Jack thought himself a basketball fan. He watched quite a lot of American NBA basketball games. Not only did he watch them, he spent much of his free time playing on the court too. Then came the final year of his middle school. All of his regular teammates stopped showing up on the court because they were simply too busy preparing for the high school entrance exam to play. He was, of course, under much stress himself, like everyone else. A good exam result meant a good high school; a mediocre score meant a mediocre school. _ . However, he loved basketball so much that he still found time to play, this time with a group of guys who were said to have skipped classes before. Some of his teachers started worrying about him. They asked his mother to go to school to let her know that Jack was hanging out with problem kids. When his mother returned home that day, she wanted to talk to Jack. Knowing the purpose of her visit to the school, Jack thought his mother would punish him for befriending those bad guys. To his surprise, his mother was not angry with him at all. She wanted to hear her son's side of the story. So Jack told his mother about what he knew of Simon and Peter. Simon's parents were badly ill; Peter's father had lost his job. They both seemed to Jack to be normal kids. Jack's mother thought for a moment, then went on to say that she was OK with her son playing with them and that she and her son should think of ways to help these kids. Soon Jack's mum introduced some part-time jobs to Simon and Peter, which they accepted. She believed in her son and cared about those who were less lucky. Jack's basketball friends and he have left for different places, but they still keep in touch. He knows Peter is now a manager of a local bank. Simon is currently a freshman at a university. Sadly, it is impossible to get together to play basketball again, but whenever they get on the phone, they talk about it all the time.

Question: What is Peter's professional role at the Local Bank?

Context: Peter is the manager of the Local Bank.


Lisbon is the capital and the largest city of Portugal, with a population of 552,700 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05Â km. Its urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits with a population of around 3 million people, being the 11th-most populous urban area in the European Union. About 3 million people live in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (which represents approximately 27% of the country's population). It is continental Europe's westernmost capital city and the only one along the Atlantic coast. Lisbon lies in the western Iberian Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean and the River Tagus. The westernmost areas of its metro area is the westernmost point of Continental Europe.

Lisbon is recognised as a alpha- level global city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Study Group because of its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, education and tourism. Lisbon is the only Portuguese city besides Porto to be recognised as a global city. It is one of the major economic centres on the continent, with a growing financial sector and one of the largest container ports on Europe's Atlantic coast. Humberto Delgado Airport serves over 20 million passengers annually, as of 2015, and the motorway network and the high-speed rail system of Alfa Pendular link the main cities of Portugal. The city is the 7th-most-visited city in Southern Europe, after Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens and Milan, with 1,740,000 tourists in 2009. The Lisbon region contributes with a higher GDP PPP per capita than any other region in Portugal. Its GDP amounts to 96.3 billion USD and thus $32,434 per capita .The city occupies 32nd place of highest gross earnings in the world. Most of the headquarters of multinationals in the country are located in the Lisbon area. It is also the political centre of the country, as its seat of Government and residence of the Head of State.

Question: How does the Lisbon Region's GDP per capita compare to that of other regions in Portugal?

Context: The Lisbon Region has a higher GDP per capita than any other region in Portugal.


There are records of fingerprints taken many centuries ago. The ancient Babylonians pressed the tips of their fingerprints into clay to record business trade. The Chinese used ink-on-paper finger impressions for business. However, fingerprinting wasn't used as a method for identifying criminals until the 19th century.

In 1858, Sir William Herschel was working as an official of the Hooghly district in Jungipoor, India.In order to reduce fraud , he had people living in the district record their fingerprints when signing business documents. A few years later, Scottish doctor Henry Faulds was working in Japan when he discovered fingerprints left by artists on ancient pieces of clay.This finding inspired him to begin investigating fingerprints.In 1880, Faulds wrote to his cousin, the famous naturalist Charles Darwin, and asked for help with developing a fingerprint classification system.Darwin refused, but sent the letter to his cousin, Sir Francis Gallon, who was an eugenicist . Gallon began collecting fingerprints and eventually gathered some 8, 000 different samples to analyze. In 1892, he published a book called "Fingerprints", in which he outlined a fingerprint classification system--the first existence.

Around the same time, Juan Vucetich, a police officer in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was developing his own version of a fingerprinting system.In 1892, Vucetich was called in to assist with the investigation of the two boys murdered in Necoche, a village near Buenos Aires. Their mother, Francisca Rojas, accused a neighbour named Velasquez. But when Vucetich compared the fingerprints found at the murder scene to those of both Velasquez and Rojas, _ matched Rojas' exactly.She admitted her crime. This was the first time fingerprints had been used in a criminal investigation.Vucetich called his system comparative dactyloscopy . It's still used in many Spanish-speaking countries.

Sir Edward Henry, in charge of the Metropolitan Police of London, soon became interested in using fingerprints to catch criminals. In 1896, he added to Gallon's technique, creating his own classification system, the Henry Classification System. It is the primary method of fingerprint classification throughout most of the world.

Question: In which group of countries is the method of Comparative Dactyloscopy used?

Context: Comparative Dactyloscopy is used in Spanish-speaking countries.


Did you ever wonder who invented products like Liquid Paper, Kevlar or paper bags? Most would think a man invented these items. Guess what? Women invented each of these. What? You don't believe me? Well, read this:

Liquid Paper was invented by Bette Nesmith Graham in 1951 and originally called Mistake Out. Being a typist, Bette was increasingly _ with being unable to erase her typing mistakes. The messy business left her hands black and the paper dirty. Bette was good at painting and remembered that an artist paints over mistakes. She applied that same principle to typing mistakes and Liquid Paper was born, making Bette into a self-made millionaire.

Kevlar, yes, the Kevlar of the bullet proof vest --what police officers and soldiers wear, was invented by Stephanie Kwolek. Stephanie worked for the DuPont Company as a research chemist. She was asked to find a high-performance fiber. Originally, this fiber was intended to be used for car tires . However, the fiber she developed in 1964 was amazing and is still used in products such as sailboats, skis, shoes, and yes, bullet proof vests. In 1995 Stephanie was named to the National Inventor's Hall of Fame.

Margaret Knight invented a machine that revolutionized the making of paper bags. Paper bags had been made like envelopes but Margaret developed a machine that would fold and paste a flat-bottom paper bag, the very same type we still use today. Margaret's family was poor and she started working at the age of nine. Her first invention at the age of twelve was a safety tool for a loom . Later she worked for the Columbia Paper Bag Company. It was there that she worked on improving the making of paper bags. She was issued her patent in 1870.

So next time you use a new product or an old one, will you wonder who made it? Do some research on the web and answer a few questions like: Who invented it? How was it invented? You may be surprised at some of the stories you uncover.

Question: What did she invent?

Context: Bette Nesmith Graham invented Liquid Paper. Stephanie Kwolek invented Kevlar.

(Bette Nesmith Graham)-[invented]->(Liquid Paper) || (Stephanie Kwolek)-[invented]->(Kevlar)


Colleges taking another look at value of merit-based aid

Good grades and high tests scores still matter--a lot--to many colleges as they award financial aid.

But with low-income students projected to make up an ever-larger share of the college-bound population in coming years, some schools are re-examining whether that aid, typically known as "merit aid", is the most effective use of precious institutional dollars.

George Washington University in Washington, D.C., for example, said last week that it would cut the value of its average merit scholarships by about one-third and reduce the number of recipients , pouring the savings, about $2.5 million, into need-based aid. Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., made a similar decision three years ago.

Now, Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., says it will phase out merit scholarships altogether. No current merit-aid recipients will lose their scholarships, but need-based aid alone will be awarded beginning with students entering in fall 2008.

Not all colleges offer merit aid; generally, the more selective a school, the less likely it is to do so. Harvard and Princeton, for example, offer generous need-based packages, but many families who don't meet need eligibility have been willing to pay whatever they must for a big-name school.

For small regional colleges that struggle just to fill seats, merit aid can be an important revenue-builder because many recipients still pay enough tuition dollars over and above the scholarship amount to keep the institution running.

But for rankings-conscious schools in between, merit aid has served primarily as a tool to recruit top students and to improve their academic profits. "They're trying to buy students," says Skidmore College economist Sandy Baum.

Studies show merit aid also tends to benefit disproportionately students who could afford to enroll without it.

"As we look to the future, we see a more pressing need to invest in need-based aid," says Monica Inzer, dean of admission and financial aid at Hamilton, which has offered merit scholarships for 10 years. During that time, it rose in US News & World Report's ranking of the best liberal arts colleges, from 25 to 17.

Merit aid, which benefited about 75 students a year, or about 4% of its student body, at a cost of about $ 1 million a year, "served us well," Inzer says, but "to be discounting the price for families that don't need financial aid doesn't feel right any more."

Need-based aid remains by far the largest share of all student aid, which includes state, federal and institutional grants. But merit aid, offered primarily by schools and states, is growing faster, both overall and at the institutional level.

Between 1995-96 and 2003-04, institutional merit aid alone increased 212%, compared with 47% for need-based grants. At least 15 states also offer merit aid, typically in a bid to enroll top students in the state's public institutions.

But in recent years, a growing chorus of critics has begun pressuring schools to drop the practice. Recent decisions by Hamilton and others may be "a sign that people are starting to realize that there's this destructive competition going on," says Baum, co-author of a recent College Report that raises concerns about the role of institutional aid not based on need.

David Laird, president of the Minnesota Private College Council, says many of his schools would like to reduce their merit aid but fear that in doing so, they would lose top students to their competitors.

"No one can take one-sided action," says Laird, who is exploring whether to seek an exemption from federal anti-trust laws so member colleges can discuss how they could jointly reduce merit aid, "This is a merry-go-round that's going very fast, and none of the institutions believe they can sustain the risks of trying to break away by themselves."

A complicating factor is that merit aid has become so popular with middle-income families, who don't qualify for need-based aid, that many have come to depend on it. And, as tuitions continue to increase, the line between merit and need blurs.

That's one reason Allegheny College doesn't plan to drop merit aid entirely.

"We still believe in rewarding superior achievements and know that these top students truly value the scholarship," says Scott Friedhoff, Allegheny's vice president for enrollment.

Emory University in Atlanta, which boasts a $4.7 billion endowment , meanwhile, is taking another approach. This year, it announced it would eliminate loans for needy students and cap them for middle-income families. At the same time, it would expand its 28-year-old merit program.

"Yeah, we're playing the merit game," acknowledges Tom Lancaster, associate dean for undergraduate education. But it has its strong point, too, he says. "The fact of the matter is, it's not just about the lowest-income people. It's the average American middle-class family who's being priced out of the market."

A few words about merit-based aid:

Merit-based aid is aid offered to students who achieve excellence in a given area, and is generally known as academic, athletic and artistic merit scholarships.

Academic merit scholarships are based on students' grades, GPA and overall academic performance during high school. They are typically meant for students going straight to college right after high school. However, there are scholarships for current college students with exceptional grades as well. These merit scholarships usually help students pay tuition bills, and they can be renewed each year as long as the recipients continue to qualify. In some cases, students may need to be recommended by their school or a teacher as part of the qualification process.

Athletic merit scholarships are meant for students that excel in sports of any kind, from football to track and field events. Recommendation for these scholarships is required, since exceptional athletic performance has to be recognized by a coach or a referee . Applicants need to send in a tape containing their best performance.

Artistic merit scholarships require that applicants excel in a given artistic area. This generally includes any creative field such as art, design, fashion, music, dance or writing. Applying for artistic merit scholarships usually requires that students submit a portfolio of some sort, whether that includes a collection of artwork, a recording of a musical performance or a video of them dancing.

Question: What is their occupation?

Context: Sandy Baum has the occupation of Economist. Monica Inzer has the occupation of Dean Of Admission And Financial Aid. David Laird has the occupation of President. Scott Friedhoff has the occupation of Vice President For Enrollment. Tom Lancaster has the occupation of Associate Dean For Undergraduate Education.

(Sandy Baum)-[has occupation]->(Economist) || (Monica Inzer)-[has occupation]->(Dean Of Admission And Financial Aid) || (David Laird)-[has occupation]->(President) || (Scott Friedhoff)-[has occupation]->(Vice President For Enrollment) || (Tom Lancaster)-[has occupation]->(Associate Dean For Undergraduate Education)


Something roared like thunder. The earth shook a little and we heard the rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire. "Father!" Hassan cried. We sprung to our feet and raced out of the living room.

"Father! What's that sound? Hassan screamed, his hands outstretched toward Ali. Ali wrapped his arms around us. A white light flashed and lit the sky in silver. It flashed again and was followed by rapid sharp sounds of gunfire. "They're hunting ducks." Ali said in a hoarse voice. "They hunt ducks at night, you know." Don't be afraid.

A siren went off in the distance. Somewhere glass broke and someone shouted. I heard people on the street, jolted from sleep and probably still in their pajamas, with ruffled hair and puffy eyes. Hassan was crying. Ali pulled him close, clutched him with tenderness.

We stayed huddled that way until the early hours of the morning. The shootings and explosions had lasted less than an hour, but they had frightened us badly, because none of us had ever heard gunshots in the streets. They were foreign sounds to us then. The generation of Afghan children whose ears would know nothing but the sounds of bombs and gunfire was not yet born. Huddled together in the dining room and waiting for the sun to rise, none of us had any notion that a way of life had ended. The end came when Russian tanks were rolling into the very same streets where Hassan and I played, bringing the death of the Afghanistan I knew and marking the start of a still ongoing era of bloodletting.

Just before sunrise, Baba's car peeled into the driveway. His door slammed shut and his running footsteps pounded the stairs. Then he appeared in the doorway and I saw something on his face. Something I didn't recognize right away because I'd never seen it before: fear. "Amir! Hassan!" He cried as he ran to us, opening his arms wide. "They blocked all the roads and the telephone didn't work. I was so worried!"

We let him wrap us in his arms and, for a brief moment, I was glad about whatever had happened that night.

Question: Who is he the son of?

Context: Amir is the son of Baba. Hassan is the son of Ali.

(Amir)-[son of]->(Baba) || (Hassan)-[son of]->(Ali)


UniProt is a freely accessible database of protein sequence and functional information, many entries being derived from genome sequencing projects. It contains a large amount of information about the biological function of proteins derived from the research literature.

The UniProt consortium comprises the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), and the Protein Information Resource (PIR). EBI, located at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus in Hinxton, UK, hosts a large resource of bioinformatics databases and services. SIB, located in Geneva, Switzerland, maintains the ExPASy (Expert Protein Analysis System) servers that are a central resource for proteomics tools and databases. PIR, hosted by the National Biomedical Research Foundation (NBRF) at the Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, DC, USA, is heir to the oldest protein sequence database, Margaret Dayhoff's Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure, first published in 1965. In 2002, EBI, SIB, and PIR joined forces as the UniProt consortium.

Each consortium member is heavily involved in protein database maintenance and annotation. Until recently, EBI and SIB together produced the Swiss-Prot and TrEMBL databases, while PIR produced the Protein Sequence Database (PIR-PSD). These databases coexisted with differing protein sequence coverage and annotation priorities.

Swiss-Prot was created in 1986 by Amos Bairoch during his PhD and developed by the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and subsequently developed by Rolf Apweiler at the European Bioinformatics Institute. Swiss-Prot aimed to provide reliable protein sequences associated with a high level of annotation (such as the description of the function of a protein, its domain structure, post-translational modifications, variants, etc.), a minimal level of redundancy and high level of integration with other databases. Recognizing that sequence data were being generated at a pace exceeding Swiss-Prot's ability to keep up, TrEMBL (Translated EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Data Library) was created to provide automated annotations for those proteins not in Swiss-Prot. Meanwhile, PIR maintained the PIR-PSD and related databases, including iProClass, a database of protein sequences and curated families.

Question: What does it maintain?

Context: Swiss Institute Of Bioinformatics maintains Expasy. Protein Information Resource maintains Iproclass.

(Swiss Institute Of Bioinformatics)-[maintains]->(Expasy) || (Protein Information Resource)-[maintains]->(Iproclass)


IGN (formerly Imagine Games Network) is an American video game and entertainment media company operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis and wholly owned by j2 Global. The company is located in San Francisco's SOMA district in California, United States, and is headed by its former editor-in-chief, Peer Schneider. The IGN website was the brainchild of media entrepreneur Chris Anderson and launched on September 29, 1996. It focuses on games, films, television, comics, technology, and other media. Originally a network of desktop websites, IGN is now distributed on mobile platforms, console programs on the Xbox and PlayStation, FireTV, Roku, and via YouTube, Twitch, Hulu, and Snapchat.

Originally, IGN was the flagship property of the parent company IGN Entertainment, which owned and operated several other websites oriented towards players' interests, games, and entertainment, such as Rotten Tomatoes, GameSpy, "GameStats", "VE3D", TeamXbox, Vault Network, FilePlanet, and AskMen, among others. IGN was sold to publishing company Ziff Davis in February 2013 and now operates as a J2 Global subsidiary.

Created in September 1996 as the "Imagine Games Network", the IGN content network was founded by publishing executive Jonathan Simpson-Bint and began as five individual websites within Imagine Media: N64.com (later renamed ign64.com), PSXPower, Saturnworld, Next-Generation.com and Ultra Game Players Online. Imagine expanded on its owned-and-operated websites by creating an affiliate network that included a number of independent fansites such as PSX Nation.com, Sega-Saturn.com, Game Sages, and GameFAQs. In 1998, the network launched a new homepage that consolidated the individual sites as system "channels" under the IGN brand. The homepage exposed content from more than 30 different channels. Next-Generation and Ultra Game Players Online were not part of this consolidation; U.G.P.O. dissolved with the cancellation of the magazine, and Next-Generation was put "on hold" when Imagine decided to concentrate on launching the short-lived Daily Radar brand.

Question: What was IGN's previous name before its rebranding?

Context: IGN was formerly known as Imagine Games Network.


Chapter 61

Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day on which Mrs. Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters. With what delighted pride she afterwards visited Mrs. Bingley, and talked of Mrs. Darcy, may be guessed. I wish I could say, for the sake of her family, that the accomplishment of her earnest desire in the establishment of so many of her children produced so happy an effect as to make her a sensible, amiable, well-informed woman for the rest of her life; though perhaps it was lucky for her husband, who might not have relished domestic felicity in so unusual a form, that she still was occasionally nervous and invariably silly.

Mr. Bennet missed his second daughter exceedingly; his affection for her drew him oftener from home than anything else could do. He delighted in going to Pemberley, especially when he was least expected.

Mr. Bingley and Jane remained at Netherfield only a twelvemonth. So near a vicinity to her mother and Meryton relations was not desirable even to _his_ easy temper, or _her_ affectionate heart. The darling wish of his sisters was then gratified; he bought an estate in a neighbouring county to Derbyshire, and Jane and Elizabeth, in addition to every other source of happiness, were within thirty miles of each other.

Kitty, to her very material advantage, spent the chief of her time with her two elder sisters. In society so superior to what she had generally known, her improvement was great. She was not of so ungovernable a temper as Lydia; and, removed from the influence of Lydia's example, she became, by proper attention and management, less irritable, less ignorant, and less insipid. From the further disadvantage of Lydia's society she was of course carefully kept, and though Mrs. Wickham frequently invited her to come and stay with her, with the promise of balls and young men, her father would never consent to her going.

Question: Who did they visit?

Context: Mrs. Bennet visited Jane Bingley. Mr. Bennet visited Pemberley.

(Mrs. Bennet)-[visited]->(Jane Bingley) || (Mr. Bennet)-[visited]->(Pemberley)


(CNN)Thousands gathered in Riyadh on Friday to say farewell to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud, a cautious reformer who succeeded in securing broader freedoms in the conservative kingdom, but fell short in gaining greater independence for women.

Abdullah died early Friday, several weeks after the state-run Saudi Press Agency said he was suffering from pneumonia and had been admitted to a hospital. The royal court didn't release an exact cause of death. He was 90.

To ensure a smooth transition, the kingdom quickly appointed his 79-year-old half-brother, Salman bin Abdulaziz, to the throne. His half-brother Prince Muqrin, a decade younger, is the new crown prince.

Who is Salman bin Abdulaziz?

After Friday afternoon prayers at Riyadh's Imam Turki Bin Abdullah Grand Mosque, the body of Abdullah, wrapped in a pale shroud, was carried from the mosque toward a cemetery, followed by a solemn procession of Saudi men in traditional dress.

He was later laid to rest after a simple, swift ceremony. Those present at the graveside -- the royals closest to the late king -- were then to move on to a royal palace, where they were to pay their respects to the new monarch.

The ceremony of "al Bayaah," or pledging of allegiance to the new king, followed the funeral.

Condolences and remembrances poured in from all corners of the globe.

"To God we belong and indeed to him we shall return," said the homepage of the English-language Saudi newspaper Arab News.

Bahrain, Jordan and the Palestinian territories, among others, declared days of mourning. The U.N. secretary-general praised Abdullah for his Arab Peace Initiative to end the Arab-Israeli conflict. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said he would lead a delegation "in the coming days" to pay respects.

Question: Who is he a half brother of?

Context: Salman Bin Abdulaziz is the half brother of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Prince Muqrin is the half brother of Salman Bin Abdulaziz.

(Salman Bin Abdulaziz)-[half brother of]->(King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud) || (Prince Muqrin)-[half brother of]->(Salman Bin Abdulaziz)


Today, bicycles are elegantly simple machines that are common around the world. Many people ride bicycles for recreation, whereas others use them as a means of transportation. The first bicycle was invented in Germany in 1818. Because it was made of wood, it wasn't very strong nor did it have pedals .Riders moved it by pushing their feet against the ground.

In 1839, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, a Scottish blacksmith, invented a much better bicycle. Macmillan's machine had iron-covered wheels to keep them from getting worn down. He also used foot-operated levers, similar to pedals, so his bicycle could be ridden at a quick pace. It didn't look much like the modem bicycle, though, because its back wheel was substantially larger than its front wheel. Although Macmillan's bicycles could be ridden easily, they were never produced in large numbers.

In 1861, Frenchman Pierre Michaux and his brother Ernest invented a bicycle with an improved pedal mechanism. They called their bicycle a velocipede,but most people called it a "bone shaker" because of the effect of the wood and iron frame. Despite the impolite nickname, the velocipede was a hit. After a few years, the Michaux family was making hundreds of the machines annually, mostly for fun-seeking young people.

Ten years later, James Starley , an English inventor, made several innovations that revolutionized bicycle design. He made the front wheel many times larger than the back wheel, put a gear on the pedals to make the bicycle more efficient,and lightened the wheels by using wire spokes. Although this bicycle was much lighter and less tiring to ride, it was still clumsy, extremely top-heavy,and ridden mostly for entertainment.

It wasn't until 1874 that the first truly modern bicycle appeared on the scene. Invented by another Englishman, H. J. Lawson, the safety bicycle would look familiar to today's cyclists. The safety bicycle had equal-sized wheels, which made it easier to ride. Lawson also attached a chain to the pedals to drive the back wheel. By 1893,the safety bicycle had been further improved with air-filled rubber tires, a diamond-shaped frame, and easy braking. With the improvements provided by Lawson;bicycles became extremely popular and useful for transportation. Today, they are built, used, and enjoyed all over the world.

Question: What was his occupation?

Context: James Starley was an Inventor. Kirkpatrick Macmillan was a Blacksmith.

(James Starley)-[has occupation]->(Inventor) || (Kirkpatrick Macmillan)-[has occupation]->(Blacksmith)


(CNN) -- Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, who embodied a vanishing breed of liberal Republicanism before switching to the Democratic Party at the twilight of his political career, died Sunday after a long battle with cancer, his family announced.

Specter died of complications from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at his home in Philadelphia, his family said. He was 82.

The veteran Pennsylvania politician had overcome numerous serious illnesses over the past two decades, including a brain tumor. He had been in the public eye since serving as a member of the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Specter was elected to the Senate in 1980 and represented Pennsylvania for 30 years, longer than anyone in the state's history. His politically moderate image fit hand-in-glove in the politically blue Northeast, both with its Democratic centrists and its liberal Republicans.

He was also one of America's most prominent Jewish politicians, a rare Republican in a category dominated by Democrats over the decades. And his name is synonymous with Pennsylvania, an idiosyncratic state that pushes and pulls between the two parties, and his home, the staunchly Democratic city of Philadelphia.

In 2006, Philadelphia magazine called him "one of the few true wild cards of Washington politics ... reviled by those on both the right and the left."

"Charming and churlish, brilliant and pedantic, he can be fiercely independent, entertainingly eccentric and simply maddening," the profile read.

Former Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat, called Specter "a mentor, colleague and a political institution" who "did more for the people of Pennsylvania over his more than 30-year career with the possible exception of Benjamin Franklin." And Pat Toomey, the Republican who now holds Specter's old Senate seat, praised him as "a man of sharp intelligence and dogged determination."

Question: Which political party is he a member of?

Context: Ed Rendell is a member of the Democratic Party. Pat Toomey is a member of the Republican Party.

(Ed Rendell)-[is member of]->(Democratic Party) || (Pat Toomey)-[is member of]->(Republican Party)


Christopher Columbus ( ; 20 May 1506) was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer. Born in the Republic of Genoa, under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. Those voyages and his efforts to establish settlements on the island of Hispaniola initiated the permanent European colonization of the New World.

At a time when European kingdoms were beginning to establish new trade routes and colonies, motivated by imperialism and economic competition, Columbus proposed to reach the East Indies (South and Southeast Asia) by sailing westward. This eventually received the support of the Spanish Crown, which saw a chance to enter the spice trade with Asia through this new route. During his first voyage in 1492, he reached the New World instead of arriving in Japan as he had intended, landing on an island in the Bahamas archipelago that he named San Salvador. Over the course of three more voyages, he visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles, as well as the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Central America, claiming all of it for the Crown of Castile.

Columbus was not the first European explorer to reach the Americas, having been preceded by the Viking expedition led by Leif Erikson in the 11th century, but his voyages led to the first lasting European contact with the Americas, inaugurating a period of exploration, conquest, and colonization that lasted several centuries. These voyages thus had an enormous effect on the historical development of the modern Western world. He spearheaded the transatlantic slave trade and has been accused by several historians of initiating the genocide of the Hispaniola natives. Columbus himself saw his accomplishments primarily in the light of spreading the Christian religion.

Question: Who sponsored Christopher Columbus's voyages?

Context: The Catholic Monarchs of Spain sponsored Christopher Columbus's voyages.

(Christopher Columbus)-[SPONSORED_BY]->(Catholic Monarchs Of Spain)


According to Pete Singer, a researcher who wrote a number of books on the military, active involvement of robots in battles could worsen warfare by making machines do all the dirty work for humans. He says that humanity is currently at point of breakthrough in war, like the discovery of the atomic bomb. "What does it mean to go to war with US soldiers whose hardware is made in China and whose software is made in India?" The research predicts that by 2015 American soldiers will be half robots, half humans. It is worth mentioning that attack drones and bomb-handling robots are just some of the devices that armies use in battles. Besides having no mercy in battle, robots, in contrast to humans, also cut off living soldiers from horrors. "The United States is ahead in military robots, but in technology there is no such thing as a permanent advantage," Mr. Singer said, adding that currently Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran are working on the development of military robots as well. The researcher mentioned that robotics is something terrorists can take advantage of as well. "You don't have to make robots believe they are going to get 7 million dollars when they die to get them to blow themselves up," he said. In addition, Mr. Singer mentioned that military robots feature cameras that record everything a machine sees, providing digital video that is uploaded on You Tubein graphic clips, which soldiers call "war porn". "It turns war into entertainment, sometimes set to music. The ability to watch more but experience less," he said. David Hansco, who is a robotics designer, creates robots that have more features of a human. For example, his robots feature synthetic flesh faces and have the ability to read human facial expressions and copy them. The engineer states that the main idea is to create robots that can show empathy .

Question: What subject did Pete Singer write books on?

Context: Pete Singer wrote books on the military.


In December,2010,many American newspapers publish a list of the best books of the year. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen is one of the most repeatedly praised books on this year's list of favorites. It tells about the ups and downs of the Berglund family over many years. Mr.Franzen fills the book with sharp observations about American politics, culture and society.

Jennifer Egan's book A Visit from the Goon Squad takes place in 13 chapters over 40 years. The story moves back and forth in time,from different viewpoints. One main character is former rock musician Bennie Salazar who works for a record company. The other main character is a troubled young woman named Sasha who works for Bennie. The reader learns about their pasts and those of their friends.

The main character in The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman is a failing English Language newspaper published in Rome,Italy. Each chapter of the book tells about a reporter or editor working for this paper. Their stories are filled with intelligence and great personality.

Two of the most popular nonfiction books of 2010 were about rock and roll stars. Just Kids is by rock singer Patti Smith. It tells about her friendship with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe in the 1960s and 1970s before they became famous. Life is the autobiography of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. It is an honest and exciting look at the development of rock and roll and the wild times this famous band has experienced.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand tells about a man named Louis Zamperini. She tells about his extraordinary survival story after his plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean during Would War Two.

Stacy Schiff has received great praise for her book Cleopatra: A Life. It tells about one of the most misrepresented and famous women in his story, Cleopatra. She ruled ancient Egypt about 2,000 years ago. One critic said Ms. Schiff has brought Cleopatra to life again by unearthing her story from centuries of lies.

Question: During which major historical conflict did Louis Zamperini survive a plane crash?

Context: Louis Zamperini survived a plane crash during World War Two.

(Louis Zamperini)-[SURVIVED_PLANE_CRASH_DURING]->(World War Two)