Thursday, 6 December 2018

5 Best Films Angelina Jolie from the 2000s

5 Best Films Angelina Jolie from the 2000s

Angelina Jolie is a Hollywood movie star whose acting skills are undoubted. She has played various titles and genre of movies, she has also won various prestigious awards in the world of cinema. Not only that, Angelina Jolie has also managed to become a director and producer of several movies. Well, of the many movies she has starred in, here are five of the best movie of Angelina Jolie from the 2000s you need to re-watch.

1. Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)

In this movie, Angelina Jolie plays Sara 'Sway' Wayland who helps her ex-lover Memphis Raines (Nicolas Cage) to steal 50 cars in three days in order to save Memphis's sister, Kip, who had previously failed to steal.

Those professional thieves are really challenged when the detectives have suspected the plans of Memphis and Sara. The cops have even prepare a strategy to thwart them.

2. Lara Croft: Tom Raider (2001)

Lara Croft: Tom Raider is one of the most popular movies and has even been re-released in 2018. In this movie Angelina Jolie portray Lara Croft in a series of adventure actions to rediscover the mysterious key stolen from her castle. It is said that the mysterious key can open magical objects that can control time and if misused it will cause chaos on earth.

3. Life or Something Like It (2002)


The movie tells the life of a reporter named Lanie Kerrigan (Angelina Jolie) who has changed dramatically since interviewing a scavenger (self-proclaimed prophet) who is known to be good at predicting. Who would have thought that the scavenger is able to predict ice storms and aircraft accidents that would occur. The scavenger also predicts that Lanie's life will only last a week.

Everything the scavengers predicts come true one by one. This makes Lanie's life chaotic as she is so afraid if she suddenly dies as predicted.

Lanie's romantic scene with her lover Pete (Edward Burns) in this film is enough to make viewers drown but near the end of the audience will be excited to see an interesting plot twist.

4. Lara Croft Tom Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)

After being released for the first time in 2001, Lara Croft made its sequel back in 2003. This time, Lara Croft travels to all corners of the world such as Greece and the interior of Africa to find the Pandora's box. After finding the Pandora's box inside the ancient temple, Lara Croft still has to fight to protect the object from groups of criminals who want to seize it and use it to rule the world.

5. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)

This action film is worth watching again. Married couple Mr. & Mrs. Smith, played by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, face a crisis in their marriage. Besides that, they also hide their respective jobs that turn out to be the same: a hitman.

Unfortunately, the organizations they worked for are mutually hostile, so Mr. & Mrs. Smith must attack each other. In the end they have to choose between killing their partner for duty or protecting each other and saving their marriage.

Friday, 22 September 2017

Bird Observation: The "People's Science"

As many as 100 million people worldwide (and about 46 million in the United States alone) observe wild birds as a hobby. Much of today's interest in observing birds can be credited to a single man: the late artist and ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson. Peterson published his landmark book A Field Guide to the Birds in 1934. The book enabled untrained enthusiasts to readily identify birds from a distance, based on "field marks." These prominent features and patterns could be seen even while birds winged past overhead. Before that, most ornithologists collected specimens with a shotgun and studied the birds in their hands.


Peterson's simple system of identification initiated a revolution in backyard bird study. Instead of examining dead specimens, ornithologists began studying the day-to-day behavior of living birds. Armed with their "Peterson," amateur birders could now identify the birds they saw and could understand their behavior. Little wonder that Roger Tory Peterson's landmark field guide has sold more than 7.5 million copies. It remains the bible of modern birding.

To many enthusiasts, birding is more than just a hobby. Perhaps only in ornithology are amateurs so important to the advancement of a discipline's scientific knowledge. Each year, tens of thousands of amateur ornithologists regularly contribute to the field. They assist scientists involved in programs to study avian population shifts, breeding success, mortality, migration routes, and other crucial information.

One of the oldest of these "cooperative research" programs is the Christmas Bird Count, sponsored by the National Audubon Society. Since 1900, as many as 50,000 people per year record the total number of birds of each species they see during a specified period in late December. This information is used to monitor the changes of wintering populations throughout North America. It also helps scientists keep track of population trends.

Another Audubon Society program is the Breeding Bird Census, begun in 1937. This census tracks the number of breeding pairs of various species on study sites. The sites vary in size from 10 to 400 acres (4 to 162 hectares). About 2,000 "advanced" birders participate. Each is able to identify local species by sight and by song. They make at least eight visits to each site during the breeding season. Their observations help ornithologists understand regional population trends and habitat requirements.

One of the longest-running bird-population studies in the world is the North American Breeding Bird Survey. It occurs each spring, during the peak nesting season, and is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. About 2,500 advanced birders throughout North America participate. The volunteers each drive a 24.5-mile (39.4-kilometer) length of country road. They stop every 0.5 mile (0.8 kilometer) to record every bird they see and hear within a 0.25-mile (0.4-kilometer) radius. Since the 1960s, the Breeding Bird Survey information has provided ornithologists of the Western Hemisphere with important data about bird-population trends. Such information has aided scientists in recognizing declines of many bird species that nest in North America but migrate to Central and South America for the winter.

Several other volunteer programs are organized by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. For Cornell's Project FeederWatch, volunteers keep records of the numbers and species of birds that visit their feeders throughout the winter.

Like many other pursuits, bird-watching has embraced the Internet. In 1997, the Cornell Laboratory and the Audubon Society partnered to launch BirdSource (www.birdsource.org). This Web site provides the results of the annual Christmas Bird Count, the Breeding Bird Survey, and Project FeederWatch. The site also gives amateur birdwatchers the opportunity to report sightings during other times of the year. For instance, since 1998, BirdSource has sponsored the Great Backyard Bird Count. In this annual survey, participants count birds they see in their backyard or other areas and send in their findings.

In 2002, Cornell and Audubon launched eBird, a digital data network. The eBird network uses crowdsourcing for its data collection. Volunteer "citizen scientists" use smartphone apps to enter their field observations. Originally designed for sightings in the Western Hemisphere, the network was expanded in 2010 to cover the entire globe. From the amassed data, ornithologists have gained new insights into bird populations and movements. BirdCast—another project at the Cornell lab—combines the eBird data with weather data to forecast bird migration patterns.

Hundreds of thousands of volunteer birders throughout the world take part in these and other ornithological events. Millions of others simply take pleasure in watching chickadees, finches, and cardinals flitting through trees and landing on feeders stocked with sunflower seeds and suet. Armed with binoculars and field guides, they discover that nature is alive and well in trees, shrubs, ponds, and meadows—even in their own backyards.

28 Orders of Birds - Description and Examples | Bird Classification

What was the first bird? Which is the most advanced? What are the relationships among the thousands of species in existence today? Taxonomy, the science of classifying species of living things, helps answer these questions by grouping birds with similar traits.


The 18th-century taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus devised the classification system used today, and he established the class Aves, into which all birds are placed. Over the centuries, ornithologists have added innumerable species and modified Linnaeus' work. Today they recognize 27 living orders and one extinct order of birds divided into about 200 families containing more than 8,800 species. Closely related species within a family group share a common genus name -such as Laurus in the case of Laurus argentatus, the herring gull, and Laurus delawarensis, the ring-billed gull.

The largest order of birds, by far, is the order Passeriformes, the "perching birds," with some 60 families. Ornithologists consider the perching birds to be the most recently evolved and specialized, or advanced, species. Among the most ancient, or primitive, are the six families of flightless birds, such as ostriches and penguins. The following classification begins with the most ancient order and progresses to the diverse and successful Passeriformes.

Phylum: CHORDATA

Subphylum: VERTEBRATA: Animals with backbones

Class: AVES; Birds

1. Order ARCHAEOPTERYGIFORMES: The extinct "dawn birds," with one known family and one known species. Identified from pigeon-sized fossil about 140 million years old. In essence, a feathered, flying reptile. Example: Archaeopteryx.

2. Order STRUTHIONIFORMES: Ostriches, with one family and one species. The world's largest living bird, flightless, found in arid regions of Africa. Example: ostrich.

3. Order RHEIFORMES: Rheas, with one family and two species. Large, flightless birds, found in scrublands of South America. Example: common rhea.

4. Order CASUARIIFORMES: Cassowaries and emus, with two families and four species (one emu and three cassowaries). Large, flightless birds, found in wooded and grassy areas of Australia, New Guinea, and Indonesia. Example: double-wattled cassowary.

5. Order APTERYGIFORMES: Kiwis, with one family and three species. Small- to medium-sized, flightless birds, found in brushy habitats of New Zealand. Example: brown kiwi.

6. Order TINAMIFORMES: Tinamous, with one family and 46 species. Chickenlike ground birds, found in forests, bushlands, andgrasslands of Central and South America. Examples: great tinamou and crested tinamou.

7. Order SPHENISCIFORMES: Penguins, with one family and 18 species. Flightless marine birds with paddlelike wings, found in cold, southern oceans. Example: emperor penguin.

8. Order PODICIPEDIFORMES: Grebes, with one family and 19 species. Fast-swimming freshwater birds of Eurasia, Africa, Indonesia, and Australia. Example: little grebe.

9. Order GAVIIFORMES: Loons, with one family and five species. Freshwater and marine diving birds of the high Northern Hemisphere. Example: red-throated loon.

10. Order PROCELLARIIFORMES: Albatrosses, shearwaters, and petrels, with four families and 80 to 100 species. Birds of the open sea, with unique external, tubular nostrils. Found in all oceans. Example: wandering albatross.

11. Order PELECANIFORMES: Pelicans, gannets, boobies, tropic birds, cormorants, darters, and frigate birds, with six families and 60 species. Medium to large web-footed waterbirds, most of which eat fish. Found worldwide in freshwater and oceans. Examples: brown booby, rough-billed pelican, and anhinga.

12. Order CICONIIFORMES: Herons, storks, ibises, and flamingos, with six families and about 125 species. Storklike wading birds with long legs and unwebbed feet, many of which have long necks and pointed or down-curved beaks. Found worldwide near water. Examples: cattle egret and Japanese crested ibis.

13. Order ANSERIFORMES: Screamers, swans, geese, and ducks, with two families and about 143 species. Web-footed waterbirds. (Screamers have partially webbed feet.) Found worldwide. Example: Canada goose.

14. Order FALCONIFORMES: Birds of prey, with five families and about 300 species. Daytime hunters such as hawks, New World vultures, ospreys, falcons, and secretary birds. Found worldwide. Examples: bald eagle, red-tailed hawk, California condor, turkey vulture, and great horned owl.

15. Order GALLIFORMES: Wildfowl (also called upland game birds), with seven families and about 250 species. Includes the curassows, hoatzins, and pheasants. Adapted for living on the ground and eating seeds, with the exception of curassows and hoatzins. Found worldwide. Examples: peafowl, quail, and turkey.

16. Order GRUIFORMES: Cranes, rails, bustards, and their relatives, with 12 families and some 200 species. Diverse and ancient group of wading and ground birds, some quite rare. Found worldwide. Example: whooping crane.

17. Order CHARADRIIFORMES: Plovers, sandpipers, gulls, terns, auks, and their kin, with 15 families and some 300 species. Diverse group of water- and shorebirds, grouped together for their common skeletal traits. Found worldwide. Example: herring gull.

18. Order COLUMBIFORMES: Sandgrouse and pigeons, includes two living families with 310 species, and the extinct dodo family with three species. Typically stout, strong birds of plains and open woods, found worldwide. Example: mourning dove.

19. Order PSITTACIFORMES: Parrots, lories, and cockatoos, with three families and about 310 species. Typically brightly colored, noisy birds, with hooked beaks and zygodactyl feet (two toes pointing forward, two backward). Found in forests of Southern Hemisphere and tropics. Examples: cockatiel, lovebird, macaw.

20. Order CUCULIFORMES: Cuckoos and turacos, with two families and 146 species. Typically slender, strong-billed insect eaters with long tails and unusual arrangement of toes. Found in woodland and scrub. Examples: cuckoo and roadrunner.

21. Order STRIGIFORMES: Owls, with two families and 146 species. Nocturnal predators with large eyes, taloned feet, and powerful wings. Found worldwide. Example: barn owl.

22. Order CAPRIMULGIFORMES: Goatsuckers, frogmouths, potoos, nightjars, and their kin, with five families and 94 species. Typically nocturnal insect eaters, with mottled brown plumage. Most found in tropics. Example: whippoorwill.

23. Order APODIFORMES: Swifts and hummingbirds, with three families and about 390 species. Fast-flying, acrobatic birds with small feet. Hummingbirds include the smallest of birds, many of them brilliantly colored. Examples: palm swift and ruby-throated hummingbird.

24. Order TROGONIFORMES: Trogons, with one family and 36 species. Brilliantly colorful birds with short, stout beaks. Typically eat fruits. Nest in tree cavities. Found in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and the Americas. Example: collared trogon.

25. Order COLIIFORMES: Mouse birds, with one family and six species. Small, crested birds with short, strong bills, soft plumage loosely attached to the skin, and long tail feathers, found on African savanna. Example: speckled mouse bird.

26. Order CORACIIFORMES: Kingfishers, todies, motmots, bee-eaters, rollers, hoopoes, and hornbills, with 10 families and about 194 species. Typically colorful birds with large, strong beaks. Third and fourth toe jointed at the base. Found in forests and along shores worldwide. Examples: Eurasian kingfisher and red-billed hornbill.

27. Order PICIFORMES: Jacamars, puff-birds, honeyguides, woodpeckers, toucans, and barbets, with six families and about 390 species. Strong-billed birds with zygodactyl feet. Found in woodlands worldwide. Example: toco toucan.

28. Order PASSERIFORMES: Perching birds, with two suborders, 60 families, and about 5,000 species. Typically small birds, with unwebbed feet adapted for perching on twigs. All have 9 or 10 primary flight feathers and about 12 tail feathers. Young born naked and helpless. All sing, although vocal ability varies. Found on dry land in all habitats. This large order is generally subdivided into one large and three small suborders. The three small orders are grouped together as the suboscine, or primitive, perching birds. Their vocal organs and songs are simpler than that of the fourth and largest suborder -the oscines, or songbirds.

Thursday, 21 September 2017

A Simple Definition and Explanation of Demurrer

In a lawsuit, a demurrer is a statement by the defendant that even if everything presented by the plaintiff is true, the facts are not sufficient for the plaintiff to proceed with his case or to require the defendant to answer. The defendant then awaits the judgment of the court.


The demurrer may also allege that the court in question has no jurisdiction. In modern procedure, the demurrer has been replaced by a motion to dismiss the case. If the motion is denied by the court, the case proceeds to trial.

To avoid the time and expense of a trial, the defendant or plaintiff may make a motion for a summary judgment by the court.

This motion is based on the claim by the defendant or plaintiff that because there is no real dispute as to the salient facts in the case, these facts or issues need not be sent to a jury for its verdict.

Instead, the question of law involved can be decided by the court. If the court approves the motion, a summary judgment is rendered favoring one of the parties in the case.

Effects of Technology: Benefits and Harmful Effects


Technological progress has not touched all people in the same way. Some countries have made more use of new technology than others. And technology can have both benefits and harmful effects.

Benefits

 


Mass production has made more manufactured products available. This has made life easier for more people. Machines have reduced the labor involved in manufacturing. Robots relieve people from boring or dangerous work. Technological advances have also resulted in better medical care. This enables people to live longer and healthier lives. Improvements in agriculture have increased food supplies.

Improvements in transportation allow people to travel farther and faster than ever. Improvements in communications enable people to speak across thousands of miles. Ideas and information instantly spread around the world.

Harmful Effects


Harmful effects often accompany developments in technology. For example, the automobile has allowed faster transportation. But it has also led to many highway deaths.

Mass production and automation have eliminated jobs for many people. New jobs in high-tech industries require complex new skills. Workers without these skills must be retrained. Or they must be satisfied with lower-paying jobs.

Other changes in technology have harmed the environment. Automobiles and airplanes pollute the air. Manufacturing pollutes the air and water. Mass production uses up natural resources. And mass consumption has created huge amounts of trash.

But technology can also help solve these problems. For example, materials can be recycled. This preserves natural resources. Technology can also provide better ways to limit pollution. The challenge is to make sure that the benefits outweigh the harmful effects.

Major Developments in Technology

Developments in technology are closely linked to changes in society. Early people hunted animals and gathered wild plants for food. Stone tools made by such people about 1 million years ago provide the oldest evidence of technology. Early people also learned to use wood, bones, skins, and other natural materials. They learned to control fire. This provided the warmth needed to live in cold climates.


Some 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, people began to farm and raise livestock. This provided a more reliable food supply. People began to settle permanently in villages. They gradually learned to build houses. They began to weave fabric and make pots and baskets for storing food.

In time, the discovery of ways to make and use metals led to better tools and weapons. The development of the wheel made it easier to travel. The invention of writing brought changes in communication and knowledge.

The ancient Greeks and other Mediterranean people developed many laborsaving devices. These included the waterwheel and the pulley. The Chinese invented paper, cast iron, the wheelbarrow, gunpowder, and the compass. They had a method of block printing before A.D. 900. The use of movable type and the printing press began in Europe in the 1400s. It made books available to more people.

The Industrial Revolution began in Europe in the 1700s. It was a time of rapid change. Textiles and other goods began to be produced by machine rather than by hand. Large factories were built to house the machines. Many people moved from rural towns to cities to find work in the factories.

Factories began to use assembly-line and mass-production techniques. They produced goods faster and in greater quantities. Mass-produced items cost less. More people could afford to buy them. Today many factories are automated. That is, machines rather than people control the equipment. And computers control many kinds of complex machines.

The past one hundred years have brought an explosion of technology to every field. Technology has even allowed people to leave Earth and make use of space. And by unlocking the secrets of the nucleus of the atom, people have developed new sources of energy and powerful new weapons.

Science versus Technology, High Technology, and Technological Change

"Technology" refers to the methods people develop to satisfy their needs and wants. All people have the same basic needs. Among them are food, shelter, education, good health, and safety. Beyond these basic needs, they have wants, such as video games and cell phones.


Technology is concerned with ways of making and doing things. It touches nearly every aspect of life. It affects the foods you eat and the ways you spend your free time. Some fields have advanced rapidly because of developments in technology. These fields include agriculture, industry, medicine, transportation, and communication.

Science versus Technology


The terms "science" and "technology" are often confused. This is largely because much of modern technology is based on science. In simple terms, the concern of science is "why." The concern of technology is "how." But the relationship between the two is more complex. Some technologies depend heavily on science.

Technologies used in the electronics industry are examples. Technologies used to make items such as furniture depend much less on science. Sometimes entire sciences arise from technologies. For instance, powered flight led to aerodynamics. Primitive metalworking led to metallurgy.

What Is High Technology?


The term "high technology" describes the use of the latest scientific advances to make products and materials. It is often used in the shortened form, "high tech." Genetic engineering, robotics, and electronics are high-tech fields.

Technological Change


Over the centuries, people have greatly improved their lives through technology. Shelter has improved from caves to houses. Food supplies have increased as people have developed better ways to plant crops and raise livestock.

Some changes in technology result from earlier developments. For example, early automobiles were often uncomfortable and unsafe. New technologies were developed to solve these problems. They included ways of building better and smoother roads, better tires, and so on.

Sometimes change in one area of technology leads to change in others. Advances in military aircraft were carried over into commercial aviation. The military developed radar to spot enemy aircraft. Now it also helps control air traffic at busy airports. The pace of technological change has greatly quickened in modern times. Technology itself is largely responsible for this faster pace of change. It has brought improvements in communication, transportation, and methods of production.