Ronald M. Popeil is an American inventor and marketing personality, best known for his direct response marketing company Ronco, he is well known for his appearances in infomercials for the Showtime Rotisserie and the coined phrase "Set it, forget it!" as well as popularizing the phrase, "But wait, there's more!" on television as early as the mid-1950s. Popeil was born to a Jewish family in New York City in 1935; when he was 6 his parents divorced and he and his brother went to live in Florida with their grandparents. At age 17 in 1952, Ron went with his grandparents to work for his father, Samuel Popeil, at his company's manufacturing facility in Chicago, his grandparents returned to Florida and Ron remained with his father. Popeil learned his trade from his father, an inventor and salesman of numerous kitchen-related gadgets such as the Chop-O-Matic and the Veg-O-Matic to major department stores; the Chop-O-Matic sold over two million units. It indirectly spurred Ron Popeil's move into television, as it was so efficient at chopping vegetables it was impractical for salesmen to carry all they needed for their pitches.

The solution was to tape the demonstration. Once done, the leap to infomercial followed. Ron operated as a distributor of his father's kitchen products and formed his own company in 1964, he added additional products from other manufacturers. Ron and his father became competitors in the 1970s for the same retail store business. Popeil received the Ig Nobel Prize in Consumer Engineering in 1993; the awards committee described him as the "incessant inventor and perpetual pitchman of late night television" and awarded the prize in recognition of his "redefining the industrial revolution" with his devices. He is a past member of the board of directors Mirage Resorts where he served for 22 years under Steve Wynn as well as a past member of the board of directors of MGM Hotels for 7 years under Kirk Kerkorian, he became the recipient of the Electronic Retail Association's Lifetime Achievement award in 2001 and he is listed in the Direct Response Hall of Fame. He is a member of the advisory board for University of California Los Angeles' Business and Legal Programs.

In August 2005, he sold his company, Ronco, to Fi-Tek VII, a Denver holding company, for US$55 million, with plans to continue serving as the spokesman and inventor while being able to spend more time with his family. In 1956, he married Marilyn Greene, he has one daughter with her. He and Boehne divorced sometime before 1995, when he married Robin Angers, with whom he has two more daughters; as of 2006, he lived in Beverly Hills, with his wife, Robin Popeil, two of his five daughters. Ashley Tisdale and Jennifer Tisdale are his cousins. Popeil is noted in some cases inventing a wide variety of products. Among the better known and more successful are the Chop-O-Matic hand food processor, the Dial-O-Matic successor to the Veg-O-Matic, the Ronco Pocket Fisherman. Popeil is well known for his housewares inventions like his Giant Dehydrator and Beef Jerky Machine, his Electric Pasta Maker and his Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ, his Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ sold over 8 million units in the US alone, helping Ronco's housewares sales exceed $1 billion in profits.

After retiring, Ron continued to invent products including the 5in1 Turkey Fryer & Food Cooking System which he has been developing for over ten years. Ron Popeil's success in infomercials, memorable marketing personality, ubiquity on American television have allowed him and his products to appear in a variety of popular media environments including cameo appearances on television shows such as The X-Files, King of the Hill, The Simpsons and the City, The Daily Show and The West Wing. Parodies of Popeil's infomercials were done on the comedy show Saturday Night Live by Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy and the "Veg-O-Matic" may have provided comedian Gallagher inspiration for the "Sledge-O-Matic" routine since the 1980s; the animated series "VeggieTales" once featured a parody of the "Veg-O-Matic" dubbed as the "Forgive-O-Matic". "Additionally, the professional wrestling tag team The Midnight Express dubbed their finishing move the Veg-O-Matic. Popeil was voted by Self Magazine readers as one of the 25 people who have changed the way we eat and think about food.

Popeil has been referenced in the music of Alice Cooper, the Beastie Boys, "Weird Al" Yankovic. Yankovic's song "Mr. Popeil" was a tribute to Samuel Popeil. Ron Popeil used this song in some of his infomercials. In Malcolm Gladwell's book What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures, Ron Popeil is interviewed and many of his products, most notably the Veg-O-Matic and Showtime Rotisserie, are discussed. Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker piece "The Pitchman" about Ron Popeil won Gladwell the 2001 National Magazine award; the article was first published in The New Yorker in 2000. Timothy Samuelson, but Wait! There's More!. Rizzoli. ISBN 0-8478-2431-4. Rob Popeil; the Salesman of the Century. Delacorte Press. ISBN 978-0-385-31378-0. Malcolm Gladwell. What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures. Little and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-07632-6. Synopsis of the Biography of Ron Popeil on A & E A short biography of Ron Popeil Ronco.com But Wait, There's More! from FreeEnterpris

Aspergillus brunneoviolaceus is a species of fungus in the genus Aspergillus. It belongs to the group of black Aspergilli. A. brunneoviolaceus belongs to the Nigri section. The species has been found in Brazil; the genome of A. brunneoviolaceus was sequenced and published in 2014 as part of the Aspergillus whole-genome sequencing project – a project dedicated to performing whole-genome sequencing of all members of the genus Aspergillus. The genome assembly size was 37.48 Mbp. A. brunneoviolaceus has been cultivated on both Czapek yeast extract agar plates and Malt Extract Agar Oxoid® plates. The growth morphology of the colonies can be seen in the pictures below. Advances in Applied Microbiology. Academic Press. 2013. ISBN 9780128002988. "Home - Aspergillus brunneoviolaceus CBS 621.78 v1.0". Genome.jgi.doe.gov. "Fig. 3. Aspergillus brunneoviolaceus,…". ResearchGate

The Bayeux War Cemetery is the largest Second World War cemetery of Commonwealth soldiers in France, located in Bayeux, Normandy. The cemetery contains 4,648 burials of the Invasion of Normandy. Opposite this cemetery stands the Bayeux Memorial which commemorates more than 1,800 casualties of the Commonwealth forces who died in Normandy and have no known grave; the cemetery grounds were assigned to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by France in recognition of the sacrifices made by the British Empire in the defence and liberation of France during the war. In addition to the Commonwealth burials, there are 466 graves of German soldiers; the cemetery contains the Cross of Sacrifice or War Cross, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Queen Elizabeth II and President of France Jacques Chirac attended ceremonies at the cemetery on 6 June 2004, marking the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Queen Elizabeth II and President of France François Hollande attended ceremonies at the cemetery on 6 June 2014, marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

The CWGC is responsible for marking and maintaining the graves of those members of the Commonwealth forces who died during the two world wars. Of the 18 Commonwealth cemeteries in Normandy containing 22,000 casualties of the invasion, Bayeux is largest. Although there was not a particular battle fought in Bayeux itself, casualties were brought to this cemetery from around the region; this includes field soldiers who died on Sword Beach. British Army Corporal Sidney Bates, a member of the 1st Battalion The Royal Norfolk Regiment, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallant actions on 6 August 1944 near Sourdeval. Five members of one aircrew are buried together: Royal Air Force Flying Officer B. E. Bell. D. Clark. J. Reed, they all died 10 June 1944. The Bayeux Memorial was erected in white stone facing the cemetery; the Latin epitaph along the frieze of the memorial is reference to William the Conqueror and the Invasion of England in 1066: NOS A GULIELMO VICTI VICTORIS PATRIAM LIBERAVIMUS. The translation reads: "We, once conquered by William, have now set free the Conqueror's native land."

On this memorial are engraved the names of the 1,808 men of the Commonwealth who died in the Battle of Normandy and who have no known grave. The Bayeux Memorial in Normandy, France commemorates 270 Canadian women. Among the names are the 189 men of the 43rd Divisional Reconnaissance Regiment who were aboard the ill-fated MV Derrycunihy. On the night of 23 July 1944, the ship was anchored off the coast of Ouistreham, the regiment was awaiting to disembark. At 0800 the ship's engines detonated a submerged German mine; this was the biggest British loss of life off the Normandy beaches. The 189 missing men's names are engraved on the wall in Bayeux; the cemetery is located in the Calvados commune, on the Boulevard Fabian Ware. It is located 24 kilometres north-west of Caen and 13 kilometres south of Arromanches-les-Bains; the cemetery is the subject of a poem by Charles Causley, "At the British War Cemetery, Bayeux". He stated that he had been inspired to write by his visit to the cemetery because it was the first war cemetery he had visited.

American Battle Monuments Commission UK National Inventory of War Memorials German War Graves Commission List of military cemeteries in NormandyPictures Shilleto and Tolhurst, Mike. "A Traveler's Guide to D-Day and the Battle of Normandy". Northampton, Mass.: Interlink. ISBN 1-56656-555-3

Fine Prints of the Year was an annual series of books that reported and discussed the etchings, engravings and lithographs published each year between 1923 and 1938 by major artists of the period. All volumes reproduced in monochrome on high quality glossy paper a selection of about 100 limited edition prints published during the preceding year; the series provides an important record of the work of artists in the last years of the etching revival and during the collapse of the market for prints. The first volume of Fine Prints of the Year was published in London in 1924 by Halton and Truscott Smith as a review of the prints issued during the year up to October, 1923; the volume reproduced 150 etchings, lithographs or woodcuts by major British and American printmakers of the day such as Stanley Anderson, Frank Benson, Edmund Blampied, Frank Brangwyn, Gerald Brockhurst, F. L. Griggs, Childe Hassam, James McBey, Henry Rushbury, Frank Short and William Walcot as well as the work of many artists whose work is less well known.

Some copies of volume two, for the year 1924, contained as a frontispiece an unsigned, original etching by Frank Brangwyn. From the third volume Fine Prints of the Year was published in the USA by Minton and Company of New York; the first 13 volumes, from 1923 to 1935, contained an introductory essay by Malcolm Salaman, an art critic and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, now the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. From 1936 to 1938 the introduction was provided by Campbell Dodgson, Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. From 1926 to 1930 each volume contained a short introduction to American prints by Helen Fagg. From the second volume, published in 1924, the series published a directory of the publishers of prints and a directory of the name and address of the etchers and lithographers working in Great Britain, the United States of America and elsewhere with the titles, dimensions and sometimes with the prices of the prints designed or released by each artist during the previous year.

This constitutes an important record of the work of many artists which, until the print boom ended in around 1930, were seen as an investment and were the subject of substantial trading and inflated prices. For example, an etching entitled Mersea, Sunset by James McBey, whose work was sought after in the 1920s, was issued to subscribers in an edition of 76 artist's proofs in 1926 at a price of 10 guineas. A proof of this print from the edition of 76 was sold at auction at Sotheby's in December of the same year for just under 105 guineas, a ten times higher price; the Wall Street Crash in the USA and the worldwide Great Depression diminished the market for prints, but many artists continued to design plates, though fewer in number, in smaller editions and at lower prices, as the volumes of Fine Prints of the Year between 1930 and 1938 show. For example, the artist Edmund Blampied issued 76 etchings between 1920 and 1929 in editions of 100 proofs, but in the following decade only published 23 etchings, some in editions of less than 50 proofs.

Fine Prints of the Year continued as a record of the work of etchers and engravers until the sixteenth and last annual volume for 1938, just before the start of the Second World War in Europe brought about rationing of paper and put an end to the series. The 16 volumes published in the series reproduced over 1,700 prints and remains an important visual and factual record of the work of etchers and engravers, many of whom were once well known and whose prints commanded high prices. Digital copy of Fine Prints of the Year 1924 at the Internet Archive

Ephedra monosperma called Ephedra minima or dan zi ma huang, is small shrub in the family of Ephedraceae. It is found growing in rocky slopes or dry places, its ephedrine extract has been used in traditional medicine in China and Japan, but is banned in USA since 1994 for causing various adverse effects. Ephedra monosperma is perennial small shrub that ranges 5 cm to 15 cm high with creeping runners; the woody stems are much branched and short, 1–5 cm, have knotted nodes. Branchlets are spreading and slim with slight curved shape. Internodes of branchlets are 1–3 cm long, 1 mm in diameter; the leaves are opposite, basal 1/3–2/3 connate their length. There is one ovule in each cone, enclosed by two pairs of cone bracts. Pollen cones, consist of three or four pairs of decussate scales with broad margin, are oblong-spherical shaped, sessile or subsessile at nodes and paired or solitary. Bracts of pollen cones are in two to four pairs, 1/2 connate their length, it pollinates in June, has matured seeds in August, flowers from May.

Seed cones are solitary or opposite at nodes and ovoid at maturity. The mature cones are fleshy and glucose, 6–9 mm long, 5–8 mm across. Ephedra monosperma is found growing in crevices of limestone and rocky slopes, sometimes on the rocks on slope of river valleys with sparse Juniperus and shrub vegetation, it is often found in dry pine forests. E. Monosperma is distributed in these Asian locations: China Tibet, Mongolia and Russia. Ephedrae herbs which includes Ephedra monosperma has been used in Chinese and Japanese medicine for several thousand years; the pharmacological effect of Ephedra medicine is in wide range: increase in heart rate and elevation of blood pressure against heart block or postural hypotension, constriction of peripheral blood vessels, bronchodilation against bronchial asthma, CNS stimulation against narcolepsy or depression, urine retention against urinary incontinence. The pure alkaloid ephedrine from the Ephedra herbs is popular for effective medicine for asthma because it can be given by mouth unlike adrenaline.

It has been used in street drug and nutritional supplements using methamphetamine extracted from Asian Ephedra. However, ephedrine products are now banned in U. S. A since 1994 for causing various and serious adverse effects, such as headache, stroke, myocardial infarction, heart palpitations, cardiac arrest and death. To make Mongolia tea, dried mature seed-cones of Ephedra monosperma are mixed with white tea or herbs, taken with or without cream and milk

The Beverage Testing Institute is a marketing service company that provides reviews for spirits and beers. It publishes books of its test results; the company's beer marketing program, the World Beer Championships, was founded in 1994. The company rates spirits and beers, it does not accept advertising from any company. The judging ratings range from 96 to 100 for superlative to 80 and below for not recommended. Jerald O’Kennard, Director of the Beverage Testing Institute, said that 94 is an good score, unusually high, they use a tasting lab in Chicago. Testing methods maximize the concentration of the panelist. Taste tests are the same time every weekday morning. All of the panelists are professional guest tasters who are retailers, restaurateurs, or prominent writers; the company published the book Beverage Testing Institute's Buying Guide to Beer. The book is a guide to beers throughout the world; the breweries and brands are arranged in alphabetical order according to geographic location. There are notes on the appearance and taste for every beer, rated and there is information on beer styles.

The company published the book Buying Guide to Imported Wines. The book has evaluations of styles and producers cover 2,500 wines from 22 countries in Europe, Latin America and Russia; the best-scoring wines are categorized by name, region and price. The scores are translated onto a modified 100-point scale; the five "bands" below more reflect the quality of products in today's market. It corresponds to a five-star system: 96–100—Superlative 90–95—Exceptional 85–89—Highly Recommended 80–84—Recommended less than 80—Not Recommended Best Buy. Wines or spirits that provide uncommon value. Cellar Selection; this is a wine that they believe will improve with at least three to five years of age. Spirits ratings Blind tasting Court of Master Sommeliers Beverage Testing Institute