82nd Scripps National Spelling Bee
The 82nd Scripps National Spelling Bee took place between May 26–28, 2009 in Washington, D.C. Competition There were a record 293 spellers this year (the all-time record until the Bee's rules greatly expanded the field in 2018). 41 spellers made it to the final day of competition on Thursday.(27 May 2009)41 spellers make semifinals of national bee ''NBC'' (Associated Press) The winner was Kavya Shivashankar. Her winning word was '' Laodicean''. She was sponsored by The Olathe News. She won $35,000 in cash and more than $5,000 in prizes. The runners-up were Aishwarya Pastapur, who misspelled ''menhir'', and Tim Ruiter, who misspelled ''Maecenas''. This was Kavya's fourth appearance in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Six of the top ten spellers, including the winner, were Indo-American. The standings were as follows: *1. Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas. *2. (tie) Tim A. Ruiter of Centreville, Virginia. *2. (tie) Aishwarya Eshwar Pastapur of Springfield, Illinois. * ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Grand Hyatt Washington
Grand Hyatt Washington is a hotel in Washington, D.C., in the United States. The 897-room hotel, located at 1000 H Street NW, serves both tourist and business travel. From the time the hotel opened until 2003, it was directly across from the Washington Convention Center and served as a "convention headquarters" hotel for many conventions. The convention center closed and was demolished in 2004. CityCenterDC, a major office, residential, and retail complex, now occupies the site. Overview Quadrangle Development broke ground for the Grand Hyatt Hotel on February 21, 1985. The site was directly across the street from the Washington Convention Center. The structure was designed by RTKL Associates, an architectural firm based in Annapolis, Maryland. The hotel featured a vast atrium over the lobby that ran to the roof. The inspiration for the atrium was a similar structure designed by John C. Portman, Jr. and built in Atlanta, Georgia, in the 1960s. The ground floor of the atrium was desi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. Located along the Wabash River, Terre Haute is one of the largest cities in the Wabash Valley and is known as the Queen City of the Wabash. The city is home to multiple higher-education institutions, including Indiana State University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana. History Terre Haute's name is derived from the French phrase ''terre haute'' (pronounced in French), meaning "highland". It was named by French-Canadian explorers and fur trappers to the area in the early 18th century to describe the unique location above the Wabash River (see French colonization of the Americas). At the time, the area was claimed by the French and British and these highlands were consid ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Scilicet
The abbreviation ''viz.'' (or ''viz'' without a full stop) is short for the Latin , which itself is a contraction of the Latin phrase ''videre licet'', meaning "it is permitted to see". It is used as a synonym for "namely", "that is to say", "to wit", "which is", or "as follows". It is typically used to introduce examples or further details to illustrate a point. For example: "all types of data viz. text, audio, video, pictures, graphics, can be transmitted through networking". Etymology ''Viz.'' is shorthand for the adverb '. It uses Tironian notes, a system of Latin shorthand. It comprises the first two letters, "vi", followed by the last two, "et", using the z-shaped Tironian "et", historically written ⁊,According to E. Cobham Brewer (1810–1897), ''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'', the same abbreviation mark was used for "habet" and "omnibus". a common contraction for "et" in Latin shorthand in Ancient Rome and medieval Europe. Usage In contradistinction t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pogonip
Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influenced by nearby bodies of water, topography, and wind conditions. In turn, fog affects many human activities, such as shipping, travel, and warfare. Fog appears when water vapor (water in its gaseous form) condenses. During condensation, molecules of water vapor combine to make tiny liquid water droplets that hang in the air. Sea fog, which shows up near bodies of saline water, is formed as water vapor condenses on bits of salt. Fog is similar to, but less transparent than, mist. Definition The term ''fog'' is typically distinguished from the more generic term ''cloud'' in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated locally (such as from a nearby body of water, like a lake or the ocean, or from nearby moist ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Omphaloskepsis
Navel-gazing or ''omphaloskepsis'' is the contemplation of one's navel as an aid to meditation. The word derives from the Ancient Greek words (, ) and (, ). Actual use of the practice as an aid to contemplation of basic principles of the cosmos and human nature is found in the practice of yoga or Hinduism and sometimes in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In yoga, the navel is the site of the manipura (also called nabhi) chakra, which yogis consider "a powerful chakra of the body". The monks of Mount Athos, Greece, were described as ''Omphalopsychians'' by J.G. Millingen, writing in the 1830s, who says they "...pretended or fancied that they experienced celestial joys when gazing on their umbilical region, in converse with the Deity". However, phrases such as "contemplating one's navel" or "navel-gazing" are frequently used, usually in jocular fashion, to refer to self-absorbed pursuits. See also *Hesychast controversy *Kundalini * Meditative qigong *Palamism *Self-hypnosis *Tra ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Avalement
This glossary of skiing and snowboarding terms is a list of definitions of terms and jargon used in skiing, snowboarding, and related winter sports. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y See also * Outline of skiing *Winter sports Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditiona ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tom Bergeron
Thomas Raymond Bergeron (born May 6, 1955) is an American television personality, game show host, comedian and actor, best known for hosting ''Hollywood Squares'' from 1998 to 2004, ''America's Funniest Home Videos'' from 2001 to 2015, and ''Dancing with the Stars'' from 2005 to 2019. Early life and career Bergeron was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, the son of Ray and Kay Bergeron. Bergeron is of French Canadian and Irish descent. While being interviewed on the Howard Stern Show, Bergeron revealed when he was 17 years old he interviewed Larry Fine and Moe Howard of the Three Stooges after contacting the nursing home Larry was living in. His first job in broadcasting was as a disc jockey at local radio station WHAV, in his home town of Haverhill, Massachusetts. He became a popular radio DJ in the Seacoast area of New Hampshire in the early 1980s on Portsmouth's WHEB, where he played comedy records along with music and offbeat interviews. His popularity led to additional TV a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, California, on Riverside Drive, directly across the street from Walt Disney Studios and adjacent to the Roy E. Disney Animation Building. The network's secondary offices, and headquarters of its news division, are in New York City, at its broadcast center at 77 West 66th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Since 2007, when ABC Radio (also known as Cumulus Media Networks) was sold to Citadel Broadcasting, ABC has reduced its broadcasting operations almost exclusively to television. It is the fifth-oldest major broadcasting network in the world and the youngest of the American Big Three television networks. The network is sometimes referred to as the Alphabet Network, as its initialism also represents the first three letters of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 7th-most extensive, the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 32nd-most populous, and the List of U.S. states and territories by population density, 9th-least densely populated of the U.S. states. Nearly three-quarters of Nevada's people live in Clark County, Nevada, Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise, NV MSA, Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area, including three of the state's four largest incorporated cities. Nevada's capital is Carson City, Nevada, Carson City. Las Vegas is the largest city in the state. Nevada is officially known as the "Silver State" because of the importance of silver to its history and economy. It is also known as the "Battle ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Las Vegas Valley
The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area is coextensive since 2003 with Clark County, Nevada, Clark County, Nevada. The Valley is largely defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a Depression (geology), basin area surrounded by mountains to the north, south, east and west of the metropolitan area. The Valley is home to the three largest incorporated cities in Nevada: Las Vegas, Henderson, Nevada, Henderson and North Las Vegas, Nevada, North Las Vegas. Eleven unincorporated towns governed by the Clark County government are part of the Las Vegas Township and constitute the largest community in the state of Nevada. The names Las Vegas and Vegas are interchangeably used to indicate the Valley, Las Vegas Strip, the Strip, and the city, and as a brand by the Las Vegas Co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The population was 117,415 at the 2020 census. West Palm Beach is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to 6,138,333 people in 2020. It is the oldest incorporated municipality in the South Florida area, incorporated as a city two years before Miami in November 1894. West Palm Beach is located approximately north of Downtown Miami. History The beginning of the historic period in south Florida is marked by Juan Ponce de León's first contact with native people in 1513. Europeans found a thriving native population, which they categorized into separate tribes: the Mayaimi in the Lake Okeechobee Basin and the Jaega and Ais people in the East Okeechobee area and on the east coast north of the Tequesta. When the Span ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |