Important people and books

1.Alex Jones

Alexander Emerick "Alex" Jones (born February 11, 1974) is an American talk radio host, actor and filmmaker. His syndicated news/talk show The Alex Jones Show, based in Austin, Texas, airs via the Genesis Communication Network over 60 AM, FM, and shortwave radio stations across the United States and on the Internet. His websites include Infowars.com and PrisonPlanet.com.
2.Ray Kurzweil

Raymond "Ray" Kurzweil; born February 12, 1948) is an American author, scientist, inventor and futurist. He is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments. He is the author of several books on health,artificial intelligence (AI), trans-humanism, the technological singularity, and futurism.
3.I'Avatar

Meadows, Mark Stephen. I, avatar: the culture and consequences of having a second life. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2008. Print.
4.Mark Stephen Meadows

Mark Stephen Meadows is an American author and artist. In addition to his illustration, books, and travelogues he also develops software. He is the co-inventor of several US patents relating to artificial intelligence and avatars, and he lectures internationally on this work.

Meadows is known for his hitchhiking adventures, specifically for visiting Baghdad in 2003, and his interviews with terrorists in Sri Lanka. He holds a USCG captain's license.

5.The Singularity Is Near

Kurzweil, Ray. The singularity is near: when humans transcend biology. New York: Viking, 2005. Print.
6.Steve Jobs

Steven Paul Jobs; February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs was co-founder and previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney.
7.Stephen Glass

Stephen Glass, J.D. (born 1972) is an American former journalist, who came to prominence when it was uncovered that he had fabricated several magazine articles in 1998. Over a three-year period as a young rising star at The New Republic(TNR), from 1995 to 1998, Glass fabricated quotations, sources, and even entire events in articles he wrote for that magazine and others. Most of Glass' articles were of the entertaining and humorous type, some of them based entirely on fictional events. His career at TNR was dramatized in the film Shattered Glass, where Glass was portrayed by Hayden Christensen. Glass fictionalized his own story in The Fabulist, a 2003 novel whose protagonist is named "Stephen Aaron Glass". Glass holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and since 2004, he has worked as a paralegal at the Beverly Hills law firm of Carpenter, Zuckerman & Rowley.
8.Marco Tempest

Marco Tempest is a Swiss magician based in New York City. He is reputed for his multimedia magic and use of interactive technology and computer graphics in his illusions and presentations. He stars in the eight part television series "The Virtual Magician". broadcasting in over 50 countries.
9.Wael Ghonim

Wael Ghonim embodies the youth who constitute the majority of Egyptian society — a young man who excelled and became a Google executive but, as with many of his generation, remained apolitical due to loss of hope that things could change in a society permeated for decades with a culture of fear.

Over the past few years, Wael, 30, began working outside the box to make his peers understand that only their unstoppable people power could effect real change. He quickly grasped that social media, notably Facebook, were emerging as the most powerful communication tools to mobilize and develop ideas.

By emphasizing that the regime would listen only when citizens exercised their right of peaceful demonstration and civil disobedience, Wael helped initiate a call for a peaceful revolution.

The response was miraculous: a movement that started with thousands on Jan. 25 ended with 12 million Egyptians removing Hosni Mubarak and his regime. What Wael and the young Egyptians did spread like wildfire across the Arab world.

10.Reed Hastings

Reed Hastings was a Marine and a Peace Corps worker before he became an entrepreneur. As he says, "Once you have hitchhiked across Africa with 10 bucks in your pocket, starting a business doesn't seem too intimidating."

And what a business he started. Reed, 50, had the idea for Netflix after misplacing a videocassette and racking up a big late fee. He was on his way to work out when he realized the gym had a much better business model than his video-rental store: pay $30 to $40 a month and exercise as little or as much as you want.

Netflix first revolutionized entertainment distribution using one of the oldest methods of delivery, the U.S. mail. Now it distributes everywhere — TV, computer, iPad or game console.

Reed's innovation has changed how the entertainment business reaches its audience and how that audience is able to access content. I am thrilled to be part of this game-changing pioneer's next move: the first original series for Netflix, House of Cards, to be directed by David Fincher.

Blockbuster was sold at auction in April. Meanwhile, Reed has figured out that giving consumers what they want and how they want it — or even better, how they never even knew they could have it — is the business model of the future.

11.Marc Zuckerburg

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (born May 14, 1984) is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive andpresident. It was co-founded as a private company in 2004 by Zuckerberg and classmates Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, and Chris Hughes while they were students at Harvard University.  In 2010, Zuckerberg was named Time magazine's Person of the Year.  As of 2011, his personal wealth was estimated to be $17.5 billion.
12.Peter Vesterbacka

Finnish game developer at Rovio Mobile who created the popular Angry Birds Game.
13.The Bible

14.Convergence Culture:Where old and new media collide

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence culture where old and new media collide. New York: New York University Press, 2006. Print.
15.  Flat Earth News: An Award-Winning Reporter Exposes Falsehood, Distortion and Propaganda in the Global Media

Davies, Nick. Flat Earth news: an award-winning reporter exposes falsehood, distortion and propaganda in the global media. London: Vintage, 2009. Print.

16.Food Inc.

Weber, Karl. Food, Inc.: how industrial food is making us sicker, fatter and poorer; and what you can do about it : a participant guide. New York: PublicAffairs, 2009. Print.
17.Introducing Semiotics

Cobley, Paul, and Litza Jansz.Introducing semiotics. London: Icon, 2010. Print.
18. The Fabulist

Glass, Stephen. The Fabulist: a Novel. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003. Print.

19.  Losing the News: The Future of the News that Feeds Democracy (Institutions of American Democracy)

Jones, Alex S.. Losing the news: the uncertain future of the news that feeds democracy. New York: Oxford University Press, 20102009. Print.

20.  Mediated: How the Media Shapes Our World and the Way We Live in It

Zengotita, Thomas. Mediated: how the media shapes your world and the way you live in it. Pbk. ed. New York: Bloomsbury ;, 2006. Print.

Wikis

1.Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email.

2.Cell Phones

A mobile phone (also known as a cellular phone, cell phone and a hand phone) is a device that can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator, allowing access to the public telephone network. By contrast, a cordless telephone is used only within the short range of a single, private base station.

In addition to telephony, modern mobile phones also support a wide variety of other servicessuch as text messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications (infrared, Bluetooth), business applications, gaming and photography. Mobile phones that offer these and more general computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones.

3.Video Games

A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device,^[1] but following popularization of the term "video game", it now implies any type of display device. The electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms; examples of these arepersonal computers and video game consoles. These platforms range from largemainframe computers to small handheld devices. Specialized video games such asarcade games, while previously common, have gradually declined in use. Video games have gone on to become an art form and industry.

4.Comic Books

A comic book or comicbook^[1] (often shortened to simply comic and sometimes called a funny book, comic paper, or comic magazine) is amagazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panelsthat represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog (usually in word balloons, emblematic of the comic book art form) as well as including brief descriptive prose. The first comic book appeared in the United States in 1933, reprinting the earlier newspaper comic strips, which established many of the story-telling devices used in comics. The term "comic book" arose because the first comic books reprinted humor comic strips. Despite their name, however, comic books do not necessarily operate in humorous mode; most modern comic books tell stories in a variety of genres.

5.Movie Genre:Action

6.Movie Genre:Comedy

7.Movie Genre:Romance

8.Movie Genre:Horror

9.Movie Genre:Drama

10.UFO

A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object (usually abbreviated to UFO or U.F.O.) is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object. While a small percentage remain unexplained, the majority of UFO sightings are often later identified as any number of various natural phenomenon or man-made objects.

11.Vampires

Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence (generally in the form of blood) of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person. Although vampiric entities have been recorded in many cultures, and may go back to "prehistoric times", the termvampire was not popularized until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by different names, such as vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism.

12.NWO

In conspiracy theory, the term New World Order or NWO refers to the emergence of a totalitarian one-world government.

The common theme in conspiracy theories about a New World Order is that a secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an authoritarian world government—which replaces sovereignnation-states—and an all-encompassing propaganda that ideologizes its establishment as the culmination of history's progress. Significant occurrences inpolitics and finance are speculated to be orchestrated by an unduly influential cabaloperating through many front organizations. Numerous historical and current events are seen as steps in an on-going plot to achieve world domination throughsecret political gatherings and decision-making processes.

13.Hip-Hop

Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic subculture that originated in minority communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically theBronx. Though taking some of its influence from Carribean music styles such as Jamaican Dub, it nonetheless evolved into an entirely separate genre still in transition today with continued input and evolution from all different races and walks of life. Dun DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture:MCing, DJing, B-boying and graffiti writing.Other elements also include beatboxing.

14.Free Masons

Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge of Scotlandand Grand Lodge of Ireland, over a quarter of a million under the jurisdiction of the United Grand Lodge of England and just under two million in the United States.

The fraternity is administratively organised into independent Grand Lodges or sometimes Orients, each of which governs its own jurisdiction, which consists of subordinate (or constituent) Lodges. The various Grand Lodges recognise each other, or not, based upon adherence to landmarks (a Grand Lodge will usually deem other Grand Lodges who share common landmarks to be regular, and those that do not to be "irregular" or "clandestine").

There are also appendant bodies, which are organisations related to the main branch of Freemasonry, but with their own independent administration.

15.Sweat Shops

Sweatshop (or sweat factory) is a negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have hazardous materials and situations. Employees may be subject to employer abuse without an easy way to protect themselves.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office defines a sweatshop as an employer that violates more than one federal or state labor law governing minimum wage and overtime, child labor, industrial homework, occupational safety and health, worker’s compensation or industry regulation.

16.Speakeasy

A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an establishment that illegally sellsalcoholic beverages. Such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the period known as Prohibition (1920–1933, longer in some states). During this time, the sale, manufacture, and transportation (bootlegging) of alcoholic beverages was illegal throughout the United States.

17.Opium Wars

The Opium Wars, also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars, divided into the First Opium War from 1839 to 1842 and theSecond Opium War from 1856 to 1860, were the climax of disputes over trade and diplomatic relations between Chinaunder the Qing Dynasty and the British Empire. After the inauguration of the Canton System in 1756, which restricted trade to one port and did not allow foreign entrance to China, theBritish East India Company faced a trade imbalance in favor of China and invested heavily in opium production to redress the balance. British and United States merchants brought opium from the British East India Company's factories in Patna andBenares, in the Bengal Presidency of British India, to the coast of China, where they sold it to Chinese smugglers who distributed the drug in defiance of Chinese laws. Aware both of the drain of silver and the growing numbers of addicts, the Dao Guang Emperor demanded action. Officials at the court who advocated legalization of the trade in order to tax it were defeated by those who advocated suppression. In 1838, the Emperor sent Lin Zexu to Guangzhou where he quickly arrested Chinese opium dealers and summarily demanded that foreign firms turn over their stocks. When they refused, Lin stopped trade altogether and placed the foreign residents under virtual siege, eventually forcing the merchants to surrender their opium to be destroyed. In response, the British government sent expeditionary forces from India which ravaged the Chinese coast and dictated the terms of settlement. The Treaty of Nanking not only opened the way for further opium trade, but ceded territory including Hong Kong, unilaterally fixed Chinese tariffs at a low rate, granted extraterritorial rights to foreigners in China which were not offered to Chinese abroad, a most favored nationclause, as well as diplomatic representation. When the court still refused to accept foreign ambassadors and obstructed the trade clauses of the treaties, disputes over the treatment of British merchants in Chinese ports and on the seas led to the Second Opium War and the Treaty of Tientsin.

18.Semiotics

Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or (in the Saussurean tradition) semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes (semiosis), indication, designation, likeness,analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication. Semiotics is closely related to the field of linguistics, which, for its part, studies the structure and meaning of language more specifically. Semiotics is often divided into three branches:

• Semantics: Relation between signs and the things to which they refer; theirdenotata, or meaning
• Syntactics: Relations among signs in formal structures
• Pragmatics: Relation between signs and the effects they have on the people who use them

19.Illuminati

The Illuminati (plural of Latin illuminatus, "enlightened") is a name given to several groups, both real (historical) and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776. In more modern contexts the name refers to a purported conspiratorial organization which is alleged to mastermind events and control world affairs through governments and corporations to establish a New World Order. In this context the Illuminati are usually represented as a modern version or continuation of the Bavarian Illuminati.

20.Censorship

Censorship is the suppression of speech or other public communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the general body of people as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body.

The rationale for censorship is different for various types of information censored:

• Moral censorship is the removal of materials that are obscene or otherwise considered morally questionable. Pornography, for example, is often censored under this rationale, especially child pornography, which is illegal and censored in most jurisdictions in the world.
• Military censorship is the process of keeping military intelligence andtactics confidential and away from the enemy. This is used to counterespionage, which is the process of gleaning military information.
• Political censorship occurs when governments hold back information from their citizens. This is often done to exert control over the populace and prevent free expression that might foment rebellion.
• Religious censorship is the means by which any material considered objectionable by a certain faith is removed. This often involves a dominant religion forcing limitations on less prevalent ones. Alternatively, one religion may shun the works of another when they believe the content is not appropriate for their faith.
• Corporate censorship is the process by which editors in corporate media outlets intervene to disrupt the publishing of information that portrays their business or business partners in a negative light,^[3][4] or intervene to prevent alternate offers from reaching public exposure.

21.Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is a protest movement which began September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City'sWall Street financial district, which was initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters. The protests are against social andeconomic inequality, high unemployment, greed, as well as corruption, and the undue influence of corporations—particularly from the financial services sector—on government. The protesters' slogan We are the 99% refers to the growing income and wealth inequality in the U.S. between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population. The protests in New York City have sparked similar protests and movements around the world.

22.Stem Cell Research

Stem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that candivide (through mitosis) and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells. In mammals, there are two broad types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells, which are isolated from the inner cell mass of blastocysts, and adult stem cells, which are found in various tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing adult tissues. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all the specialized cells (these are called pluripotent cells), but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, such as blood, skin, or intestinal tissues.

Stem cells can now be artificially grown and transformed into specialized cell types with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscles or nerves through cell culture. Highly plastic adult stem cells are routinely used in medical therapies. Stem cells can be taken from a variety of sources, including umbilical cord blood and bone marrow. Embryonic cell lines and autologous embryonic stem cells generated through therapeutic cloning have also been proposed as promising candidates for future therapies. Research into stem cells grew out of findings by Ernest A. McCulloch and James E. Till at the University of Toronto in the 1960s.

23.Cloning

Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plantsreproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments (molecular cloning), cells (cell cloning), or organisms. The term also refers to the production of multiple copies of a product such as digital media or software.

The term clone is derived from the Ancient Greek word κλών(klōn, “twig”), referring to the process whereby a new plant can be created from a twig. In horticulture, the spelling clon was used until the twentieth century; the final e came into use to indicate the vowel is a "long o" instead of a "short o". Since the term entered the popular lexicon in a more general context, the spelling clone has been used exclusively.

In the United States, the human consumption of meat and other products from cloned animals was approved by the FDA on December 28, 2006, with no special labeling required. Cloned beef and other products have since been regularly consumed in the US without distinction. Such practice has met strong resistance in other regions, such as Europe, particularly over the labeling issue.

24.Marijuana

Cannabis, also known as marijuana (sometimes spelled "marihuana") among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of theCannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinalpurposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish wordmarihuana. According to the United Nations, cannabis "is the most widely used illicit substance in the world."

The typical herbal form of cannabis consists of the flowers and subtending leaves and stalks of mature pistillate female plants. The resinous form of the drug is known as hashish (or merely as 'hash').

25.Heroin

Heroin (diacetylmorphine (INN)), also known as diamorphine (BAN), or, especially in older literature, as morphine diacetate, is an opioid analgesicsynthesized from morphine, a derivative of the opium poppy. When used in medicine it is typically used to treat severe pain, such as that resulting from aheart attack. It is the 3,6-diacetyl ester of morphine, and functions as a morphine prodrug (meaning that it is metabolically converted to morphine inside the body). The white crystalline form considered "pure heroin" is usually the hydrochloride salt, diacetylmorphine hydrochloride. When heroin is supplied illegally, though, it is often adulterated to a freebase form, dulling the sheen and consistency to a matte white powder. As of 2004, roughly 87% of the world supply of opium and its derivatives, including heroin, was thought to be produced in Afghanistan. However, production in Mexico has risen six-fold from 2007 to 2011, changing that percentage and placing Mexico as the second largest opium producer in the world.

26.Meth

Methamphetamine (USAN), also known asmethamfetamine (INN), N-methylamphetamine, methylamphetamine, and desoxyephedrine, is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine andamphetamine class of psychoactive drugs. When used illicitly, methamphetamine is commonly referred to as "crystal meth", "meth", "crystal", "ice", "p", "shabu", "speed", "singolah", "bunzun", "glass", "tina", or "crank" (this last term came about when motorcycle bikers in the western United States stored the illegal drug in their crankcases).

Methamphetamine increases alertness, concentration, energy, and in high doses, may induce euphoria, enhance self-esteem and increase libido.Methamphetamine has high potential for abuse and addiction, activating thepsychological reward system by triggering a cascading release of dopaminein the brain. Methamphetamine is FDA approved for the treatment of ADHDand exogenous obesity. It is dispensed in the USA under the trademark name Desoxyn.

27.McDonalds

McDonald's Corporation  is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948 they reorganized their business as a hamburger stand using production line principles. Businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent in 1955. He subsequently purchased the chain from the McDonald brothers and oversaw its worldwide growth.

28.Apple

Apple Inc.  formerly Apple Computer, Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. Apple software includes the Mac OS Xoperating system; the iTunes media browser; the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software; the iWork suite of productivity software; Aperture, a professional photography package; Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio and film-industry software products; Logic Studio, a suite of music production tools; the Safari web browser; and iOS, a mobile operating system. As of July 2011, the company operates 357 retail storesin ten countries, and an online store where hardware and software products are sold. As of September 2011, Apple has recently been the largest publicly traded company in the world by market capitalization, and the largest technology company in the world by revenue and profit.

29.Black Friday

Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in many Commonwealth Nations. Black Friday is not actually a holiday, but some non-retail employers give their employees the day off, increasing the number of potential shoppers. It has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005, although news reports, which at that time were inaccurate, have described it as the busiest shopping day of the year for a much longer period of time.

The day's name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term started before 1966 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation began to be offered: that "Black Friday" indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or are "in the black".

30.Hypnotism

Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination." It is a mental state (according to "state theory") or imaginative role-enactment (according to "non-state theory"). It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary instructions and suggestions. Hypnotic suggestions may be delivered by a hypnotist in the presence of the subject, or may be self-administered ("self-suggestion" or "autosuggestion"). The use of hypnotism for therapeutic purposes is referred to as "hypnotherapy", while its use as a form of entertainment for an audience is known as "stage hypnosis".

The words hypnosis and hypnotism both derive from the term neuro-hypnotism (nervous sleep) coined by the Scottish surgeon James Braid around 1841. Braid based his practice on that developed by Franz Mesmer and his followers ("Mesmerism" or "animal magnetism"), but differed in his theory as to how the procedure worked.

31.Tattoos

A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes. The first written reference to the word, "tattoo" (or Samoan "Tatau") appears in the journal of Joseph Banks, the naturalist aboard Captain Cook's ship the HMS Endeavour in 1769: "I shall now mention the way they mark themselves indelibly, each of them is so marked by their humour or disposition".

32. Alcohol

An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption. In particular, such laws specify the minimum age at which a person may legally buy or drink them. This minimum age varies between 16 and 25 years, depending upon the country and the type of drink. Most nations set it at 18 years of age.

33.MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981.^[1] The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs.^[2]

At one time, MTV had a profound impact on the music industry and popular culture. Slogans such as "I want my MTV" and "MTV is here" became embedded in public thought, the concept of the VJ was popularized, the idea of a dedicated video-based outlet for music was introduced, and both artists and fans found a central location for concert music events, news, and promotion. MTV has also been referenced countless times in popular culture by musicians, other TV channels and television program, films, and books.

MTV has spawned numerous sister channels in the U.S. and affiliated channels internationally, some of which, like the former MTV Tempo now known as TEMPO Networks, have gone independent. MTV's moral influence on young people, including issues related to censorship and social activism, has been a subject of intense debate for years. MTV's choice to focus on non-music programming has also been contested relentlessly since the 1990s, demonstrating the channel's previous impact on popular culture.

34.Call of Duty

Call of Duty is a first-person and third-person shooter video game series franchise. The series began on the PC, and later expanded to consoles and handhelds. Several spin-off games have also been released. The earlier games in the series are set primarily in World War II; starting withModern Warfare, set in modern times, the series has shifted focus away from World War II. Modern Warfare was followed by Modern Warfare 2, set in modern times, and Black Ops, set during the Cold War. Modern Warfare 3, also set in modern times (as the name suggests) was released on 8th November 2011.

The Call of Duty games are published and owned by Activision and published for Apple OS X by Aspyr Media. Most have been developed primarily by Infinity Ward and Treyarch; some games have been developed by Gray Matter Interactive, Spark Unlimited, Pi Studios,Amaze Entertainment, Rebellion Developments, and n-Space. The games use a variety of engines, including the id Tech 3, the Treyarch NGL, and the IW 5.0. Other products in the franchise include a line of action figures designed by Plan-B Toys, a card game created by Upper Deck, and a comic book mini-series published by WildStorm.

As of November 27, 2009, Call Of Duty games had sold 55 million copies for $3 billion in revenue. A 2010 Q3 earnings call from Activision confirmed that the eighth installment of the franchise – a FPS – was currently in development by Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software and due for release "during the back half of 2011". This has been revealed to be Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, with the latter developers co-developing multiplayer.

35.Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a role-playing video game developed byBethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth installment in The Elder Scrolls action role-playing video game series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It was released on November 11, 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Skyrim's main story revolves around the player character's efforts to defeat Alduin, the firstborn of Tamriel's primary deity Akatosh. Alduin is prophesied to destroy the world. Set two hundred years after Oblivion, the game takes place in the land of Skyrim, which is in the midst of a civil war after the assassination of the High King. The open world gameplay of theElder Scrolls series returns in Skyrim; the player can explore the land at will and ignore or postpone the main quest indefinitely. Following its release, the game received universal acclaim from critics.