Most viewed Wikipedia articles on February 2 , 2021
Dustin Neil Diamond was an American actor, director, stand-up comedian, and musician best known for his role as Samuel "Screech" Powers throughout the Saved by the Bell franchise.
Captain Sir Thomas Moore, popularly known as "Captain Tom", is a former British Army officer and centenarian, known for getting people to donate to charity in the run-up to his 100th birthday during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brian Hugh Warner, known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, painter, writer, and former music journalist. He is known for his controversial stage personality and image as the lead singer of the band of the same name, which he co-founded with guitarist Daisy Berkowitz in 1989 and of which he remains the only constant member. Like the other founding members of the band, his stage name was formed by combining and juxtaposing the names of two opposing American cultural icons: a sex symbol and a serial killer; in Manson's case, actress Marilyn Monroe and criminal Charles Manson.
Groundhog Day is a popular North American tradition observed in the United States and Canada on February 2. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerging from its burrow on this day sees its shadow due to clear weather, it will retreat to its den and winter will persist for six more weeks; but if it does not see its shadow because of cloudiness, spring will arrive early.
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress, model, and musician. She is the recipient of a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as three Primetime Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations for her work in film and television.
Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. was an American actor, television director and writer. He first received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show he developed, Mark Twain Tonight!, while studying at Denison University, performing as Mark Twain. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1966 for his portrayal of Twain. Throughout his career, he won five Primetime Emmy Awards.
Myanmar or Burma, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, is a country in Southeast Asia. Myanmar is bordered by Bangladesh and India to its northwest, China to its northeast, Laos and Thailand to its east and southeast, and the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal to its south and southwest. Myanmar is the largest country in Mainland Southeast Asia and the 10th largest in Asia by area. As of 2017, the population is about 54 million. Its capital city is Naypyidaw, and its largest city is Yangon (Rangoon).
Marjorie Taylor Greene is an American politician, businesswoman, and conspiracy theorist serving as a U.S. Representative for Georgia's 14th congressional district. Greene was elected to Congress in the November 2020 elections, and took office on January 3, 2021.
Andrew R. Jassy is an American businessman who is the CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS). He is also one of the minority owners of the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League. Jassy helped in the development of Amazon Web Services (AWS) since its inception in 2006. Jassy will replace Jeff Bezos as CEO of Amazon in the third quarter of 2021; Bezos will become executive chairman.
The Bible is a collection of religious texts or scriptures sacred to Christians, Jews, Samaritans, Rastafari and others. It appears in the form of an anthology, a compilation of texts of a variety of forms that are all linked by the belief that they are collectively revelations of God. These texts include theologically-focused historical accounts, hymns, prayers, proverbs, parables, didactic letters, erotica, poetry, and prophecies. Believers also generally consider the Bible to be a product of divine inspiration.
Aung San Suu Kyi is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar from 2016 to 2021. As the leader of the National League for Democracy and the first State Counsellor, she played a vital role in Myanmar's transition from military junta to partial democracy in the 2010s, but was detained and removed from office in a coup d'état on 1 February 2021.
Groundhog Day is a 1993 American fantasy comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and written by Ramis and Danny Rubin. It stars Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell and Chris Elliott. Murray portrays Phil Connors, a cynical television weatherman covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, who becomes trapped in a time loop forcing him to relive February 2 repeatedly. The film also stars Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray, Marita Geraghty, Angela Paton, Rick Ducommun, Rick Overton and Robin Duke.
Elon Reeve Musk is a business magnate, industrial designer and engineer. He is the founder, CEO, CTO and chief designer of SpaceX; early investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; co-founder of Neuralink; and co-founder and initial co-chairman of OpenAI. In 2018, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) and ranked 25th on the Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People, and was ranked joint-first on the Forbes list of the Most Innovative Leaders of 2019. A centi-billionaire, Musk became the richest person in the world in January 2021, surpassing Jeff Bezos.
The following deaths of notable individuals occurred in 2021. Names are reported under the date of death, in alphabetical order by surname or pseudonym. A typical entry reports information in the following sequence:
- Name, age, country of citizenship at birth, subsequent nationality, what subject was noted for, cause of death, and reference.
Punxsutawney Phil is a groundhog in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania who is the central figure in the borough's annual Groundhog Day celebration. On February 2 each year, Punxsutawney holds a civic festival with music and food. During the ceremony, which begins well before the winter sunrise, Phil emerges from his temporary home on Gobbler's Knob, located in a rural area about 2 miles (3 km) southeast of town. According to the tradition, if Phil sees his shadow and returns to his hole, he has predicted six more weeks of winter-like weather. If Phil does not see his shadow, he has predicted an "early spring." Punxsutawney's event is the most famous of the many Groundhog Day festivals held in the United States and Canada. The event formally began in 1887, although its roots go back even farther.
Jeffrey Preston Bezos is an American internet entrepreneur, industrialist, media proprietor, and investor. He is the founder, CEO, and president of the multi-national technology company Amazon. The first centi-billionaire on the Forbes wealth index, he is the second richest person in the world since January 2021, after Elon Musk. Bezos was named the "richest man in modern history" after his net worth increased to $150 billion in July 2018. According to Forbes, he is the first person in history to have a net worth exceeding $200 billion.
WandaVision is an American television miniseries created by Jac Schaeffer for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics characters Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch and Vision. Set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it shares continuity with the films of the franchise, and takes place after the events of the film Avengers: Endgame (2019). WandaVision was produced by Marvel Studios, with Schaeffer serving as head writer and Matt Shakman directing.
Sutton Hoo near Woodbridge, in Suffolk, England, is the site of two early medieval cemeteries that date from the 6th to 7th centuries. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1939. One cemetery had an undisturbed ship burial with a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts; most of these objects are now held by the British Museum. Scholars believe Rædwald of East Anglia is the most likely person to have been buried in the ship. The site is important in understanding the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia and the early Anglo-Saxon period, as it illuminates a period that lacks historical documentation.
Dixie Virginia Carter was an American film, television and stage actress. She starred as Julia Sugarbaker on the sitcom Designing Women (1986–93), and as Randi King on the drama series Family Law (1999–2002). She was nominated for the 2007 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Gloria Hodge on Desperate Housewives (2006–07).
Cleopatra VII Philopator was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. As a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great. After the death of Cleopatra, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, marking the end of the second to last Hellenistic state and the age that had lasted since the reign of Alexander. Her native language was Koine Greek, and she was the only Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language.
The Dig is a drama film directed by Simon Stone, based on the 2007 novel of the same name by John Preston, which reimagines the events of the 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo. It stars Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Johnny Flynn, Ben Chaplin, Ken Stott, Archie Barnes and Monica Dolan.
Cynthia Rowley is an American fashion designer based in the West Village neighborhood of New York City.
The 2021 Royal Rumble is an upcoming professional wrestling pay-per-view and WWE Network event produced by WWE for its Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. It will take place on January 31, 2021, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. It will be the 34th event under the Royal Rumble chronology and will feature WWE's virtual fan viewing experience called ThunderDome. This will also be the first Royal Rumble event since the passing of Pat Patterson, who created the Royal Rumble match.
Small-cell carcinoma is a type of highly malignant cancer that most commonly arises within the lung, although it can occasionally arise in other body sites, such as the cervix, prostate, and gastrointestinal tract. Compared to non-small cell carcinoma, small cell carcinoma has a shorter doubling time, higher growth fraction, and earlier development of metastases.
Bridgerton is an American streaming television period drama series created by Chris Van Dusen and produced by Shonda Rhimes. It is based on Julia Quinn's novels set in the competitive world of Regency era London's Ton during the season, when debutantes are presented at court. The drama centers on the Bridgerton family: Violet, Dowager Viscountess Bridgerton; her four sons, Anthony, Benedict, Colin and Gregory and her four daughters, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca and Hyacinth. Also featured are the Featheringtons: Portia, Lady Featherington; her husband the Baron; their three daughters, Philippa, Prudence and Penelope; and their cousin Marina Thompson.
A coup d'état in Myanmar began on the morning of 1 February 2021 when State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and other leaders of the ruling party were detained by the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's military. Hours later, Myanmar's army declared a state of emergency and said power had been handed to the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Min Aung Hlaing.
Richard Lamar "Ricky" Hawk, better known as Silentó or Prince Silentó, is an American rapper and singer. He is best known for his debut single "Watch Me ", which charted at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. He later released a project titled Fresh Outta High School in August 2018 after some delay. He is a native of Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Min Aung Hlaing is a Burmese army general who is the current State Leader of Myanmar and Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Armed Forces. He seized power after overthrowing the elected government in a coup d'état on 1 February 2021.
Anthony Dominick Benedetto, known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. He is also a painter, having created works under his birth name that are on permanent public display in several institutions. He is the founder of the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens, New York.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019. The district includes the eastern part of the Bronx, portions of north-central Queens, and Rikers Island in New York City. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
Basil John Wait Brown was an English self-taught archaeologist and astronomer who in 1939 discovered and excavated a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo in "one of the most important archaeological discoveries of all time".
Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramírez, known as Richard Ramirez, was an American serial killer, serial rapist, kidnapper, pedophile, and burglar. His highly publicized home invasion crime spree terrorized the residents of the Greater Los Angeles area and later the residents of the San Francisco Bay Area from June 1984 until August 1985. Prior to his capture, Ramirez was dubbed the "Night Stalker" by the news media.
Sophie Xeon, better known mononymously as Sophie was a Scottish musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, and DJ. Known for a brash and "hyperkinetic" take on pop music, Sophie worked closely with artists from the PC Music label, including A.G. Cook and GFOTY, and produced for acts such as Charli XCX, Vince Staples, Kim Petras, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, and Namie Amuro.
Edith May Pretty was an English landowner on whose land the Sutton Hoo ship burial was discovered after she hired Basil Brown, a local archaeologist, to find out if anything lay beneath the mounds on her property.
In biological nomenclature, organisms often receive scientific names that honor a person. A taxon named in honor of another entity is an eponymous taxon, and names specifically honoring a person or persons are known as patronyms. Scientific names are generally formally published in peer-reviewed journal articles or larger monographs along with descriptions of the named taxa and ways to distinguish them from other taxa. Following rules of Latin grammar, species or subspecies names derived from a man's name often end in -i or -ii if named for an individual, and -orum if named for a group of men or mixed-sex group, such as a family. Similarly, those named for a woman often end in -ae, or -arum for two or more women.
Jordan Ross Belfort is an American author, motivational speaker, former stockbroker, and convicted felon. In 1999, he pled guilty to fraud and related crimes in connection with stock-market manipulation and running a boiler room as part of a penny-stock scam. Belfort spent 22 months in prison as part of an agreement under which he gave testimony against numerous partners and subordinates in his fraud scheme. He published the memoir The Wolf of Wall Street in 2007, which was adapted into a film with the same name and released in 2013.
The Little Things is a 2021 American neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by John Lee Hancock, and produced by Hancock and Mark Johnson. The plot follows two police officers who try to catch a serial killer in 1990s Los Angeles; the film also stars Jared Leto as their top suspect and Natalie Morales as another detective.
Saved by the Bell is an American television sitcom created by Sam Bobrick for NBC. It was broadcast from August 20, 1989 to May 22, 1993. A retooling of the Disney Channel series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, the show follows a group of high school friends and their principal at the fictional Bayside High School in Los Angeles. Primarily focusing on lighthearted comedic situations, it occasionally touches on serious social issues, such as drug use, driving under the influence, homelessness, remarriage, death, women's rights, and environmental issues. The series starred Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Dustin Diamond, Lark Voorhies, Dennis Haskins, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley, and Mario Lopez. Targeted at kids and teens, Saved by the Bell was broadcast in the United States on Saturday mornings.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Colloquially known as simply the coronavirus, it was previously referred to by its provisional name, 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), and has also been called human coronavirus 2019. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020, and a pandemic on 11 March 2020.
Jennifer Rene Psaki is an American political advisor serving as the 34th White House press secretary. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the Obama administration as Spokesperson for the United States Department of State from 2013 to 2015 and as White House Communications Director from 2015 to 2017. Psaki was political contributor for CNN from 2017 to 2020.
Donald John Trump is an American politician who was the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Before entering politics, he was a businessman and television personality.
Ozan Muhammed Kabak is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Liverpool, on loan from Schalke 04, and the Turkey national team.
Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketing term for an office suite, the first version of Office contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Over the years, Office applications have grown substantially closer with shared features such as a common spell checker, OLE data integration and Visual Basic for Applications scripting language. Microsoft also positions Office as a development platform for line-of-business software under the Office Business Applications brand. On July 10, 2012, Softpedia reported that Office was being used by over a billion people worldwide.
Jared Isaacman is an American businessman and pilot. He is the co-founder and CEO of Harbortouch, a payment processor and manufacturer of payment-processing hardware. In 2004, Isaacman started taking flying lessons and by 2009 had set a world record for flying around the globe. He founded Draken International in 2012, which trains pilots for the United States Armed Forces.
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theological and Literary Institution, often called Hamilton College (1823–1846), then Madison College (1846–1890), and its present name since 1890. Colgate now enrolls nearly 3,000 students in 56 undergraduate majors that culminate in a Bachelor of Arts degree. It is part of the Patriot League athletic conference.
Benjamin Keith Davies is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre back or left back for Championship club Preston North End. He has had loan spells with York City, Tranmere Rovers, Southport, Newport County and Fleetwood Town.
Heather Renée Sweet, known professionally as Dita Von Teese, is an American vedette, burlesque dancer, model, businesswoman, and pornographic and mainstream actress. She is credited with re-popularizing burlesque performance, earning the moniker "Queen of Burlesque".
Alexei Anatolievich Navalny is a Russian opposition leader, politician, lawyer, and anti-corruption activist. He came to international prominence by organizing demonstrations and running for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Putin's government. Navalny has been described as "the man Vladimir Putin fears most" by The Wall Street Journal. Putin avoids directly referring to Navalny by name. Navalny was a Russian Opposition Coordination Council member. He is the leader of the Russia of the Future party and the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).
F5, Inc. is an American company that specializes in application services and application delivery networking (ADN). F5 is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with additional development, manufacturing, and administrative offices worldwide.
Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He spent the first 20 seasons of his career with the New England Patriots, where he was a core contributor of the franchise's dynasty from 2001 to 2019. Brady is considered by many sports writers, commentators, and players to be the greatest quarterback of all time.
Andrew James Matfin Bell is an English actor and dancer. He rose to prominence for his debut role in Billy Elliot (2000), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He is also known for his leading roles as Tintin in The Adventures of Tintin (2011) and as Ben Grimm / Thing in Fantastic Four (2015). Other notable performances include in the films King Kong (2005), Jumper (2008), Snowpiercer (2013), and Rocketman (2019). He earned a BAFTA Award nomination for his performance in Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017). In television, Bell starred as Abraham Woodhull in the AMC historical drama series Turn: Washington's Spies (2014–2017).
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is an American politician serving as the 46th and current president of the United States. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 under Barack Obama and represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009.
QAnon is a disproven and discredited far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping, cannibalistic pedophiles is running a global child sex-trafficking ring and plotting against former U.S. president Donald Trump, who has been fighting the cabal. According to U.S. prosecutors, QAnon is commonly called a cult.
Cicely Tyson was an American actress and fashion model. In a career spanning more than seven decades, she became known for her portrayal of strong African-American women. Tyson was the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards, four Black Reel Awards, one Screen Actors Guild Award, one Tony Award, an honorary Academy Award, and a Peabody Award.
Armand Douglas Hammer is an American actor. The son of businessman Michael Armand Hammer and the great-grandson of oil tycoon Armand Hammer, he began his acting career with guest appearances in several television series. Hammer's first leading role was as Billy Graham in the 2008 film Billy: The Early Years, and he gained wider recognition for his portrayal of the twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss in David Fincher's biographical drama film The Social Network (2010), for which he won the Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Mark-Paul Harry Gosselaar is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as Zack Morris in Saved by the Bell, Detective John Clark Jr. in NYPD Blue, and Peter Bash in Franklin & Bash. He was the lead in the 1998 film Dead Man on Campus and starred in the 2016 TV series Pitch. He was the lead actor in the 2019 TV series The Passage. Gosselaar currently plays Paul Johnson in the ABC sitcom series Mixed-ish, the prequel series of Black-ish.
Elizabeth II is Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms.
Safiye Ali was a Turkish physician, the first female medical doctor of the Republic of Turkey. She was a graduate of Robert College in Istanbul. She treated the soldiers in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and the Turkish War of Independence. She studied medicine in Germany in 1916 and opened her office in Istanbul in 1923.
Wikipedia is a multilingual open-collaborative online encyclopedia created and maintained by a community of volunteer editors using a wiki-based editing system. It is one of the 15 most popular websites as ranked by Alexa, as of January 2021 and The Economist newspaper placed it as the "13th-most-visited place on the web". Featuring no advertisements, it is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, an American non-profit organization funded primarily through donations.
Sara James Tarses was an American television producer and television studio executive. Tarses was the president of ABC Entertainment from 1996 to 1999, the first woman and one of the youngest people to hold such a post in an American broadcast network.
YouTube is an American online video-sharing platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service, created in February 2005 by three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—was bought by Google in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion and now operates as one of the company's subsidiaries. YouTube is the second most-visited website in the world after Google Search, according to Alexa Internet rankings.
Joanna Lamond Lumley, is a British actress, presenter, former model, author, television producer, and activist.
Alexandre Tounde Dimitri Jankewitz is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Southampton.
Mark Cuban is an American billionaire entrepreneur, television personality, media proprietor, and investor, whose net worth is an estimated $4.3 billion, according to Forbes and ranked #177 on the 2020 Forbes 400 list. He is a named inventor of two utility patents and two ornamental designs associated with two failed ventures. He is the owner of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Dallas Mavericks, co-owner of 2929 Entertainment, and chairman of AXS TV. He is also one of the main "shark" investors on the ABC reality television series, Shark Tank.
In January 2021, a short squeeze of GameStop and of numerous other securities traded on various stock exchanges took place, causing major financial consequences for certain hedge funds. The short squeeze increased the stock price of GameStop, a video-game retailer, almost 190 times from its record low, hitting a high of nearly $500 per share on January 28, 2021, and causing large losses for short sellers. Approximately 140% of GameStop shares had been sold short and the rush to buy shares to cover these positions only drove the price higher. The short squeeze was mainly triggered by users of the forum r/wallstreetbets on Reddit through commission-free trading apps such as Robinhood.
Hickam's dictum is a counterargument to the use of Occam's razor in the medical profession. While Occam's razor suggests that the simplest explanation is the most likely, implying in medicine that diagnosticians should assume a single cause for multiple symptoms, one form of Hickam's dictum states: "A man can have as many diseases as he damn well pleases." The principle is attributed to John Hickam, MD. When he began saying this is uncertain. In 1946 he was a housestaff member in medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. Hickam was a faculty member at Duke University in the 1950s, and was later chairman of medicine at Indiana University from 1958 to 1970. He died at age 55 in 1970.
Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. was an American film, stage actor, and television director. He was notable for his one-man stage show as Mark Twain.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. In a state of total war, directly involving more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries, the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, resulting in 70 to 85 million fatalities, with more civilians than military personnel killed. Tens of millions of people died due to genocides, premeditated death from starvation, massacres, and disease. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, including in strategic bombing of population centres, the development of nuclear weapons, and the only two uses of such in war.
Carey Hannah Mulligan is a British actress. She made her professional acting debut on stage in the 2004 Kevin Elyot play Forty Winks at the Royal Court Theatre. Her film debut came with a supporting role in the romantic drama Pride & Prejudice (2005), followed by roles in television, including the drama series Bleak House (2005) and the television film Northanger Abbey (2007). Mulligan made her Broadway debut in the 2008 revival of the Anton Chekov play The Seagull, which earned her an Ian Charleson Commendation Award.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States, or America, is a country primarily located in North America, consisting of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, it is the world's third- or fourth-largest country by total area. With a population of more than 328 million people, it is the third most populous country in the world. The national capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City.
Tasuku Honjo is a Japanese physician-scientist and immunologist. He shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and is best known for his identification of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1). He is also known for his molecular identification of cytokines: IL-4 and IL-5, as well as the discovery of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) that is essential for class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation.
Candlemas, also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Feast of the Holy Encounter, is a Christian Holy Day commemorating the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. It is based upon the account of the presentation of Jesus in Luke 2:22–40. In accordance with Leviticus 12: a woman was to be purified by presenting a lamb as a burnt offering, and either a young pigeon or dove as sin offering, 33 days after a boy's circumcision. It falls on February 2, which is traditionally the 40th day of and the conclusion of the Christmas–Epiphany season. While it is customary for Christians in some countries to remove their Christmas decorations on Twelfth Night, those in other Christian countries historically remove them after Candlemas. On Candlemas, many Christians also bring their candles to their local church, where they are blessed and then used for the rest of the year; for Christians, these blessed candles serve as a symbol of Jesus Christ, who referred to Himself as the Light of the World.
Tiffani Amber Thiessen is an American actress, who starred as Kelly Kapowski on NBC's Saved by the Bell (1989–2003), as Valerie Malone on Fox's Beverly Hills, 90210 (1994–98), and as Lori on Netflix's Alexa and Katie (2018–2020). Thiessen has also starred in other TV series such as Fox's Fastlane (2002–2003), ABC's What About Brian (2007), and USA Network's White Collar (2009–2014), as well as in a number of TV movies, and she has also appeared in several films, such as Son in Law (1993), Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th (2000), Hollywood Ending (2002) and Cyborg Soldier (2008).
Members of the Cabinet of the United States in the Biden administration will assume office after the inauguration of President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021, and after confirmation by the United States Senate. In addition to the 15 heads of executive departments, there will be nine Cabinet-level officials, with three positions being elevated to Cabinet-level, and one position being dropped.
The Dyatlov Pass incident was an event in which nine Russian hikers died in the northern Ural Mountains between 1 and 2 February 1959, in uncertain circumstances. The experienced trekking group, who were all from the Ural Polytechnical Institute, had established a camp on the slopes of Kholat Syakhl, in an area now named in honour of the group's leader, Igor Dyatlov. During the night, something caused them to cut their way out of their tents and flee the campsite while inadequately dressed for the heavy snowfall and subzero temperatures.
GameStop is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer. The company is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, United States, a suburb of Dallas, and operates 5,509 retail stores throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe as of February 1, 2020. The company's retail stores primarily operate under the GameStop, EB Games, ThinkGeek, and Micromania-Zing brands.
Lark Voorhies is an American actress, singer, spokeswoman and model. Voorhies rose to fame playing Lisa Marie Turtle on the NBC sitcom Saved by the Bell (1989–1993). Voorhies was nominated for the Young Artist Award six times, winning in 1990 and 1993 for her work on the show.
Master is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, who also wrote the screenplay with Rathna Kumar and Pon Parthiban. The film stars Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi, with Malavika Mohanan, Arjun Das, Andrea Jeremiah and Shanthanu Bhagyaraj in supporting roles. The film revolves around an alcoholic professor, J. D. (Vijay), who takes a three-month teaching job in a juvenile home, which is controlled by the nefarious Bhavani (Sethupathi).
Kamala Devi Harris is an American politician and attorney who is the 49th and current vice president of the United States. She is the United States' first female vice president, the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, and the first African American and first Asian American vice president.
Drew Elliott Robinson is an American professional baseball infielder and outfielder in the San Francisco Giants organization. He was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the fourth round of the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Rangers, with whom he made his MLB debut in 2017, and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg is an American politician and former U.S. Navy intelligence officer who is President Joe Biden's nominee for the position of United States secretary of transportation. He was the 32nd mayor of South Bend, Indiana, from 2012 to 2020, earning him the nickname "Mayor Pete".
Colson Baker, known professionally as Machine Gun Kelly (MGK), is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, and actor. His debut album, Lace Up, was released in 2012, and was followed up with four subsequent studio releases. As an actor, Baker made his film debut in the 2014 romantic drama Beyond the Lights. He has also appeared in several other films and had a recurring role on the Showtime series Roadies in 2016.
Jennifer Love Hewitt is an American actress, producer and singer. Hewitt began her career as a child actress and singer, appearing in national television commercials before joining the cast of the Disney Channel series Kids Incorporated (1989–1991). She had her breakthrough as Sarah Reeves Merrin on the Fox teen drama Party of Five (1995–1999) and rose to fame as a teen star for her role as Julie James in the horror films I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and its 1998 sequel, as well as her role as Amanda Beckett in the teen comedy film Can't Hardly Wait (1998).
William James Murray is an American actor, comedian, and writer. Known for his deadpan delivery, he first rose to fame on Saturday Night Live, a series of performances that earned him his first Emmy Award, and later starred in comedy films—including Meatballs (1979), Caddyshack (1980), Stripes (1981), Tootsie (1982), Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989), What About Bob? (1991), Groundhog Day (1993), and Kingpin (1996). His only directorial credit is Quick Change (1990), which he co-directed with Howard Franklin.
The Drowning is a British four-part television thriller drama series written and created by Francesca Brill, Luke Watson and Tim Dynevor and directed by Carolina Giammetta. It was first broadcast on Channel 5 on 1 February 2021. It stars Jill Halfpenny, Jonas Armstrong, Rupert Penry-Jones and Deborah Findlay.
Carlos Edwin Colón Jr. is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Carlito.
It's a Sin is a British television drama serial written and created by Russell T Davies and developed by Red Production Company. The five-part miniseries is set from 1981-1991 in London. It premiered in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 on 22 January 2021. It will be broadcast in the United States on HBO Max beginning on 18 February 2021. The show received critical acclaim, with praise directed towards Davies's writing and the performance of the cast, particularly Alexander, West, Scott Howells and Hawes.
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in January 2020 and a pandemic in March 2020. As of 28 January 2021, more than 100 million cases have been confirmed, with more than 2.17 million deaths attributed to COVID-19.
Rósa Arianna McGowan, better known as Rose McGowan, is an American actress and activist. After her film debut in a brief role in the comedy Encino Man (1992), McGowan achieved wider recognition for her performance in Gregg Araki's dark comedy The Doom Generation (1995), receiving an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Debut Performance. She had her breakthrough in the horror film Scream (1996) and subsequently headlined the films Going All the Way (1997), Devil in the Flesh (1998) and Jawbreaker (1999).
Takumi Minamino is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Premier League club Liverpool and the Japan national team.
Attack on Titan is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. It is set in a world where humanity lives inside cities surrounded by enormous walls that protect them from gigantic man-eating humanoids referred to as Titans; the story follows Eren Yeager, who vows to exterminate the Titans after a Titan brings about the destruction of his hometown and the death of his mother. Attack on Titan has been serialized in Kodansha's monthly Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine since September 2009 and collected into 33 tankōbon volumes as of January 2021.
The Queen's Gambit is a 2020 American coming-of-age period drama miniseries based on Walter Tevis's 1983 novel of the same name. It was written and directed by Scott Frank, who created it with Allan Scott. Beginning in the mid-1950s and proceeding into the 1960s, the story follows the life of Beth Harmon, an orphaned chess prodigy on her rise to the top of the chess world while struggling with drug and alcohol dependency.
Lily Chloe Ninette Thomson, known professionally as Lily James, is an English actress. She studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and began her acting career in the British television series Just William (2010). Following her role in the period drama series Downton Abbey (2012–2015), her film breakthrough was the title role in Cinderella (2015).
Regé-Jean Page is an English actor. He is known for playing Chicken George in the 2016 miniseries Roots and from 2018 to 2019 was a regular cast member on the ABC legal drama For the People. As of 2020, Page stars in the Netflix period drama, Bridgerton as Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings.
Imbolc or Imbolg, also called (Saint) Brigid's Day, is a Gaelic traditional festival marking the beginning of spring. It was traditionally held on 1 February. It lands about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals—along with Bealtaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain. For Christians, especially in Ireland, it is the feast day of Saint Brigid.
Rosalie Anderson "Andie" MacDowell is an American actress and fashion model. She made her film debut in 1984's Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, before receiving critical acclaim for her role in Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), for which she won Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama. She also received Golden Globe Award nominations for her performances in Green Card (1990) and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994).
Godzilla vs. Kong is an upcoming American monster film directed by Adam Wingard. A sequel to Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island, it is the fourth film in Legendary's MonsterVerse. The film is also the 36th film in the Godzilla franchise, the 12th film in the King Kong franchise, and the fourth Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio. The film stars Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, and Demián Bichir.
Pet Rock is a collectible toy made in 1975 by advertising executive Gary Dahl. Pet Rocks are smooth stones from Mexico's Rosarito Beach. They were marketed like live pets, in custom cardboard boxes, complete with straw and breathing holes. The fad lasted about six months, ending after a short increase in sales during the Christmas season of December 1975. Although by February 1976 they were discounted due to lower sales, Dahl sold over 1 million Pet Rocks for $4 each, and became a millionaire.