title: Jeff Dunham

paragraphs: Jeffrey "Jeff" Dunham (born April 18, 1962) is an American ventriloquist, comedian and actor. He has appeared on many television programs. He has four specials that are shown on Comedy Central: "", "", "Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special", and "Jeff Dunham: Controlled Chaos". Dunham also starred in "The Jeff Dunham Show", a series on the network in 2009. His style has been described as "a dressed-down, more digestible version of Don Rickles with multiple personality disorder". Describing his characters, "Time" observes, "All of them are politically incorrect, gratuitously insulting and ill tempered." Dunham has been credited with reviving ventriloquism, and doing more to promote the art form than anyone since Edgar Bergen.

paragraphs: Dunham has been called "America's favorite comedian" by Slate.com, and according to the concert industry publication "Pollstar", he is the top-grossing standup act in North America, and is among the most successful acts in Europe as well. As of March 2009, he has sold over four million DVDs, an additional $7 million in merchandise sales, and received more than 350 million hits on YouTube (his introduction of Achmed the Dead Terrorist in "Spark of Insanity" is the ninth most watched YouTube video). "A Very Special Christmas Special" was the most-watched telecast in Comedy Central history, with its DVD going quadruple platinum (selling over 400,000) in its first two weeks. "Forbes.com" ranked Dunham as the third highest-paid comedian in the United States behind Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock, and reported that he was one of the highest-earning comics from June 2008 to June 2009, earning approximately $30 million during that period.

paragraphs: Dunham was born in Dallas, Texas on April 18, 1962. When he was three months old he was adopted by real estate appraiser Howard Dunham, and his homemaker wife Joyce, who raised him in a devoutly Presbyterian household in a rich Dallas neighborhood as an only child. He began ventriloquism in 1970 at age eight, when his parents gave him a Mortimer Snerd dummy for Christmas, and an accompanying how-to album. The next day he checked out a how-to book on ventriloquism from the library, and explained in 2011 that he still had it, remarking that he was "a thief in the third grade". By the fourth grade, Dunham decided he not only wanted to be a professional ventriloquist, but the best one ever. Dunham began practicing for hours in front of a mirror, studying the routines of Edgar Bergen, and the how-to record "Jimmy Nelson's Instant Ventriloquism", finding ventriloquism to be a learned skill, similar to juggling, that anyone with a normal speaking voice can acquire. Dunham explains that as an only child, he enjoyed being alone, likening his solitude to a "warm blanket" with which he could explore his own thoughts and ideas, which prepared him for the solitude of living alone when he later moved to Los Angeles as a struggling comedian.

paragraphs: When Dunham was in the sixth grade, he began attending the Vent Haven ConVENTion in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, an annual international meeting of ventriloquists that includes competitions, where he met Jimmy Nelson in person. Dunham has missed only one ConVENTion since then, in 1977. The organizers of the ConVENTion eventually declared Dunham a "retired champion", ineligible from entering any more competitions, as other attendees were too intimidated to compete against him. The Vent Haven Museum devotes a section to Dunham, alongside Señor Wences and his idol, Edgar Bergen.

paragraphs: Dunham began performing for audiences as a teenager, in various venues such as school, church, and during his job at Six Flags. By his middle school years, he began to perform for banquets attended by local celebrities such as Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, having developed his style of lampooning those he performed for, using the puppets to say things too risque for him to say without them. Dunham's television debut came in 1976 when the still prepubescent performer caught the attention of Dallas reporters like Bill O'Reilly, who interviewed Dunham for a local news story. Dunham later did commercials for Datsun dealerships in Dallas and Tyler while in high school. While emceeing a high school talent show, he dealt with a heckler, and won over the rest of the audience. During this period he became so associated with his craft that he and one of his dummies "cowrote" a column in the school paper, and he would pose with his dummies for yearbooks as an inexpensive way to acquire professional photos of his act for promotional purposes. He was voted Most Likely to Succeed, and in 1980, after he graduated from high school, Dunham gave himself a career goal of obtaining, within ten years, an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson", which was seen as the "holy grail" for comedians.

paragraphs: That year Dunham began attending Baylor University, hoping to graduate with a degree in communications, while performing around campus. He would also fly around the country on weekends, doing up to 100 private shows a year, entertaining corporate customers such as General Electric, whose CEO, Jack Welch, he mocked during his routine. By his junior year in college (1983–1984), Dunham was making $70,000 a year, and as word spread of his act, he landed featured spots opening for Bob Hope and George Burns, though he still perceived his act as raw, as he did not have any knowledge of standup comedy beyond his Bill Cosby albums. He caught a break in 1985 when he was asked to join the Broadway show "Sugar Babies" with Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller, replacing the outgoing variety act. For the naive and devoutly-raised Dunham, Broadway was a new world filled with beautiful showgirls and crusty stagehands, and his first taste of entertainment industry egos came when Rooney called Dunham into his dressing room, and told him he was there for one reason alone: so that Rooney could change his costumes. Dunham also performed at the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island. These early experiences, in which he used characters like José Jalapeño on a Stick, taught him the value of modifying his act regionally, as the jalapeño jokes that worked well in Texas were not as well received by audiences in Long Island.

paragraphs: After graduating from Baylor University in 1986, he continued honing his act in comedy clubs in the Southwest with new characters such as Peanut and Jose Jalapeño, but struggled against the perception he relates from fellow comedians that he was not a true a comedian because he relied on props. His experience at Catch a Rising Star in New York City served as a bitter confirmation of where ventriloquists stood in the comedic food chain, as the emcee at that club gave Dunham little respect. According to Dunham, after he arrived at the club in the evening and informed the emcee that he was a ventriloquist, the emcee reacted with derision, telling Dunham that he would be given a late time slot, and after that time slot came and passed, kept postponing Dunham's stage time until Dunham left the club. By the end of 1988, Dunham felt his career went as far as it could go in Texas, and he moved to Los Angeles, California, never having, as he has commented, "a real job", much to the concern of his parents, who assumed he would relegate his act to local venues such as church groups. When he first arrived in Los Angeles, the comedy in his act bombed. Dunham attributes to his underdeveloped comedy, explaining that while the characters' personalities were developed at that point, his jokes were not. In addition to this, the comedy world was not welcoming to ventriloquists, and his manager, Judi Brown-Marmel, did not use the word "ventriloquist" when finding bookings for him, choosing to present him as a comedy duo. After Dunham became friends with Mike Lacey, the owner of The Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, Lacey gave Dunham a steady slot at the club, where Dunham sharpened his act by observing the techniques of comedians like Jerry Seinfeld, and taking the advice of colleague Bill Engvall, moving away from his G-Rated material toward edgier, more adult themes.

paragraphs: At the end of 1988, Dunham was told by James McCawley, a talent booker for "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson", that Dunham would be given a spot on the program. Though the 26-year-old Dunham was elated that his 10-year goal was arriving two years early, McCawley later cancelled Dunham's appearance after attending, with Roseanne Barr, a public performance of Dunham's the day before Dunham's scheduled "Tonight Show" taping. McCawley informed Dunham on the day of the scheduled taping that he had been wrong in his initial assessment of Dunham, whom he now said was not ready for "The Tonight Show". His dreams dashed, the humiliated Dunham continued to tighten his act in Los Angeles clubs, performing same six minute segment with Peanut a total of nine times for McCawley over the next few months. Finally at the Ice-House in Pasadena in April 1990, after Dunham did the same segment, McCawley informed Dunham that he would finally get his "Tonight Show" appearance. Dunham and Peanut appeared on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" on April 6, 1990, alongside guests Bob Hope and B.B. King. Following his bit, he was invited to sit on Johnny Carson’s couch, a mark of approval that only three comedians had ever garnered during their first Carson appearance. Upon sitting down next to Carson's desk, Dunham pulled out Walter, who told Carson sidekick Ed McMahon, "Stop sending me all your damn mail." At the time, Dunham saw his "Tonight Show" appearance as his big break, but was frustrated at his parents' initial disapproval over Walter's use of the words "hell" and "damn", and he would toil in obscurity for another twelve years, continuing his stand up at venues such as The Improv chain, and appearing in small roles on TV. One of these was such as a 1996 episode of "Ellen", in which he appeared with Walter. Dunham also appeared with Walter in a TV commercial for Hertz. Dunham would appear on "The Tonight Show" a total of four times, as well as similar TV venues such as "Hot Country Nights", appearing in one segment on that show with singer Reba McEntire. This exposure helped make Dunham a large theater headliner, a rare accomplishment for a ventriloquist, but by the mid 1990s, his television appearances had dwindled, and with them, so did his stage audiences.

paragraphs: Dunham moved back to clubs, more than 200 appearances a year. To maintain a connection with his fan base, he would use question cards that he had audiences fill out for his performances to build a database, which was tailor-made for the burgeoning World Wide Web. Though he was voted Funniest Male Standup at the American Comedy Awards in 1998, his club work kept him away from his wife and daughters between two and three weeks each month, which put a strain on his marriage, and made paying bills for his expanded family difficult. By 2002, Dunham was hoping to obtain more TV work to raise his profile and ease his standup schedule. Such exposure was elusive until a successful appearance on "The Best Damn Sports Show Period", where Dunham and Walter made jokes at the expense of co-hosts Tom Arnold, Michael Irvin, John Salley and John Kruk, generating laughter from them, and giving Dunham much-needed exposure. In 2003, Dunham was the frontrunner to replace Jimmy Kimmel on "Fox NFL Sunday", but hosts Howie Long and Terry Bradshaw were not amenable to the idea of being upstaged by a puppet, and, as Dunham tells it, did not provide a welcoming atmosphere to Dunham, nor allow him to get a word in edgewise during his appearance.

paragraphs: On July 18, 2003, Dunham appeared on "Comedy Central Presents", his first solo appearance on Comedy Central. During his half hour piece, he showcased José Jalapeño on a Stick, Walter, an early version of Melvin the Superhero Guy and Peanut, whom Dunham had begun to merchandise into a line of dolls. The appearance was successful, but Comedy Central resisted giving Dunham more airtime, feeling that he was not a good fit for them. By 2005 Dunham decided to gamble on financing his own comedy DVD, "", which was taped in Santa Ana, California. Dunham’s manager, Judi Brown-Marmel, lobbied the network to air it, pointing to Dunham's drawing power and merchandising profits, and arguing that the network needed more diverse content. Surprised by the high ratings of the first Blue Collar Comics concert movie that same year, the network began to reconsider its brand. In late 2006, Comedy Central aired "Arguing with Myself", drawing two million viewers when it aired, and selling two million DVDs.

paragraphs: In 2007, Dunham appeared as The Amazing Ken with José Jalapeño on a Stick in the Larry the Cable Guy feature film "Delta Farce".

paragraphs: His second special, "", was taped at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C. that same year. It served not only to cement Dunham's stardom, but to introduce his most controversial character, Achmed the Dead Terrorist, which became a viral Internet sensation. A clip of Achmed from "Insanity" attracted over 140 million hits on YouTube, making it the ninth most watched clip on that website as of October 2009. By 2008, Dunham's characters had crossed language barriers, with his specials dubbed for audiences in various countries such as France, and Dunham attracting requests for performances in South Africa, Australia, Norway, Denmark, China and the Middle East. "Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special" was taped at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that same year, and premiered on Comedy Central on November 16, 2008, watched by 6.6 million people. It became available on DVD and Blu-ray on November 18, 2008. The special's premiere was the highest rated telecast in Comedy Central's history.

paragraphs: In September 2008, Dunham's career reached new heights as he began performing in arenas filled with tens of thousands of people. Dunham was somewhat wary of such large venues, but adapted by adjusting the timing of his often rapid exchanges with the puppets so that audience members farthest from the stage could have time to react.

paragraphs: In addition to his comedy specials, Dunham also released his first music album, "Don't Come Home for Christmas", on November 4, 2008. It contains original Christmas songs as well as a parody of "Jingle Bells" by Achmed entitled "Jingle Bombs". All the songs, with the exception of "Jingle Bombs", were written and accompanied by Brian Haner, who joined Dunham's act as "Guitar Guy". His first onscreen appearance was in "Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special".

paragraphs: In March 2009, Dunham signed a multi-platform deal with Comedy Central. It included a fourth stand-up special to air in 2010, DVDs, a consumer products partnership, a 60-city tour beginning in September 2010, and an order for a television series called "The Jeff Dunham Show" that premiered on October 22, 2009. Despite having the most-watched premiere in Comedy Central history, and higher average ratings than other shows on that network, the show was canceled after only one season, amid poor reviews and higher production costs than other Comedy Central shows.

paragraphs: Dunham appeared in a guest role with Bubba J on NBC's sictom "30 Rock", playing a ventriloquist named Rick Wayne and his dummy Pumpkin from Stone Mountain, Georgia. In November 2009 Dunham also appeared with Walter in "Hart to Hart", an episode of the Disney Channel series "Sonny With a Chance", as two security guards.

paragraphs: Dunham appeared in the 2010 Steve Carell/Paul Rudd comedy, "Dinner for Schmucks", as Lewis, with a new puppet named Diane.

paragraphs: His fourth special, "Jeff Dunham: Controlled Chaos", premiered on September 25, 2011 on Comedy Central.

paragraphs: In January 2008, Dunham was voted by fans the Top Comic in Comedy Central's “Stand-Up Showdown.” He is the only person ever to win the "Ventriloquist of the Year" Award twice, was nominated "Comedian of the Year" by the TNN Music City News Country Awards, and has drawn praise from the "Dallas Morning News" for his technique and timing.

paragraphs: Some have accused Dunham's characters of being racist caricatures, sexist, and homophobic. In 2008, a TV commercial for a ringtone featuring Dunham's character Achmed the Dead Terrorist (see Characters below) was banned by the South African Advertising Standards Authority after a complaint was filed by a citizen stating that the ad was offensive to Muslims, and portrayed all Muslims as terrorists. Dunham responded that "Achmed makes it clear in my act that he is not Muslim." However, the Advertising Standards Authority noted that the name Achmed was of Arab origin and was one of the names of Muhammad. Dunham responded, "I've skewered whites, blacks, Hispanics, Christians, Jews, Muslims, gays, straights, rednecks, addicts, the elderly, and my wife. As a standup comic, it is my job to make the majority of people laugh, and I believe that comedy is the last true form of free speech." He further commented, "I'm considering renaming Achmed, 'Bill.'" Dunham has conceded that he does exhibit particular sensitivity to the "conservative country crowd," or those characterized by "basic Christian values," as they are one of his largest constituencies, and part of his upbringing.

paragraphs: Dunham was heckled and criticized for mocking TV critics during a July 2009 press tour to promote his then-upcoming Comedy Central TV series, "The Jeff Dunham Show", as well as Comedy Central programming chief Lauren Correo. In October 2009 "The Jeff Dunham Show" enjoyed good initial ratings, but was not well liked by critics, who did not find it funny, and either questioned the wisdom of translating his act into a series, or conceded a prejudice against Dunham, his previous specials, or ventriloquism itself.

paragraphs: J.P. Williams, the producer of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, has opined that Dunham's act is not funny on its own merits, and that his material gets a greater reaction because of the puppet characters that it would otherwise not garner by itself. Blue Collar veteran Bill Engvall, a friend of Dunham's insists otherwise, saying that Dunham is inherently funny with or without the puppets.

paragraphs: In 2003, BRASMA Publications released "Dear Walter", a collection of questions asked of Dunham's fictional curmudgeon at live performances, authored by Dunham, and Walter Cummings.

paragraphs: Dunham's autobiography, "All By My Selves: Walter, Peanut, Achmed and Me", was published by Dutton in November 2010.

paragraphs: Walter is a retired, grumpy old man with arms always crossed in discontent. Dunham was inspired to create Walter when he watched Bette Davis' final appearance on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson", giving her honest, unfiltered candor to Walter, and patterning Walter's frown on Dunham's own. He has a brash, negative and often sarcastic view on today's world. He is a Vietnam War veteran and a former welder, and "doesn't give a damn" about anyone, especially his own wife and certain audience members. Walter has appeared in all four Comedy Central specials. He's been married for several decades, and when Dunham asks him if he remembers the happiest moment of his life after Walter tells him he has been married for forty-six years, Walter responds, "Forty-"seven" years ago!" Dunham created the Walter puppet himself, including both the initial sculpture and the silicon mold, though he eventually began using professional effects companies for the latter stages with his subsequent puppets.

paragraphs: Peanut is a hyperactive, purple-skinned "woozle" with white fur covering most of his body, a tuft of green hair on the top of his head, and one sneaker on his left foot. Dunham explains in "Arguing with Myself" that Peanut is from a small Micronesian island, and that they met in Florida. Peanut's humor is not based on a particular motif or stereotype, as those of the other characters, and has been described as "the bad kid". He often makes fun of Dunham, and torments and mocks José Jalapeño on a Stick. Touching upon his unusual appearance and personality, he asks Dunham in "Arguing with Myself", after Dunham denies ever having done drugs, "Then how the hell did you come up with "me"?"

paragraphs: José is a talking jalapeño pepper on a stick who wears a small sombrero. José, who speaks with a thick Latin accent, is typically paired with Peanut, who often makes fun of José, uses appeals to Latino stereotypes when doing so, and makes fun of his being on a stick. Although José was not Dunham's first puppet, it was the first that Dunham made himself.

paragraphs: Bubba J is a beer-drinking redneck that Dunham describes in "Arguing with Myself" and "A Very Special Christmas Special" as "white trash trailer park", and whom Dunham uses for humor centered on such stereotypes. To this end, he frequently does jokes involving Bubba J's love of drinking beer and NASCAR, and his low intelligence. Touching upon such stereotypes, Bubba mentions in "Arguing with Myself" that he met his wife at a family reunion, and remembers seeing her with a corn dog in one hand, a beer in another, and leaning against a ferris wheel, "making it tilt". Although he does not appear onstage, Bubba has a prominent role as the backstage security guard in "Controlled Chaos".

paragraphs: Dunham introduces Sweet Daddy Dee in "" as his "new manager". He calls himself a "pimp", which he says stands for "Player In the Management Profession." According to Sweet Daddy, because he is a pimp, that makes Jeff the "ho". When Dunham objects, Daddy Dee points out that Dunham makes people laugh and feel good for a living. When Dunham agrees that this is the case, Daddy Dee says, "You a ho." When Dunham asks what he would say if he told him that he was a comedian only because he enjoyed it, Daddy Dee responds, "You a "dumb" ho."

paragraphs: Melvin wears a blue superhero costume, and is used to poke fun at superheroes. When asked about his superhuman powers, he indicates that he has X-ray vision, adding, "I love looking at boobies!" He appears to have no other powers, however: When Dunham asks how far he can fly, he responds, "How far can you throw me?", and when asked if he can stop a bullet like Superman, he responds, "Yeah. Once." Dunham portrays Melvin as unimpressed with other superheroes: When told Superman can leap tall buildings in a single bound, Melvin dismisses him as a "showoff," arguing that he can simply walk around them, observes that Aquaman has the same powers as SpongeBob SquarePants, asserts that the Flash's super speed is derived from methamphetamine, that the Hulk's vaunted ability to get stronger as he gets angrier merely mirrors "every white trash guy on "COPS"," and makes innuendo about the questionable relationship between Batman and the underage Robin. Melvin's first onscreen appearance was in the July 2003 "Comedy Central Presents" episode, in which he had small, black, beady eyes. By his next appearance, in "Spark of Insanity", he had been modified to have large, blue, crossed eyes. He also has an enormous nose, which he claims is his symbol, and whose similarity in shape to that of a penis is alluded to in the act. Dunham sculpted the current version of Melvin's head himself, and hired an effects company called Renegade Effects Groups to create the rubber mold and complete the puppet, before then installing the mechanics himself.

paragraphs: Achmed is the skeletal corpse of an incompetent suicide bomber, whom Dunham uses to satirize the contemporary issue of terrorism. He is known for yelling, "Silence! I kill you!" to Dunham and people laughing in the audience. Achmed first appeared in "Spark of Insanity", and later made an appearance in the "Very Special Christmas Special", singing a song called "Jingle Bombs". He also dubs the so-called Guitar Guy "You racist bastard"! for warming up with typical Arab chords. Most of the humor Dunham expresses with Achmed centers on this motif. When mentioning that Achmed appears to be dead because he's a skeleton, Achmed responds, "It's a flesh wound." When Dunham inquires as to how he died, Achmed explains his incompetence with explosives, while also casting aspersions on Dunham's sexual prowess, by saying that they both suffer from "premature detonation." Although he frequently mentions working for Osama, Achmed claims he does not think he's a Muslim ("look at my ass! It says 'Made in China'"). As of June 2009, the sketch in which Dunham introduced Achmed is the fourth most watched online video ever, having amassed nearly 200 million views. The large, round, articulated eyes of puppets such as Achmed and Achmed Junior are constructed by the same effects artist who created the dinosaur eyes for the "Jurassic Park" films.

paragraphs: Diane first appeared with Dunham in the 2010 film "Dinner for Schmucks" as "Debbie", his character's "wife". She made her stand-up debut in Dunham's Identity Crisis Tour 2010.

paragraphs: Achmed Junior is the estranged son of Achmed. He first appeared during the Identity Crisis Tour 2010, and makes his first onscreen appearance in Dunham's fourth special, "Jeff Dunham: Controlled Chaos". Like his father, Achmed Junior is the victim of a bomb, which resulted in the destruction of the half of his face and body. He speaks with a British accent, and does not wish to be a suicide bomber.

paragraphs: Other characters that Dunham has voiced include a miniature puppet of Peanut's, which turns out to be a small version of Dunham himself, and an unseen worm inside a bottle of tequila, both of which he has used, for example, in his appearance on A&E's "An Evening at The Improv". The miniature Dunham puppet was also used in Dunham's 2011 Comedy Central special, "Controlled Chaos".

paragraphs: Dunham met his first wife, Paige Brown, at the Comedy Corner in West Palm Beach, Florida, after she had sent him a fan letter following a previous performance. They began dating in December 1992. Brown, who had a one and a half year-old daughter, Bree, moved out to Los Angeles in June 1993. Dunham married Brown, and adopted Bree in May 1994. They would have two other daughters, Ashlyn in 1995 and Kenna was born in 1997. Though Dunham never missed major events such as birthdays, his work would keep him away from home two and a half to three weeks a month, which proved difficult for the family. By January 2008 Dunham's career proved such a strain to their marriage that they began marriage counseling and Dunham was so depressed that he canceled a week's worth of shows, something he had never done before. In November 2008 Dunham filed for divorce. The months following the end of his marriage were a devastating period for him, resulting in difficulty in being on stage, as Walter's jokes about marriage rang a bit too true. In 2009, Dunham met fellow Texas native Audrey Murdick, a certified nutritionist, personal trainer and competition bodybuilder, and by mid-2009, they were in a committed relationship. On December 25, 2011 Dunham and Murdick became engaged.

paragraphs: In addition to building the dummies he uses in his act, Dunham also restores antique ones as a hobby, such as The Umpire, a mechanized dummy built in 1941 to work the plate at a girl's softball game, but which went unused and packed away for 50 years, before Dunham acquired it in early 2008.

paragraphs: Dunham has harbored a love of helicopters since childhood and is fond of building and flying his own kit helicopters from Rotorway helicopter kits. At the time he finished writing his autobiography in June 2010, he was beginning to build his fourth kit. He is also an aficionado of muscle cars and Apple Computer products.


title: Jimmy Kimmel

paragraphs: James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American comedian, voice actor, actor, writer, producer, musician, television host, and radio personality. He is the host and creator of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", a late-night talk show that airs on ABC.


title: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

paragraphs: Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a 1987 American comedy movie released by Paramount Pictures. It was written, produced and directed by John Hughes. It stars Steve Martin and John Candy.

paragraphs: The movie gained positive reviews from critics and holds a 94% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. "Siskel & Ebert" gave the movie two thumbs up and Siskel declared that was it John Candy’s best role to date. The movie is featured in Roger Ebert's Great Movies collection.


title: Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

paragraphs: Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (also known as Madagascar 3 and Madagascar: Europe's Most Wanted) is a 2012 American computer-animated movie made by DreamWorks Animation. It is the third movie of the "Madagascar" movie series and is a sequel to the first two "Madagascar" films. It is the first 3-D movie in the series. It is directed by Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, and Conrad Vernon. It was released on June 8, 2012.


title: Pharrell Williams

paragraphs: Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American singer, rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and fashion designer. Williams and Chad Hugo comprise The Neptunes. They produce hip hop and R&B music. He is also the lead vocalist of the band N*E*R*D. He formed the band with Hugo and childhood friend Shay Haley. He released his first single "Frontin'" in 2003. His first album "In My Mind" was released in 2006.

paragraphs: As part of the Neptunes, Williams has produced many singles for various musicians. These artists include Jay-Z, Backstreet Boys, Blackstreet, Ludacris, Rage Against the Machine, Britney Spears, Busta Rhymes, Garbage, Mary J. Blige, and Usher. The two have earned three Grammy Awards in ten nominations. He is also the co-founder of the streetwear brands Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream footwear.

paragraphs: Williams became more well-known worldwide during 2013 and 2014, when he was featured on Robin Thicke's single "Blurred Lines" with T.I. (which he produced) and released his own single, "Happy", for the movie "Despicable Me 2". Both songs reached number one in several countries around the world, including the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. He was also featured on Daft Punk's single "Get Lucky", another international chart-topper.

paragraphs: Williams and model/designer Helen Lasichanh have a son, Rocket Williams, who was born in 2008. The couple married on October 12, 2013. In January 2017, the couple welcomed triplets.


title: Pradikta Wicaksono

paragraphs: Pradikta Wicaksono (born in Jakarta, Indonesia, January 10, 1986) or often called Dikta, is an Indonesian singer. He is a singer for the group Yovie & Nuno, along with Dudi Oris. He joined Yovie & Nuno in 2007.

paragraphs: Pradikta Wicaksono was born in Jakarta on January 10, 1986. He was the second child of three siblings.


title: Ready to Die

paragraphs: Ready to Die is the debut album by American rapper, The Notorious B.I.G.. It was released on September 13, 1994 by Bad Boy Records. "Ready to Die" was ranked #133 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time and was included in Time's list of the 100 greatest albums of all time. The song "Big Poppa" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 1996 Grammy Awards but lost to Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise". It was his only studio album that was released during his lifetime as he was murdered days prior to the release of his second studio album Life After Death (1997).


title: Adipati Koesmadji

paragraphs: Adipati Koesmadji (born in Bandung, Indonesia, August 19, 1991) or also known as the Adipati Dolken is an actor from Indonesia. Adipati Koesmadji began to be known since role as "Virgo" in the soap opera that aired on SCTV, "Kepompong".


title: Terry Balsamo

paragraphs: Terry Balsamo (born October 8, 1972 in Tampa, Florida), is an American guitarist. He is the current guitarist of the alternative metal band Cold and the former guitarist of Evanescence.

paragraphs: Balsamo was hired as Evanescence's new lead guitarist after Ben Moody left the band. He co-wrote the album The Open Door with Amy Lee and also participated in the songwriting process of Evanescence.


title: Nicholas Lyndhurst

paragraphs: Nicholas Simon Lyndhurst (born 20 April 1961) is a British actor. He was born in Gosport, Hampshire. He played roles in television sitcoms "Going Straight", "Butterflies", "Only Fools and Horses", "The Two of Us", "Goodnight Sweetheart", "After You've Gone" and "Rock & Chips".


title: Range (biology)

paragraphs: In biology, the range or distribution of a species is the geographical area or

paragraphs: Sometimes, when species are found in different regions at different times of year, terms such as summer range and winter range can be used. When discussing about animals, the species' natural range is often discussed.

paragraphs: There are at least five types of distribution patterns:


title: Victoria Azarenka

paragraphs: Victoria Azarenka (, ; born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian tennis player. She won the mixed doubles at the 2007 US Open and at the 2008 French Open. She won the singles at the 2012 and 2013 Australian Open. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she won a bronze medal in the singles and a gold medal in the mixed doubles. She is a former world no. 1. As of 8 July 2013, she was the world no. 3.

paragraphs: She was born in Minsk and lives in Monte Carlo, Monaco.


title: Japanese Bobtail

paragraphs: The Japanese Bobtail is a breed of cat from Japan. It has a short tail.

paragraphs: The Maneki Neko is usually a Calico cat (Japanese Bobtail).


title: Maneki Neko

paragraphs: , also known as "welcoming cat", "lucky cat", "money cat" or "fortune cat", is a common Japanese figurine. It is a lucky charm. This small statue is found in many Japanese shops, and it is also seen in some places outside Japan.

paragraphs: "Maneki neko" is usually painted as a Calico cat (Japanese Bobtail), but new colors has appeared recently (for example, white, red, black, pink, blue and gold). It usually has the right paw raised. Some of these statues have the left paw raised.

paragraphs: The statue commonly has a gold coin called a "koban" around the cat's neck.

paragraphs: Tokoname in Aichi Prefecture is Japan's top producer of "Maneki neko".

paragraphs: Maneki-neko can be found with either the right or left paw raised (and sometimes both).

paragraphs: Generally, a right paw raised brings good luck and wealth, while the left paw raised brings in customers.

paragraphs: "Maneki neko" was a mascot of the silk industry, but now it is considered to be a mascot of business prosperity.

paragraphs: Different theories say that the Maneki neko came from Imado temples or that it came from Gotoku temples.

paragraphs: "Maneki neko" is made with wood mainly, but in recent years it is made of the plastic.


title: Hugo (movie)

paragraphs: Hugo is a 2011 American 3D adventure drama movie that is based on Brian Selznick's novel "The Invention of Hugo Cabret". The movie is about a boy who lives alone in a Paris railway station and the enigmatic owner of a toy shop there. It was directed by Martin Scorsese, while the screenwriter was John Logan. It is a co-production of Graham King's GK Films and Johnny Depp's Infinitum Nihil. It stars Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, and Jude Law.

paragraphs: "Hugo" is Scorsese's first movie to be shot in 3D.

paragraphs: In 1931, Hugo Cabret, a 12-year-old boy who lives with his father, a widowed, but kind and devoted master clockmaker in Paris. Hugo's father takes him to see movies and loves the movies of Georges Méliès best of all. Hugo's father is burned alive in a museum fire, and Hugo is taken away by his uncle, an alcoholic watchmaker who is responsible for maintaining the clocks in the railway station of Gare Montparnasse. His uncle teaches him to take care of the clocks, then disappears. Hugo lives between the walls of the station, maintaining the clocks, stealing food and working on his father's most ambitious project: repairing a broken automaton – a mechanical man who is supposed to write with a pen. Hugo steals mechanical parts in the station to repair the automaton, but he is caught by a toy store owner who takes away Hugo's blueprints for the automaton. The automaton is missing one part – a heart–shaped key. Convinced that the automaton contains a message from his father, Hugo goes to desperate lengths to fix the machine. He gains the assistance of Isabelle, a girl close to his age and the goddaughter of the toy shop owner. He introduces Isabelle to the movies, which her godfather has never let her see. Isabelle turns out to have the key to the automaton. When they use the key to activate the automaton, it produces a drawing of a movie scene Hugo remembers his father telling him about. They discover that the movie was created by Georges Méliès, Isabelle's godfather, an early – but now neglected and disillusioned – cinema legend, and that the automaton was a beloved creation of his, from his days as a magician. In the end, the children reconnect Georges with his past and with a new generation of cinema aficionados who have come to appreciate his work

paragraphs: The movie has appeared on the following critics' top ten lists for the best movies of 2011:


title: Hokota, Ibaraki

paragraphs: Hokota is a city in Ibaraki, Japan. It is on the island of Honshū.


title: Fukuro, Shizuoka

paragraphs: Fukuro is a city in Shizuoka, Japan. It is on the island of Honshū.


title: Fujieda, Shizuoka

paragraphs: Fujieda (藤枝市, Fujieda-shi) is a city in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is on the main island of Honshū.


title: Iizuka, Fukuoka

paragraphs: IIzuka is a small city in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is on the island of Kyūshū.


title: Takaoka, Toyama

paragraphs: Takaoka was established in 1609. It developed as a castle town.

paragraphs: The modern city of Takaoka was established in 1889.

paragraphs: In 1933, Takaoka's large statue of the Buddha ("Daibutsu") was created.


title: Hirakata, Osaka

paragraphs: Hirakata is a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is on the island of Honshū.

paragraphs: It has been recognized as a special city since 2001.


title: Kurashiki, Okayama

paragraphs: Kurashiki (Japanese: 倉敷) is a city in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. It is on the island of Honshū.

paragraphs: It has been recognized as a core city since 2002.

paragraphs: The town has been a center of business and trade for a long time. It is on a canal near Mt. Tsurugata. Kurashiki was not badly damaged during World War II. Many old storehouses, or kura, are here in their original condition. Kurashiki is a popular tourist spot.

paragraphs: There are several museums in the historic "Bikan" neighborhood of the city.


title: Ichinomiya, Aichi

paragraphs: In the Edo period, Ichinomiya grew up around the Masumida Shrine. It was the chief Shinto shrine ("ichinomiya") of Owari Province.


title: Takasaki, Gunma

paragraphs: It has been recognized as a core city since 2011.

paragraphs: The tradition of the daruma doll as a good luck charm was started at the in Takasaki.


title: Takatsuki, Osaka

paragraphs: Takatsuki is a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is on the island of Honshū.

paragraphs: It has been recognized as a core city since 2003.


title: Ōmihachiman, Shiga

paragraphs: Ōmihachiman is a city in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. It is on the island of Honshū.


title: Sakado, Saitama

paragraphs: Sakado is a city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It is on the island of Honshū.


title: Hamamatsu, Shizuoka

paragraphs: Hamamatsu is a city in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is on the island of Honshū. Every May 3-5, the Hammamatsu Festival is held in the city.


title: Numazu, Shizuoka

paragraphs: It has been recognized as a special city since 2000.

paragraphs: In the Edo period, "Numazu-juku" and "Hara-juku" was the 12th and 13th of 53 shogunate-maintained waystations ("shuku-eki") along the Tōkaidō road which connected Edo and Kyoto. Both Tōkaidō rest stops are within the boundaries of modern Numazu.


title: Kaminoyama, Yamagata

paragraphs: Kaminoyama is a city in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. It is on the island of Honshū.


title: Western philosophy

paragraphs: Western philosophy is the school of thinking of Western civilization. Generally, it is seen to start with the philosophy of Ancient Greece. Its early devleopment mainly occurred in Europe and the countries around the Mediterranean.

paragraphs: It is different from Eastern philosophy, which developed in Asian countries such as China, Persia, Japan, India and Korea.

paragraphs: Philosophical thought developed in Babylon, and that relating to Islam are sometimes counted as "Eastern", and sometimes as "Western".


title: Shizuoka, Shizuoka

paragraphs: Shizuoka is the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan. It is on the island of Honshū. The population was 3,765,044 in 2010. There are three areas of the city: Aoi, Suruga, and Shimizu.


title: Fuji, Shizuoka

paragraphs: It has been recognized as a special city since 2001.

paragraphs: In the Edo period, was the 14th of the 53 shogunate-maintained waystations ("shuku-eki") along the Tōkaidō road which connected Edo and Kyoto.


title: Futsal

paragraphs: Futsal is a sport that is like association football. It is played on indoor courts by two teams with five players each. Its name is short for "futebol de salao", which means 'room football' in the Portuguese language, or "fútbol de sala", which is the same in the Spanish language. Futsal is most popular in South American countries, like Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. However, it is also played in many other countries.

paragraphs: The pitch is between 38 and 42 metres long and between 20 and 25 metres wide. This is shorter and narrower than football. The pitch is a hard court and smooth, unlike grass in football. The halves of the game are both twenty minutes long, shorter than the usual 45 minutes in football. There are 6 players on the court in total, including the goalkeeper. Substitutions are unlimited, and the maximum number of subs is 9. Players who break the rules can get yellow or red cards. If a player gets a red card, they can't play the game anymore. The team that got the red card also has to play with one less player for two minutes or until the other team scores a goal. Another difference from football is that when the ball goes out, instead of throwing it back in, it is kicked in. There is also no offside in futsal.

paragraphs: A teacher from Uruguay called Juan Carlos Ceriani made the game in 1930. The rules were made in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1933. He used rule templates from Football (soccer), Basketball, and Handball. A World Championship was held in 1971 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The first Futsal World Cup was in 1989 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Since 1992 it is played every 4 years. The last edition was in 2016.


title: Niigata

paragraphs: Niigata has eight neighborhoods or wards ("ku").

paragraphs: On April 1, 2007 Niigata City became the largest Nihonkai coast city as a government-designated city.


title: Raymond Chandler

paragraphs: Raymond Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American novelist and a screenwriter. He was born in Chicago. He became a detective fiction writer after he lost a position as an oil executive.

paragraphs: His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in 1933 in "Black Mask," a popular pulp magazine. His first novel, "The Big Sleep", was published in 1939. In addition to his short stories, Chandler published just seven novels during his lifetime. In the year before he died, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America. He died on March 26, 1959, in La Jolla, California.

paragraphs: These are the criminal cases of Philip Marlowe, a Los Angeles private investigator. Their plots follow a pattern in which the men and women who hire him reveal themselves to be as corrupt, corrupting, and criminally complicit as those against whom he is hired to protect them.


title: 2014 Commonwealth Games

paragraphs: The 2014 Commonwealth Games were held in Glasgow, Scotland.

paragraphs: It is the largest multi-sport event ever held in Scotland, although the country previously hosted the 1970 and 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. Over the last 10 years, however, Glasgow and Scotland have also staged World, Commonwealth, European, or British events in all 17 sports proposed for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, including the World Badminton Championships in 1997.

paragraphs: Scotland was the first country to consider hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games in 2004, with Scottish cities being invited by the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland to consider making a bid. In September 2004, Glasgow was announced as the Scottish candidate city over Edinburgh (which hosted the Games in 1970 and 1986, and the inaugural Commonwealth Youth Games in 2000) following a cost-benefit analysis by the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland. The Scottish Executive under then First Minister of Scotland, Jack McConnell, with the support of the United Kingdom government and all main parties in the Scottish Parliament, formally announced Glasgow's intention to host the games on 16 August 2005.

paragraphs: In March 2006, the bidding process began, with the Glasgow Bid team presenting their case to the Commonwealth Games Federation at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, along with the other confirmed candidate cities; the Nigerian capital, Abuja and Halifax in Canada. In October 2006, the first voting delegates arrived in Glasgow, in order to inspect the city's existing and proposed amenities and facilities. Glasgow announced on 16 January 2007, the 17 sports to be included should its bid be successful. Halifax later withdrew its bid on 8 March 2007, following the withdrawal of funding from the municipal government.


title: Bullfinch

paragraphs: Bullfinches are a genus of passerine birds in the finch family (Fringillidae). They belong to the genus Pyrrhula.

paragraphs: The genus has a palearctic distribution. All species occur in Asia with two species exclusively in the Himalayas and one species, "P. pyrrhula", also occurring in Europe. The Azores bullfinch ("P. murina") is a critically endangered species (about 120 pairs remaining), occurring only in the east of the island of São Miguel in the Azores archipelago.

paragraphs: Analysis of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome "b" sequence indicates that the holarctic pine grosbeak ("Pinicola enucleator") is the sister group to the ancestor of the bullfinches.

paragraphs: The evolution of the bullfinch species started soon after the pine grosbeak's ancestors diverged from them (at the end of the middle Miocene, about a dozen million years ago (mya). It is fairly certain is that the bullfinch radiation started in the general area of the Himalayas. The mountain finches also seem to be part of this clade.

paragraphs: Bullfinches have glossy black wings and tail feathers. They show a white rump. The legs and feet are fleshy brown. Their short, swollen bill is adapted to eat buds, and is black except in "P. nipalensis", which has a yellowish bill. The males can be distinguished by their orange or red breast. Some species have a black cap.

paragraphs: Probably most populations are partially migratory. Most migrants move short or medium distances. North European birds move within a wider compass than central European birds. Numbers migrating show marked annual fluctuations; no link with any particular food source has been established. Autumn migration begins late, and is fairly brief, mostly October–November; spring migration February–April.

paragraphs: The Eurasian bullfinch population in Britain has been in serious decline since the mid-1970s; numbers have fallen by 62 per cent in 35 years. Data suggests that productivity has increased over the last decade, and nest failure rates at the chick stage (15 days) have fallen from 37% to 21%.


title: Goldfinch

paragraphs: Goldfinch are finches of the genus Carduelis. They are small passerine birds of the family Fringillidae.

paragraphs: The goldfinch breeds across Europe, North Africa, and western and central Asia, in open, partially wooded lowlands. It is resident in the milder west of its range, but migrates from colder regions. It will also make local movements, even in the west, to escape bad weather. It has been introduced to many areas of the world.

paragraphs: The goldfinch's preferred food is small seeds such as those from thistles and teasels, but insects are also taken when feeding young. It also regularly visits bird feeders in winter. They nest in the outer twigs of tall leafy trees, or even in bamboo, laying four to six eggs which hatch in 11–14 days.

paragraphs: In the winter goldfinches group together to form flocks of up to forty birds, occasionally more. The song is a pleasant silvery twittering.


title: Margaret Corbin

paragraphs: Margaret Corbin (born Margaret Cochran, November 12, 1751 – January 16, 1800) was a woman who fought in the American Revolutionary War She and her husband, John Corbin were both from Philadelphia. On November 16, 1776, they were part of 600 American soldiers defending Fort Washington in northern Manhattan. The fort was being attacked by about 4,000 Hessian troops under British command. John and Margaret worked one of the two cannons at the fort. When her husband died, Margaret took his place at his cannon. She kept firing until she was badly hurt. She later became the first woman in U.S. history to get a pension from Congress for military service.


title: David Strassman

paragraphs: David Strassman (born September 6, 1957) is an American ventriloquist. He is widely known for performing Chuck and Ted E. Bare, as well as many other puppets.


title: Machida, Tokyo

paragraphs: The city was founded on February 1, 1958.

paragraphs: Before 1965, Machida was an group of farm villages near Tokyo.


title: Ichikawa, Chiba

paragraphs: Ichikawa is a city in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is on the island of Honshū. It is just to the east of Tokyo. There are a lot of schools and universities there. Ichikawa station is between Koiwa and Motoyawata Stations on the Chūō-Sōbu Line.


title: Niihama, Ehime

paragraphs: Niihama is a city in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. It is on the island of Shikoku.


title: Fujisawa, Kanagawa

paragraphs: Fujisawa (藤沢市, Fujisawa-shi) is a Japanese city in Kanagawa Prefecture on the island of Honshū.

paragraphs: In the Edo period, "Fujisawa-shuku" was 6th of the 53 shogunate-maintained waystations ("shuku-eki") along the Tōkaidō road which connected Edo and Kyoto.

paragraphs: The area of the city expanded around Yugyō-ji temple (遊行寺) after 1325.


title: Urawa, Saitama

paragraphs: Urawa was a city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It is now part of the city of Saitama.


title: Itabashi, Tokyo

paragraphs: The municipality calls itself "Itabashi City" in English.

paragraphs: Itabashi is in northern Tokyo. It borders Toshima to the south. Nerima is on the ward's western border. The Arakawa River and Saitama Prefecture are the norther border. Kita is on the east.


title: Himeji, Hyōgo

paragraphs: Himeji is a city in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It is on the island of Honshū. The city is well known for its landmark, Himeji Castle

paragraphs: It has been recognized as a core city since 1996.


title: Autopsy (band)

paragraphs: Autopsy is an American death metal band from Concord, California. Autopsy has four members in the band; the current band members are Chris Reifert, Danny Coralles, Eric Cutler and Joe Trevisano.

paragraphs: So far as of 2011, Autopsy has released 5 Studio albums:


title: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

paragraphs: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is an Internet communication protocol used to send and relay an email message between email servers. It is not used to retrieve email messages from a server. Instead either IMAP or POP is used to retrieve email messages.


title: Richard Beckinsale

paragraphs: Richard Arthur Beckinsale (6 July 1947 – 19 March 1979) was a British actor.

paragraphs: Beckinsale was born in Carlton, Nottinghamshire and went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

paragraphs: He had starring roles in five sitcoms. They are: "The Lovers", "Rising Damp", "Porridge", its spin-off "Going Straight" and "Bloomers".

paragraphs: Beckinsale has two daughters, actresses Samantha and Kate Beckinsale. He died of a heart attack in Sunningdale, Berkshire.


title: Kenneth Williams

paragraphs: Kenneth Charles Williams (22 February 1926 - 15 April 1988) was a British comedy actor and comedian. He acted in movies including 26 "Carry On"s. He appeared in many television and radio shows and on stage.

paragraphs: Wiiliams was gay. He was born in North London and died there of a barbiturate overdose.


title: E. O. Wilson

paragraphs: Edward Osborne Wilson (born June 10, 1929) is an American biologist, naturalist and author. He is an entomologist who studies ants, but to the public he is known for sociobiology, biodiversity and conservation.

paragraphs: Wilson's writing has been very influential. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction. He is known for his role as "the father of sociobiology", his environmentalism, and his secular humanist and deist ideas on religion and ethics.

paragraphs: He holds the posts of Professor Emeritus and Honorary Curator in Entomology, Harvard University, and a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He is a Humanist Laureate of the International Academy of Humanism. He was awarded the National Medal of Science (1977), and the Crafoord Prize (1990), which recognizes research in scientific fields not eligible for the Nobel Prize.

paragraphs: Wilson's work (and books) falls into at least four categories:


title: Louis-Ferdinand Céline

paragraphs: Louis-Ferdinand Céline was a pen name of Louis-Ferdinand Destouches (Courbevoie, 27 May 1894 – Meudon 1 July 1961) was a French writer and physician. Céline was his grandmother's first name. He is thought to be one of the most important writers of the twentieth century. He created a new style of writing that modernized both French and world literature. His most famous work is "Journey to the End of the Night". He is a controversial person because of his anti-Semitic pamphlets. He was married to dancer Lucette Destouches.


title: Sociobiology

paragraphs: Sociobiology is a field of scientific study which is based on the assumption that social behaviour has resulted from evolution. It attempts to explain and examine social behaviour in that way.

paragraphs: A branch of ethology and sociology, sociobiology draws from anthropology, evolution, zoology, archaeology, population genetics, and other disciplines. As a study of human societies, sociobiology is allied to Darwinian anthropology, ethology and evolutionary psychology.

paragraphs: Ethology investigates collective animal behaviour, such as mating patterns, territorial fights, pack hunting, and the hive society of social insects. It argues that selection pressure led to the genetic evolution of advantageous social behaviour. In other words, a typical behaviour pattern is inherited because it has raised the inclusive fitness of individuals as compared to other behaviours. This is mainstream biology. Its extension into human social behaviour is for ethologists absolutely normal, but for others it may be controversial.

paragraphs: While the term "sociobiology" can be traced to the 1940s, the concept did not get recognition until 1975 with the publication of E.O. Wilson's book, .

paragraphs: Sociobiology is based upon two fundamental premises:

paragraphs: It is this last point which is most controversial.

paragraphs: Wilson's book had almost 700 pages, which were almost entirely devoted to social behaviour in animals. His ideas on the evolution of human behaviour was in a short section of 30 pages at the end of the book. Yet because of this section, the (apparently) new field of sociobiology became the subject of heated controversy. The criticism was driven by political events of the day.

paragraphs: Criticism by Richard Lewontin and Stephen Jay Gould, and the Sociobiology Study Group hinted that there was some relationship between these ideas and some of the worst events in history. The main concern of the critics seemed to be the idea that sociobiology provided aid and comfort for those who would maintain social injustice and inequality.

paragraphs: Actually, there was no political content in Wilson's last chapter, and Wilson himself was and is a liberal thinker. In the 25th anniversary edition of his book Wilson gives his own account of the controversy.

paragraphs: To avoid some of the controversy, though their ideas are rather similar to Wilson's, some psychologists and anthropologists founded the related field of evolutionary psychology. This shares with sociobiology a belief in the evolutionary origin of behaviour patterns. However, it is more aimed at human behaviour, where sociobiology arose out of experiments on animal behaviour (ethology).

paragraphs: Why do men have standards of beauty which they apply to women? This is a question to which a typical femininist sociologist would reply: it is culturally determined, a belief system which serves to keep males dominant over females.

paragraphs: To this, John Alcock asks: "What are the actual data? Are the standards of beauty in Western culture arbitrary?" The standards of beauty are consistent with youth and good health. Young, healthy women are more likely to become pregnant and give birth successfully than older or unhealthy women. Alcock asks:

paragraphs: Alcock gives the evidence that the signs of youth and beauty are consistent with high reproductive value.

paragraphs: In some ways, it is easier to study the behaviour of other animals because our own experiences and prejudices are not involved. And we can do experiments on them which might not be possible with humans.

paragraphs: Songbird species almost always have a song which is characteristic of the species. In most cases the details of the song are not inherited. Instead, they inherit an ability to learn at a certain age. If a young male White-crowned Sparrow ("Zonotrichia leucophrys") is raised in isolation from the sound of other members of the species, it cannot sing their song. Eventually, it produces a song which is only vaguely like the proper song. But if the experimenter plays a tape of the adult male song, the young will later produce the complete and perfect song when they get to the right age. However, if the young bird is made deaf, it cannot learn the song. From this we learn

paragraphs: This allows us to be sure that the song, as such, is not inherited, but there is inherited a strong learning bias, which makes sense. In order to live and reproduce successfully, it pays for a male to attract a female of the same species, and defend its territory against other males of its species. The right song does both these jobs.

paragraphs: In recent years the supporters of sociobiology have claimed to be "winning". They feel its basic ideas are quite sound. We are not blank slates, and our human nature is as much a product of evolution as the rest of us. Even our widespread love of pet animals may be explained by their improving our survival in a prehistoric past.


title: Hamid Karzai

paragraphs: Hamid Karzai (, ; born 24 December 1957) is a former President of Afghanistan. He served from 22 December 2001 to 29 September 2014. He was the first democratically elected leader of the country.

paragraphs: He is ethnic Pashtun from Kandahar and can speak several different language, including English, French, Persian, Urdu and his native Pashto language. He was educated in Afghanistan and India. He lived in Pakistan before becoming popular in late 2001. He has many family members and relatives living in the United States.


title: 1570 Concepción earthquake

paragraphs: The 1570 Concepción earthquake occurred at 9:00 (13:00 UTC), on February 8, 1570. The earthquake destroyed the town of Concepción. A tsunami was caused and aftershocks were reported for months after the earthquake.


title: Monbetsu, Hokkaido

paragraphs: Monbetsu is a city in Hokkaido, Japan. It is on the shore of the Sea of Okhotsk.


title: Catatonia

paragraphs: Catatonia means a person is awake, but does not move, talk, or react to anything but pain. The person can stay stiff and still for hours. A person with catatonia may look to be in a stupor (being mentally numb and in a daze). The cause is in the nervous system; the brain and nerves. This problem was first written about in 1874 in "Die Katatonie oder das Spannungsirresein".

paragraphs: Catatonia can sometimes happen with mental disorders. It can be a symptom of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression. Catatonia may also happen when a person abuses drugs or overdoses by taking too much of a drug.

paragraphs: Catatonia can also be caused by many different medical disorders. Some causes are infections, such as encephalitis; autoimmune diseases; damage to the brain from strokes; and metabolic problems.

paragraphs: A person can also get catatonia from benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome, which happens if the person quickly stops taking benzodiazepine medications..

paragraphs: Doctors can treat catatonia. They usually start with medicines such as benzodiazepines. If those medicines do not work; doctors may use shock therapy. Antipsychotic medicines can also be used, but with safety in mind. Sometimes they can make catatonia worse or have bad side effects. A group of anesthetic drugs called NMDA antagonists may be helpful when benzodiazepines don't work.


title: Vinessa Shaw

paragraphs: Vinessa Elizabeth Shaw (born 19 July 1976) is an American actress and model. Shaw was born in Los Angeles, California. She has starred in many movies since the early 1990s. These include "Hocus Pocus", "Ladybugs", the 2006 remake of "The Hills Have Eyes", and "Two Lovers".


title: Science Museum (London)

paragraphs: The Science Museum is one of the three large museums on Exhibition Road, London. It is part of the National Museum of Science and Industry. The museum is a big tourist attraction in London. The science museum is a great place.

paragraphs: It has been free to enter the Science Museum since 1 December 2001. This is because it is paid for by the government. People may have to pay to enter the temporary exhibitions.

paragraphs: Bennet Woodcroft started a museum in 1857. He used items from the Royal Society of Arts and the Great Exhibition. It included some machinery which became the "Museum of Patents" in 1858, and the "Patent Office Museum" in 1863. In 1883, the things held in the Patent Office Museum were moved to the South Kensington Museum. In 1885, the Science Collections were renamed the "Science Museum". In 1893, the "Science Museum" got a separate leader. The Art Collections were renamed the "Art Museum", which later became the Victoria and Albert Museum.

paragraphs: When Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone for the new building for the Art Museum, she said that the museum must be renamed after herself and her dead husband. The whole museum was named after them, but when that new building opened ten years later, the name was only for the Art Collections and the Science Collections were renamed. On June 26, 1909 the Science Museum, as an independent entity, came into existence. The Science Museum’s home today, designed by Sir Richard Allison, were opened to the public over time between 1919–28. This building was known as the East Block, building of which began in 1913 and was stopped during World War I. As the name suggests it was intended to be the first building of a much larger project, which was never made.

paragraphs: Although called a museum of science, it is really more a museum of industry. It has working models and real equipment from the industrial revolution in the 18th century, the great Victorian engineering, the age of aeroplanes and space in the 20th century.

paragraphs: The Science Museum holds over 300,000 items, including such famous items as Stephenson's Rocket, Puffing Billy (the oldest surviving steam locomotive), the first jet engine, a remake of Francis Crick and James Watson's model of DNA, some of the earliest remaining steam engines, a working example of Charles Babbage's Difference engine (and the latter, preserved half brain), the first prototype (draft model) of the 10,000-year Clock of the Long Now, and documentation of the first typewriter. It also contains hundreds of interactive exhibits. A recent addition is the IMAX 3D Cinema showing science and nature documentaries, most of them in 3-D, and the Wellcome Wing which focuses on digital technology.

paragraphs: The museum houses some of the many objects collected by Henry Wellcome that have to do with medicine. The fourth floor exhibit is called "Glimpses of Medical History", with reconstructions and dioramas of the history of medicine. The fifth floor gallery is called "Science and the Art of Medicine", with exhibits of medical instruments and practices from ancient days and from many countries. The collection has a lot of items from clinical medicine, the biosciences, and public health. The museum is a member of the London Museums of Health & Medicine.

paragraphs: The Science Museum has a dedicated library, and until the 1960s was Britain's National Library for Science, Medicine and Technology. It holds runs of periodicals, early books and manuscripts, and is used by scholars worldwide. It has for a number of years been run in conjunction with the Library of Imperial College, but in 2007 the Library was divided over two sites. Histories of science and biographies of scientists are still kept at the Imperial College in London. The rest of the collection which includes original scientific works and archives are now located in Wroughton, Wiltshire.

paragraphs: Some 170,000 items which are not on current display are stored at Blythe House in West Kensington. Blythe House also houses facilities including a conservation laboratory, a photographic studio, and a quarantine area where newly-arrived items are looked at.

paragraphs: The Science Museum is made up of a number of galleries, some of which are permanent, and some of which are temporary.

paragraphs: The East Hall is the first area that most visitors see as they enter the building, going up through three floors. On the ground, the area is mostly filled with famous steam engines of various sorts, including the oldest surviving James Watt beam engine, which together tell the story of the British industrial revolution. Up in the air, hung from the ceiling is a big metal ring, the inside of which is covered in white LEDs which form patterns and display messages typed into kiosks by visitors in the Energy gallery.

paragraphs: "Exploring Space" is a historical gallery, filled with rockets and exhibits that tell the story of human space exploration and the benefits that space exploration has brought us (particularly in the world of telecommunications).

paragraphs: "Making the Modern World" is a relatively new gallery, in which some of the museum's most iconic objects, including Stephenson's Rocket and an Apollo spacecraft, are imaginatively displayed along a timeline chronicling man's technological achievements.

paragraphs: "Flight" is another longstanding gallery, up towards the western end of the third floor. Contained in the gallery are several full sized aeroplanes and helicopters, including Alcock and Brown's transatlantic Vickers Vimy (1919), Spitfire and Hurricane fighters, as well as numerous aero-engines and a cross-section of a Boeing 747.

paragraphs: One of the most popular galleries in the museum is the interactive Launchpad gallery. Redesigned and reopened in November 2007, the new look gallery houses over 50 interactive exhibits illustrating many different concepts in physical science. The gallery is staffed by Explainers who are available to demonstrate how exhibits work, conduct live experiments and perform shows to schools and the visiting public.

paragraphs: The Science Museum has made many exhibitions that tour travel around the world. "The Science Box" modern science series toured venues in the UK and Europe in the 1990s and from 1995 "The Science of Sport" appeared in various venues, in different ways, around the world. In 2005 The Science Museum teamed up with Fleming Media to set up "The Science of..." who develop and tour exhibitions including "The Science of Aliens", "The Science of Spying" and "The Science of Survival" .

paragraphs: In 2008, "The Science of Survival" exhibition opened to the public and allowed visitors to explore what the world might be like in 2050 and how humankind will meet the challenges of climate change and energy shortages.

paragraphs: The museum is next to the Natural History Museum and used to be connected to it by a public corridor, which is now closed. The closest London Underground station is South Kensington; a subway connects the museums to the station.

paragraphs: At the front of the museum to the east is Exhibition Road. Directly to the south is Museum Lane and the Natural History Museum. At the back is Queen's Gate and to the north is Imperial College.


title: Bezliudivka

paragraphs: Bezliudivka (; ) is a settlement in the Kharkiv Oblast (province) of eastern Ukraine. Situated on the river Udy (Seversky Donets Basin), 3 km south of Kharkiv, 3 km from the railway station Bezlyudivka. As of 2001, 9,693 people lived there.


title: Joué-du-Plain

paragraphs: Joué-du-Plain is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France. The commune was mentioned in 1216 by the name of "Jeum". There are 201 people living there. It is in size. The highest point in the commune is . The river l'Udon flows through the commune. The forest of Mancelliere is here. The community festival is 29 June.

paragraphs: The church in the commune is dedicated to Saints Gervais and Portais. The architectural elements are pointed arches, a Norman tower and Roman arches. The church was rebuilt in the Renaissance. Inside the church are sculptures of St. Gervais and Saint Portais made in the 18th century. Also, there is an 18th century sculpture of Saint Michael made in stone and painted. There are also sculpted wooden stalls, a statue of the Virgin Mary and a baptismal font made in the 18th century. The cemetery around the church has two 16th century entrances.

paragraphs: Another important place in the commune is Château de la Motte. The chateau is a 19th century building.

paragraphs: Joué-du-Plain has a legend that the lord of Chantelou killed his wife and her lover. The lord painted the front of his chateau with their blood. The farm called Baritaur is the former place of the lord called "Red House of Chante-lou"


title: Military taxonomy

paragraphs: Military taxonomy is an indexing tool or record-keeping template. It includes weapons, equipment, organizations, strategies, and tactics.

paragraphs: Military taxonomy can be used to analyze field missions and other activities. For example, a taxonomy of terrorism would include terms related to terrorists, terrorist groups, terrorist attacks, weapons, venues, and characteristics of terrorists and terrorist groups.

paragraphs: A taxonomy of terms that describes types of military actions is affected by how all elements are defined and used. Many military strategies can be analyzed using a taxonomy model.


title: Polar bond

paragraphs: In chemistry, a polar bond is a type of covalent bond between two or more dissimilar atoms, in which electrons are shared unequally. A covalent bond is the "strong" kind of bond that makes a molecule.

paragraphs: Electrons are negatively charged. If the two atoms share the electrons equally, then the negative charge is evenly spread out over the entire molecule, balanced out by the positive charges of the protons in the atoms' nuclei. This makes the entire molecule neutral - a non-polar bond, making a non-polar molecule. However, if one of the atoms is particularly greedy for electrons (called electronegativity), then its side of the bond will have more electrons. Therefore, that side of the bond will have a slightly negative charge, and the other side will have a slightly positive charge.

paragraphs: This is important because it turns the bond into an electrical dipole. This dipole acts like a magnet, if other bonds that work as dipoles are nearby, it will react to them.

paragraphs: In some molecules, these polar bonds are lined up with each other. Then the entire molecule is a dipole, and attracts other dipoles. Water does this. You can see in the image that the hydrogen (small and white) is positively charged and the oxygen (big and red) is negatively charged. This picture shows how the little water dipoles line up with each other, in the same way that if you toss a bunch of little magnets into a box, they will line up with each other.

paragraphs: This is one of the most basic and important differences between bonds (and the resulting molecules) in chemistry. This can be easily predicted (because the electronegativity of all the atoms in the periodic table is known). It creates an enormous difference in how the molecules behave.


title: Who Framed Roger Rabbit

paragraphs: Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir movie. It is set in 1947 in Los Angeles. The movie is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel "Who Censored Roger Rabbit?". It was directed by Robert Zemeckis. The movie was released by Touchstone Pictures. The movie has both animation and live action parts. The cartoon characters interact directly with human beings.

paragraphs: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" won Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Film Editing. Nominations included Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Sound. Richard Williams received a Special Achievement Award.

paragraphs: "Roger Rabbit" won the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, as well as Best Direction for Zemeckis and Special Visual Effects. Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd and Joanna Cassidy were nominated for their performances. Alan Silvestri and the screenwriters also received nominations.

paragraphs: The movie was nominated for four categories at the 42nd British Academy Film Awards and won an award for its visual effects.

paragraphs: "Roger Rabbit" was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy). Hoskins was also nominated for his performance.

paragraphs: The movie also won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie.


title: Jean-François Jacques

paragraphs: Jean-François "J. F." Jacques (born April 29, 1985) is a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger. He plays for the EC KAC of the Austrian Hockey League (EBEL). He has also played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Edmonton Oilers and the Anaheim Ducks.

paragraphs: He was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers with the 68th pick in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. He has played in the NHL for the Edmonton Oilers for 5 seasons.

paragraphs: In the 2011-2012 season he played for the Anaheim Ducks. In July 2012, he was signed to the Florida Panthers.


title: Rosside

paragraphs: Rosside is a small hamlet on the outskirts of Ulverston, in North West England. The hamlet is about in size. It contains approximately 15 houses. Rosside gains little income from tourism, unlike her neighbouring town of Ulverston, where people flock to the famous Laurel & Hardy museum, a true tribute to the great comedians.


title: Life After Death

paragraphs: Life After Death is the second and last studio album by American rapper, The Notorious B.I.G.. "Life After Death" was released on March 25, 1997. It was going to be released sometime in 1996 but was pushed back for some reason. It was nominated for three Grammy Awards in 1998, including Best Rap Album, Best Rap Solo Performance for the single "Hypnotize", and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for its single "Mo Money Mo Problems". The album serves as his last studio album and was released posthumously due to The Notorious B.I.G. being shot and killed in a drive-by shooting prior to its release. Life After Death was released as a double album. Allmusic gave the album 4.5/5 stars.


title: River Pinn

paragraphs: River Pinn is a river in West London. It starts near Pinner.


title: Lars von Trier

paragraphs: Lars von Trier (born 30 April 1956) is a Danish movie director and screenwriter. He has won many prizes. These include the Golden Palm, Grand Prize, and the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. He has a prolific and controversial career, spanning over four decades. His latest movie "The House That Jack Built" was released in 2018.

paragraphs: After studying at the University of Copenhagen (1976-79), von Trier was educated at the Danish Film School (1979-82). In 1992, together with Peter Aalbæk, he established Zentropa, which plays a key role in Scandinavian film production.

paragraphs: Trier is a main figure in the international art film and has been the prime mover behind the boom of Danish films from the 1990s, especially because of his central role in Dogme 95.

paragraphs: He started producing small films from childhood, and as a young man made two half-hour long, privately-financed fiction films: "The Orchid Gardener" (1977) and "Menthe la bienheureuse" (1979). During film school, he made the short film "Nocturne" (1981), which won an award at the Filmschoolfest Munich 1981, and "Liberation Pictures" (1982), whose hypnotic modernist imagery is characteristic of Trier's early works. The so-called Europa trilogy, which revolves around the male idealist in a downfall universe, includes the feature film debut "The Element of Crime" (1984), the experimental low-budget "Epidemic" (1987) and the much-maligned melodrama "Europe" (1991). The television production "Medea" (1988) was based on Carl Th.

paragraphs: Trier gained international attention from the beginning. Both the debut film and "Europe" won awards in Cannes, but it was only with the television series "The Kingdom" (1994 and 1997) that he won a large audience. The black humorous series about ghosts at the National Hospital effectively blended horror and satire. It was also an experiment in simplifying the production process as well as a break with conventional perfectionism and in doing so formed the basis for the Dogme 95 manifesto, which Trier prepared in collaboration with Thomas Vinterberg and presented in Paris at a conference on the film's future, "Le cinéma vers son deuxième siècle", on March 20, 1995, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the film media.

paragraphs: Together with Vinterberg, Søren Kragh-Jacobsen and Kristian Levring, Trier formed a dogma fraternity. At the turn of the millennium, the dogma brothers collaborated on a live recorded and broadcast television movie, "D-Day" (2001). With the "Ten Rules of the Chastity Lift", Dogme was an initiative to cleanse the film and film process of the superficial and superficial, which especially characterizes the commercial American film. As a kind of alternative artistic and technical method focusing on the modest equipment, the intense game and the strong history, Dogme 95 gained great international impact and put new Danish film on the international agenda. In total, ten Danish dogma films were produced.

paragraphs: Trier's next film, "Breaking the Waves" (1996), was not a dogma movie, but the intense melodrama of sexuality and religiosity was narrated with troubled handheld camera and led to an international breakthrough. The female suffering stories continued in the dogma movie "The Idiots" (1998) and especially in the musical "Dancer in the Dark" (2000), which won the Gold Palm at Cannes. Taken together, the three films form the so-called "Golden Heart" trilogy, named after a picture book Trier had as a child.

paragraphs: In "The Five Obstructions" (2003), Trier challenged his older colleague Jørgen Leth to remake the short film "The Perfect Man" (1967) based on changing playing rules. "Dogville" (2003), about society and the stranger, is played on a stage floor with white lines and selected props; it, together with "Manderlay" on freedom and slavery, is the never-ending trilogy about the United States during the '30s crisis.

paragraphs: After the comedy "The Boss of It All" (2006), which experimented with Automavision, the so-called "Depression Trilogy" marked a change of mood: "Antichrist" (2009), a bleak horror fable about women's nature; "Melancholia" (2011), about the downfall of the world; and the five and a half hour long "Nymphomaniac" (2013-2014), about sexuality as a destructive obsession. "The House That Jack Built" (2018) is his latest feature film and follows the serial killer Jack through a defining number of years.

paragraphs: In addition, Trier has written screenplays for Thomas Vinterberg's drama "Dear Wendy" (2005), about marginalized youth in an American mining town, and for Jacob Thuesen's "The Young Years" (2007), a comedy about Trier's film school years. He also created the concept for the theatrical performance "The World Clock" (1996), performed in the Arts Association in Copenhagen.


title: New Bedford, Massachusetts

paragraphs: New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. It is the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts.


title: Peripheral vision

paragraphs: Peripheral vision is the ability to see objects and movement outside of the direct line of vision.

paragraphs: The main functions of peripheral vision are:


title: Slyudyanka

paragraphs: Slyudyanka (), is a town in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. The town is located on the southern coast of Lake Baikal. It sits at the foot of the Khamar-Daban mountain range. It is next to the confluence of the Slyudyanka River and Baikal. The town is divided into two parts by the Transsiberian Railway. Slyudyanka had a population of 19,242 in the 2002 census. In 2010. 18,542 people lived there. It is served by Slyudyanka-I and Slyudyanka-II railway stations. The Circum-Baikal Railway starts from the Slyudyanka-II station.

paragraphs: Slyudyanka was founded in 1647 by the Russian Cossacks. Because of its geographical position, the city grew quickly and became a large transit centre which connected Irkutsk with China and Mongolia. The town became a railway hub in 1905, when constructing of Transsiberian Railway had been finished. Also there is a marble deposit in the town.


title: Karma Police

paragraphs: "Karma Police" is a song by English alternative rock band Radiohead. It is from their 1997 album "OK Computer".


title: Professional Golfers Association

paragraphs: Professional Golfers' Association, (with or without the apostrophe), is the usual term for a professional association in men's golf. It is often abbreviated to PGA. There are several PGAs around the world. These include:

paragraphs: The women's version is Ladies Professional Golf Association. It is commonly abbreviated to LPGA. The United States association is called the LPGA. Other women's bodies have names based on where they are located. For example, LPGA of Japan or LPGA of Korea.

paragraphs: The organisations which run the world's two leading professional golf tours have the letters PGA in their names. They are now independent of the Professional Golfers' Associations that created them:

paragraphs: At first, PGAs were the main groups for all forms of professional golf in their area. Now some of them, including those of the United States, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Ireland, are focused on the needs of the professional golfers who work as club or teaching professionals. They do not have as much to do with tournament professionals.


title: Fromage frais

paragraphs: Fromage frais is a dairy product of French and Belgian origin. It differs from "fromage blanc" according to French law:

paragraphs: So fromage frais contains live cultures when sold, whereas in "fromage blanc" the fermentation has been stopped.

paragraphs: Fromage frais is a creamy soft cheese. It is made with whole or skimmed milk and cream. It is like cream cheese, but with less fat (fewer calories and less cholesterol). When people need fromage frais but cannot get it, they can use low fat cream cheese.

paragraphs: Pure "fromage frais" has very little fat. Cream is often added to make it taste better. This adds more fat. 8% of the weight of fromage frais with cream can be fat.

paragraphs: There are two ways to serve "fromage frais". It can be served as a dessert similar to yogurt, often with added fruit. It can be used in savory dishes. In restaurants it is often served with honey. Restaurants call this "fromage blanc au miel".


title: Stupid (Sarah McLachlan song)

paragraphs: "Stupid" is a song written by Sarah McLachlan and produced by Pierre Marchand for McLachlan's eighth album "Afterglow" (2003). It was released as the album's second single in Australia and the United States in mid-2004.

paragraphs: The music video features McLachlan in different time periods and was directed by Sophie Muller.

paragraphs: The song became McLachlan's highest charting single release in Australia, debuting at number thirty-seven in early June 2004. It spent seven weeks on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, two of which were in the top fifty.

paragraphs: A remix of the song, titled "The Mark Bell Mix" was featured on So You Think You Can Dance.


title: Stupid (art movement)

paragraphs: Stupid was a short-lived grouping of constructivist artists, formed in Cologne in 1919. The founding members were Willy Fick, Heinrich Hoerle and his wife Angelika Hoerle (1899–1923), Anton Räderscheidt and his wife Marta Hegemann, and Franz Wilhelm Seiwert.

paragraphs: The Stupid group aimed to address sociopolitical issues through an art of proletarian character. Seiwert and Räderscheidt were at the time active in the local Dada scene. Räderscheidt's studio was their base of operations, but by 1920 he had abandoned the constructivist style. The group exhibited together and issued a publication, "Stupid 1", before disbanding.


title: Worry

paragraphs: Worry is an emotion. It means that one feels stressful or he or she is panicking about something. It is felt as anxiety or concern about a real or imagined issue. Most people experience short periods of worry in their lives, but it is not normally a problem. In fact, a small amount of worrying may even have good effects, if it makes people take precautions or be more careful.


title: Jiske Griffioen

paragraphs: Jiske Griffioen (born 17 April 1985 in Woerden) is a Dutch wheelchair tennis player. She was born with Spina bifida. Before she started her career as a wheelchair tennis player, she was a member of the national wheelchair basketball team at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney at the age of 14. Griffioen has won Grand Slam titles in doubles play at the Australian, French and US Opens and on four occasions has won the end of year Masters doubles.


title: Portia de Rossi

paragraphs: Portia Lee James DeGeneres (born Amanda Lee Rogers; January 31, 1973), known professionally as Portia de Rossi (), is an Australian-American actress, model and philanthropist. She is best known for the television work on series such as "Ally McBeal" and "Arrested Development".

paragraphs: She was born in Horsham, Victoria, Australia. She is the daughter of Margaret, a medical receptionist, and Barry Rogers. Her father died when she was nine. She grew up in Grovedale, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria. She modelled for print and TV commercials as a child. In 1988, at the age of 15, Rogers adopted the name Portia de Rossi, by which she remains best known; in 2005, she explained that she wanted to reinvent herself, using the given name of Portia, a character from William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" and an Italian last name.

paragraphs: She wrote a book about her battle with anorexia called "Unbearable Lightness: A story of loss and gain". At one stage she weighed only , was eating only 300 calories a day, and taking 20 laxative pills a day.

paragraphs: She is openly lesbian. She married comedian Ellen DeGeneres in Los Angeles in 2008.


title: Animal colour

paragraphs: Animal colour (or coloration) is produced by light reflecting from an animal's surface. The ways animals produce colours include pigments, chromatophores and other structures, and bioluminescence.

paragraphs: Since sight is usually so important to animals, and is so often used by predators as a long-range way to find prey, an animal's colour must serve one or more functions. These functions, such as finding prey, or evading capture, or finding a mate, are absolutely essential for life and survival. Therefore, animal colour is determined by natural selection because it affects the survival of animals and their offspring.

paragraphs: Some of the most obvious functions of colour are:

paragraphs: Overwhelmingly, the most common function of colour is in predator-prey relationships. "Anti-predator adaptations occur in every biome of the world and in almost every taxonomic group".

paragraphs: Animal colour has been a topic of interest and research in biology for a long time. According to Charles Darwin's 1859 theory of natural selection, features such as colouration evolved by providing individual animals with a reproductive advantage. For example, individuals with slightly better camouflage than others of the same species would, on average, leave more offspring.

paragraphs: Animals can have a camouflage defence at distance, but when faced by a predator they may switch to a 'flash' defence to gain time and distract the predator. The predator often blinks or turns its face away in self-defence. This is a reflex act which is there to protect its vital facial area. In the second the predator blinks, the prey flies or jumps, and lands in camouflage again. This pattern of colour plus behaviour is quite common. It is called deimatic defence by textbooks, from the Greek for 'dread' or 'to frighten'.


title: Underclocking

paragraphs: Underclocking is the process of configuring a computer processor or other electronic circuit to operate at a lower speed than usual. This will reduce the speed of the computer, but it will usually make the battery last longer and the computer will produce less heat. Some computers automatically underclock themselves when the system is not doing a lot of work. For even further battery and heat savings a computer can be undervolted, where the processor is operated at a lower voltage than usual. Other devices such as video cards and smartphones can also be underclocked. The opposite of underclocking is called overclocking, and it is used to increase the speed of the computer but at the cost of battery life (if there is a battery) and heat output.


title: Margaret Beckett

paragraphs: Dame Margaret Mary Beckett (née Jackson, born 15 January 1943) is a British Labour Party politician.

paragraphs: Beckett was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. She went to the Notre Dame High School for Girls in Norwich, then to the University of Manchester Institute of Science of Technology.

paragraphs: She was the Member of Parliament for Lincoln from 1974-1979. She has been MP for Derby South since 1983. She was Leader of the Opposition from May - July 1994.


John Smith


title: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (movie)

paragraphs: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 2011 British-French spy movie. It was directed by Tomas Alfredson. The movie is based on the 1974 novel "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" by John le Carré. It is set in London in the early 1970s. The story follows the hunt for a Soviet double agent at the top of MI6.


title: Glutamic acid

paragraphs: Glutamic acid is a non-essential amino acid. Its salts are known as glutamates. Glutamate are important neurotransmitters. They are important for long-term potentiation, learning and memory. Glutamates are also used as food additives: They make flavour better. The E numbers 620 to 625 have been assigned to the most important glutamates. They are commonly found in Convenience food and Asian cuisine.