breakeven ages and how to decide Tailor the formula to your unique needs.If you’re like most Americans, you’ve been paying into Social Security ever since you received your first paycheck. As you reach middle age and start thinking about life beyond your working years, one of the first decisions you’ll need to make is when to...
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Anthony Edwards Anthony Edwards is a American basketball player who is a rising star in the NBA, considered by some to be the future face of the league. The charismatic shooting guard is known for his theatrical dunks, accurate shooting, and resilience. In 2024 Edwards helped the Minnesota Timberwolves reach the...
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medication for opioid use disorder Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), intervention used in the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD), a condition characterized by addiction to opioid drugs. Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) can reduce opioid use and cravings, improve social functioning, and reduce the risk of death...
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Jerome Powell Jerome Powell is the chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“the Fed”), the central bank of the United States. Nominated by U.S. Pres. Donald Trump in 2017 and confirmed by the Senate the following year, he oversaw the Fed’s extensive intervention in the U.S. economy during...
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common garden insects and their larvae Many people are familiar with the friendly ladybug or handled a woolly bear caterpillar as a child, but fewer, perhaps, are aware of a ladybug’s larval stage or know what a woolly bear caterpillar turns into as an adult. The following is a list of both the adult and larval forms of a few common...
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triangle Triangle, in geometry, a three-sided polygon. Triangles are formed by three line segments, sometimes called edges, whose end points intersect at points known as the vertices. The seemingly simple shape has countless properties discovered over thousands of years of study. The following article...
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Quinta Brunson Quinta Brunson is an American actress, writer, and producer known for creating the comedy series Abbott Elementary (2021– ) on ABC, in which she stars as the dedicated, optimistic elementary school teacher Janine Teagues. Brunson, the fifth and youngest child of Norma Jean and Rick Brunson, grew up...
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Tollund Man Tollund Man, notable bog body—that is, a mummified human corpse preserved by the unique natural chemistry of peat bogs—discovered in the Bjældskovdal Mose, a peat bog in north-central Denmark, in 1950. The Tollund Man lived between 405 and 380 bce, amid Europe’s Iron Age (500 bce to 400 ce), and he...
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Foley artist Foley artist, in motion pictures, a specialist in sound effects who creates unique sounds to accompany specific onscreen actions or activities, such as a person walking, sword fighting, or a door creaking. The position is named after pioneering sound effects technician Jack Foley, who almost...
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Conor McGregor Conor McGregor is an Irish mixed martial artist who became the most famous name in the sport after winning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) titles in two different weight classes in 2015–16. McGregor’s meteoric rise and worldwide celebrity has come with much controversy, the result of an...
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butterwort Butterwort, (genus Pinguicula), genus of more than 120 species of small carnivorous plants in the family Lentibulariaceae. Butterworts are characterized by their sticky glandular leaves that capture and digest very small insects, such as fruit flies and gnats. Widely distributed, the plants can be...
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Black horror Black horror, horror subgenre that focuses on the experiences of Black Americans. Films in the Black horror genre feature stories involving Black characters and are usually made by Black writers and directors. Although Black horror is mainly a film genre, it also includes works of literature and...
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qigong Qigong, (pronounced “chi-gong”) an ancient Chinese system of physical exercise and meditation that combines movement, breathing, and mental concentration. Qigong serves as the foundation for the closely related practice of tai chi chuan, which originated as a martial art before becoming popular as...
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Songkran Songkran, splashy and water-filled New Year festival in Thailand, and, by other names, in Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma), and Laos as well as in parts of India and China. Songkran is celebrated approximately April 13–15 and marks the entrance of the sun into the astrological sign of Mesha (“ram,” or...
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Kristi Noem Kristi Noem is a Republican politician who was the first woman to serve as governor of South Dakota (2019– ). She was previously a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (2011–19). A prominent figure in conservative politics, Noem has associated herself closely with former president Donald...
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Elizabeth Olsen Elizabeth Olsen is an American actress who first gained notice for her work in independent films and later became an international star with her portrayal of Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster franchise. Her other notable credits include the crime-drama Wind...
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Battle of Cádiz The intense rivalry between England and Spain during the reign of Elizabeth I led Philip II of Spain to prepare an armada to invade England. Learning of this through spies employed by her councilor, Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth ordered a preemptive strike against the Spanish fleet, a daring...
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Battle of Tanga Battle of Tanga, the opening battle in German East Africa (Tanzania) on November 2–5, 1914, during World War I in which an amphibious landing at Tanga ended in total fiasco for the British. Failure to secure the harbor as a base for future operations ended hopes that the German colony would be...
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Woman Holding a Balance Woman Holding a Balance, oil painting by Johannes Vermeer from about 1664. It depicts a woman who some scholars have suggested may be pregnant and thus hints at a resemblance to the Virgin Mary. She stands serenely before a table that bears a jewelry box draped with strands of gold and pearls while...
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Girl with the Red Hat Girl with the Red Hat, oil-on-panel painting (c. 1669) by Johannes Vermeer. The painting is from Vermeer’s later and most well-known period, during which he focused on depicting scenes of daily life in interior settings. Although Girl with the Red Hat is Vermeer’s smallest painting (9 × 7.06 inches...
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Jessica Fox Jessica Fox is a French-born Australian athlete who specializes in canoe slalom, a sport in which paddlers maneuver a canoe or kayak through gates in turbulent white water. Fox is the most successful canoe slalom athlete, having won numerous medals, including at the Olympics and other major...
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Wagyu Wagyu, slow-growing Japanese cattle breed prized for its tender, flavorful, and highly marbled meat. Evidence suggests that the genetic origins of the breed date back thousands of years. Modern Wagyu cattle are crosses between Japanese Wagyu and cattle that were imported from England, continental...
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Lawrence Wong Lawrence Wong is the current and fourth prime minister of Singapore (2024–). An economist by training, he served in several government ministries before becoming deputy prime minister under Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Wong was chosen by Lee to be his successor prior to Lee’s stepping down from...
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blue jay Blue jay, (Cyanocitta cristata), large North American member of the bird family Corvidae known for its primarily blue plumage, large feather head crest, and raucous call. The blue jay is found in coniferous and deciduous forests east of the Rocky Mountains in both the United States and southern...
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Battle on the Zuiderzee Battle on the Zuiderzee, sea battle fought on the Zuiderzee, an inland sea in the northern Netherlands, on October 11, 1573, between a royal Spanish fleet and Dutch rebels as part of the long Dutch Revolt. The battle resulted in a Spanish defeat. In 1569, the Spanish occupied Amsterdam, and Dutch...
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Hungry Ghost Festival Hungry Ghost Festival, frightening and festive Buddhist and Daoist holiday celebrated in East Asia and Southeast Asia, particularly in areas with Chinese cultural influence, to propitiate the ghosts of the deceased. The holiday is celebrated on the 15th day of the 7th month on the Chinese lunar...
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Battle of the Yellow Sea Battle of the Yellow Sea, naval engagement of the Russo-Japanese War on August 10, 1904. In August 1904, Russian warships trapped in Port Arthur by the Japanese fleet attempted to break out and join the rest of the Russian Pacific Fleet at Vladivostok. The action that resulted was one of the first...
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Mickalene Thomas Mickalene Thomas is an American mixed-media artist best known for portraits of Black women that are often made from nontraditional media, such as rhinestones, glitter, and yarn. She also works in collage, video, sculpture, and installations. Thelma Golden—the director and chief curator of the...
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Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, athletic competition held in Tokyo that took place July 23–August 8, 2021. Scheduled for 2020, the Summer Games were postponed until the next year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming the first Olympics ever held after the proposed start date. They were still...
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Noah Lyles Noah Lyles is an American sprinter who became known as the “fastest man in the world” after winning a trio of gold medals—in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, and the 4 × 100-meter relay—at the 2023 world championships. Lyles has also drawn attention with his confidence and sense of style, and he has...
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Love your pet to death? Why and how to create a pet trust Your best friend will thank you.In his will, designer Karl Lagerfeld stipulated that a portion of his $300 million fortune go to his beloved cat, Choupette. But when the fashion icon died in 2019, there were questions about how to pass that money on. Lagerfeld and Choupette lived in Paris, and in...
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Retail investors vs. institutional investors: Bridging the divide The small money can still be the smart money.The financial markets can accommodate almost everyone, whether you are a young meme-stock trader buying a fractional share of stock through an app-based broker, or the manager of a hedge fund worth billions. However, they don’t accommodate everyone...
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Shanghai Cooperation Organization Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), is an intergovernmental organization established in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan with the aim of promoting cooperation and peace among its member states, as well as fostering “a new democratic, fair and rational...
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Dragon Boat Festival Dragon Boat Festival, prominent and festive Chinese holiday that originated at least 1,500 years ago and features dragon boat races and rice dumplings. It is one of the three “festivals of the living,” along with the Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival. Known as Duanwu Jie in Mandarin and...
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exposure therapy Exposure therapy, any of various approaches used to help reduce fear and anxiety that cause individuals to avoid specific objects, activities, or situations. Exposure to fear-producing stimuli in a safe environment can help mitigate avoidance behavior. Exposure therapy is highly effective for...
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Nuremberg Code Nuremberg Code, a 10-point statement designed to define the limits of permissible medical experimentation on human beings. It was developed in August 1947 in Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Germany, by a panel of American judges during hearings involving 23 Nazi doctors accused of conducting experiments on...
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What’s the difference between moths and butterflies? Most people are generally familiar with moths and butterflies. You might recognize a beautiful butterfly in a garden and avoid the erratic moths circling your porch light at night. But what about that whitish blur fluttering around during the day? Or that large fuzzy beauty you just spied on a...
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Weapons and uniforms of troops on D-Day On June 6, 1944, the Allies landed some 160,000 amphibious and airborne troops in Normandy. Opposing the Normandy Invasion were some 50,000 German troops of greatly varying quality. The 716th Static Infantry Division was composed of Germans who were too old for regular military service and...
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Maryam Nawaz Sharif Maryam Nawaz Sharif is the first woman chief minister of Punjab (2024– ), Pakistan’s most populous province, and the daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Her rise to prominence coincided with that of the rival party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), as her father’s Pakistan Muslim...
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Will Social Security run out? 3 myths and truths Understanding the funding gap.The so-called Social Security crisis has taken root in the popular imagination, stoking fears that this pillar of retirement income in the U.S. could collapse, taking with it trillions of dollars in promised benefits. But is Social Security really running out of money?...
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Tokenization of real-world assets: Is a digital transformation underway? Where property meets the blockchain.Tokenization of real-world assets: It’s quite a mouthful, but what does it mean? The short answer is that it’s digital proof of ownership of an asset, represented by a token (or tokens) on a blockchain. Asset tokenization has the potential to not only replace or...
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Robert Pattinson Robert Pattinson is an English actor who became a celebrity for his role as the dreamy vampire Edward Cullen in the Twilight Saga movie series (2008–12) before later establishing his bona fides as a serious actor in independent films, notably Cosmopolis (2012), Good Time (2017), and The Lighthouse...
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Understanding frugal fatigue and how to fight it Your financial journey is a marathon, not a sprint.Staying on top of how you spend each month can be draining, especially when you’re first starting out as a working adult. That tiresome feeling of fretting over whether you have enough in your bank account to cover your bills has a name: frugal...
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Should you use a paycheck advance loan app? Convenience comes at a cost.Maybe you’re struggling financially, but it’s still a few days until payday. Perhaps you need a couple hundred bucks to pay a bill or two—something to close the gap. Enter the paycheck advance app, which allows you to get a portion of your paycheck early, saving the day...
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Reaganomics Reaganomics, popular term for the economic policies of U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan. The word is a portmanteau of Reagan and economics and was first attributed to radio broadcaster Paul Harvey. It has been used by both Reagan’s supporters and critics. The policies have also been referred to as...
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history of Malawi History of Malawi, a survey of notable events and people in the history of Malawi. The landlocked country is located in southeastern Africa. Endowed with spectacular highlands and extensive lakes, it occupies a narrow, curving strip of land along the East African Rift Valley. Lake Malawi (also...
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BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, publicly traded online media company known for its commentary, quizzes, listicles (articles formatted as lists), videos, and food writing. The company was founded in 2006 by entrepreneur Jonah Peretti and positioned itself as “home to the best of the Internet.” The site mainly features...
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horse breeds Horses were among the last species of livestock to be domesticated. Their domestication took place at least as early as 3000 bce, probably in the Near East, and likely occurred through more than one domestication event. From the 2nd millennium bce, and probably even earlier, the horse was employed...
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goat breeds Goats were probably first domesticated in Asia, perhaps during prehistoric times, and have long been used as a source of milk, cheese, mohair, and meat. Goat skin can also be made into leather. Goats are especially adapted to small-scale milk production; one or two animals can supply sufficient...
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The Kite Runner The Kite Runner, novel by Khaled Hosseini, published in 2003. It follows the journey of Amir, a young boy from Kabul, and is set against the tumultuous background of Afghanistan’s history, from the fall of the monarchy through to the rise of the Taliban regime. The novel delves into the themes of...
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Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport, the largest and busiest airport in the United Kingdom and one of the busiest and most connected airports in the world. Opened in 1946 and located west of Central London, it provides service to more than 200 destinations in more than 80 countries. British Airways is the airport’s...
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Raven Wilkinson Raven Wilkinson was an American dancer who became the first Black woman to dance with a major classical ballet company. Wilkinson was interested in dance from a young age. After her mother, who had studied ballet, took her at age five to see the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo perform Coppélia,...
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Battle of Five Forks Battle of Five Forks, one of the final major engagements of the American Civil War (1861–65). It was fought on April 1, 1865. The lengthy Union siege of Confederate-held Petersburg in Virginia, which had lasted for nine months, was brought to a close in this battle. Union troops overwhelmed their...