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anterior cruciate ligament Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), thick band of connective tissue that joins the femur to the tibia. Its primary function is to provide stability to the knee. Injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) are among the most common types of trauma affecting the knee, being especially common among...
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Brian Epstein Brian Epstein was an English music manager and entrepreneur who discovered the Beatles in the early 1960s, transforming the group from a regional band into one of the world’s most famous music groups. Because of his influential role, Epstein was often referred to as “the fifth Beatle.” Epstein’s...
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Joan Jett Joan Jett is an American singer and musician whose raucous, three-chord guitar-playing and rebellious image made her a trailblazer in the male-dominated genre of rock music. She was a member of the all-female, teenage punk-rock band the Runaways in the 1970s before becoming a successful solo artist...
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great blue heron Great blue heron, (Ardea herodias), well-known species of large North American herons, classified in the bird family Ardeidae in order Pelecaniformes, recognized for its blue-gray plumage and graceful, stately demeanor, its large size, and its wide wingspan—which extends up to nearly 2 meters (6.6...
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Zeebrugge Raid Zeebrugge Raid, naval engagement between British and German forces on April 22–23, 1918, during World War I. Desperate to counter the German U-boat offensive in World War I, British Vice Admiral Sir Roger Keyes devised a bold plan to block the Bruges Canal in occupied Belgium, which linked German...
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Battle of Nagashino In Japan’s Age of Warring States, a series of feudal wars with contending samurai armies, Nagashino castle, in present Mikawa Province, held out against the Takeda in a classic siege. The besiegers tried attacks by river, mining, and through fierce hand-to-hand assaults. Eventually a relieving army...
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Jack Jones Jack Jones is an American singer and actor who, in the midst of rock music’s 1960s heyday, found a niche singing easy-listening, mainstream tunes. He also embraced jazz, disco, and pop throughout his career. Jones is the winner of two Grammy Awards. Jones was born to actress Irene Hervey and singer...
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Broadlands Broadlands, historic country estate situated on the River Test just south of the town of Romsey in Hampshire, England. The property includes a Palladian-style mansion that is considered to be one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in all of England. Broadlands is perhaps best known as...
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alcohol poisoning Alcohol poisoning, serious medical condition that results from intentional or accidental consumption of alcohol, generally in large quantities over a short period of time. Alcohol poisoning affects areas of the brain that regulate basic physiological functioning, including body temperature,...
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Pale of Settlement Pale of Settlement, the area of territory in the Russian Empire—ultimately including nearly 500,000 square miles (1.2 million square km) and either large parts or the whole of modern Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Moldova—in which Jewish people could legally reside. The immediate catalyst...
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Catholic imagination Catholic imagination, a cultural and aesthetic tradition across art forms in which storytelling and creative expression are influenced by Roman Catholic theology and belief. Works of the Catholic imagination might depict Catholic characters and cultures, but they are not exclusive to those...
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Battle of Mohi (Sajo River) On April 10, 1241, at the Battle of Mohi during the Mongolian invasion of Europe, Batu Khan and his chief general, Subutai, inflicted a crushing defeat on King Béla IV’s Hungarian army, which was renowned for having the best cavalry in Europe. The Mongols burned the city of Pest and seized control...
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Battle of Manila Battle of Manila, first and largest battle of the Philippine-American War, a conflict between the United States and Filipino revolutionaries from 1899 to 1902 that may be seen as a continuation of the Philippine Revolution against Spanish rule. Filipino hopes that the U.S. defeat of their Spanish...
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Sack of Magdeburg The Thirty Years’ War had been raging in what is now Germany for a dozen years when, in 1630, its scope widened to include international actors. Foremost among them was King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, who landed a large invasion force in support of the Protestant cause in June 1630. In turn the...
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Working in early retirement? Your Social Security could be reduced How extra income can trigger a penalty. There’s no question that working in retirement has become a trend—and for good reason. With so many people living longer, some retirees are eager to keep earning (and saving), as well as stay active. But continuing to work after you retire can be tricky. If...
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What is a pension? How defined benefit plans work and who gets them ERISA and the PBGC.Defined benefit plans were once a mainstay of many companies’ employee benefit plans, driven largely by the industrialization of the United States in the early 20th century. Known more commonly as pension plans, the programs pay regular income throughout retirement, ensuring...
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Cash vs. accrual accounting: How are you recording revenue and expenses? Be mindful of GAAP.How much income did your small business make last year? That answer could vary greatly depending on the type of accounting you use to keep your books. Small companies often keep cash basis books, which look like your checking account—cash in and cash out. But...
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Who were the shortest-serving world leaders? It’s a well-known political rule: the incumbent has the advantage. After all, why wouldn’t citizens favor someone they already know over an untested newcomer? Still, not everyone can follow in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s footsteps and inspire a new rule on term limits. Here are the stories of seven...
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Lauren Boebert Lauren Boebert is an American Republican congresswoman from Colorado, businesswoman, and gun-rights activist. She has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since January 2021. Boebert is a member of the Freedom Caucus, a group of the most conservative members of the House of Representatives....
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Tommy Tuberville Tommy Tuberville is a Republican U.S. senator from Alabama and a former high-school and college football player and coach. For some 10 months in 2023 Tuberville used his authority under the Senate’s standing rules to block hundreds of senior promotions of U.S. military officers in protest of a U.S....
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barred owl Barred owl, (Strix varia), owl species common in eastern North America, the Pacific Northwest and California, southern Mexico, and temperate areas of Canada. It is one of the most common owls in North America, and it can be recognized by its distinctive call, or vocalization, which sounds somewhat...
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Kawhi Leonard Kawhi Leonard is an American professional basketball player noted for his prowess on the defensive and offensive sides of the ball whose status as one of the NBA’s best wing players has been hampered by recurring injuries. He currently plays small forward for the Los Angeles Clippers. Leonard...
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Battle of Lowestoft Early in the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch navy suffered a bloody defeat in a savage battle fought off Lowestoft, a port in Norfolk in eastern England. Yet this catastrophe, on June 13, 1665, only stirred the Dutch to greater efforts in the war, and the English failed to draw any lasting...
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Consumer discretionary sector: Investing in companies that make life a bit sweeter A sector named desire.You have material needs in life—and also desires and wants. Companies in the consumer discretionary sector of the stock market make products that you may intensely covet but not need. For that reason, companies that offer goods and services subject to discretionary spending...
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Battle of Lone Pine Battle of Lone Pine, World War I conflict on August 6–10, 1915, that exemplified the courage and skills of Australian and New Zealander (ANZAC) troops engaged in the Gallipoli Campaign. Conceived as a diversionary attack on a quiet sector of the Ottoman Turkish trenches that would allow a breakout...
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Battle of Lake Maracaibo In the Battle of Lake Maracaibo on July 24, 1823, José Prudencio Padilla led the 22-vessel fleet of Simón Bolívar’s Republic of Gran Colombia to victory over Ángel Laborde y Navarro’s superior Spanish squadron, which numbered 32 ships crewed by 1,650 highly trained mariners. Against unequal odds,...
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disability Disability, the experience of any physical or cognitive health condition and its impact on the affected person’s ability to interact with the environment and to carry out activities. Persons affected by disability often confront barriers that prevent participation in community and social activities...
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Meme coins: Investing in a joke, or is the joke on you? Hype is not a fundamental metric.Will 2024 be known throughout history as the year of the meme coin? As cryptocurrency investing entered a new bullish phase after bottoming out in the fall of 2023, digital tokens based on nothing more than a cute or funny meme began getting plenty of attention....
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spot price Spot price is the current price at which you can buy or sell an asset for immediate delivery and settlement. Also called the cash price, spot prices typically fluctuate throughout the day due to changing supply, demand, and expectations. The spot price of physical goods will also vary by region due...
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Micro-cap and penny stocks: What you need to know before you invest Cheap stocks are typically cheap for a reason.Does a stock with a low price automatically feel like a bargain? What about that small, publicly held company you just read about on social media that nobody knows about, but is poised to become the next NVIDIA (NVDA) or Amazon (AMZN)? Welcome to the...
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Google Gemini Google Gemini, generative artificial intelligence (AI) model and chatbot created by the search engine company Google, which uses large language models (LLMs) to “converse” with users and generate content. Bard (Google Gemini’s original name) was announced by Google CEO Sundar Pichai in February...
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supervillain Supervillain, a fictional evildoer or antihero—widely popularized in comic books and comic strips, television and film, and popular culture and video games—whose extraordinary powers are used to nefarious ends. Supervillains are the counterparts and archenemies of the superhero. At the advent of...
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Battle of Ipsos Alexander the Great’s sudden death in Babylon in 323 bce left his leading generals locked in decades of battling over the spoils of his empire. At the Battle of Ipsos in 301 bce, the Macedonian general Antigonus—long in the ascendant—was finally overpowered by the combined forces of his rivals, and...
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Naval Battle of Campeche The naval battle that occurred in 1843 off the coast of Mexico at Campeche was arguably the only battle ever won by sailing ships against steamships. It was also the last battle fought between ships crewed by British and American sailors on opposing sides. The battle, a sequel of sorts to the war...
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Ted Koppel Ted Koppel is a British-born American journalist and news broadcaster who is best known for his 25-year career as the anchor of the popular late-night television news program Nightline. The show’s enduring success was often attributed to Koppel’s no-nonsense approach to investigative journalism....
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Anne Lamott Anne Lamott is an American novelist, nonfiction writer, autobiographical essay author, and activist known for her self-deprecating humor, hard-hearted honesty, and unwavering compassion, which have earned her the sobriquet “the people’s author.” Her works are based on details from her life and...
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The Tête à Tête The Tête à Tête, oil painting, also known as Shortly After the Marriage, by English artist William Hogarth. It is the second of a sequence of six scenes in his Marriage A-la-Mode series, which was commissioned about 1743 to censure the marriage customs of the upper classes. In this series, Hogarth...
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Leslie Jones Leslie Jones is an American comedian and actress known for stand-up comedy specials and screen roles that showcase her gifts for physical comedy and crowd work, the latter comprising spontaneous engagement with audience members during live performances. Jones is the daughter of Sundra Diane Jones,...
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alternative investment Alternative investments, also known as “alts,” are different from traditional investments in stocks, bonds, and cash. Examples of alternative investments include: Alternative investments carry risks, including management fees and a lack of readily available performance data. Therefore, some alts...
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Anna Meares Anna Meares is a former Australian cyclist who competed in sprint track races in the early 21st century. She won medals at four consecutive Olympic Games (2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016), becoming the first Australian athlete to accomplish that feat. By the end of her career in 2016 Meares had earned 6...
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Consumer staples sector: Investing in stocks that provide the basics for living Furnishing life’s essentials.Some things you just can’t live without. Consumer staples are products that are essential or that you’re likely to purchase regardless of your personal finances or how the economy is performing. Food, drinks (including alcoholic beverages), tobacco, and household and...
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Industrials sector: Investing in big companies that do big things The economy’s quiet titans.When envisioning the pillars of American industry, numerous products and services come to mind: heavy machinery for transportation, farming, and defense; building products, electrical equipment, and machine parts; and an array of functions, from supply chain consulting to...
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List of religious populations Which religion is the largest? Which religion is the smallest? Our planet’s population of about 8 billion people follows myriad religions in widely varying numbers. The following tables draw from information available at the World Religion Database at Boston University and is based on data for the...
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Do U.S. college athletes get paid? In the United States college athletics is a multibillion-dollar industry, with ticket sales, merchandise, and broadcast and streaming rights all being major revenue sources for universities. Of course, none of that money comes in without the athletes. But unlike professional athletes, who are often...
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Carlo Maria Viganò Carlo Maria Viganò is a Roman Catholic archbishop and a former papal nuncio (ambassador) to the United States whose frequent public criticism of Pope Francis (2013– ) and rejection of the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) led to his being charged by the Holy See with the canonical crime of schism in...
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desi Desi, term broadly used to describe individuals, traditions, and products originating from the Indian subcontinent and its diaspora. Derived from the Sanskrit word desa, meaning “land” or “country,” the word desi has historically been used within the subcontinent to mean “local” or “indigenous.” In...
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cost of attendance (COA) COA, part of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), is the estimated cost of attending a college or university. It factors in several expenses that college students and their families are expected to cover. COA is used to determine how much financial aid you could potentially...
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Energy sector: Investing in stocks that fuel the economy Em-power your portfolio.Energy powers our world, but the energy sector itself is one of the smaller of the 11 Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) sectors in the stock market. It’s smaller because of its narrow focus on the traditional fossil fuel energy industry—you won’t find any...
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403(b) plan A 403(b) plan is a tax-deferred, employer-sponsored retirement savings plan available to public schools and other tax-exempt organizations. It allows educators, government employees, and nonprofit employees to make pretax contributions up to a certain limit. These 403(b) plans are tax advantaged,...
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Mr. Olympia Mr. Olympia, annual bodybuilding competition sanctioned by the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation (formerly the International Federation of BodyBuilders). It was first held in 1965 in Brooklyn, New York, but it has grown into a global contest hosted by cities around the world and...
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bento Bento, a Japanese-style single-serving meal traditionally packaged in a lacquered multi-compartment container called a bento box and served for lunch. The meal typically includes a starch of either rice or noodles, along with a protein, such as fish, meat, or eggs, accompanied by pickled vegetables...
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Battle of Harran The religious fervor of the First Crusade was over by 1104 as the new crusader lords attempted to secure their hold on the captured lands and to fend off further Muslim assaults. One of those lords, Count Baldwin of Edessa, joined forces with Prince Bohemond of Antioch to conquer the territory...
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SIMPLE IRA A “Savings Incentive Match PLan for Employees” (SIMPLE) IRA is a tax-deferred, employer-sponsored retirement savings plan designed for small businesses (usually with 100 or fewer employees) to provide a retirement plan to their employees. Employees with SIMPLE plans can make contributions, and...
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457(b) plan A 457(b) plan is a tax-advantaged retirement savings plan available to local government workers and some employees of nonprofit organizations. It’s similar to a 401(k) plan, but one that’s available to firefighters, law enforcement officers, municipal employees, and other civil servants. As with...
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Kōhei Uchimura Kōhei Uchimura is a former Japanese gymnast who is considered one of the greatest male gymnasts of all time, renowned for his near-perfect execution of highly difficult routines. During an incredible run of success he won an unprecedented six consecutive all-around golds at the world championships...
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prospectus A prospectus is a legal document that every publicly traded stock, mutual fund, and exchange-traded fund (ETF) files with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It lays out basic financial information as well as the mission of the company or fund. Mutual funds and ETFs usually include key...
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Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRA A SEP IRA is a tax-deferred retirement plan for those who are self-employed, small business owners, or who earn additional self-employment income. SEP IRAs are often easier to administer than 401(k) plans, so many small businesses use them to help their employees prepare for retirement....
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HODL (crypto) HODL is a cryptocurrency slang term that refers to holding a crypto coin or token for the long term. It comes from a typo in a 2013 thread titled “I AM HODLING” posted on BitcoinTalk, a cryptocurrency forum. The misspelled term in its all-cap format attained viral popularity among crypto investors...
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broker-dealer A broker-dealer is typically a firm whose business is buying and selling stocks, bonds, and funds for itself and for others. Broker-dealers thus perform both the work of brokers, who buy and sell securities for the accounts of their clients, and dealers, who buy and sell securities for their own...
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Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), more commonly known as “the Iran nuclear deal,” is a 2015 agreement between Iran and several world powers to restrict Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief of international sanctions on Iran. The deal was negotiated by the Democratic...
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Battle of Grunwald Battle of Grunwald, battle fought on July 15, 1410, between the villages of Grunwald and Tannenberg (Polish: Stębark) in northeastern Poland (formerly East Prussia) that marked a major Polish-Lithuanian victory over the Knights of the Teutonic Order. The battle ended of the order’s expansion along...
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Sabrina Ionescu Sabrina Ionescu is an American professional basketball player who is a standout guard, known for her all-around play. Ionescu first gained widespread recognition during her record-breaking career at the University of Oregon, where she made NCAA history as the only player in Division I men’s or...
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Battle of Grand Port Battle of Grand Port, naval battle between France and Britain on August 22–27, 1810, at Île de France (Mauritius), which was one of the last French overseas possessions to be captured by Britain. The Indian Ocean island was used as a base for raids on British trade into 1810, as well as to support...
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Battle of Guam When they were attacking Guam from July 21 to August 10, 1944, U.S. forces were not only acquiring a fine harbor and a number of airfields to use during World War II (and beyond), but they were also liberating U.S. territory; ceded by Spain after the Spanish American War, Guam, the southernmost of...
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Battle of Dessau By April 1626, the Thirty Years’ War had been raging across the German states and Central Europe for eight years, and following a catastrophic defeat suffered at Stadtlohn, the German Protestant cause seemed lost. There was new hope when Christian IV of Denmark entered the war in 1625, but the next...
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Battle of Chios The naval defeat of Philip V of Macedon at the Battle of Chios in 201 bce was the last large-scale naval battle between fleets sent out by independent Greek states. At the time, it was thought that it had secured independence for the smaller states, but in fact it only opened the way for Roman...
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Battle of Cuzco Manco Inca, son of Atahuallpa, brought a force of 400,000 warriors with him when he launched his assault on Cuzco in May 1536. Sheltering in the recently conquered Inca capital, the Spanish conquistadors resorted to desperate measures, but still succeeded in withstanding a ten-month siege, which...
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Doug Burgum Doug Burgum is an American politician and businessman who serves as the Republican governor of North Dakota (2016– ). Burgum previously was CEO (1983–91) of Great Plains Software, and he later became a venture capitalist and real estate investor. He transitioned into politics in 2016, when he won...
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Jannik Sinner Jannik Sinner is an Italian tennis player who is a leading star in the generation of players rising in the wake of the indomitable Big Three (Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal). In 2024 he won his first major, at the Australian Open, and attained the number one ranking on the men’s...
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Robert Kardashian Robert Kardashian was an Armenian American businessman and lawyer in Los Angeles who became well known in the mid-1990s for his involvement in O.J. Simpson’s murder trial. He and Simpson had been friends for decades, and he acted as a liaison between the defendant and the rest of the legal team....
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Investing in speculative start-up stocks? 14 alternative fundamentals to follow You can’t look at the P/E if the company has no E.You just bought shares in a hot new company whose stock price, you believe, has the potential to go sky-high. As a responsible investor, you now have to do your homework by regularly evaluating the company’s fundamentals. But then you hit a snag,...
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Battle of Flores The Battle of Flores, fought August 30–31, 1591, between Spain and England off Flores Island in the Azores, was a Spanish victory, showing the resurgence of Spain’s naval power after the debacle of the 1588 armada. For the English, the heroic fight put up by Richard Grenville’s Revenge became a...
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Theodore McCarrick Theodore McCarrick is a former Roman Catholic archbishop and cardinal who, after being accused of sexually abusing teenage boys and young men between the 1970s and the early 21st century, was the first American prelate in history to resign (2018) from the Sacred College of Cardinals. He was later...
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Materials sector: Investing in the building blocks of the economy It’s a material world.Humans have long had an insatiable appetite for materials—natural resources, chemicals, building products, and everything in between. Materials-focused companies, including those listed in the S&P 500, operate to satisfy our demand for these physical products. Materials are...
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Saeed Jalili Saeed Jalili is a fundamentalist Iranian political figure and academic who is best known for his role under Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005–13) as the chief nuclear negotiator and the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (2007–13). He has since run for president three times (in 2013,...
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hostile architecture Hostile architecture, urban design strategy that uses elements of the built environment to guide or restrict certain behaviors in public spaces, such as sleeping, skateboarding, using illicit substances, urinating in public, and loitering. Such design elements tend to target not only skateboarders...
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Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is an establishment figure in Iranian politics, known for his pragmatic top-down management style and plagued by recurrent corruption scandals. He is considered close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as the former commander of its air force (1997–2000). He...
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Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta was an American artist regarded as one of the most gifted in the fantasy and science-fiction genres. His distinct style, epitomized by muscular men and voluptuous women commonly rendered with a dark palette, was an obvious influence on many of his contemporaries. Born Frank Frazzetta...
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3x3 basketball 3x3 basketball, variation of basketball played on a half-court between teams of three players. Pronounced “three-ex-three,” this condensed version of basketball was established as a professional sport in the early 21st century. The game focuses on speed, versatility, and agility more than on the...
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Communication services sector: Investing in companies that entertain and inform It’s what we’re talking about.Telecommunications have become the mainstay for how we connect, communicate, and entertain. Whether it’s via a smartphone, television, or computer, there are a myriad of ways for consumers to chat, work, shop, solve problems, date, and more, and all of it is...
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Battle of Edington Vikings from all over Scandinavia had been raiding the British Isles for more than half a century before the birth of the Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great, the sovereign of the West Saxon kingdom of Wessex. The arrival of a Danish “great army” in East Anglia in 865, however, marked the start of a...
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Battle of Camarón A defensive action fought on April 30, 1863, with suicidal courage during France’s ill-fated intervention in Mexico, the Battle of Camarón is a foundational legend of the French Foreign Legion. Captain Jean Danjou, who led the legionnaires, enjoys the strange distinction of having his wooden hand...
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Liu Cixin Liu Cixin is a Chinese science-fiction author best known for his Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy of novels. The first novel of the trilogy, The Three-Body Problem (2006), won the 2015 Hugo Award for best novel in its English translation and has sold over 3 million copies in English and 30...
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K-pop K-pop, abbreviated colloquial term for popular music from South Korea. K-pop is typically used to describe “idol music” made by artists trained by entertainment companies to become pop music stars. K-pop includes upbeat pop, dance music, and ballads. It can incorporate a variety of influences,...
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Leslie Leiserowitz Leslie Leiserowitz is an Israeli chemist known for his work, conducted in collaboration with Israeli chemist Meir Lahav, on the crystal forms of organic molecules. Leiserowitz received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 1956. Shortly after...
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Ariarne Titmus Ariarne Titmus is an Australian swimmer who burst onto the international swim scene in 2018 by winning three gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. She solidified her standing in 2019 when she beat American swimmer Katie Ledecky—considered by some to be the...
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Understanding sequence risk and its impact on your retirement savings Avoid selling low for cash flow.Imagine you’ve scrimped and saved for decades to build a decent nest egg. You’re ready to retire and know how much you can withdraw from your retirement account each year. But then stocks take a dive. You retire into a bear market, and at the end of a couple of rough...
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Micro-investing: Your gateway to financial empowerment? Mighty oaks grow from tiny acorns.Looking for a logical way to get started with investing? If you only have a few dollars to spare, then you may be interested in micro-investing. With lots of options for automation, plus user-friendly trading platforms, micro-investing can feel like a...
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Battle of Belleau Wood The Allies’ victory at the Battle of Belleau Wood, which occurred in France from June 1 to June 26, 1918, greatly boosted morale amid the Germans’ Spring Offensive. The battle was the first major engagement of the U.S. army in World War I, and, only 39 miles from Paris, marked the closest the...
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bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers that occurred on September 15, 2008. It was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history at that time, and it was among the most significant events of the financial crisis of 2007–08. Lehman Brothers was founded in 1850 by...
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list of civilians detained by foreign governments and groups They are often journalists, attempting to bring news from difficult places to the rest of the world. But sometimes they are athletes, or tourists, or aid workers. The phenomenon of governments detaining foreign nationals and using them to negotiate on the geopolitical stage continues to play out...
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spitting cobra Spitting cobra, one of several species of cobras that, when threatened, can shoot or eject venom directly from their fangs. Spitting cobras typically spray venom in self-defense. All spitting cobras belong to the Elapidae family, but not all spitting cobras belong to the Naja genus (true cobras)...
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Kamasutra Kamasutra, the oldest extant Indian prose treatise (sutra) on the subject of pleasure (kama)—sexual pleasure, desire, love, and the pleasures of good living generally conceived. Popularly known for its depiction of positions for sexual intercourse, the text is more broadly about the life of...
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list of kings of Saudi Arabia The Saud dynasty was established under the rule of Muhammad ibn Saud in the 18th century and has since ruled three successive states, followed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (established in 1932). Although dynastic succession has often passed from father to son, the Saud dynasty is not strictly...
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Annuity riders: A way to customize your retirement income But don’t get taken for a ride.Annuities are designed to provide retirement income and help you meet your financial needs as you age. Purchasing an annuity is a little like buying a car. They come in several varieties and have standard features (the base model), but you may want to add some bells...
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Timeline of the American Revolution In 1775, 13 British colonies in North America began an eight-year insurrection that changed the course of history. What caused the American Revolution? And what happened during the conflict? From controversial taxes to the battlefield and beyond, we explore the road to revolution and the creation...
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list of 10 expensive weddings Very few couples are able to say “money is no object” when planning their wedding. For the ultra-wealthy, however, extravagant weddings are often a sign of status and prestige. Here are 10 weddings that took extravagance to new heights. Said Gutseriev’s father, oil and media mogul Mikhail...
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blue light Blue light is a category of visible light with a wavelength roughly between 380 and 500 nanometers (nm). Blue light is perceived as the color blue, though it may also be present in light perceived as another color, particularly white light. Blue light can be divided into two subcategories:...
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Amazon Alexa Amazon Alexa, virtual assistant program developed and sold by the e-commerce company Amazon. Users can interact with Alexa by speaking to any device programmed to include it. The program is most commonly found on smart speakers (e.g., the Amazon Echo), smart displays, television sets, and glasses...
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Nicola Olyslagers Nicola Olyslagers is the first Australian woman to jump 2 meters (6 feet 6.74 inches) in the high jump. At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, the track-and-field athlete earned a silver medal and set a personal best record with a jump of 2.02 meters (6 feet 7.53 inches); the competition was held in...
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effective altruism Effective altruism, in ethics, a theory of conduct and a movement that centers on identifying ways to benefit others and then mobilizing and utilizing resources to bring those benefits to fruition. Effective altruism attempts to identify pressing social issues as well as corresponding solutions. As...
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Jacob Elordi Jacob Elordi is an Australian actor who gained overnight fame for his work in the Netflix romantic comedy The Kissing Booth (2018) and cemented his stardom with the HBO drama series Euphoria (2019– ). While these roles established him as a teen heartthrob, Elordi sought to prove himself as a...
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disc golf Disc golf, a creative variant of traditional golf in which players throw plastic flying discs on a course. The goal of disc golf is to land the disc in a series of basket targets and complete the course with the fewest number of throws. The sport arose spontaneously in many different locations soon...
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J. Max Bond, Jr. J. Max Bond, Jr. was an American architect and educator who is considered one of the nation’s foremost Black architects. His career was characterized not only by excellence in building but also by his dedication to recognizing and addressing social inequities in his field. Bond was born to Ruth...
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The franchise disclosure document (FDD): An all-in-one rulebook, guidebook, and almanac A 23-step business tango.Somewhere along the path toward becoming a franchisee, you’ll come across a comprehensive document that outlines almost everything you need to know about the business you’re looking to purchase. It’s called the franchise disclosure document, aka the FDD. The FDD is a legal...
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Jill Stein Jill Stein is a former practicing physician and an environmental activist who has run as the candidate of the Green Party of the United States in multiple elections. She is currently campaigning to become the Green Party’s 2024 presidential nominee. Born to Russian Jewish parents and raised in the...
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Boy George Boy George is a British singer-songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the British new wave band Culture Club, which rose to fame in the early 1980s. Boy George, known for his androgynous appearance, with often flamboyant makeup and clothing, was a trailblazing icon of 1980s music and fashion....
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America the Beautiful America the Beautiful, patriotic American hymn, regarded as the United States’ unofficial national anthem and one of the country’s best-known songs. The song extols the grandeur of the American landscape as well as the nation’s ideals. The lyrics were written by American poet, author, and educator...
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Adam Strange Adam Strange, fictional superhero introduced by DC Comics in 1958 and occasionally reintroduced to readers in decades that followed. Adam Strange—not to be confused with Doctor Stephen Strange of Marvel Comics, who first appeared in July 1963—is perhaps the most intellectual of all comic...
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Little House on the Prairie Little House on the Prairie, American television family drama that aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) network for nine seasons (1974–83) and was loosely based on the series of “Little House” children’s books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The show consistently ranked among the top programs...
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GitHub GitHub, open-source software development reference platform that allows users to share, edit, and store their programming code online or make it accessible to multiple users via cloud computing. The website and GitHub app have features such as version control, source code management, and revision...
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Mamie (“Peanut”) Johnson Mamie (“Peanut”) Johnson was an American baseball player known for being the only woman to pitch in the Negro leagues. Mamie Belton’s parents separated when she was young, and she initially lived with her grandmother. Although she remained in touch with her father, it was her mother’s family who...
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Siri Siri, digital assistant included within Apple devices’ operating system. Siri was introduced with the iPhone 4S in October 2011; it was the first widely available virtual assistant available on a major tech company’s smartphone. Siri was named after the shortened version of the Norwegian name...
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This Land Is Your Land This Land Is Your Land, popular song written by American folk singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie. It has been embraced as a protest song and as an alternative patriotic anthem for the United States because of its themes of inclusion and equality. Guthrie penned the lyrics to “This Land Is Your Land”...
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artistic gymnastics Artistic gymnastics, the most popular and widely recognized discipline of gymnastics that includes events such as balance beam, floor exercise, and rings. Each event in artistic gymnastics involves the use of different apparatus and equipment to showcase an athlete’s strength, agility, balance,...
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Iran’s presidential election of 2024 Masoud Pezeshkian emerged as the surprise victor of an early presidential election in Iran, which was held in June–July 2024 after Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line conservative, died unexpectedly in a helicopter crash on May 19. Raisi, one of the few figures trusted by both the security establishment and...
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Siege of Acre Siege of Acre, Napoleon’s unsuccessful siege of the Ottoman-controlled, walled city of Acre (today in northwest Israel) that lasted from March 18 to May 20, 1799. It was his first setback in the Egyptian campaign and one of his few defeats, and it marked the end of his hopes of carving out an...
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Charlotte Rampling Charlotte Rampling is a prolific English actress known for taking on seductive and complicated roles, including as a concentration camp survivor who has a sadomasochistic relationship with a former SS officer in the controversial 1974 film The Night Porter. Rampling has been in more than 100 movies...
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major types of pollinators Pollination is essential to the perpetuation of the vast majority of the world’s wild plants—and thus the perpetuation of nearly all terrestrial ecosystems—as well as to the production of most of the fruit and seed crops that feed humanity. The importance of this seemingly simple movement of...
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European robin European robin, (Erithacus rubecula), songbird species known for its bright orange face and breast. The European robin is classified as belonging to the Muscicapidae, a bird family that includes Old World flycatchers. The species is found throughout Europe and in parts of western Asia, northern...
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history of artificial intelligence (AI) History of artificial intelligence (AI), a survey of important events and people in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) from the early work of British logician Alan Turing in the 1930s to advancements at the turn of the 21st century. AI is the ability of a digital computer or...
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Alexander Girard Alexander Girard was an American architect and furniture, textile, graphic, and industrial designer whose vibrant, whimsical designs brought an element of joy to Mid-Century Modernism. Girard’s father was a French-Italian antiques dealer; his mother, an American, came from a family that was also in...
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Narcissus Narcissus, oil painting by Caravaggio (byname of Michelangelo Merisi) created between 1597 and 1599. It belongs to the early part of Caravaggio’s career, and comparatively little is known about his work at this stage. Indeed, some critics have even questioned whether this painting is actually by...
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Iván Zamorano Iván Zamorano is one of the most recognized Chilean football (soccer) players of all time. He gained fame as a great scorer in Europe. His popularity led the way for later Chilean stars to play in Europe. Playing sports from a young age—Zamorano’s father signed him up for the local soccer team when...
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Chinese zodiac Chinese zodiac, annual classification system in Chinese culture following the Chinese lunar calendar yingyang li (literally, “heaven-earth”) in which each year in a 12-year cycle is assigned an animal and each animal is associated with a personality that typifies the year and those born during that...
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Charles H. Bennett Charles H. Bennett is an American physicist noted for his work in quantum cryptography and quantum teleportation. Bennett graduated from Brandeis University with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1964. He received a doctorate in 1970 from Harvard University, where he worked on computer...
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Schitt’s Creek Schitt’s Creek, Canadian television sitcom about a rich family that loses its wealth and must temporarily move into a motel in a small town with the tongue-in-cheek name of Schitt’s Creek. The show aired for six seasons from 2015 to 2020. By metrics of awards and international viewership, Schitt’s...
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Chuck Palahniuk Chuck Palahniuk is an American author known for darkly comic and often disturbing novels—in particular, Fight Club (1996), which was adapted into a controversial film of the same name in 1999. Born in Pasco, a city in southeastern Washington, Palahniuk grew up in the rural town of Burbank, where...
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Diversify your portfolio with commodity ETFs And potentially protect against inflation.Commodities are the basic materials that help our economy run. Commodities include the crude oil that powers most of our vehicles and the natural gas and heating oil that keep our homes warm in the winter. Copper is the conduit that electrifies our...
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Cryptocurrency ETFs: Crypto exposure, listed on traditional exchanges But that doesn’t make it less volatile.Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) set the crypto markets buzzing in early 2024, when the first batch of spot price ETFs received approval from U.S. regulators. A few months later, Ethereum spot price ETFs crossed an important regulatory hurdle. The approval...
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How much will it cost me to buy a franchise? Four kinds of start-up costs.Buying a franchise may be a worthwhile investment in the long run, but it will take a lot of work, and it certainly isn’t cheap. Some franchises cost more than others, but regardless of the price, you’ll need to dish out a good chunk of change—anywhere from a few grand...
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Calculating your Social Security benefits? Breakeven ages and how to decide Tailor the formula to your unique needs.If you’re like most Americans, you’ve been paying into Social Security ever since you received your first paycheck. As you reach middle age and start thinking about life beyond your working years, one of the first decisions you’ll need to make is when to...
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Anthony Edwards Anthony Edwards is a American basketball player who is a rising star in the NBA, considered by some to be the future face of the league. The charismatic shooting guard is known for his theatrical dunks, accurate shooting, and resilience. In 2024 Edwards helped the Minnesota Timberwolves reach the...
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medication for opioid use disorder Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), intervention used in the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD), a condition characterized by addiction to opioid drugs. Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) can reduce opioid use and cravings, improve social functioning, and reduce the risk of death...
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Jerome Powell Jerome Powell is the chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“the Fed”), the central bank of the United States. Nominated by U.S. Pres. Donald Trump in 2017 and confirmed by the Senate the following year, he oversaw the Fed’s extensive intervention in the U.S. economy during...
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common garden insects and their larvae Many people are familiar with the friendly ladybug or handled a woolly bear caterpillar as a child, but fewer, perhaps, are aware of a ladybug’s larval stage or know what a woolly bear caterpillar turns into as an adult. The following is a list of both the adult and larval forms of a few common...
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triangle Triangle, in geometry, a three-sided polygon. Triangles are formed by three line segments, sometimes called edges, whose end points intersect at points known as the vertices. The seemingly simple shape has countless properties discovered over thousands of years of study. The following article...
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Quinta Brunson Quinta Brunson is an American actress, writer, and producer known for creating the comedy series Abbott Elementary (2021– ) on ABC, in which she stars as the dedicated, optimistic elementary school teacher Janine Teagues. Brunson, the fifth and youngest child of Norma Jean and Rick Brunson, grew up...
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Tollund Man Tollund Man, notable bog body—that is, a mummified human corpse preserved by the unique natural chemistry of peat bogs—discovered in the Bjældskovdal Mose, a peat bog in north-central Denmark, in 1950. The Tollund Man lived between 405 and 380 bce, amid Europe’s Iron Age (500 bce to 400 ce), and he...
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Foley artist Foley artist, in motion pictures, a specialist in sound effects who creates unique sounds to accompany specific onscreen actions or activities, such as a person walking, sword fighting, or a door creaking. The position is named after pioneering sound effects technician Jack Foley, who almost...
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Conor McGregor Conor McGregor is an Irish mixed martial artist who became the most famous name in the sport after winning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) titles in two different weight classes in 2015–16. McGregor’s meteoric rise and worldwide celebrity has come with much controversy, the result of an...