... that some people did not drink voluntarily but had the poison forced down their throats or injected. While there were isolated acts of resistance and suggestions of opposition to the suicides, excerpts from a tape, recorded as the final ritual was being enacted, reveal that such dissent was quickly dismissed or shouted down.   utilized the threat of severe punishment to impose the strict discipline and absolute devotion that he demanded, and he also took measures to eliminate those factors that might encourage resistance or rebellion among his followers. Research showed that the presence of a "disobedient" partner greatly reduced the extent o which most su ...

... a bow and arrow set. He was very good because he practiced for hours everyday. By the time he was seven he was excellent in battle skills. However tragedy struck that year. Yisugei was murdered by a local tribe. His family tried to overcome it but the people left the tribe and joined other tribes. A few people stayed but they also left after a while. Temujin and his family lived off berries, animals, and plants. Temujin started working harder on his archery. He was one of the best in the land by the time he was eleven. By eleven seventy-three, Temujin had risen, he became chief of a tribe. People noted how fierce he was and how he had no mercy. He was ...

... Hyde Park led a comfortable, gracious existence, and young Franklin's life was sheltered; he was educated by governesses and indulged by his father. A handsome youth, he was an excellent athlete, expert at boating and swimming, and he also collected stamps, birds, and ship models—hobbies that he pursued all his life. His formal education began at the Groton School in Massachusetts, where the headmaster, Endicott Peabody (1857-1944), stressed to his wealthy young students their obligation toward those who were less fortunate in society. After graduation from Harvard University in 1904, Roosevelt attended Columbia University Law School without taking a degree and wa ...

... tutelage. A master of several instruments while still in his teens, Johann Sebastian first found employment at the age of 18 as a "lackey and violinist" in a court orchestra in Weimar; soon after, he took the job of organist at a church in Arnstadt. Here, as in later posts, his perfectionist tendencies and high expectations of other musicians - for example, the church choir - rubbed his colleagues the wrong way, and he was embroiled in a number of hot disputes during his short tenure. In 1707, at the age of 22, Bach became fed up with the lousy musical standards of Arnstadt (and the working conditions) and moved on to another organist job, this time at the S ...

... his family was split up. He was haunted by this early nightmare for most of his life. From then on, hatred and a desire for revenge drove him. The early backgrounds of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were largely responsible for the distinct different responses to American racism. Both men ultimately became towering icons of contemporary African-American culture and had a great influence on black Americans. However, King had a more positive attitude than Malcolm X, believing that through peaceful demonstrations and arguments, blacks will be able to someday, achieve full equality with whites. Malcolm X’s despair about life was reflected in his angry, pessimistic ...

... to steal a cement mixer and it fell on his feet, an injury that affected his gait for the rest of his life. He quit school at sixteen and rose to leadership in a local street gang of thieves called the Fulton-Rockaway Boys, named after two streets in their neighborhood. At an early age he exerted his bad temper, dominance and readiness to engage in fistfights. These were just the right characteristics to develop his potential as a Mafia boss. In the mid-1960's, Gotti's boss Carmine Fatico moved his headquarters out to Ozone Park near JFK Airport. Gotti, his brothers, Angelo and Willie Boy became relatively successful hijackers. That is, until they got caught in ...

... In France, the absolutism of the Sun King, Louis XIV, continued under Louis XV and XVI. But in Austria, Empress Maria Theresa introduced a greater measure of tolerance and freedom among her subjects, laying a foundation for the democratic revolutions that followed. Wolfgang’s father Leopold came from a family of Augsburg bookbinders. He received a solid Jesuit education, more intellectual than evangelical after a year at the Benedictine University in nearby Salzburg; Leopold stopped attending classes to pursue a career as a musician. "Leopold figured as ’s most important first model. He taught his son the clavier and composition"(Mercardo 763). Wolfgang ...

... 's family moved from Waukegan, Illinois to Tucson, Arizona, only to return to Waukegan again in May 1927. By 1931 he began writing his own stories on butcher paper. His childhood was very important to him because it was a constant source of intense sensations, feelings, and images that generate great stories. As a child he was first inspired by seeing "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". "His childhood was that of a pleasant memory of a half-forgotten dream" (Person I). In 1932, after his father was laid off his job as a electrical lineman, the Bradbury family again moved to Tucson and again returned to Waukegan the following year. In 1934 the Bradbury family moved ...

... sending her into a coma. She did come out of the coma, but her recovery was not complete, for she suffered blackouts from the blow for the rest of her life. The disease we would might say resulted from the blow is narcolepsy. She would sleep and appear to be lazy which, got her in trouble on more than one occasion.2 She escaped Slavery by running to Philadelphia in 1849, after hearing that she would be sold, since the owners of her plantation had died. Harriet at the time, had a husband who was a free man named John Tubman. They were married in 1844 and she was allowed to sleep in his cabin at night. Harriet had mentioned the idea of escaping and John told Ha ...

... deep underlying passion for science, primarily in chemistry experiments. Later he went on to other areas of science. Alan became more and more enthralled with science, and his mother worried that he would not be accepted to Sherbourne, an English public school, because he was so much of a scientific specialist. But in 1926, Alan was granted admittance to the public school. However, after a short while the Headmaster reported to his mother that if Alan was solely a scientific specialist, that he was wasting his time. Many other teachers also felt the same was as the Headmaster. In 1928, Turing became interested in relativity, and it was at this time that Alan me ...