The Curious Case of Benjamin Button...

 

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 American fantasy romantic drama film directed by David Fincher. The storyline by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord is loosely based on the 1922 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The film starts Brad Pitt as a man who ages in reverse and Cate Blanchett as the love interest throughout his life. 

The film also stars Taraji P. Henson, Mahershala Ali, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas and Tilda Swinton. Producer Ray Stark bought the film rights to do the short story in the mid-1980s with Universal Pictures backing the film, but struggled to get the project off the ground until he sold the rights to producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in the 1990s.

Alghough it was moved to Paramount Pictures in the 1990s, the film did not enter production until after Fincher and Pitt signed on along with the rest of the cast in 2005. Principal photography began in November 2006 and wrapped up in September 2007. Digital Domain worked on the visual effects of the film, particularly in the process of the metamorphosis of Pitt's character.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was released in North America on December 25, 2008 to positive reviews from critics, who praised Fincher's directing, Pitt's performance, production values, and visual effects. The film was a box office success, grossing 335.8 million dollars worldwide against its 167 million dollars budget. 

The film received thirteen Academy Award nominations, the most of the 81st Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Fincher, Best Actor for Pitt, and Best Supporting Actress for Taraji P. Henson, and won three, for Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects. About the plot we have to tell, in August 2005, Daisy Fuller is on her deathbed in a New Orleans hospital as Hurricane Katrina approaches.

She tells her daughter Caroline, about blind clockmaker Mr. Gateau, hired to make a clock for a train station in 1918. When it was unveiled, the public was surprised to see it running backwards. She reveals that Mr. Gateau made it as a memorial for those who lost their sons in World War I, including his own son. Daisy then asks Caroline to read aloud from Benjamin Button's diary.

On the evening of November 11, 1918, a boy is born with the appearance and maladies of an elderly man. His mother, Caroline, dies soon after childbirth and his father, Thomas Button, abandons the infant on the porch of a nursing home. Caretaker Queenie and cook Mr. Tizzy Weathers find the baby, and she raises him as her own, naming him Benjamin. 

As the years pass, Benjamin physically blends in with the elderly residents but has the mind and curiosities of a child. He eventually transitions from a wheelchair to crutches and learns to walk. He befriends visiting African Pygmy named Oti, who teaches him to look beyond the physical, and resident Mrs. Maple, who teaches him to play de piano. 

On Thanksgiving 1930, Benjamin meets seven-year-old Daisy, whose grandmother lives in the nursing home and they connect instantly. Later, he accepts work on the tugboat Chelsea captained by Mike Clark. Thomas Button introduces himself to Benjamin, but does not reveal his true identity. In Autumn 1936, Benjamin leaves for a long-term work engagement with the tugboat crew and travels around the world...

Black hole

 

A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, no particles or even electromagnetic radiation such as light, can escape from it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can deform spacetime to form a black hole. The boundary of no escape is called the event horizon.

Although it has a great effect on the fate and circumstances of an object crossing it, it has no locally detectable features according to general relativity. In many ways, a black hole acts like an ideal black body, as it reflects no light. Moreover, quantum field theory in curved spacetime predicts that event horizonts emit Hawking radiation, with the same spectrum as a black body of a temperature inversely proportional to its mass.

This temperature is of the order of billionths of a kelvin for stellar black holes, making it essentially impossible to observe directly. Objects whose gravitational fields are too strong for light to escape were first considered in the 18th century by John Michell and Pierre-Simon Laplace. In 1916, Karl Schawarzschild found the first modern solution of general relativity that would characterize a black hole.

David Finkelstein, in 1958, first published the interpretation of "black hole" as a region of space from which nothing can escape. Black holes were long considered a mathematical curiosity; it was not until the 1960s that theoretical work showed they were a generic prediction of general relativity. The discovery of neutron stars by Jocelyn Bell Burnell in 1967 sparked interest in gravitationally collapsed compact objects as a possible astrophysical reality.

The first black hole known was Cygnus X-1, identified by serveral researchers independently in 1971. Black holes of stellar mass form when massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle. After a black hole has formed, it can grow by absorbing mass from its surroundings. Supermassive black holes of millions of solar masses may form by absorbing other stars and merging with other black holes.

There is consensus that supermassive black holes exist in the centres of most galaxies. The presence of a black hole can be inferred through its interaction with other matter and with electromagnetic radiation such as visible light. Any matter that falls onto a black hole can form an external accretion disk heated by friction, forming quasars, some of the brightest objects in the universe.

Stars passing too close to a supermassive black hole can be shredded into streamers that shine very brightly before being "swallowed". If other stars are orbiting a black hole, their orbits can determine the black hole's mass and location. Such observations can be used to exclude possible alternatives such as neutron stars. In this way, astronomers have identified numerous stellar black hole candidates in binary systems and established that the radio source known as Sagittarius A, at the core of the Milky Way galaxy, contains a supermassive black hole of about 4.3 million solar masses.

The Bear

 

Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere and partially in the Southern Hemisphere. Bears are found on the continents of North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Common characteristics of modern bears include large bodies with stocky legs, long snouts, small rounded ears, shaggy hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and short tails.

While the polar bear is mostly carnivorous, and the giant panda feeds almost entirely on bamboo, the remaining six species are omnivorous with varied diets. With the exception of courting individuals and mothers with their young, bears are typically solitary animals. They may be diurnal or nocturnal and have an excellent sense of smell. Despite their heavy build and awkward gait, they are adept runners, climbers, and swimmers.

Bears use shelters, such as caves and logs, as their dens; most species occupy their dens during the winter for a long period of hibernation, up to 100 days. Bears have been hunted since prehistoric times for their meat and fur; they have been used for bear-baiting and other forms of entertainment, such as being made to dance. With their powerful physical presence, they play a prominent role in the arts, mythology, and other cultural aspects of various human societies.

In modern times, bears have come under pressure through encroachment on their habitats and illegal trade in bear parts, including the Asian bile bear market. The IUCN lists six bear species as vulnerable or endangered, and even least concern species, such as the brown bear, are at risk of extirpation in certain countries. The poaching and international trade of these most threatened populations are prohibited, but still ongoing.

Castling

 

Castling is a move in the game of chess in which a player moves the king two squares toward a rook on the same rank and moves the rook to the square that the king has crossed. It is the only move in chess in which a player moves two pieces in the same move. 

Castling may be done only if neither the king nor the rook has previously moved, the squares between the king and the rook are unoccupied, the king is not in check, and the king does not cross over or end up on a square attacked by an opposing piece. 

Castling with the king's rook is known as castling kingside or castling short, and castling with the queen's rook is known as castling queenside or castling long; here, short and long refer to the distance the rook moves. The notation for castling, in both the algegraic and descriptive systems, is 0-0 for castling kingside and 0-0-0 for castling queenside.

Castling originates from the king's leap, a two-square king move added to European chess between the 14th and 15th centuries form in the 17th century; however, local variations in castling rules were common, persisting in Italy until the late 19th century. Asian games of the chess family, such as shogi, xianggi, and janggi, but it is commonly included in variants of Western chess.

When castling, the king is transferred two squares toward a rook of the same color on the same rank, and the rook transferred to the square crossed by the king. There are two forms of castling:

- Kingside castling (castling short) consists of placing the king on the king's knight's square (g1 for white and g8 for black) and the rook on the king's bishop's square (f1 for white and f8 for black).

- Queenside castling (castling long) consists of placing the king on the queen's bishop's square (c1 for white and c8 for black) and the rook on the queen's square (d1 for white and d8 for black).

Castling is permissible provided all of the following conditions hold:

- Neither the king nor the rook has previously moved.

- There are no pieces between the king and the rook.

- The king is not currently in check.

- The king does not pass through a square that is attacked by an opposing piece.

- The king does not end up in check. (True of any legal move.)

Classical Athens

 

The city of Athens or Athina, during the classical period of ancient Greece (480-323 BC), was the major urban centre of the notable polis (city-state) of the same name, located in Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Isagoras. 

This system remained remarkably stable, and with a few brief interruptions remained in place for 180 years, until 322 BC (aftermath of Lamian War). The peak of Athenian hegemony was achieved in the 440s to 430s BC, known as the Age of Pericles. In the classical period, Athens was a centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum, Athens was also the birthplace of Socrates, Plato, Pericles, Aristophanes, Sophocles, and many other prominent philosophers, writers and politicians of the ancient world.

It is widely referred to as the cradle of Western Civilization, and the birthplace of democracy, largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then-known European continent. Hippias, son of Peisistratus, had ruled Athens jointly with his brother, Hipparchus, from the death of Peisistratus in about 527. 

Following the assassination of Hipparchus in about 514, Hippias took on sole rule, and in response to the loss of his brother, became a worse leader who was increasingly disliked. Hippias exiled 700 of the Athenian noble families, amongst them Cleisthenes' family, the Alchmaeonids. Upon their exile, they went to Delphi, and Herodotus says they bribed the Pythia always to tell visiting Spartans that they should invade Attica and overthrow Hippias.

That supposedly worked after a number of times, and Cleomenes led a Spartan force to overthrow Hippias, which succeded, adn instated an oligarchy. Cleisthenes disliked the Spartan rule, along with many other Athenians, and so made his own bid for power. The result was democracy in Athens, but considering Cleisthenes' motivation for using the people to gain power, as without their support, he would have been defeated, and so Athenian democracy may be tainted by the fact its creation served greatly the man who created it. 

The reforms of Cleisthenes replaced the traditional four Ionic "tribes" (phyle) with ten new ones, named after legendary heroes of Greece and having no class basis, which acted as electorates. Each tribe was in turn divided into three trittyes (one from the coast; one from the city and one from the inland divisions), while each trittys had one or more demes, depending on their population, which became the basis of local government.

The tribes each selected fifty members by lot for the Boule, the council that governed Athens on a day-to-day basis. The public opinion of voters could be influenced by the political satires written by the comic poets and performed in the city theaters. The Assembly of Ecclesia was open to all full citizens and was both a legislature and a supreme court, except in murder cases and religious matters, which became the only remaining functions of the Aeropagus.

Most offices were filled by lot, although the ten strategoi (generals) were elected. The silver mines of Laurion contributed significantly to the development of Athens in the 5th century BC, when the Athenians learned to prospect, treat, and refine the ore and used the proceeds to build a massive fleet, at the instigation of Themistocles. In 499 BC, Athens sent troops to aid the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor, who were rebelling against the Persian Empire.

The Last Kingdom (Netflix)

The Last Kingdom is a British historical fiction television series based on Bernard Cornwell's "The Saxon Stories" series of novels. It premiered in 2015 on BBC America, BBC Two and later in 2018 on Netflix. About the plot we could say that in the year 866, the Great Heathen Army's is a fact and they arrival in Britain. The relationship between Vikings and Anglo-Saxons could be interesting. Following establishment of Danish rule in Jórvic and East Anglia, the show largely focuses on the resistance of the Kingdom of Wessex to ongoing Viking incursions to Southern England.

The story covers about 40-45 years by the end of season 4. Season 1 covers the years 866-878, season 2 from 878 o 886, season 3 from 893 to 900, and season 4 takes place about 901 to 912. The protagonist (named osbert in childhood) is re-baptised as Uhtred after his elder brother Uhtred is killed by the Danes; his father, along with other Saxon noblemen of Northumbria, are killed in battle against the Danes. Only his uncle and step-mother survive. Uhtred a Saxon girl named Brida are taken as slaves by Earl Ragnar to his home in Danish Northumbria. 

Time passes, and Ragnar's daughter Thyra is about to be married, but fellow Danes attack the night before the wedding and set fire to the hall in which the family is sleeping. Ragnar is burned alive, and Thyra taken as a slave. Only Uhtred and Brida escape as they have spent the night in the woods tending a charcoal kiln. The attackers are led by Kjartan, a disgruntled Viking who had been banished by Ragnar from his lands years earlier for a offence committed by Kjartan's son Sven. Uhtred vows to avenge Ragnar's death, while simultaneously hoping to reclaim Bebbanburg for himself.

Uhtred is forced to choose between the kingdom of his ancestors and the people who have raised him, and his loyalties are constantly tested. The first series roughly covers the events of Cornwell's novels "The Last Kingdom" and "The Pale Horseman", although they are condensed for the screen. The second series covers the happenings of Cornwell's novels "The Lords of the North" and "Sword Song". Series 3 is based on "The Burning Land" and "Death of Kings", but with considerable plot changes. The third series' ten episodes were produced solely by Netflix.

One reviewer indicated that this had a positive effect. Much of the series was written by Stephen Butchard, and filming was completed in Hungary. These episodes cover the decline in King Alfred's health, according to one report, while he tries to ensure that his fiercely-held vision of a Christian, Saxon Wessex as part of a stable English nation will survive him as his legacy...the Uhtred-Alfred relationship is at the core of the story. All ten episodes of series 4 appeared on Netflix on 26 April 2020. As in series 3, there are significant plot differences to the books.

About cast: 

- Alexander Dreymon as Uhtred.

- David Dawson as King Alfred.

- Emily Cox as Brida.

- Tobias Santelmann as Ragnar the Younger.

- Adrian Bower as Leofric.

- Thomas W. Gabrielsson as Guthrum.

- Simon Kunz as Odda the Elder.

- Harry McEntire as Aethelwold.

- Rune Temte as Ubba.

- Joseph Millson as Aelfric.

- Brian Vernel as Odda the Younger.

- Amy Wren as Mildrith.

- Charlie Murphy as Iseult.

- Ian Hart as Father Beocca.

- Eliza Butterworth as Aelswith.

- Thure Lindhardt as Guthred.

- Eva Birthistle as Hild.

- Gerard Kearns as Halig.

- David Schofield as Abbot Eadred.

- Peri Baumeister as Gisela.

- Peter McDonald as Brother Trew. 

- Mark Rowley and Finan.

- Alexandre Willaume as Kjartan.

- Julia Bache-Wiig as Thira.

Vitamin D

Vitamins are substances that your body needs to grow and function normally. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, one of the main elements that make up bones. Vitamin D plays an important role in the nervous, muscular and immune systems. 

You can get vitamin D in three ways: through the skin, from the diet, and from supplements. Your body forms vitamin D naturally after exposure to the sun. However, too much sun can lead to aging and skin cancer, so many people try to get their vitamin D from other sources. 

Food's rich in vitamin D include egg yolks, saltwater fish, and liver. Other foods, such as milk and cereal, are often fortified with vitamin D. You can also take vitamin D supplements. Check with your health care provider to find out the right amount for you. People who may need more vitamin D include:

- Old people.

- Breastfed babies.

- Dark-Skinned people.

- People with certain conditions such as liver disease, cystic fibrosis, and Crohn's disease.

- People who are obese or those who have had gastric bypass surgery.