title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: A Library of Congress study of national ground forces said that in 1994 Belarus had ground forces of 52,500. They were organized into three corps headquarters, two motor divisions, one airborne division, the 51st Guards Artillery Division at Osipovichi, three mechanized divisions, one airborne brigade, three surface-to-surface missile brigades, two antitank brigades, one special duties brigade, and seven anti-aircraft missile brigades. Equipment included 3,108 main battle tanks (seventy-nine T-54, 639 T-55, 291 T-62, 299 T-64, eight T-80, and 1,800 T-72), 419 medium-range launchers, sixty surface to-surface missiles, and 350 surface-to-air missiles.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: In 1993 the 7th Tank Army was reorganised as the 7th Army Corps. In 1994 the 7th Army Corps was redesignated as the 65th Army Corps, still located at Borisov.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: By January 1, 1995, the composition of the Belarusian ground forces had changed. The Library of Congress study estimated at the time that Ministry of Defence forces included the 103rd Guards Airborne Division and the 38th Separate Assault-Landing Brigade; the 28th Army Corps (Grodno Region and Brest Region), composed of headquarters at Grodno, the 6th Guards Kiev-Berlin Mechanised Brigade, the 11th Guards Mechanised Brigade, the 50th Separate Mechanised Infantry Brigade, the Armament and Equipment base, and corps units (missile troops, antiaircraft, chemical and engineer troops, signals, and rear services); the 65th Army Corps (Minsk and Vitebsk Regions), composed of headquarters at Borisov, three armament and equipment bases, and corps units; and the 5th Guards Army Corps (Minsk and Mahilyow regions) made up of headquarters at Babruysk, the 30th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, two Armament and Equipment bases, and corps units.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: Actually, the 103rd Guards Airborne Division had been reorganized as Headquarters, Mobile Forces, in 1993.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: On 1 August 1996 the 51st Guards Artillery Division was reorganised as the 51st Guards Central Group of Artillery, still located at Osipovichi.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: On 21 December 2001, a major reorganisation of the Ground Forces produced two operational-territorial commands, formed from two former corps headquarters. All Belarus ground forces were now grouped within these two commands, the Western Operational Command at Grodno, former from the previous 28th Army Corps, the former Soviet 28th Army, and the North Western Operational Command, the former 65th Army Corps, at Barysaw (Borisov).


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: Since about 2001, territorial defence forces, which as of 2002 number around 150,000, have been forming, organised into battalions, companies, and platoons spread across Belarus.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: In 2007, the Land Forces consisted of 29,600 soldiers (6th Guards Mechanised Brigade (Grodno), 11th Guards Mechanized Brigade at Slonim, the 120th Guards Mechanised Brigade (Minsk), 38th and 103rd Mobile Brigades (organized similarly to Soviet airborne regiments, not all of them are equipped with BMD-1), 5th Spetsnaz Brigade (Maryina Horka), five artillery brigades and four regiments, two MRL regiments, 15th, 29th, 115th, 120th and 302nd SAM Brigades, two SSM brigades, two brigades and one regiment of engineers, 8th independent NBC Brigade, two signals brigades, 40th independent NBC battalion. Army equipment includes 1800 main battle tanks (MBT) and 2600 AFV/APC. The weapons and equipment storage bases include the 50th (Brest), 19th, 34th & 37th (former tank divisions), 3rd, and 28th (Baranovichi). Weapons storage bases that have been disbanded include the 29th, 30th, 193rd, and the storage base that used to be the 8th Guards Tank Division at Marina Gorka.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: In 2012 it was reported that there were six mechanised brigades in the Ground Forces: three full-strength, the 6th (Grodno), 11th (Slonim), and 120th Guards Mechanised Brigade at Minsk. The others were at reduced strength, where there was one battalion, the 19th (Zaslonova), 37th, and 50th (Baranovichi). By 2017, the number of mechanised brigades had been further reduced to four, with two at full strength and two at reduced strength.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: In 2007 the Air Force and Air Defence Force of Belarus (AF & ADF) consisted of 18,170 personnel (two fighter/interceptor bases, four FGA/reconnaissance squadrons, one transport air base, training aircraft, and attack and support helicopters, SAM units). Air Force equipment included in 2004 260 fighter-ground attack/training aircraft and 80 attack helicopters. According to Belarus government websites, the Air Forces now have two commands, the Western Operational-Tactical Command and the North-Western Operational-Tactical Command.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: The 61st and 927th Air Bases have now merged into the 61st (fighter) Air Base at Baranovichi, flying MiG-29s, and the 206th Air Base (Ross) has merged into the 116th Guards Assault Air Base at Lida, flying Su-25s.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: The Special Forces of Belarus is the airmobile and strategic deterrence force. It has been a participant in conflicts such as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and the Libyan Civil War (2011).


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: The Belarusian Transport Troops is responsible for the movement of personnel and material by truck, rail, and air. It is also designed to carry the tasks of the transport support of the military formations from other service branches. General leadership is exercised by the Minister of Defense, while direct control is carried out by the Head of the Transport Support Department, a position that reports directly to the President.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: The Territorial Forces (, ) are a homeland defence organization in the armed forces. It is managed by the Department of the Territorial Forces, being a support department of the Ministry of Defence of Belarus and is operated by the General Staff. It is currently located on Kommunisticheskaya Street in Minsk. The current head of the department of territorial forces is Colonel Andrei Paseko. The Territorial Defence system was established in the early 2000s. Over 120,000 troops constitute the size of the Territorial Forces, which is twice as much as it serves in the regular duty military. During an address by President Alexander Lukashenko on 18 February 2016, he announced the allocation of arms and to the territorial forces and the minimum and maximum amount of district troops ranging from one company and a battalion. Personnel of these units are recruited from residents of their respective administrative-territorial regions.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: Special troops are designed to support the combat activities of the Ground Forces and solve their inherent tasks. They include formations and military units of intelligence, communications, engineering, radiation, chemical and biological defense, electronic warfare, navigation and topographic.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: The Internal Troops of Belarus were formed from the former Soviet Internal Troops after the collapse of the Soviet Union. They consist of three independent brigades and seven independent battalions (consecutively numbered).


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: The Border Guard Service is the paramilitary force of the State Border Committee of the Republic of Belarus. It covers the borders with Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: The Government Directive of 20 March 1992 ‘On the Establishment of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus’ founded the Belarusian army. The Soviet troops of the BMD were smoothly converted into Belarusian military units. Yet one of the first tasks of the Belarusian government was a reduction in its numbers. 240,000 soldiers and officers were serving in the Belarusian Military District. By early 2013 the numbers of military personnel had been scaled down nearly fourfold since 1991. In February 2014, Belorusskaya Voyennaya Gazeta, the official publication of the Ministry of Defense revealed that the Belarusian Armed Forces contains about 59,500 personnel, including 46,000 soldiers and 13,000 civilians.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: The military commandants of the Armed Forces of Belarus are regional administrations tasked with overseeing Belarusian regiments in the commandant's territory. Units are assigned to a specific commandant based on their location. There are 6 military commandants in the Belarusian Armed Forces.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: The military forces of Belarus are almost exclusively armed with Soviet-era equipment inherited from the Soviet Union. Although large in numbers, some Western experts consider some of it outdated.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: "The Belarusian armed forces receive around 100 brand-new and upgraded systems a year", said in late July 2018, Belarusian Deputy Minister of Defence for Armament and Chief of Armament Major General Sergei Simonenko. The MBTs are of Russian type T-72, T-62, and T-55, the APCs and IFVs are of Russian type MT-LB, BMP-2, BMP-1, and the BMD-1, and Russian type trucks are the GAZ-66 and the KAMAZ-6560.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: While the IISS Military Balance 2016 listed 69 T-80s in service, by 2018 the listing had been removed, and the only MBTs listed were 527 T-72 as well as 5 T-72B3.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: The Air Force is equipped with MiG-29 fighters, Su-25 attack aircraft, as well as Mi-8, Mi-24, and some old, Polish built Mi-2 helicopters. In December 2005, Belarus bought 10 L-39C jet trainer aircraft from Ukraine, and in 2017 a contract have been signed to buy 12 Su-30SM fighters. In 2006, four batteries ("divizions" in Russian terminology; about six systems each) of S-300 anti-aircraft systems were acquired from Russia to reinforce the Joint CIS Air Defense System. The Military Balance 2018 listed a brigade with the S-300P and a brigade with the S-300V (SA-12A Gladiator/SA-12B Giant). Moscow and Minsk signed contracts in 2021 for the supply of fighters, helicopters, air defense systems and other weapons to Belarus.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: The armed forces took part in a joint CSTO military intervention in Kazakhstan during the 2022 Kazakh unrest.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: The armed forces have sent their military specialists to countries such as Côte d'Ivoire, Venezuela, Libya, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, acting both officially and secretly. In Belarus, they have previously trained military personnel from the Nigerian Army. In 2014 and 2015, the special forces of the Nigerian Army were trained on the territory of Belarus, with the Belarusians training the Nigerians in counterterrorism.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: In 2007, an agreement was signed in Caracas with Venezuela, according to which Belarusian military specialists for the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela were developing a unified air defense and electronic warfare system. The following year, the first ten servicemen went to the country, with Lieutenant-General Oleg Paferov being appointed as the officer responsible for the activities of the advisers. A contingent of about 500 military advisers was also present in Libya during the First Libyan Civil War, supporting the government of Muammar Gaddafi. As of autumn 2013, there were at least two Belarusian advisers in Yemen at the Ministry of Defense. On November 26 of the same year, during an attack on a hotel in Sana'a, a Belarusian was killed and another was wounded. In February 2020, a dozen Belarusian military instructors arrived in Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire), where they were stationed at the Agban military base, which is occupied by one of the country's national gendarmerie units.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: The Museum of Military History of Belarus () is located in the Pyershamayski District of Minsk. It was established as the Museum of the History of the Belarusian Military District, opened in Minsk on February 21, 1978. In July 1993, it was converted into a museum on the military history of Belarus. The exhibits are the same as before the collapse of the USSR, with a small section on the medieval history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania having since been added. Its collection numbers over 18 thousand exhibits. The most ancient of them date back to the 6th century.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: The Public Association "Belarusian Union of Officers" (hereinafter referred to as BSO) is a public association of officers and warrant officers who are on active duty and in retirement. It was established on 20 September 1992 at its founding congress. On September 18, 1993, Deputy of the Supreme Soviet Alexander Lukashenko took part in the 2nd Congress. From October 2005 to January 2015, the Republican Council of the BSO was headed by retired Lieutenant General E. Mikulchik, and until November 2017 was led by retired Major General V. Bamburov.


title: Armed Forces of Belarus

text: The Battle Banner of a military unit is a symbol of the unit, retained throughout its lineage. Changes in the name and numbering of a military unit are entered in the Certificate of the President of the Republic of Belarus, issued upon presentation of the Battle Banner. The Battle Banner is awarded to formations, brigades/regiments, battalions, divisions, air squadrons, training units, and military educational institutions. Guards units are awarded with a black-and-orange guards ribbon attached to its shaft. Upon presentation of the Battle Banner to a military unit, a Diploma of the President of the Republic of Belarus is issued. In the event of the loss of the Battle Banner, the commander of a military unit and its servicemen are subject to legal consequences and the military unit is disbanded.


title: Hollandaise sauce

text: Hollandaise sauce ( or ; ), also called Dutch sauce, is a mixture of egg yolk, melted butter, and lemon juice (or a white wine or vinegar reduction). It is usually seasoned with salt, and either white pepper or cayenne pepper.


title: Hollandaise sauce

text: It is well known as a key ingredient of eggs Benedict, and is often served on vegetables such as steamed asparagus.


title: Hollandaise sauce

text: "Sauce hollandaise" is French for "Hollandic sauce". The name implies Dutch origins, but the actual connection is unclear. The name "Dutch sauce" is documented in English as early as 1573, though without a recipe showing that it was the same thing. The first documented recipe is from 1651 in La Varenne's "Le Cuisinier François" for "asparagus with fragrant sauce":


title: Hollandaise sauce

text: La Varenne is credited with bringing sauces out of the Middle Ages with his publication and may well have invented hollandaise sauce. A more recent name for it is "sauce Isigny", named after Isigny-sur-Mer, which is famous for its butter. Isigny sauce is found in recipe books starting in the 19th century.


title: Hollandaise sauce

text: By the 19th century, sauces had been classified into four categories by Carême. One of his categories was "allemande", which was a stock-based sauce using egg and lemon juice. Escoffier replaced "allemande" with egg based emulsions, including "hollandaise" and mayonnaise in his list of the five mother sauces of haute cuisine. While many believe that a true hollandaise sauce should only contain the basic ingredients of eggs, butter, and lemon, Prosper Montagne suggested using either a white wine or vinegar reduction, similar to a Béarnaise sauce, to help improve the taste.


title: Hollandaise sauce

text: In English, the name "Dutch sauce" was common through the 19th century, but was largely displaced by "hollandaise" in the 20th.


title: Hollandaise sauce

text: As in other egg emulsion sauces, like mayonnaise and Béarnaise, the egg does not coagulate as in a custard; rather, the lecithin in the eggs serves as an emulsifier, allowing the mixture of the normally immiscible butter and lemon juice to form a stable emulsion.


title: Hollandaise sauce

text: To make hollandaise sauce, beaten egg yolks are combined with butter, lemon juice, salt, and water, and heated gently while being mixed. Some cooks use a double boiler to control the temperature. Some recipes add melted butter to warmed yolks; others call for unmelted butter and the yolks to be heated together; still others combine warm butter and eggs in a blender or food processor. Temperature control is critical, as excessive temperature can curdle the sauce. Some chefs start with a reduction. The reduction consists of vinegar, water and cracked peppercorns. These ingredients are reduced to "au sec" or almost dry, strained, and added to the egg yolk mixture.


title: Hollandaise sauce

text: Mayonnaise and its derivative Hollandaise are among the French mother sauces, and the foundation for many derivatives created by adding or changing ingredients, including:


title: Ruhr

text: The Ruhr ( ; , also "Ruhrpott" ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km and a population of over 5 million (2017), it is the largest urban area in Germany. It consists of several large cities bordered by the rivers Ruhr to the south, Rhine to the west, and Lippe to the north. In the southwest it borders the Bergisches Land. It is considered part of the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region of more than 10 million people, which is the third largest in Europe, behind only London and Paris.


title: Ruhr

text: The Ruhr cities are, from west to east: Duisburg, Oberhausen, Bottrop, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Herne, Hagen, Dortmund, Lünen, Bergkamen, Hamm and the districts of Wesel, Recklinghausen, Unna and Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis. The most populous cities are Dortmund (with a population of approximately 588,000), Essen (about 583,000) and Duisburg (about 497,000).


title: Ruhr

text: In the Middle Ages, the Hellweg was an important trade route from the region of the Lower Rhine to the mountains of the Teutoburg Forest. The most important towns of the region from Duisburg to the imperial city of Dortmund were concentrated along the Hellweg from the Rhineland to Westphalia. Since the 19th century, these cities have grown together into a large complex with a vast industrial landscape, inhabited by some 7.3 million people (including Düsseldorf and Wuppertal, large cities that are nearby but officially not part of the Ruhr area).


title: Ruhr

text: The Ruhr area has no administrative centre; each city in the area has its own administration, although there exists the supracommunal "Regionalverband Ruhr" institution in Essen. For 2010, the Ruhr region was one of the European Capitals of Culture.


title: Ruhr

text: The urban landscape of the Ruhr extends from the Lower Rhine Basin east to the Westphalian Plain and south to the hills of the Rhenish Massif. Through the centre of the Ruhr runs a segment of the loess belt that extends across Germany from west to east. Historically, this loess belt has underlain some of Germany's richest agricultural regions.


title: Ruhr

text: Geologically, the region is defined by coal-bearing layers from the upper Carboniferous period. The coal seams reach the surface in a strip along the river Ruhr and dip downward from the river to the north. Beneath the Lippe, the coal seams lie at a depth of 600 to 800 metres (2,000 to 2,600 feet). The thickness of the coal layers ranges from one to three metres (three to ten feet). This geological feature played a decisive role in the development of coal mining in the Ruhr.


title: Ruhr

text: According to the Regionalverband Ruhr (RVR, Ruhr Regional Association), 37.6% of the region's area is built up. A total of 40.7% of the region's land remains in agricultural use. Forests account for 17.6%, and bodies of water and other types of land use occupy the rest. The inclusion of four mainly rural districts in the otherwise mainly industrial Ruhr helps to explain the large proportion of agricultural and forested land. In addition, the city boroughs of the Ruhr region have outlying districts with a rural character.


title: Ruhr

text: Seen on a map, the Ruhr could be considered a single city, since—at least in the north–south dimension—there are no visible breaks between the individual city boroughs. Thus the Ruhr is described as a polycentric urban area, which shares a similar history of urban and economic development.


title: Ruhr

text: Because of its history, the Ruhr is structured differently from monocentric urban regions such as Berlin, which developed through the rapid absorption of smaller towns and villages by the most significant city among them. Instead in the Ruhr, the individual city boroughs and urban districts of the Ruhr grew in a rapid and parallel fashion independently of one another during the Industrial Revolution. The population density of the central Ruhr is about 2,100 inhabitants per square kilometre (about 5,400 per square mile)—not too high compared to other German cities.


title: Ruhr

text: Between the constituent urban areas are relatively open suburbs and even some open land with agricultural fields. In many places however, the borders between cities in the central Ruhr are unrecognizable, blending into one urban landscape due to continuous development across them.


title: Ruhr

text: The replanting of brownfield land has created new parks and recreation areas in recent decades. The Emscher Landschaftspark (Emscher Landscape Park) lies along the river Emscher, formerly virtually an open sewer, parts of which have undergone natural restoration. This park connects strips of parkland running from north to south, which were developed through regional planning in the 1920s, to form a green belt between the Ruhr cities from east to west.


title: Ruhr

text: During the Middle Ages, much of the region that was later called the "Ruhrgebiet" was situated in the County of Mark, the Duchies of Cleves and Berg and the territories of the bishop of Münster and the archbishop of Cologne. The region included some villages and castles, and was mainly agrarian: its loess soil made it one of the richer parts of western Germany. The free imperial city of Dortmund was the trading and cultural centre, lying on the Hellweg, an important east–west trading route, that also brought prosperity to the town of Duisburg. Both towns were members of the Hanseatic League.


title: Ruhr

text: The development of the region into an urbanized industrial area started in the late 18th century with the early industrialisation in the nearby Wupper Valley in the Bergisches Land. By around 1820, hundreds of water-powered mills were producing textiles, lumber, shingles and iron in automated processes here. And in even more workshops in the hills, highly skilled workers manufactured knives, tools, weapons and harnesses, using water, coal and charcoal. History has no established name for this phase of the industrial revolution, but one could call it the early water-powered industrial revolution.


title: Ruhr

text: As the machines became bigger and moved from water power to steam power, locally mined coal and charcoal became expensive and there was not enough of it. The Bergische industry ordered more and more coal from the new coal mining area along the Ruhr. Impressive and expensive railways were constructed through the hilly Wupper region, to bring coal, and later steel, in from the Ruhr, and for outward transport of finished products.


title: Ruhr

text: By 1850, there were almost 300 coal mines in operation in the Ruhr area, in and around the central cities of Duisburg, Essen, Bochum and Dortmund. The coal was exported or processed in coking ovens into coke, used in blast furnaces, producing iron and steel. In this period the name "Ruhrgebiet" became common. Before the coal deposits along the Ruhr were exhausted, the mining industry moved northward to the Emscher and finally to the Lippe, drilling ever deeper mines as it went. Locks built at Mülheim on the Ruhr led to the expansion of Mülheim as a port. With the construction of the Cologne-Minden railway in the late 19th century, several iron works were built within the borders of the present-day city of Oberhausen.


title: Ruhr

text: Moreover, the urbanization also boosted the expansion of railroad connections. At the beginning of the 1880s, agricultural regions did not benefit from the newly built transport facilities as much as non-agricultural regions did. This in its turn increased inequality, and made anthropometric measurements, e.g. height, more dependent on wages. In the long run, however, effects of the railroad proximity diminished.


title: Ruhr

text: Consequently, the population climbed rapidly. Towns with only 2000 to 5000 people in the early 19th century grew in the following 100 years to over 100,000. Skilled mineworkers were recruited from other regions to the Ruhr's mines and steel mills and unskilled people started to move in. From 1860 onwards there was large-scale migration from Silesia, Pomerania, East Prussia and Posen to the Ruhr. Many of them were Polish speakers and they were treated as second class citizens. In 1899 this led to a revolt in Herne of young Polish workers, who later established a Workers' Union. Skilled workers in the mines were often housed in "miners' colonies", built by the mining firms. By 1870, over 3 million people lived in the Ruhrgebiet and the new coal-mining district had become the largest industrial region of Europe.


title: Ruhr

text: During World War I the Ruhrgebiet functioned as Germany's central weapon factory. At a big Essen company, F. Krupp A.G., the number of employees rose from 40,000 to 120,000 or more, in four years. They were partly women, partly forced labourers.


title: Ruhr

text: The Spartacist Uprising in 1919, which originated in Berlin, became popular among the working class in the Ruhr, and the region quickly adopted Marxism. The uprising was defeated by the Freikorps in less than a week, and the Weimar Republic established control over the Ruhr. The Kapp Putsch occurred in March 1919, when autocrats attempted to overthrow the Weimar government. The Weimar government defeated the putsch, albeit it advocated a general strike, which large parts of the working class participated in. The general strike effectively ended the Kapp government, but in the Ruhr, striking workers successfully managed to take government buildings in March 1920 shocking the rest of Germany. An armed revolt was then instigated, and the Red Guard installed a branch in the Ruhr. This became known as the Ruhr Uprising. The workers councils that led the uprising declared the Ruhr to be a socialist republic, but the Freikorps and Reichswehr put down the rebellion in April 1919, and re-established the Weimar Republic's control of the Ruhr.


title: Ruhr

text: In March 1921, French and Belgian troops occupied Duisburg, which under the Treaty of Versailles formed part of the demilitarized Rhineland. In January 1923 the whole Ruhrgebiet was occupied as a reprisal after Germany failed to fulfill World War I reparation payments as agreed in the Versailles Treaty. The German government responded with ""passive resistance"", letting workers and civil servants refuse orders and instructions by the occupation forces. Production and transport came to a standstill and the financial consequences contributed to German hyperinflation and ruined public finances in Germany and France, as well as several other countries. Passive resistance was called off in late 1923, allowing Germany to implement a currency reform and to negotiate the Dawes Plan, which led to the withdrawal of the French and Belgian troops from the Ruhr in 1925. However, the occupation of the Ruhr caused several direct and indirect consequences on the German economy and government. Due to the lack of production caused by foreign occupation, the German economy lacked the domestic abilities to pay war reparations without intentionally causing inflation. Moreover, the government became increasingly unpopular due to its "passive resistance" to German production. The halt in domestic production made war reparations impossible to pay.


title: Ruhr

text: On 7 March 1936, Adolf Hitler took a massive gamble by sending 30,000 troops into the Rhineland. As Hitler and other Nazis admitted, the French army alone could have destroyed the Wehrmacht. The French passed the problem to the British, who found that the Germans had the right to "enter their own backyard", and no action was taken. In the League of Nations, the Soviet delegate Maxim Litvinov was the only one who proposed economic sanctions against Germany. All restraint on German rearmament was now removed. France's eastern allies (the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia) concluded that since the French refused to defend their own border, they certainly would not stand up for their allies in the East. Hitler could now continue eroding the alliance system that France had built since 1919. On 16 October 1936, Belgium repudiated the 1921 alliance with France and declared its absolute neutrality. In October 1937, Belgium signed a non-aggression pact with Germany.


title: Ruhr

text: During World War II, the bombing of the Ruhr in 1940–1944 caused a loss of 30% of plant and equipment (compared to 15–20% for German industry as a whole). A second battle of the Ruhr (6/7 October 1944 – end of 1944) began with an attack on Dortmund. The devastating bombing raids of Dortmund on 12 March 1945 with 1,108 aircraft – 748 Lancasters, 292 Halifaxes, 68 Mosquitos – was a record to a single target in the whole of World War II. More than 4,800 tons of bombs were dropped through the city centre and the south of the city.


title: Ruhr

text: In addition to the strategic bombing of the Ruhr, in April 1945, the Allies trapped several hundred thousand Wehrmacht troops in the Ruhr Pocket.


title: Ruhr

text: After the war, the region fell within the British occupation zone, and Level of Industry plans for Germany abolished all German munitions factories and civilian industries that could support them and severely restricted civilian industries of military potential. The Ruhr Authority, an international body to regulate the Ruhr's coal and steel industries, was created as a condition for the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany.


title: Ruhr

text: During the Cold War, the Western allies anticipated that any Red Army thrust into Western Europe would begin in the Fulda Gap and have the Ruhr as a primary target. Increased German control of the area was limited by the pooling of German coal and steel into the multinational European Coal and Steel Community in 1951. The nearby Saar region, containing much of Germany's remaining coal deposits, was handed over to economic administration by France as a protectorate in 1947 and did not politically return to Germany until January 1957, with economic reintegration occurring two years later. Parallel to the question of political control of the Ruhr, the Allies tried to decrease German industrial potential by limitations on production and dismantling of factories and steel plants, predominantly in the Ruhr. By 1950, after the virtual completion of the by-then much watered-down "level of industry" plans, equipment had been removed from 706 manufacturing plants in the west, and steel production capacity had been reduced by 6.7 million tons. Dismantling finally ended in 1951. In all, less than 5% of the industrial base was dismantled.


title: Ruhr

text: The Ruhr was at the centre of the German economic miracle Wirtschaftswunder of the 1950s and 1960s, as very rapid economic growth (9% a year) created a heavy demand for coal and steel.


title: Ruhr

text: After 1973, Germany was hard hit by a worldwide economic crisis, soaring oil prices, and increasing unemployment, which jumped from 300,000 in 1973 to 1.1 million in 1975. The Ruhr region was hardest hit, as the easy-to-reach coal mines became exhausted, and German coal was no longer competitive. Likewise the Ruhr steel industry went into sharp decline, as its prices were undercut by lower-cost suppliers such as Japan. The welfare system provided a safety net for the large number of unemployed workers, and many factories reduced their labor force and began to concentrate on high-profit specialty items.


title: Ruhr

text: As demand for coal decreased after 1958, the area went through phases of structural crisis (see steel crisis) and industrial diversification, first developing traditional heavy industry, then moving into service industries and high technology. The air and water pollution of the area are largely a thing of the past although some issues take a long time to solve. In 2005, Essen was the official candidate for nomination as European Capital of Culture for 2010.


title: Ruhr

text: The 1911 edition of "Encyclopædia Britannica" has only one definition of "Ruhr": "a river of Germany, an important right-bank tributary of the lower Rhine". The use of the term "Ruhr" for the industrial region started in Britain only after World War I, when French and Belgian troops had occupied the Ruhr district and seized its prime industrial assets in lieu of unpaid reparations in 1923. In 1920, the International Labour Office published a report entitled "Coal Production in the Ruhr District". In 1923, the "Canadian Commercial Intelligence Journal", Volume 28, Issue 1013, includes the article, "Exports from the Ruhr district of Germany". In 1924 the English and American press was still talking of the "French occupation of the Ruhr Valley" or "Ruhr District". A 62-page publication seems to be responsible for the use of "Ruhr" as a short form of the then more common "Ruhr District" or "Ruhr Valley": Ben Tillett, A. Creech-Jones and Samuel Warren's "The Ruhr: The Report of a Deputation from the Transport and General Workers Union" (London 1923). Yet "The report of a deputation from the Transport and General Workers' Union which spent a fortnight examining the problems in the Ruhr Valley", published in "The Economic Review", Volume 8, 1923, is still using the traditional term. In the same year, "Objections by the United States to discriminatory regulations on exports from the occupied region of the Ruhr" was published in "Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States".


title: Ruhr

text: The 1926 "Encyclopædia Britannica", in addition to its article on the river Ruhr, has a further article on "RUHR, the name given to a district of Westphalia, Germany". Thus the name "Ruhr" was given to the region (as a short form of "Ruhr District" or "Ruhr Valley") only a few years before the publication of this edition of the "Encyclopædia Britannica". Even after World War II, the term "Ruhr" may not have been in general use for the region: it was defined in "Documents on American Foreign Relations" (1948): "For the purposes of the present Agreement: (i) the expression 'Ruhr' means the areas, as presently constituted, in Land North Rhine–Westphalia, listed in the Annex to this Agreement." However, Lawrence K. Cecil and Philip Hauge Abelson still write in 1967: "In the first place, the average person uses the term 'Ruhr' indiscriminately as the Ruhr River or the Ruhr district, two entirely different things. The Ruhr River is only one of half a dozen rivers in the Ruhr district, in addition to the Rhine. The Rhine itself runs through the heart of the Ruhr district." According to "Merriam Webster's Geographical Dictionary", a standard reference on place names around the world, the name "Ruhr" refers to the river. The name preferred for the region in this dictionary is "Ruhrgebiet", followed by "Ruhr Valley".


title: Ruhr

text: The Ruhr has an oceanic climate in spite of its inland position, with winds from the Atlantic travelling over the lowlands to moderate temperature extremes, in spite of its relatively northerly latitude that sees significant variety in daylight hours. A consequence of the marine influence is a cloudy and wet climate with low sunshine hours. Summers normally average in the low 20s, with winters being somewhat above the freezing point.


title: Ruhr

text: From the onset of the 21st century, the effects of global warming have become more profound. The area has been affected by severe droughts (like 2018), heat waves with temperatures above (2019) and severe weather events like the bow echo that hit the cities on June 9, 2014, and caused tens of thousands of trees to fall which was publicly dubbed the "Pfingststurm" (German for "Whitsun storm"). Winters have become more mild which poses a risk for crops such as apples whose blooms are vulnerable to late freezes if bud break happens too early.


title: Ruhr

text: The local dialect of German is commonly called "Ruhrdeutsch" or "Ruhrpottdeutsch", although there is really no uniform dialect that justifies designation as a "single" dialect. It is rather a working-class sociolect with influences from the various dialects found in the area and changing even with the professions of the workers. A major common influence stems from the coal mining tradition of the area. For example, quite a few locals prefer to call the Ruhr either "Pott", which is a derivate of "Pütt" (pitmen's term for "mine"; cp. the English "pit"), or "Revier".


title: Ruhr

text: During the nineteenth century, the Ruhr attracted up to 500,000 ethnic Poles, Masurians and Silesians from East Prussia and Silesia in a migration known as "Ostflucht" (flight from the east). By 1925, the Ruhrgebiet had around 3,800,000 inhabitants. Most of the new inhabitants came from Eastern Europe, but immigrants also came from France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. It has been claimed that immigrants came to the Ruhr from over 140 countries. Almost all their descendants today speak German as a first language, and for various reasons, they do not identify with their Polish roots and traditions, often their Polish family names only remain as a sign of their past.


title: Ruhr

text: The Industrial Heritage Trail () links tourist attractions related to the European Route of Industrial Heritage in the Ruhr area.


title: Ruhr

text: Ruhr is known for its numerous cultural institutions, many of which enjoy international reputation. Ruhr has three major opera houses and more than 10 theaters and stages.


title: Ruhr

text: There are special classical music halls like the Bochumer Symphoniker, the Duisburg Mercatorhalle, the Saalbau Essen or the Dortmunder Philharmoniker. Each year in spring time, there is the Klavier-Festival Ruhr in the Ruhr area with 50 to 80 events of classical and jazz music.


title: Ruhr

text: The city of Essen (representing the Ruhr) was selected as European Capital of Culture for 2010 by the Council of the European Union.


title: Ruhr

text: In association football, the Revierderby is the rivalry between Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke 04, and to a lesser extent between either club and/or VfL Bochum, MSV Duisburg or Rot-Weiss Essen ("kleines Revierderby").


title: Ruhr

text: With 22 universities and colleges and more than 250,000 students, the Ruhr region has the highest density of further education establishments anywhere in Germany. These include five universities alone in the cities of Bochum, Duisburg, Dortmund, Essen and Witten. In addition, Folkwang University of the Arts is an internationally acclaimed art college with its base in the Ruhr region. Furthermore, the universities are not the only places in the Ruhr region where academic qualifications can be obtained. There are 17 different universities of applied sciences which offer students to have the opportunity to undertake practice-relevant and qualified studies in various subjects, such as economics, logistics, administration or management.


title: Ruhr

text: The three largest universities (Ruhr University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, and the University of Duisburg-Essen) opened an alliance called "UA Ruhr". Students enrolled at one of the UA Ruhr universities can attend lectures and seminars at all three institutions without having to pay a visiting student fee. Consequently, they have many options to specialize in and to explore their chosen disciplines in depth. The UA Ruhr has three liaison offices for interested students in New York City, Moscow and São Paulo.


title: Ruhr

text: With the exception of public transport companies serving Hamm and Kreis Unna, all such companies in the Ruhr region are run under the umbrella of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr, which provides a uniform ticket system valid for the entire area. The Ruhr region is well-integrated into the national rail system, the Deutsche Bahn, for both passenger and goods services, each city in the region has at least one or more train stations. The bigger central stations have hourly direct connections to the bigger European cities as Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Vienna or Zürich.


title: Ruhr

text: The Ruhr area also contains the longest tram system in the world, with tram and Stadtbahn services from Witten to Krefeld as well as the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn network.


title: Ruhr

text: Originally the system was even bigger, it was possible to travel from Unna to Bad Honnef without using railway or bus services.


title: Ruhr

text: The Ruhr has one of the densest motorway networks in all of Europe, with dozens of Autobahns and similar Schnellstraßen (expressways) crossing the region. The Autobahn network is built in a grid network, with four east–west (A2, A40, A42, A44) and seven north–south (A1, A3, A43, A45, A52, A57, A59) routes. The A1, A2 and A3 are mostly used by through traffic, while the other autobahns have a more regional function.


title: Ruhr

text: Both the A44 and the A52 have several missing links, in various stages of planning. Some missing sections are currently in construction or planned to be constructed in the near future.


title: Ruhr

text: Additional expressways serve as bypasses and local routes, especially around Dortmund and Bochum. Due to the density of the autobahns and expressways, Bundesstraßen are less important for intercity traffic. The first Autobahns in the Ruhr opened during the mid-1930s. Due to the density of the network, and the number of alternative routes, traffic volumes are generally lower than other major metropolitan areas in Europe. Traffic congestion is an everyday occurrence, but far less so than in the Randstad in the Netherlands, another polycentric urban area. Most important Autobahns have six lanes, but there are no eight-lane Autobahns in the Ruhr.


title: Ruhr

text: Düsseldorf Airport is the intercontinental airport for North Rhine-Westphalia and is within 20 km of most of the Western Ruhr area.


title: Ruhr

text: It is served by the Düsseldorf Flughafen and Düsseldorf Flughafen Terminal railway stations, with its several parking lots, terminals and stations being connected by the "Skytrain".


title: Ruhr

text: Dortmund Airport in the Eastern Ruhr is a mid-sized airport, offering scheduled flights to domestic and European destinations and its approximately 1.9 million passengers in 2013. Dortmund Airport is served by an express bus to Dortmund main station, a shuttle bus to the nearby railway station "Holzwickede/Dortmund Flughafen", a bus connecting to Stadtbahn line U47, as well as a bus to the city of Unna.


title: Sivakumar

text: Palaniswamy, better known by his stage name Sivakumar (born 27 October 1941), is an Indian visual artist and former actor who has portrayed a wide range of leading and supporting roles onscreen in Tamil cinema and television. He made his acting debut in A. C. Trilogchander's "Kakkum Karangal" (1965). He has acted in over 190 movies in Tamil. He is the father of actors Suriya and Karthi. He is also ambidextrous. He has won 3 Filmfare Award South and 2 Tamil Nadu State Film Award in his Film Career.


title: Sivakumar

text: Palaniswamy made his acting debut in "Kakkum Karangal" (1965) with the actor S. S. Rajendran. Palaniswamy was renamed as Sivakumar when he entered the industry.


title: Sivakumar

text: Sivakumar’s notable movies include "Saraswati Sabatham" (1966), "Kandhan Karunai" (1967), "Thirumal Perumai" (1968) and "Uyarndha Manithan" (1968), "Rosappu Ravikkaikari" (1979) and the very famous K. Balachander’s "Sindhu Bhairavi" (1985). He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for the movies "Rosappu Ravikkaikari" (1979), "Vandichakkaram" (1980) and a Lifetime Achievement Award – South (2007). He also was the recipient of the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for the movies "Avan Aval Adhu" (1980) and "Agni Sakshi" (1982).


title: Sivakumar

text: He has co-starred with many leading Tamil actors of three generations, including M. G. Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, S.S. Rajendran, R. Muthuraman, A.V.M. Rajan, Jaishankar, Ravichandran, Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, Vijayakanth, Sathyaraj, Sarath Kumar, Prabhu, Karthik, Mohan, Arjun Sarja, Ajith Kumar, Vijay, Vikram and Suriya. He acted in famous TV serials like "Chithi" and "Annamalai" alongside Raadhika.


title: Sivakumar

text: In 2012, Sivakumar was honoured with the Jaya TV Lifetime Achievement Award at the Anna Centenary Library. The award was to honour him for his commendable contribution to the Tamil film industry for over 40 years.


title: Sivakumar

text: In recent times, he has ventured into public speaking, giving his opinion on various subjects, including Hindu theology. He has been praised for the fluency and style of his speeches.


title: Sivakumar

text: Sivakumar was born on 27 October 1941 in Coimbatore. He is married to Lakshmi Kumari and the couple has three children; two sons who are actors, Suriya and Karthi and a daughter Brindha who is a playback singer. He is a devout Hindu and a devotee of Lord Murugan. Sivakumar's elder daughter-in-law Jyothika is a Kollywood actress.


title: Sivakumar

text: Sivakumar is a three-time recipient of Filmfare Awards South and a two-time winner of Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in 2020.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville is home to the University of Florida, the fourth-largest public university campus by enrollment in the United States as of the 2021–2022 academic year.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: There is archeological evidence, from about 12,000 years ago, of the presence of Paleo Indians in the Gainesville area, although it is not known if there were any permanent settlements. A Deptford culture campsite existed in Gainesville and was estimated to have been used between 500 BCE and 100 CE. The Deptford people moved south into Paynes Prairie and Orange Lake during the first century and evolved into the Cades Pond culture. The Deptford people who remained in the Gainesville area were displaced by migrants from southern Georgia sometime in the seventh century. These migrants evolved into the Alachua culture and they built their burial mound on top of the Deptford culture campsite. When Europeans made first contact in the area, the Potano lived in the area. They were descendants of the Alachua culture people. European contact diminished the numbers of native peoples (through disease, enslavement, war) and Spanish colonists began cattle ranching in the Paynes Prairie area in the 18th century. The Spanish ceded Florida to the US in 1821.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville was established in 1854 and named after Edmund P. Gaines. The town of Gainesville was incorporated in 1869 and chartered as a city in 1907. The University of the State of Florida was moved from Lake City to Gainesville in 1906 and its name was simplified to "University of Florida" in 1909.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville is located at 29°39'55" North, 82°20'10" West (29.665245, −82.336097), which is roughly the same latitude as Houston, Texas. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and is water. The total area is 1.74% water.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville's tree canopy is both dense and species rich, including broadleaf evergreens, conifers, and deciduous species; the city has been recognized by the National Arbor Day Foundation every year since 1982 as a "Tree City, USA". A 2016 ecological assessment indicates Gainesville's urban tree canopy covers 47 percent of its land area.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville is the only city with more than 10,000 residents in the Gainesville, Florida, metropolitan statistical area (Alaucha, Levy and Gilchrist counties), and it is surrounded by rural area, including the wilderness of Paynes Prairie on its southern edge. The city is characterized by its medium size and central location, about two hours' driving time from either Jacksonville or Orlando, three hours from Tampa, and six hours from either Atlanta or Miami. The area is dominated by the University of Florida, which in 2008 was the third-largest university by enrollment in the US, and as of 2021 was the fourth-largest.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville's climate is defined as humid subtropical (Köppen: "Cfa"), with tropical-like summers, warm to hot shoulder seasons, and mild winters. Due to its inland location, Gainesville experiences wide temperature fluctuations, and it is part of USDA Plant hardiness zone 9a. During the hot season, from roughly May 15 to September 30, the city's climate is similar to the rest of the state, with frequent afternoon thunderstorms and high humidity. Average temperatures range from the low 70s (21–23 °C) at night to around during the day.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: In the cool season, Gainesville experiences 15 nights of temperatures at freezing or below and sustained freezes every few years. The all-time record low of was reached on February 13, 1899, and the city experienced light snow and freezing rain on Christmas Eve, 1989. Traces of snow were also recorded in 1977, 1996, 2010 and 2016. The daily average temperature in January is ; on average, the window for freezing temperatures is December 4 to February 24, allowing a growing season of 282 days, although the 1949-50 winter season did not record a freeze. Like the rest of the state, cold temperatures are almost always accompanied by clear skies and high pressure systems; snow is therefore rare. Temperatures reaching or falling below are rare, having respectively last occurred on June 4, 2019, and January 11, 2010.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The city's flora and fauna are also distinct from coastal regions of the state, and include many deciduous species, such as dogwood, maple, hickory and sweet gum, alongside palms, live oaks, and other evergreens. This allows the city to enjoy brief periods of fall color in late November and December and a noticeable, prolonged spring from mid-February through early April. This is a generally pleasant period, as colorful blooms of azalea and redbud complement a cloudless blue sky, for this is also the period of the lowest precipitation and lowest humidity. The city averages of rain per year. June through September accounts for most annual rainfall, while autumn and early winter is the driest period.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Since the 1990s, suburban sprawl has been a concern for a majority of the city commissioners. The "New Urbanization" plan to gentrify the area between historic Downtown and the University of Florida may slow the growth of suburban sectors and spark a migration toward upper-level apartments in the inner city. The area immediately north of the university is also seeing active redevelopment. Many gentrification plans rely on tax incentives that have sparked controversy and are sometimes unsuccessful. University Corners, which would not have been proposed without a $98 million tax incentive program by the city, was to be "a crowning jewel of the city's redevelopment efforts", 450 condos and hotel units and of retail space in eight stories covering three city blocks, on purchased for $15.5 million. 19 thriving businesses were demolished in April 2007, but in May 2008 deposit checks were refunded to about 105 people who reserved units, and in July 2008 developers spent "$120,000 to beautify the site, so we won't have this ugly green fence".


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville's east side houses the majority of the city's African-American community, while the west side consists of the mainly student and White resident communities. West of the city limits are large-scale planned communities, most notably Haile Plantation, which was built on the site of its eponymous former plantation.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The destruction of the city's landmark Victorian courthouse in the 1960s, which some considered unnecessary, brought the idea of historic preservation to the community's attention. The bland county building that replaced the grand courthouse became known to some locals as the "air conditioner". Additional destruction of the downtown area's historic buildings has left a small handful of older buildings, like the Hippodrome State Theatre, at one time a federal building. However, revitalization of the city's core has picked up, and the city is replacing many parking lots and underutilized buildings with infill development and near-campus housing that blend with existing historic structures. There is a proposal to rebuild a replica of the old courthouse on a parking lot one block from the original location.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Helping in this effort are the number of areas and buildings added to the National Register of Historic Places. Dozens of examples of restored Victorian and Queen Anne style residences constructed in the city's agricultural heyday of the 1880s and 1890s can be found in the following districts:


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Additionally, the University of Florida Campus Historic District, consisting of 11 buildings and 14 contributing properties, lies within the city's boundaries. Most of the buildings in the Campus Historic District are constructed in variations of Collegiate Gothic architecture, which returned to prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The US Census Bureau estimated Gainesville's population at 141,085 in 2020, a 13.3% increase from 2010 population of 124,504. At the 2010 census there were 63,612 housing units, with 57,808 occupied and 5,804 vacant. Children under 18 years of age numbered 19,897 in 2020, comprising 14.1% of the population, and people 65 years or over were estimated at 14,245 in 2019, or 10.8% of the population. In 2020, 57.5% of the population was White, 20.6% Black, 7.8% Asian, 0.3% American Indians and Alaska Natives, 3.7% some other race, and 10.0% reporting two or more races. The population of Gainesville was 13.8% Hispanic or Latino of any race and 52.1% female in 2020. In 2015-2019, the estimated median household income was $37,264 and the per capita income was $23,018.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: As of 2019, 82.90% of residents age five and older spoke English at home, while 8.20% spoke Spanish, 1.93% spoke Chinese, 0.96% spoke French, Haitian Creole, or Cajun, 0.78% spoke Vietnamese, 0.55% spoke Russian, Polish, or other Slavic language, 0.50% spoke Tagalog, 0.34% spoke Korean, and 0.37% spoke German, 0.35% spoke Arabic, 2.14% spoke some other Indo-European Language, 0.75% spoke some other Asian or Pacific Islander language, and 0.24% spoke some other and unspecified language. In 2015, 0.61% of residents age five and older spoke Hindi at home.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Numerous guides, such as the 2004 "Cities Ranked and Rated: More than 400 Metropolitan Areas Evaluated in the U.S. and Canada", have mentioned Gainesville's low cost of living. The restaurants near the University of Florida also tend to be inexpensive. The property taxes are high to offset the cost of the university, as the university's land is tax-exempt, but the median home cost is slightly below the national average, and Gainesville residents, like all Floridians, do not pay state income taxes.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The city's job market scored only 6 out of a possible 100 points in the "Cities Ranked and Rated" guide, as the downside to the low cost of living is an extremely weak local job market that is oversupplied with college-educated residents. Gainesville's median income is slightly below the U.S. average.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville heavily promoted solar power by creating the first feed-in tariff (FIT) in the United States. The FIT allowed small businesses and homeowners to supply electricity into the municipal power grid and paid a premium for the clean, on-site generated solar electricity. The FIT started with a rate of $0.32 per kilowatt-hour and allowed a person or business to enter into a 20-year contract where Gainesville Regional Utilities would purchase the power for 20 years. The FIT ended in 2013, when the rate was set at $0.18 per kWh, but the city is still seen as a leader in solar power. This increase in solar installations put Gainesville at number 5 in the world in solar installed per capita, beating Japan, France, China and all of the US.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The sports drink Gatorade was invented in Gainesville in the 1960s to help refresh the UF football team. UF still receives a share of the profits from the beverage, but Gatorade's headquarters are now in Chicago.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The city's economic engine is the University of Florida, which is by far the largest employer in the area and brings in a large amount of state and federal money. According to Gainesville's 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Greater Gainesville (Alachua County) is home to many startups with over 160 high growth enterprises. Gainesville is also home to dozens of organizations that support startups along their entire continuum of growth.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The Gainesville urban area is served by Alachua County Public Schools, which has 75 different institutions in the county, most in the Gainesville area. Gainesville is also home to the University of Florida and Santa Fe College. The University of Florida is a major financial boost to the community, and UF athletic events, including SEC football games, create hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional revenue. According to a 2019 study by the university's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, the university contributed $16.9 billion to Florida's economy and was responsible for over 130,000 jobs in the 2017–2018 fiscal year.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville's schools began desegregating in the 1960s and its high schools were integrated from 1968 to 1970, the "colored" schools having been either closed or integrated.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The Alachua County Library District provides public library service to Gainesville and to all of Alachua County. The Library District has reciprocal borrowing agreements with the surrounding counties of Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Lafayette, Levy, Marion, Putnam, and Union. These agreements are designed to facilitate access to the most convenient library facility regardless of an individual's county of residence.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The council–manager government is the form of municipal government used in Gainesville. The day-to-day operations of the city are run by a professional city manager who is appointed by the elected city commission.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The legislative power of the city is vested in a city commission of seven members, one of whom is the mayor. The mayor and two other commissioners are elected at-large, while the other four are elected from single-member districts to represent a quarter of the city.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The city commission is responsible for legislative functions such as establishing policy, passing local ordinances, voting appropriations, and developing an overall vision, like a corporate board of directors, in addition to appointing several professional staff persons.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The mayor is presiding officer of the city commission and has a voice and a vote in its proceedings but no veto power.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Municipal elections are nonpartisan and use a two-round system, i.e., if no candidate receives a majority of the vote, a runoff election ensues between the two candidates who received the most votes.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The mayor and other commissioners are elected to a term the length of which is in transition; in any case, neither the mayor nor any other commissioner may serve more than two consecutive terms, excepting following a partial term created by a vacancy. Mayoral terms are reckoned separately from terms as another commissioner, allowing a commissioner to serve more consecutive terms by alternating between the positions.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Law enforcement is provided by Gainesville Police Department, except on the University of Florida campus, which operates the University Police Department.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Fire protection within the city limits is provided by the Gainesville Fire Rescue, while the surrounding county is served by the Alachua County Fire Rescue. Alachua County Fire Rescue provides ambulance services for the whole county.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: In 2009, the Gainesville metropolitan statistical area (MSA) ranked seventh highest in the United States in percentage of commuters who biked to work (3.3 percent).


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville has an extensive road system, which is served by Interstate 75, and several Florida State Routes, including State routes 20, 24, and 26. Gainesville is also served by US 441 and nearby US 301, which give a direct route to Jacksonville, Ocala, and Orlando.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The city's streets lie on a grid system, with four quadrants (NW, NE, SW and SE). All streets are numbered, except for a few major thoroughfares, many of which are named for the towns they lead to (such as Waldo Road (SR 24), Hawthorne Road (SR 20), Williston Road (SR 121/SR 331), Archer Road (also SR 24) and Newberry Road (SR 26)). Streets called Avenues, Places, Roads or Lanes (often remembered by use of the acronym "APRiL") generally run east–west, while other streets (including Streets, Drives, Terraces, and Ways) generally run north–south.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach buses connect with Jacksonville (Amtrak station) to the north and Lakeland (Amtrak station) to the south. Bus service connects with Amtrak's Silver Service. Amtrak service is available at Palatka, to the east.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: At one time, Gainesville had railroad lines extending in six directions and was served by several depots, one of which, the Seaboard Air Line Depot, survives and has been restored and lies in a city park. The earliest route reached the town in 1859. By 1938, traffic and business patterns changed, Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) had ended its Jacksonville-Waldo-Gainesville-Inverness-Tampa train and its Jacksonville-Waldo-Gainesville-Cedar Key train and the less heavily used railroads were abandoned beginning in 1943. Some routes realigned, with the last trains running in the middle of Main Street in 1948.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Passenger service by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) included: an overnight local train from Jacksonville, due south from Gainesville to Ocala, Clearwater and St. Petersburg and the "West Coast Champion" from New York City running on the same route during the daytime. Chicago service on the ACL's "Dixie Flyer" was furnished by a transfer at Jacksonville. In 1967, upon the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad from the merger of ACL and SAL, the overnight local train through Gainesville was terminated. However, by 1968, the "Champion" was diverted east via a route through Palatka and Orlando. The Jacksonville-Gainesville-Ocala-St. Petersburg route became a local section (SCL #93 south/#94 north). Service into Gainesville ended at the end of April, 1971 at Amtrak's creation.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: By the 1980s, the only freight operator into the city was the Seaboard System (formerly the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, now merged into CSX).


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: In addition to its extensive road network, Gainesville is served by Gainesville Regional Transit System, or RTS, Florida's fourth-largest mass transit system. The area is also served by Gainesville Regional Airport ("GNV") in the northeast part of the city, with daily service to Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami, and Charlotte, North Carolina.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: According to the 2000 census, 5.25 percent of Gainesville residents commuted to work by bike, among the highest figures in the nation for a major population center.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville is known for its support of the visual arts. Each year, two large art festivals attract artists and visitors from all over the southeastern United States.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Cultural facilities include the Florida Museum of Natural History, Harn Museum of Art, the Hippodrome State Theatre, and the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Smaller theaters include the Acrosstown Repertory Theatre (ART), Actors' Warehouse, and the Gainesville Community Playhouse (GCP). GCP is the oldest community theater group in Florida; in 2006, it christened a new theater building.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The presence of a major university enhances the city's opportunities for cultural lifestyles. The University of Florida College of the Arts is the umbrella college for the School of Music, School of Theatre and Dance, School of Art and Art History, and a number of other programs and centers including The University Galleries, the Center for World Art, and Digital Worlds. Collectively, the college offers many performance events and artist/lecture opportunities for students and the greater Gainesville community, the majority offered at little or no cost.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Since 1989, Gainesville has been home to Theatre Strike Force, the University of Florida's premier improv troupe. Gainesville also hosts several sketch comedy troupes and stand-up comedians.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: In April 2003, Gainesville became known as the "Healthiest Community in America" when it won the only "Gold Well City" award given by the Wellness Councils of America (WELCOA). Headed up by Gainesville Health & Fitness Centers, and with the support of Shands HealthCare and the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce, 21 businesses comprising 60 percent of the city's workforce became involved in the "Gold Well City" effort. As of July 2011, Gainesville remained the only city in the country to win the award.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The counties surrounding Alachua County vote strongly Republican, while Alachua County votes strongly Democratic. In the 2008 election, there was a 22% gap in votes in Alachua County between Barack Obama and John McCain, while the other 11 candidates on the ballot and write-in votes received approximately 1.46% of the vote.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The National Coalition for the Homeless cited Gainesville as the 5th meanest city in the United States for its criminalization of homelessness in the Coalition's two most recent reports (in 2004 and 2009), the latter time for its meal limit ordinance. Gainesville has a number of ordinances targeting the homeless, including an anti-panhandling measure and one prohibiting sleeping outdoors on public property. In 2005, the Alachua Board of County Commissioners and the Gainesville City Commission responded by issuing a written "Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness"; which was followed by the 2010 "A Needs Assessment of Unsheltered Homeless Individuals In Gainesville, Florida" presentation to a joint meeting of Gainesville and Alachua County Commissions. An indoor homeless shelter was built on the site of the former Gainesville Correctional Institution grounds, with surrounding area designated for tents.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville is renowned in recreational drug culture for "Gainesville Green", a particularly potent strain of marijuana. "Orange and Blue" magazine published a feature article in 2003 about the history of Gainesville Green and the local marijuana culture in general. In the mid-1990s, several Gainesville Hemp Festivals took place outside the Alachua County courthouse.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville is well known for its music scene and has spawned a number of bands and musicians, including Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Stephen Stills, Don Felder and Bernie Leadon of The Eagles, The Motels, Against Me!, Charles Bradley, Less Than Jake, Hot Water Music, As Friends Rust, Bridget Kelly Band, John Vanderslice, Sister Hazel, Hundred Waters, and For Squirrels. It is also the location of independent labels No Idea Records and Elestial Sound, and the former home of Plan-It-X Records, which moved to Bloomington, Indiana. For two years, the Gainesville nonprofit Harvest of Hope Foundation hosted the Harvest of Hope Fest in St. Augustine. Gainesville is also the home of Florida Rocks, the founders of "Santa Jam", who hold concerts every December throughout North Florida as a toy fundraiser for sick, injured, and homeless children and a showcase for local musicians. Since 2011 they have distributed nearly 700 toys to hospitals, local churches, homeless charities, and needy families across the area.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: No Idea Records puts on an annual three-day rock festival known as The Fest, typically during the last weekend in October, coinciding with the annual Florida-Georgia football game, played in Jacksonville to minimize tensions between the largely out of town music festival goers with the University of Florida students and alumni.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Between 1987 and 1998, Gainesville had a very active rock music scene, with Hollywood star River Phoenix having the local club Hardback Cafe as his main base. Phoenix's band Aleka's Attic was a constant feature of the rock scene. The Phoenix family is still a presence in Gainesville, with Rain Phoenix's band Papercranes and Liberty Phoenix's store, Indigo.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville is still known for its strong music community and was named "Best Place to Start a Band in the United States" by "Blender" magazine in March 2008. The article cited the large student population, cheap rent, and friendly venues.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Over the past decade, Gainesville has been home to a wide variety of bands, from the Latin/afrobeat sounds of Umoja Orchestra, to the rock of Morningbell, to ska staples The Know How.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville's reputation as an independent music mecca can be traced back to 1984 when a local music video station was brought on the air. The station was called TV-69, broadcast on UHF 69 and was owned by Cozzin Communications. The channel drew considerable media attention thanks to its promotion by Bill Cosby, who was part owner of the station when it started. TV-69 featured many videos by punk and indie-label bands and had several locally produced videos ("Clone Love" by a local parody band, and a Dinosaur Jr. song).


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: The Florida Gators is the varsity team of the University of Florida, competing in the Southeastern Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association since 1933. It has been ranked in the top 10 in the NACDA ranking since the 1983–84 season. As of 2022, UF has won 45 national team championships, including two men's basketball titles, three football titles, one women's soccer title, one baseball title, four gymnastics titles, two softball titles, four men's golf titles, and seven women's tennis titles.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Opened in 1969, the Gainesville Raceway is a dragstrip that hosts the Gatornationals, one of the four NHRA major races.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Roughly since the 2006 founding of Grooveshark, a Gainesville-based music streaming service, Gainesville has seen an increase in the number of technology-based startup companies founded and developed in the city, particularly the downtown area. Among them are Digital Brands, SharpSpring, Fracture, Optym, and Feathr. The city celebrates Josh Greenberg Day annually in April, in honor of the late founder of Grooveshark and his contributions to the community's startup culture.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville is served by "The Gainesville Sun" and "The Independent Florida Alligator", the student newspaper for the University of Florida and Santa Fe College. In March 2022 two-year-old Mainstreet Daily News announced it would go into print weekly.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Arbitron ranks the Gainesville-Ocala market as the nation's 83rd-largest. Thirteen radio stations are licensed to operate in the city of Gainesville—five AM stations, six commercial FM stations, and two low-power non-commercial FM stations. Three of the stations (WRUF, WRUF-FM, and WUFT-FM) are operated by broadcasting students at the University of Florida. WUFT-FM is the city's NPR member station, while the WRUF stations are operated as commercial stations. MARC Radio Group operates six stations in the market.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville is the 162nd-largest television market in the nation, as measured by Nielsen Media Research. Broadcast television stations in the Gainesville market include WCJB, an ABC/CW affiliate in Gainesville; WGFL, a CBS/MyNetworkTV affiliate broadcasting from High Springs; WNBW, an NBC affiliate in Gainesville; WOGX, a Fox owned-and-operated station (O&O) from Ocala; and WUFT, the PBS station affiliated with the University of Florida in Gainesville.


title: Gainesville, Florida

text: Gainesville has one cable television station called "Community 12TV", which is carried on area COX systems. "Community 12TV" presently airs local government meetings and other public affairs programming as well as content from The Florida Channel.


title: Till (film)

text: Till is a 2022 American biographical drama film directed by Chinonye Chukwu and written by Michael Reilly, Keith Beauchamp, and Chukwu, and produced by Beauchamp, Reilly, and Whoopi Goldberg. It is based on the true story of Mamie Till-Bradley, an educator and activist who pursued justice after the murder of her 14-year-old son Emmett in 1955. The film stars Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till-Bradley, with Jalyn Hall, Frankie Faison, Haley Bennett, and Goldberg in supporting roles.


title: Till (film)

text: The film was officially announced in August 2020, though a project about Emmett Till's murder had been in the works for several years prior. Much of the main cast joined the following summer, and filming took place in Bartow County, Georgia that fall. It is the second major media property based on Mamie Till to be released in 2022, following the television series "Women of the Movement". The film is dedicated in memory of Mamie Till's life and legacy and its release coincided with the October 2022 unveiling of a statue in Emmett Till's memory in Greenwood, Mississippi.


title: Till (film)

text: "Till" had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival on October 1, 2022, was theatrically released in the United States on October 14, 2022, by United Artists Releasing, and is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom on January 6, 2023, by Universal Pictures. The film received positive reviews from critics, who lauded Deadwyler's performance, and was named one of the best films of 2022 by the National Board of Review. It earned $9 million against a combined production and marketing budget of $33 million.


title: Till (film)

text: Mamie Till became an educator and activist in the Civil Rights Movement after the death of her 14-year-old son, Emmett, who, in 1955, was beaten severely, shot dead then thrown into the Tallahatchie River with a 75lb cotton gin fan tied around his neck with barbed wire by white supremacists for whistling at a white woman, while visiting his cousins in Money, Mississippi. Mamie Till insisted that the casket containing her son's brutalized body be left open to show the nation what they had done to him. The film is told entirely from her perspective. Emmett Till's murder is heard, but not shown in the film.


title: Till (film)

text: On August 27, 2020, it was announced that Chinonye Chukwu would write and direct a feature film based on the life of Mamie Till-Mobley and her fight for justice after the lynching of her 14-year-son, Emmett Till. Produced by Orion Pictures, the film uses 27 years' worth of research by Keith Beauchamp, whose efforts led to the reopening of Till's case by the United States Department of Justice in 2004. Simeon Wright, Till's cousin and an eyewitness of the event, served as a consultant to the project until his death in 2017. Chukwu's screenplay is based on a draft she previously co-wrote with Beauchamp and producer Michael Reilly. In July 2021, Danielle Deadwyler and Whoopi Goldberg joined the cast. Jalyn Hall was cast as Emmett Till that August. Filming began in Bartow County, Georgia, in September 2021. By the end of the year, Frankie Faison, Jayme Lawson, Tosin Cole, Kevin Carroll, Sean Patrick Thomas, John Douglas Thompson, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Haley Bennett were confirmed to star.


title: Till (film)

text: The film received a limited release in the United States and Canada on October 14, 2022, before a wide release on October 28, 2022, by United Artists Releasing under the Orion Pictures label. Outside of the US and Canada, it will be distributed by Universal Pictures, including its release in the United Kingdom on January 13, 2023. The film premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 1, 2022, and was screened at the London Film Festival on October 15, 2022, and at the 31st Philadelphia Film Festival that same month. The distributor also invited high school students to special screenings of the film in New York's Alice Tully Hall; showings of the film and questionnaires with the filmmakers were simultaneously shared online.


title: Till (film)

text: The film was released for VOD platforms on November 22, 2022, followed by a Blu-ray and DVD release set for January 2023.


title: Till (film)

text: In the United States and Canada, the film made $242,269 from 16 theaters in its opening weekend. It held this record as the highest platform release opening of the year until "The Whale" two months later. In its second weekend the film made $363,541 from 104 theaters. Expanding to 2,058 theaters in its third weekend, the film made $1.03 million on its first day and would go on to gross $2.7 million over the weekend, finishing sixth. In its second of wide release the film made $1.88 million (marking a drop of 32%).


title: Till (film)

text: Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare average grade of "A+", and those at PostTrak gave the film a 91% overall positive score, with 87% saying they definitely would recommend it.


title: Vocaloid

text: The software enables users to synthesize "singing" by typing in lyrics and melody and also "speech" by typing in the script of the required words. It uses synthesizing technology with specially recorded vocals of voice actors or singers. To create a song, the user must input the melody and lyrics. A piano roll type interface is used to input the melody and the lyrics can be entered on each note. The software can change the stress of the pronunciations, add effects such as vibrato, or change the dynamics and tone of the voice.


title: Vocaloid

text: Various voice banks have been released for use with the Vocaloid synthesizer technology. Each is sold as "a singer in a box" designed to act as a replacement for an actual singer. As such, they are released under a moe anthropomorphism. These avatars are also referred to as "Vocaloids", and are often marketed as virtual idols; some have gone on to perform at live concerts as an on-stage projection.


title: Vocaloid

text: The software was originally only available in English starting with the first Vocaloids Leon, Lola and Miriam by Zero-G, and Japanese with Meiko and Kaito made by Yamaha and sold by Crypton Future Media. Vocaloid 3 has added support for Spanish for the Vocaloids Bruno, Clara and Maika; Chinese for Luo Tianyi, Yuezheng Ling, Xin Hua and Yanhe; and Korean for SeeU.


title: Vocaloid

text: The software is intended for professional musicians as well as casual computer music users. Japanese musical groups such as Livetune of Toy's Factory and Supercell of Sony Music Entertainment Japan have released their songs featuring Vocaloid as vocals. Japanese record label Exit Tunes of Quake Inc. also have released compilation albums featuring Vocaloids. Artists such as Mike Oldfield have also used Vocaloids within their work for back up singer vocals and sound samples.


title: Vocaloid

text: Vocaloid's technology is generally categorized into the concatenative synthesis in the frequency domain, which splices and processes the vocal fragments extracted from human singing voices, in the forms of time-frequency representation. The Vocaloid system can produce the realistic voices by adding vocal expressions like the vibrato on the score information. Initially, Vocaloid's synthesis technology was called on the release of Vocaloid in 2004, although this name is no longer used since the release of Vocaloid 2 in 2007. "Singing Articulation" is explained as "vocal expressions" such as vibrato and vocal fragments necessary for singing. The Vocaloid and Vocaloid 2 synthesis engines are designed for singing, not reading text aloud, though software such as Vocaloid-flex and Voiceroid have been developed for that. They cannot naturally replicate singing expressions like hoarse voices or shouts.


title: Vocaloid

text: The main parts of the Vocaloid 2 system are the Score Editor (Vocaloid 2 Editor), the Singer Library, and the Synthesis Engine. The Synthesis Engine receives score information from the Score Editor, selects appropriate samples from the Singer Library, and concatenates them to output synthesized voices. There is basically no difference in the Score Editor and the Synthesis Engine provided by Yamaha among different Vocaloid 2 products. If a Vocaloid 2 product is already installed, the user can enable another Vocaloid 2 product by adding its library. The system supports three languages, Japanese, Korean, and English, although other languages may be optional in the future. It works standalone (playback and export to WAV) and as a ReWire application or a Virtual Studio Technology instrument (VSTi) accessible from a digital audio workstation (DAW).


title: Vocaloid

text: The Score Editor is a piano roll style editor to input notes, lyrics, and some expressions. When entering lyrics, the editor automatically converts them into Vocaloid phonetic symbols using the built-in pronunciation dictionary. The user can directly edit the phonetic symbols of unregistered words. The Score Editor offers various parameters to add expressions to singing voices. The user is supposed to optimize these parameters that best fit the synthesized tune when creating voices. This editor supports ReWire and can be synchronized with DAW. Real-time "playback" of songs with predefined lyrics using a MIDI keyboard is also supported.


title: Vocaloid

text: Each Vocaloid license develops the Singer Library, or a database of vocal fragments sampled from real people. The database must have all possible combinations of phonemes of the target language, including diphones (a chain of two different phonemes) and sustained vowels, as well as polyphones with more than two phonemes if necessary. For example, the voice corresponding to the word "sing" ([sIN]) can be synthesized by concatenating the sequence of diphones "#-s, s-I, I-N, N-#" (# indicating a voiceless phoneme) with the sustained vowel ī. The Vocaloid system changes the pitch of these fragments so that it fits the melody. In order to get more natural sounds, three or four different pitch ranges are required to be stored into the library. Japanese requires 500 diphones per pitch, whereas English requires 2,500. Japanese has fewer diphones because it has fewer phonemes and most syllabic sounds are open syllables ending in a vowel. In Japanese, there are basically three patterns of diphones containing a consonant: voiceless-consonant, vowel-consonant, and consonant-vowel. On the other hand, English has many closed syllables ending in a consonant, and consonant-consonant and consonant-voiceless diphones as well. Thus, more diphones need to be recorded into an English library than into a Japanese one. Due to this linguistic difference, a Japanese library is not suitable for singing in eloquent English.


title: Vocaloid

text: The Synthesis Engine receives score information contained in dedicated MIDI messages called Vocaloid MIDI sent by the Score Editor, adjusts pitch and timbre of the selected samples in frequency domain, and splices them to synthesize singing voices. When Vocaloid runs as VSTi accessible from DAW, the bundled VST plug-in bypasses the Score Editor and directly sends these messages to the Synthesis Engine.


title: Vocaloid

text: Yamaha started development of Vocaloid in March 2000 and announced it for the first time at the German fair Musikmesse on March 5–9, 2003. It was created under the name "Daisy", in reference to the song "Daisy Bell", but for copyright reasons this name was dropped in favor of "Vocaloid".


title: Vocaloid

text: Vocaloid 2 was announced in 2007. Unlike the first engine, Vocaloid 2 based its results on vocal samples, rather than analysis of the human voice. The synthesis engine and the user interface were completely revamped, with Japanese Vocaloids possessing a Japanese interface.


title: Vocaloid

text: Vocaloid 3 launched on October 21, 2011, along with several products in Japanese, the first of its kind. Several studios updated their Vocaloid 2 products for use with the new engine with improved voice samples.


title: Vocaloid

text: In October 2014, the first product confirmed for the Vocaloid 4 engine was the English vocal Ruby, whose release was delayed so she could be released on the newer engine. In 2015, several V4 versions of Vocaloids were released. The Vocaloid 5 engine was then announced soon afterwards.


title: Vocaloid

text: Vocaloid 5 was released on July 12, 2018, with an overhauled user interface and substantial engine improvements. The product is only available as a bundle; the standard version includes four voices and the premium version includes eight. This is the first time since Vocaloid 2 that a Vocaloid engine has been sold with vocals, as they were previously sold separately starting with Vocaloid 3.


title: Vocaloid

text: Vocaloid 6 was released on October 13, 2022, with support for previous voices from Vocaloid 3 and later, and a new line of Vocaloid voices on their own engine within Vocaloid 6 known as Vocaloid:AI. The product is only sold as a bundle, and the standard version includes the 4 voices included with Vocaloid 5, as well as 4 new voices from the Vocaloid:AI line. Vocaloid 6's AI voicebanks support English and Japanese by default, though Yamaha announced they intended to add support for Chinese and include a feature where a user can import audio of themselves singing and have Vocaloid:AI recreate that audio with one of its vocals.


title: Vocaloid

text: Though developed by Yamaha, the marketing of each Vocaloid is left to the respective studios. Yamaha themselves do maintain a degree of promotional efforts in the actual Vocaloid software, as seen when the humanoid robot model HRP-4C of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) was set up to react to three Vocaloids—Hatsune Miku, Megpoid and Crypton's noncommercial Vocaloid software "CV-4Cβ"—as part of promotions for both Yamaha and AIST at CEATEC in 2009. The prototype voice CV-4Cβ was created by sampling a Japanese voice actress, Eriko Nakamura.


title: Vocaloid

text: Japanese magazines such as "DTM magazine" are responsible for the promotion and introduction for many of the Japanese Vocaloids to Japanese Vocaloid fans. It has featured Vocaloids such as Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin and Len, and Megurine Luka, printing some sketches by artist Kei Garou and reporting the latest Vocaloid news. Thirty-day trial versions of Miriam, Lily and Iroha have also contributed to the marketing success of those particular voices. After the success of SF-A2 Miki's CD album, other Vocaloids such as VY1 and Iroha have also used promotional CDs as a marketing approach to selling their software. When Amazon MP3 in Japan opened on November 9, 2010, Vocaloid albums were featured as its free-of-charge contents.


title: Vocaloid

text: Crypton has been involved with the marketing of their Character Vocal Series, particularly Hatsune Miku, has been actively involved in the GT300 class of the Super GT since 2008 with the support of Good Smile Racing (a branch of Good Smile Company, mainly in charge of car-related products, especially itasha (cars featuring illustrations of anime-styled characters) stickers). Although Good Smile Company was not the first to bring the anime and manga culture to Super GT, it departs from others by featuring itasha directly rather than colorings onto vehicles.


title: Vocaloid

text: Since the 2008 season, three different teams received their sponsorship under Good Smile Racing, and turned their cars to Vocaloid-related artwork:


title: Vocaloid

text: As well as involvements with the GT series, Crypton also established the website Piapro. A number of games starting from "" were produced by Sega under license using Hatsune Miku and other Crypton Vocaloids, as well as "fan made" Vocaloids. Later, a mobile phone game called "Hatsune Miku Vocalo x Live" was produced by Japanese mobile social gaming website Gree. TinierMe Gacha also made attire that looks like Miku for their services, allowing users to make their avatar resemble the Crypton Vocaloids.


title: Vocaloid

text: Two unofficial manga were also produced for the series, "Maker Unofficial: Hatsune Mix" being the most well known of the two, which was released by Jive in their "Comic Rush" magazine; this series is drawn by Vocaloid artist Kei Garou. The series features the Crypton Vocaloids in various scenarios, a different one each week. The series focuses on the Crypton Vocaloids, although Internet Co., Ltd.'s Gackpoid Vocaloid makes a guest appearance in two chapters. The series also saw guest cameos of Vocaloid variants such as Hachune Miku, Yowane Haku, Akita Neru and the Utauloid Kasane Teto. The series comprises the original 28 chapters serialized in "Comic Rush" and a collection of the first 10 chapters in a single "tankōbon" volume. A manga was produced for Lily by Kei Garou, who also drew the mascot. An anime music video titled "Schwarzgazer", which shows the world where Lily is, was produced and it was released with the album "anim.o.v.e 02", however the song is sung by Move, not by Vocaloids. A yonkoma manga based on Hatsune Miku and drawn by Kentaro Hayashi, "Shūkan Hajimete no Hatsune Miku!", began serialization in "Weekly Young Jump" on September 2, 2010. Hatsune Miku appeared in "Weekly Playboy" magazine. However, Crypton Future Media confirmed they will not be producing an anime based on their Vocaloids as it would limit the creativity of their user base, preferring to let their user base to have freedom to create PV's without restrictions.


title: Vocaloid

text: Initially, Crypton Future Media were the only studio that was allowed the license of figurines to be produced for their Vocaloids. A number of figurines and plush dolls were also released under license to Max Factory and the Good Smile Company of Crypton's Vocaloids. Among these figures were also Figma models of the entire "Character Vocal Series" mascots as well as Nendoroid figures of various Crypton Vocaloids and variants. Pullip versions of Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Len and Rin have also been produced for release in April 2011; other Vocaloid dolls have since been announced from the Pullip doll line. As part of promotions for Vocaloid Lily, license for a figurine was given to Phat Company and Lily became the first non-Crypton Vocaloid to receive a figurine.


title: Vocaloid

text: With regard to the English Vocaloid studios, Power FX's Sweet Ann was given her own MySpace page and Sonika her own Twitter account. In comparison to Japanese studios, Zero-G and PowerFX maintain a high level of contact with their fans. Zero-G in particular encourages fan feed back and, after adopting Sonika as a mascot for their studio, has run two competitions related to her. There was also talk from PowerFX of redoing their Sweet Ann box art and a competition would be included as part of the redesign. The Vocaloid Lily also had a competition held during her trial period. English Vocaloids have not sold enough to warrant extras, such as seen with Crypton's Miku Append. However, it has been confirmed if the English Vocaloids become more popular, then Appends would be an option in the future. Crypton plans to start an electronic magazine for English readers at the end of 2010 in order to encourage the growth of the English Vocaloid fanbase. Extracts of PowerFX's Sweet Ann and Big Al were included in Soundation Studio in their Christmas loops and sound release with a competition included.


title: Vocaloid

text: Crypton and Toyota began working together to promote the launch of the 2011 Toyota Corolla using Hatsune Miku to promote the car. The launch of the car also marked the start of Miku's debut in the US alongside it. Crypton had always sold Hatsune Miku as a virtual instrument, but they decided to ask their own fanbase in Japan if it was okay with them to market her to the United States as a virtual singer instead.


title: Vocaloid

text: The largest promotional event for Vocaloids is "The Voc@loid M@ster" (Vom@s) convention held four times a year in Tokyo or the neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture. The event brings producers and illustrators involved with the production of Vocaloid art and music together so they can sell their work to others. The original event was held in 2007 with 48 groups, or "circles", given permission to host stalls at the event for the selling of their goods. The event soon gained popularity and at the 14th event, nearly 500 groups had been chosen to have stalls. Additionally, Japanese companies involved with production of the software also have stalls at the events. The very first live concert related to Vocaloid was held in 2004 with the Vocaloid Miriam in Russia.


title: Vocaloid

text: Vocaloids have also been promoted at events such as the NAMM show and the Musikmesse fair. In fact, it was the promotion of Zero-G's Lola and Leon at the NAMM trade show that would later introduce PowerFX to the Vocaloid program. These events have also become an opportunity for announcing new Vocaloids with Prima being announced at the NAMM event in 2007 and Tonio having been announced at the NAMM event in 2009. A customized, Chinese version of Sonika was released at the Fancy Frontier Develop Animation Festival, as well as with promotional versions with stickers and posters. Sanrio held a booth at Comiket 78 featuring the voice of an unreleased Vocaloid. AH Software in cooperation with Sanrio shared a booth and the event was used to advertise both the "Hello Kitty" game and AH Software's new Vocaloid. At the Nico Nico Douga Daikaigi 2010 Summer: Egao no Chikara event, Internet Co., Ltd. announced their latest Vocaloid "Gachapoid" based on popular children's character Gachapin.


title: Vocaloid

text: Originally, Hiroyuki Ito—President of Crypton Future Media—claimed that Hatsune Miku was not a virtual idol but a kind of the Virtual Studio Technology instrument. However, Hatsune Miku performed her first "live" concert like a virtual idol on a projection screen during Animelo Summer Live at the Saitama Super Arena on August 22, 2009. At the "MikuFes '09 (Summer)" event on August 31, 2009, her image was screened by rear projection on a mostly-transparent screen. Miku also performed her first overseas live concert on November 21, 2009, during Anime Festival Asia (AFA) in Singapore. On March 9, 2010, Miku's first solo live performance titled "Miku no Hi Kanshasai 39's Giving Day" was opened at the Zepp Tokyo in Odaiba, Tokyo. The tour was run as part of promotions for Sega's "Hatsune Miku: Project Diva" video game in March 2010. The success and possibility of these tours is owed to the popularity of Hatsune Miku and so far Crypton is the only studio to have established a world tour of their Vocaloids.


title: Vocaloid

text: Later, the CEO of Crypton Future Media appeared in San Francisco at the start of the San Francisco tour where the first Hatsune Miku concert was hosted in North America on September 18, 2010, featuring songs provided by the Miku software voice. A second screening of the concert was on October 11, 2010 in the San Francisco Viz Cinema. A screening of the concert was also shown in New York City in the city's anime festival. Hiroyuki Ito, and planner/producer, Wataru Sasaki, who were responsible for Miku's creation, attended an event on October 8, 2010 at the festival. Videos of her performance are due to be released worldwide. Megpoid and Gackpoid were also featured in the 2010 King Run Anison Red and White concert. This event also used the same projector method to display Megpoid and Gackpoid on a large screen. Their appearance at the concert was done as a one-time event and both Vocaloids were featured singing a song originally sung by their respective voice provider.