Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee

Chinese American  actor, director, martial artist, martial arts instructor, and philosopher.  He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that is often credited with paving the way for modern mixed martial arts (MMA).  Lee is considered by commentators, critics, media, and other martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of all time  and a pop culture icon of the 20th century, who bridged the gap between East and West.  He is often credited with helping to change the way Asians were presented in American films. 

The son of Cantonese opera star Lee Hoi-chuen, Lee was born in the Chinatown area of San Francisco, California, on November 27, 1940, to parents from Hong Kong, and was raised with his family in Kowloon, Hong Kong.  He was introduced to the film industry by his father and appeared in several films as a child actor. Lee moved to the United States at the age of 18 to receive his higher education at the University of Washington in Seattle,  and it was during this time that he began teaching martial arts. His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim, sparking a surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West in the 1970s. The direction and tone of his films dramatically changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in Hollywood, Hong Kong, and the rest of the world. 

He is noted for his roles in five feature-length martial arts films in the early 1970s: Lo Wei's The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972); Golden Harvest's Way of the Dragon (1972), directed and written by Lee; Golden Harvest and Warner Brothers' Enter the Dragon (1973) and The Game of Death (1978), both directed by Robert Clouse.  Lee became an iconic figure known throughout the world, particularly among the Chinese, based upon his portrayal of Chinese nationalism in his films   and among Asian Americans for defying stereotypes associated with the emasculated Asian male.  He trained in the art of Wing Chun and later combined his other influences from various sources into the spirit of his personal martial arts philosophy, which he dubbed Jeet Kune Do (The Way of the Intercepting Fist). Lee had residences in Hong Kong and Seattle.  He died on July 20, 1973 at the age of 32

Bruce Lee was born on November 27, 1940, in the Chinese Hospital in Chinatown, San Francisco. According to the Chinese zodiac, Lee was born in both the hour and the year of the Dragon, which according to tradition is a strong and fortuitous omen.  Lee and his parents returned to Hong Kong when he was three months old. Bruce's father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was Han Chinese, and his mother, Grace Ho (何愛瑜), was of Eurasian ancestry.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Lee

Reche Caldwell

Reche Caldwell

Donald Reche Caldwell Jr. (/rɪˈʃeɪ/; REE-shay;[1] March 28, 1979 – June 6, 2020)[2] was an American college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons in the 2000s. Caldwell played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, he played professionally for the San Diego Chargers, New England Patriots and Washington Redskins of the NFL.

Caldwell was born in Tampa, Florida in 1979.  He attended Jefferson High School in Tampa,  where he was a three-sport standout in high school football, basketball and baseball for the Jefferson Dragons.  In football, Caldwell started at tailback as a freshman; as a sophomore, he converted to quarterback—a position he had never played—and threw for 6,936 yards and seventy-seven touchdowns as a three-year starter.  As a junior in 1996, he threw for 2,338 yards, led the Dragons to the Class 5A state semifinal game, earned high school All-American honors from PrepStar, and was named the Florida Class 5A Player of the Year.  He was a first-team all-state selection in 1996 and a second-team selection in 1997. 

In four high school baseball seasons, he set the Jefferson Dragons' career records for batting average (.379), doubles (25), triples (six), steals (67) and runs (76).  The Cincinnati Reds selected him in the 1998 MLB Draft in 1998, but he decided to play college football instead.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reche_Caldwell

Colin Powell

Colin Powell

born April 5, 1937)  is an American politician and retired four-star general in the United States Army.[2] During his military career, Powell also served as National Security Advisor (1987–1989), as Commander of the U.S. Army Forces Command (1989) and as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–1993). He played major roles in the invasion of Panama in 1989 and especially the Persian Gulf War against Iraq in 1990–1991. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under Republican President George W. Bush. He was the first African-American to serve as Secretary of State.  His term was highly controversial regarding his inaccurate justification for America's Iraq War in 2003. He was fired after Bush was reelected in 2004. 

Powell was born in New York City in 1937 and was raised in the South Bronx. His parents, Luther and Maud Powell, immigrated to the United States from Jamaica. Powell was educated in the New York City public schools, graduating from the City College of New York (CCNY), where he earned a bachelor's degree in geology. He also participated in ROTC at CCNY and received a commission as an Army second lieutenant upon graduation in June 1958. Powell was a professional soldier for 35 years, during which time he held many command and staff positions and rose to the rank of 4-star general. His last assignment, from October 1, 1989, to September 30, 1993, was as the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the Department of Defense. During this time, he oversaw 28 crises, including Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. He formulated the Powell Doctrine which limits American military action unless it satisfies criteria regarding American national security interests, overwhelming force, and widespread public support.

In retirement, Powell wrote his autobiography, My American Journey. He pursued a career as a public speaker, addressing audiences across the country and abroad. Prior to his appointment as Secretary of State, Powell was the chairman of America's Promise – The Alliance for Youth, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to mobilizing people from every sector of American life to build the character and competence of young people. Powell is the recipient of numerous U.S. and foreign military awards and decorations. Powell's civilian awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom (twice), the President's Citizens Medal, the Congressional Gold Medal, the Secretary of State Distinguished Service Medal, and the Secretary of Energy Distinguished Service Medal. Several schools and other institutions have been named in his honor and he holds honorary degrees from universities and colleges across the country. 

In 2016, while not a candidate for that year's election, Powell received three electoral votes for the office of President of the United States.  On June 7, 2020, Powell announced that he will be voting for former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. 

Powell was born on April 5, 1937,  in Harlem, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, to Jamaican immigrants, Maud Arial (née McKoy) and Luther Theophilus Powell. His parents were both of mixed African and Scottish ancestry.  Luther worked as a shipping clerk and Maud as a seamstress.  Powell was raised in the South Bronx and attended Morris High School, from which he graduated in 1954. (This school has since closed.)

While at school, Powell worked at a local baby furniture store, where he picked up Yiddish from the eastern European Jewish shopkeepers and some of the customers.  He also served as a Shabbos goy, helping Orthodox families with needed tasks on the Sabbath  He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from the City College of New York in 1958  and has said he was a "C average" student.  He later earned an MBA degree from the George Washington University in 1971, after his second tour in Vietnam.

Despite his parents' pronunciation of his name as /ˈkɒlɪn/, Powell has pronounced his name /ˈkoʊlɪn/ since childhood, after the World War II flyer Colin P. Kelly Jr.  Public officials and radio and television reporters have used Powell's preferred pronunciation.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Powell

Amul

Amul

Amul (Hindi: अमूल), is an Indian dairy cooperative society, based at Anand in the state of Gujarat.  Formed in 1946, it is a cooperative brand managed by a cooperative body, the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), which today is jointly owned by 3.6 million milk producers in Gujarat.[4] Amul spurred India's White Revolution, which made the country the world's largest producer of milk and milk products. Amul was spearheaded by Tribhuvandas Patel under the guidance of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. As a result, Kaira District Milk Union Limited was born in 1946 (later renamed to Amul). Tribhuvandas became the founding chairman of the organization and led it until his retirement in 70s. He hired Dr. Verghese Kurien in 1949. He convinced Dr. Kurien to stay and help with the mission.  Under the chairmanship of Tribhuvandas, Dr. Kurien was initially the general manager and helped guide the technical and marketing efforts of Amul. Dr. Kurien was the chairman of Amul briefly after Tribhuvandas Patel died in 1994.

Kurien, founder-chairman of the GCMMF for more than 30 years (1973–2006), is credited with the success of Amul's marketing.  Amul has ventured into markets overseas

Amul cooperative registered on 19 December 1946 as a response to the exploitation of marginal milk producers by traders or agents of n the small city distances to deliver milk, often went sour in summer, to Polson. The prices of milk were arbitrarily determined. The government had given monopoly rights to Polson to collect milk from Kaira and supply it to Mumbai city.

Angered by the unfair trade practices, the farmers of Kaira approached Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel under the leadership of local farmer leader Tribhuvandas K. Patel. He advised them to form a cooperative (Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union) and supply milk directly to the Bombay Milk Scheme instead of Polson (who did the same but gave them low prices).[9] He sent Morarji Desai to organise the farmers. In 1946, the milk farmers of the area went on a strike which led to the setting up of the cooperative to collect and process milk.[8] Milk collection was decentralized, as most producers were marginal farmers who could deliver, at most, 1–2 litres of milk per day. Cooperatives were formed for each village, too.[10] By June 1948, the KDCMPUL had started pasteurizing milk for the 'Bombay Milk Scheme'. Under the selfless leadership of Tribhuvandas Patel, in 1973, Amul celebrated its 25th Anniversary with Morarji Desai, Maniben Patel and Verghese Kurien.

The cooperative was further developed and managed by Dr. Verghese Kurien with H.M. Dalaya. Dalaya's innovation of making skim milk powder from buffalo milk (for the first time in the world) and a little later, with Kurien's help, making it on a commercial scale,  led to the first modern dairy of the cooperative at Anand, which would compete against established players in the market.

The trio's (T. K. Patel, Kurien and Dalaya's) success at the cooperative's dairy soon spread to Anand's neighbourhood in Gujarat. Within a short span, five unions in other districts – Mehsana, Banaskantha, Baroda, Sabarkantha and Surat – were set up, following the approach sometimes described as the Anand pattern. 

In 1970, it spearheaded the White Revolution of India. To combine forces and expand the market while saving on advertising and avoid competing against each other, the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd., an apex marketing body of these district cooperatives, was set up in 1973. The Kaira Union, which had the brand name Amul with it since 1955, transferred it to GCMMF. 

In 1999, it was awarded the "Best of all" Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award. 

Technological developments at Amul have subsequently spread to other parts of India.

The GCMMF is the largest food products marketing organisation of India. It is the apex organisation of the dairy cooperatives of Gujarat. It is the exclusive marketing organisation for products under the brand name of Amul and Sagar. Over the last five and a half decades, dairy cooperatives in Gujarat have created an economic network that links more than 3.1 million village milk products with millions of consumers in India.

On September 30, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Amul's chocolate plant in Mogar, Anand near their headquarters

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul

Mohena Kumari

Mohena Kumari

Mohena Singh, also known as Mohena Kumari Singh is an Indian television actress and choreographer. She is known for playing Keerti Manish Goenka in Star Plus's Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai.

Mohena Kumari Singh was born on 18 July 1988 to a royal family in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh. She is the granddaughter of Maharaja Martand Singh of Rewa. She married Politician Suyesh Rawat on 14 October 2019

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohena_Singh

Russia

Russia

Russia (Russian: Росси́я, tr. Rossiya, IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə]), officially the Russian Federation,  is a transcontinental country located in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia.  Covering an area of 17,125,200 square kilometres (6,612,100 sq mi),  it is the largest country in the world by area, spanning more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area,  stretching eleven time zones, and bordering 16 sovereign nations. The territory of Russia extends from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea and the Caucasus in the south. With 146.7 million inhabitants living in the country's 85 federal subjects,  Russia is the most populous nation in Europe and the ninth-most populous nation in the world.  Russia's capital and largest city is Moscow; other major urban areas include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Chelyabinsk.

The East Slavs emerged as a recognisable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD.  The medieval state of Rus' arose in the 9th century. In 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus' ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states,  until it was finally reunified by the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the 15th century. By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded through conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian Empire, which was the third largest empire in history, stretching from Norway on the west to Alaska on the east.  Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR) became the largest and leading constituent of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR/Soviet Union), the world's first constitutionally socialist state.  The Soviet Union played a decisive role in the Allied victory in World War II,  and emerged as a recognised superpower and rival to the United States during the Cold War. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the world's first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian SFSR reconstituted itself as the Russian Federation and is recognised as the continuing legal personality and a successor of the USSR. 

Since 1993, Russia is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic.  Vladimir Putin has dominated Russia's political system since 2000, serving as either president or prime minister.  His government has been accused by non-governmental organisations of numerous human rights abuses, authoritarianism and corruption. In response, Putin has argued that Western-style liberalism is obsolete in Russia, while maintaining that the country is still a democratic nation.

The Russian economy ranks as the fifth-largest in Europe, the eleventh-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the fifth-largest by PPP.  Russia's extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world,  making it one of the leading producers of oil and natural gas globally.  The country is one of the five recognised nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of nuclear warheads.  Russia is a major great power, as well as a regional power, and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The Russian Armed Forces have been ranked as the world's second most powerful, and the most powerful in Europe. Russia hosts the world's ninth-greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, at 29, and is among the world's most popular tourist destinations.  It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and an active global partner of ASEAN,  as well as a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the G20, the Council of Europe, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the International Investment Bank (IIB) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as being the leading member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

The name Russia is derived from Rus', a medieval state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this proper name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants "Русская Земля" (russkaja zemlja), which can be translated as "Russian Land" or "Land of Rus'". In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus' by modern historiography. The name Rus itself comes from the early medieval Rus' people, Swedish merchants and warriors  who relocated from across the Baltic Sea and founded a state centered on Novgorod that later became Kievan Rus.

An old Latin version of the name Rus' was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus' that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия (Rossija), comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Rus', Ρωσσία Rossía—spelled Ρωσία (Rosía pronounced [roˈsia]) in Modern Greek. 

The standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is "Russians" in English  and rossiyane (Russian: россияне) in Russian. There are two Russian words which are commonly translated into English as "Russians". One is "русские" (russkiye), which most often means "ethnic Russians". Another is "россияне" (rossiyane), which means "citizens of Russia, regardless of ethnicity". Translations into other languages often do not distinguish these two groups.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia

Fathers day 2020

Fathers day 2020

Fathers' Day is a day of honoring fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on March 19 as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. In America, Father's Day was founded by Sonora Smart Dodd,  and celebrated on the third Sunday of June for the first time in 1910. It is held on various days in many parts of the world all throughout the year, often in the months of March, May and June.

Father's day complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Mother's Day, Siblings Day and Grandparents' Day.

For centuries, the Orthodox Church has appointed the second Sunday before Nativity as the Sunday of the Forefathers to commemorate the ancestors of Christ according to the flesh, starting with Adam and emphasizing the Patriarch Abraham, to whom God said, "In thy seed shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 12:3, 22:18). This feast can fall between December 11 and 17.  This feast includes the ancestors of the Theotokos and various holy prophets.

A customary day for the celebration of fatherhood in Catholic Europe is known to date back to at least 1508. It is usually celebrated on March 19, as the feast day of Saint Joseph, who is referred to as the fatherly Nutritor Domini ("Nourisher of the Lord") in Catholicism and "the putative father of Jesus" in southern European tradition. This celebration was brought to the Americas by the Spanish and Portuguese. The Catholic Church actively supported the custom of a celebration of fatherhood on St. Joseph's Day from either the last years of the 14th century or from the early 15th century, m apparently on the initiative of the Franciscans. 

In the Coptic Orthodox Church, the celebration of fatherhood is also observed on St Joseph's Day, but the Copts observe this on July 20. The Coptic celebration may date back to the fifth century.[6]

In addition to Father's Day, International Men's Day is celebrated in many countries on November 19 in honor of men including boys.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father%27s_Day