Legends: Cristiano Ronaldo.

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, (born 5 February 1985),known as Cristiano Ronaldo, or simply CR7 is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Real Madrid and captains the Portugal national team. He became the most expensive footballer in history when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009 in a transfer worth £80 million (€94 million/$132 million). Ronaldo's contract with Real Madrid, under the terms of which he is paid €21 million per year (after taxes), makes him the highest-paid footballer in the world, and his buyout clause is valued at €1 billion as per his contract. He is regarded by some in the sport to be currently the best player in the world.

Ronaldo began his career as a youth player for Andorinha, where he played for 2 years, before moving to C.D. Nacional. In 1997, he made a move to Portuguese giants Sporting Clube de Portugal. Ronaldo caught the attention of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, who signed him for £12.2 million (€15 million) in 2003. In 2004, Ronaldo won his first club honour, the FA Cup.
In 2007, Ronaldo was the first player in England to win all 4 main PFA and FWA awards. In 2008 and 2013, he won the FIFA/Ballon d'Or award for the best footballer in the world, the first Portuguese player to win the award twice. He was awarded the European Golden Shoe in 2008, 2011 and 2014. In 2008, he won 3 of the 4 main PFA and FWA trophies and was named the FIFA World Player of the Year, FIFPro Player of the Year, World Soccer Player of the Year, and the Onze d'Or.In 2007 and 2008, Ronaldo was named FWA Footballer of the Year. He was the inaugural winner of the FIFA Puskás Award for Goal of the Year in 2009. In a 2014 UEFA poll, Ronaldo was named the greatest goalscorer to play in the UEFA Champions League. He is tied for the competition's second top goalscorer of all time with 67 goals, only trailing Raúl with four more.

Ronaldo is the first top European league player to reach 40 goals in a single season in two consecutive years, fastest Real Madrid player to reach 100 league goals, and the first player to score against every team in a single season in La Liga. He holds the record for most goals scored in a season for Real Madrid. In January 2014, Ronaldo scored his 400th career goal. After spending his first year at Madrid wearing the number 9 shirt, he began wearing the number 7 again following the departure of long-serving striker Raúl. Ronaldo had previously worn the number 7 shirt at Manchester United.   

Ronaldo is a Portuguese international and made his debut in August 2003. He has been capped over 100 times and is Portugal's top goalscorer of all time. With Portugal he has participated in 6 major tournaments; UEFA Euro 2004, the 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2012, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He scored his first international goal in the opening game of Euro 2004 against Greece, in addition to helping Portugal reach the final. He took over captaincy in July 2008 and captained them to the Euro 2012 semi-finals finishing the competition as joint-top scorer.

Legends: Rafael Nadal.

 
Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera  born 3 June 1986 is a Spanish professional tennis player and the current world No. 1. His success on clay has earned him the nickname "The King of Clay" and has led many sports journalists and commentators, as well as former and current players, to regard him as the greatest clay court player in history. Furthermore, his evolution into an all-court threat has established him as one of the greatest players of all time, with some considering him the greatest.
Nadal has won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, a record 27 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and a record 15 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments.

 He was also a member of the winning Spain Davis Cup team in 2004, 2008, 2009, and 2011. In 2010, he became the seventh player in history and youngest of four in the Open Era to achieve the Career Grand Slam. He is the second male player, after Andre Agassi, to complete the singles Career Golden Slam.

Nadal and Mats Wilander are the only two players in history who have won at least two Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces—hard court, grass, and clay. By winning the 2014 French Open,Nadal became the only male player to win a single Grand Slam tournament nine times and the first to win at least one Grand Slam tournament for ten consecutive years, breaking the record of eight consecutive years previously shared by Björn Borg, Pete Sampras, and Roger Federer. His victory at the 2014 French Open brought him level with Sampras at 14 Grand Slam singles titles, second only to Federer's record of 17. Nadal holds the record for most consecutive titles at a particular tournament after winning his eighth straight Monte-Carlo Masters in 2012.

History: Napoleon I

Napoleon Bonaparte 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the latter stages of the French Revolution and its associated wars in Europe.

As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814 and again in 1815. He implemented a wide array of liberal reforms across Europe, including the abolition of feudalism and the spread of religious toleration. His legal code in France, the Napoleonic Code, influenced numerous civil law jurisdictions worldwide. Napoleon is remembered for his role in leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won the majority of his battles and seized control of most of continental Europe in a quest for personal power and to spread the ideals of the French Revolution. Widely regarded as one of the greatest commanders in history, his campaigns are studied at military academies worldwide. He remains one of the most studied political and military leaders in all of history.

Napoleon was born in Corsica in a family of noble Italian ancestry that had settled in Corsica in the 16th century. He spoke French with a heavy Corsican accent. Well-educated, he rose to prominence under the French First Republic and led successful campaigns against the enemies of the French revolution who set up the First and Second Coalitions, most notably his campaigns in Italy.
He took power in a coup d'état in 1799 and installed himself as First Consul. In 1804 he made himself emperor of the French people. He fought a series of wars —the Napoleonic Wars—that involved complex coalitions for and against him. After a streak of victories, France secured a dominant position in continental Europe, and Napoleon maintained the French sphere of influence through the formation of extensive alliances and the elevation of friends and family members to rule other European countries as French vassal states.

The Peninsular War (1807–14) and the French invasion of Russia in 1812 marked major military failures. His Grande Armée was badly damaged and never fully recovered. In 1813, the Sixth Coalition defeated his forces at the Battle of Leipzig and his enemies invaded France. Napoleon was forced to abdicate and go in exile to the Italian island of Elba. In 1815 he escaped and returned to power, but he was finally defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. He spent the last 6 years of his life in confinement by the British on the island of Saint Helena. An autopsy concluded he died of stomach cancer but there has been debate about the cause of his death, and some scholars have speculated he was a victim of arsenic poisoning.

History: Chatrapati Shivaji

Shivaji Bhonsle – 3 April 1680, was an Indian warrior king and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan, Shivaji, in 1674, carved out an enclave from the declining Adilshahi sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of an independent Maratha kingdom with Raigad as its capital.

Shivaji established a competent and progressive civil rule with the help of a disciplined military and well-structured administrative organisations. He innovated military tactics, pioneering the guerilla warfare methods (Shiva sutra or ganimi kava), which leveraged strategic factors like geography, speed, and surprise and focused pinpoint attacks to defeat his larger and more powerful enemies. From a small contingent of 2,000 soldiers inherited from his father, Shivaji created a force of 100,000 soldiers; he built and restored strategically located forts both inland and coastal to safeguard his territory. He revived ancient Hindu political traditions and court conventions, and promoted the usage of Marathi and Sanskrit, rather than Persian in court and administration.

Shivaji's legacy was to vary by observer and time, but began to take on increased importance with the emergence of the Indian independence movement, as many elevated him as a proto-nationalist and hero of the Hindus. Particularly in Maharashtra, debates over his history and role have engendered great passion and sometimes even violence as disparate groups have sought to characterise him and his legacy.

Social Sciences: Russian economy.

The Russian economy is currently labeled as a high-income economy and by extension, as a developed country by the World Bank. The country has an abundance of natural resources, including timber, precious metals, and particularly fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal) that can be developed without the constraint of OPEC production quotas and other rules (Russia is not an OPEC member). In recent years, Russia's oil and gas production and pipeline projects have been not only a primary source of Russia's economic growth but also a geostrategic lever in the country's relationship with Europe and Asia.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has undergone significant changes, moving from a centrally planned economy to a more market-based and globally integrated economy. Economic reforms of the shock therapy in the late 1980s and during 1990s privatized many sectors of industry and agriculture, with notable exceptions in the energy and defense-related sectors. Nonetheless, the rapid privatization process, including a much criticized "loans-for-shares" scheme that turned over major state-owned firms to politically connected "oligarchs", has left equity ownership highly concentrated. As of 2011, Russia's capital, Moscow, had the highest number of billionaires of any city in the world.

In late 2008 and early 2009, Russia experienced the first recession after ten years of growth, until stable growth resumed in late 2009. Despite the deep but brief recession, the economy has not been as seriously affected by the global financial crisis, largely because of the integration of short-term macroeconomic policies that helped the economy survive, as well as low levels of sovereign debt. The World Bank predicts growth rates of 1.1 and 1.2% of GDP in 2014 and 2015, respectively. These weak figures are a consequence of continued depressed domestic demand and low investment activities. The World Bank's analysis did not take into account any assumed scenario relating to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis. However, the related events are considered to have led to political risks that may entail further negative economic consequences.

Social Sciences: Russia in energy

The Russian Federation supplies a significant volume of fossil fuels and is the largest exporter of oil and natural gas to the European Union. In 2007, the European Union imported from Russia 185 million tonnes of crude oil, which accounted for 32.6% of total oil import, and 100.7 million tonnes of oil equivalent of natural gas, which accounted 38.7% of total gas import.
The Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhgorod pipeline was constructed in 1982–1984 with Western financing to provide Soviet gas to the Western European market.

The Russian state-owned company Gazprom exports natural gas to Europe. It also controls a large number of subsidiaries, including various infrastructure assets. According to the study published by the Research Centre for East European Studies, the liberalization of the EU gas market has driven Gazprom's expansion in Europe by increasing its share in the European downstream market. It has established sale subsidiaries in many of its export markets, and has also invested in access to industrial and power generation sectors in Western and Central Europe. In addition, Gazprom has established joint ventures to build natural gas pipelines and storage depots in a number of European countries.

 Transneft, a Russian state-owned company responsible for the national oil pipelines, is another Russian company supplying energy to Europe.

In the news: Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born 7 October 1952 has been the President of Russia since 7 May 2012. He previously served as President from 2000 to 2008, and as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. During his last term as Prime Minister, he was also the Chairman of the United Russia political party.
For 16 years Putin served as an officer in the KGB, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before he retired to enter politics in his native Saint Petersburg in 1991. He moved to Moscow in 1996 and joined President Boris Yeltsin's administration where he rose quickly, becoming Acting President on 31 December 1999 when Yeltsin resigned unexpectedly. Putin won the subsequent 2000 presidential election and was re-elected in 2004. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third consecutive presidential term in 2008. Dmitry Medvedev won the 2008 presidential election and appointed Putin as Prime Minister, beginning a period of so-called "tandemocracy".

 In September 2011, following a change in the law extending the presidential term from four years to six, Putin announced that he would seek a third, non-consecutive term as President in the 2012 presidential election, an announcement which led to large-scale protests in many Russian cities. He won the election in March 2012 and is serving a six-year term.
Many of Putin's actions are regarded by the domestic opposition and foreign observers as undemocratic. The 2011 Democracy Index stated that Russia was in "a long process of regression [that] culminated in a move from a hybrid to an authoritarian regime" in view of Putin's candidacy and flawed parliamentary elections. In 2014 Russia was excluded from the G8 group as a result of its annexation of Crimea.

During Putin's first premiership and presidency (1999–2008), real incomes increased by a factor of 2.5, real wages more than tripled; unemployment and poverty more than halved, and the Russians' self-assessed life satisfaction rose significantly. Putin's first presidency was marked by high economic growth: the Russian economy grew for eight straight years, seeing GDP increase by 72% in PPP (sixfold in nominal). As Russia's president, Putin and the Federal Assembly passed into law a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. As Prime Minister, Putin oversaw large scale military and police reform.

 His energy policy has affirmed Russia's position as an energy superpower. Putin supported high-tech industries such as the nuclear and defence industries. A rise in foreign investment contributed to a boom in such sectors as the automotive industry. Putin has cultivated a strongman image and is a pop cultural icon in Russia with many commercial products named after him.

Biology: Coordination Systems. ( CNS and PNS )

CNS

The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system (or PNS), is composed of nerves leading to and from the CNS, often through junctions known as ganglia.

The central nervous system is so named because it integrates information it receives from, and coordinates and influences the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterally symmetric animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish, and it contains the majority of the nervous system.

Arguably many consider the retina and the optic nerve (2nd cranial nerve), as well as the olfactory nerves (1st) and olfactory epithelium as parts of the CNS, synapsing directly on brain tissue without intermediate ganglia. Following this classification the olfactory epithelium is the only central nervous tissue in direct contact with the environment, which opens up for therapeutic treatments. 

 The CNS is contained within the dorsal cavity, with the brain in the cranial cavity and the spinal cord in the spinal cavity. In vertebrates, the brain is protected by the skull, while the spinal cord is protected by the vertebrae, both enclosed in the meninges.

PNS

The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is the part of the nervous system that consists of the nerves and ganglia outside of the brain and spinal cord. The main function of the PNS is to connect the central nervous system (CNS) to the limbs and organs, essentially serving as a communication relay going back and forth between the brain and the extremities. Unlike the CNS, the PNS is not protected by the bone of spine and skull, or by the blood–brain barrier, leaving it exposed to toxins and mechanical injuries. The peripheral nervous system is divided into the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system; some textbooks also include sensory systems. The cranial nerves are part of the PNS with the exception of cranial nerve II, the optic nerve, along with the retina. The second cranial nerve is not a true peripheral nerve but a tract of the diencephalon. Cranial nerve ganglia originate in the CNS. However, the remaining eleven cranial nerve axons extend beyond the brain are therefore considered part of the PNS.

 

Biology and psychology: Stimulus.

In psychology, a stimulus is an energy pattern (such as light or sound) which is registered by the senses. In behaviorism and related stimulus–response theories, a stimulus constitutes the basis for behavior, whereas it constitutes the basis for perception in perceptual psychology.
In the second half of the 19th century, the conception had been established by psychophysics, the "scientific study of the relation between stimulus and sensation", together with the notion of the reflex arc constituting a foundational concept of scientific psychology. While at this time "whatever could be controlled by an experimenter and applied to an observer could be thought of as a stimulus." In the context of perception, a distinction is made between the distal stimulus (the external, perceived object) and the proximal stimulus (the stimulation of sensory organs).

A stimulus can be physical contact, heat, sound, in short any thing that our receptors can sense.

Technology: Artificial inteligence.

In video games, artificial intelligence is used to simulate human-like intelligence, intelligent behaviors or subsets of intelligent behaviors primarily in non-player characters (NPCs). The techniques used typically draw upon existing methods from the field of artificial intelligence (AI). However, the term game AI is often used to refer to a broad set of algorithms that also include techniques from control theory, robotics, computer graphics and computer science in general.
Since game AI for NPCs is centered on appearance of intelligence and good gameplay within environment restrictions, its approach is very different from that of traditional AI; workarounds and cheats are acceptable and, in many cases, the computer abilities must be toned down to give human players a sense of fairness. This, for example, is true in first-person shooter games, where NPCs' otherwise perfect aiming would be beyond human skill.

Biology: Artificial insemination.

Artificial insemination (AI) is the deliberate introduction of semen into a female's vagina or oviduct for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through fertilisation by means other than copulation. It is the medical alternative to sexual intercourse, or natural insemination.
Artificial insemination is a fertility treatment for humans, and is a common practice in the breeding of dairy cattle (see the main article frozen bovine semen) and pigs, and is also used in other animal breeding. Artificial insemination may employ assisted reproductive technology, donated sperm, and/or animal husbandry techniques.

Social Sciences: Greenhouse effect.

The greenhouse effect is a process by which thermal radiation from a planetary surface is absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gases, and is re-radiated in all directions. Since part of this re-radiation is back towards the surface and the lower atmosphere, it results in an elevation of the average surface temperature above what it would be in the absence of the gases.

Solar radiation at the frequencies of visible light largely passes through the atmosphere to warm the planetary surface, which then emits this energy at the lower frequencies of infrared thermal radiation. Infrared radiation is absorbed by greenhouse gases, which in turn re-radiate much of the energy to the surface and lower atmosphere. The mechanism is named after the effect of solar radiation passing through glass and warming a greenhouse, but the way it retains heat is fundamentally different as a greenhouse works by reducing airflow, isolating the warm air inside the structure so that heat is not lost by convection.

If an ideal thermally conductive blackbody were the same distance from the Sun as the Earth is, it would have a temperature of about 5.3 °C. However, since the Earth reflects about 30% of the incoming sunlight, this idealized planet's effective temperature (the temperature of a blackbody that would emit the same amount of radiation) would be about −18 °C. The surface temperature of this hypothetical planet is 33 °C below Earth's actual surface temperature of approximately 14 °C.The mechanism that produces this difference between the actual surface temperature and the effective temperature is due to the atmosphere and is known as the greenhouse effect.

Earth’s natural greenhouse effect makes life as we know it possible. However, human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests, have intensified the natural greenhouse effect, causing global warming.

Social Sciences: Global Warming

Global warming is the unequivocal and continuing rise in the average temperature of Earth's climate system. Since 1971, 90% of the warming has occurred in the oceans. Despite the oceans' dominant role in energy storage, the term "global warming" is also used to refer to increases in average temperature of the air and sea at Earth's surface. Since the early 20th century, the global air and sea surface temperature has increased about 0.8 °C (1.4 °F), with about two-thirds of the increase occurring since 1980. Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth's surface than any preceding decade since 1850.

Legends: Björn Borg

Björn Rune Borg was born 6 June 1956) is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Sweden. Between 1974 and 1981 he won 11 Grand Slam singles titles. He won five consecutive Wimbledon singles titles and six French Open singles titles, a record he held until it was broken by Rafael Nadal He is considered by many to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time
During his relatively brief pro career, Borg won 41% of the Grand Slam singles tournaments he entered (11 of 27) and 89.81% (141–16) of the Grand Slam singles matches he played. His winning rate across all surfaces (carpet, clay, hard, and grass) was 82.74% (609–127), and his winning percentage at Wimbledon was 92.73% (51–4); all are records. He is one of four players in the open era to win both Wimbledon and the French Open in the same year and the only player to do so for three consecutive years. He is the only player to win three majors without dropping a set. He was the first male player to win more than 10 majors during the Open era (since surpassed by Pete Sampras's 14, Roger Federer's 17, and Rafael Nadal's 14 titles). He also won three year-end championship titles, including two Masters Grand Prix titles and one WCT Final title. In addition, he won 15 Championship Series titles (1974–1980) the precursors to the current Masters 1000.
Borg was the first player to earn more than one million dollars in prize money in a single season, in 1979.

Biology: Menstruation.

Menstruation is the periodic discharge of blood and mucosal tissue from the inner lining of the uterus through the vagina. This cyclic discharge is seen in females of certain mammalian species (including humans). It begins with the onset of menarche at or before sexual maturity and stops at or near menopause (commonly considered the end of a female's reproductive life). The periodicity of menstruation gives rise to commonly used euphemisms such as "period" and "monthly".
Women typically stop menstruating if they conceive or if they are breastfeeding. When menstruation stops for longer than about 90 days in the absence of pregnancy or breastfeeding, a medical evaluation should occur, as a number of health problems can result in absent menstruation. Menstruation lasts from puberty until menopause among non-pregnant women.

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I would like to thank all the people who have supported my webpage, since it was created a few months ago. I thought it would be difficult to start, but with this audience it was a quite a good start. I will continue posting posts regarding interesring subjects.

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In the News: King Juan Carlos of Spain.

Juan Carlos his full name is  Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias; was born on 5 January 1938 was the King of Spain.

Spanish dictator Francisco Franco named Juan Carlos as the next head of state in 1969. He became King on 22 November 1975, two days after Franco's death, the first reigning monarch since 1931. Soon after enthronement, Juan Carlos introduced reforms to dismantle the Francoist regime and begin the Spanish transition to democracy. This led to the approval of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 in a referendum, which established a constitutional monarchy. Juan Carlos also played a major role in stopping the 1981 coup attempt.

According to the Spanish Constitution, the monarch is the head-of-state and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed Forces and also plays a role in promoting relations with Ibero-America, the "nations of its historical community".In this capacity, the King of Spain serves as the president of the Ibero-American States Organization, representing over 700 million people in 24 member nations worldwide. In 2008, he was considered the most popular leader in all Ibero-America.
On 2 June 2014, Juan Carlos announced that he would abdicate in favour of his son, Felipe. The instrument of abdication is expected to become effective on 18 June 2014.

BIOLOGY: HUMAN REPRODUCTION.

Human reproduction is any form of sexual reproduction resulting in the conception of a child, typically involving sexual intercourse between a man and a woman. During sexual intercourse, the interaction between the male and female reproductive systems results in fertilization of the woman's ovum by the man's sperm, which after a gestation period is followed by childbirth. The fertilization of the ovum may nowadays be achieved by artificial insemination methods, which do not involve sexual intercourse

TECHNOLOGIES: MOBILE OS ( OPERATING SYSTEMS )

Android 

is an operating system based on the Linux kernel with a user interface based on direct manipulation, designed primarily fortouchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers, using touch inputs, that loosely correspond to real-world actions, like swiping, tapping, pinching, and reverse pinching to manipulate on-screen objects, and a virtual keyboard. Despite being primarily designed for touchscreen input, it also has been used in televisions, games consoles, digital cameras, and other electronics

IOS.

OS (previously iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. and distributed exclusively for Apple hardware. It is the operating system that powers iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Apple TV.

Originally unveiled in 2007 for the iPhone, it has been extended to support other Apple devices such as the iPod Touch(September 2007), iPad (January 2010), iPad Mini (November 2012) and second-generation Apple TV onward (September 2010). As of October 2013, Apple's App Store contained more than 1 million iOS applications, 500,000 of which were optimized for iPad.

WINDOWS PHONE.

Windows Phone (abbreviated as WP) is a proprietary smartphone operating system developed by Microsoft. It is the successor to Windows Mobile, although it is incompatible with the earlier platform.design language named "Modern" (which was formerly known as "Metro"). Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market. It was first launched in October 2010 with Windows Phone 7.

                               BLACKBERRY 10.

BlackBerry 10 is a proprietary mobile operating system developed by BlackBerry Limited for its BlackBerry line ofsmartphone and tablet handheld devices. Devices running BlackBerry 10 are the Q5, Q10, Z3, Z10, Z30 and the P'9982 smartphones. BlackBerry 10 is based on the QNX operating system, which is popular in industrial computers and used in many car computers,

 which was acquired by BlackBerry in April 2010.