"Material Girl" is a song recorded by American singer Madonna for her second studio album Like a Virgin. It was released on January 1985, by the Sire label as the second single from Like a Virgin, it appears remixed on the 1990 greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection, in its original form on the 2009 greatest hits compilation, Celebration. The song was written by Robert Rans, while Nile Rodgers produced the track. Madonna explained that the concept of the song was indicative of her life at that time, she liked it because she felt it was provocative. "Material Girl" consists of synth arrangements with a robotic-sounding voice chant repeating the hook, "living in a material world". The lyrics identify with materialism, with Madonna asking for a rich and affluent life, rather than romance and relationships. Contemporary critics have identified "Material Girl" along with "Like a Virgin" as the songs that established Madonna as an icon. "Material Girl" was a commercial success, reaching the top-five in Australia, Canada, Ireland and United Kingdom.

It reached the number two position on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, becoming her third top-five single there. The music video was a mimicry of Marilyn Monroe's performance of the song "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" from the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; the mimicked scenes are interspersed with scenes of a Hollywood director trying to win the heart of an actress, played by Madonna herself. Discovering that, contrary to her song, the young woman was not impressed by money and expensive gifts, he pretended to be penniless and succeeded in taking her out on a date, she has performed the song in five of her world tours. "Material Girl" has been covered by a number of artists, including Britney Spears and Hilary and Haylie Duff. It has appeared in the films Moulin Rouge!, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Material Girls, Crazy Rich Asians. Madonna has remarked that she regrets recording "Material Girl" as its title became a nickname for her in the mainstream media; the song has been labeled an empowering influence for women, was the subject of debates.

"Material Girl" was written by Robert Rans, while Nile Rodgers produced the track. In 1986, Madonna told Company magazine, that although she did not write or create the song, the lyrical meaning and concept did apply to her situation at that point of time, she elaborated, "I'm career-oriented. You are attracted to people who are ambitious that way, like in the song'Material Girl'. You are attracted to men who have material things because that's what pays the rents and buys you furs. That's the security; that lasts longer than emotions." During a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone, Madonna was asked by interviewer Austin Scaggs, regarding her first feelings, after listening to the demos of "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl". Madonna responded by saying, "I liked them both because they were ironic and provocative at the same time but unlike me. I am not a materialistic person, I wasn't a virgin, and, by the way, how can you be like a virgin? I liked the play on words, I thought. They're so geeky, they're cool."

"Material Girl" consists with a strong backbeat supporting it. A robotic-sounding male voice, sung by Frank Simms, repeats the hook "Living in a material world". According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Alfred Publishing, the song is set in the time signature of common time, with a tempo of 120 beats per minute. It is set in the key of C major, with Madonna's voice spanning from the tonal nodes of C4 to C5; the song has a basic chord progression of F–G–Em–Am-F-G-C in the chorus, while the verses are based on the C mixolydian mode, giving a hip, swing-like mood. The bassline in the song with the post-disco origins is reminiscent of The Jacksons' "Can You Feel It", which appeared on their 1980 album Triumph. Furthermore, the strophes remind of the refrain from Melissa Manchester's hit "You Should Hear How She Talks About You"; the lyrics explain that what Madonna wants is money, good clothes, the perfect life and men who are able to supply those materialistic things. A cross-reference to the 1960 song "Shop Around" by The Miracles is present.

The lyrics portray relationships in terms of capitalism as commodities, romance becomes synonymous to trading stocks and shares. The title was a polysemy like the lyrics, it deduced Madonna as the most respected woman. Following the song's release on January 23, 1985, as the second single from Like a Virgin, "Material Girl" received mixed reviews from music critics. Author Rikky Rooksby, in his book The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna, compared the song with those of Cyndi Lauper because of Madonna's shrill voice in the song, he added. Which just goes to show that pop music and irony don't mix." Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic said that "Material Girl" was one of the songs that made Madonna an icon, the other being "Like a Virgin" from the same album, both remaining as a definitive statement. He added that both tunes overshadow the rest of the record, "because they are a perfect match of theme and sound." Debby Miller from Rolling Stone, felt that the song portrayed Madonna as a more practical girl than previous female singers.

Dave Karger from Entertainment Weekly, while reviewing the album in 1995, felt that the song came off a bit repetitious and immature when compared to the present context. Jim Farber from Entertainment Weekly felt that the song provided critics a way to criticize Madon

Józef Władysław Walaszczyk is a Polish retired leatherworker and businessman, declared Righteous Among the Nations in 2002 for sheltering Jews during the Holocaust. He has been described as a "second Schindler" or "Polish Schindler". Walaszczyk was born in Częstochowa into an affluent intelligentsia family, his mother was father a journalist. In 1927, after his father died during a visit to the United States, the family's financial situation worsened, his mother decided to move from Warsaw to Rylsk where their cousin, Ludwik Okęcki, owned an estate and a potato flour factory. Walaszczyk continued his education in Częstochowa, Aleksandrów Kujawski, Łowicz, Piotrków Trybunalski. Before the outbreak of the war, he had passed the junior high school graduation examination and was studying at the senior high school of commerce in Warsaw, he was living in a studio apartment at 34 Krucza Street. He worked with enough success to lead a quite affluent lifestyle. At that time he had some Jewish acquaintances.

He spent his holidays in Rylsk. In 1938, he joined the National Party which he quit because of its antisemitism. In June 1939, Walaszczyk was taking part in the military preparatory course near Lidzbark Warmiński. After the Germans invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, he was mobilised and sent to Brześć, Eastern Poland; when the Soviet Union attacked Poland on 17 September 1939, Walaszczyk and his cousin, sent there, decided to return to Rylsk instead of going to the Romanian Bridgehead, their initial idea. Despite difficulties, they reached Rylsk at the end of September. In December 1939, thanks to his knowledge of German language, Walaszczyk was appointed as manager of the factory and as administrator of the whole estate in Rylsk, he was employing around 200 workers including his family and others in the community, providing them with food and accommodation. Most in 1941, one of his friends made before 1939, asked him to employ forty Jews from the ghetto in Rawa Mazowiecka. Walaszczyk agreed, he got permission from Miller, head of the local Arbeitsamt, convincing him with a large bribe to get 30 Jews.

Walaszczyk needed to bring another installment of the bribe every two weeks. Hired Jews had a good enough situation to take care of themselves, so Walaszczyk did not need to feed them. However, after a dozen months, Miller withdrew his permission. Walaszczyk advised his workers to hide; when he was on his way to the Arbeitsamt, German officers appeared at the estate with trucks. A couple of Jews who had not hidden, were arrested and transported to the ghetto in Łódź; the rest survived. In 1940 or spring 1941, Walaszczyk fell in love with Irena Front, she did not tell him she was Jewish until the Gestapo burst into their Warsaw hotel room. Walaszczyk helped Front hide behind a wardrobe and pretended to have stomach problems in the bathroom outside the room; the Germans departed, being assured by the hotel owner that he was a well known client. Following that incident, Front lived in Walaszczyk's flat on Krucza Street, they arranged a fake wedding. At the end of October 1941, Front was detained with a group of 20 Jewish acquaintances.

Walaszczyk, informed about the situation, came to Warsaw. At the police station, where the Home Army had its agent, he was informed that all 21 Jews would be released if he brought the Germans a kilogram of gold within 5 hours; the Germans refused to release only Front. Walaszczyk managed saving all 21 people. In spite of the assurance from the Germans that Front could safely live at the flat on Krucza Street, he sold the apartment the following day as he felt it not safe anymore and bought another one at 17 Emilii Plater Street. Besides Front, two other Jews lived there – her friend Hanka Staszewska and nanny Helena Torbeczko. Despite his duties in Rylsk, Walaszczyk supported the women. Over a period, Staszewska was meeting with a young man, who turned out to be an agent for the Kriminalpolizei, he did not discover her Jewish identity. Walaszczyk was cooperating with the Polish resistance movement and helping his Jewish friends living in the Warsaw ghetto, bringing them food and documents, he was bribing a tram driver to slow down a little when passing the ghetto so he could jump off safely.

During one of his visits, in 1943, he contracted typhus and spent a couple of weeks recovering at the flat on Emilii Plater St. After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, Walaszczyk organised for Front and Torbeczko to get out from the besieged city to the Red Cross camp in Podkowa Leśna and on to Rylsk. Walaszczyk decided to avoid arrest by the Soviets for being a kulak. In January 1945, he and Front returned to Warsaw, it occurred. Just after the war Walaszczyk and Front moved to Kraków, where he set up new businesses, including organising Kraków–Katowice passenger journeys. Though they broke up, they remained in good relations. Due to Walaszczyk's friendship with the French consul, the Security Service pressured him to leave Kraków. Walaszczyk, in cooperation with Okęcki, launched a cotton materials factory. In 1949, the enterprise was nationalised. Walaszczyk and his Jewish colleagues ran a sewing room in Warsaw, closed under pressure from the tax office. Walaszczyk's factory was closed after

Bjerkebanen simply called Bjerke, is a neighborhood in the Økern district of the Bjerke borough in northeastern Oslo, Norway. It lies in the Grorud Valley; the area is dominated by the Bjerke Race Track, a harness racing track, with its stadium building, stable building, a large parking lot. The area is bordered by the Refstad neighborhood to the west and Brobekk to the east, by Risløkka and Vollebekk to the south; the north side is bounded by Norwegian National Road 4 and Trondheimsveien, separating the area from the Årvoll neighborhood. Bjerkebanen consists of residential buildings detached houses and small apartment buildings. Refstadveien and Økernveien are the two largest streets in the area

Journey to the Centre of the Eye is the debut album from English progressive rock band Nektar that came out in November 1971. Though formally divided into 13 tracks, the entire album consists of a single continuous piece of music, with some musical themes which are repeated throughout the work; because of its narrative nature, it has been called a rock opera and/or dense concept album. The story follows an astronaut who, while on a voyage to Saturn, encounters aliens who take him to their galaxy, where he is suffused with knowledge and wisdom, it is interpreted as a commentary on the nuclear arms race. Allmusic's retrospective review was a rave, avowing that "Throughout Journey's 13 cuts, Nektar introduced their own sort of instrumental surrealism that radiated from both the vocals and from the intermingling of the haphazard drum and string work." They gave unqualified praise to both the compositions and the performances of each of the individual members. All songs arranged by Nektar. Roye Albrighton - guitars, vocals Mick Brockett - liquid lights Allan "Taff" Freeman - Mellotron, organ, vocals Ron Howden - drums, percussion Derek "Mo" Moore - Mellotron, vocals Keith Walters - static slidesAdditional personnelDieter Dierks - additional pianoProductionProduced by Nektar, Dieter Dierks & Peter Hauke Engineered by Dieter Dierks Journey to the Centre of the Eye at TheNektarProject.com

Oskar J. W. Hansen was a Norwegian-born, naturalized American sculptor, he is most associated with the design of many of the sculptures around the Hoover Dam. Oskar Johan Waldemar Hansen was born at Langenes in Øksnes, Norway. Before coming to America, he served as a merchant seaman, he served in the United States Army. In the late 1930s or early 1940s, Hansen built a home and artists studio on property near Ashcroft outside Charlottesville, Virginia. Wings of the Republic - among numerous examples of his sculpture in Art Deco mode commissioned by the US Bureau of Reclamation, executed under the Los Angeles-based architect Gordon B. Kaufmann, supervising architect to the Bureau at Hoover Dam. Wings - installed in the lobby of the Rand Tower, completed in 1929. Liberty - installed in 1957 atop a column replaced one, struck by lightning in 1942 at the Yorktown, Victory Monument, commemorating the 1781 victory at Yorktown and the alliance with France that brought about the end of the American Revolution and the resulting peace with England.

Beyond the Cherubim Sculptures at Hoover Dam Hiltzik, Michael Colossus: Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century ISBN 9781439181584 University of Nevada Las Vegas digital library

Uri Alon is a Professor and Systems Biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science. His cited research investigates gene expression, network motifs and the design principles of biological networks in Escherichia coli and other organisms using both computational biology and traditional experimental wet laboratory techniques. Alon earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his Ph. D. in Theoretical Physics from the Weizmann Institute of Science. After having his interest in biology sparked, Alon headed to Princeton University for his postdoctoral work in experimental biology, he returned to the Weizmann Institute as a professor. Alon features in several popular videos on YouTube such as Sunday at the Lab and How to Give a Good Talk; as of 2011, he is the author of the most bookmarked scientific paper on CiteULike How To Choose a Good Scientific Problem and How to Build a Motivated Research Group. In 2004 Alon was awarded the Overton Prize for "outstanding accomplishment by a scientist in the early to mid stage of his or her career" by the International Society for Computational Biology.

Alon has been awarded: Moore Fellowship, California Institute of Technology EMBO Young Investigator Award IBM Faculty Award Minerva Junior Research Group on Biological Computation Morris L. Levinson Award in Biology Teva Founders Prize European Molecular Biology Organization membership, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study fellow 2009 HFSP Nakasone Award Official website Uri Alon at TED