2016-02-16 (Terça-feira)

Posted on by What did you learn in School today ?

Hoje, eu aprendi que:

Há muitos passatempos e hobbies interessantes no mundo, mas talvez o mais excitante de todos seria de viajar para todos os cantos do globo.

O Estado de S. Paulo mantém uma coluna semanal, intitulada “Mr. Miles”, em que o colunista conta acontecimentos das suas viagens e responde a dúvidas dos leitores. O texto em português é brilhante, salpicado com expressões tipicamente inglêses.

Hoje fomos informados que “MR. MILES É O HOMEM MAIS VIAJADO DO MUNDO. ELE ESTEVE EM 183 PAÍSES E 16 TERRITÓRIOS ULTRAMARINOS.”

Estadão normalmente publica verdades, mas essa afirmação não procede! Veja este recorte do jornal sueco Aftonbladet de 2010-10-07, que mostra o viajante profissional sueco, Peter Grip, que acabou de chegar no último dos 194 países independentes da época. Além disso, tinha visitado 40 territórios dos 130 existentes:

petergrip

O homem mais viajado, Peter Grip, mostra o passaporte após ter chegado ao país 194 em 2010-10-07. Artigo no jornal sueco Aftonbladet.

… Por hoje é so!

(This article in Portuguese and Swedish presents the world’s greatest traveller.)

Refs.:

1: http://viagem.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,comunicar-se-ou-nao-eis-a-questao,10000016090

2: https://www.aftonbladet.se/resa/article12580105.ab

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2016-02-15 (Måndag)

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Idag lärde jag mig, att:

cropped-aik.jpg

Klubbmärket ovan har blivit utsett till världens vackraste klubbmärke. Det hände 1937 när den engelska firma som levererade tröjmärken till dåtidens största fotbollsklubbar ordnade en omröstning bland allmänheten i London om vilket av alla märken som de tillverkat var det vackraste. Majoriteten röstade då på Allmänna Idrottsklubbens (AIK) märke, detaljer finns i referens 1 nedan.

Och idag är det precis 125 år sedan AIK bildades, på Norrmalm i Stockholm. Antalet medlemmar, över 20.000, gör den till Nordens största idrottsklubb. Elva idrotter praktiseras av klubbens aktiva: Bandy, basketboll, boule, bowling, boxning, fotboll, friidrott, golf, handboll, innebandy och ishockey. Genom åren har det naturligtvis blivit tonvis av medaljer och mästerskap i dessa grenar, och även sådana som för närvarande inte är aktiva, såsom badminton, bordtennis, curling och tennis, samt naturligtvis sparkstöttning, som var en mycket populär sport på 1890-talet.

Födelsedagsfirandet kunde inte ha börjat bättre, herrlaget i fotboll slog 2015 års svenska mästare, IFK Norrköping, med 4-1 igår, och redan om två dagar kan det vara teoriskt klart att herrlaget i ishockey har chansen att kvala in till SHL efter två års förvisning till Allsvenskan. Så det är inte utan att en AIK-are såsom jag kan se framtiden an med optimism. Se också uppdatering gjord 2016-03-09 !

Till sist, men alls inte minst, grattis också till Annika på den gemensamma födelsedagen!

… Slut för idag, tack för idag!

(This post in Swedish celebrates the 125 years of foundation of the biggest sports club in the Nordic countries.)

Refs.:

1: Världens vackraste klubbmärke

2: AIK

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2016-02-14 (Sunday)

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Today, I learned once more that:

How good it is to have a quiet Sunday and just relax together with the family. And to open up the appetite for yet another tasteful lunch, nothing better than a refreshing drink. Although there are many wonderful drinks, gin and tonic being one of them, ever since the day I first set foot on Brazilian soil, I have been a fan of their national drink, called Caipirinha, as depicted in the following photo.

cropped-caipirinha1.jpg

And if you have the right ingredients, there is nothing easier than making a Caiprinha. Here is the recipe:
Take one lime fruit and cut off the ends. Divide it into eight equal parts.
Put the parts in a tumbler glass.
Bring out the sugar, which must be made out of sugar cane to have the right sweetness. Depending on how sweet you like your drink, add the desired quantity of sugar. I normally use two soupspoons.
Using a wooden muddler, squeeze the juice out of the lime and let it blend with the sugar.
Add some cubes of ice on top.
Pour the sugar cane liquor, cachaça or pinga as it commonly known, over the solution.
Stir it very well, so that the liquor mixes well with the sweet solution.
Saúde !

But life is not only food and drinks. Although not my favourite pastime, I can very well understand those who look forward to when they can put their boat into the water and go for a trip. I recently came across a fantastic pulling boat, handmade only by wooden marine plank, no plastic! The marine planks were delivered by a Finnish company named Vendia, and currently they are exhibiting boats made of their planks at an international boat show in Helsinki, their capital. Look at the following photo, ain’t she a beauty:

Niko

Pulling boat made of mahogany veneer marine plank. Photo by Vendia

… That’s what I learned in school!

Refs.:

1: Caipirinha

2: Mahogany pulling boat

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2016-02-13 (Saturday)

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Today, I learned that:

Winter in the Northern hemisphere is supposed to be filled with snow, so that people can enjoy the great outdoors making snowmen, having a snowball fight and of course bring out their skis for some exciting tournaments.

But the way we treat Mother Earth, sometimes she responds that we have to make our own snow. And that has happened again this year. Last Thursday, February 11, for the first in three years, there would be one more cross-country ski, in the sprint modality, arranged in the vicinity of the Royal Castle in Stockholm, Sweden. Well, the competition only occurred due to the hugh efforts of bringing in snow from far away and laying it on the ground for the athletes to compete.

stinanilsson

The Swedish ski star Stina Nilsson in action during a qualification heat for the Royal Castle Sprint in Stockholm. Photos by Bildbyrån

And once more, it was the Norwegians that got most of the medals, both in the men’s and the women’s race, two out of three in each discipline. The Russian athlete Nikita Kriukov was the fastest among the male sprinters and Maiken Falla from Norway won the female race. The Swedish star Stina Nilsson, who headed the World Cup sprint table before the race, ended up with the bronze medal after yet another dispute about what is fair or not when trying to defeat a contender.

fenway park

Fenway Park set up for the FIS snowboard and ski big air events on February 11, 2016. Photo copyright by the Canadian Olympic Committee

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, in Boston, MA, USA, there was another set of World Cup events on Thursday and Friday, Snowboarding and Big Air, respectively. Also here the setting was quite uncommon, inside of Boston Red Sox Stadium Fenley Park, where a 43 m tall scaffold ramp had been set up with all the snow to go with it. References 3 and 4 below give complete coverage of the events.

… That’s what I learned in school!

Refs.:

1: http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&raceid=25813

2: http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&raceid=25811

3: http://www.fis-ski.com/freestyle-skiing/halfpipe-slopestyle/news-multimedia/news/article=zimmerman-and-gagnier-hit-the-homerun-boston-iconic-balllpark.html

4: http://sverigesradio.se/sida/gruppsida.aspx?programid=3277&grupp=20430&artikel=6367836

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2016-02-12 (Friday)

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Today, I learned that:

This year has only just started, but what a fantastic year for science it seems to be! My first blog post was on January 9, and since then I have already had the pleasure of presenting four new materials, the first flower grown in space, a possible ninth planet, etc.

And yesterday was the announcement of the discovery of the gravitational waves that Albert Einstein already predicted 100 years ago. I suggest that you listen to today’s podcast from Scientific American, see reference 2 below, where the co-founder of one of the teams that made the discovery, Kip Thorne, is interviewed. It was the confirmation of the crash of two black holes into each other that happened 1,3 billion years ago.

gwaves

NASA researchers simulated the gravitational waves that would be produced when two black holes merged. Photo by NASA/C. Henze

Updated 2016-02-13: Today’s edition of Radio National’s Sciene Show is a testamonial by David Blair about what really happened on September 14, 2015, when the first gravitional waves were detected in Livingston, Louisiana. See and listen to reference 3 below.

LIGO

The Advanced LIGO detector in Livingston Louisiana. Photo by LIGO

Today is also the day that we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the first penicillin treatment. Although Alexander Fleming had made the discovery in his London laboratory already in 1928, it was a team of scientists in Oxford that made the first drug out of the penicillin fungus. The first time it was tested on a real patient was exactly on February 12, 1941, to save the life of a heavily infected local policeman. They found that the drug had miraculous effects on him and so the scientists were really desperate when the small doses of penicillin they had were out after 10 days of use. They even tried to recover the drug from the poor patient’s urine, but the quantities were too small to have real effect and he eventually died after one month. But it led to that Alexander Fleming, who had not given his discovery too much thought before, started to reassess his feat. He was then awarded with the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1945, sharing the prize with two members of the Oxford team, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain.

I suggest you listen to the podcast in reference 3 below. It is a program from the Science Editors at Radio Sweden, and although the whole program is in Swedish, there are some interviews in English included, the last one from BBC in 1945, when Alexander Fleming was afraid that people would start to use the penicillin for automedication, but in too low doses to have the desired effect. He also forecasted that one day the bacteriae would be resistant to penicillin, which we now can see as a fact.

Finally, this leads me into asking you if you know from where and why the word ‘vaccin’ is derived? It is from the Latin word ‘vacca’ which means cow. In 1796, the English physician Edward Jenner used antibodies from cowpox to vaccinate against smallpox. Then in 1881, Louis Pasteur suggested the use of the term ‘vaccine’ in honour of Jenner’s findings. In 1980, the World Health Organization announced the first eradication of a disease, namely the smallpox.

… That’s what I learned in school!

Refs.:

1: The Detection of Gravitational Waves Is a Triumph for Physics

2: Gravitational Waves Found: Kip Thorne Explains

3: Gravitational waves to allow new observations of the universe

4: 75 år sedan första behandlingen med penicillin

5: Penicillin

6: Vaccine

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2016-02-11 (Thursday)

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Today, I learned once more that:

LeBron James2

LeBron James and Miami Heat playing Phoenix Suns in Arizona on February 11, 2014. Photo by Lena Rapp

How wonderful it is to see an elite athlete in action. The photo above  is a very good example of that. It depicts one of the very best basketball players in the world, LeBron James. Though currently playing in Cleveland Cavaliers, this photo was taken exactly two years ago, 2014-02-11, when his Miami Heat played Phoenix Suns in Arizona. LeBron made 37 points, thus being once more the main reason why his team won the game, 103-97. Miami ended up second in the NBA championship that year. My sincere thanks to Lena who shared her eyewitness photo with us. In the following I am going to discuss another aspect of that photo.

Although I am not particularly fond of the American way of living, I must admit that when it comes to sports, there is hardly a place where sports are taken so seriously, probably due to the huge amounts of money involved. As an example, last Sunday, there was the Super Bowl final, where Denver Broncos, against all ods, once more could raise the trophy. And once more, the number of people who watched the game on TV was record high. In fact, the last three years of Super Bowl have all reached more than 110 million American viewers on TV. It is the moment when TV commercials cost more to show than during any other program during the year.

Now back to the basketball photo above. As you can see, Miami Heat is using a black uniform, since they are playing away from home. When they play at home in Miami, their uniform is totally white. And from what I can understand, it is the same thing for other NBA teams, one uniform when playing at home and another one when playing away. In fact, I believe that such a rule applies to most, if not all,  of the professional team sports in USA. In Europe, it is different, a team tries to use its main uniform as much as possible, be it at home or away, and normally only using an alternatively coloured uniform in order to avoid being confused with the opponents.

Yet another difference is that in USA, it is always the time left of the game (or half, period, etc.) that is mentioned, not how long time has gone since the start. Compare North American icehockey with European icehockey in that sense.

Another interesting point is how the Americans name the order of the two teams in a game, always starting with the visiting team, and finishing with the home team. So for instance the NBA game above, in USA it is written Miami Heat vs. Phoenix Suns. In Europe, it is always the home team that is mentioned first.

So which is the favourite sport of an American in general? Of course, it varies according to region, age, etc., but how anyone can be a fan of such a dull sport as baseball is difficult to understand. I asked that question to an American friend once, and his sincere answer was: Of course it is dull and slow and so on, but it is perfect for me and my friends to go watch a game, bring a six-pack of beers, chit-chat about the important things in life and still not miss anything that happens in a game!

I still remember the first time I went to USA, in 1977. My host family said that the most popular sports among college girls was football, not American “football”, but what Europeans call football. And we have seen the results, the US female national teams have won many World Championships and Olympic Games in football (or “soccer” as they call it). To that I would like to add one more opinion about football. In 1995, Dan McCarthy, President of the electronics company Conceptronic, said that he used to train junior football teams on his spare time, and according to him it was the best of all the five major sports (American football, baseball, basketball, icehockey and football), because it was the only one that really permitted that the players took their own initiative, not being so tied up by the coach’s tactics in the other sports.

… That’s what I learned in school!

Refs.:

1: Miami Heat at Phoenix Suns 02/14/2014

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2016-02-10 (Onsdag)

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Idag har jag åter lärt mig, att:

Världens just nu oroligaste hörn verkar ligga på den koreanska halvön. Under de senaste veckorna har det rapporterats om hur Nordkorea åter börjar visa upp tester med vapen som om de används i attacksyfte kan leda till mycket allvarliga konsekvenser. Dessutom har nu Sydkorea beslutat sig för att inte längre skicka sin arbetskraft till det område inne på nordkoreanskt territorium där man har tillverkat exportgods, samtidigt som man har åter skruvat upp volymen på de propagandasändningar och musik som man sprider ut genom gigantiska högtalare vid gränsen.

DMZ

Panmunjoms blåa hus, där Spökkommissionen sammanträder. Foto: Henrik Ishihara, Wikimedia

Men hur är det då vid gränsen, den så kallad Demilitariserade Zonen (DMZ) ? SR Vetenskapsradion Historia sände den 3 februari ett reportage om de svenskar som arbetar i den nu skämtsamt (?) kallade Spökkommissionen, som är ansvarig för att träffa nordkoreanska myndigheter i förhandlingar, även om det inte har blivit så många sammanträffanden de senaste 20 åren. Mycket lyssningsvärt, se referens 2 nedan.

Och när du ändå är inne på SR Vetenskapsradion Historias hemsida, kolla också in dagens program, där man försöker fastställa om den förste kände svensken, Hugleik, verkligen levde år 516, dvs. för precis 1500 år sedan, referens 3 nedan.

Hugleik

Återskapad hjälm från Sutton Hoo-gravarna i England, kanske använde Hugleik en sådan. Foto: Gernot Keller, Wikimedia

 

… Slut för idag, tack för idag!

(This post in Swedish announces a report about how it is to work in the DMZ in Korea.)

Refs.:

1: Neutrala_nationernas_övervakningskommission

2: Spökkommissionen i Panmunjom

3: Hugleik äldsta historiska svensken

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2016-02-09 (Tisdag)

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Idag har jag lärt mig, att:

Medan de katolska länderna firade slutet på karnevalen med en helgdag och svenskar officiellt kan köpa och äta semlor, så funderade jag idag på hurudant det verkligen är ställt med Sverige i idrottsvärlden.

Båda våra tennislandslag ligger rekordlångt ned i divisionerna, herrarna klarade att hänga kvar i sin låga division av Davis Cup nyligen efter att åter ha besegrat Danmark, men damerna förlorade kvalmatchen mot Turkiet och åker ner ännu en division i Federations Cup. De en gång så framgångsrika handbollsherrarna får åter kvala för att ta chansen att komma till Rio-OS för att försvara sin silvermedalj. Bandyherrarna underskattade Finland och blev bara trea i VM i söndags, etc.

Om man tittar på prispallen.se, som Svenska Spel lanserade i samband med årets idrottsgala den 25 januari, se referens 1 nedan, så verkar allt vara mycket bra. Totalt 381 prispallsplatser under 2015, men hur många var det tidigare år? Var det kanske fler, och därför vill man inte visa dem?

Och om vi begränsar oss till individuella vintersporter så är det inte bättre där, som de som har lidit genom denna vinters sportsändningar fått erfara vid upprepade tillfällen. Se här vad Sveriges Television skrev om de svenska vinterinsatserna i fredags 2016-02-05:

vinterpallar

Om den globala uppvärmningen fortsätter som det kan befaras, kanske vi har sett “peak performance” för länge sedan, dvs. det bästa resultatet någonsin var i forntiden och går bara på fortsatt kräftgång ?

(This post in Swedish discusses the poor performances recently by Swedish athletes)

… Slut för idag, tack för idag!

Refs.:

1: http://prispallen.se

2: https://medieborgaren.se/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/vinterpallar.pdf

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2016-02-08 (Monday)

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Today, I learned that:

The increasing threat of epidemics caused by the Aedes aegypti mosquito has led to huge efforts in Brazil to inform the population about which actions must be taken to control the spreading of the mosquito and hence the diseases it may cause.

Aedis PR

Below is a flyer distributed in the Southern State of Paraná by the Health Secretariate. Furthermore, their agents perform regular visits to all houses to inform the population and check that the actions are being taken.

I think it is interesting also for those who live in areas where the risk of transmission by the mosquito is very low, in order to show to serious the matter is. The reference below also contains a link to download the original flyer.

Here is a complete translation into English of the flyer:

“THE DANGER HAS INCREASED

DENGUE, ZIKA AND CHIKUNGUNYA

CAUTION SHOULD ALSO INCREASE

The diseases transmitted by Aedes aegypti have increased, Dengue, Zika and Chikungunya. There has also been found a relationship between the Zika virus and microencephaly in babies. Eliminating the breeding places of Aedes aegypti is the best prevention! No still water, the mosquito does not reproduce and you are free of these diseases.

Make sure that where you live there are no potential mosquito outbreaks. Mark with an “X” after performing each step.

PLASTIC AND GLASS BOTTLES
The bottles shall be packed and discarded properly in the trash bin. Not discarded glass bottles should be stored in a covered place or upside down.

DRAINS
Cover the drains with screens or keep them sealed, especially those who are out of use.

SLABS
Don’t let water accumulate on the slabs. Keep them dry.

TOILET BOWLS
Leave the lid closed or seal the bowl with plastic. Flush the toilet at least once a week, in the case of bathrooms with little use.

GUTTERS AND CHUTES
Clean and level them. Keep them without leaves and other objects that may prevent the water flow.

SWIMMING POOLS
Keep the pool clean. Use chlorine to treat water and filter it periodically. Perform the cleaning regardless if the pool is used or not.

WATER COLLECTORS IN REFRIGERATOR AND AIR CONDITIONER
On the back of some refrigerators there is a water trap. Wash it once a week with soap and water. The same should be done with the air-conditioner trays.

PLANTS THAT ACCUMULATE WATER
Avoid having bromeliads and other plants that can accumulate water. If you have any of these plants, weekly remove the accumulated water on the leaves.

SHARDS OF GLASS ON THE WALLS
Seal with cement or break all the pieces that may hold water.

EMPTY BUCKETS AND PLANT POTS
Store them in a covered place and with the opening against the ground.

MINERAL WATER JUG HOLDER
Always wash when exchanging them. Keep them tightly sealed when not in use.

CRACKS IN THE PLASTER
Repair and level all imperfections in floors and places that may hold water.

WATER BOXES, TANKS AND WELLS
Keep them closed and sealed. Cover those which do not have covers with screens.

OBJECTS THAT MAY ACCUMULATE WATER
Place in a plastic bag, close tightly and properly dispose of in the garbage bottle caps, egg shells, cans, plastic and glass containers, disposable cups, among others.

CASKS AND WATER TANKS
Keep them sealed. Those who have no lid should be brushed inside once a week and covered with fabric or screen.

CANISTERS WITH WATER FOR ANIMALS
The pet water bowls should be thoroughly washed with running water and soap at least twice a week.

LAKES, CASCADES AND DECORATIVE WATER FRONTS
Keep them clean with water treated with chlorine or fill them with sand. Create fish because they feed on the larvae of the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Still, cleaning is critical.

WASTE, RUBBLE AND OLD TIRES
Keep your home clean, both its interior as the backyard. Rubble and garbage must be disposed of properly in order to not accumulate water. Keep the tires in a covered place or drill holes so they do not accumulate water.

PLANT POT SAUCERS
Keep them clean and put sand up to the edge.

TRASH CANS, BOTH INDOORS AND OUTDOORS
Keep the trash capped and protected from rain. Close the plastic bag well.

KEEP THIS FLYER IN A VISIBLE PLACE. REPEAT THESE ACTIONS AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK AND KEEP THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH YOU LIVE FREE OF THE MOSQUITO WHICH TRANSMITS DENGUE, ZIKA AND CHIKUNGUNYA.

PARANÁ
STATE HEALTH SECRETARIATE”

… That’s what I learned in school!

Aedis1

Aedis2

Refs.:

1: O perigo aumentou

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2016-02-07 (Sunday)

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Today I learned, that:

There are many ways to enjoy life, and today in Brazil is of course a special Sunday, in the middle of Carnival, when many people forget about their daily chores and go wild to feast during what many of them consider being the most important event of the year.

Besides New Orleans, carnival does not attract so much attention in the USA, and furthermore today is Super Bowl 50, featuring Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers. For many people in the USA, this event is as important as any carnival celebration could ever be, with betting, gathering family and friends, and having a party! Let me give you some remarks and opinions about my experience of NFL:

cropped-falcons1994.jpg

The photo above was taken at Georgia Dome on September 11 (!), 1994, when Atlanta Falcons played their first home game of the season against Los Angeles Rams and won the game with 31 – 11. I was accompanied by two fellow Brazilians, Claudeir and Keiser, and of course we had a good time.

I have not been in the US during a Super Bowl game, so I cannot give personal reflections about that party, but I left Atlanta two days before Super Bowl XXXIII in January, 1999, when the same Atlanta Falcons ended up losing to Denver Broncos (already a team in the finals back then), much to the disappointment of my colleagues at Philips in Norcross. So far, it has been the Falcons’ only participation in a Super Bowl game, let us hope they will come back and win some time in the future.

All Super Bowl games are using Roman numbers, last year was XLIX and in 2017 it will be LI, but today it is 50 in Arabic numbers, how come?

Despite being considered underdogs, I believe that Denver Broncos will raise their third Super Bowl trophy tonight, leaving Carolina Panthers still without any championship title, but in sports anything can happen, so let us see…

Update 2016-02-08: Life is wonderful, Denver Broncos won against all odds, as I had anticipated above, inverting the old saying ‘the best defense is a good offense’ to ‘the best offense is a good defense’ !

Finally, calling a sport Football, when the only time that the ball is kicked on purpose by a foot are the occasional scrimmage and free kicks, seems to me quite overly exaggerated. The most import actions are of course the ones when the ball is carried by an offensive player inside the opponents’ end zone, thus scoring a touchdown. But that naming occured already 140 years, in 1876, see reference 1 below, so we are stuck with it!

… That’s what I learned in school!

Refs.:

1: American football

2: Atlanta Falcons season 1994-1995

3: Super Bowl champions

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