title: Marzipan

text: In the U.S., marzipan is not officially defined, but it is generally made with a higher ratio of sugar to almonds than almond paste. One brand, for instance, has 28% almonds in its marzipan, and 45% almonds in its almond paste. However, in Sweden and Finland almond paste refers to a marzipan that contains 50% ground almonds, a much higher quality than regular marzipan. In Germany, Lübecker Marzipan is known for its quality. It contains 66% almonds. The original manually produced Mozartkugeln are made from green pistachio marzipan.


title: Marzipan

text: Another possible geographic origin is the parts of Spain that were known as Al-Andalus. In Toledo (850-900, though more probably 1150 during the reign of Alfonso VII) this specialty was known as "Postre Regio" (instead of "Mazapán"). There are also mentions in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights of an almond paste eaten during Ramadan and as an aphrodisiac.


title: Marzipan

text: Mazapán is Toledo's most famous dessert, often created for Christmas, and has PGI status. For this, almonds have to be at least 50% of the total weight, following the directives of "Mazapán de Toledo" regulator council.


title: Marzipan

text: Another idea to support this line is the important tradition of another Spanish almond-based Christmas confectionery, the "turrón".


title: Marzipan

text: Persipan is a similar, but less expensive product, in which the almonds are replaced by apricot or peach kernels. Many confectionery products sold as marzipan are made from less expensive materials, such as soy paste and almond essence. To control and detect the authenticity of marzipan, polymerase chain reaction methods can differentiate almonds from substitutes and adulterants at concentrations less than 1%. German marzipan is made by grinding whole almonds with sugar and partially drying the paste, and French marzipan (called 'massepain') is made by combining ground almonds with sugar syrup. Some marzipan is flavoured with rosewater. Spanish marzipan is made without bitter almonds. In the U.S, bitter almonds are not used in marzipan because the importation of bitter almonds into the U.S. is prohibited by U.S. law, owing to them containing a substance related to cyanide. Sugar free marzipan can be made by replacing sugar with polyols such as maltitol. Varieties made with other types of nuts are eaten in Latin America, and peanut-based marzipan is the most common variety in Mexico.


title: Marzipan

text: The German name has largely ousted the original English name "marchpane" with the same apparent derivation: "March bread". (The word "marchpane" occurs in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", Act 1, Scene 5, Line 9.) "Marzapane" is documented earlier in Italian than in any other language, and the sense "bread" for "pan" is Romance. The origin could be from the Latin term "martius panis", which means "bread of March". In Johann Burchard’s "Diarium curiae romanae" (1483–1492) the Latin form appears as "martiapanis". However, the ultimate etymology is unclear; for example, the Italian word derives from the Latin words "Massa" (itself from Greek "Maza") meaning pastry and "Pan" meaning bread, this can be particularly seen in the Provençal "massapan", the Portuguese "maçapão" (where 'ç' is an alternative form for the phoneme 'ss') and old Spanish "mazapán" – the change from 'ss' to 'z' in Latin words was common in old Spanish and the 'r' appeared later. Among the other possible etymologies set forth in the Oxford English Dictionary, one theory proposes that the word "marzipan" may be a corruption of Martaban, a Burmese city famous for its jars.


title: Marzipan

text: The Real Academia Española suggests the idea of the Spanish word mazapán to be derived from the Hispanic Arabic بسمة pičmáṭ, which is derived from the Greek .


title: Marzipan

text: Another source could be from Arabic موثابان "mawthābān" "king who sits still". The Arabic, Latinised as "matapanus", was used to describe a Venetian coin depicting an enthroned Christ the King. These coins were stored in ornate boxes. From about the fifteenth century, when the coins were no longer in circulation, the boxes became decorative containers for storing and serving luxury sweetmeats. One such luxury that crept into the box in the sixteenth century is the now-famous almond-flavoured marzipan, named (at least proximately) after the box in which it was stored.


title: Marzipan

text: However, if marzipan has its origin in Persia, it is not unlikely that the name may come from Marzban (in Persian: مرزبان, derived from the words Marz مرز meaning "border" or "boundary" and the suffix -bān بان meaning guardian), a class of margraves or military commanders in charge of border provinces of the Sassanid Empire of Persia (Iran) between the 3rd and 7th centuries.


title: Marzipan

text: To produce marzipan, raw almonds are cleaned "by sieving, air elutriation, and other electronic or mechanical devices", then immersed in water with a temperature just below the boiling point for about five minutes, in a process known as blanching. This loosens the almonds' skin, which is removed by passing the almonds through rubber-covered rotating cylinders. They are then cooled, after which they are coarsely chopped and ground, with up to 35% sugar, into almond flour.


title: Marzipan

text: The almond flour mixture is roasted and cooled, after which sucrose (table sugar) and possibly a binding agent such as starch syrup or sorbitol are added. It may then be moulded into any shape. Marzipan must be covered in an airtight container to prevent it from hardening and dehydrating. It should be protected from direct light to prevent rancidity of almond oil, a result of lipid oxidation.


title: Marzipan

text: The aroma and flavor of marzipan can be attributed to benzaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide, which both derive from the benzoin condensation reaction.


title: Marzipan

text: Marzipan is a food emulsion that contains four phases: a solid phase of suspended particles including almonds and sugars, a suspended air pocket phase formed from incorporated air during mixing, a water phase, and a lipid phase from almond oil. The phases can separate when left alone for long periods of time. It is stabilized by the phospholipids and triglycerides found in the almond cells. The fatty acids found in almonds include saturated fats such as stearic acid and unsaturated fats such as linoleic acid. Emulsifiers can be added during production to increase shelf life.


title: Marzipan

text: Marzipan's softness is a balance between the solid and liquid components. It should have a moisture content of less than 10%.


title: The O2 Arena

text: The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the second-highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the United Kingdom, behind the Manchester Arena, and in 2008 was the world's busiest music arena. As of 2022, it is the ninth-largest building in the world by volume.


title: The O2 Arena

text: The arena was built under the Millennium Dome, a large dome-shaped building built to house an exhibition celebrating the turn of the third millennium; as the structure still stands over the arena, "The Dome" remains a name in common usage for the venue. The arena, as well as the overall O2 complex, is named after its primary sponsor, the telecommunications company O2, a subsidiary of Virgin Media O2.


title: The O2 Arena

text: Following the closure of the Millennium Experience at the end of 2000, the Millennium Dome was leased to Meridian Delta Ltd. in December 2001, for redevelopment as an entertainment complex. This included plans for an indoor arena.


title: The O2 Arena

text: Construction of the arena started in 2003, and finished in 2007. In December 2004, after the interior of the dome had been largely cleared and before building work inside began, the dome was used as the main venue for the annual Crisis Open Christmas organised by the London-based homelessness charity Crisis.


title: The O2 Arena

text: Owing to the impossibility of using cranes inside the dome structure, the arena's roof was constructed on the ground within the dome and then lifted; the arena building's structure was then built around the roof. The arena building, which houses the arena and the arena concourse, is independent from all other buildings in the O2 and houses all the arena's facilities. The arena building itself takes up 40% of the total dome structure.


title: The O2 Arena

text: The seating arrangement throughout the whole arena can be modified, similar to the Manchester Arena. The ground surface can also be changed between ice rink, basketball court, exhibition space, conference venue, private hire venue and concert venue.


title: The O2 Arena

text: On 18 February 2022 during Storm Eunice, large sections of the arena's fabric roof were shredded, causing the evacuation of 1,000 people, and the venue to close. It was later announced that repair works would take place and that the arena was likely to reopen on 25 February 2022, for a UB40 concert.


title: The O2 Arena

text: In August 2007, rock star Prince began a series of 21 sold-out nights at the O2 Arena. The record-breaking run featured many of his hits while the set list changed every night so no two shows would be the same.


title: The O2 Arena

text: Beginning in July 2009, Michael Jackson was scheduled to hold a 50-show residency at the arena, titled This Is It. However, he died on 25 June, eighteen days before the first scheduled show.


title: The O2 Arena

text: During the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, the venue was referred as the North Greenwich Arena due to Olympics regulations regarding corporate sponsorship of event sites.


title: The O2 Arena

text: Since March 2013, the arena has hosted , Europe's largest country music festival, which annually attracts over 20,000 fans. UK and Irish acts, as well as up-and-coming American acts, perform sets several times across various pop-up stages in and around the arena, with the main stage accessible only to ticket-holders. The seventh C2C was held on 8–10 March 2019.


title: The O2 Arena

text: Ariana Grande was scheduled to perform on 25 and 26 May 2017 as part of her Dangerous Woman Tour, but the event was cancelled after the Manchester Arena bombing on 22 May. The event was not rescheduled. Grande, however, held five concerts at the arena for her Sweetener World Tour on 17, 19, and 20 August 2019 as well as 15 and 16 October 2019.


title: The O2 Arena

text: On 30 November 2019, JoJo Siwa became the youngest person to perform in the O2 Arena at the age of 16, as part of her D.R.E.A.M. The Tour.


title: The O2 Arena

text: On 14 May 2022, Little Mix held their The Last Show (For Now) in the O2, which was their last show before their indefinite hiatus. Along with performing there live to 20,000 they also livestreamed the show live to millions for those who could not attend The Confetti Tour.


title: The O2 Arena

text: On 15 October 2022, the O2 hosted a boxing match between Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall that was the first time two female boxers headlined at a major venue in the United Kingdom. Shields won, and the fight headlined the first all-female boxing card in the United Kingdom.


title: The O2 Arena

text: Despite being open for only 200 days per year (the equivalent of seven months), the venue sold over 1.2 million tickets in 2007, making it the third most popular venue in the world for concerts and family shows, narrowly behind the Manchester Arena (1.25 million) and Madison Square Garden in New York City (1.23 million).


title: Egon Spengler

text: Egon Spengler, PhD is a fictional character from the "Ghostbusters" franchise. He appears in the films "Ghostbusters", "Ghostbusters II", and "", in the animated television series "The Real Ghostbusters" and "Extreme Ghostbusters", in the video games "" and "Ghostbusters Beeline". Egon was portrayed by Harold Ramis in the films and voiced by him in "" and "Lego Dimensions", and voiced by Maurice LaMarche in the cartoon series. He is a member of the Ghostbusters and one of the three doctors of parapsychology, along with Dr. Peter Venkman and Dr. Ray Stantz.


title: Egon Spengler

text: The character of Egon Spengler was named after Oswald Spengler and a classmate of Ramis at Senn High School, Egon Donsbach, a Hungarian refugee.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Christopher Walken, John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, and Jeff Goldblum were all considered for the role of Egon Spengler, before Ramis, who had gotten close to the character while writing him, felt compelled to play it himself.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Maurice LaMarche stated that when he auditioned for the part of Egon in "The Real Ghostbusters", he was asked not to do an impression of Ramis, which he ignored because impressions were one of his strengths as a performer, and there was no other way he could imagine properly portraying the character other than to follow Ramis' example. He got the part anyway and said in an interview that he did two different takes: in which he impersonated Ramis, the other in which he tried a more "Woody Allen"-like approach that did not suit the character's physicality, he admitted.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Egon Spengler is a tall, lanky, laconic, bespectacled, awkward member of the team responsible for the main theoretical framework for their paranormal/quantum studies, having earned over a dozen advanced degrees including parapsychology and nuclear engineering from New York University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively, after completing his undergraduate studies in psychology at Columbia University in 1969. Being addicted to science, he is the creator of the Ghostbusters' equipment along with Ray Stantz, thus making him the brains of the Ghostbusters. Although book smart, Egon does not have much social ability, as demonstrated by his stiff interactions with the Ghostbusters' secretary Janine Melnitz, and his reliance on Peter Venkman as a spokesperson for the group.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Egon is the most serious and rigid member of the team. Of his hobbies, Egon states that he collects "spores, molds, and fungus", and claims that, as a child, the only toy he ever had was "part of a Slinky", which he straightened out. As implied in the first movie, Egon apparently is a junk food junkie, due to his affection for sweets and snack crackers. In the second film, revealed that he and Ray like takeout foods like pizzas and of Asian, Greek, and Mexican cuisine; even in the first film, there was a scene where Egon dined Chinese carryout with Peter and Ray. Despite being a stereotypical timid professor, Egon is prone to violent reactions when pushed too far temperamentally, as demonstrated by his attempt to assault Walter Peck.


title: Egon Spengler

text: After Egon died, it is through the haunting in his farmhouse reveals that, like Ray, he was a skilled mechanic, able to repair the Ecto-1's engine with his grandson Trevor as a poltergeist.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Egon was very interested in paranormal phenomena, even while working with Ray Stantz and Peter Venkman at Columbia University. He and Ray Stantz studied paranormal literature in their spare time, and Egon personally follows John Horace Tobin's works including "Tobin's Spirit Guide", and were interested in theories of reincarnation.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Egon was usually the first to interview case subjects, adding to their mantra, "we're ready to believe you." Examples were Dana Barrett from her Zuul encounter and her carriage phenomenon with Oscar. Even people Peter called "schizo" always went to either Egon or Ray to describe their paranormal experiences, no matter how far-fetched their stories were. For his part, Venkman once took back everything negative he said about him, rewarding the fellow scientist with his favorite candy bar (a Crunch bar). Egon's only weakness is evidently junk food (or at least snacks), as he is seen, on occasion, snacking candies and crackers (like Cheez-It).


title: Egon Spengler

text: When house-hunting for their headquarters, Egon against Peter leasing the firehouse at North Moore Street due to its conditions and location (dilapidated wirings, neighborhood being plaugued by criminal elements, etc.), but Ray is attached to the building due to his fondness with its fireman's pole and it is a place that they can afford with their then-pitiful budgets. In times, they renovated the building to suit their needs after their business takes off. He developed the technology behind the P.K.E. Meter, the Proton Pack, the Trap, the Aura Analyzer, the para-goggles, and the storage facility, with Ray's assistance. He was also aware of the risk of crossing the streams. He spent a lot of time focusing on the stability of the storage facility and was concerned about the possibilities of a P.K.E. surge of dangerous proportions. Egon was particularly critical of Walter Peck's actions, and his attitude that the Ghostbusters were responsible for the explosion of the containment unit that occurred when Peck ordered a utility worker to shut the unit down. After their encounter with Stay Puft, Egon suggested an atypical solution when he recommended blasting Gozer's dimensional portal while crossing the proton streams to reverse the particle flow and send Gozer back to its dimension.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Egon once tried to drill a hole in his own head (a process known as trepanning), which he says "would have worked" if Peter had not stopped him.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Due to the large amount of collateral damage the city of New York suffered from the battle with Gozer, the Ghostbusters were sued by nearly every county and city agency in New York. Additionally a judicial restraining order was enacted which barred the Ghostbusters from performing services as paranormal investigators and eliminators, effectively putting them out of business. Five years after the events of the first film Egon returned to teaching at Manhattan College, working at its Institute for Advanced Theoretical Research and was conducting experiments on human emotions, during which he invented the Giga Meter, a device similar to the PKE Meter designed to detect and measure psychomagnotheric energy in gigaelectron volts. A negative test involved keeping a couple with marriage problems locked in a room for hours and gradually raising the temperature. A positive test involved a girl in a room with dozens of stuffed animals and a puppy.


title: Egon Spengler

text: He was the first person Dana Barrett contacted when her baby carriage took off by itself. Egon recommended bringing in Ray, and they both performed a physical exam on Dana's son Oscar. Egon, along with Peter and Ray were later arrested after digging a large hole under First Avenue as part of their paranormal investigations to help Dana.


title: Egon Spengler

text: During the course of their trial they were found guilty of willful destruction of public property, fraud, violating their judicial restraining order, and malicious mischief by judge Stephen Wexler (whom Egon said was known as "The Hammer"). While angrily insulting the trio judge Stephen Wexler inadvertently released the ghosts of the Scoleri Brothers; two murderers he sentenced to death by the electric chair. During the chaos judge Wexler dismisses the charges against the Ghostbusters, and rescinds the judicial restraining order allowing Egon, Ray, and Peter to capture the ghosts, effectively putting the Ghostbusters back in business. Egon had a dry sense of humor, of which he used on Peter to bewilder him, and smirked at his friend's cluelessness on what the word "epididymis" was.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Egon primarily worked with Ray, both of whom were still living at the Firehouse, conducting research on the pink slime, eventually they developed "slime blowers", consisting of large metal tanks and handheld nozzles that fire positively charged substance. Still very scientifically minded, Egon seems to have loosened up a little bit, letting his sense of humor show and even giving Dana a smile and Peter (who was carried away with photographing Vigo's portrait), a knowing smile. It is implied by Peter that two years prior to the film's events, the team had used their proton packs. Not limited to John H. Tobin's books, Egon and Ray rely on the latter's resources from Ray's Occult Books and through Leon Zundinger's article from "Magicians, Martyrs and Madmen" that they found information about Vigo the Carpathian.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Although the 2016 "Ghostbusters" film is a reboot, the film's marketing confirms that a version of Egon Spengler does exist in the film's fictional universe. According to a tie-in video to the film, Kate McKinnon's character Dr. Jillian Holtzmann and Harold Ramis' character Dr. Egon Spengler created the film's proton packs. The paragraph accompanying the video read:


title: Egon Spengler

text: "Engineers at Sony Corporation developed the 2016 Proton Pack™ in collaboration with nuclear engineer and munitions expert Dr. Jillian Holtzmann. Sony President and CEO Kazuo Hirai commented 'The perfection of the Proton Pack™, long a dream of the world’s greatest engineers since first pioneered by Dr. Egon Spengler of Columbia University, is an example of Sony’s relentless pursuit of innovation. It absolutely delivers the wow factor that is so important to our company mission'."


title: Egon Spengler

text: Additionally, in the film itself, a bronze bust of Harold Ramis as the film's version of Spengler is seen just as Erin Gilbert leaves her office. During the credits of "Ghostbusters", the words "For Harold Ramis" are seen.


title: Egon Spengler

text: "Ghostbusters: Afterlife", which serves as a direct sequel to the original "Ghostbusters" and "Ghostbusters II", opens with a portrayal of Spengler's death. In the film, it is retroactively established by Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan (with acknowledgements from two of the franchise's creators Dan Aykroyd and Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis's family as canon), that Egon fathered his daughter Callie in 1982 before the events of the first film. Even Peter and Ray are unaware of her, though Janine does know. However, he became estranged from his family, and Callie grew resentful of her father and blames his life as a scientist for his abandoning her. Despite the Ghostbusters successfully closing the "Manhattan Crossrip of '84", at some point after the "Vigo Incident of '89", Egon had discovered prophecies saying Gozer would return in 2021, but his insistence that the Ghostbusters prepare for this strained their relationship (a nod to the real-life estrangement between Ramis and Bill Murray after their collaboration in the film "Groundhog Day"), and preparing for the events of the prophecies is the reason for his distance with his daughter, who he intended to protect.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Ten years after the Manhattan Crossrip, Egon stole equipment and the Ecto-1 and moved to Summerville, Oklahoma, where Ivo Shandor had mined the selenium used to build the Shandor Apartments building in New York City. Shandor had built another gateway for Gozer in his mine, and Egon spent years preparing to stop Gozer's eventual return, building automated energy cannons with the components of the proton packs and PKE meter to barricade the portal with crossed streams, as well as setting a ghost trap field with an array of 198 traps for Gozer on his property. He earned the nickname "Dirt Farmer" from Summerville's residents for not growing anything on his land, and for his eccentricity. At some point before the Ghostbusters disbanded, he added a scissor seat on the right side of the Ecto-1 with Ray and added a taser configuration on the team's PKE meters for defense against the spectral entities they hunt; he uses the taser against Gozer's minions after he settled in Summerville, an innovation which even frighted Zuul. He is revealed to be a collector of strange artifacts, like a death whistle from the Aztec culture similar to the ones first discovered by archaeologist Francisco Rivas Castro in 1999, and Sentinel figurines from Shandor's Gozerian Temple, and still eating junk food. He remained in contact with Janine and had called Ray once, again trying to warn him about Gozer.


title: Egon Spengler

text: In June 2021, Egon captured one of Gozer's minions, which Gozer needed to successfully manifest on Earth, and used the creature in an attempt to lure Gozer into the trap field. When the ambush failed because the traps' capacitors malfunctioned, Gozer sent the other minion to attack Egon, who suffered a fatal cardiac arrest and died before Gozer could learn its trapped minion's whereabouts.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Egon's death results in Callie and her two children, Trevor and Phoebe, moving from Chicago to Summerville to take possession of his house and belongings. Though unseen by his family as a poltergeist (Class 2 or 3, noncorporeal and telekinetic), Egon's presence guides Phoebe into continuing with his plan to defeat Gozer, and she eventually stages an ambush after forming her own Ghostbusters team. In the process, Egon establishes a familial bond with Phoebe which he unable to do with Callie when he was alive, as Phoebe takes after him. In turn, Phoebe is affectionate to her ghostly grandfather, respecting Egon as a fellow scientist, and feeling hurt when her mother expresses contempt for Egon. He also guides Callie to realize that, even if he wasn't present, he had always kept an eye on her life. When Ray, Peter and Winston arrive to aid the family in stopping Gozer, Egon materializes as a fully formed Class 4 Full Torso Apparition beside Phoebe to help them one last time. He embraces his family and acknowledges his colleagues before fading away to the afterlife.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Outside of archived audio clips, Egon has no speaking lines throughout the film and his face was obscured in present day shots until his return as a ghost. The likeness of Harold Ramis was recreated digitally for key shots in conjunction with body doubles (Bob Gunton and Ivan Reitman). In the beginning of the credits at the end of the film, the words "For Harold" are seen once again.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Egon's hair was changed from brown in the films (Ramis' natural hair color) to a blond pompadour in the animated series (Egon wore his hair in a ponytail on "Extreme Ghostbusters"). This was explained as they didn’t want everyone to have dark hair, and wanted the characters to each have a distinguishing feature so the audience would be able to easily recognize each one.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Despite his leanings toward science, Egon has a family history of witchcraft (three ancestors, Zedekiah, Eli and Ezekiel, were wizards), of which he is not so much ashamed as "strongly" considers irrelevant, mainly because he sees science as relevant. Egon's faith in science was also tested in one episode where the Ghostbusters get abducted to the ghost world by the ghost of Al Capone. Egon's scientific equipment fails until he is told by former capos of Capone (who aid the Ghostbusters in revenge for Capone double-crossing them) that only magic can harm ghosts in the ghost world as opposed to science harming ghosts in the human world, thus forcing Egon to accept the wizardry methods of his ancestors to defeat Capone.


title: Egon Spengler

text: He is the love interest of Janine Melnitz, the Ghostbusters' secretary, in the first film and both animated series ("Ghostbusters II" excluded their romance due to Ramis' dislike of the subplot, thus having Janine date Louis Tully instead). Egon sometimes appears to be unaware of Janine's romantic interest in him, but at times he displays having similar feelings for her, such as when he gave her a geranium as a gift when she expressed an interest in plants (which backfired horribly when it was revealed that the geranium was possessed by a ghost and nearly destroyed her apartment, along with much of Brooklyn; though Egon managed to thwart the ghost, Janine angrily told Egon he would have to pay for the damages to her home) and when he rushed to her rescue in "Janine, You've Changed"; he also embraces her in "Ghost Busted" after she was kidnapped and held for ransom by a gangster, and became jealous when she was briefly involved with a slimy businessman named Paul Smart.


title: Egon Spengler

text: In the episode "Cry Uncle", Egon's well-meaning but skeptical uncle Cyrus, visits him and, since he does not believe that Egon's work with the Ghostbusters is real scientific work and therefore a waste of Egon's genius, tries to make him come back to Ohio (where Egon grew up) to work at his uncle's lab, but fortunately, after his uncle accidentally releases the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from the containment unit, he realizes that ghosts are real and accepts Egon's work.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Throughout the series, Egon would have his soul switched with that of a demon, have his molecular structure destabilized to the point that it stranded him in the Netherworld (requiring him to be rescued by the others), regress into a baby, turn into a were-chicken, and have his intellect switched with Slimer's. He has however, ceased his sugar junkie ways, only to briefly be tempted by a candy store when in Slimer's body (a likely fact that Slimer was an overt glutton).


title: Egon Spengler

text: It is revealed in "The Boogieman Cometh" that, as a child, Egon was stalked by the boogieman, a supernatural monster that fed on the fear of children and hid in their closets, and was particularly fond of Egon's fear; it was these encounters with the creature that inspired Egon to study the paranormal, and as an adult, he would battle the Boogieman twice and defeat him.


title: Egon Spengler

text: It is implied in one episode of the animated series that Egon accidentally burned down his family's garage.


title: Egon Spengler

text: In both this series and its follow-up, Egon is voiced by Maurice LaMarche. LaMarche has said in interviews that he was instructed by the producers not to impersonate Ramis when he auditioned for the role. However, he did so anyway and ultimately got the part.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Egon is the only original Ghostbuster to return for the "Extreme Ghostbusters" series as a regular (with Maurice LaMarche reprising his role), acting as a mentor to the new Ghostbusters (the others appeared for a two-part episode, "Back in the Saddle"), monitoring and sustaining the Containment Unit and taking care of Slimer while working as a paranormal studies professor at a university. He is the de facto leader of the new, younger team of Ghostbusters; although the old team had gone into retirement after they apparently dealt with all the ghosts in the city, after the digging of a new subway tunnel resulted in the release of an ancient ghost, Spengler was forced to recruit his only four current students to act as the new Ghostbusters.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Although willing to do his share of the legwork, Egon overestimates his abilities and his aging becomes apparent when he is no longer able to work at the same level as in his younger days, generally working at the firehouse doing research while the team handle the actual 'Ghostbusting', though when the situation calls for it he will help. Janine is still carrying a torch for him, which leaves him a little flustered. He celebrates his 40th birthday during this series, which would put him in his late twenties when "The Real Ghostbusters" began. Age is the largest factor causing Egon to having transition from active ghost hunting to a mentorship role; in one episode where the original Ghostbusters guest starred on an episode the audience clearly sees middle adulthood has affected the speed and weakened the stamina of the original Ghostbusters.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Although Egon Spengler does not appear in the 1990 "The Earth Day Special", his character and status as a Ghostbuster is mentioned, and Harold Ramis portrays his twin brother, named Elon Spengler, who is the President of the Wastebusters.


title: Egon Spengler

text: A likeness of Ramis, circa 1991 (the year in which the game takes place) appears in the "" that was released on June 16, 2009. Ramis also reprised his role for the game by voicing him. In the game, Egon becomes significantly more 'hands-on' during the course of the video game. He and Ray instruct the Rookie in the use of the Proton Pack and its eventual PCS upgrades. Over the course of the game, it becomes evident that he was somewhat traumatized by their exhausting trek up the stairs of 55 Central Park West. While in the alternate dimension of the library, Egon is heard to groan, "Oh no," and when Ray asks if he saw something scary, Egon replies, "Stairs, lots of stairs". Before the "Return to Sedgewick Hotel" mission, Stantz comments that Egon was once a coroner, to which he replied that he maintains interest in the subject as a hobby. Like other Ghostbusters, Egon remains carrying a grudge against Walter Peck and struggles to control his anger when Peck is around. According to a message left on the Ghostbusters' answering machine, Peck made calls that canceled Egon's orders for parts that he needed with pleasure.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Egon appears in Beeline's "Ghostbusters" game for iOS alongside his niece, Michelle Ying. The game was released on January 24, 2013.


title: Egon Spengler

text: Egon appears in "Lego Dimensions", with archival audio of Harold Ramis being used to represent his character.


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: In the video game industry, AAA (pronounced and sometimes written triple-A) is an informal classification used to categorise games produced and distributed by a mid-sized or major publisher, which typically have higher development and marketing budgets than other tiers of games.


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: In the mid-2010s, the term "AAA+" was used to describe AAA type games that generated additional revenue over time, in a similar fashion to massively multiplayer online games, by using games-as-a-service methods such as season passes and expansion packs. The similar construction "III" (Triple-I) has also been used to describe high-production-value games in the indie game industry.


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: The term "AAA" began to be used in the late 1990s, when a few development companies started using the expression at gaming conventions in the US. The term was borrowed from the credit industry's bond ratings, where "AAA" bonds represented the safest opportunity most likely to meet their financial goals.


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: One of the first video games to be produced at a blockbuster or AAA scale was Squaresoft's "Final Fantasy VII" (1997), which cost an estimated (inflation adjusted ) to develop, making it the most expensive video game ever produced up until then, with its unprecedented cinematic CGI production values, movie-like presentation, orchestral music, and innovative blend of gameplay with dynamic cinematic camerawork. Its expensive advertisement campaign was also unprecedented for a video game, with a combined production and marketing budget estimated to be (inflation adjusted ). Its production budget record was later surpassed by Sega AM2's "Shenmue" (1999), estimated to have cost (inflation adjusted ).


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: By the seventh generation of video game consoles (late 2000s), AAA game development on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 game consoles typically cost in the low tens of millions of dollars ($15m to $20m) for a new game, with some sequels having even higher total budgets – for example "Halo 3" is estimated to have had a development cost of $30m, and a marketing budget of $40m. According to a whitepaper published for EA games (Dice Europe), the seventh generation saw a contraction in the number of video game developing houses creating AAA level titles, reducing from an estimated 125 to around 25, but with a roughly corresponding fourfold increase in staffing required for game development.


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: Triple-A titles produced during the late 1990s and early 2000s brought a shift towards more narrative-driven games that mixed storytelling elements with gameplay. The earlier widespread adoption of optical media from earlier in the 1990s had brought elements like cutscenes, and the advances in real-time 3D graphics in the mid-1990s further drove new ways to present stories; both elements were incorporated into "Final Fantasy VII". With larger budgets, developers were able to find new innovative ways to present narrative as a direct part of gameplay rather than interspersed into pre-rendered cutscenes, with "Half-Life" one of the first of these new narrative games to nearly eliminate cutscenes in favor of interactive storytelling mechanisms.


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: During the seventh generation, AAA (or "blockbuster") games had marketing at a similar level to high-profile films, with television, billboard and newspaper advertising; a corresponding increasing reliance on sequels, reboots, and similarly franchised IP was also seen, in order to minimize risk. Costs at the end of the generation had risen as high as the hundreds of millions of dollars – the estimated cost of "Grand Theft Auto V" was approximately $265m. The same conditions also drove the growth of the indie game scene at the other end of the development spectrum, where lower costs enabled innovation and risk-taking.


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: At around the period of transition from seventh to eighth generation of consoles, the cost of AAA development was considered by some to be a threat to the stability of the industry. Staffing and costs for eighth generation games increased; at Ubisoft, AAA game development involved 400 to 600 persons for open world games, split across multiple locations and countries. The failure of a single game to meet production costs could lead to the failure of a studio – Radical Entertainment was closed by parent Activision despite selling an estimated one million units on console in a short period after release. Triple-A games also began to lose uniqueness and novelty; a common trend were a range of "grey brown" first-person shooters that drew on the popularity of the "Medal of Honor" and "Call of Duty" series but did little to advance gameplay improvements. Ubisoft game director Alex Hutchinson described the AAA franchise model as potentially harmful, stating he thought it led to either focus group-tested products aimed at maximizing profit, and/or a push towards ever higher graphics fidelity and impact at a cost of depth or gameplay.


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: The limited risk-taking in the AAA arena and stagnation of new gameplay concepts led to the rise of indie games in the early 2010s, which were seen as more experimental. This also led to the creation of the "AA" market in the industry, larger studios that were not at the scale of AAA developers but had more experience, funding, and other factors to make them distinct from the smaller teams usually associated with indie studios.


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: AAA game development has been identified as one environment where crunch time and other working pressures that negatively affect employees are particularly evident.


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: In general use, the term "AAA+" (Triple-A-Plus) may refer to a subset of AAA games that are the highest selling or have the highest production values. However, there are at least two more specific meanings.


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: The first describes AAA games with additional methods of revenue generation, generally through purchases in addition to the cost of the base game. The desire for profitability has caused publishers to look at alternative revenue models, where players continued to contribute revenue after the initial purchase, either by premium models, DLC, online passes, and other forms of subscription. In the mid 2010s large publishers began a focus on games engineered to have a long tail in terms of revenue from individual consumers, similar to the way MMO games generate income – these included those with expansion or season pass content such as with "Destiny", "Battlefield", and the "Call of Duty" series; and those which generated revenue from selling in-game items, sometimes purely cosmetic, such as "Overwatch" or "League of Legends". Titles of this type are sometimes referred to as "AAA+". In 2016, "Gameindustry.biz" described AAA+ games as products that "combine AAA production values and aesthetics with Software as a Service (SaaS) principles to keep players engaged for months or even years".


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: "AA" or Double-A games are mid-market video games that typically have some type of professional development though typically outside of the large first-party studios of the major developers; these may be from larger teams of indie developers in addition to larger non-indie studios. Double-A studios tend to range from 50 to 100 people in size. A double-A development studio will typically be backed by a publisher but not fundamentally part of that publisher, and thus have somewhat more freedom to innovate and experiment compared to triple-A studios, though will still be constrained by specific risk-limiting targets and goals from their funding source. Double-A games tend to be priced compared to (as of 2021) that triple-A games are priced at. Examples of games considered to be double-A titles include "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds", "DayZ" (a key game in the survival game genre), and "Among Us".


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: As of 2022 game publishers and studios that are currently considered to be AA include Devolver Digital, Warhorse Studios, Obsidian Entertainment, Hazelight Studios, and PlatinumGames.


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: "III" (Triple-I) has been used to refer to independently funded ("indie") games that meet an analogous quality level in their field; i.e., indie games that have relatively high budget, scope, and ambition; often the development team includes staff who have experience working on full AAA titles.


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: Starting in 2020 leading up to the launch of the PS5 and the Xbox Series X, two studios started using the term AAAA (Quadruple-A) to describe upcoming games in development. Microsoft's studio, The Initiative, is working on its debut title "Perfect Dark" for Xbox that's self-described as being a AAAA game, while Ubisoft announced "Beyond Good and Evil 2" and "Skull & Bones" would both be AAAA games. Despite the announcements, there is no agreed-upon definition for the term AAAA or what it entails. Olivia Harris of "ScreenRant" noted in September 2020 that "[t]he term AAAA has been floating around in recent months online, but it hasn't been adopted by the game industry at large," adding that "what a AAAA designation even means is still unclear, as nothing has yet to ascend beyond the scope of a AAA title. With the next generation of consoles releasing later this year, perhaps this new level of technology will usher in a new wave of games beyond the current standard of the industry as it currently stands, or perhaps it's just the latest self-aggrandizing buzzword conjured up to help games stand out in their incredibly competitive field."


title: AAA (video game industry)

text: The console video game industry lacks the equivalent of a B movie, made-for-TV, or direct-to-video scene. However, titles such as "Deadly Premonition" and "Binary Domain" have been dubbed "B games" due to developing cult followings or accruing significant amounts of critical praise despite widely acknowledged flaws, with critics often noting that such a game's ambitions in the face of budget limitations add to the game's charm (a trait common among B movies). Games like this are the exception and, when they are not critically well-received, are often referred to as "bargain bin" titles. The term shovelware has also been used to describe games that are quickly made without great care for the quality of the product as to make easy sales to consumers, as a metaphor for shoveling material onto a pile. Licensed video game tie-ins for films often tend to be considered shovelware, for example.


title: Halliburton

text: Halliburton Company is an American multinational corporation responsible for most of the world's hydraulic fracturing operations. In 2009, it was the world's second largest oil field service company. It has operations in more than 70 countries. It owns hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates, branches, brands, and divisions worldwide and employs approximately 55,000 people. The company has dual headquarters located in Houston and in Dubai, and remains incorporated in the United States.


title: Halliburton

text: Halliburton's major business segment is the Energy Services Group (ESG). Halliburton's former subsidiary, KBR, is a major construction company of refineries, oil fields, pipelines, and chemical plants. Halliburton announced on April 5, 2007, that it had sold the division and severed its corporate relationship with KBR, which had been its contracting, engineering and construction unit as a part of the company.


title: Halliburton

text: The company has been criticized for its involvement in numerous controversies, including its involvement with Dick Cheney – as U.S. Secretary of Defense, then CEO of the company, then Vice President of the United States – and the Iraq War, and the "Deepwater Horizon", for which it agreed to settle outstanding legal claims against it by paying litigants $1.1 billion.


title: Halliburton

text: KBR, one of Halliburton's subsidiaries at the time, paid bribes to high-ranking Nigerian officials between 1994 and 2004. Under a deal reached with the U.S. Justice Department, Halliburton has agreed to pay $382 million to settle the bribery case.


title: Halliburton

text: In 2015, Halliburton was found guilty in court for illegal retaliation against a whistleblower who filed a report with the SEC over concerns that the company was illegally concealing billions of dollars.


title: Halliburton

text: The company has also been criticized for refusing to comply with EPA requests for transparency around chemicals it uses in hydraulic fracturing.


title: Halliburton

text: Jeff Miller was promoted to President of Halliburton on August 1, 2014, and CEO on June 1, 2017, replacing Dave Lesar.


title: Halliburton

text: The company has dual headquarters located in Houston and in Dubai, but it remains incorporated in the United States.


title: Halliburton

text: Energy services (the company's historical cornerstone), formation evaluation, digital and consulting services, production volume optimization, and fluid systems are the major business segments. These businesses continue to be profitable, and the company is one of the world's largest players in these service industries; it is second after Schlumberger, and is followed by Saipem, Weatherford International, and Baker Hughes.


title: Halliburton

text: With the acquisition of Dresser Industries in 1998, the Kellogg-Brown & Root division (in 2002 renamed to KBR) was formed by merging Halliburton's Brown & Root (acquired 1962) subsidiary and the M.W. Kellogg division of Dresser (which Dresser had merged with in 1988). KBR is a major international construction company that works in an industry that tends to have an element of volatility and is subject to significant fluctuations in revenue and profit. Asbestos-related litigation from Kellogg acquisition caused the company to book more than US$4.0 billion in losses from 2002 through 2004.


title: Halliburton

text: As a result of the asbestos-related costs and staggering losses on the Barracuda Caratinga FPSO construction project based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Halliburton lost approximately $900 million U.S. a year from 2002 through 2004. A final non-appealable settlement in the asbestos case was reached in January 2005 which allowed Halliburton subsidiary KBR to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy and returned the company to quarterly profitability. While Halliburton's revenues have increased because of its contracts in the Middle East, the overall impact on its bottom line has been mixed.


title: Halliburton

text: At a meeting for investors and analysts in August 2004, a plan was outlined to divest the KBR division through a possible sale, spin-off or initial public offering. Analysts at Deutsche Bank valued KBR at up to $2.15 billion, while others believed it could be worth closer to $3 billion by 2005. KBR became a separately listed company on April 5, 2007.


title: Halliburton

text: In 1920, he brought a wild gas well under control, using cement, for W.G. Skelly, near Wilson, Oklahoma. On March 1, 1921, the Halliburton "method and means of excluding water from oil wells" was assigned a patent from the U.S. Patent Office. Halliburton invented the revolutionary cement jet mixer, to eliminate hand-mixing of cement, and the measuring line, a tool used to guarantee cementing accuracy. By 1922, the Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company (HOWCO) was prospering from the Mexia, Texas oil boom, having cemented its 500th well in late summer.


title: Halliburton

text: In 1924, the company was incorporated in Delaware, with 56 people on its payroll. The stock of the corporation was owned by Erle and Vida Halliburton and by seven major oil companies: Magnolia, Texas, Gulf, Humble, Sun, Pure and Atlantic.


title: Halliburton

text: Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Halliburton continued cementing across America. In 1938, Halliburton cemented its first offshore well using a truck on a barge off the Louisiana coast. In 1940, Halliburton opened offices in Venezuela and introduced bulk handling of cementing to the industry. In 1947, the Halliburton first marine cementing vessel went into service.


title: Halliburton

text: In 1951, Halliburton first appeared in Europe as Halliburton Italiana SpA, a wholly owned subsidiary in Italy. Over the next seven years, Halliburton launched Halliburton Company Germany GmbH, set up operations in Argentina and established a subsidiary in England. By 1951, HOWCO had service centers operating in Canada, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Halliburton revenues topped $100 million for the first time in 1952.


title: Halliburton

text: Erle P. Halliburton died in Los Angeles in 1957. HOWCO is at this time worth $190 million with camps all over the world. The same year, HOWCO purchased Welex, which pioneered jet perforation. Otis Engineering, an oil field service and equipment company specializing in manufacturing pressure control equipment for oil and gas producing wells, was acquired in 1959.


title: Halliburton

text: On July 5, 1961, the company changed its name to the Halliburton Company. In 1963, Halliburton was the first company in Oklahoma to receive the Presidential "E" for Export flag in recognition of notable contributions to foreign trade.


title: Halliburton

text: Halliburton opened a manufacturing center in Duncan, Oklahoma, in 1964. The company began to experiment with new technologies to help their services – for example, beginning in 1965 a pilot operation of a computer network system – the first such installation in the oilfield services industry. In 1966, workers broke ground for a new wing at the Research Center in Duncan that tripled the available space for the Chemical Research and Design Department.


title: Halliburton

text: In 1968, an automated mixing system for drilling mud was developed by Halliburton, primarily for use offshore. Gearhart Industries (acquired by Halliburton Energy Services in 1989) introduced the first digital computer logging system in 1974.


title: Halliburton

text: In 1975, it responded to environmental concerns by working with the nonprofit Clean Gulf Associates to contain and clean up oil spills. In 1976, Halliburton established the Halliburton Energy Institute in Duncan, Oklahoma, to provide an industry forum for disseminating technical information.


title: Halliburton

text: In 1980, Halliburton Research Center opened in Duncan, Oklahoma. The company's billionth sack of cement for customers was pumped in 1983. In 1989, Halliburton acquired logging and perforating specialist company Gearhart Industries and combined it with its subsidiary Welex to form Halliburton Logging Services.


title: Halliburton

text: Throughout the 1980s, Halliburton's subsidiaries continued their projects around the world (under management of former CEO Brian Darcy) even in countries once considered enemies. Equipment was provided for the first multiwell platform offshore China, and an Otis Engineering team controlled a gigantic Tengiz field blowout in the Soviet Union.


title: Halliburton

text: Following the end of Operation Desert Storm in February 1991, the Pentagon, led by then defense secretary Dick Cheney, paid Halliburton subsidiary Brown & Root Services over $8.5 million to study the use of private military forces with American soldiers in combat zones. Halliburton crews also helped bring 725 burning oil wells under control in Kuwait.


title: Halliburton

text: In 1995, Cheney replaced Thomas H. Cruikshank, as chairman and CEO. Cruikshank had served since 1989.


title: Halliburton

text: In the early 1990s, Halliburton was found to be in violation of federal trade barriers in Iraq and Libya, having sold these countries dual-use oil drilling equipment and, through its former subsidiary, Halliburton Logging Services, sending six pulse neutron generators to Libya. After having pleaded guilty, the company was fined $1.2 million, with another $2.61 million in penalties.


title: Halliburton

text: During the Balkans conflict in the 1990s, Kellogg Brown-Root (KBR) supported U.S. peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Hungary with food, laundry, transportation, and other life-cycle management services.


title: Halliburton

text: In 1998, Halliburton merged with Dresser Industries, which included Kellogg. Prescott Bush was a director of Dresser Industries, which is now part of Halliburton; his son, former president George H. W. Bush, worked for Dresser Industries in several positions from 1948 to 1951, before he founded Zapata Corporation.


title: Halliburton

text: "The Wall Street Journal" reported in 2001 that a subsidiary of Halliburton Energy Services called Halliburton Products and Services Ltd. (HPS) opened an office in Tehran. The company, HPS, operated on the ninth floor of a new north Tehran tower block. Although HPS was incorporated in the Cayman Islands in 1975 and is "non-American", it shares both the logo and name of Halliburton Energy Services and, according to Dow Jones Newswires, offers services from Halliburton units worldwide through its Tehran office. Such behavior, undertaken while senior Republican (later U.S. Vice President) Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton, may have violated the Trading with the Enemy Act. A Halliburton spokesman, responding to inquiries from Dow Jones, said "This is not breaking any laws. This is a foreign subsidiary and no U.S. person is involved in this. No U.S. person is facilitating any transaction. We are not performing directly in that country." No legal action has been taken against the company or its officials. Later, David J. Lesar, Halliburton's chief executive, announced that Halliburton would withdraw from Iran.


title: Halliburton

text: In November 2002, KBR was tasked to plan oil well firefighting in Iraq, and in February 2003 was issued a contract to conduct the work. Critics contend that it was a no-bid contract, awarded due to Dick Cheney's position as vice president. Concern was also expressed that the contract could allow KBR to pump and distribute Iraqi oil. Others contend, however, that this was not strictly a "no-bid contract," and was invoked under a contract that KBR won "in a competitive bid process." The contract, referred to as LOGCAP, is a contingency-based contract that is invoked at the convenience of the Army. Because the contract is essentially a retainer, specific orders are not competitively bid (as the overall contract was).


title: Halliburton

text: In May 2003, Halliburton revealed in SEC filings that its KBR subsidiary had paid a Nigerian official $2.4 million in bribes in order to receive favorable tax treatment., United Arab Emirates


title: Halliburton

text: In October 2004, after emerging from the bankruptcy protection, Halliburton opened a new facility on , replacing an older facility that opened in 1948, in Rock Springs, Wyoming. With over 500 employees, Halliburton is one of the largest private employers in Sweetwater County.


title: Halliburton

text: On January 24, 2006, Halliburton's subsidiary KBR (formerly Kellogg, Brown and Root) announced that it had been awarded a $385 million contingency contract by the Department of Homeland Security to build "temporary detention and processing facilities" or internment camps. According to "Business Wire", this contract will be executed in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District. Critics point to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp as a possible model. According to a press release posted on the Halliburton website, "The contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs. The contingency support contract provides for planning and, if required, initiation of specific engineering, construction and logistics support tasks to establish, operate and maintain one or more expansion facilities."


title: Halliburton

text: In February 2008, a hard disk and two computers containing classified information were stolen from Petrobras while in Halliburton's custody. Allegedly, the content inside the stolen material was data on the recently discovered Tupi oil field. Initial police inquiries suggest that it could be a common container theft operation. The container was a ramshackle in complete disorder indicating that thieves were after "valuables and not only laptops," said an expert consulted by the daily newspaper Folha de S. Paulo.


title: Halliburton

text: In 2008, Halliburton agreed to outsource its mission-critical information technology infrastructure to a Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex data center operated by CyrusOne Networks LLC.


title: Halliburton

text: On May 14, 2010, President Barack Obama said in an interview with CNN that "you had executives of BP and Transocean and Halliburton falling over each other to point the finger of blame at somebody else" when referring to the congressional hearings held during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. "The American people could not have been impressed with that display, and I certainly wasn't." According to Tim Probert, executive vice president of Halliburton, "Halliburton, as a service provider to the well owner, is contractually bound to comply with the well owner's instructions".


title: Halliburton

text: It was anticipated that Halliburton's $2.5 billion "Restore Iraqi Oil" (RIO) contract would pay for itself as well as for reconstruction of the entire country. Plans called for more oil to be exported from Iraq's northern oil fields than actually occurred. Halliburton's work on the pipeline crossing the Tigris river at Al Fatah has been called a failure. Critics claim that the oil fields are barely usable and access to international markets is severely limited. As an example, against the advice of its own experts, Halliburton attempted to dig a tunnel through a geological fault zone. The underground terrain was a jumble of boulders, voids, cobblestones, and gravel and not appropriate for the kind of drilling Halliburton planned. "No driller in his right mind would have gone ahead," said Army geologist Robert Sanders when the military finally sent people to inspect the work.


title: Halliburton

text: On November 17, 2014, Halliburton and Baker Hughes jointly announced a definitive agreement under which Halliburton will, subject to the conditions set forth in the agreement, acquire Baker Hughes in a stock and cash transaction valued at $34.6 billion. A press release made available on the former's website, as at December 11, 2014 detailed the restructuring in the integration to follow. The firm announced it would acquire Baker Hughes for around $35 billion in cash and stock, creating an oilfield services company that aims to compete with Schlumberger. Prior to the merger of Baker Hughes and Halliburton, Halliburton must divest over $5 billion of its assets according to the regulations created by US competition enforcement authorities. The merger had a deadline of the end of April 2016 after which, if a decision had not been made, both companies could walk away from the deal if they chose. At the beginning of May 2016, the day after the deadline expired, Halliburton and Baker Hughes announced the termination of the merger agreement.


title: Halliburton

text: On March 1, 2022, Halliburton inaugurated its MultiChem facility in Jubail PlasChem Park, which will make Saudi Arabia an exporter of speciality products from an importer of speciality products.


title: Halliburton

text: Halliburton has become the object of several controversies involving the Iraq War and the company's ties to former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney retired from the company during the 2000 U.S. presidential election campaign with a severance package worth $36 million. As of 2004, he had received $398,548 in deferred compensation from Halliburton while Vice President. Cheney was chairman and CEO of Halliburton Company from 1995 to 2000 and has received stock options from Halliburton.


title: Halliburton

text: In the run-up to the Iraq War, Halliburton was awarded a $7 billion contract for which only Halliburton was allowed to bid.


title: Halliburton

text: Bunnatine Greenhouse, a civil servant with 20 years of contracting experience, had complained to Army officials on numerous occasions that Halliburton had been unlawfully receiving special treatment for work in Iraq, Kuwait and the Balkans. Criminal investigations were opened by the U.S. Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Pentagon's inspector general. These investigations found no wrongdoing within the contract award and execution process.


title: Halliburton

text: In one of Greenhouse's claims, she said that military auditors caught Halliburton overcharging the Pentagon for fuel deliveries into Iraq. She also complained that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's office took control of every aspect of Halliburton's $7 billion Iraqi oil/infrastructure contract. Greenhouse was later demoted for poor performance in her position. Greenhouse's attorney, Michael Kohn portrayed her performance reviews as punishment for criticizing the administrations, he stated in "The New York Times" that "she is being demoted because of her strict adherence to procurement requirements and the Army's preference to sidestep them when it suits their needs."


title: Halliburton

text: An internal report released in 2010 by BP into the Deepwater Horizon explosion claimed that poor practices of Halliburton staff had contributed to the disaster. Investigations carried out by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling found that Halliburton was jointly at fault along with BP and Transocean for the spill. The cement that Halliburton used was an unstable mixture, and eventually caused hydrocarbons to leak into the well, causing the explosion that started the crisis.


title: Halliburton

text: Halliburton pleaded guilty to destroying evidence after the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster; the company destroyed computer simulations it performed in the months after the accident, simulations that contradicted Halliburton's claim that it was BP who had not followed Halliburton's advice. BP had employed Halliburton to oversee the process by which cement is used to seal casing in oil and gas wells, thereby preventing leaks. Government investigators had ordered companies involved in drilling the well to preserve all relevant evidence.


title: Halliburton

text: In early December 2010, the Nigerian government filed corruption charges against Cheney in connection with his role as the chief executive of Halliburton. The case relates to an alleged $182 million contract involving a four-company joint venture to build a liquefied natural gas plant on Bonny Island in southern Nigeria. Earlier in 2009, KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton, agreed to pay $402 million after admitting that it bribed Nigerian officials, and Halliburton paid $177 million to settle allegations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission without admitting any wrongdoing. In mid-December 2010, the case was settled when Nigeria agreed to drop the corruption charges against Cheney and Halliburton in exchange for a $250 million settlement. According to Femi Babafemi, the spokesperson for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the $250 million would include approximately $130 million frozen in a Swiss bank, and the rest would be paid as fines.


title: Halliburton

text: The Federal Contractor Misconduct Database details 10 instances of misconduct since 1995 under which Halliburton has agreed to pay settlements of $791 million. A further 22 instances of misconduct relate to the company's former subsidiary KBR.


title: Halliburton

text: In 2002, Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reports were completed to measure the amount of chemicals emitted from Halliburton's Harris County, Texas facility. The TRI is a publicly available EPA database that contains information on toxic chemical releases and waste management activities reported annually by certain industries as well as federal facilities. The facility had 230 TRI air releases in 2001 and 245 in 2002.


title: Halliburton

text: On June 7, 2006, Halliburton's Farmington, New Mexico facility created a toxic cloud that forced people to evacuate their homes.


title: Halliburton

text: Halliburton may also be implicated in the oil spills in the Timor Sea off Australia in August 2009 and in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 for improper cementing. Halliburton staff were employed on the Transocean operated "Deepwater Horizon" oil rig in the Mexican Gulf. Halliburton staff completed cementation of the final production well 20 hours prior to the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion, but had not yet set the final.


title: Halliburton

text: In July 2013, Halliburton Co agreed to plead guilty to charges that it destroyed evidence relating to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This incurred a $200,000 fine; the firm also agreed to three years of probation and to continue cooperating with the criminal probe into the spill. In September 2014, the company agreed to pay $1.1 billion in damages to settle the majority of claims against it relating to the explosion, removing the uncertainty which had hung over the company for the previous four years


title: Halliburton

text: Jamie Leigh Jones testified at a Congressional hearing that she had been gang-raped by as many as seven co-workers in Iraq in 2005 when she was an employee of KBR, and then falsely imprisoned in a shipping container for 24 hours without food or drink. KBR was a subsidiary of Halliburton at the time. Jones and her lawyers said that 38 women have contacted her reporting similar experiences while working as contractors in Iraq, Kuwait, and other countries. On September 15, 2009, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Halliburton, in a 2 to 1 ruling, and found that her alleged injuries were not, in fact, in any way related to her employment and thus, not covered by the contract. This decision effectively meant that the mandatory arbitration clause in her contract did not apply.


title: Halliburton

text: These incidents have tainted the public perception of Halliburton, with a consumer study rating it as the 5th least reputable company in America.


title: Halliburton

text: On April 15, 2006, Halliburton filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell up to 20 percent of its KBR stock on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "KBR", as part of an eventual plan for KBR to be a separate company from Halliburton.


title: Halliburton

text: In November 2006, Halliburton began selling its stake in KBR, its major subsidiary, and by February 2007 had completely sold off the subsidiary. In June 2007, several days after Stewart Bowen, the Special Inspector General, released a new report, the Army announced that KBR would share another $150 billion contract with two other contractors, Fluor and Dyncorp, over the next 10 years.


title: Halliburton

text: In accordance with the law of armed conflict and to maintain non-combatant status, Halliburton does not arm its truck drivers. Trucks are often the target of insurgent attacks. On September 20, 2005, a convoy of four Halliburton trucks was ambushed north of Baghdad. All four trucks were struck by improvised explosive devices and were disabled. Their US National Guard escort was thought to have abandoned the disabled vehicles, leaving the drivers defenseless. Three of the four truck drivers were killed by the insurgents while the surviving driver caught the event on video. Although the trucks had military camouflage paint, the drivers were civilian. The US military returned to the scene 45 minutes later. However, in a statement by senior military officials in Iraq, an investigation revealed that troops did not abandon the civilians and they were all exiting the "kill zone" during the ambush.


title: Halliburton

text: On March 31, 2003, Management at Halliburton restated earnings downward by $14 million for the fourth quarter of 2002. In the restatement, an additional $3 million expense (net of tax) to continuing operations and an $11 million expense, net of tax, to discontinued operations were recorded. On March 2, 2005, Halliburton restated its 2004 fourth-quarter earnings to add $2 million US in after-tax losses to reflect the collection of a $10 million receivable that had been reserved and a correction in lease accounting.


title: Halliburton

text: Halliburton has been criticized for its impacts on public health and the environment, most notably with the passing of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, also known as the Halliburton loophole. This law notably exempted chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing from the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and CERCLA ("Superfund"). As a result of this, fracking fluids did not have to be reported to the EPA, rendering the EPA unable to legally regulate or monitor them.


title: Halliburton

text: In 2020, it was reported that out of nine companies the EPA has asked full disclosure from with regards to the chemicals used in gas drilling, Halliburton was the only one that refused to comply.


title: Halliburton

text: In 2015, after a decade-long legal battle, Halliburton was declared guilty for illegally retaliating against whistleblower Tony Menendez. Menendez had filed a case with the SEC over concerns that Halliburton was taking illegal actions to conceal billions of dollars; following this, Halliburton retaliated against Menendez in a number of ways, including stripping Menendez of his responsibilities and forbidding him from coming to most meetings.


title: Halliburton

text: Halliburton's headquarters (North Belt Campus) are located in northern Houston, Texas, near George H.W. Bush Intercontinental Airport.


title: Halliburton

text: Halliburton was headquartered in Dallas, Texas, from 1961 to 2003. The company moved its headquarters from the Southland Life Building in Dallas to of space in Lincoln Plaza in Downtown Dallas in 1985. 20 employees worked in Halliburton's headquarters in Dallas.


title: Halliburton

text: Halliburton planned to move its headquarters to Houston in 2002. Halliburton, which signed its lease to occupy a portion of 5 Houston Center in Downtown Houston in 2002, moved its headquarters there by July 2003. Halliburton occupied of space on the 24th floor in 5 Houston Center.


title: Halliburton

text: In 2009 Halliburton announced that it planned to move its headquarters to the North Belt Campus in Houston. In addition it planned to consolidate operations at its Westchase and North Belt Campus. The move occurred in 2009. The North Belt complex was to house 2,500 employees. Halliburton planned to add a research and development facility with laboratories, a new cafeteria, a childcare center, two additional parking garages, and fitness and wellness centers for employees. The plans for the North Belt Campus had been delayed by one year, and Halliburton expects completion in 2013. The construction of the North Belt administration building is scheduled to begin in late 2010.


title: Halliburton

text: According to Marilyn Bayless, the president of the North Houston Greenspoint Chamber of Commerce, in 2003 Halliburton had planned to move operations out of the North Belt office because other area school districts offered the freeport tax exemptions while the Aldine Independent School District (AISD), where the North Belt office is located, did not. In order to attract businesses, in May 2003, AISD began offering the same tax exemption as other jurisdictions. Subsequently, Halliburton retained the North Belt office.


title: Audra Mari

text: Audra Diane Mari (born January 8, 1994) is an American model, television host, and beauty pageant titleholder. She was crowned Miss World America 2016 on July 8, 2016 and represented the United States at Miss World 2016. She also represented the state of North Dakota at the Miss Teen USA and Miss USA pageants where she placed 1st runner-up in each pageant.


title: Audra Mari

text: Mari was born on January 8, 1994 in Fargo, North Dakota. Her grandfather is from the Philippines. Mari attended Davies High School in Fargo. In an interview with "Seventeen", she discussed being bullied her sophomore year of high school. She attended North Dakota State University, where she studied public relations and communications.


title: Audra Mari

text: Mari represented the state of North Dakota on July 16, 2011 at Atlantis Paradise Island in Nassau, Bahamas where she placed 1st runner-up. Three years later she won the Miss North Dakota USA 2014 title. In the Miss USA 2014 pageant held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana she again placed 1st runner-up. This was the highest placement for a contestant from North Dakota.


title: Audra Mari

text: On July 8, 2016 Mari was crowned Miss World America 2016 at National Harbor in Washington, D.C. She represented the United States at the Miss World 2016 pageant on December 18, 2016 where she placed 6th. Because Mari was the highest placing Miss World contestant from the Americas, she was awarded the title of Miss World Americas 2016.


title: Audra Mari

text: At age 20, Mari moved to Miami to pursue a modeling career. Her credits include gracing the cover of Ocean Drive Swimsuit issue and appearing in numerous H&M ads. Mari segued into hosting a television show on the Welcome Channel and in 2021, a local travel show for InForum online media.


title: Audra Mari

text: Mari began dating actor Josh Duhamel in late 2018. They announced their engagement on January 8, 2022, and married on September 10, 2022.


title: Undone (TV series)

text: Undone is an American adult animated psychological comedy drama television series created by Kate Purdy and Raphael Bob-Waksberg, and starring Rosa Salazar. The series premiered on September 13, 2019, on Amazon Prime Video, to critical acclaim. It is Amazon's first adult animated original series and its first to use rotoscoping. In November 2019, Amazon renewed "Undone" for a second season which premiered on April 29, 2022.


title: Undone (TV series)

text: "Undone" explores "the elastic nature of reality through its central character, Alma. After getting into a nearly fatal car crash, Alma discovers she has a new relationship with time and uses this ability to find out the truth about her father’s death."


title: Undone (TV series)

text: On March 6, 2018, it was announced that Amazon had given the production a straight-to-series order for one season. The series, starring Rosa Salazar in the lead role, was created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg and Kate Purdy, who also executive produce alongside Noel Bright, Steven A. Cohen, and Tommy Pallotta. Hisko Hulsing oversaw the production design and directed a team of animators working in the Netherlands. "Undone"s animation is created through a combination of live action motion capture and rotoscoping. Production companies involved with the series include The Tornante Company and animation companies Submarine and Minnow Mountain. On November 21, 2019, the series was renewed for a second season alongside Purdy signing an exclusive deal with Amazon. The eight-episode second season was released on April 29, 2022.


title: Undone (TV series)

text: "Undone" received critical acclaim. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 98% of 56 critic ratings are positive for the first season, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A kaleidoscopic existential crisis, "Undone" bends the rules of space, time, and rotoscoping to weave a beautifully surreal tapestry that is at once fantastical and utterly relatable." Metacritic assigned the season a weighted average score of 86 out of 100, based on 17 reviews, citing "universal acclaim".


title: Undone (TV series)

text: For the second season, Metacritic collected 5 reviews and calculated an average score of 86, indicating "universal acclaim". On Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 24 reviews are positive for the second season, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The critics consensus reads, ""Undone" broadens out into a family affair in a gorgeously trippy continuation that's as heady as it is moving."


title: Steel Ball Run

text: Originally the first 23 chapters (4 volumes) were serialized in the "shōnen" manga magazine "Weekly Shōnen Jump" in 2004 simply under the title "Steel Ball Run". Although the character's names and abilities were obviously related to the series, it was unclear if the story was actually part of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" due to perceived conflicting continuity. However, when the series moved to the monthly "seinen" manga magazine "Ultra Jump" in 2005, it was officially announced as part 7 of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure", but set in an alternate universe, like the following arc, "JoJolion".


title: Steel Ball Run

text: The 95 chapters were combined into 24 "tankōbon" volumes (volumes 81–104 of the entire series), following the trend set by the previous part, "Stone Ocean", of starting over the volume count. A couple of chapters were adapted into a "Vomic" series, which has voice actors act over the manga pages as they are shown on screen. "Steel Ball Run" has been universally acclaimed for its art, characters, and story, with some even regarding it as the best part in the entire "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" series.


title: Steel Ball Run

text: In September 1890, racing jockeys from all over the world flock to the United States to take part in the Steel Ball Run, a cross-country horse race from San Diego to New York City with a fifty-million dollar grand prize. A paraplegic named Johnny Joestar enters the race to learn about the mysterious Spin ability of a former Neapolitan executioner named Gyro Zeppeli, who temporarily restored Johnny's mobility. Though they begin the race as rivals, Johnny and Gyro become friends as they travel through the wilderness while fending off various assassins, terrorists, outlaws, and other violent competitors. Although the Steel Ball Run is organized by the eccentric oil tycoon Steven Steel, United States president Funny Valentine has engineered the race to serve as a front for collecting the scattered pieces of a 1900-year-old corpse known as the Holy Corpse (heavily implied to be the body of Jesus Christ). Valentine intends to reassemble the Corpse and gain limitless power through it on behalf of his nation, having already obtained the Corpse's heart.


title: Steel Ball Run

text: After Johnny and Gyro encounter another piece of the Holy Corpse, it is absorbed into Johnny's body and he develops the evolving Stand Tusk, allowing him to fend off one of Valentine's subordinates. Later, they meet the spiteful and ambitious racer Diego Brando who obtains one of the Corpse's two eyes, while Gyro gains the other. Johnny and Gyro continue the race, encountering other racers, gaining and losing Corpse parts, and enhancing their Spin techniques along the way.


title: Steel Ball Run

text: Meanwhile, Steven's wife Lucy tries to uncover and foil Valentine's plan with later assistance from another racer, Hot Pants. However, Valentine discovers Lucy and takes her captive after she fuses with the Corpse and seemingly becomes pregnant with the Corpse's head. Diego and Hot Pants ally against and fight Valentine on a moving train, but are overpowered and killed by the president and his dimension-traversing Stand Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Lucy begins to fully merge with the completed Corpse, enhancing Valentine's stand with a new misfortune-redirecting ability known as D4C Love Train. Johnny and Gyro arrive and attempt to battle the seemingly-invulnerable Valentine, only for Valentine to overpower them both and kill Gyro. Mourning his mentor and friend, Johnny realizes how to achieve the perfect form of the Spin technique, enhances his Stand, and overwhelms Valentine with his new power. Valentine attempts to fake his surrender, but Johnny kills him, avenging his companion but putting an end to any hope of his return.


title: Steel Ball Run

text: The Holy Corpse separates from Lucy, only to be stolen by an unknown antagonist. Pursuing the thief into the final stage of the Steel Ball Run, Johnny is shocked to find that it is an alternate instance of Diego Brando taken from a parallel dimension by Valentine, wielding a time-stopping Stand known as THE WORLD. Johnny attempts to engage the alternate Diego, who defeats him with his own attack and easily takes first place in the race. The alternate Diego brings the Corpse to Trinity Church, only to run into Lucy, who annihilates him by forcing him to merge with the severed head of the original Diego.


title: Steel Ball Run

text: As the race ends, first place is awarded to the carefree Pocoloco, who had slept through the start of the race and only caught up by sheer luck, while Steven Steel arrives to save Johnny. Valentine's death is covered up as retirement from public life, with concerns over the race placated by the donation of the prize money to charitable causes. Johnny, having regained his ability to walk through the power of his Stand and the Spin, leaves America to return Gyro's body to his family. On the boat, he meets the Japanese runner-up racer Norisuke Higashikata. Johnny later marries Norisuke's daughter Rina, leading to the events of Part 8, "JoJolion".


title: Steel Ball Run

text: Written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki, "Steel Ball Run" was originally serialized in Shueisha's "shōnen" manga anthology "Weekly Shōnen Jump" from January 19 to October 16, 2004. It was later moved to Shueisha's monthly "seinen" magazine "Ultra Jump" on March 19, 2005, and ran until April 19, 2011. Araki found that the new, monthly schedule with longer chapters suited him better, as he was not as restricted in what he could draw and no longer had to write stories with momentum building up excitement for the next week's chapter, and had more flexibility to draw at his own pace. Araki described the manga's theme as "seeking for satisfaction". Like with other parts of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure", Araki also used "an affirmation that humanity is wonderful" as a theme, which he explained as a description for humanity's ability to grow and overcome hardships through one's strength and spirit, portrayed through people succeeding in fights through their own actions, without relying on machines or gods.


title: Steel Ball Run

text: Because the series follows a race across America, Araki had to split his research into three trips: one from the West Coast to the deserts, one from the Great Plains to the Mississippi River and Chicago, and one to New York. He said that it would have been impossible to get an understanding for the vast scale without having gone there personally, describing the scenery of the Midwest as endless and unchanging. The feeling of distance made him think that if an enemy had approached, the open landscape would have meant that he could not have escaped due to a lack of places to hide, an experience he found useful when drawing the manga.


title: Steel Ball Run

text: Like other protagonists in the series, Johnny was designed to symbolize the part's story and setting, and to stand out among the previous protagonists in terms of appearance, clothing, and silhouette. He was not specifically planned to have a disability at the start of the production; rather, his disability was the result of the series' focus on protagonists growing through overcoming hardships, and Araki wanting to create a character who was forced to rely on people and horses during the race and had room to grow both mentally and physically. Valentine was created as part of Araki noticing more and more that good and evil is not always easily distinguishable and taking a greater interest in the motivations for people who do bad things. He noted that Valentine's patriotism and goals seemed just and might line up with leaders in the real world, and that it is his sacrifice of powerless people to reach his goals that make him evil and completely unsuitable as a protagonist. The concept of having the United States president fighting the main characters came from when Araki saw the film "Independence Day", and liked the idea of a president who fights.


title: Steel Ball Run

text: The first chapter title of each pair is the title that is used in the volumization of "Steel Ball Run". The second title is the title used in the original serialization in "Weekly Shonen Jump" and "Ultra Jump".


title: Steel Ball Run

text: "Kono Manga ga Sugoi!" recommended "Steel Ball Run" as a good place to start for people who have not read previous parts, due to how it effectively serves as a reboot of the "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" series, and appreciated how its move to the monthly "seinen" magazine "Ultra Jump" enabled Araki to write longer stories and depict things that would have been difficult to do in a "shōnen" magazine. Erkael of "Manga-News" called the manga one of the best in the series, and said that it does not disappoint the reader at any point. "Anime News Network" called "Steel Ball Run" an interesting take on the battle manga genre due to its positive portrayal of a hero with a disability, and found it, along with "JoJolion", to represent a big shift in the evolution of Araki's art, following his earlier shift from muscle men to thinner characters and fashion.


title: Steel Ball Run

text: K. Thor Jensen of "Geek.com" called the portrayal of Johnny and Gyro's relationship one of the best platonic friendships in comics, citing their transition from rivals to close allies who make sacrifices for one another and help each other with their respective abilities. Erkael liked the high speed and intensity of the story, saying that it was as if Araki wanted the reader to feel like they were part of the race themselves, and how the story eventually opens up to follow several different characters whose paths at times intersect, leading to a world that feels "rich and dense". They wrote that the lack of Stands early in the story, with Gyro instead using steel balls, was surprising but refreshing, and reminiscent of the "hamon" abilities featured in the first part in the "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" series, "Phantom Blood"; they still enjoyed the shift in focus to Stand abilities later in the story, calling them "original and surprising". "Kono Manga ga Sugoi!" liked the depiction of the landscapes Johnny and Gyro travel through, calling them "beautiful".


title: Marc Chagall

text: Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernist, he was associated with several major artistic styles and created works in a wide range of artistic formats, including painting, drawings, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints.


title: Marc Chagall

text: Born in the Russian Empire, today Belarus, he was of Jewish origin. Before World War I, he travelled between Saint Petersburg, Paris, and Berlin. During this period he created his own mixture and style of modern art based on his idea of Eastern Europe and Jewish folk culture. He spent the wartime years in Belarus, becoming one of the country's most distinguished artists and a member of the modernist avant-garde, founding the Vitebsk Arts College before leaving again for Paris in 1923.


title: Marc Chagall

text: Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century". According to art historian Michael J. Lewis, Chagall was considered to be "the last survivor of the first generation of European modernists". For decades, he "had also been respected as the world's pre-eminent Jewish artist". Using the medium of stained glass, he produced windows for the cathedrals of Reims and Metz as well as the Fraumünster in Zürich, windows for the UN and the Art Institute of Chicago and the Jerusalem Windows in Israel. He also did large-scale paintings, including part of the ceiling of the Paris Opéra.


title: Marc Chagall

text: He had two basic reputations, writes Lewis: as a pioneer of modernism and as a major Jewish artist. He experienced modernism's "golden age" in Paris, where "he synthesized the art forms of Cubism, Symbolism, and Fauvism, and the influence of Fauvism gave rise to Surrealism". Yet throughout these phases of his style "he remained most emphatically a Jewish artist, whose work was one long dreamy reverie of life in his native village of Vitebsk." "When Matisse dies," Pablo Picasso remarked in the 1950s, "Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what colour really is".


title: Marc Chagall

text: Marc Chagall was born Moishe Shagal in a Jewish family in Liozna, near the city of Vitebsk (Belarus, then part of the Russian Empire) in 1887. At the time of his birth, Vitebsk's population was about 66,000. Half of the population were Jewish. A picturesque city of churches and synagogues, it was called "Russian Toledo" by artist Ilya Repin, after the cosmopolitan city of the former Spanish Empire. As the city was built mostly of wood, little of it survived years of occupation and destruction during World War II.


title: Marc Chagall

text: Chagall was the eldest of nine children. The family name, Shagal, is a variant of the name Segal, which in a Jewish community was usually borne by a Levitic family. His father, Khatskl (Zachar) Shagal, was employed by a herring merchant, and his mother, Feige-Ite, sold groceries from their home. His father worked hard, carrying heavy barrels but earning only 20 roubles each month (the average wages across the Russian Empire was 13 roubles a month). Chagall would later include fish motifs "out of respect for his father", writes Chagall biographer, Jacob Baal-Teshuva. Chagall wrote of these early years:


title: Marc Chagall

text: One of the main sources of income of the Jewish population of the town was from the manufacture of clothing that was sold throughout the Russian Empire. They also made furniture and various agricultural tools. From the late 18th century to the First World War, the Imperial Russian government confined Jews to living within the Pale of Settlement, which included modern Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, almost exactly corresponding to the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth recently taken over by Imperial Russia. This caused the creation of Jewish market-villages (shtetls) throughout today's Eastern Europe, with their own markets, schools, hospitals, and other community institutions.


title: Marc Chagall

text: Chagall wrote as a boy; "I felt at every step that I was a Jew—people made me feel it". During a pogrom, Chagall wrote that: "The street lamps are out. I feel panicky, especially in front of butchers' windows. There you can see calves that are still alive lying beside the butchers' hatchets and knives". When asked by some "pogromniks" "Jew or not?", Chagall remembered thinking: "My pockets are empty, my fingers sensitive, my legs weak and they are out for blood. My death would be futile. I so wanted to live". Chagall denied being a Jew, leading the "pogromniks" to shout "All right! Get along!"


title: Marc Chagall

text: Most of what is known about Chagall's early life has come from his autobiography, "My Life". In it, he described the major influence that the culture of Hasidic Judaism had on his life as an artist. Chagall related how he realised that the Jewish traditions in which he had grown up were fast disappearing and that he needed to document them. Vitebsk itself had been a centre of that culture dating from the 1730s with its teachings derived from the Kabbalah. Chagall scholar Susan Tumarkin Goodman describes the links and sources of his art to his early home:


title: Marc Chagall

text: In the Russian Empire at that time, Jewish children were not allowed to attend regular schools or universities. Their movement within the city was also restricted. Chagall therefore received his primary education at the local Jewish religious school, where he studied Hebrew and the Bible. At the age of 13, his mother tried to enroll him in a regular high school, and he recalled, "But in that school, they don't take Jews. Without a moment's hesitation, my courageous mother walks up to a professor." She offered the headmaster 50 roubles to let him attend, which he accepted.


title: Marc Chagall

text: A turning point of his artistic life came when he first noticed a fellow student drawing. Baal-Teshuva writes that for the young Chagall, watching someone draw "was like a vision, a revelation in black and white". Chagall would later say that there was no art of any kind in his family's home and the concept was totally alien to him. When Chagall asked the schoolmate how he learned to draw, his friend replied, "Go and find a book in the library, idiot, choose any picture you like, and just copy it". He soon began copying images from books and found the experience so rewarding he then decided he wanted to become an artist.


title: Marc Chagall

text: He eventually confided to his mother, "I want to be a painter", although she could not yet understand his sudden interest in art or why he would choose a vocation that "seemed so impractical", writes Goodman. The young Chagall explained, "There's a place in town; if I'm admitted and if I complete the course, I'll come out a regular artist. I'd be so happy!" It was 1906, and he had noticed the studio of Yehuda (Yuri) Pen, a realist artist who operated a drawing school in Vitebsk; at the same time, future artists El Lissitzky and Ossip Zadkine were also Pen's students. Due to Chagall's youth and lack of income, Pen offered to teach him free of charge. However, after a few months at the school, Chagall realized that academic portrait painting did not suit his desires.


title: Marc Chagall

text: Goodman notes that during this period in Imperial Russia, Jews had two ways for joining the art world: one was to "hide or deny one's Jewish roots", the other—the one that Chagall chose—was "to cherish and publicly express one's Jewish roots" by integrating them into art. For Chagall, this was also his means of "self-assertion and an expression of principle."


title: Marc Chagall

text: Chagall biographer Franz Meyer explains that with the connections between his art and early life "the hassidic spirit is still the basis and source of nourishment for his art." Lewis adds, "As cosmopolitan an artist as he would later become, his storehouse of visual imagery would never expand beyond the landscape of his childhood, with its snowy streets, wooden houses, and ubiquitous fiddlers... [with] scenes of childhood so indelibly in one's mind and to invest them with an emotional charge so intense that it could only be discharged obliquely through an obsessive repetition of the same cryptic symbols and ideograms... "


title: Marc Chagall

text: Years later, at the age of 57 while living in the United States, Chagall confirmed this when he published an open letter entitled, "To My City Vitebsk":


title: Marc Chagall

text: Why? Why did I leave you many years ago? ... You thought, the boy seeks something, seeks such a special subtlety, that color descending like stars from the sky and landing, bright and transparent, like snow on our roofs. Where did he get it? How would it come to a boy like him? I don't know why he couldn't find it with us, in the city—in his homeland. Maybe the boy is "crazy", but "crazy" for the sake of art. ...You thought: "I can see, I am etched in the boy's heart, but he is still 'flying,' he is still striving to take off, he has 'wind' in his head." ... I did not live with you, but I didn't have one single painting that didn't breathe with your spirit and reflection.


title: Marc Chagall

text: In 1906, he moved to Saint Petersburg, which was then the capital of the Russian Empire and the center of the country's artistic life with its famous art schools. Since Jews were not permitted into the city without an internal passport, he managed to get a temporary passport from a friend. He enrolled in a prestigious art school and studied there for two years. By 1907, he had begun painting naturalistic self-portraits and landscapes. Chagall was an active member of the irregular freemasonic lodge, the Grand Orient of Russia's Peoples. He belonged to the "Vitebsk" lodge.