1.
Havana
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Havana is the capital city, largest city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city extends mostly westward and southward from the bay, which is entered through a narrow inlet, the sluggish Almendares River traverses the city from south to north, entering the Straits of Florida a few miles west of the bay. King Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of City in 1592, walls as well as forts were built to protect the old city. The sinking of the U. S. battleship Maine in Havanas harbor in 1898 was the cause of the Spanish–American War. Contemporary Havana can essentially be described as three cities in one, Old Havana, Vedado and the suburban districts. The city is the center of the Cuban government, and home to various ministries, headquarters of businesses, the current mayor is Marta Hernández of the Communist Party of Cuba. In 2009, the city/province had the third highest income in the country, the city attracts over a million tourists annually, the Official Census for Havana reports that in 2010 the city was visited by 1,176,627 international tourists, a 20% increase from 2005. Old Havana was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982, the city is also noted for its history, culture, architecture and monuments. As typical of Cuba, Havana also features a tropical climate, in May 2015, Havana was officially recognized as one of the New7Wonders Cities together with Vigan, Doha, La Paz, Durban, Beirut, and Kuala Lumpur. Most native settlements became the site of Spanish colonial cities retaining their original Taíno names, an alternate theory is that Habana is derived from the Middle Dutch word havene, referring to a harbour, etymologically related to the English word haven. All attempts to found a city on Cubas south coast failed, however, an early map of Cuba drawn in 1514 places the town at the mouth of this river. The town that became Havana finally originated adjacent to what was then called Puerto de Carenas, the quality of this natural bay, which now hosts Havanas harbor, warranted this change of location. Pánfilo de Narváez gave Havana – the sixth town founded by the Spanish on Cuba – its name, the name combines San Cristóbal, patron saint of Havana. Shortly after the founding of Cubas first cities, the served as little more than a base for the Conquista of other lands. Havana began as a port, and suffered regular attacks by buccaneers, pirates. The first attack and resultant burning of the city was by the French corsair Jacques de Sores in 1555, ships from all over the New World carried products first to Havana, in order to be taken by the fleet to Spain. The thousands of ships gathered in the bay also fueled Havanas agriculture and manufacture, since they had to be supplied with food, water. On December 20,1592, King Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of City, later on, the city would be officially designated as Key to the New World and Rampart of the West Indies by the Spanish Crown
2.
Espionage
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Espionage is the obtaining of information considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage can be committed by an individual or a spy ring, in the service of a government or a company, the practice is inherently clandestine, as it is by definition unwelcome and in many cases illegal and punishable by law. Espionage is a subset of intelligence gathering, which includes espionage as well as information gathering from public sources, Espionage is often part of an institutional effort by a government or commercial concern. However, the term is associated with state spying on potential or actual enemies primarily for military purposes. Spying involving corporations is known as industrial espionage, one of the most effective ways to gather data and information about the enemy is by infiltrating the enemys ranks. This is the job of the spy, Spies can bring back all sorts of information concerning the size and strength of enemy forces. They can also find dissidents within the forces and influence them to defect. In times of crisis, spies can also be used to steal technology, counterintelligence operatives can feed false information to enemy spies, protecting important domestic secrets, and preventing attempts at subversion. Nearly every country has strict laws concerning espionage, and the penalty for being caught is often severe. However, the benefits that can be gained through espionage are generally great enough that most governments, events involving espionage are well documented throughout history. The Old Testament of the Christian Bible, which is based primarily on the Hebrew Bible, speaks about Joshua and Caleb, the ancient writings of Chinese and Indian military strategists such as Sun-Tzu and Chanakya contain information on deception and subversion. Chanakyas student Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Maurya Empire in India, made use of assassinations, spies and secret agents, the ancient Egyptians had a thoroughly developed system for the acquisition of intelligence, and the Hebrews used spies as well, as in the story of Rahab. Spies were also prevalent in the Greek and Roman empires, during the 13th and 14th centuries, the Mongols relied heavily on espionage in their conquests in Asia and Europe. Feudal Japan often used ninjas to gather intelligence, aztecs used Pochtecas, people in charge of commerce, as spies and diplomats, and had diplomatic immunity. Many modern espionage methods were established by Francis Walsingham in Elizabethan England, in 1585, Mary, Queen of Scots was placed in the custody of Sir Amias Paulet, who was instructed to open and read all of Marys clandestine correspondence. In a successful attempt to expose her, Walsingham arranged a single exception, Mary was misled into thinking these secret letters were secure, while in reality they were deciphered and read by Walsinghams agents. He succeeded in intercepting letters that indicated a conspiracy to displace Elizabeth I with Mary, in foreign intelligence, Walsinghams extensive network of intelligencers, who passed on general news as well as secrets, spanned Europe and the Mediterranean. While foreign intelligence was a part of the principal secretarys activities, Walsingham brought to it flair and ambition
3.
Chicago Sun-Times
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The Chicago Sun-Times is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the paper of the Sun-Times Media Group. The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city and it began in 1844 as the Chicago Daily Journal, which was the first newspaper to publish the rumor, now believed false, that a cow owned by Catherine OLeary was responsible for the Chicago fire. The Evening Journal, whose West Side building at 17-19 S. Canal was undamaged, in 1929, the newspaper was relaunched as the Chicago Daily Illustrated Times. The modern paper grew out of the 1948 merger of the Chicago Sun, founded December 4,1941 by Marshall Field III, and the Chicago Daily Times. The newspaper was owned by Field Enterprises, controlled by the Marshall Field family, when the Daily News ended its run in 1978, much of its staff, including Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Mike Royko, were moved to the Sun-Times. During the Field period, the newspaper had a populist, progressive character that leaned Democratic but was independent of the citys Democratic establishment, although the graphic style was urban tabloid, the paper was well regarded for journalistic quality and did not rely on sensational front-page stories. It typically ran articles from the Washington Post/Los Angeles Times wire service, the advice column Ask Ann Landers debuted in 1943. Ann Landers was the pseudonym of staff writer Ruth Crowley, who answered readers letters until 1955, eppie Lederer, sister of Dear Abby columnist Abigail van Buren, assumed the role thereafter as Ann Landers. Kups Column, written by Irv Kupcinet, also made its first appearance in 1943, Jack Olsen joined the Sun-Times as editor-in-chief in 1954, before moving on to Time and Sports Illustrated magazines and authoring true-crime books. Hired as literary editor in 1955 was Hoke Norris, who covered the civil-rights movement for the Sun-Times. Jerome Holtzman became a member of the Chicago Sun sports department after first being a boy for the Daily News in the 1940s. He and Edgar Munzel, another longtime sportswriter for the paper, famed for his World War II exploits, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin made the Sun-Times his home base in 1962. The following year, Mauldin drew one of his most renowned illustrations, two years out of college, Roger Ebert became a staff writer in 1966, and a year later was named Sun-Times film critic. He continued in this role for the remainder of his life, after the friend wrote a story about it, Grizzard fired Banks. With that, the employees union intervened, a federal arbitrator ruled for Banks and 13 months later. The articles received considerable publicity and acclaim, but a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize met resistance from some who believed the Mirage series represented a form of entrapment. In March 1978, the afternoon publication the Chicago Daily News, sister paper of the Sun-Times
4.
Roger Ebert
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Roger Joseph Ebert was an American film critic and historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, the two verbally sparred and traded humorous barbs while discussing films. They created and trademarked the phrase Two Thumbs Up, used when both hosts gave the film a positive review. After Siskel died in 1999, Ebert continued hosting the show with various co-hosts and then, starting in 2000, Ebert lived with cancer of the thyroid and salivary glands from 2002. This required treatments necessitating the removal of his jaw, which cost him the ability to speak or eat normally. His ability to write remained unimpaired, however, and he continued to publish frequently both online and in print until his death on April 4,2013. Roger Joseph Ebert was born in Urbana, Illinois, the child of Annabel, a bookkeeper, and Walter Harry Ebert. He was raised Roman Catholic, attending St. Marys elementary school and his paternal grandparents were German immigrants and his maternal ancestry was Irish and Dutch. In his senior year, he was president and editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper. In 1958, he won the Illinois High School Association state speech championship in radio speaking, regarding his early influences in film criticism, Ebert wrote in the 1998 parody collection Mad About the Movies, I learned to be a movie critic by reading Mad magazine. Mads parodies made me aware of the machine inside the skin – of the way a movie might look original on the outside, I did not read the magazine, I plundered it for clues to the universe. Pauline Kael lost it at the movies, I lost it at Mad magazine, Ebert began taking classes at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an early-entrance student, completing his high-school courses while also taking his first university class. After graduating from Urbana High School in 1960, Ebert then attended and received his degree in 1964. As an undergraduate, he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, One of the first movie reviews he ever wrote was a review of La Dolce Vita, published in The Daily Illini in October 1961. Ebert spent a semester as a student in the department of English there before attending the University of Cape Town on a Rotary fellowship for a year. He returned from Cape Town to his studies at Illinois for two more semesters and then, after being accepted as a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago. Instead Kogan referred Ebert to the city editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, Jim Hoge and he attended doctoral classes at the University of Chicago while working as a general reporter at the Sun-Times for a year
5.
Coppelia (ice cream parlor)
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Coppelia is an ice cream parlor chain in Cuba. Coppelia is state-run and sells in both Cuban pesos and Cuban convertible pesos, havanas Coppelia, for instance, employs more than 400 workers and serves 4,250 US gallons of ice cream to 35,000 customers each day. When business started in 1966, it ran with a count of 26 flavors and 25 combinations. Today, lines are long and the supply and selection of flavors is scarce. Havanas Coppelia is a Cuban Revolution modernist building from 1966, the flying-saucer-shaped building represents a UFO that has landed in Havana. Is one of the largest ice cream parlors in the world, the original aim was to produce more ice cream flavors than the big American brands, buying the best machines from the Netherlands and Sweden. Fidels longtime secretary, Celia Sánchez, named Coppelia after her favorite ballet Coppélia, the site of Coppelia Havana was the Hospital Reina Mercedes, functioning from 1886–1954. The hospital was demolished and originally there were plans to build another hospital on the site, the plans then changed and a 50-story skyscraper was to be built on the site, but these plans fell through. A tourism promotion pavilion, Parque INIT, then occupied the site, mario Girona was the architect of the new ice cream palace built on the site in 1966. Populist ideology helped shape the design and use of the public space, the park area surrounding the building features lush groundcover and a canopy of towering Banyan trees which provide shade for open-air dining areas. Curvilinear paths lead to a circular pavilion inside of which the only indoor seating is located. In March 2012 Venezuela announced plans to cooperate with Cuba to build a Coppelia ice cream plant in the country, among the problems were broken freezers. Location, 1st avenue, between 44 &26 streets, Varadero, Matanzas, originally designed as a multipurpose solution for beach goers. Varadero, though it was a vacation spot with several stay-in hotels. To solve this problem, Varaderos Coppelia included a floor with 8000 lockers. At ground level, it has a cafeteria and the ice cream parlor surrounded by a park and this level offers view into the gardens using a double curving rail of hyperbolic paraboloids, frequent in the Latin American architecture of the 1950s and 1960s. The complex was first called the 8000 lockers park, the complex was revitalized in 2008 following a project led by architect Noriel Santamaría Sánchez. For the rescue of this landmark the Magazine Obras granted a first prize in restoration to its authors, location, Corner of Mujica and Colón streets, Santa Clara, Villa Clara
6.
Strawberry
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The garden strawberry is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus Fragaria. It is cultivated worldwide for its fruit, the fruit is widely appreciated for its characteristic aroma, bright red color, juicy texture, and sweetness. It is consumed in quantities, either fresh or in such prepared foods as preserves, fruit juice, pies, ice creams, milkshakes. Artificial strawberry flavorings and aromas are also used in many products like lip gloss, candy, hand sanitizers, perfume. Cultivars of Fragaria × ananassa have replaced, in production, the woodland strawberry. Technically, the strawberry is an accessory fruit, meaning that the fleshy part is derived not from the plants ovaries. Each apparent seed on the outside of the fruit is one of the ovaries of the flower. The first garden strawberry was grown in Brittany, France during the late 18th century, prior to this, wild strawberries and cultivated selections from wild strawberry species were the common source of the fruit. The strawberry fruit was mentioned in ancient Roman literature in reference to its medicinal use, the French began taking the strawberry from the forest to their gardens for harvest in the 14th century. Charles V, Frances king from 1364 to 1380, had 1,200 strawberry plants in his royal garden, in the early 15th century western European monks were using the wild strawberry in their illuminated manuscripts. The strawberry is found in Italian, Flemish, and German art, the entire strawberry plant was used to treat depressive illnesses. By the 16th century references of cultivation of the strawberry became more common, people began using it for its supposed medicinal properties and botanists began naming the different species. In England the demand for regular strawberry farming had increased by the mid-16th century, the combination of strawberries and cream was created by Thomas Wolsey in the court of King Henry VIII. Instructions for growing and harvesting strawberries showed up in writing in 1578, by the end of the 16th century three European species had been cited, F. vesca, F. moschata, and F. viridis. The garden strawberry was transplanted from the forests and then the plants would be propagated asexually by cutting off the runners, two subspecies of F. vesca were identified, F. sylvestris alba and F. sylvestris semperflorens. The introduction of F. virginiana from Eastern North America to Europe in the 17th century is an important part of history because this gave rise to the modern strawberry. The new species gradually spread through the continent and did not become completely appreciated until the end of the 18th century, when a French excursion journeyed to Chile in 1712, it introduced the strawberry plant with female flowers that resulted in the common strawberry that we have today. The Mapuche and Huilliche Indians of Chile cultivated the female strawberry species until 1551 when the Spanish came to conquer the land, in 1765, a European explorer recorded the cultivation of F. chiloensis, the Chilean strawberry
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