1.
Cambridge, Massachusetts
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Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and is a part of the Boston metropolitan area. According to the 2010 Census, the population was 105,162. As of July 2014, it was the fifth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Cambridge was one of the two seats of Middlesex County prior to the abolition of county government in 1997, Lowell was the other. The site for what would become Cambridge was chosen in December 1630, because it was located safely upriver from Boston Harbor, Thomas Dudley, his daughter Anne Bradstreet, and her husband Simon, were among the first settlers of the town. The first houses were built in the spring of 1631, the settlement was initially referred to as the newe towne. Official Massachusetts records show the name capitalized as Newe Towne by 1632, the original village site is in the heart of todays Harvard Square. In the late 19th century, various schemes for annexing Cambridge itself to the city of Boston were pursued and rejected, in 1636, the Newe College was founded by the colony to train ministers. Newe Towne was chosen for the site of the college by the Great and General Court primarily—according to Cotton Mather—to be near the popular, in May 1638 the name of the settlement was changed to Cambridge in honor of the university in Cambridge, England. Hooker and Shepard, Newtownes ministers, and the colleges first president, major benefactor, in 1629, Winthrop had led the signing of the founding document of the city of Boston, which was known as the Cambridge Agreement, after the university. It was Governor Thomas Dudley who, in 1650, signed the charter creating the corporation which still governs Harvard College, Cambridge grew slowly as an agricultural village eight miles by road from Boston, the capital of the colony. By the American Revolution, most residents lived near the Common and Harvard College, with farms and estates comprising most of the town. Coming up from Virginia, George Washington took command of the volunteer American soldiers camped on Cambridge Common on July 3,1775, most of the Tory estates were confiscated after the Revolution. On January 24,1776, Henry Knox arrived with artillery captured from Fort Ticonderoga, a second bridge, the Canal Bridge, opened in 1809 alongside the new Middlesex Canal. The new bridges and roads made what were formerly estates and marshland into prime industrial and residential districts, in the mid-19th century, Cambridge was the center of a literary revolution when it gave the country a new identity through poetry and literature. Cambridge was home to some of the famous Fireside Poets—so called because their poems would often be read aloud by families in front of their evening fires, the Fireside Poets—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes—were highly popular and influential in their day. Cambridge was incorporated as a city in 1846, the citys commercial center began to shift from Harvard Square to Central Square, which became the downtown of the city around this time. The coming of the railroad to North Cambridge and Northwest Cambridge then led to three changes in the city, the development of massive brickyards and brickworks between Massachusetts Ave. For many decades, the citys largest employer was the New England Glass Company, by the middle of the 19th century it was the largest and most modern glassworks in the world
2.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the United States. Owned by Philadelphia Media Network, The Inquirer has the eighteenth largest average weekday U. S. newspaper circulation and has won nineteen Pulitzer Prizes and it is the newspaper of record in the Delaware Valley. The paper has risen and fallen in prominence throughout its history, the Inquirer first became a major newspaper during the American Civil War when its war coverage was popular on both sides. The papers circulation dropped after the war, then rose by the end of the 19th century, by the end of the 1960s, The Inquirer trailed its chief competitor, the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, and lacked modern facilities and experienced staff. In the 1970s, new owners and editors turned the newspaper one of the countrys most prominent. Stan Wischnowski is Vice President of News Operations, the Philadelphia Inquirer was founded as The Pennsylvania Inquirer by printer John R. Walker and John Norvell, former editor of Philadelphias largest newspaper, the Aurora & Gazette. Founded on June 1,1829, The Philadelphia Inquirer is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the United States, however, in 1962, an Inquirer-commissioned historian traced The Inquirer to John Dunlaps The Pennsylvania Packet, which was founded on October 28,1771. In 1850, The Packet was merged with another newspaper, The North American, after Harding acquired The Pennsylvania Inquirer, it was briefly published as an afternoon paper before returning to its original morning format in January 1830. Under Harding, in 1829, The Inquirer moved from its location between Front and Second Streets to between Second and Third Streets. When Harding bought and merged the Morning Journal in January 1830, Ten years later The Inquirer again was moved, this time to its own building at the corner of Third Street and Carters Alley. Harding expanded The Inquirers content and the paper grew into a major Philadelphian newspaper. The expanded content included the addition of fiction, and in 1840, at the time the common practice was to pay little or nothing for the rights of foreign authors works. Harding retired in 1859 and was succeeded by his son William White Harding, William Harding changed the name of the newspaper to its current name, The Philadelphia Inquirer. Harding, in an attempt to increase circulation, cut the price of the paper, in 1859, circulation had been around 7,000, by 1863 it had increased to 70,000. Part of the increase was due to the interest in news during the American Civil War, the Philadelphia Inquirer supported the Union, but Harding wanted their coverage to remain neutral. Confederate generals often sought copies of the paper, believing that the war coverage was accurate. Inquirer journalist Uriah Hunt Painter was at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861, initial reports from the government claimed a Union victory, but The Inquirer went with Painters firsthand account
3.
Saturday Night Live
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Saturday Night Live is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11,1975, under the original title NBCs Saturday Night, the shows comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest and features performances by a musical guest, an episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, Live from New York, its Saturday Night. In 1980, Michaels left the series to other opportunities. He was replaced by Jean Doumanian, who was replaced by Ebersol after a season of bad reviews, Ebersol ran the show until 1985, when Michaels returned, Michaels has remained since then. Many of SNLs cast found national stardom while appearing on the show, others associated with the show, such as writers, have gone on to successful careers creating, writing, or starring in TV and film. The show format has developed and recreated in several countries. Successful sketches have seen life outside of the show as feature films, throughout four decades on air, Saturday Night Live has received a number of awards, including 50 Primetime Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and three Writers Guild of America Awards. In 2000, it was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and it was ranked tenth in TV Guides 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time list, and in 2007 it was listed as one of Time magazines 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME. As of 2012, it has received 156 Emmy nominations, the most received by any TV show, the live aspect of the show has resulted in several controversies and acts of censorship, with mistakes and intentional acts of sabotage by performers as well as guests. From 1965 until September 1975, NBC ran The Best of Carson reruns of The Tonight Show, in 1974, Johnny Carson announced that he wanted the weekend shows pulled and saved so that they could be aired during weeknights, allowing him to take time off. In 1974, NBC president Herbert Schlosser approached his vice president of late night programming, Dick Ebersol, at the suggestion of Paramount Pictures executive Barry Diller, Schlosser and Ebersol then approached Lorne Michaels. Over the next three weeks, Ebersol and Michaels developed the idea for a variety show featuring high-concept comedy sketches, political satire. By 1975 Michaels had assembled a talented cast, including Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Michael ODonoghue, Gilda Radner, and George Coe. The show was originally called NBCs Saturday Night, because Saturday Night Live was in use by Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell on the rival network ABC, NBC purchased the rights to the name in 1976 and officially adopted the new title on March 26,1977. In 1975 and 1976, they were the most desirable demographic for television advertisers, NBC executives agreed with Michaels and decided to keep the show on the air despite many angry letters and phone calls that the network received from viewers who were offended by certain sketches. Chevy Chase left the show in November of the season and was replaced a few months later by the then-unknown comic actor Bill Murray. Aykroyd and Belushi left the show in 1979 after the end of season four, in May 1980, Michaels—emotionally and physically exhausted—requested to put the show on hiatus for a year to give him time and energy to pursue other projects
4.
Wellesley, Massachusetts
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Wellesley /ˈwɛlzliː/ is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of Greater Boston, the population was 27,982 at the time of the 2010 census. It has one of the highest median household and family incomes in Massachusetts and it is best known as the home of Wellesley College, Babson College, and a campus of Massachusetts Bay Community College. Wellesley was settled in the 1630s as part of Dedham, Massachusetts and it was subsequently a part of Needham, Massachusetts called West Needham, Massachusetts. On October 23,1880, West Needham residents voted to secede from Needham, the town was named after the estate of local benefactor Horatio Hollis Hunnewell. Wellesleys population grew by over 80 percent during the 1920s, the town designated Cottage Street and its nearby alleys as the historic district in its zoning plan. Most houses in this district were built around the 1860s and qualify as protected buildings certified by the historic commission. Wellesley is located in eastern Massachusetts and it is bordered on the east by Newton, on the north by Weston, on the south by Needham and Dover and on the west by Natick. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of 10.49 square miles. The towns historic 19th century inn was demolished to make way for condominiums, the Wellesley Country Club clubhouse, which is the building where the town was founded, was demolished in 2008, and a new clubhouse was built. The towns pre-World War II high school building was torn down & replaced, the Census Bureau has also defined the town as a census-designated place with an area exactly equivalent to the town. As of the census of 2000, there were 26,613 people,8,594 households, the population density was 2,614.1 people per square mile. There were 8,861 housing units at a density of 870.4 per square mile. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3. 4% of the population,20. 7% of all households were made up of individuals and 10. 5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the family size was 3.14. In the town, the population was out with 25. 1% under the age of 18,13. 9% from 18 to 24,22. 9% from 25 to 44,24. 2% from 45 to 64. The median age was 38 years, for every 100 females there were 77.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 71.1 males, the median income for a household was $159,167, and the median income for a family was $186,518
5.
Newton, Massachusetts
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Newton is a suburban city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Rather than having a city center, Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages. According to the 2010 U. S. Census, the population of Newton was 85,146, Newtons proximity to Boston along with its historic homes, good public schools, and safe and quiet neighborhoods make it a desirable community for those who commute to Boston. Newton is served by three modes of transit run by the MBTA, light rail, commuter rail. Newton has been ranked as one of the best cities to live in in the country. In August 2012, Money magazine named Newton fourth best small city among places to live in America and has named the safest city in the country according to Aneki. Newton was settled in 1630 as part of the newe towne, there are several historical sites of interest in the Newton area. These include Crystal Lake, the East Parish and West Parish Burying Grounds, and the Jackson Homestead, historian and local resident Diana Muir has written about the history surrounding Bulloughs Pond, a scene from the 2008 production of The Women was also filmed there. Portions of the 2016 drama film Patriots Day, about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and starring Boston native Mark Wahlberg, were filmed at Lasell College in the city, Newton was settled in 1630 as part of the newe towne, which was renamed Cambridge in 1638. Newton was incorporated as a town, known as Cambridge Village, in 1688, then renamed Newtown in 1691. It became a city in 1873, Newton is known as The Garden City. Newton, according to Muir, became one of Americas earliest commuter suburbs, the Boston and Worcester, one of Americas earliest railroads, reached West Newton in 1834. Wealthy Bostonian businessmen took advantage of the new commuting opportunity offered by the railroad, building homes on erstwhile farmland of West Newton hill. Muir points out that these early commuters needed sufficient wealth to employ a groom and keep horses, one wave began with the streetcar lines that made many parts of Newton accessible for commuters in the late nineteenth century. The next wave came in the 1920s when automobiles became affordable to a upper middle class. Even then, however, Oak Hill continued to be farmed, mostly market gardening, Newton is not a typical commuter suburb since many people who live in Newton do not work in downtown Boston. Most Newtonites work in Newton and other surrounding cities and towns, the city has two symphony orchestras, the New Philharmonia Orchestra of Massachusetts and the Newton Symphony Orchestra. Each April on Patriots Day, the Boston Marathon is run through the city and it then turns right onto Route 30 for the long haul into Boston
6.
South Florida
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South Florida is a region of the U. S. state of Florida, comprising the southernmost part of the state. It is one of Floridas three most common directional regions, the others being Central Florida and North Florida and it includes the populous Miami metropolitan area, the Florida Keys, and other localities. South Florida is the part of the continental United States with a tropical climate. As with all regions, South Florida has no official boundaries or status and is defined differently by different sources. A2007 study of Floridas regions by Ary Lamme and Raymond K. Oldakowski found that Floridians surveyed identified South Florida as comprising the southernmost sections of peninsular Florida and that area includes the Miami metropolitan area, the Florida Keys, and the interior region known as the Glades. Additionally, Southwest Florida, representing the states southern Gulf Coast, has emerged as a vernacular region. Some respondents from as far northwest as the southern Tampa Bay area identified their region as being in South Florida rather than Southwest or Central Florida, some entities alternately designate this region South Florida. Its definition includes much of the territory as Lamme and Oldakowskis report as well as additional area. It includes Monroe County and the three counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach, as well as the three Treasure Coast counties of Indian River, St. Lucie, and Martin to the north. The demographics of South Florida residents can be segmented as following, the Miami accent is a regional accent of the American English dialect spoken in South Florida, particularly in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Monroe counties. The accent was born in central Miami, but has expanded to much of South Florida in the past few decades, the Miami accent is most prevalent in younger, native south Floridians. Lamme and Oldakowski identify several demographic, political, and cultural elements that characterize South Florida, politically, South Florida is more liberal than the rest of the state. While less than 10% of people in either North or Central Florida felt their area was liberal, 38% characterized the area as conservative, 26% as moderate. The economy in South Florida is very similar to that in Central Florida, compared to the more diversified economy in North Florida, tourism is by far the most significant industry in South and Central Florida, with a much smaller but vibrant agricultural industry. Lamme and Oldakowskis survey also found some cultural indicators distinguishing South Florida, South Florida is the only region of the state where ethnic foods are as popular as general American cuisine. Additionally, while there was little variation for most styles of music. Country was significantly less popular in South Florida than in North or Central Florida, the Anthony J. Catanese Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions at Florida Atlantic University notes the unusual growth pattern of South Florida. The developed area is urbanized and increasingly continuous and decentralized
7.
Northeastern University
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Northeastern University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, established in 1898. It is categorized as an R1 institution by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus in the Fenway-Kenmore, Roxbury, South End, and Back Bay neighborhoods of Boston. The university has satellite campus in Charlotte, North Carolina, Seattle, Washington, an additional satellite campus will open in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in late 2016. The universitys enrollment is approximately 18,000 undergraduate students and 7,000 graduate students, Northeastern features a cooperative education program that integrates classroom study with professional experience on seven continents and a comprehensive study abroad program. In 2011, the university opened the George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security, the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex opened in early 2017. Northeastern is a large, highly residential university, most students choose to live on campus but upperclassmen have the option to live off campus. More than 75% of Northeastern students receive some form of financial aid, in the 2015–16 school year, the university offered $239 million in grant and scholarship assistance. The universitys sports teams, the Northeastern Huskies, compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Colonial Athletic Association in 18 varsity sports, mens Track and Field has won the CAA back to back years in 2015 and 2016. In 2013, mens basketball won its first CAA regular season championship, mens soccer won the CAA title for the first time, in 1903, the first Automobile Engineering School in the country was established followed by the School of Commerce and Finance in 1907. In 1916, a bill was introduced into the Massachusetts Legislature to incorporate the institute as Northeastern College, after considerable debate and investigation it was passed in March 1916. On March 30,1917, Frank Palmer Speare was inaugurated as the new Colleges first President, five years later the school changed its name to Northeastern University to better reflect the increasing depth of its instruction. In March 1923, the University secured general degree granting power from the Legislature, with the exception of the A. B. the S. B. the College of Liberal Arts was added in 1935. Two years later the Northeastern University Corporation was established, with a board of trustees composed of 31 University members and 8 from the YMCA, in 1948 Northeastern separated itself completely from the YMCA. Following World War II Northeastern began admitting women, in the postwar educational boom the University created the College of Education, University College, and the Colleges of Pharmacy and Nursing. The College of Criminal Justice followed, then the College of Computer Science, by the early 1980s the one-time night commuter school had grown to nearly 60,000 enrollees. By 1989–1990 University enrollment had reduced to about 40,000 full, part-time, and evening students, following the retirement of President Kenneth Ryder 1989 the University adopted a slow and more thoughtful approach to change. Historically, it had been accepting between 7,500 and 10,000 students per year based on applications of about 15,000 to 20,000 with acceptance rates between 50% and 75% depending on program. Attrition rates were huge, with a 25% freshmen dropout rate and graduation rate below 50%, when President John Curry left office in 1996 the university population had been systematically reduced to about 25,000
8.
NBC
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The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is part of the Big Three television networks, founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC is the oldest major broadcast network in the United States. Following the acquisition by GE, Bob Wright served as executive officer of NBC, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its entertainment assets with GE, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011, and acquired General Electrics remaining stake in 2013. Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBC Universal and was replaced as CEO by Comcast executive Steve Burke, during a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer Radio Corporation of America acquired New York City radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph. Westinghouse, a shareholder in RCA, had an outlet in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&Ts manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&Ts telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, the 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF maintained a schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with Outlet Company-owned WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric. In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were incompatible with the companys primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&Ts phone lines for network transmission, the divisions ownership was split among RCA, its founding corporate parent General Electric and Westinghouse. NBC officially started broadcasting on November 15,1926, WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On April 5,1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network and this was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18,1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network, initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco. The Orange Network name was removed from use in 1936, at the same time, the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations, in 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect Floyd Brown
9.
Al Franken
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Alan Stuart Al Franken is an American politician, comedian, actor, and writer. He is currently the junior United States Senator from Minnesota and he became well known in the 1970s and 1980s as a writer and performer on the television comedy show Saturday Night Live. After several decades as an actor and writer, he became a prominent liberal political activist. Franken is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, an affiliate of the Democratic Party, born in New York City, Franken moved to Minnesota when he was four but he later went back to the East Coast and attended Harvard College. With his writing partner Tom Davis, with whom he had developed an interest in theatre in high school. He worked on the show as a writer and performer until 1980, after leaving SNL, he wrote and acted in movies and television shows. He also hosted a syndicated, political radio talk show, The Al Franken Show. Franken was born on May 21,1951, in New York City, the son of Joseph Franken, a salesman, and Phoebe Franken. His paternal grandparents emigrated from Germany, his grandfather came from Grodno, Belarus. Both of his parents were Jewish, and Al was raised in a Reform Jewish home, the Franken family moved to Albert Lea, Minnesota, when Al was four years old. His father opened a quilting factory – but after just two years, the factory failed, the family moved to St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Franken graduated from The Blake School in 1969, where he was a member of the wrestling team and he attended Harvard College where he majored in government, graduating cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in 1973. His older brother Owen is a photojournalist, and his cousin Bob is a journalist for MSNBC, Franken began performing in high school where he, along with his friend and long-time writing partner Tom Davis, were known for their humor. The two first performed on stage at Minneapolis Brave New Workshop theater, specializing in political satire and they soon found themselves in what was described as a life of near-total failure on the fringes of show business in Los Angeles. Franken and Tom Davis were recruited as two of the writers on Saturday Night Live. In Season 1 of SNL, as writers, the two shared a salary of $350 per week. Franken received seven Emmy nominations and three awards for his writing and producing while creating such characters as self-help guru Stuart Smalley. Another routine proclaimed the 1980s to be the Al Franken Decade, Franken and Davis wrote the script to the 1986 comedy film One More Saturday Night, appearing in it as rock singers in a band called Bad Mouth
10.
Dan Aykroyd
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Daniel Edward Dan Aykroyd is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, producer, screenwriter, musician and businessman. He was an member of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players on Saturday Night Live. A musical sketch he performed with John Belushi on SNL, The Blues Brothers, turned into a performing band and then a highly successful 1980 film. He conceived and starred in Ghostbusters, which spawned a sequel, in 1990, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the 1989 film Driving Miss Daisy. He starred in his own sitcom, Soul Man, from 1997–98, Aykroyd is also a successful businessman, having co-founded the House of Blues chain of music venues and the Crystal Head Vodka brand. Aykroyd was born on Canada Day,1952 at Ottawa General Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario and he grew up in Ottawa, Canadas capital, where his father, Samuel Cuthbert Peter Hugh Aykroyd, a civil engineer, worked as a policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. His mother, Lorraine Hélène, was a secretary and his mother was of French Canadian descent and his father of English, Irish, Scottish, Dutch and French ancestry. His brother, Peter, is also an actor, Aykroyd was born with syndactyly, or webbed toes, which was revealed in the film Mr. Mikes Mondo Video and in a short film on Saturday Night Live titled Dont Look Back In Anger. Aykroyd was raised in the Catholic Church, and until age 17 he intended to become a priest and he attended St. Pius X and St. Patricks high schools, and studied criminology and sociology at Carleton University, but dropped out before completing his degree. He worked as a comedian in various Canadian nightclubs and ran a speakeasy, Club 505. Aykroyd developed his career in Ottawa, particularly through his regular attendances at Le Hibou. He describes these influences as follows. there was a disco club there called Le Hibou. I was going to Le Hibou and hearing James Cotton, Otis Spann, Pinetop Perkins, I actually jammed behind Muddy Waters. S. P. Leary left the drum kit one night, and I walked on stage and we started, I dont know, Little Red Rooster, something. He said keep that going, you make Muddy feel good. Many, many times I saw Howlin Wolf, and of course Buddy Guy, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. So I was exposed to all of these players, playing there as part of scene to service the academic community in Ottawa. He was a member of the Second City comedy troupe in 1973 in both Toronto and Chicago, Aykroyd gained fame on the American late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live
11.
Bill Murray
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William James Bill Murray is an American actor, comedian, and writer. Murray received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2016, Murray was born on September 21,1950 in Evanston, Illinois, and was raised in Wilmette, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago. He is the son of Lucille, a room clerk, and Edward Joseph Murray II. Murray and his eight siblings were raised in a Roman Catholic Irish-American family, three of his siblings, John Murray, Joel Murray, and Brian Doyle-Murray, are also actors. A sister, Nancy, is an Adrian Dominican nun in Michigan and their father died in 1967 at the age of 46 from complications of diabetes when Bill was 17 years old. As a youth, Murray read childrens biographies of American heroes like Kit Carson, Wild Bill Hickok and he attended St. Josephs grade school and Loyola Academy. During his teen years, he worked as a golf caddy to fund his education at the Jesuit high school, one of his sisters had polio and his mother suffered several miscarriages. During his teen years he was the singer of a rock band called the Dutch Masters and took part in high school. After graduating, Murray attended Regis University in Denver, Colorado and he quickly dropped out, returning to Illinois. Decades later, in 2007, Regis awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree, on September 21,1970, his 20th birthday, the police arrested Murray at Chicagos OHare Airport for trying to smuggle 10 lb of cannabis, which he had allegedly intended to sell. The drugs were discovered when Murray joked to the next to him that he was smuggling. Murray was convicted and sentenced to probation, with an invitation from his older brother, Brian, Murray got his start at The Second City in Chicago, an improvisational comedy troupe, studying under Del Close. In 1974, he moved to New York City and was recruited by John Belushi as a player on The National Lampoon Radio Hour. In 1975, an Off-Broadway version of a Lampoon show led to his first television role as a cast member of the ABC variety show Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell and that same season, another variety show titled NBCs Saturday Night premiered. Cosells show lasted just one season, canceled in early 1976, after working in Los Angeles with the guerrilla video commune TVTV on several projects, Murray rose to prominence in 1976. He officially joined the cast of NBCs Saturday Night Live for the second season, following the departure of Chevy Chase. Murray was with SNL for three seasons from 1977 to 1980. S, during the first few seasons of SNL, Murray was in a romantic relationship with fellow cast member Gilda Radner. Murray landed his first starring role with the film Meatballs in 1979 and he followed this up with his portrayal of Hunter S. Thompson in 1980s Where the Buffalo Roam
12.
Dominican Republic
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The Dominican Republic is a sovereign state occupying the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western one-third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, christopher Columbus landed on the Western part of Hispaniola, in what is now Haiti, on December 6,1492. The island became the first seat of the Spanish colonial rule in the New World, the Dominican people declared independence in November 1821 but were forcefully annexed by their more powerful neighbor Haiti in February 1822. After the 1844 victory in the Dominican War of Independence against Haitian rule the country again under Spanish colonial rule until the Dominican War of Restoration of 1865. The Dominican Republic experienced mostly internal strife until 1916, a civil war in 1965, the countrys last, was ended by another U. S. military occupation and was followed by the authoritarian rule of Joaquín Balaguer, 1966–1978. Since then, the Dominican Republic has moved toward representative democracy and has been led by Leonel Fernández for most of the time since 1996. Danilo Medina, the Dominican Republics current president, succeeded Fernandez in 2012, the Dominican Republic has the ninth-largest economy in Latin America and is the largest economy in the Caribbean and Central American region. Though long known for agriculture and mining, the economy is now dominated by services. Over the last two decades, the Dominican Republic have been standing out as one of the economies in the Americas – with an average real GDP growth rate of 5. 4% between 1992 and 2014. GDP growth in 2014 and 2015 reached 7.3 and 7. 0%, respectively, in the first half of 2016 the Dominican economy grew 7. 4% continuing its trend of rapid economic growth. Recent growth has been driven by construction, manufacturing and tourism, private consumption has been strong, as a result of low inflation, job creation, as well as high level of remittances. The Dominican Republic has a market, Bolsa de Valores de la Republica Dominicana. and advanced telecommunication system. Nevertheless, unemployment, government corruption, and inconsistent electric service remain major Dominican problems, the country also has marked income inequality. International migration affects the Dominican Republic greatly, as it receives, mass illegal Haitian immigration and the integration of Dominicans of Haitian descent are major issues. A large Dominican diaspora exists, mostly in the United States, contributes to development, the Dominican Republic is the most visited destination in the Caribbean. The year-round golf courses are major attractions, the island has an average temperature of 26 °C and great climatic and biological diversity. The country is also the site of the first cathedral, castle, monastery, and fortress built in all of the Americas, located in Santo Domingos Colonial Zone, a World Heritage Site. Music and sport are of importance in the Dominican culture, with Merengue and Bachata as the national dance and music
