1.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
2.
Saratoga Springs, New York
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Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 26,586 at the 2010 census, the name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over 200 years. The city is just north of Albany, in the heart of New Yorks Capital Region, Saratoga Springs was ranked tenth in the list of the top 10 places to live in New York State for 2014 according to the national online real estate brokerage Movoto. The picturesque area was occupied by the Algonquian-speaking Mahican Indians before they were pushed out by European settlement and they eventually moved east and became allied with other remnant peoples and became known as the Stockbridge Indians, as they settled near Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The British built Fort Saratoga in 1691 on the west bank of the Hudson River, the current village of Schuylerville was settled about a mile south by British colonists shortly after the fort, it was known as Saratoga until 1831. In 1767, William Johnson, a British soldier who was a hero of the French and they treated his war wounds, as the spring was thought to have medicinal properties. Now known as High Rock Spring, it may still be visited today, in 1756 Johnson had been appointed British Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Northeast region due to his success in building alliances with the Mohawk and other Iroquois tribes. He had learned the language, and created many trading relationships and he achieved great wealth from trading and landholdings, and was knighted for his service to the Crown with the Iroquois. The first permanent European-American settler built a dwelling about 1776, the springs attracted tourists, and Gideon Putnam built the first hotel for travelers. Putnam also laid out the roads and donated land for use as public spaces, the Battle of Saratoga, the turning point of the Revolutionary War, did not take place in Saratoga Springs. Rather, the battlefield is 15 miles to the southeast in the Town of Stillwater, a museum dedicated to the two battles is located on the fields where the battles were fought. The British encampment before the surrender at Saratoga took place 10 miles east of the city, in Schuylerville, the surrender of the sword of battle took place where Fort Saratoga had been, south of Schuylerville. Saratoga Springs was established as a settlement in 1819 from a portion of the Town of Saratoga. Its principal community was incorporated as a village in 1826 and the region became a city in 1915. Tourism was greatly aided after 1832 by the arrival of the Saratoga and Schenectady Railroad, Resort hotels developed to accommodate them. In the 19th century, the noted doctor Simon Baruch encouraged developing European-style spas in the United States as centers for health. With its wealth of waters, Saratoga Springs was developed as a spa, generating the development of many large hotels, including the United States Hotel. The latter was, in its day, the largest hotel in the world, in 1863, Saratoga Race Course opened, moving to its current location the following year
3.
Yale University
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Yale University is an American private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 in Saybrook Colony to train Congregationalist ministers, it is the third-oldest institution of education in the United States. The Collegiate School moved to New Haven in 1716, and shortly after was renamed Yale College in recognition of a gift from British East India Company governor Elihu Yale. Originally restricted to theology and sacred languages, the curriculum began to incorporate humanities and sciences by the time of the American Revolution. In the 19th century the school introduced graduate and professional instruction, awarding the first Ph. D. in the United States in 1861 and organizing as a university in 1887. Yale is organized into fourteen constituent schools, the undergraduate college, the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. While the university is governed by the Yale Corporation, each schools faculty oversees its curriculum, the universitys assets include an endowment valued at $25.4 billion as of June 2016, the second largest of any U. S. educational institution. The Yale University Library, serving all constituent schools, holds more than 15 million volumes and is the third-largest academic library in the United States, Yale College undergraduates follow a liberal arts curriculum with departmental majors and are organized into a social system of residential colleges. Almost all faculty teach courses, more than 2,000 of which are offered annually. Students compete intercollegiately as the Yale Bulldogs in the NCAA Division I – Ivy League, Yale has graduated many notable alumni, including five U. S. Presidents,19 U. S. Supreme Court Justices,20 living billionaires, and many heads of state. In addition, Yale has graduated hundreds of members of Congress,57 Nobel laureates,5 Fields Medalists,247 Rhodes Scholars, and 119 Marshall Scholars have been affiliated with the University. Yale traces its beginnings to An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School, passed by the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut on October 9,1701, the Act was an effort to create an institution to train ministers and lay leadership for Connecticut. Soon thereafter, a group of ten Congregationalist ministers, Samuel Andrew, Thomas Buckingham, Israel Chauncy, Samuel Mather, the group, led by James Pierpont, is now known as The Founders. Originally known as the Collegiate School, the institution opened in the home of its first rector, Abraham Pierson, the school moved to Saybrook, and then Wethersfield. In 1716 the college moved to New Haven, Connecticut, the feud caused the Mathers to champion the success of the Collegiate School in the hope that it would maintain the Puritan religious orthodoxy in a way that Harvard had not. Cotton Mather suggested that the school change its name to Yale College, meanwhile, a Harvard graduate working in England convinced some 180 prominent intellectuals that they should donate books to Yale. The 1714 shipment of 500 books represented the best of modern English literature, science, philosophy and it had a profound effect on intellectuals at Yale. Undergraduate Jonathan Edwards discovered John Lockes works and developed his original theology known as the new divinity
4.
NBC
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The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is part of the Big Three television networks, founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC is the oldest major broadcast network in the United States. Following the acquisition by GE, Bob Wright served as executive officer of NBC, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its entertainment assets with GE, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011, and acquired General Electrics remaining stake in 2013. Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBC Universal and was replaced as CEO by Comcast executive Steve Burke, during a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer Radio Corporation of America acquired New York City radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph. Westinghouse, a shareholder in RCA, had an outlet in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&Ts manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&Ts telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, the 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF maintained a schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with Outlet Company-owned WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric. In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were incompatible with the companys primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&Ts phone lines for network transmission, the divisions ownership was split among RCA, its founding corporate parent General Electric and Westinghouse. NBC officially started broadcasting on November 15,1926, WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On April 5,1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network and this was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18,1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network, initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco. The Orange Network name was removed from use in 1936, at the same time, the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations, in 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect Floyd Brown
5.
Gilbert and Sullivan
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Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H. M. S, Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado are among the best known. Sullivan, six years Gilberts junior, composed the music, contributing memorable melodies that could convey both humour and pathos and their operas have enjoyed broad and enduring international success and are still performed frequently throughout the English-speaking world. Gilbert and Sullivan introduced innovations in content and form that influenced the development of musical theatre through the 20th century. The operas have influenced political discourse, literature, film. Producer Richard DOyly Carte brought Gilbert and Sullivan together and nurtured their collaboration and he built the Savoy Theatre in 1881 to present their joint works and founded the DOyly Carte Opera Company, which performed and promoted Gilbert and Sullivans works for over a century. Gilbert was born in London on 18 November 1836 and his father, William, was a naval surgeon who later wrote novels and short stories, some of which included illustrations by his son. Director and playwright Mike Leigh described the Gilbertian style as follows, With great fluidity and freedom, First, within the framework of the story, he makes bizarre things happen, and turns the world on its head. Thus the Learned Judge marries the Plaintiff, the soldiers metamorphose into aesthetes, and so on and his genius is to fuse opposites with an imperceptible sleight of hand, to blend the surreal with the real, and the caricature with the natural. In other words, to tell a perfectly outrageous story in a deadpan way. Gilbert developed his theories on the art of stage direction. At the time Gilbert began writing, theatre in Britain was in disrepute, Gilbert helped to reform and elevate the respectability of the theatre, especially beginning with his six short family-friendly comic operas, or entertainments, for Thomas German Reed. At a rehearsal for one of these entertainments, Ages Ago, the composer Frederic Clay introduced Gilbert to his friend, two years later, Gilbert and Sullivan would write their first work together. Those two intervening years continued to shape Gilberts theatrical style, Sullivan was born in London on 13 May 1842. His father was a bandmaster, and by the time Arthur had reached the age of eight. In school he began to compose anthems and songs, in 1856, he received the first Mendelssohn Scholarship and studied at the Royal Academy of Music and then at Leipzig, where he also took up conducting. His graduation piece, completed in 1861, was a suite of music to Shakespeares The Tempest. Revised and expanded, it was performed at the Crystal Palace in 1862 and was an immediate sensation and he began building a reputation as Englands most promising young composer, composing a symphony, a concerto, and several overtures, among them the Overture di Ballo, in 1870
6.
H.M.S. Pinafore
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Pinafore, or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, Pinafore was Gilbert and Sullivans fourth operatic collaboration and their first international sensation. The story takes place aboard the ship HMS Pinafore, the captains daughter, Josephine, is in love with a lower-class sailor, Ralph Rackstraw, although her father intends her to marry Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty. She abides by her fathers wishes at first, but Sir Josephs advocacy of the equality of humankind encourages Ralph and they declare their love for each other and eventually plan to elope. The captain discovers this plan, but, as in many of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, drawing on several of his earlier Bab Ballad poems, Gilbert imbued this plot with mirth and silliness. The operas humour focuses on love between members of different social classes and lampoons the British class system in general, Pinafore also pokes good-natured fun at patriotism, party politics, the Royal Navy, and the rise of unqualified people to positions of authority. The title of the piece comically applies the name of a garment for girls and women, pinafores extraordinary popularity in Britain, America and elsewhere was followed by the similar success of a series of Gilbert and Sullivan works, including The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. Their works, later known as the Savoy operas, dominated the stage on both sides of the Atlantic for more than a decade and continue to be performed today. The structure and style of these operas, particularly Pinafore, were copied and contributed significantly to the development of modern musical theatre. In 1875, Richard DOyly Carte, who was managing the Royalty Theatre for Selina Dolaro, brought Gilbert and Sullivan together to write their second show. With this theatre company, Carte finally had the resources, after many failed attempts, to produce a new full-length Gilbert. This next opera was The Sorcerer, which opened in November 1877 and it too was successful, running for 178 performances. Sheet music from the show well, and street musicians played the melodies. Instead of writing a piece for production by a proprietor, as was usual in Victorian theatres, Gilbert, Sullivan. They were therefore able to choose their own cast of performers and they then tailored their work to the particular abilities of these performers. For until then no living soul had seen upon the stage such weird, eccentric, conjured into existence a hitherto unknown comic world of sheer delight. The success of The Sorcerer paved the way for another collaboration by Gilbert, Carte agreed on terms for a new opera with the Comedy Opera Company, and Gilbert began work on H. M. S. Pinafore before the end of 1877, Gilberts father had been a naval surgeon, and the nautical theme of the opera appealed to him
7.
Princess Ida
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Princess Ida, or, Castle Adamant is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was their eighth operatic collaboration of fourteen, Princess Ida opened at the Savoy Theatre on 5 January 1884, for a run of 246 performances. The piece concerns a princess who founds a womens university and teaches that women are superior to men, the prince to whom she had been married in infancy sneaks into the university, together with two friends, with the aim of collecting his bride. They disguise themselves as students, but are discovered. The opera satirizes feminism, womens education and Darwinian evolution, which were controversial topics in conservative Victorian England. Princess Ida is based on a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson called The Princess. He lifted much of the dialogue of Princess Ida directly from his 1870 farce and it is the only Gilbert and Sullivan opera in three acts and the only one with dialogue in blank verse. By Savoy Opera standards, Princess Ida was not considered a success due, in part, to a hot summer in London in 1884. Nevertheless, the piece is performed today by both professional and amateur companies, although not as frequently as the most popular of the Savoy operas. Princess Ida is based on Tennysons serio-comic narrative poem of 1847, The Princess, Gilbert had written a blank verse musical farce burlesquing the same material in 1870 called The Princess. He reused a good deal of the dialogue from earlier play in the libretto of Princess Ida. He also retained Tennysons blank verse style and the story line about a heroic princess who runs a womens college. He and his two friends infiltrate the college disguised as female students, Gilbert had to write entirely new lyrics for Princess Ida, since the lyrics to his 1870 farce were written to previously existing music by Jacques Offenbach, Rossini and others. Tennysons poem was written, in part, in response to the founding of Queens College, London, when Gilbert wrote The Princess in 1870, womens higher education was still an innovative, even radical concept. Girton College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge, was established in 1869, however, by the time Gilbert and Sullivan collaborated on Princess Ida in 1883, a womens college was a more established concept. Westfield College, the University of Londons first womens college, had opened in 1882, thus, womens higher education was in the news in London, and Westfield is cited as a model for Gilberts Castle Adamant. He also gave his consent to Gilbert to continue with the adaptation of The Princess as the basis for their next opera, later that spring, Sullivan was knighted by Queen Victoria and the honour was announced in May at the opening of the Royal College of Music. Although it was the operas with Gilbert that had earned him the broadest fame, having just signed the five-year agreement, Sullivan suddenly felt trapped
8.
Waiting for Godot
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Waiting for Godot is Becketts translation of his own original French play, En attendant Godot, and is subtitled a tragicomedy in two acts. The original French text was composed between 9 October 1948 and 29 January 1949, the premiere was on 5 January 1953 in the Théâtre de Babylone, Paris. The English language version was premiered in London in 1955, in a poll conducted by the British Royal National Theatre in 1990 it was voted the “most significant English language play of the 20th century”. Vladimir takes up the thought loftily, while Estragon vaguely recalls having been beaten the night before, finally, his boots come off, while the pair ramble and bicker pointlessly. When Estragon suddenly decides to leave, Vladimir reminds him that they must stay, unfortunately, the pair cannot agree on where or when they are expected to meet with this Godot. They only know to wait at a tree, and there is indeed a leafless one nearby, eventually, Estragon dozes off and Vladimir rouses him but then stops him before he can share his dreams—another recurring activity between the two men. Estragon wants to hear an old joke, which Vladimir cannot finish without going off to urinate, since every time he starts laughing, upon Vladimirs return, the increasingly jaded Estragon suggests that they hang themselves, but they abandon the idea when the logistics seem ineffective. They then speculate on the rewards of continuing to wait for Godot. When Estragon declares his hunger, Vladimir provides a carrot, at which Estragon idly gnaws, Pozzo barks abusive orders at Lucky, which are always quietly followed, while acting civilly though tersely towards the other two. Pozzo enjoys a snack of chicken and wine, before casting the bones to the ground. Having been in a state of silence ever since the arrival of Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo ignores this and explains his intention to sell Lucky, who begins to cry, Estragon takes pity and tries to wipe away Luckys tears, but, as he approaches, Lucky violently kicks him in the shin. Pozzo then rambles nostalgically but vaguely about his relationship with Lucky over the years, before offering Vladimir, Estragon begins to beg for money when Pozzo instead suggests that Lucky can dance and think for their entertainment. Luckys dance, the Net, is clumsy and shuffling, Luckys thinking is a long-winded and disjointed monologue—it is the first, Pozzo then has Lucky pack up his bags, and they hastily leave. Vladimir and Estragon, alone again, reflect on whether they met Pozzo, a boy then arrives, purporting to be a messenger sent from Godot to tell the pair that Godot will not be coming that evening but surely tomorrow. During Vladimirs interrogation of the boy, he asks if he came the day before, after the boy departs, the moon appears and the two men verbally agree to leave and find shelter for the night, but they merely stand without moving. It is daytime again and Vladimir begins singing a round about the death of a dog. Again, Estragon claims to have been beaten last night, despite no apparent injury, Vladimir comments that the formerly bare tree now has leaves and tries to confirm his recollections of yesterday against Estragons extremely vague, unreliable memory
9.
Bloomingdale's
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Bloomingdales is a luxury department store owned by Macys, Inc. Brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale founded Bloomingdales in 1861, the pair were sons of Benjamin Bloomingdale, a Bavarian-born salesman who had lived in North Carolina and Kansas, and settled in New York City. In 1872, the Bloomingdale brothers opened their first store at 938 Third Avenue, at the time the East Side was a working class neighborhood with shanty towns, garbage dumps, and stockyards. Most of their customers and competitors were in the Upper West Side, within a few years after opening the store, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened, the new St. These additions brought to the East Side wealthy customers, who built brownstones that surrounded the new park, the store moved in 1886 to its current location on 59th Street and Lexington Avenue. It was designed with large glass display windows and large merchandising areas. Many of these products were European imports, by the start of the 20th century, Bloomingdales growth had greatly increased, facilitated by its convenient location at a hub of New York Citys horse-drawn trolley system. Offerings at the time included ladies stockings at 10¢ a pair, $10 mens wool suits, the slogan appeared on billboards and on 5,000 free beach umbrellas which were offered to street vendors and delivery cart drivers. The popular upper class shopping area moved downtown along Sixth Avenue to between 14th and 23rd Streets, in 1913, the 59th Street Station of the Lexington Avenue subway was constructed in Bloomingdales basement, further reinforcing the All Cars Transfer to Bloomingdales slogan, and business recovered. By the 1920s, the covered the whole city block. In 1930, Bloomingdales moved to a new location off of Lexington, the building, which had grown to encompass the entire block, had an eleven-story addition and was completely redesigned by architects Starrett & van Vleck in the Art Deco style. In 1949, Bloomingdales opened its first branch store in Fresh Meadows, subsequently, Bloomingdales built a full line store in White Plains combining its Eastchester and New Rochelle stores. The same year Bloomingdales joined Federated Department Stores, now Macys, in 1961, all over in the US the company started using designer shopping bags to promote its Esprit de France exhibit. The design, by artist Jonah Kinigstein, was based on French tarot cards in dramatic shades of red, black, in 1973, the iconic Brown Bag appeared. These were designed by Massimo Vignelli, who designed the current store typeface. Fashion designer Michaele Vollbracht designed one of the shopping bags in red, black, and white of a formally dressed man on one side. Other artists who have designed shopping bags were fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez, in 1969, Bloomingdales two branch stores opened in Garden City, New York on Long Island, and Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. Bloomingdales opened home furnishing stores on the East Coast using products from the home furnishings department
10.
Hamlet
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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare at an uncertain date between 1599 and 1602. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatises the revenge Prince Hamlet is called to wreak upon his uncle, Claudius, by the ghost of Hamlets father, Claudius had murdered his own brother and seized the throne, also marrying his deceased brothers widow. It has inspired many other writers—from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Charles Dickens to James Joyce and he almost certainly wrote his version of the title role for his fellow actor, Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian of Shakespeares time. In the 400 years since its inception, the role has been performed by highly acclaimed actors in each successive century. Three different early versions of the play are extant, the First Quarto, the Second Quarto, each version includes lines and entire scenes missing from the others. The plays structure and depth of characterisation have inspired much critical scrutiny, the protagonist of Hamlet is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, son of the recently deceased King Hamlet, and nephew of King Claudius, his fathers brother and successor. Claudius hastily married King Hamlets widow, Gertrude, Hamlets mother, Denmark has a long-standing feud with neighboring Norway, which culminated when King Hamlet slew King Fortinbras of Norway in a battle years ago. Although Denmark defeated Norway, and the Norwegian throne fell to King Fortinbrass infirm brother, Denmark fears that an invasion led by the dead Norwegian kings son, Prince Fortinbras, is imminent. On a cold night on the ramparts of Elsinore, the Danish royal castle and they vow to tell Prince Hamlet what they have witnessed. As the court gathers the next day, while King Claudius and Queen Gertrude discuss affairs of state with their elderly adviser Polonius, after the court exits, Hamlet despairs of his fathers death and his mothers hasty remarriage. Learning of the ghost from Horatio, Hamlet resolves to see it himself, as Poloniuss son Laertes prepares to depart for a visit to France, Polonius gives him contradictory advice that culminates in the ironic maxim to thine own self be true. Poloniuss daughter, Ophelia, admits her interest in Hamlet, and that night on the rampart, the ghost appears to Hamlet, telling the prince that he was murdered by Claudius and demanding that Hamlet avenge him. Hamlet agrees and the ghost vanishes, the prince confides to Horatio and the sentries that from now on he plans to put an antic disposition on and forces them to swear to keep his plans for revenge secret. Privately, however, he remains uncertain of the ghosts reliability, soon thereafter, Ophelia rushes to her father, telling him that Hamlet arrived at her door the prior night half-undressed and behaving crazily. Polonius blames love for Hamlets madness and resolves to inform Claudius, as he enters to do so, the king and queen finish welcoming Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two student acquaintances of Hamlet, to Elsinore. The royal couple has requested that the students investigate the cause of Hamlets mood, additional news requires that Polonius wait to be heard, messengers from Norway inform Claudius that the King of Norway has rebuked Prince Fortinbras for attempting to re-fight his fathers battles. The forces that Fortinbras conscripted to march against Denmark will instead be sent against Poland, Polonius tells Claudius and Gertrude his theory regarding Hamlets behavior, and speaks to Hamlet in a hall of the castle to try to uncover more information. Hamlet feigns madness but subtly insults Polonius all the while, when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive, Hamlet greets his friends warmly, but quickly discerns that they are spies
11.
Cheers
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Cheers is an American sitcom that ran on NBC from September 30,1982 to May 20,1993, with a total of 270 half-hour episodes spanning over eleven seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association with Paramount Network Television, the show was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles. The show is set in a bar named Cheers in Boston, Massachusetts, where a group of locals meet to drink, relax, the shows main theme song, written and performed by Gary Portnoy lent its famous refrain Where Everybody Knows Your Name as the shows tagline. After premiering on September 30,1982, it was canceled during its first season when it ranked almost last in ratings for its premiere. Cheers, however, eventually became a highly rated show in the United States, earning a top-ten rating during eight of its eleven seasons. The show spent most of its run on NBCs Thursday night Must See TV lineup and its widely watched series finale was broadcast on May 20,1993, and the shows 270 episodes have been successfully syndicated worldwide. Nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series for all eleven of its seasons on the air, the character Frasier Crane was featured in his eponymous spin-off show, which aired until 2004 and included guest appearances by virtually all of the major and minor Cheers characters. During its run, Cheers became one of the most popular series of all time and has received critical acclaim. In 1997, the episodes Thanksgiving Orphans and Home Is the Sailor, aired originally in 1987, were respectively ranked No.7, in 2002, Cheers was ranked No.18 on TV Guides 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it as the eighth best written TV series, before the Cheers pilot Give Me a Ring Sometime was completed and aired in 1982, the series originally consisted of four employees in the first script. Neither Norm Peterson nor Cliff Clavin, regular customers of Cheers, were featured, in later years, Woody Boyd replaces Coach, who dies off-screen in season four to account for actor Nicholas Colasantos death. Frasier Crane starts as a character and becomes a permanent character. In season six, they added a new character Rebecca Howe, Lilith Sternin starts as a one-time character in an episode of season four, Second Time Around. After she appears in two episodes in five, she becomes a recurring character, and later featured as a permanent one for season ten. Ted Danson portrays Sam Malone, a bartender and an owner of Cheers, before the series began, he was a baseball relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox nicknamed Mayday Malone until he became an alcoholic, harming his career. He has an on-again, off-again relationship with Diane Chambers, his class opposite, during their off-times, Sam has flings with many not-so-bright sexy women, yet fails to pursue a meaningful relationship and fails to seduce other women, such as intellectuals. After Diane is written out of the series, he tries to pursue Rebecca Howe, at the end of the series, he is still unmarried and recovering from sexual addiction with a help of Dr. Robert Suttons group meetings, advised by Frasier. Shelley Long portrays Diane Chambers, an academic, sophisticated graduate student, in the pilot Diane is abandoned by her fiancé, leaving her without a job, a man, or money
12.
Maryland
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The states largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, the state is named after Henrietta Maria of France, the wife of Charles I of England. George Calvert was the first Lord of Baltimore and the first English proprietor of the colonial grant. Maryland was the state to ratify the United States Constitution. Maryland is one of the smallest U. S. states in terms of area, as well as one of the most densely populated, Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles and is comparable in overall area with Belgium. It is the 42nd largest and 9th smallest state and is closest in size to the state of Hawaii, the next largest state, its neighbor West Virginia, is almost twice the size of Maryland. Maryland possesses a variety of topography within its borders, contributing to its nickname America in Miniature. The mid-portion of this border is interrupted by Washington, D. C. which sits on land that was part of Montgomery and Prince Georges counties and including the town of Georgetown. This land was ceded to the United States Federal Government in 1790 to form the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. Close to the town of Hancock, in western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state. This geographical curiosity makes Maryland the narrowest state, bordered by the Mason–Dixon line to the north, portions of Maryland are included in various official and unofficial geographic regions. Much of the Baltimore–Washington corridor lies just south of the Piedmont in the Coastal Plain, earthquakes in Maryland are infrequent and small due to the states distance from seismic/earthquake zones. The M5.8 Virginia earthquake in 2011 was felt moderately throughout Maryland, buildings in the state are not well-designed for earthquakes and can suffer damage easily. The lack of any glacial history accounts for the scarcity of Marylands natural lakes, laurel Oxbow Lake is an over one-hundred-year-old 55-acre natural lake two miles north of Maryland City and adjacent to Russett. Chews Lake is a natural lake two miles south-southeast of Upper Marlboro. There are numerous lakes, the largest of them being the Deep Creek Lake. Maryland has shale formations containing natural gas, where fracking is theoretically possible, as is typical of states on the East Coast, Marylands plant life is abundant and healthy. Middle Atlantic coastal forests, typical of the southeastern Atlantic coastal plain, grow around Chesapeake Bay, moving west, a mixture of Northeastern coastal forests and Southeastern mixed forests cover the central part of the state
