1.
Bedford Falls (It's a Wonderful Life)
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Bedford Falls is the fictional town in which the American Christmas drama Its a Wonderful Life and Philip Van Doren Sterns 1943 short story The Greatest Gift are set. In 1945, Frank Capra visited Seneca Falls in the state of New York to look for inspiration for the town of Bedford Falls, the locations are both close to Buffalo, Rochester, and Elmira. In Seneca Falls there was a businessman named Norman J. Gould, who owned Gould Pumps. He drove his car license number NJG1. Norman Gould also had control over politics and economics of the area. The name Bedford Falls derives from both Seneca Falls and a hamlet in the Westchester County of New York called Bedford Hills, Genesee Street is the main road through Bedford Falls. At the north end is a courthouse with a street heading east down Bridge Street, down the center of the street there is a tree-lined parkway with 15 oak trees. The parkway is split off into three as two roads cut through Genesee Street, one is Jefferson Avenue which goes to the high school and Potters Field, and the other is Washington Avenue. At the south side of the town a road heads east to residential streets New England, another road goes southwest to the railway station. The Bailey Building and Loan is at the corner of Genesee Street, New England Street holds eight residential houses. One house belongs to Peter and Ma Bailey and is where George, Sycamore Avenue holds six properties, one of them was where Mary grew up. Another house down the street is 320 Sycamore, known as the Old Granville House and it was an abandoned house that became known to youngsters as the place to throw rocks at, and if you smashed a window you could make a wish. Both George and Mary threw rocks at the house after a school party. George wished for a future of traveling and becoming an architect, Mary wouldnt tell George her wish but later in the film she told him she had wished to marry him and live in the house. The wish actually came true when in 1932, on the night of George and Marys wedding, through the years they redecorated the house, raised four children there and lived the rest of their life in the house. Bridge Street is at the side of the town and connects to Genesee Street from the east next to the courthouse. Many other residents live up Bridge Street including the man who owns the tree George drives his car into when drunk and it is also the location of Giuseppe Martinis bar called Martinis, and behind the bar is the towns canal. The toll bridge on the outskirts of the town is the location where George thinks about committing suicide but is saved by Clarence Odbody
2.
Air Raid Precautions in the United Kingdom
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Air Raid Precautions was an organisation in the United Kingdom set up in 1937 dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. It included the Raid Wardens Service that was to report on bombing incidents, every local council was responsible for organising ARP wardens, messengers, ambulance drivers, rescue parties and liaison with police and fire brigades. From 1 September 1939, ARP Wardens enforced the blackout, with increased enemy bombing during the Blitz, the ARP services were central in reporting and dealing with bombing incidents. They managed the air raid sirens and ensured people were directed to shelters, from 1941 the ARP officially changed its title to Civil Defence Service to reflect the wider range of roles it then encompassed. During the war almost 7,000 Civil Defence workers were killed, in all some 1.4 million men and women served as ARP wardens during World War Two. The Civil Defence Service was stood down after the end of the war in Europe on 2 May 1945, in 1924 the Committee of Imperial Defence set up a subcommittee to look at what measure could be taken to protect the civil population from aerial attack. The new committee, known as Air Raid Precautions was headed by the then Lord Privy Seal, for the next ten years this committee looked into issues of new aerial weapons development and the possible impact on civilians. The use of gas attacks in the First World War played heavy on the decisions, every single person would need a gas mask which meant nearly 40 million would be required. Together with ideas around the building of air raid shelters, evacuations of people, with the rise of Hitler during the 1930s, a further Home Office committee, the Air Raid Precautions Department was created. From 1 April 1935 it was this department that was direct the British response to air defence. In April 1937 the Air Raid Wardens Service was created which aimed to seek some 800,000 volunteers, on 1 January 1938, the Air Raid Precautions Act came into force. This compelled all local authorities to begin creating their own ARP services, with the threat of war imminent in 1939, the Home Office issued dozens of leaflets advising people on how to protect themselves from the inevitable air war to follow. And to call in other services as required, central headquarters that received information from wardens and messengers and managed the delivery of the relevant services needed to deal with each incident. Often Boy Scouts or Boys Brigade members aged between 14 and 18 as messengers or runners would take messages from wardens and carry them to either the sector post or the Control Centre. Bombing would sometimes cut telephone lines and messengers performed an important role is giving the ARP services a fuller picture of events, trained to give first response first aid to those injured in bombing incidents. Casualties from bombing were taken to First Aid Posts or hospital by volunteer drivers, there were also stretcher parties that carried the injured to posts. The rescue services were involved in getting the dead and injured out of bombed premises, specialists to deal with and clean up incidents involving chemical and gas weapons. Following the destruction caused by the bombing of the City of London in late December 1940, all buildings in certain areas had to have a 24-hour watch kept
3.
Mary Hatch
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Mary Hatch Bailey is a fictional character in Frank Capras 1946 film Its a Wonderful Life. She is the high school sweetheart and later wife of protagonist George Bailey, Mary is played by Donna Reed as an adult and Jean Gale as a child. She is loosely based on Mary Pratt, a character in Philip Van Doren Sterns The Greatest Gift, Mary Hatch is one of the most famous female characters in movie history. Mary Hatch is the sister of Marty Hatch, a friend of George. They become reacquainted as adults at a high school dance. They are interrupted by news that Georges father has suffered a stroke, Mary has been away at college, and worked for a time in New York before returning to Bedford Falls. George, despite knowing that his friend, Sam Wainwright, is courting Mary, George insists he that he has no intention of getting married, but realizes that he loves Mary. It is very clear that Georges mother is right that Mary loves him, George and Mary are married, but their planned honeymoon is interrupted by a run on the banks, which affects the Building and Loan. Potters newly acquired bank has called in its loan, and depositors are clamoring to withdraw their funds, potter, a stockholder in the Building and Loan, threatens to shut it down if it closes early. Mary offers the money saved for their honeymoon to keep the Building and that evening, Georges friends Bert the cop and the cab driver Ernie escort him to his new home, the Old Granville house, a derelict mansion Mary had wished for years before. Over time they work on repairing the house, during World War II George is exempt from the draft because of partial deafness, but serves as an Air-Raid Warden. Mary becomes a volunteer for the war effort, such as running the local branch of the USO, when Georges uncle misplaces an $8,000 deposit, George faces bankruptcy and a charge of embezzlement. Angry and depressed, George contemplates suicide and his guardian angel then shows George what life would have been like had he never been born. Among other changes in this existence, Mary is a spinster librarian. George returns home to find that Mary has rallied their friends, Donna Reed would later state that Its a Wonderful Life was the favorite film of her career. The Internet Movie Database, Mary Hatch Biography
4.
Frank Capra
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Frank Russell Capra was an Italian-American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Italy and raised in Los Angeles from the age of five, during World War II, Capra served in the U. S. Army Signal Corps and produced propaganda films, such as the Why We Fight series. After World War II, Capras career declined as his films such as Its a Wonderful Life. In succeeding decades, however, these films have been favorably reassessed, outside of directing, Capra was active in the film industry, engaging in various political and social issues. He served as President of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, worked alongside the Screenwriters Guild, Capra was born Francesco Rosario Capra in Bisacquino, Sicily, a village near Palermo. He was the youngest of seven children of Salvatore Capra, a grower. The name Capra, notes Capras biographer Joseph McBride, represents his familys closeness to the land, and means goat. For Capra, the journey, which took 13 days, remained in his mind for the rest of his life as one of his worst experiences, very few people have trunks or anything that takes up space. They have just what they can carry in their hands or in a bag, theres no ventilation, and it stinks like hell. Its the most degrading place you could ever be, Capra remembers the ships arrival in New York Harbor, where he saw a statue of a great lady, taller than a church steeple, holding a torch above the land we were about to enter. He recalls his fathers exclamation at the sight, Ciccio, look, thats the greatest light since the star of Bethlehem. The family settled in Los Angeless East Side which Capra described in his autobiography as an Italian ghetto, Capras father worked as a fruit picker and young Capra sold newspapers after school for 10 years, until he graduated from high school. Instead of working after graduating, as his parents wanted, he enrolled in college and he studied chemical engineering and graduated in the spring of 1918. Capra later wrote that his education had changed his whole viewpoint on life from the viewpoint of an alley rat to the viewpoint of a cultured person. Soon after graduating college, Capra was commissioned in the US Army as a second lieutenant, in the Army, he taught mathematics to artillerymen at Fort Point, San Francisco. His father died during the war in an accident, in the Army, Capra contracted Spanish flu and was medically discharged to return home to live with his mother. He became a naturalized U. S. citizen in 1920, living at home with his siblings and mother, Capra was the only family member with a college education, yet he was the only one who remained chronically unemployed. After recovering at home, Capra moved out and spent the few years living in flophouses in San Francisco and hopping freight trains
5.
It's a Wonderful Life
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The film is now among the most popular in American cinema and because of numerous television showings in the 1980s has become traditional viewing during the Christmas season. Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched and how different life in his community of Bedford Falls would be had he never been born. Despite initially performing poorly financially because of production costs and stiff competition at the time of its release. Theatrically, the films break-even point was $6.3 million, approximately twice the production cost, an appraisal in 2006 reported, Although it was not the complete box office failure that today everyone believes. Its a Wonderful Life is one of the most acclaimed films ever made, Capra revealed that the film was his personal favorite among those he directed, adding that he screened it for his family every Christmas season. On Christmas Eve 1945, in Bedford Falls, New York, prayers for him reach Heaven, where Clarence Odbody, Angel 2nd Class, is assigned to save George in order to earn his angel wings. To prepare, Clarence is shown flashbacks of Georges life, the first is in 1919, when 12-year-old George saves his younger brother Harry, who falls through the ice on a frozen pond, from drowning, George loses his hearing in one ear as a result. On Harrys graduation night in 1928, George talks to Mary Hatch and they are interrupted by news of his fathers death. George postpones his plans in order to sort out the family business, Bailey Brothers Building and Loan, a longtime competitor to Henry F. Potter, the local banker. Potter wishes to dissolve the Building and Loan to take over its business, George convinces the board of directors to vote against Potter. They agree, on condition that George runs the business, along with his absent-minded uncle Billy, on their way to their honeymoon, they witness a run on the bank and use their honeymoon savings to lend financial support at the Building and Loan until the bank reopens. Potter, frustrated at losing control of the market, attempts to lure George into becoming his assistant, George is momentarily tempted. During World War II, George is ineligible for service because of his bad ear, Harry becomes a Navy pilot and shoots down a kamikaze plane that would have bombed an amphibious transport, he is awarded the Medal of Honor. On Christmas Eve morning 1945, the town prepares a welcome for Harry. Uncle Billy goes to Potters bank to deposit $8,000 for the Building, upon seeing the money, Potter realizes the potential scandal could lead to the Building and Loans downfall. Potter hides the money, knowing its loss will cause severe problems for the Building. When Uncle Billy cannot find the money, he and George frantically search for it, when the bank examiner arrives to review their records, George berates his uncle for endangering the Building and Loan, goes home and takes out his frustration on his family. He apologizes to his wife and children, then leaves, George desperately appeals to Potter for a loan
6.
Guardian angel
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A guardian angel is an angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group, kingdom, or country. Belief in guardian angels can be traced throughout all antiquity, the concept of tutelary angels and their hierarchy was extensively developed in Christianity in the 5th century by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. The theology of angels and tutelary spirits has undergone many refinements since the 5th century, belief in both the East and the West is that guardian angels serve to protect whichever person God assigns them to, and present prayer to God on that persons behalf. The belief in guardian angels can be traced throughout all antiquity, pagans such as Menander and Plutarch, the guardian angel concept is present in the books of the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and its development is well marked. These books described Gods angels as his ministers who carried out his behests, in this latter case, the prince of the kingdom of Persia contends with Gabriel. The same verse mentions Michael, one of the chief princes, in Rabbinic literature, the Rabbis expressed the notion that there are indeed guardian angels appointed by Adonai to watch over people. Lailah is an angel of the night in charge of conception, lailah serves as a guardian angel throughout a persons life and at death, leads the soul into the afterlife. According to Leo Trepp, in late Judaism, the belief developed that the people have a heavenly representative, every human being has a guardian angel. Previously the term Malakh, angel, simply meant messenger of God, modern rabbis clarify that people might indeed have guardian angels. In the New Testament the concept of guardian angel may be noted, other examples in the New Testament are the angel who succoured Christ in the garden, and the angel who delivered St. Peter from prison. In Acts 12, 12-15, after Peter had been escorted out of prison by an angel, he went to the home of Mary the mother of John, the servant girl, Rhoda, recognized his voice and ran back to tell the group that Peter was there. However, the replied, It must be his angel. Hebrews 1,14 says, Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them, in this view, the function of the guardian angel is to lead people to the Kingdom of Heaven. In the New Testament Epistle of Jude, Michael is described as an archangel, according to Saint Jerome, the concept of guardian angels is in the mind of the Church. He stated, how great the dignity of the soul, since one has from his birth an angel commissioned to guard it. The first Christian theologian to outline a specific scheme for guardian angels was Honorius of Autun in the 12th century and he said that every soul was assigned a guardian angel the moment it was put into a body. Scholastic theologians augmented and ordered the taxonomy of angelic guardians, in the 15th century, the Feast of the Guardian Angels was added to the official calendar of Catholic holidays. In his 2014 homily for the Feast of Holy Guardian Angels, October 2, Pope Francis told those gathered for daily Mass to be children who pay attention to their “traveling companion. ”“No one journeys alone and no one should think that they are alone
7.
American Film Institute
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The American Film Institute is an American film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the moving picture arts in America. AFI is supported by funding and public membership. The institute is composed of leaders from the film, entertainment, business, a board of trustees chaired by Sir Howard Stringer and a board of directors chaired by Robert A. Daly guide the organization, which is led by President and CEO Bob Gazzale. Prior leaders were founding director George Stevens, Jr. and Jean Picker Firstenberg. <ref>AFI Board of Trustees etc. American Film Institute. October 2014. Retrieved December 24,2014. </ref>Two years later, in 1967, AFI was established, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Ford Foundation. The institute established a program for filmmakers known then as the Center for Advanced Film Studies. The institute moved to its current eight-acre Hollywood campus in 1981, the film training program grew into the AFI Conservatory, an accredited graduate school. AFI educates audiences and recognizes excellence through its awards programs and 10 Top 10 Lists. In 1969, the established the AFI Conservatory for Advanced Film Studies at Greystone. The first class included filmmakers Terrence Malick, Caleb Deschanel and Paul Schrader, mirroring a professional production environment, Fellows collaborate to make more films than any other graduate level program. Admission to AFI Conservatory is highly selective, with a maximum of 140 graduates per year, in 2013, Emmy and Oscar-winning director, producer and screenwriter James L. Brooks joined AFI as Artistic Director of the AFI Conservatory where he provides leadership for the film program. Brooks artistic role at the AFI Conservatory has a legacy that includes Daniel Petrie, Jr. Robert Wise. Award-winning director Bob Mandel served as Dean of the AFI Conservatory for nine years, jan Schuette took over as Dean in 2014. AFI Conservatorys alumni have careers in film, television and on the web and they have been recognized with all of the major industry awards – Academy Award, Emmy Award, guild awards, and the Tony Award. The AFI Catalog, started in 1968, is a web-based filmographic database, early print copies of this catalog may also be found at your local library. Each year the AFI Awards honor the ten outstanding films and ten outstanding television programs, the awards are a non-competitive acknowledgement of excellence. The Awards are announced in December and a luncheon for award honorees takes place the following January. The juries consisted of over 1,500 artists, scholars, critics and historians, with movies selected based on the films popularity over time, historical significance, citizen Kane was voted the greatest American film twice. AFI operates two film festivals, AFI Fest in Los Angeles, and AFI Docs in Silver Spring, Maryland, AFI Fest is the American Film Institutes annual celebration of artistic excellence
8.
James Stewart
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James Maitland Stewart, also known as Jimmy Stewart, was an American actor and military officer who is among the most honored and popular stars in film history. A major Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player, Stewart was known for his distinctive drawl and down-to-earth persona, many of the films he starred in have become enduring classics. Stewart was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition for The Philadelphia Story, in 1999, Stewart was named the third greatest male screen legend of the Golden Age of Hollywood by the American Film Institute, behind Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant. The American Film Institute has also named five of Stewarts films to its list of the 100 best American films ever made. Stewart was born on May 20,1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, the son of Elizabeth Ruth Jackson and Alexander Maitland Stewart, Stewart was mainly of Scottish ancestry and was raised as a Presbyterian. He was descended from veterans of the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the eldest of three children, he was expected to continue his fathers business, which had been in the family for three generations. His mother was an excellent pianist but his father discouraged Stewarts request for lessons, when his father accepted a gift of an accordion from a guest, young Stewart quickly learned to play the instrument, which became a fixture offstage during his acting career. As the family grew, music continued to be an important part of family life, Stewart attended Mercersburg Academy prep school, graduating in 1928. He was active in a variety of activities and he played on the football and track teams, was art editor of the KARUX yearbook, and a member of the choir club, glee club, and John Marshall Literary Society. Over the following two summers, he took a job as an assistant with a professional magician and he made his first appearance onstage at Mercersburg, as Buquet in the play The Wolves. A shy child, Stewart spent much of his time in the basement working on model airplanes, mechanical drawing. However, he abandoned visions of being a pilot when his father insisted that instead of the United States Naval Academy he attend Princeton University, Stewart enrolled at Princeton in 1928 as a member of the class of 1932. His acting and accordion talents at Princeton led him to be invited to the University Players, the company had been organized in 1928 and would run until 1932, with Joshua Logan, Bretaigne Windust and Charles Leatherbee as directors. Stewart performed in bit parts in the Players productions in Cape Cod during the summer of 1932, the troupe had previously included Henry Fonda and Margaret Sullavan. Stewart and Fonda became close friends over the summer of 1932 when they shared an apartment with Joshua Logan, the New Yorker commented, Mr. James Stewarts chauffeur. Comes on for three minutes and walks off to a round of spontaneous applause, the play was a moderate success, but times were hard. Many Broadway theaters had been converted to houses and the Depression was reaching bottom. From 1932 through 1934, Stewart later recalled, Id only worked three months, every play I got into folded
9.
Bobby Anderson (actor)
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Robert James Anderson was an American actor and television producer, most famous for his role as the young George Bailey in Its a Wonderful Life. Bobby Anderson was born in Hollywood, to a showbiz family and he was also the nephew, by marriage, of directors William Beaudine and James Flood, both of whom were married to Andersons mothers sisters. Andersons film career as an actor was brief and he appeared in the TV show Spin and Marty, and he made his last film in 1956. Anderson enlisted in the Navy during the Korean War, serving as a photographer on aircraft carriers, after his time in the Navy, he went on to work behind the scenes in assistant directing, then later production with Disney, Warner Bros. He also worked as a producer and production consultant for films such as Passenger 57, Demolition Man. He died of cancer at age 75 at his home in Palm Springs and he is survived by his wife Victoria, sons John, Robert, and Joseph, daughters Kathleen, Debora, and Heidi, and 11 grandchildren. Robert Anderson at the Internet Movie Database
10.
The Greatest Gift (story)
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The Greatest Gift is a 1943 short story written by Philip Van Doren Stern which became the basis for the film Its a Wonderful Life. It was self-published as a booklet in 1943 and published as a book in 1944, George Pratt, a man who is dissatisfied with his life, contemplates suicide. As he stands on a bridge on Christmas Eve 1943, he is approached by a strange, the man strikes up a conversation, and George tells the man that he wishes he had never been born. The man tells him that his wish has been granted and that he was never born, the man tells George that he should take the bag with him and pretend to be a door-to-door brush salesman if anyone addresses him. George returns to his town, and discovers that no one knows him and his friends have taken different and often worse paths through life due to his absence. His little brother, whom he had saved from death in an ice-skating accident, George finds the woman he knows as his wife married to someone else. He offers her a complimentary upholstery brush, but he is forced to leave the house by her husband and their son pretends to shoot him with a toy cap gun, and shouts, Youre dead. George returns to the bridge and questions the strange man, the man explains that George wanted more when he had already been given the greatest gift of all, the gift of life. George digests the lesson and begs the man to return his life, George returns home and finds everything restored to normal. He hugs his wife and tells her that he thought he had lost her, as he is about to explain, his hand bumps a brush on the sofa behind him. Without turning around, George knows the brush was the one he had presented to her earlier, unable to find a publisher, he sent the 200 copies he had printed as a 21-page booklet to friends as Christmas presents in December 1943. Stern privately published the story in 1945, and it was copyrighted in 1945. The story came to the attention of RKO Pictures producer David Hempstead, Grant became interested in playing the lead role. RKO purchased the rights for $10,000 in April 1944. After several screenwriters worked on adaptations, RKO sold the rights to the story in 1945 to Frank Capras production company for the same $10,000, the story was first published as a book in December 1944, with illustrations by Rafaello Busoni. The special edition pictured was brought back to life in 2009 by Graphic Image Inc, at the suggestion of RKO studio chief Charles Koerner, Frank Capra read The Greatest Gift and immediately saw its film potential. Capra claimed the script was purchased for $50,000.00, the script underwent many revisions throughout pre-production and during filming. Final screenplay credit went to Goodrich, Hackett and Capra, with additional scenes by Jo Swerling, in the film, the main character was played by James Stewart, the stranger was played by Henry Travers and Georges wife was played by Donna Reed
11.
Winter
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Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates, between autumn and spring. Winter is caused by the axis of the Earth in that hemisphere being oriented away from the Sun, different cultures define different dates as the start of winter, and some use a definition based on weather. When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, in many regions, winter is associated with snow and freezing temperatures. The moment of winter solstice is when the elevation with respect to the North or South Pole is at its most negative value, meaning this day will have the shortest day. The English word winter comes from the Proto-Indo-European root wend, relating to water, the tilt of the Earths axis relative to its orbital plane plays a large role in the formation of weather. The Earth is tilted at an angle of 23. 44° to the plane of its orbit, when it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere faces the Sun more directly and thus experiences warmer temperatures than the Northern Hemisphere. Conversely, winter in the Southern Hemisphere occurs when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted more toward the Sun, from the perspective of an observer on the Earth, the winter Sun has a lower maximum altitude in the sky than the summer Sun. During winter in either hemisphere, the altitude of the Sun causes the sunlight to hit that hemisphere at an oblique angle. In regions experiencing winter, the amount of solar radiation is spread out over a larger area. This effect is compounded by the distance that the light must travel through the atmosphere. Compared with these effects, the changes in the distance of the earth from the sun are negligible, the manifestation of the meteorological winter in the northerly snow–prone parallels is highly variable depending on elevation, position versus marine winds and the amount of precipitation. A case in point is Canada, a country associated with tough winters. Winnipeg on the Great Plains at a distance from large bodies of water has a January high of −11.3 °C. In comparison, Vancouver on the coast with an influence from moderating Pacific winds has a January low of 1.4 °C with days well above freezing at 6.9 °C. Both areas are on the 49th parallel north and in the western half of the continent. Winter is often defined by meteorologists to be the three months with the lowest average temperatures. This corresponds to the months of December, January and February in the Northern Hemisphere, the coldest average temperatures of the season are typically experienced in January or February in the Northern Hemisphere and in June, July or August in the Southern Hemisphere. Blizzards often develop and cause many transportation delays, diamond dust, also known as ice needles or ice crystals, forms at temperatures approaching −40 °F due to air with slightly higher moisture from aloft mixing with colder, surface based air
12.
1918 flu pandemic
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The 1918 flu pandemic was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus. Disease had already greatly limited life expectancy in the early 20th century, a considerable spike occurred at the time of the pandemic, specifically the year 1918. Life expectancy in the United States alone dropped by about 12 years, most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill juvenile, elderly, or already weakened patients, in contrast, the 1918 pandemic predominantly killed previously healthy young adults. There are several explanations for the high mortality of the 1918 influenza pandemic. Some research suggests that the variant of the virus had an unusually aggressive nature. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin. It was implicated in the outbreak of encephalitis lethargica in the 1920s, in Spain, a different nickname was adopted, the Naples Soldier, which came from a musical operetta titled La canción del olvido, which premiered in Madrid during the first epidemic wave. Federico Romero, one of the librettists, quipped that the plays most popular musical number, the site of the very first confirmed outbreak was at Camp Funston, within Fort Riley in Kansas, USA at a military training facility preparing American troops for involvement in World War I. The first victim diagnosed with the new strain of flu on Monday, historian Alfred W. Crosby recorded that the flu originated in Kansas and popular writer John Barry echoed Crosby in describing Haskell County, Kansas, as the point of origin. These researchers postulated that a significant precursor virus, harbored in birds, earlier hypotheses of the epidemics origin have varied. Some hypothesized the flu originated in East Asia and he considered several other hypotheses of origin, such as Spain, Kansas, and Brest, as being possible, but not likely. Political scientist Andrew Price-Smith published data from the Austrian archives suggesting the influenza had earlier origins, in fact, it found evidence that the virus had been circulating in the European armies for months and potentially years before the 1918 pandemic. When an infected person sneezes or coughs, more than half a million virus particles can be spread to those close by, some speculate the soldiers immune systems were weakened by malnourishment, as well as the stresses of combat and chemical attacks, increasing their susceptibility. A large factor in the occurrence of this flu was increased travel. Modern transportation systems made it easier for soldiers, sailors, in the United States, the disease was first observed in Haskell County, Kansas, in January 1918, prompting local doctor Loring Miner to warn the U. S. On 4 March 1918, company cook Albert Gitchell reported sick at Fort Riley, by noon on 11 March 1918, over 100 soldiers were in the hospital. Within days,522 men at the camp had reported sick, by 11 March 1918, the virus had reached Queens, New York. Failure to take measures in March/April was later criticised
13.
Mr. Potter
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Henry F. Potter is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1946 Frank Capra film Its a Wonderful Life. He occupies slot #6 on the American Film Institutes list of the 50 Greatest Villains in American film history, Mr. Potter was portrayed by veteran actor Lionel Barrymore. Both Dan Duryea and Charles Bickford were considered for the role of Potter, in 1931 Lionel Barrymore won an Academy Award for Best Actor in A Free Soul but is probably best known for his role as Henry Potter. A wheelchair-user due to a hip injury and severe arthritis, Barrymore played Potter as confined to a due to polio. His wheelchair is pushed in all scenes by a wordless assistant and his performance is listed in the sixth slot on the American Film Institute’s list of the 50 Greatest Villains in the history of American cinema. Richard Corliss of Time magazine described Barrymores portrayal as, scrooge, the Grinch and Simon Legree in one craggy, crabby package. This. is a trick used by communists. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening drew inspiration from Mr. Potter, as well as his school teacher Mr. Bailey. Barrymores Mr. Potter inspired the voice of mad scientist Simon Bar Sinister in the Underdog cartoon series, IMDB listing for Its a Wonderful Life Molitor, Doug. Should Run Old Man Potter, Funny or Die, December 8,2011
14.
Graduation
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Graduation is getting a diploma or academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated with it, in which students become graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as graduands, the date of graduation is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony itself is also called commencement, convocation or invocation, in the United States and Canada, the term is additionally increasingly being used to refer to the advancement from a primary or secondary school level. When ceremonies are associated, they include a procession of the academic staff and candidates. At the college and university level the faculty will usually wear academic dress at the ceremonies, as will the trustees. After degree completion, graduates can be referred to by their graduating year, in some places, graduation parties to celebrate graduation from school, college or university are popular. In a recent 2014 nationwide survey in the United States, $985 was the amount spent on graduation parties. When a student graduates without attending the ceremony, then it is called graduation in absentia, the procedures and traditions surrounding academic graduation ceremonies differ around the world. In a graduation ceremony the students dress up in special graduation caps, Graduation traditions are varied across universities observing different cultures. Most universities across Sweden are research-oriented and may present its students with bachelors, masters, universities across the country are based through the Higher Education Ordinance. A large number of candidates continue their education onto secondary and upper secondary education, most of the national programs provide Swedish, English, Math and Science among majors. In Zimbabwe, graduation ceremonies are associated with the guest of honor who most of is the ceremonial head of the institution. At state universities the President of Zimbabwe officiates as chancellor and guest of honor, every graduate of a state university in Zimbabwe can claim to have shaken the Presidents hand. The person most associated with graduation at those institutions is President Robert Gabriel Mugabe, at other State Institutions of higher learning the vice Presidents or any other Senior Government officials may preside. Ceremonies for graduating students date from the first universities in Europe in the 12th century, at that time Latin was the language of scholarship. A universitas was a guild of masters with licence to teach, degree and graduate come from gradus, meaning step. The first step was admission to a bachelors degree, the second step was the masters step, giving the graduate admission to the universitas and license to teach. The typical dress for graduation are gowns and hoods or hats adapted from the dress of university staff in the Middle Ages
15.
Secondary school
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A secondary school is both an organization that delivers level 2 junior secondary education or level 3 secondary education phases of the ISCED scale, and the building where this takes place. Level 2 junior secondary education is considered to be the second, Secondary schools typically follow on from primary schools and lead into vocational and tertiary education. Attendance is compulsory in most countries for students between the ages 11 and 16, the systems and terminology remain unique to each country. School building design does not happen in isolation, schools need to accommodate students, staff, storage, mechanical and electrical systems, storage, support staff, ancillary staff and administration. The number of rooms required can be determined from the roll of the school. A general classroom for 30 students needs to be 55m2, or more generously 62m2, a general art room for 30 students needs to be 83m2, but 104 m2 for 3D textile work. A drama studio or a specialist science laboratory for 30 needs to be 90 m2, examples are given on how this can be configured for a 1,200 place secondary. The building providing the education has to fulfil the needs of, The students, the teachers, the support staff, the adminstrators. It has to should meet health requirements, minimal functional requirements- such as classrooms, toilets and showers, electricity, textbooks, Government accountants having read the advice then publish minimum guidelines on schools. These enable environmental modelling and establish building costs. Future plans are audited to ensure that standards are not exceeded. The UK government published this downwardly revised space formula in 2014 and it said the floor area should be 1050m² +6. 3m²/pupil place for 11- to 16-year-olds + 7m²/pupil place for post-16s. The external finishes were to be downgraded to meet a build cost of £1113/m², a secondary school, locally may be called high school, junior high school, senior high school. Sweden, gymnasium Switzerland, gymnasium, secondary school, collège or lycée Taiwan, Junior High School, Senior High School, Vocational High School, Military School, in Nigeria, secondary school starts from JSS1 until SSS3. Most students start at the age of 10 or 11 and finish at 16 or 17, Students are required to sit for the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination. To progress to university students must obtain at least a credit in Maths, English, in Somalia, secondary school starts from 9th grade until 12th. Students start it when they are around 14 to 15 years of age, Students are required to study Somali and Arabic, with the option of either English or Italian depending on the type of school. Religion, chemistry, physics, biology, physical education, textile, art, design, when secondary school has been completed, students are sent to national training camp before going to either college, or military training. In South Africa, high school begins at grade 8, Students study for five years, at the end of which they write a Matriculation examination
16.
Board of directors
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A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a corporation or organization, which can include a non-profit organization or a government agency. A board of directors activities are determined by the powers, duties and responsibilities conferred on it by an authority outside itself and these matters are typically detailed in regulations or in the organizations constitution and bylaws. These authorities may specify the number of members of the board, how they are to be chosen, and how often they are to meet. In an organization with voting members, the board is accountable to, and might be subordinate to, the full membership. In a stock corporation, non-executive directors are voted for by the shareholders, the board of directors appoints the chief executive officer of the corporation and sets out the overall strategic direction. In corporations with dispersed ownership, the identification and nomination of directors are often done by the board itself, in a non-stock corporation with no general voting membership, the board is the supreme governing body of the institution, its members are sometimes chosen by the board itself. Other names include Board of directors and advisors, board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees and it may also be called the executive board and is often simply referred to as the board. For companies with publicly trading stock, these responsibilities are typically much more rigorous, typically, the board chooses one of its members to be the chairman, who holds whatever title is specified in the bylaws or articles of association. However, in organizations, the members elect the president of the organization. The directors of an organization are the persons who are members of its board, several specific terms categorize directors by the presence or absence of their other relationships to the organization. An inside director is a director who is also an employee, officer, chief executive, major shareholder, inside directors represent the interests of the entitys stakeholders, and often have special knowledge of its inner workings, its financial or market position, and so on. Executive directors often have an area of responsibility in the organization, such as finance, marketing, human resources. An outside director is a member of the board who is not otherwise employed by or engaged with the organization, a typical example is a director who is president of a firm in a different industry. Outside directors are not employees of the company or affiliated with it in any other way, outside directors bring outside experience and perspectives to the board. One of the arguments for having outside directors is that they can keep a eye on the inside directors. Outside directors are unlikely to tolerate insider dealing between insider directors, as outside directors do not benefit from the company or organization, outside directors are often useful in handling disputes between inside directors, or between shareholders and the board. They are thought to be advantageous because they can be objective, director - a person appointed to serve on the board of an organization, such as an institution or business. This practice results in an interlocking directorate, where a small number of individuals have significant influence over a large number of important entities
17.
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
18.
Bermuda
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Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 1,070 km east-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina,1,236 km south of Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Bermuda is an associate member of Caribbean Community. The first person known to have reached Bermuda was the Spanish sea captain Juan de Bermúdez in 1503 and he claimed the islands for the Spanish Empire. Bermúdez never landed on the islands, but made two visits to the archipelago, of which he created a recognisable map, shipwrecked Portuguese mariners are now thought to have been responsible for the 1543 inscription on Portuguese Rock. Subsequent Spanish or other European parties are believed to have released pigs there, the island was administered as an extension of Virginia by the Company until 1614. Its spin-off, the Somers Isles Company, took over in 1615, at that time, the companys charter was revoked, and the English Crown took over administration. The islands became a British colony following the 1707 unification of the parliaments of Scotland and England, after 1949, when Newfoundland became part of Canada, Bermuda became the oldest remaining British Overseas Territory. Since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, it is the most populous Territory and its first capital, St. Georges, was established in 1612 and is the oldest continuously inhabited English town in the New World. Bermudas economy is based on insurance and reinsurance, and tourism. Bermuda had one of the worlds highest GDP per capita for most of the 20th century, recently, its economic status has been affected by the global recession. The island is in the belt and prone to severe weather. However, it is protected from the full force of a hurricane by the coral reef that surrounds the island. It is 898 nautical miles northeast of Miami, Florida, and 667 nautical miles from Cape Sable Island, in Nova Scotia, Canada. The islands lie due east of Fripp Island, South Carolina, west-northwest of Cape Verde, southeast of New York City, New York, north-northwest of Brazil and north of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The archipelago is formed by points on the rim of the caldera of a submarine volcano that forms a seamount. The volcano is one part of a range that was formed as part of the process that formed the floor of the Atlantic. It has 103 km of coastline, the two incorporated municipalities in Bermuda are the City of Hamilton and the Town of St George. Bermuda is divided into nine parishes, which have some localities called villages, such as Flatts Village, although usually referred to in the singular, the territory consists of 181 islands, with a total area of 53.3 square kilometres
19.
Bank run
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When they transfer funds to another institution it may be characterised as a capital flight. As a bank run progresses, it generates its own momentum, as more people withdraw cash and this can destabilize the bank to the point where it runs out of cash and thus faces sudden bankruptcy. A systemic banking crisis is one where all or almost all of the capital in a country is wiped out. The resulting chain of bankruptcies can cause an economic recession as domestic businesses. According to former U. S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, the Great Depression was caused by the Federal Reserve System, and much of the economic damage was caused directly by bank runs. The cost of cleaning up a banking crisis can be huge, with fiscal costs averaging 13% of GDP. Several techniques have been used to try to prevent bank runs or mitigate their effects. S, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and after a run has started, a temporary suspension of withdrawals. These techniques do not always work, for example, even with deposit insurance, Bank runs first appeared as part of cycles of credit expansion and its subsequent contraction. In the 16th century onwards, English goldsmiths issuing promissory notes suffered severe failures due to bad harvests, plummeting parts of the country into famine and unrest. Other examples are the Dutch Tulip manias, the British South Sea Bubble, the French Mississippi Company, the post-Napoleonic depression, Bank runs have also been used to blackmail individuals or governments. In 1832, for example, the British government under the Duke of Wellington overturned a majority government on the orders of the king, William IV, to prevent reform. Wellesleys actions angered reformers, and they threatened a run on the banks under the rallying cry Stop the Duke, many of the recessions in the United States were caused by banking panics. The Great Depression contained several banking crises consisting of runs on multiple banks from 1929 to 1933, in December, New York City experienced massive bank runs that were contained to the many branches of a single bank. Philadelphia was hit a week later by bank runs that affected several banks, but were contained by quick action by the leading city banks. Withdrawals became worse after financial conglomerates in New York and Los Angeles failed in prominently-covered scandals, much of the US Depressions economic damage was caused directly by bank runs, though Canada had no bank runs during this same era due to different banking regulations. Bank runs continued to plague the United States for the several years. City-wide runs hit Boston, Chicago, Toledo, and St. Louis, among others. Institutions put into place during the Depression have prevented runs on U. S. commercial banks since the 1930s, even under such as the U. S. savings
20.
Africa
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Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earths total surface area and 20.4 % of its land area. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the human population. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos and it contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states, nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. Africas population is the youngest amongst all the continents, the age in 2012 was 19.7. Algeria is Africas largest country by area, and Nigeria by population, afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas, it is the continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Africa hosts a diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countries colonized most of Africa, Africa also varies greatly with regard to environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. However, most present states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century, afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of Africa, which in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the Mediterranean. This name seems to have referred to a native Libyan tribe. The name is connected with Hebrew or Phoenician ʿafar dust. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province of Africa Proconsularis, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya. The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote a land, the later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while Asia was used to refer to Anatolia, as Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge. 25,4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya, isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2. Suggests Africa comes from the Latin aprica, meaning sunny, massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning to turn toward the opening of the Ka. The Ka is the double of every person and the opening of the Ka refers to a womb or birthplace
21.
Silver Star
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The Silver Star, officially the Silver Star Medal, is the United States militarys third-highest decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States. The Silver Star is the award to the Citation Star which was established by an Act of Congress on July 9,1918 during World War I. On July 19,1932, the Secretary of War approved the conversion of the Citation Star to the Silver Star Medal with the original Citation Star incorporated into the center of the medal. Authorization for the Silver Star Medal was placed into law by an Act of Congress for the U. S. Navy on August 7,1942, the U. S. Army and Air Force award the medal as the Silver Star. The U. S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard continue to award the medal as the Silver Star Medal, however, during the Vietnam War, the last conflict to produce U. S. The pendant is suspended from a shaped metal loop with rounded corners. The reverse has the inscription FOR GALLANTRY IN ACTION, the Department of Defense does not keep extensive records the Silver Star. Independent groups estimate that between 100,000 and 150,000 Silver Stars have been awarded since the decoration was established. Colonel David Hackworth who was awarded ten Silver Stars while serving in the Army during the Korean War, three Army nurses who served in World War I were cited with Citation Stars for their service in July 1918. In 2007, it was discovered that they had never been awarded their Citation Stars, an unknown number of servicewomen received the award in World War II. Later that same year, Corporal Magdalena Leones, a Filipino American, notable recipients include, List of Australian Silver Star recipients Silver Star database at MilitaryTimes. com Awards and Decorations Air Force Personnel Center
22.
Normandy landings
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The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday,6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. The largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, planning for the operation began in 1943. Adolf Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces, the amphibious landings were preceded by extensive aerial and naval bombardment and an airborne assault—the landing of 24,000 American, British, and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight. Allied infantry and armoured divisions began landing on the coast of France at 06,30, the target 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast was divided into five sectors, Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their positions, particularly at Utah. Casualties were heaviest at Omaha, with its high cliffs, at Gold, Juno, and Sword, several fortified towns were cleared in house-to-house fighting, and two major gun emplacements at Gold were disabled, using specialised tanks. The Allies failed to any of their goals on the first day. Carentan, St. Lô, and Bayeux remained in German hands, and Caen, German casualties on D-Day have been estimated at 4,000 to 9,000 men. Allied casualties were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead, museums, memorials, and war cemeteries in the area now host many visitors each year. Between 27 May and 4 June 1940, over 338,000 troops of the British Expeditionary Force, after the German Army invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin began pressing his allies for the creation of a second front in western Europe. In late May 1942 the Soviet Union and the United States made a joint announcement that a. full understanding was reached with regard to the urgent tasks of creating a front in Europe in 1942. Instead of a return to France, the Western Allies staged offensives in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations. By mid-1943 the campaign in North Africa had been won, the Allies then launched the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, and subsequently invaded Italy in September the same year. By then, Soviet forces were on the offensive and had won a victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. The decision to undertake a cross-channel invasion within the year was taken at the Trident Conference in Washington in May 1943. Initial planning was constrained by the number of landing craft, most of which were already committed in the Mediterranean. At the Tehran Conference in November 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill promised Stalin that they would open the second front in May 1944. Four sites were considered for the landings, Brittany, the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy, as Brittany and Cotentin are peninsulas, it would have been possible for the Germans to cut off the Allied advance at a relatively narrow isthmus, so these sites were rejected
23.
Ludendorff Bridge
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At the end of Operation Lumberjack, the troops of the American 1st Army approached Remagen and were surprised to find that the bridge was still standing. Its capture enabled the U. S. Army to establish a bridgehead on the side of the Rhine. After the U. S. forces captured the bridge, German forces tried to destroy it multiple times until it collapsed on March 17,1945, ten days after it was captured, killing 28 U. S. Army Engineers. While it stood, the bridge enabled the U. S. Army to deploy 25,000 troops, six Army divisions, with tanks, artillery pieces and trucks. The towers on the west bank were converted into a museum, Remagen is located close to and south of the city of Bonn. The town of Remagen had been founded by the Romans about 2,000 years earlier, the town had been destroyed multiple times and rebuilt each time. Under the Schlieffen Plan, a bridge was planned to be there in 1912, as well as bridges in Engers. German General Erich Ludendorff was a key advocate for building this bridge during World War I and it was designed to connect the Right Rhine Railway, the Left Rhine Railway and the Ahr Valley Railway and carry troops and supplies to the Western Front. It was designed by Karl Wiener and it was constructed between 1916 and 1919, using Russian prisoners of war as labor, and carried two railway lines and two pedestrian catwalks on either side. Work on the pillars and arches was done by leading construction companies Grün & Bilfinger with the steel bridge built by MAN-Werk Gustavsburg. The railway bridge had three spans, two on either side 85 metres long and an arch span of 156 metres. It had dual tracks that could be covered with planks to allow vehicular traffic, the steel section was 325 metres long, and it had an overall length of 398 metres. On the eastern bank the railway passed through Erpeler Ley, a rising hill over 500 feet high. The tunnel was 383 metres long, the arch at its highest measured 28.5 metres above the water. It was normally about 48 feet above the Rhine, the 4,640 tonnes structure cost about 2.1 million marks when it was built during World War I. The towers were designed with fighting loopholes for troops, from the flat roof of the towers troops had a good view of the valley. To protect the bridge, both a unit and a military police unit were assigned to the site. The designers had also built cavities into the piers where demolition charges could be placed
24.
Medal of Honor
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The medal is normally awarded by the President of the United States in the name of the U. S. Congress. There are three versions of the medal, one for the Army, one for the Navy, personnel of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard receive the Navy version. U. S. awards including the Medal of Honor do not have titles and while there is no official abbreviation. The Medal of Honor is the oldest continuously issued combat decoration of the United States armed forces, because the medal is presented in the name of Congress, it is often referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor. However, the name is Medal of Honor, which began with the U. S. Armys version. Within United States Code the medal is referred to as the Medal of Honor, in 1990, Congress designated March 25 annually as National Medal of Honor Day. The capture saved the fort of West Point from the British Army, although the Badge of Military Merit fell into disuse after the American Revolutionary War, the concept of a military award for individual gallantry by members of the U. S. 539 Certificates were approved for this period and this medal was later replaced by the Army Distinguished Service Medal which was established on January 2,1918. Those Army members who held the Distinguished Service Medal in place of the Certificate of Merit could apply for the Army Distinguished Service Cross effective March 5,1934. There were no awards or medals at the beginning of the Civil War except for the Certificate of Merit which was awarded for the Mexican-American War. Scott however, was strictly against medals being awarded which was the European tradition, after Scott retired in October 1861, the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, adopted the idea of a decoration to recognize and honor distinguished naval service. Senator James W. Secretary Wells directed the Philadelphia Mint to design the new military decoration, on May 15,1862, the United States Navy Department ordered 175 medals with the words Personal Valor on the back from the U. S. Mint in Philadelphia. Senator Henry Wilson, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, the resolution was approved by Congress and signed into law on July 12,1862. During the war, Townsend would have some medals delivered to recipients with a letter requesting acknowledgement of the Medal of Honor. By mid-November the War Department contracted with Philadelphia silversmith William Wilson and Son, the Army version had The Congress to written on the back of the medal. Both versions were made of copper and coated with bronze, which gave them a reddish tint,1863, Congress made the Medal of Honor a permanent decoration. On March 3, Medals of Honor were authorized for officers of the Army, the Secretary of War first presented the Medal of Honor to six Union Army volunteers on March 25,1863 in his office. 1890, On April 23, the Medal of Honor Legion is established in Washington,1896, The ribbon of the Army version Medal of Honor was redesigned with all stripes being vertical
25.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt, commonly known as FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A Democrat, he won a record four presidential elections and emerged as a figure in world events during the mid-20th century. He directed the United States government during most of the Great Depression and he is often rated by scholars as one of the three greatest U. S. Presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Roosevelt was born in 1882 to an old, prominent Dutch family from Dutchess County and he attended the elite educational institutions of Groton School, Harvard College, and Columbia Law School. At age 23 in 1905, he married Eleanor Roosevelt, and he entered politics in 1910, serving in the New York State Senate, and then as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson. In 1920, Roosevelt was presidential candidate James M. Coxs running mate and he was in office from 1929 to 1933 and served as a reform governor, promoting the enactment of programs to combat the depression besetting the United States at the time. In the 1932 presidential election, Roosevelt defeated incumbent Republican president Herbert Hoover in a landslide to win the presidency, Roosevelt took office while in the United States was in the midst of the worst economic crisis in its history. Energized by his victory over polio, FDR relied on his persistent optimism and activism to renew the national spirit. He created numerous programs to support the unemployed and farmers, and to labor union growth while more closely regulating business. His support for the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 added to his popularity, the economy improved rapidly from 1933–37, but then relapsed into a deep recession in 1937–38. The bipartisan Conservative Coalition that formed in 1937 prevented his packing the Supreme Court, when the war began and unemployment ended, conservatives in Congress repealed the two major relief programs, the WPA and CCC. However, they kept most of the regulations on business, along with several smaller programs, major surviving programs include the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Wagner Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Social Security. His goal was to make America the Arsenal of Democracy, which would supply munitions to the Allies, in March 1941, Roosevelt, with Congressional approval, provided Lend-Lease aid to Britain and China. He supervised the mobilization of the U. S. economy to support the war effort, as an active military leader, Roosevelt implemented a war strategy on two fronts that ended in the defeat of the Axis Powers and initiate the development of the worlds first atomic bomb. His work also influenced the creation of the United Nations. Roosevelts physical health declined during the war years, and he died 11 weeks into his fourth term. One of the oldest Dutch families in New York State, the Roosevelts distinguished themselves in other than politics. One ancestor, Isaac Roosevelt, had served with the New York militia during the American Revolution, Roosevelt attended events of the New York society Sons of the American Revolution, and joined the organization while he was president
26.
United Service Organizations
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The United Service Organizations Inc. is a nonprofit organization that provides programs, services and live entertainment to United States service members and their families. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense, relying heavily on contributions and on funds, goods. Although it is congressionally-chartered, it is not a government agency, the USO operates 160 centers worldwide. During World War II, the USO became the GIs home away from home and began a tradition of entertaining the troops that continues today. Involvement in the USO was one of the ways in which the nation had come together to support the war effort. After it was disbanded in 1947, it was revived in 1950 for the Korean War, during the Vietnam War, USOs were sometimes located in combat zones. The organization became famous for its live performances, called Camp Shows. Hollywood in general was eager to show its patriotism, and many celebrities joined the ranks of USO entertainers. They entertained in military bases at home and overseas, sometimes placing their own lives in danger, the USO has over 160 locations around the world in 14 countries and 27 states. Its motto is Until everyone comes home, the USO was founded in 1941 by Mary Ingraham in response to a request from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide morale and recreation services to U. S. uniformed military personnel. Roosevelt was elected as its honorary chairman and they were brought together under one umbrella to support U. S. troops. Roosevelt said he wanted these private organizations to handle the on-leave recreation of the men in the armed forces. According to historian Emily Yellin, The government was to build the buildings, the first national campaign chairman was Thomas Dewey, who raised $16 million in the first year. The second chairman was future senator Prescott Bush, the USO was incorporated in New York on February 4, with the first facility erected in DeRidder, Louisiana,1941. More USO centers and clubs opened around the world as a “Home Away from Home” for GIs. The USO club was a place to go for dances and social events, for movies and music, for a place to talk or write a letter home, or for a free cup of coffee. The USO also brought Hollywood celebrities and volunteer entertainers to perform for the troops, according to movie historian Steven Cohan, most of all. In taking home on the road, it equated the nation with showbiz, USO camp shows were designed in their export to remind soldiers of home
27.
Newspaper
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A newspaper is a serial publication containing news about current events, other informative articles about politics, sports, arts, and so on, and advertising. A newspaper is usually, but not exclusively, printed on relatively inexpensive, the journalism organizations that publish newspapers are themselves often metonymically called newspapers. As of 2017, most newspapers are now published online as well as in print, the online versions are called online newspapers or news websites. Newspapers are typically published daily or weekly, News magazines are also weekly, but they have a magazine format. General-interest newspapers typically publish news articles and feature articles on national and international news as well as local news, typically the paper is divided into sections for each of those major groupings. Papers also include articles which have no byline, these articles are written by staff writers, a wide variety of material has been published in newspapers. As of 2017, newspapers may also provide information about new movies, most newspapers are businesses, and they pay their expenses with a mixture of subscription revenue, newsstand sales, and advertising revenue. Some newspapers are government-run or at least government-funded, their reliance on advertising revenue, the editorial independence of a newspaper is thus always subject to the interests of someone, whether owners, advertisers, or a government. Some newspapers with high editorial independence, high quality. This is a way to avoid duplicating the expense of reporting from around the world, circa 2005, there were approximately 6,580 daily newspaper titles in the world selling 395 million print copies a day. Worldwide annual revenue approached $100 billion in 2005-7, then plunged during the financial crisis of 2008-9. Revenue in 2016 fell to only $53 billion, hurting every major publisher as their efforts to gain online income fell far short of the goal. Besides remodeling advertising, the internet has also challenged the business models of the era by crowdsourcing both publishing in general and, more specifically, journalism. In addition, the rise of news aggregators, which bundle linked articles from online newspapers. Increasing paywalling of online newspapers may be counteracting those effects, the oldest newspaper still published is the Gazzetta di Mantova, which was established in Mantua in 1664. While online newspapers have increased access to newspapers by people with Internet access, literacy is also a factor which prevents people who cannot read from being able to benefit from reading newspapers. Periodicity, They are published at intervals, typically daily or weekly. This ensures that newspapers can provide information on newly-emerging news stories or events, currency, Its information is as up to date as its publication schedule allows
28.
Bankruptcy in the United States
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In the United States, bankruptcy is governed by federal law. The United States Constitution authorizes Congress to enact uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States, the Code has been amended several times since, with the most significant recent changes enacted in 2005 through the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. Some law relevant to bankruptcy is found in parts of the United States Code. For example, bankruptcy crimes are found in Title 18 of the United States Code, tax implications of bankruptcy are found in Title 26 of the United States Code, and the creation and jurisdiction of bankruptcy courts are found in Title 28 of the United States Code. While bankruptcy cases are filed in United States Bankruptcy Court, and federal law governs procedure in bankruptcy cases, for example, law governing the validity of liens or rules protecting certain property from creditors, may derive from state law or federal law. Because state law plays a role in many bankruptcy cases. Before 1898, there were several short-lived federal bankruptcy laws in the U. S. The first was the act of 1800 which was repealed in 1803 and followed by the act of 1841, which was repealed in 1843, and then the act of 1867, which was amended in 1874 and repealed in 1878. The first modern Bankruptcy Act in America, sometimes called the Nelson Act, was entered into force in 1898. The current Bankruptcy Code was enacted in 1978 by §101 of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, the current Code completely replaced the former Bankruptcy Act, the Chandler Act of 1938. The Chandler Act gave unprecedented authority to the Securities and Exchange Commission in the administration of bankruptcy filings, the current Code has been amended numerous times since 1978. See also the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, entities seeking relief under the Bankruptcy Code may file a petition for relief under a number of different chapters of the Code, depending on circumstances. Title 11 contains nine chapters, six of which provide for the filing of a petition, the other three chapters provide rules governing bankruptcy cases in general. A case is referred to by the chapter under which the petition is filed. Liquidation under a Chapter 7 filing is the most common form of bankruptcy, liquidation involves the appointment of a trustee who collects the non-exempt property of the debtor, sells it and distributes the proceeds to the creditors. A Chapter 9 bankruptcy is available only to municipalities, Chapter 9 is a form of reorganization, not liquidation. Notable examples of municipal bankruptcies include that of Orange County, California, consumers usually file chapter 7 or chapter 13. Chapter 11 filings by individuals are allowed, but are rare, Chapter 12 is similar to Chapter 13 but is available only to family farmers and family fisherman in certain situations
29.
Bank fraud
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In many instances, bank fraud is a criminal offence. For this reason, bank fraud is considered a white-collar crime. Alternatively, forgers gain unauthorised access to blank chequebooks, and forge seemingly legitimate signatures on the cheques, Cheque kiting exploits a banking system known as the float wherein money is temporarily counted twice. Thus both banks temporarily count the amount as an asset until the cheque formally clears at Bank Y. The float serves a purpose in banking, but intentionally exploiting the float when funds at Bank Y are insufficient to cover the amount withdrawn from Bank X is a form of fraud. They would subsequently cash the fraudulent cheque through another bank and withdraw the money before the banks realise that the cheque was a fraud, examples of accounting frauds, Enron and WorldCom and Ocala Funding. These companies cooked the books in order to appear as though they had profits each quarter, a bank soliciting public deposits may be uninsured or not licensed to operate at all. The objective is usually to solicit for deposits to this uninsured bank, sometimes the names appear very official or very similar to those of legitimate banks. For instance, the unlicensed Chase Trust Bank of Washington D. C. appeared in 2002, bearing no affiliation to its seemingly apparent namesake, accounting fraud has also been used to conceal other theft taking place within a company. Demand draft fraud typically involves one or more corrupt bank employees, firstly, such employees remove a few DD leaves or DD books from stock and write them like a regular DD. Since they are insiders, they know the coding and punching of a demand draft, such fraudulent demand drafts are usually drawn payable at a distant city without debiting an account. The draft is cashed at the payable branch, the fraud is discovered only when the banks head office does the branch-wise reconciliation, which normally take six months, by which time the money is gone. A rogue trader is a trader at an institution who engages in unauthorized trading to recoup the loss he incurred in earlier trades. Out of fear and desperation, he manipulates the internal controls to circumvent detection to buy more time, the size of the loss is a reflection of the laxity in controls instituted at the firm and not the traders greed. Some of the largest unauthorized trading losses were discovered at Barings Bank, Daiwa Bank, Sumitomo Corporation, Allfirst Bank, Société Générale, UBS, and JPMorgan Chase. One way to remove money from a bank is to out a loan. The borrower may even be a non-existent entity and the loan merely an artifice to conceal a theft of a sum of money from the bank. This can also seen as a component within mortgage fraud, forged documents are often used to conceal other thefts, banks tend to count their money meticulously so every penny must be accounted for
30.
Nightclub
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A nightclub is an entertainment venue and bar which serves alcoholic beverages that usually operates late into the night. Another distinction is that whereas many pubs and sports bars aim at a market, nightclubs typically aim at a niche market of music and dancing enthusiasts. The upmarket nature of nightclubs can be seen in the inclusion of VIP areas in some nightclubs, for celebrities, nightclubs are much more likely than pubs or sports bars to use bouncers to screen prospective clubgoers for entry. Some nightclub bouncers do not admit people with ripped jeans or other clothing or gang apparel as part of a dress code. The busiest nights for a nightclub are Friday and Saturday night, most clubs or club nights cater to certain music genres, such as house music or gothic rock. A nightclub may also be called a discothèque, disco, or dance club, from about 1900 to 1920, working class Americans would gather at honky tonks or juke joints to dance to music played on a piano or a jukebox. Webster Hall is credited as the first modern nightclub, being built in 1886 and starting off as a hall, originally functioning as a home for dance. During Prohibition in the United States, nightclubs went underground as illegal speakeasy bars, with Webster Hall staying open, with rumors circulating of Al Capones involvement and police bribery. With the repeal of Prohibition in February 1933, nightclubs were revived, such as New Yorks 21 Club, Copacabana, El Morocco, in Germany, possibly the first discothèque was Scotch-Club. These discothèques were also patronized by anti-Vichy youth called zazous, there were also underground discothèques in Nazi Germany patronized by anti-Nazi youth called the swing kids. In Harlem, Connies Inn and the Cotton Club were popular venues for white audiences, before 1953 and even some years thereafter, most bars and nightclubs used a jukebox or mostly live bands. The Whisky à Gogo set into place the elements of the modern post World War II discothèque-style nightclub. At the end of the 1950s, several of the bars in Soho introduced afternoon dancing. In the early 1960s, Mark Birley opened a members-only discothèque nightclub, Annabels, in Berkeley Square, in 1962, the Peppermint Lounge in New York City became popular and is the place where go-go dancing originated. However, the first rock and roll generation preferred rough and tumble bars and taverns to nightclubs, disco has its roots in the underground club scene. It brought together people from all walks of life and backgrounds and these clubs acted as safe havens for homosexual partygoers to dance in peace and away from public scrutiny. Disco allowed patrons to explore sexuality and push the envelope on the dance floor, disco clubs acted as an escape from such depressing environments and acted as the fantasy marginalized peoples could escape to forget oppression and racism. Disco clubs originally functioned as liberated party spaces and were seen as places of political statement, a smooth mix of long single records to keep people dancing all night long
31.
Pawnbroker
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A pawnbroker is an individual or business that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. The items having been pawned to the broker are themselves called pledges or pawns, if an item is pawned for a loan, within a certain contractual period of time the pawner may redeem it for the amount of the loan plus some agreed-upon amount for interest. The amount of time, and rate of interest, is governed by law or by the pawnbrokers policies, if the loan is not paid within the time period, the pawned item will be offered for sale to other customers by the pawnbroker. The pawnbroker also sells items that have been sold outright to them by customers, some pawnshops are willing to trade items in their shop for items brought to them by customers. The pawning process begins when a customer brings an item into a pawn shop, common items pawned by customers include jewelry, electronics, collectibles, musical instruments, tools, and firearms. Gold, silver, and platinum are popular items—which are often purchased, metal can still be sold in bulk to a bullion dealer or smelter for the value by weight of the component metals. Similarly, jewelry that contains genuine gemstones, even if broken or missing pieces, have value, the pawnbroker assumes the risk that an item might have been stolen. However, laws in many jurisdictions protect both the community and broker from unknowingly handling stolen goods and these laws often require that the pawnbroker establish positive identification of the seller through photo identification, as well as a holding period placed on an item purchased by a pawnbroker. In some jurisdictions, pawnshops must give a list of all newly pawned items and any associated serial number to police, many police departments advise burglary or robbery victims to visit local pawnshops to see if they can locate stolen items. Some pawnshops set up their own screening criteria to avoid buying stolen property, the pawnbroker assesses an item for its condition and marketability by testing the item and examining it for flaws, scratches or other damage. Another aspect that affects marketability is the supply and demand for the item in the community or region, in some markets, the used goods market is so flooded with used stereos and car stereos, for example, that pawnshops will only accept the higher-quality brand names. Alternatively, a customer may offer to pawn an item that is difficult to sell, such as a surfboard in an inland region, the pawnshop owner either turns down hard-to-sell items, or offers a low price. While some items never get outdated, such as hammers and hand saws, electronics and computer items quickly become obsolete, Pawnshop owners must learn about different makes and models of computers, software, and other electronic equipment, so they can value objects accurately. To assess value of different items, pawnbrokers use guidebooks, catalogs, Internet search engines, some pawnbrokers have trained in identification of gems, or employ a specialist to assess jewelry. One of the risks of accepting secondhand goods is that the item may be counterfeit, if the item is counterfeit, such as a fake Rolex watch, it may have only a fraction of the value of the genuine item. Once the pawnbroker determines the item is genuine and not likely stolen, and that it is marketable, the customer can either sell the item outright if the pawnbroker is also a licensed secondhand dealer, or offer the item as collateral on a loan. Most pawnshops are willing to negotiate the amount of the loan with the client, to determine the amount of the loan, the pawnshop owner needs to take into account several factors. A key factor is the resale value of the item
32.
Cemetery
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A cemetery or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word cemetery implies that the land is designated as a burial ground. The term graveyard is used interchangeably with cemetery, but primarily referred to a burial ground within a churchyard. The intact or cremated remains of people may be interred in a grave, commonly referred to as burial, or in a tomb, an above-ground grave, in Western cultures, funeral ceremonies are often observed in cemeteries. These ceremonies or rites of passage according to cultural practices. Modern cemeteries often include crematoria, and some previously used for both, continue as crematoria as a principal use long after the interment areas have been filled. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a cemetery as a burial-ground generally, a large public park or ground laid out expressly for the interment of the dead, and not being the ‘yard’ of any church. Prehistoric cemeteries are referred to by the term grave field. From about the 7th century, European burial was under the control of the Church, practices varied, but in continental Europe, bodies were usually buried in a mass grave until they had decomposed. The bones were exhumed and stored in ossuaries, either along the arcaded bounding walls of the cemetery, or within the church under floor slabs. In Europe this was accompanied with a depiction of their coat of arms. Most others were buried in graveyards again divided by social status, mourners who could afford the work of a stonemason had a headstone engraved with a name, dates of birth and death and sometimes other biographical data, and set up over the place of burial. Usually, the writing and symbols carved on the headstone. Some families hired a blacksmith and had large crosses made from various metals put on the place of burial, in many European states, burial in graveyards was eventually outlawed altogether through government legislation. Instead of graveyards, completely new places of burial were established away from populated areas and outside of old towns. Many new cemeteries became municipally owned or were run by their own corporations, in some cases, skeletons were exhumed from graveyards and moved into ossuaries or catacombs. A large action of this occurred in 18th century Paris when human remains were transferred from graveyards all over the city to the Catacombs of Paris. The bones of an estimated 6 million people are to be found there, an early example of a landscape-style cemetery is Père Lachaise in Paris
33.
Telegraphy
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Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of textual or symbolic messages without the physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pigeon post is not, telegraphy requires that the method used for encoding the message be known to both sender and receiver. Such methods are designed according to the limits of the medium used. The use of signals, beacons, reflected light signals. In the 19th century, the harnessing of electricity led to the invention of electrical telegraphy, the advent of radio in the early 20th century brought about radiotelegraphy and other forms of wireless telegraphy. The word telegraph was first coined by the French inventor of the Semaphore line, Claude Chappe, a telegraph is a device for transmitting and receiving messages over long distances, i. e. for telegraphy. The word telegraph alone now generally refers to an electrical telegraph, Wireless telegraphy is also known as CW, for continuous wave, as opposed to the earlier radio technique of using a spark gap. Contrary to the definition used by Chappe, Morse argued that the term telegraph can strictly be applied only to systems that transmit. This is to be distinguished from semaphore, which transmits messages. Smoke signals, for instance, are to be considered semaphore, according to Morse, telegraph dates only from 1832 when Pavel Schilling invented one of the earliest electrical telegraphs. A telegraph message sent by a telegraph operator or telegrapher using Morse code was known as a telegram. A cablegram was a sent by a submarine telegraph cable. Later, a Telex was a sent by a Telex network. A wire picture or wire photo was a picture that was sent from a remote location by a facsimile telegraph. A diplomatic telegram, also known as a cable, is the term given to a confidential communication between a diplomatic mission and the foreign ministry of its parent country. These continue to be called telegrams or cables regardless of the used for transmission. Commercial electrical telegraphs were introduced from 1837, the first telegraphs came in the form of optical telegraph, including the use of smoke signals, beacons, or reflected light, which have existed since ancient times. Early proposals for a telegraph system were made to the Royal Society by Robert Hooke in 1684 and were first implemented on an experimental level by Sir Richard Lovell Edgeworth in 1767
34.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is an 1876 novel about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the town of St. Petersburg, inspired by Hannibal, Missouri. Tom Sawyer lives with his Aunt Polly and his half-brother Sid and he skips school to swim and is made to whitewash the fence the next day as punishment. He cleverly persuades his friends to trade him small treasures for the privilege of doing his work, Tom falls in love with Becky Thatcher, a new girl in town, and persuades her to get engaged by kissing him. But their romance collapses when she learns Tom has been engaged previously to Amy Lawrence. Shortly after Becky shuns him, he accompanies Huckleberry Finn to the graveyard at night, where they witness a trio of body snatchers, Dr. Robinson, Muff Potter, and Injun Joe, getting into a fight. While Potter is knocked unconscious during the scuffle, Injun Joe stabs the doctor to death and later pins the blame on Potter, Potter is then shunned by the whole town, except Huck and Tom, who knew the real story. They decided to keep mum about this incident because they are afraid of Injun Joe murdering them, Tom and Huck run away to an island. While enjoying their freedom, they become aware that the community is sounding the river for their bodies. Tom sneaks back home one night to observe the commotion, after a brief moment of remorse at his loved ones suffering, he is struck by the idea of appearing at his own funeral. Back in school, Tom gets himself back in Beckys favor after he accepts the blame for a book she has ripped. Soon, Muff Potters trial begins, in which Tom testifies against Injun Joe, Potter is acquitted, but Injun Joe flees the courtroom through a window. Tom then fears for his life as Injun Joe is at large, summer arrives, and Tom and Huck go hunting for buried treasure in a haunted house. After venturing upstairs they hear a noise below, peering through holes in the floor, they see Injun Joe disguised as a deaf-mute Spaniard, Injun Joe and his companion plan to bury some stolen treasure of their own. From their hiding spot, Tom and Huck wriggle with delight at the prospect of digging it up, Huck begins to shadow Injun Joe nightly, watching for an opportunity to nab the gold. In the meantime, Tom goes on a picnic to McDougals Cave with Becky, in his overconfidence, Tom strays off the marked paths with Becky and they get hopelessly lost. That night, Huck sees Injun Joe and his partner making off with a box and he follows and overhears their plans to attack the Widow Douglas. By running to help, Huck prevents the crime and becomes an anonymous hero
35.
Heaven
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According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to earth or incarnate, and earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the afterlife, or in exceptional cases enter Heaven alive. Some believe in the possibility of a Heaven on Earth in a World to Come, another belief is in an axis mundi or world tree which connects the heavens, the terrestrial world, and the underworld. In Indian religions, Heaven is considered as Svarga loka, and this cycle can be broken after a soul achieves Moksha or Nirvana. Any place of existence, either of humans, souls or deities, the modern English word heaven is derived from the earlier heven, this in turn was developed from the previous Old English form heofon. By about 1000, heofon was being used in reference to the Christianized place where God dwells, all of these have been derived from a reconstructed Proto-Germanic form *Hemina-. In Ancient Egyptian religion, belief in an afterlife is much more stressed than in ancient Judaism, Heaven was a physical place far above the Earth in a dark area of space where there were no stars, basically beyond the Universe. Their heart would finally be weighed with the feather of truth, almost nothing is known of Bronze Age Canaanite views of Heaven, and the archeological findings at Ugarit have not provided information. The 1st century Greek author Philo of Byblos may preserve elements of Iron Age Phoenician religion in his Sanchuniathon, in the Middle Hittite myths, Heaven is the abode of the gods. In the Song of Kumarbi, Alalu was king in Heaven for nine years before giving birth to his son, Anu was himself overthrown by his son, Kumarbi. The Baháí Faith regards the description of Heaven as a specific place as symbolic. The Baháí writings describe Heaven as a condition where closeness to God is defined as Heaven. For Baháís, entry into the life has the potential to bring great joy. Baháulláh likened death to the process of birth and he explains, The world beyond is as different from this world as this world is different from that of the child while still in the womb of its mother. Accordingly, Baháís view life as a stage, where one can develop. The key to progress is to follow the path outlined by the current Manifestation of God. Baháulláh wrote, Know thou, of a truth, that if the soul of man hath walked in the ways of God, it will, assuredly return, in Buddhism there are several Heavens, all of which are still part of samsara. Those who accumulate good karma may be reborn in one of them, however, their stay in Heaven is not eternal—eventually they will use up their good karma and will undergo rebirth into another realm, as a human, animal or other being. Because Heaven is temporary and part of samsara, Buddhists focus more on escaping the cycle of rebirth, Nirvana is not a heaven but a mental state
36.
The Greatest Gift
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The Greatest Gift is a 1943 short story written by Philip Van Doren Stern which became the basis for the film Its a Wonderful Life. It was self-published as a booklet in 1943 and published as a book in 1944, George Pratt, a man who is dissatisfied with his life, contemplates suicide. As he stands on a bridge on Christmas Eve 1943, he is approached by a strange, the man strikes up a conversation, and George tells the man that he wishes he had never been born. The man tells him that his wish has been granted and that he was never born, the man tells George that he should take the bag with him and pretend to be a door-to-door brush salesman if anyone addresses him. George returns to his town, and discovers that no one knows him and his friends have taken different and often worse paths through life due to his absence. His little brother, whom he had saved from death in an ice-skating accident, George finds the woman he knows as his wife married to someone else. He offers her a complimentary upholstery brush, but he is forced to leave the house by her husband and their son pretends to shoot him with a toy cap gun, and shouts, Youre dead. George returns to the bridge and questions the strange man, the man explains that George wanted more when he had already been given the greatest gift of all, the gift of life. George digests the lesson and begs the man to return his life, George returns home and finds everything restored to normal. He hugs his wife and tells her that he thought he had lost her, as he is about to explain, his hand bumps a brush on the sofa behind him. Without turning around, George knows the brush was the one he had presented to her earlier, unable to find a publisher, he sent the 200 copies he had printed as a 21-page booklet to friends as Christmas presents in December 1943. Stern privately published the story in 1945, and it was copyrighted in 1945. The story came to the attention of RKO Pictures producer David Hempstead, Grant became interested in playing the lead role. RKO purchased the rights for $10,000 in April 1944. After several screenwriters worked on adaptations, RKO sold the rights to the story in 1945 to Frank Capras production company for the same $10,000, the story was first published as a book in December 1944, with illustrations by Rafaello Busoni. The special edition pictured was brought back to life in 2009 by Graphic Image Inc, at the suggestion of RKO studio chief Charles Koerner, Frank Capra read The Greatest Gift and immediately saw its film potential. Capra claimed the script was purchased for $50,000.00, the script underwent many revisions throughout pre-production and during filming. Final screenplay credit went to Goodrich, Hackett and Capra, with additional scenes by Jo Swerling, in the film, the main character was played by James Stewart, the stranger was played by Henry Travers and Georges wife was played by Donna Reed
37.
It Happened One Christmas
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It Happened One Christmas is a 1977 American made-for-television Christmas fantasy comedy film starring Marlo Thomas and Wayne Rogers which originally premiered December 11,1977 on ABC. Lionel Chetwynds teleplay, directed by Donald Wrye, varies little from the original screenplay, Thomas served as executive producer for the project. Revisions in the script include fleshing out and exploring some of the characters who are citizens of Bedford Falls to a greater extent than in the original. When George, Harry, and the Hatchs friends, Bert and Ernie, go off to fight in the Second World War, all four characters are shown in uniform, interspersed with actual war footage. Another brief scene depicts George attempting to readjust to life after the war has ended. The musical score is by Stephen Lawrence, and the cinematography by Conrad L. Hall. The film had its premiere on Sunday, December 11,1977 and it Happened One Christmas was first broadcast at a time when Its a Wonderful Life was rarely aired on television and, as a result, many viewers were unfamiliar with its source. However, once the original 1946 film returned to the airwaves on an annual basis, the reviews were mixed at best. After its initial airing, in a New York Times follow-up article, it was revealed that Frank Capra, the ratings, however were good enough that it was rebroadcast on ABC twice in 1978 and 1979. But, by time, the original Its A Wonderful Life had begun its resurgence on television. It Happened One Christmas is rarely shown today, and has not, as of 2009 and it can be viewed at the Paley Center for Media in New York City and Beverly Hills, California. It Happened One Christmas at the Internet Movie Database
38.
Clarence (1990 film)
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Clarence is a 1990 American-Canadian-New Zealand film directed by Eric Till. It is a spin-off from the 1946 film Its a Wonderful Life following the character of Clarence Odbody from that film, the film is set in December 1989. The only continuing character from the film was the guardian angel, Clarence. The plot is similar to the original, with Kate Trotter playing the human who needs Clarences assistance. It was first broadcast on The Family Channel on November 24,1990, Clarence at the Internet Movie Database
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