title: KRISS Vector

text: Vectors chambered in .45 ACP are designed to accept standard Glock 21 pistol magazines. A special "MagEx 30" kit was available to convert a factory 13-round .45 ACP Glock magazine to an extended high-capacity version, but was later marketed as a "25+" round kit. Vectors chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum use standard Glock 17 magazines. In 2019, KRISS released the "MagEx2" which extends the capacity of a factory standard Glock Magazine. The MagEx 2 is available in 9mm for an overall capacity of 40 rounds, 33 rounds of 10mm and 30 rounds of .45 ACP.


title: KRISS Vector

text: The KRISS Vector has undergone two generations of modification. The "Gen I" version is the baseline model of the Vector family. It was later replaced by the improved "Gen II" version which features a redesigned pistol grip and trigger and has the swing angle of the safety lever reduced from 120 to 45 degrees. It also eliminates the opening above the barrel for the original weapon's optional Surefire weapon light, since these are no longer manufactured. In addition to the original Flat Black finish, optional factory Cerakote coatings now come in Olive Drab (green), Flat Dark Earth (tan), Alpine (white), or Combat Gray.


title: KRISS Vector

text: The "Vector SMG" variant is only available for military and law enforcement use. It features a 5.5-inch barrel (with an option of a 6.5-inch barrel on the Gen II version), a folding stock, flip-up Midwest Industries back-up iron sights (BUIS) (KRISS Sights on Gen II weapons), a full-length Picatinny rail for mounting various optics/scopes, and either two mode fire selector (single and full-auto) or a three mode fire selector (single, two-round burst and full-auto). It is only sold as a complete weapon in .45 ACP and 9×19mm Parabellum; Due to the nature of the weapon the auto trigger pack is not compatible with any Vector lower. The 9mm model uses Glock 17-compatible magazines (typically the extended 33-rounder used by the Glock 18) and the .45-caliber model uses Glock 21 magazines.


title: KRISS Vector

text: Semi-automatic variants are produced and available for the US civilian market. There are three main configurations, the Vector CRB, Vector SBR and Vector SDP. In addition to 9×19mm Parabellum and .45 ACP, they can also be chambered in .40 S&W (using Glock 22 magazines), 10mm Auto (using Glock 20 magazines), or .357 SIG (using Glock 31 magazines). A variant chambered for 9×21mm IMI that feeds from standard 9×19mm Glock 17 magazines is available for the Italian civilian market. The .22 LR variant feeds from a proprietary 10-round magazine, and functions using a traditional straight blowback operating system rather than the Super V delayed system. The Canadian (and some American) civil market versions only come with the blocked 10-round magazines rather than the full capacity magazines. Like the Law Enforcement / Military SMG models, the civilian model Vectors can be converted to chamber and fire other calibers if the lower receiver groups are changed.


title: KRISS Vector

text: The "Enhanced" versions of the Gen II CRB and SBR are also available with collapsing M4-style stock adaptors instead of the standard folding stock (with a Magpul UBR stock included) and a rectangular barrel shroud for the CRB, though these accessories can also be purchased separately.


title: KRISS Vector

text: KRISS announced development of a semi-automatic pistol called the "KRISS KARD" in 2010, using the Super V system in a much smaller package to minimize recoil and muzzle rise in 9×19mm Parabellum and .45 ACP calibers. It does not have a blowback slide, instead it has a T-shaped cocking handle on the rear. As TDI, KRISS also announced a 12-gauge shotgun called the MVS and a .50 BMG heavy machine gun using a double Super V mechanism called the "Disraptor," but the Disraptor has not been mentioned since their name change, while the MVS was removed from the TDI website in late 2009.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Motherless Brooklyn is a 2019 American neo-noir crime film written, produced, and directed by Edward Norton, based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Jonathan Lethem. Set in 1957 New York City, the film stars Norton as a private investigator with Tourette syndrome, who is determined to solve the murder of his mentor. "Motherless Brooklyn" also stars Bruce Willis (in his final theatrically released performance), Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Bobby Cannavale, Cherry Jones, Alec Baldwin, Ethan Suplee and Willem Dafoe.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: A passion project of Norton's ever since he had read Lethem's novel in 1999, the film took nearly twenty years to go into production. Although the book is set in contemporary times, Norton felt the plot and dialogue lent themselves more to a noir setting—moving it to the 1950s, with many added plot points inspired by "The Power Broker". Other members of the cast joined by February 2018, and principal photography began that same month.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: "Motherless Brooklyn" premiered at the 46th Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 1, 2019, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It underperformed at the box office, grossing $18.5 million against a $26 million budget. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its ideas and Norton's performance, but criticism for its length and deviations from its source novel. At the 77th Golden Globe Awards, "Motherless Brooklyn" received a nomination for Best Original Score.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: In 1950s New York City, Lionel Essrog works at a detective agency alongside Gilbert Coney, Danny Fantl, and Tony Vermonte. Their boss, Frank Minna, rescued them as children from an abusive orphanage. Nicknamed "Motherless Brooklyn" by Frank, Lionel has Tourette syndrome and OCD, often alienating him from people, but his strong verbal and photographic memory make him a good detective.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Working a secret case, Frank asks Lionel and Gilbert to shadow him to a meeting. Lionel listens over the phone as Frank presents documents that threaten a business deal for a man named William Lieberman, who's there with his assistant Lou and an extremely large henchman. When Frank tries to negotiate a high price, the men force him to take them to the originals. Lionel and Gilbert follow in their car, arriving just as Frank is shot. They take him to the hospital, but Frank dies.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Frank's widow Julia leaves Tony in charge of the office. Lionel begins wearing Frank's hat and coat, and a matchbook in Frank's pocket leads Lionel to an African-American owned jazz bar in Harlem. He realizes that Frank's findings involve Laura Rose, who works for Gabby Horowitz fighting urban renewal; poor and minority neighborhoods are being bought out and demolished, forcing out their residents. Lionel goes to a public meeting where Moses Randolph, a commissioner of several development authorities, is loudly contested by Horowitz and the audience. Stealing a reporter's credentials, Lionel talks to a man named Paul who was raging against Moses at the meeting and tells him Moses is the real power in the city government, even beyond the mayor.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Under the guise of reporting on the urban renewal story, Lionel gets to know Laura. She takes him to a club Frank was investigating, where her father Billy - assuming Lionel is one of Moses' men - has him beaten unconscious. Lionel is rescued by a trumpet player, and discovers that Paul is Moses' brother and an engineer. He realizes Lieberman is receiving kickbacks on many of the housing deals, and that the housing relocation programs are scams. Paul presents Moses with a huge renovation plan to improve the city.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Billy calls Lionel, apologizing for the attack and offering to meet with information. However, Lionel arrives to find Billy murdered - his death staged as a suicide. Staying the night with a distraught Laura at her house, Lionel admits his true identity and that he believes she is in danger. Finding photos of Paul meeting with Billy on his own, Lionel confronts Laura, who explains that her "Uncle" Paul is her real father. Paul denies this to Lionel, and explains that Frank and Billy planned to get more money out of Randolph's goons, against Paul's protests. He begs Lionel to find the evidence.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Lionel is brought to Moses, who invites him to join his team and stop snooping, with 24 hours to decide. Inside Frank's hat, Lionel finds the key to a Pennsylvania Station storage locker, containing a property deed and Laura's birth certificate, which reveals Moses is her father. Lionel gives the key to Paul and runs into Tony, who has been working surveillance for Randolph. Tony admits he has been sleeping with Julia, and tells Lionel to take Moses’ deal since Laura will soon be killed. Lionel races to save Laura, stopping her before she enters her apartment, and they flee. Laura knocks the large henchman off the fire escape, and Lou corners them with a gun but is hit in the head with a trumpet by the trumpet player, who drives Laura out of town.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Lionel meets Moses, who reveals that he raped Laura's mother, a hotel employee. Paul forged Moses' signature on the birth certificate and exposure of this secret threatened Moses. Lionel warns Moses to leave Laura alone or he will release the information. He informs Moses that Lieberman is on the take and asks that when Moses has Lieberman killed, to tell him it is for Frank. Moses tells Lionel to tell Paul that his plans for the city will proceed.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: The next day Paul learns that Moses denied his plans out of spite while Lionel mails the information about Lieberman to the reporter whose credentials he stole. Lionel drives to the seaside property Frank left to him where Laura is waiting for him.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Norton took significant creative license with Lethem's book, keeping only the character of Lionel Essrog, his mentor Frank Minna, and the idea of him investigating his surrogate father's murder; deviations "The Atlantic"'s David Sims considers "both radical and baffling".


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Although the novel takes place in a modern 1999 setting, Norton rewrote the story for the 1950s, because the "characters are written in a very 1950s hardboiled detective style ... and if we try to make a film about the '90s in Brooklyn with guys acting like '50s gumshoes, it will feel ironic." While Lethem created a conspiracy revolving around mobsters, Buddhist monks, and Frank Minna's brother, Norton instead creates an entirely new conspiracy involving New York's (fictional) Borough Authority and the illegitimate mixed-race offspring of a powerful city official. Norton added characters such as Moses Randolph to the story, who is based on the New York City urban planner, Robert Moses while dropping others, such as Frank Minna's brother Gerard. For other characters, Norton drew inspiration from Hortense Gabel and Jane Jacobs who were prominent critics of housing discrimination in New York during the 50s and 60s, and he replaced the book's love interest Kimmerly with Laura, the unknowing daughter of Moses Randolph. Lethem spends considerable time in the book depicting Lionel's childhood at the St. Vincent's Home for Boys orphanage, something the movie only briefly references. While the book ends with Lionel going back to the detective agency turned car service, with his love interest leaving him, and most of his friends dead or missing, the movie ends with Lionel together with Laura considering a life outside Brooklyn.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Edward Norton is the grandson of James Rouse, an urban planner who argued that housing should be affordable to all and that communities should be shaped by humanistic impulses rather than purely economic ones. Norton describes him as an anti-Robert Moses.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Notably, James Rouse founded Columbia, Maryland, as a diverse, community-minded city, where Edward Norton grew up. In 1982, Rouse also started the Enterprise Foundation (now called Enterprise Community Partners), a nonprofit devoted to establishing international low-income housing. It estimates that it has created 585,000 affordable homes over the last four decades.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Upon graduating from Yale University in 1991 with a history degree, Norton moved to Japan where his first job was to work for his grandfather's foundation.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: About the link between this film and James Rouse, Norton said, "I did it as an homage to the things he cared about, and I think he would be very gratified."


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: After making the 1998 film "American History X", Edward Norton acquired the rights to adapt Jonathan Lethem's novel "Motherless Brooklyn". In October 1999, it was announced that Norton would star in and produce the film. In 2012, Norton finished writing the script.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Norton was uncertain as to whether he would direct the film. He imagined shopping the film to directors such as Bennett Miller, Paul Thomas Anderson, and David Fincher. Toby Emmerich encouraged Norton to direct the film himself. In February 2014, the project was set, with Norton directing. Norton said that he was motivated to continue being involved in the film due to the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Production commenced in February 2018 in New York City, with Norton, Willem Dafoe, Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Alec Baldwin, among others, set to star. Bobby Cannavale and Dallas Roberts joined the cast a few weeks later. Michael K. Williams was cast as a jazz musician. Norton has credited "The Wire" with giving him a long-standing desire to work with Williams and also called it "a great dissection of the complexity of American urban life". He also mentioned "Chinatown", and how it represented a reaction to the politics of the 70's, as a direct source of inspiration for him.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Additional filming took place in December 2018 in Troy, New York. It took 46 days to shoot the entire film. The film was shot by Dick Pope and edited by Joe Klotz. Visual effects were used for the scene in Pennsylvania Station, which was demolished in 1963.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: On March 22, 2018, a fire broke out in the cellar of the Harlem building where production was taking place, beneath the film's set. The resulting blaze killed FDNY Firefighter (posthumously promoted to Lieutenant) Michael R. Davidson of Engine 69. Production was temporarily suspended the next day, and was resumed a week later. Several lawsuits were filed in the aftermath of the blaze, among others, by Michael R. Davidson's widow against Norton's production company Class 5 Films for the wrongful death of her husband, and by Class 5 Films against the building's landlord.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Norton emailed Radiohead singer Thom Yorke asking him to write a song for the film. Two weeks later, Yorke emailed him a song, "Daily Battles". Yorke's Atoms for Peace bandmate Flea contributed bass and horns. Norton enlisted jazz musician Wynton Marsalis to rearrange the song as a ballad reminiscent of 1950s Miles Davis, with pianist Isaiah J. Thompson, bassist Russell Hall, saxophonist Jerry Weldon and drummer Joe Farnsworth. Both versions were used in the film, and were released on streaming services on August 21, 2019, and as a vinyl single on October 4, 2019.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Composer Daniel Pemberton wrote the score for "Motherless Brooklyn" in less than four weeks and produced it in less than two weeks. He recorded it at Abbey Road Studios in three days. Norton told him, "I want like half Miles Davis half Radiohead. I want a big, lyrical, thematic jazz score but I also want this element of dissonance because of the character’s brain."


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: "Motherless Brooklyn" had its world premiere at the 46th Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2019. It also screened at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, the 2019 Vancouver International Film Festival, the 2019 New York Film Festival, the 2019 Mill Valley Film Festival, the 2019 Chicago International Film Festival, the 2019 Rome Film Festival, the 2019 San Diego International Film Festival, and the 2019 Haifa International Film Festival. It was released in the United States on November 1, 2019.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: "Motherless Brooklyn" grossed $9.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $9.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $18.5 million, against a production budget of $26 million. Some publications listed it among the box office bombs of 2019.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside "", "Harriet", and "Arctic Dogs", and was projected to gross $5–9 million in its opening weekend. It made $1.1 million on its first day and went on to underperform, making $3.5 million over the weekend and finishing ninth.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads, ""Motherless Brooklyn"s imposing length requires patience, but strong performances and a unique perspective make this a mystery worth investigating." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film an overall positive score of 76% (including an average 3.5 out of 5 stars), while 46% said they would definitely recommend it.


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, writing, "It's a heavy meal to digest, but this is a strong, vehement film with a real sense of time and place." A. O. Scott of "The New York Times" called it "a very smart movie, bristling with ideas about history, politics, art and urban planning." Matt Zoller Seitz of "RogerEbert.com" gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, praising "the unabashedly political nature of the project." Eric Kohn of "IndieWire" gave the film a grade of B−, commenting that the film "at least does justice to its source material by transforming the plight of urban development into an immersive shaggy dog story." Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, writing, "it's Norton's own performance that brings emotional connection to "Motherless Brooklyn"." Peter Debruge of "Variety" commented that "Lionel represents both an enormous new challenge and an incredibly unique variation on the otherwise worn-out private eye archetype."


title: Motherless Brooklyn (film)

text: Chris Tilly of IGN gave the film a 6.6 out of 10, writing, "The film has much to say about discrimination and inequality, but while the central detective story is intriguing, the movie all-too-often gets sidetracked down narrative cul de sacs, giving the 144-minute film serious pacing issues, and making it a frequently frustrating watch." Jake Cole of "Slant Magazine" gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars, writing, ""Motherless Brooklyn" feels altogether too tidy, a film that revives many of the touchstones of noir, but never that throbbing unease that courses through the classics of the genre." Todd McCarthy of "The Hollywood Reporter" called the film "stylishly made, politically driven, musically arresting, narratively confusing and, at nearly two-and-a-half hours, far too long."


title: Durrani Empire

text: The Durrani Empire (; ) or the Afghan Empire (; ), also known as the Sadozai Kingdom (; ), was an Afghan empire that was founded by Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747 and spanned parts of Central Asia, the Iranian plateau, and the Indian Subcontinent . At its largest territorial extent, it ruled over the present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of northeastern and southeastern Iran, eastern Turkmenistan, and northwestern India. Next to the Ottoman Empire, the Durrani Empire is considered to be among the most impactful Muslim empires of the latter half of the 18th century.


title: Durrani Empire

text: Ahmad was the son of Muhammad Zaman Khan (an Afghan chieftain of the Abdali tribe) and the commander of Nader Shah Afshar. Following Afshar's death in June 1747, Ahmad secured Afghanistan by taking Kandahar, Ghazni, Kabul, and Peshawar. After his accession as the nation's king, he changed his tribal name from "Abdali" to "Durrani". In 1749, the Mughal Empire had ceded sovereignty over much of northwestern India to the Afghans; Ahmad then set out westward to take possession of Mashhad, which was ruled by the Afsharid dynasty under Shahrokh Shah, who also acknowledged Afghan suzerainty. Subsequently, Ahmad sent an army to subdue the areas north of the Hindu Kush down to the Amu Darya, and in short order, all of the different Afghan tribes began to join his cause. Under Ahmad, the Afghans invaded India on four occasions, subjugating parts of Kashmir and the majority of Punjab. In early 1757, he sacked Delhi, but permitted Mughal emperor Alamgir II to remain in nominal control as long as he acknowledged Afghan suzerainty over the regions south of the Indus River.


title: Durrani Empire

text: Following Ahmad's death in 1772, his son Timur Shah Durrani became the next ruler of the Durrani dynasty. Under Timur, the city of Kabul became the new capital of the Durrani Empire while Peshawar served as its winter capital; however, the empire had begun to crumble by this time. The dynasty would become heirs of Afghanistan for generations, up until Dost Muhammad Khan and the Barakzai dynasty deposed the Durrani dynasty in Kabul, leading to its supersession by the Emirate of Afghanistan. The Durrani Empire is considered to be the foundational polity of the modern nation-state of Afghanistan, with Ahmad being credited as its Father of the Nation.


title: Durrani Empire

text: In 1709 Mirwais Hotak, chief of the Ghilji tribe of Kandahar Province, gained independence from the Safavid Persians. From 1722 to 1725, his son Mahmud Hotak briefly ruled large parts of Iran and declared himself as "Shah of Persia". However, the Hotak dynasty came to a complete end in 1738 after being toppled and banished by the Afsharids who were led by Nader Shah Afshar of Persia.


title: Durrani Empire

text: The year 1747 marks the definitive appearance of an Afghan political entity independent of both the Persian and Mughal empires. In July of that year a "loya jirga" (grand council) was called into session. The "jirga" lasted for nine days and two chief contestants emerged: Hajji Jamal Khan of the Mohammadzai lineage and Ahmad Khan of the Sadozai. Mohammad Sabir Khan, a noted "darwish" (holy man), who had earlier predicted that Ahmad Khan would be the leader of the Afghans, rose in the "jirga" and said


title: Durrani Empire

text: Ahmad Khan reputedly hesitated to accept the open decision of the "jirga", so Sabir Khan again intervened. He placed some wheat or barley sheaves in Ahmad Khan's turban, and crowned him "Badshah, Durr-i-Dauran" (Shah, Pearl of the Age). The "jirga" concluded near the city of Kandahar with Ahmad Shah Durrani being selected as the new leader of the Afghans, thus the Durrani dynasty was founded. Despite being younger than the other contenders, Ahmad Shah had several overriding factors in his favor. He belonged to a respectable family of political background, especially since his father had served as Governor of Herat who died in a battle defending the Afghans.


title: Durrani Empire

text: One of Ahmad Shah's first military actions was to capture Qalati Ghilji and Ghazni from the Ghilji, and wrest Kabul and Peshawar from Mughal-appointed governor Nasir Khan. In 1749, the Mughal Emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur was induced to cede Sindh, the Punjab region and the important trans Indus River to Ahmad Shah Durrani in order to save his capital from Afghan attack. Having thus gained substantial territories to the east without a fight, Ahmad Shah turned westward to take possession of Mashhad, which was ruled by Nader Shah Afshar's grandson, Shahrukh Afshar. Ahmad Shah next sent an army to subdue the areas north of the Hindu Kush mountains. In short order, the powerful army brought under its control the Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Turkmen, and other tribes of northern Afghanistan. Ahmad Shah invaded the remnants of the Mughal Empire a third time, and then a fourth, consolidating control over the Kashmir and Punjab regions, with Lahore being governed by Afghans. He sacked Delhi in 1757 but permitted the Mughal dynasty to remain in nominal control of the city as long as the ruler acknowledged Ahmad Shah's suzerainty over Punjab, Sindh, and Kashmir. Leaving his second son Timur Shah to safeguard his interests, Ahmad Shah left India to return to Afghanistan.


title: Durrani Empire

text: Alarmed by the expansion of China's Qing Dynasty up to the eastern border of Kazakhstan, Ahmad Shah attempted to rally neighboring Muslim khanates and the Kazakhs to unite and attack China, ostensibly to liberate its western Muslim subjects. Ahmad Shah halted trade with Qing China and dispatched troops to Kokand. However, with his campaigns in India exhausting the state treasury, and with his troops stretched thin throughout Central Asia, Ahmad Shah lacked sufficient resources to do anything except to send envoys to Beijing for unsuccessful talks.


title: Durrani Empire

text: The Mughal power in northern India had been declining after the death of Emperor Aurangzeb, who died in 1707. In 1751–52, the "Ahamdiya" treaty was signed between the Marathas and Mughals, when Balaji Bajirao was the Peshwa. Through this treaty, the Marathas controlled virtually the whole of India from their capital at Pune and the Mughal rule was restricted only to Delhi (the Mughals remained the nominal heads of Delhi). Marathas were now straining to expand their area of control towards the Northwest of India. Ahmad Shah sacked the Mughal capital and withdrew with the booty he coveted. To counter the Afghans, Peshwa Balaji Bajirao sent Raghunathrao. He defeated the Rohillas and Afghan garrisons in Punjab and succeeded in ousting Timur Shah and his court from India and brought Lahore, Multan, Kashmir and other subahs on the Indian side of Attock under Maratha rule. Thus, upon his return to Kandahar in 1757, Ahmad was forced to return to India and face the formidable attacks of the Maratha Confederacy.


title: Durrani Empire

text: Ahmad Shah declared a jihad (or Islamic holy war) against the Marathas, and warriors from various Afghan tribes joined his army, including the Baloch people under the command of Khan of Kalat Mir Nasir I of Kalat. Suba Khan Tanoli (Zabardast Khan) was selected as army chief of all military forces. Early skirmishes were followed by victory for the Afghans against the much larger Maratha garrisons in Northwest India and by 1759 Ahmad Shah and his army had reached Lahore and were poised to confront the Marathas. Ahmad Shah Durrani was famous for winning wars much larger than his army. By 1760, the Maratha groups had coalesced into a big enough army under the command of Sadashivrao Bhau. Once again, Panipat was the scene of a confrontation between two warring contenders for control of northern India. The Third Battle of Panipat (14 January 1761), fought between largely Muslim and largely Hindu armies was waged along a twelve-kilometer front. Despite decisively defeating the Marathas, what might have been Ahmad Shah's peaceful control of his domains was disrupted by many challenges. As far as losses are concerned, Afghans too suffered heavily in the Third Battle of Panipat. This weakened his grasp over Punjab which fell to the rising Sikh misls. There were rebellions in the north in the region of Bukhara. The Durranis decisively defeated the Marathas in the Third Battle of Panipat on 14 January 1761. The defeat at Panipat resulted in heavy losses for the Marathas, and was a huge setback for Peshwa Balaji Rao. He received the news of the defeat of Panipat on 24 January 1761 at Bhilsa, while leading a reinforcement force. Besides several important generals, he had lost his own son Vishwasrao in the Battle of Panipat. He died on 23 June 1761, and was succeeded by his younger son Madhav Rao I.


title: Durrani Empire

text: The victory at Panipat was the high point of Ahmad Shah's—and Afghan—power. However, even prior to his death, the empire began to unravel. In 1762, Ahmad Shah crossed the passes from Afghanistan for the sixth time to subdue the Sikhs. From this time and on, the domination and control of the Empire began to loosen, and by the time of Durrani's death he had lost parts of Punjab to the Sikhs, as well as earlier losses of northern territories to the Uzbeks, necessitating a compromise with them.


title: Durrani Empire

text: He assaulted Lahore and, after taking their holy city of Amritsar, massacred thousands of Sikh inhabitants, destroyed their revered Golden Temple. Within two years, the Sikhs rebelled again and rebuilt their holy city of Amritsar. Ahmad Shah tried several more times to subjugate the Sikhs permanently, but failed. Durrani's forces instigated the Vaḍḍā Ghallūghārā when they killed thousands of Sikhs in the Punjab in 1762. Ahmad Shah also faced other


title: Durrani Empire

text: rebellions in the north, and eventually he and the Uzbek Emir of Bukhara agreed that the Amu Darya would mark the division of their lands. Ahmad Shah retired to his home in the mountains east of Kandahar, where he died in 1772. He had succeeded to a remarkable degree in balancing tribal alliances and hostilities, and in directing tribal energies away from rebellion. He earned recognition as Ahmad Shah Baba, or "Father" of Afghanistan.


title: Durrani Empire

text: The Durrani Empire lost its control over Kashmir to the Sikh Empire in the Battle of Shopian in 1819.


title: Durrani Empire

text: Ahmad Shah's successors governed so ineptly during a period of profound unrest that within fifty years of his death, the Durrani empire "per se" was at an end, and Afghanistan was embroiled in civil war. Much of the territory conquered by Ahmad Shah fell to others in this half century. By 1818, the Sadozai rulers who succeeded Ahmad Shah controlled little more than Kabul and the surrounding territory within a 160-kilometer radius. They not only lost the outlying territories but also alienated other tribes and lineages among the Durrani Pashtuns.


title: Durrani Empire

text: A few months before his death, Ahmad Shah summoned Timur Shah from Herat and publicly declared him heir to the Durrani Empire. Ahmad Shah made this decision without consulting with his tribal council, as a result the authority of the Durrani Emperor was put into question and created a growing rift that would toil the Durrani empire for years to come, as the tribal council had in majority, supported Ahmad Shah's eldest son and Timur Shah's brother, Sulaiman, the governor of Kandahar. Prominent figures in court who supported the Sulaiman faction were Shah Wali Khan, Ahmad Shah's Wazir, and Sardar Jahan Khan. The court had attempted to urge Ahmad Shah to reconsider his decision, coinciding with the fact that the eldest son should ascend to the throne. Ahmad had ignored this, and quoted: "Timur Shah was infinitely more capable of governing you than his brother". As well as accusing Sulaiman of being "Violent without clemency", and out of favour with the Kandahari Durranis. Ahmad Shah's decision could have been influenced by his illness, which had affected his brain and his mental state. However, choosing Timur Shah as a successor was likely to restrict power of the Senior Generals and the Durrani Tribal Council, which he deemed as a threat to his dynasty in the future.


title: Durrani Empire

text: When Ahmad Shah was on his death bed, Sadar Jahan Khan had capitalized on Timur Shah's far proximity with him ruling over Herat, and poisoned the ear of the Shah. This had worked as Timur Shah was denied an by Ahmad Shah on his deathbed, as a result, Timur Shah had begun mobilizing his forces for the inevitable conflict with his brother. Timur Shah's plans were stalled, however, as a rebellion by Darwish Ali Khan under the Sunni Hazaras, likely instigated by the Sulaiman faction had risen up. Timur Shah had crushed this revolt quickly and Darwish Khan was imprisoned; however, he later escaped. Timur Shah had then lured him into Herat, offering pardon, where then Timur Shah had ordered his execution where his nephew, Muhammad Khan would be appointed in his place.


title: Durrani Empire

text: During the revolt of Darwish, Ahmad Shah had died of his illness in 1772. Shah Wali Khan and Sardar Jahan Khan kept the Shah's death a secret by placing the body on a palanquin covered by thick curtains. They had then left the King's mountain, taking as much treasure as they could and marched to Kandahar. Shah Wali Khan had also announced to everyone that the king was ill and had given orders to not disturb him except his trusted officials. To make the deception more believable, Ahmad Shah's chief eunuch, Yaqut Khan had brought food for the "Sick" Ruler. Shah wali Khan had then notified Sulaiman that Ahmad Shah was dead and proclaimed Sulaiman as king. However, many of the Amirs including Mahadad Khan had disliked Shah Wali's ambitions, and thus had fled to Timur's side, also notifying him of the ongoing situation at Kandahar. Timur Shah had then marched toward Kandahar to face Shah Humayun. Shah Wali, fearing of Timur's march had consulted with Shah Humayun, and had agreed on him marching out to Prince Timur Shah to welcome him. He left Kandahar with over 150 horsemen and had arrived at Prince Timur's force at Farah. Having not sent word, once Shah Wali had dismounted, Timur Shah ordered the killing of Shah Wali. Angu Khan Bamiza'i assassinated Shah Wali Khan and his two sons, including 2 of his sisters children. Shah Sulayman surrendered the throne to Timur Shah following this, and became a loyal follower of him according to the depiction of Amir Habibullah Khan. Timur Shah ascended the throne in November 1772.


title: Durrani Empire

text: After his father, Ahmad Shah Durrani's death, he fought his brother Humayun Mirza for the throne, with Humayun supported by Shah Wali Khan. Shah Wali was killed by Timur Shah as he attempted to ride into his camp and beg for peace and mercy. Timur Shah then marched to Kandahar, forcing Humayun to either flee or stay as a devout supporter for Timur Shah. With his throne secured, he began consolidating his power, with efforts to drive power away from the Durrani Pashtuns, and more toward the growing influential Qizilbash and Mongol guards consisted in his army. Timur Shah would also move the capital of the Durrani Realm from Kandahar to Kabul, as a better base of operation to combat any threat arriving from anywhere, as Kabul was essentially the heart of the empire. After consolidating his power, Timur Shah marched against the Sikh's in 1780 in a Jihad, and decisively defeated the Sikhs, forcing them to return Multan toward Durrani Suzerainty after it was seized after the death of Ahmad Shah Durrani. Timur Shah, having secured Punjab, also faced recurring rebellions against him, including an assassination attempt earl yin his reign at Peshawar. Timur Shah would encounter harsh resistance and rebellion, prominently those of Fayz Allah Khan, Azad Khan, and Arsalan Khan. Timur Shah in his reign also fought against Shah Murad, the ruler of Bukhara who attempted raids into Afghan Turkestan and Khorasan, often harassing the Durrani vassal of the Afsharid dynasty centred in Mashhad. In conclusion, Timur Shah spent most of his reign consolidating the empire, while also fighting off rebellion, he prove himself as a competent leader from holding the unstable empire apart. Timur Shah died on 20 May 1793, succeeded by his son, Zaman Shah Durrani


title: Durrani Empire

text: After the death of Timur Shah, three of his sons, the governors of Kandahar, Herat and Kabul, contended for the succession. Zaman Shah, governor of Kabul, held the field by virtue of being in control of the capital, and became shah at the age of twenty-three. Many of his half-brothers were imprisoned on their arrival in the capital for the purpose, ironically, of electing a new shah. The quarrels among Timur's descendants that threw Afghanistan into turmoil also provided the pretext for the interventions of outside forces.


title: Durrani Empire

text: The efforts of the Sadozai heirs of Timur to impose a true monarchy on the truculent Pashtun tribes, and their efforts to rule absolutely and without the advice of the other major Pashtun tribal leaders, were ultimately unsuccessful. The Sikhs started to rise under the command of Sikh chief, Ranjit Singh, who succeeded in wresting power from Zaman's forces. Later, when Zaman was blinded by his brother, Ranjit Singh gave him asylum in Punjab.


title: Durrani Empire

text: Zaman's downfall was triggered by his attempts to consolidate power. Although it had been through the support of the Barakzai chief, Painda Khan Barakzai, that he had come to the throne, Zaman soon began to remove prominent Barakzai leaders from positions of power and replace them with men of his own lineage, the Sadozai. This upset the delicate balance of Durrani tribal politics that Ahmad Shah had established and may have prompted Painda Khan and other Durrani chiefs to plot against the shah. Painda Khan and the chiefs of the Nurzai and the Alizai Durrani clans were executed, as was the chief of the Qizilbash clan. Painda Khan's son fled to Iran and pledged the substantial support of his Barakzai followers to a rival claimant to the throne, Zaman's younger brother, Mahmud Shah. The clans of the chiefs Zaman had executed joined forces with the rebels, and they took Kandahar without bloodshed. Mahmud Shah had then proceeded to march to Kabul, where he met Zaman Shah and his army on the way from Ghanzi to Kabul, Zaman Shah was decisively defeated, including portions of his army fleeing to Mahmud Shah's cause. Mahmud Shah ordered the lancing of Zaman Shah's eyes, and had succeeded Zaman Shah on the throne of the Durrani Empire.


title: Durrani Empire

text: Zaman Shah's overthrow in 1801 was not the end of civil strife in Afghanistan, but the beginning of even greater violence. Mahmud Shah's first reign lasted for only two years before he was replaced by Shuja Shah.


title: Durrani Empire

text: Yet another of Timur Shah's sons, Shuja Shah (or Shah Shuja), ruled for only six years. On June 7, 1809, Shuja Shah signed a treaty with the British, which included a clause stating that he would oppose the passage of foreign troops through his territories. This agreement, the first Afghan pact with a European power, stipulated joint action in case of Franco-Persian aggression against Afghan or British dominions. Only a few weeks after signing the agreement, Shuja was deposed by his predecessor, Mahmud. Much later, he was reinstated by the British, ruling during 1839–1842. Two of his sons also ruled for a brief period in 1842.


title: Durrani Empire

text: Mahmud's second reign lasted 9 years, where he had further attempted to consolidate power, but was deposed by his brother in 1818, Mahmud's reign was also disputed in 1810, while he was campaigning, another one of Timur Shah Durrani's sons had seized the throne, but was defeated by Shah Mahmud in 1810.


title: Durrani Empire

text: While Mahmud Shah was campaigning in 1810, another one of Timur Shah's sons placed himself in rule at Kabul. Abbas Mirza ruled for a short period of time before being defeated by Mahmud Shah once he returned from campaign.


title: Durrani Empire

text: Ali Shah was another son of Timur Shah. He seized power for a brief period in 1818–1819. in 1818 or 1819, He was strangled by his brother, Isma'il.


title: Durrani Empire

text: Ayub Shah was another son of Timur Shah, who took control of the Durrani Empire after the death of Ali Shah Durrani. The Durrani Empire lost its control over Kashmir to the Sikh Empire in the Battle of Shopian in 1819. Ayub Shah was himself later deposed, and presumably killed in 1823.


title: Durrani Empire

text: The Durrani military was based on cavalry armed with flintlocks who performed hit-and-run attacks, combining new technology in firearms with Turco-Mongol tactics. The core of the Durrani army were the 10,000 "sher-bacha" (blunderbuss)-carrying mounted ghulams (slave-soldiers) of which a third were previously Shia soldiers (Qizilbash) of Nader Shah. Many others were also former troops of Nader Shah. The bulk of the army were Afghan irregular tribal cavalry armed with lance and broadsword. Mounted archers were still used but were uncommon due to the difficulty of training them. Infantry played a very small role in the Durrani army and, with the exception of light swivel guns mounted on camels, the Zamburak, so did artillery.


title: Garrett Morris

text: Garrett Isaac Morris (born February 1, 1937) is an American actor, comedian and singer. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program "Saturday Night Live", appearing from 1975 to 1980, and played Jimmy on "The Jeffersons" (1983–1984). Morris also had a role as Junior "Uncle Junior" King on the sitcom "The Jamie Foxx Show", which aired from 1996 to 2001. Morris had a starring role as Earl Washington on the CBS sitcom "2 Broke Girls", from 2011 to 2017. He is also known for his role in the sitcom "Martin" as Stan Winters, from 1992 to 1995, and the film "Cooley High". He played Slide in "Car Wash" (1976), and Carl in "The Census Taker" (1984).


title: Garrett Morris

text: Morris was born on February 1, 1937, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and grew up in the poverty-stricken Gert Town neighborhood in its 17th Ward. A church-choir singer from his youth, he trained at the Juilliard School of Music and graduated from Dillard University in 1958. Early in his career, he performed with The Belafonte Folk Singers. In 1960 Garret Morris recorded "South African Freedom Songs" (EPC-601) with Pete Seeger and Guy Carawan for Folkways Records. He performed in a number of Broadway musicals, including "Hallelujah, Baby!" and "Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death". In 1965, he worked alongside Amiri Baraka, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler and Sonia Sanchez at the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School in Harlem; during this period, the theater was frequently raided and surveilled by the New York City Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He had a small role as a police sergeant in "The Anderson Tapes" (1971) and was a cast member in the short lived CBS sitcom, "Roll Out". He also appeared as a high school teacher in the 1975 film "Cooley High".


title: Garrett Morris

text: Morris has appeared in numerous television shows and films since the early 1970s, but is best known as one of the original cast members of NBC's "Saturday Night Live". Periodically on "SNL" he sang classical music: once a Mozart aria "Dalla Sua Pace", Don Ottavio's aria from "Don Giovanni" when guest-host Walter Matthau designated him as a "musical guest...in place of the usual crap", and once a Schubert "lied" while the titles on the screen expressed his colleagues' purported displeasure at having to accommodate a misguided request by him. In February 1977, he sang Tchaikovsky's "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt" barefoot in colorful Caribbean dress while subtitles explained he had just returned from Jamaica where he had picked up a girl by claiming to be Harry Belafonte.


title: Garrett Morris

text: One of Morris' best known characters on "SNL" was the Dominican baseball player Chico Escuela. Chico spoke only limited and halting English, so the joke centered on his responding to almost any question with his catch phrase: "Baseball... been berra berra good... to me". Another recurring bit, used in the newscast segment "Weekend Update", involved Morris being presented as "President of the New York School for the hard of hearing" and assisting the newscaster by shouting the main headlines, in a parody of the then-common practice of providing sign language interpretation in an inset on the screen as an aid to the deaf viewer.


title: Garrett Morris

text: According to the book "Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live", Morris was frequently unhappy during his tenure on "SNL" from 1975 to 1980, and expressed the opinion that he was usually typecast in stereotypical roles. Black performers who have followed Morris on "SNL" have at times been publicly concerned with experiencing the same fate Morris did. Eddie Murphy, for example, told "TV Guide" in the early 1980s that "SNL" producer Jean Doumanian "had tried to Garrett Morris me".


title: Garrett Morris

text: In 1976, Morris appeared in the film "Car Wash", playing the role of Slide the bookmaker. In 1983 and 1984, Morris appeared in five episodes of "The Jeffersons", playing a character named Jimmy. He starred in the 1984 film "The Census Taker", a 1984 black comedy directed by Bruce R. Cook.


title: Garrett Morris

text: In 1985, he appeared in Larry Cohen's science fiction horror film "The Stuff", playing cookie magnate "Chocolate Chip Charlie", a parody of Famous Amos. That year he also guested on "Murder, She Wrote" as "Lafayette Duquesne". In 1986, Morris began playing a regular occasional character, "Arnold 'Sporty' James", on the NBC cop drama "Hunter", starring Fred Dryer and Stepfanie Kramer. Morris appeared in "Married... with Children" as Russ, one of Al's poker buddies, in "The Poker Game", in a 1987 season 1 episode and again in the season 23 episode "Requiem for a Dead Barber". Garrett Morris continually appeared as "Sporty" on "Hunter" through 1989. He also appeared in the 1992 horror comedy "Severed Ties" starring Oliver Reed.


title: Garrett Morris

text: In 1994, he was "shot by a would-be mugger", whom he "attempted to fight off", but recovered as he discussed on the January 14, 2016, episode of Marc Maron's podcast "WTF". On Howard Stern's radio show on July 20, 1995, Morris said the culprit was imprisoned not for the shooting, but for parole violations for other crimes. In another radio interview, he mentioned that the robber who shot him was eventually convicted and incarcerated. In prison, inmates who happened to be fans of Morris teamed up and beat up the robber in revenge. At the time of the shooting, Morris was starring on "Martin" as Martin's first boss, Stan Winters. Morris' shooting rendered him temporarily unable to continue in the role; he was written out of the show by having the character become a national fugitive. The scene where he is about to undergo plastic surgery was shot on the hospital bed Morris occupied while recuperating from the 1994 assault. He made a final appearance as Stan during the show's third season, walking with a cane due to Morris' real injuries, but the reason given for Stan was that he had crashed his car during a police chase.


title: Garrett Morris

text: Morris also had regular roles on "Diff'rent Strokes", "The Jeffersons", "Hill Street Blues", "227", and "Roc". He also appeared in an episode of "Who's the Boss", "Sam's Car" (1989), playing the role of Officer Audette. He was a regular cast member on "The Jamie Foxx Show", playing Jamie's uncle, Junior King, for the show's entire run.


title: Garrett Morris

text: In 1998, Morris appeared as himself in the fourth episode of the fifth season of the TV series, "Space Ghost Coast to Coast". In 2002, Morris made a cameo appearance on an episode of "Saturday Night Live" hosted by Brittany Murphy. In 2006, Morris reprised his role as "Headmaster of the New York School for the Hard of Hearing" in a cameo on the TV series "Family Guy", in the episode "Barely Legal". He continued to perform regularly in films. He also operated and was the host of his own comedy club, The Downtown Comedy Club in downtown Los Angeles. On February 9, 2007, Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa honored Garrett Morris for his work and contributions to the black community. He declared February 9, 2007, Garrett Morris Day and named The Downtown Comedy Club the official club of Los Angeles. In August 2008, Morris played the role of Reverend Pratt in the family comedy drama film, "The Longshots", starring Ice Cube and Keke Palmer.


title: Garrett Morris

text: In 2009, Morris appeared in two TV commercials for the Nintendo DS—one featuring "Mario Kart DS", and the other featuring "". In 2010, Morris appeared in a television commercial for Miller Lite. The national commercial, titled "PopPop", features Morris alongside actors Stacey Dash and Jason Weaver. The commercial takes a light-hearted look at a family relationship with Morris playing the grandfather, PopPop, and Weaver as his grandson. , Morris has appeared in an ad for Orbit gum in the United States. In 2011, Morris had a cameo role as a Catholic priest on the episode "Three Boys" on the Showtime series "Shameless". He was cast as Earl in the CBS comedy "2 Broke Girls", which premiered on September 19, 2011. During the second season he faced a lawsuit from the Global Agency accusing him of not paying 10% of his income from the show as agreed. However, a rep from the show stated that he had not actually failed to do so.


title: Garrett Morris

text: In 2015, Morris appeared in a cameo in "Ant-Man", referencing an old "SNL" sketch in which he played the first live-action incarnation of the character. On September 9, 2016, Morris and his family appeared on the ABC's game show "Celebrity Family Feud", playing against Alfonso Ribeiro and Ribeiro's friends. In 2018, Morris appeared in the NBC show "This Is Us". In 2019, Morris appeared in the fifth episode of "A Black Lady Sketch Show", titled "Why Are Her Pies Wet, Lord?".


title: Do it yourself

text: "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi-raw materials and parts to produce, transform, or reconstruct material possessions, including those drawn from the natural environment (e.g., landscaping)". DIY behavior can be triggered by various motivations previously categorized as marketplace motivations (economic benefits, lack of product availability, lack of product quality, need for customization), and identity enhancement (craftsmanship, empowerment, community seeking, uniqueness).


title: Do it yourself

text: The term "do-it-yourself" has been associated with consumers since at least 1912 primarily in the domain of home improvement and maintenance activities. The phrase "do it yourself" had come into common usage (in standard English) by the 1950s, in reference to the emergence of a trend of people undertaking home improvement and various other small craft and construction projects as both a creative-recreational and cost-saving activity.


title: Do it yourself

text: Subsequently, the term DIY has taken on a broader meaning that covers a wide range of skill sets. DIY has been described as a "self-made-culture"; one of designing, creating, customizing and repairing items or things without any special training. DIY has grown to become a social concept with people sharing ideas, designs, techniques, methods and finished projects with one another either online or in person.


title: Do it yourself

text: DIY can be seen as a cultural reaction in modern technological society to increasing academic specialization and economic specialization which brings people into contact with only a tiny focus area within the larger context, positioning DIY as a venue for holistic engagement. DIY ethic is the ethic of self-sufficiency through completing tasks without the aid of a paid expert. The DIY ethic promotes the idea that anyone is capable of performing a variety of tasks rather than relying on paid specialists.


title: Do it yourself

text: Italian archaeologists have unearthed the ruins of a 6th-century BC Greek structure in southern Italy. The ruins appeared to come with detailed assembly instructions and are being called an "ancient IKEA building". The structure was a temple-like building discovered at Torre Satriano, near the southern city of Potenza, in Basilicata. This region was recognized as a place where local people mingled with Greeks who had settled along the southern coast known as Magna Graecia and in Sicily from the 8th century BC onwards. Professor Christopher Smith, director of the British School at Rome, said that the discovery was, "the clearest example yet found of mason's marks of the time. It looks as if someone was instructing others how to mass-produce components and put them together in this way." Much like our modern instruction booklets, various sections of the luxury building were inscribed with coded symbols showing how the pieces slotted together. The characteristics of these inscriptions indicate they date back to around the 6th century BC, which tallies with the architectural evidence suggested by the decoration. The building was built by Greek artisans coming from the Spartan colony of Taranto in Apulia.


title: Do it yourself

text: In North America, there was a DIY magazine publishing niche in the first half of the twentieth century. Magazines such as "Popular Mechanics" (founded in 1902) and "Mechanix Illustrated" (founded in 1928) offered a way for readers to keep current on useful practical skills, techniques, tools, and materials. As many readers lived in rural or semi-rural regions, initially much of the material related to their needs on the farm or in a small town.


title: Do it yourself

text: By the 1950s, DIY became common usage with the emergence of people undertaking home improvement projects, construction projects and smaller crafts. Artists began to fight against mass production and mass culture by claiming to be self-made. However, DIY practices also responded to geopolitical tensions, such as in the form of home-made Cold War nuclear fallout shelters, and the dark aesthetics and nihilist discourse in punk fanzines in the 1970s and onwards in the shadow of rising unemployment and social tensions. In the 1960s and 1970s, books and TV shows about the DIY movement and techniques on building and home decoration began appearing. By the 1990s, the DIY movement felt the impact of the digital age with the rise of the internet. With computers and the internet becoming mainstream, increased accessibility to the internet has led to more households undertaking DIY methods. Platforms, such as YouTube or Instagram, provide people the opportunity to share their creations and instruct others on how to replicate DIY techniques in their own home.


title: Do it yourself

text: The DIY movement is a re-introduction (often to urban and suburban dwellers) of the old pattern of personal involvement and use of skills in the upkeep of a house or apartment, making clothes; maintenance of cars, computers, websites; or any material aspect of living. The philosopher Alan Watts (from the "Houseboat Summit" panel discussion in a 1967 edition of the "San Francisco Oracle") reflected a growing sentiment:


title: Do it yourself

text: In the 1970s, DIY spread through the North American population of college and recent-college-graduate age groups. In part, this movement involved the renovation of affordable, rundown older homes. But, it also related to various projects expressing the social and environmental vision of the 1960s and early 1970s. The young visionary Stewart Brand, working with friends and family, and initially using the most basic of typesetting and page-layout tools, published the first edition of "The Whole Earth Catalog" (subtitled "Access to Tools") in late 1968.


title: Do it yourself

text: The first "Catalog", and its successors, used a broad definition of the term "tools." There were informational tools, such as books (often technical in nature), professional journals, courses and classes. There were specialized, designed items, such as carpenters' and masons' tools, garden tools, welding equipment, chainsaws, fiberglass materials and so on – even early personal computers. The designer, J. Baldwin acted as editor and writing many of the reviews. The "Catalog"'s publication both emerged from and spurred the great wave of experimentalism, convention-breaking, and do-it-yourself attitude of the late 1960s. Often copied, the "Catalog" appealed to a wide cross-section of people in North America and had a broad influence.


title: Do it yourself

text: DIY home improvement books burgeoned in the 1970s, first created as collections of magazine articles. An early, extensive line of DIY how-to books were created by Sunset Books, based upon previously published articles from their magazine, "Sunset", based in California. Time-Life, Better Homes and Gardens, Balcony Garden Web and other publishers soon followed suit.


title: Do it yourself

text: In the mid-1990s, DIY home-improvement content began to find its way onto the World Wide Web. HouseNet was the earliest bulletin-board style site where users could share information. HomeTips.com, established in early 1995, was among the first web-based sites to deliver free extensive DIY home-improvement content created by expert authors. Since the late 1990s, DIY has exploded on the Web through thousands of sites.


title: Do it yourself

text: In the 1970s, when home video (VCRs) came along, DIY instructors quickly grasped its potential for demonstrating processes by audio-visual means. In 1979, the PBS television series "This Old House", starring Bob Vila, premiered and spurred a DIY television revolution. The show was immensely popular, educating people on how to improve their living conditions (and the value of their house) without the expense of paying someone else to do (as much of) the work. In 1994, the HGTV Network cable television channel was launched in the United States and Canada, followed in 1999 by the DIY Network cable television channel. Both were launched to appeal to the growing percentage of North Americans interested in DIY topics, from home improvement to knitting. Such channels have multiple shows revealing how to stretch one's budget to achieve professional-looking results ("Design Cents", "Design on a Dime", etc.) while doing the work yourself. "Toolbelt Diva" specifically caters to female DIYers.


title: Do it yourself

text: Beyond magazines and television, the scope of home improvement DIY continues to grow online where most mainstream media outlets now have extensive DIY-focused informational websites such as "This Old House", Martha Stewart, Hometalk, and the DIY Network. These are often extensions of their magazine or television brand. The growth of independent online DIY resources is also spiking. The number of homeowners who blog about their experiences continues to grow, along with DIY websites from smaller organizations.


title: Do it yourself

text: DIY is prevalent amongst the fashion community, with ideas being shared on social media such as YouTube about clothing, jewellery, makeup and hair styles. Techniques include distressing jeans, bleaching jeans, redesigning an old shirt, and studding denim.


title: Do it yourself

text: The concept of DIY has also emerged within the art and design community. The terms, Hacktivist, Craftivist, or maker have been used to describe creatives working within a DIY framework (Busch). Otto von Busch describes "Hacktivism' as "[including] the participant in the process of making, [to give] rise to new attitudes within the ‘maker’ or collaborator" (Busch 49)


title: Do it yourself

text: . Busch suggests that by engaging in participatory forms of fashion, consumers are able step away from the idea of "mass-homogenized 'Mc-Fashion'” (Lee 2003)", as fashion Hacktivism allows consumers to play a more active role in engaging with the clothes they wear (Busch 32).


title: Do it yourself

text: DIY as a subculture was brought forward by the punk movement of the 1970s. Instead of traditional means of bands reaching their audiences through large music labels, bands began recording, manufacturing albums and merchandise, booking their own tours, and creating opportunities for smaller bands to get wider recognition and gain cult status through repetitive low-cost DIY touring. The burgeoning zine movement took up coverage of and promotion of the underground punk scenes, and significantly altered the way fans interacted with musicians. Zines quickly branched off from being hand-made music magazines to become more personal; they quickly became one of the youth culture's gateways to DIY culture. This led to tutorial zines showing others how to make their own shirts, posters, zines, books, food, etc.


title: Do it yourself

text: Much contemporary DIY music has its origins in the late 1970s punk rock subculture. It developed as a way to circumnavigate the corporate mainstream music industry. By controlling the entire production and distribution chain, DIY bands attempt to develop a closer relationship between artists and fans. The DIY ethic gives total control over the final product without need to compromise with record major labels.


title: Do it yourself

text: According to the punk aesthetic, one can express oneself and produce moving and serious works with limited means. Arguably, the earliest example of this attitude was the punk music scene of the 1970s.


title: Do it yourself

text: Riot grrrl, associated with third-wave feminism, also adopted the core values of the DIY punk ethic by leveraging creative ways of communication through zines and other projects.


title: Do it yourself

text: Adherents of the DIY punk ethic also work collectively. For example, punk impresario David Ferguson's CD Presents was a DIY concert production, recording studio, and record label network.


title: Do it yourself

text: A form of independent filmmaking characterized by low budgets, skeleton crews, and simple props using whatever is available.


title: Do it yourself

text: As a means of adaptation during the Cuban Special Period times of economic crisis, "resolver" ("to resolve") became an important part of Cuban culture. "Resolver" refers to a spirit of resourcefulness and do-it-yourself problem solving.


title: Do it yourself

text: Jugaad is a colloquial Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Sindhi and Urdu word, which refers to a non-conventional, frugal innovation, often termed a "hack". It could also refer to an innovative fix or a simple work-around, a solution that bends the rules, or a resource that can be used in such a way. It is also often used to signify creativity: to make existing things work, or to create new things with meager resources.


title: Do it yourself

text: Rasquache is the English form of the Spanish term "rascuache", originally with a negative connotation in Mexico it was recontextualized by the Mexican and Chicano arts movement to describe a specific artistic aesthetic, "Rasquachismo", suited to overcoming material and professional limitations faced by artists in the movement.


title: Rolled oats

text: Rolled oats are a type of lightly processed whole-grain food. Traditionally, they are made from oat groats that have been dehusked and steamed, before being "rolled" into flat flakes under heavy rollers and then stabilized by being lightly toasted.


title: Rolled oats

text: Thick-rolled oats are large whole flakes, and thin-rolled oats are smaller, fragmented flakes. Rolled whole oats, without further processing, can be cooked into a porridge and eaten as old-fashioned oats or Scottish oats, but more highly fragmented and processed rolled oats absorb water much more easily and therefore cook faster into a porridge, so they are sometimes called "quick" or "instant" oats.


title: Rolled oats

text: Besides porridge, rolled oats are most often the main ingredient in granola and muesli. They can be further processed into a coarse powder, which, when cooked, becomes a thick liquid like broth. Finer oatmeal powder is often used as baby food.


title: Rolled oats

text: The oat, like other cereals, has a hard, inedible outer husk that must be removed before the grain can be eaten. After the outer husk (or chaff) has been removed from the still bran-covered oat grains, the remainder is called oat groats. Since the bran layer, though nutritious, makes the grains tough to chew and contains an enzyme that can cause the oats to go rancid, raw oat groats are often further steam-treated to soften them for a quicker cooking time (modern "quick oats") and to denature the enzymes for a longer shelf life.


title: Rolled oats

text: Steel-cut or pinhead oats are oat groats that have been chopped into smaller pieces before any steaming and thus retain bits of the bran layer.


title: Rolled oats

text: Rolled oats can be eaten without further heating or cooking: The oats are soaked for 1–6 hours in water-based liquid, such as water, milk, or plant-based dairy substitutes. The soak duration depends on shape, size and pre-processing technique, saving the time and the energy spent on heating, preserving its taste, and saving its nutritional values destroyed during cooking.


title: Rolled oats

text: Traditionally, oat groats are a whole grain that can be used as a breakfast cereal, just like the various forms of oatmeal, rolled oats and pinhead oats can be cooked to make porridge. Rolled oats are used in granola, muesli, oatcakes, and flapjacks (like a granola bar, not a pancake).


title: Rolled oats

text: Whole oats (uncooked) are 68% carbohydrates, 6% fat, and 13% protein (table). In a 100 gram reference amount, whole oats supply 379 calories and contain high amounts (20% or more the Daily Value, DV) of the B vitamins – thiamine and pantothenic acid (40% and 22% DV, respectively) – and several dietary minerals, especially manganese (173% DV) and phosphorus (59% DV). As a rich source of dietary fiber (10 grams per 100 gram serving), whole oats supply beta-glucan (4 grams per 100 gram serving; table), a soluble fiber with cholesterol-lowering effects.


title: Meredith MacRae

text: Meredith Lynn MacRae (May 30, 1944 – July 14, 2000) was an American actress, singer and talk show host. She is most remembered for her roles as Sally Morrison on "My Three Sons" (1963–1965) and as Billie Jo Bradley on "Petticoat Junction" (1966–1970).


title: Meredith MacRae

text: MacRae was born in Houston, Texas, to parents Gordon and Sheila MacRae. Her father was stationed with the Army Air Corps in Houston at the time of her birth. Both of her parents went on to be actors. She is the sister of William Gordon MacRae, Robert Bruce MacRae, and Heather MacRae.


title: Meredith MacRae

text: MacRae made her breakthrough appearance as Sally Anne Morrison Douglas on the ABC (later CBS) Fred MacMurray/William Frawley sitcom, "My Three Sons". She played Mike's love interest for three seasons (1963–1965). She asked to be written out of the show to further explore her career.


title: Meredith MacRae

text: In 1966, MacRae signed a contract with CBS to play Billie Jo Bradley on the sitcom "Petticoat Junction", starring Bea Benaderet as her television mother and Edgar Buchanan as her television uncle. Her television sisters were Betty Jo, played by Linda Kaye Henning, and Bobbie Jo, played by Lori Saunders.


title: Meredith MacRae

text: MacRae was the sitcom's third actress to portray Billie Jo. Jeannine Riley played the part in the show's first two years (1963–1965) and Gunilla Hutton in the third year (1965–1966). Both of these actresses played the role as a typical boy-crazy dumb blonde. However, by MacRae's debut on the series, Billie Jo's persona was that of a strong, independent woman who focused more on a singing career, a dream she later accomplishes. She remained with the sitcom until its cancellation in 1970.


title: Meredith MacRae

text: She also took over the role of Animal from Valora Noland in "Bikini Beach" (1964), the third beach party film produced by American International Pictures. She had an uncredited appearance on the bus in the film "Ski Party" (1965). She was a guest on NBC' "The Spring Thing" a musical television special hosted by Bobbie Gentry and Noel Harrison. Other guests included were Goldie Hawn, Irwin C. Watson, Rod McKuen, Shirley Bassey, and Harpers Bizarre. Her other film roles included appearances in "Norwood" (1970), "My Friends Need Killing" (1976), "Grand Jury" (1976), "Sketches of a Strangler" (1978), "Earthbound" (1981), and "The Census Taker" (1984).


title: Meredith MacRae

text: She made guest appearances on such shows as "The Donald O'Connor Show" (1968 version); "The Dean Martin Show" (1971); "The F.B.I."; "The Mike Douglas Show"; "The Rockford Files"; "Fantasy Island"; "Webster"; "CHiPS"; "Love, American Style"; and "Magnum, P.I.".


title: Meredith MacRae

text: MacRae was also popular in the game-show genre, appearing in numerous shows, including: "Funny You Should Ask"; "Match Game" ('60s, '70s, and '90s versions); "What's My Line?"; "I've Got a Secret"; "Personality"; "Snap Judgment"; "He Said, She Said" (with then-husband Greg Mullavey); "Tattletales" (also with Mullavey); "Hollywood Squares"; "The Dating Game"; "To Tell the Truth"; "Password" (ABC version); "$10,000 Pyramid"; "$25,000 Pyramid; Break the Bank"; "Celebrity Whew!"; "Beat the Clock"; "Card Sharks"; "The Cross-Wits"; and "Family Feud". She had even hosted an unsold game show pilot called "$50,000 a Minute" alongside Geoff Edwards in 1985.


title: Meredith MacRae

text: In the 1980s, she hosted the talk show "Mid-Morning Los Angeles," which ran for eight years. She was awarded a local Emmy Award in 1986 for her interviewing skills. Later, she created and hosted "Born Famous", a PBS series on which she interviewed the offspring of celebrities. She also co-hosted "VTV: Value Television" with Alex Trebek.


title: Meredith MacRae

text: In summer stock in her teens, she appeared with Dan Dailey in "Take Me Along", with Andy Williams in "Bye Bye Birdie", and in "Annie Get Your Gun".


title: Meredith MacRae

text: MacRae worked to raise funds for such causes as the Children's Burn Foundation, the American Cancer Society, and United Cerebral Palsy. She also lectured nationally on alcoholism and produced a TV special on the subject.


title: Meredith MacRae

text: MacRae married Richard Berger, former president of MGM, in 1964, but they divorced four years later. In 1969, she married fellow actor Greg Mullavey (famous for "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman") and had one child with him, Allison, before divorcing in 1987. Her third and final marriage was in 1995 to Phillip M. Neal, chairman and CEO of Avery-Dennison at the time of their marriage.


title: Meredith MacRae

text: In January 1999, MacRae began to experience vertigo and a loss of short-term memory. She was evaluated and her symptoms were initially thought to be due to perimenopause. She returned to her doctor complaining of severe headaches. She was told the headaches were most likely due to muscle spasms, and was encouraged to do cervical spine stretching. She obtained a second opinion and was diagnosed with brain cancer, which had already progressed to stage four. Emergency surgery was performed to remove the brain tumor and decrease the pressure in her head. During the operation, she suffered cardiac arrest, but was resuscitated. Though her cancer was terminal, she agreed to be part of an experimental cancer drug program. She experienced an allergic reaction to the medication that caused swelling to her brain. Two more surgeries were required to relieve the pressure. Her imbalance resulted in a fall that caused her to suffer a fracture to her hip.


title: Meredith MacRae

text: On July 14, 2000, MacRae died at her Manhattan Beach home at age 56 from complications of brain cancer. Per her wishes, her body was cremated and her ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.


title: Alexander Godunov

text: Alexander Borisovich Godunov (Russian: ; November 28, 1949 – May 18, 1995) was a Russian-American ballet dancer and film actor. A member of the Bolshoi Ballet, he became the troupe's Premier danseur. In 1979, he defected to the United States. While continuing to dance, he also began working as a supporting actor in Hollywood films. He had several small but prominent roles in films such as "Witness" and "Die Hard".


title: Alexander Godunov

text: Godunov was born in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Sakhalin, Russian SFSR, USSR) in the Russian Far East. He began his ballet studies at the age of nine in Riga in 1958 in the same class as Mikhail Baryshnikov. He said his mother put him in ballet to prevent him from becoming "a hooligan". He and Baryshnikov became friends and helped each other throughout their years there.


title: Alexander Godunov

text: Godunov joined the Bolshoi Ballet in 1971 and rose to become Premier danseur. His teachers there included Aleksey Yermolayev.


title: Alexander Godunov

text: In 1973, Godunov won a gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition. After playing Vronsky in 1976's "Anna Karenina" and Lemisson, the Royal minstrel, in the 1978 film version of J. B. Priestley's "31 June", he became well-known in the Soviet Union as a movie actor, receiving the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR in 1976.


title: Alexander Godunov

text: On August 21, 1979, while on a tour with the Bolshoi Ballet in New York City, Godunov contacted authorities and asked for political asylum. After discovering his absence, the KGB responded by putting his wife, Lyudmila Vlasova, a soloist with the company, on a plane to Moscow, but the flight was stopped before takeoff. After three days, with involvement by President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, the U.S. State Department was satisfied that Vlasova had chosen to return to the Soviet Union of her own free will and allowed the plane to depart. The incident was dramatized in a 1986 movie, "Flight 222". Vlasova later said that while Godunov loved American culture and had long desired to live in the United States, she felt she was "too Russian" to live in the United States. The couple divorced in 1982.


title: Alexander Godunov

text: Godunov joined the American Ballet Theatre and danced as a principal dancer until 1982, when he had a falling-out with Mikhail Baryshnikov, the director of the company. A press release for the American Ballet Theatre stated a change in the troupe's repertoire did not provide Godunov with sufficient roles. Following his release, he traveled with his own troupe and danced as a guest artist around the world with a number of prominent ballet troupes.


title: Alexander Godunov

text: Godunov also began working in Hollywood as a film actor. His acting roles included an Amish farmer in "Witness" (1985), a comically narcissistic symphony conductor in "The Money Pit" (1986) and one of the thieves in "Die Hard" (1988). He declined roles which typecast him as a dancer or as an action villain, as in "Die Hard".


title: Alexander Godunov

text: Godunov married Lyudmila Vlasova, a soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet, in 1971. The couple had no children and divorced in 1982 after a long separation.


title: Alexander Godunov

text: In 1981, Godunov began dating actress Jacqueline Bisset after meeting her at a party in New York City. They broke up in 1988.


title: Alexander Godunov

text: According to author Herbie J Pilato, Godunov had an affair with actress Elizabeth Montgomery while she was in a relationship with (but not yet married to) Robert Foxworth. By sheer coincidence, Godunov was found dead on the same day as Montgomery's death, although it was believed he had been deceased for several days prior.


title: Alexander Godunov

text: Godunov drank alcohol to excess and this became a problem as he got older. On May 18, 1995, Godunov's friends became concerned when he had been uncharacteristically quiet with his phone calls. A nurse, who had not heard from him since May 8, went to his home in the Shoreham Towers, West Hollywood, California, where his body was discovered. Godunov's death was determined to be due to complications from hepatitis secondary to chronic alcoholism.


title: Alexander Godunov

text: Godunov was cremated and his ashes scattered into the Pacific Ocean. A memorial to him at Gates Mortuary in Los Angeles is engraved with the epitaph "His future remained in the past."


title: Rocket Boys (web series)

text: Rocket Boys is an Indian Hindi-language biographical streaming television series on SonyLIV. The Series is based on the lives of Homi J. Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai. It is directed by Abhay Pannu and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur with Monisha Advani, and Madhu Bhojwani


title: Rocket Boys (web series)

text: under the banners Roy Kapur Films and Emmay Entertainment, respectively. The series stars Jim Sarbh and Ishwak Singh along with Regina Cassandra.


title: Rocket Boys (web series)

text: The web series was released on 4 February 2022 exclusively on SonyLIV. The show was renewed for a second season. The teaser for the second season was released on 15 August 2022 on 75th Indian Independence Day.


title: Rocket Boys (web series)

text: Rocket Boys is a story of two extraordinary men Dr. Homi J. Bhabha and Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. The story is set around the three crucial decades (1940-60s) in the history of India and how the nation is moving towards being a strong, brave, and independent nation. It is the story of Independent India's formative years in the field of science.


title: Rocket Boys (web series)

text: With dreams in their eyes and a vision in their minds, Dr. Homi J. Bhabha engineered India's Nuclear Programme and Dr. Vikram Sarabhai established the Indian Space Programme and many other institutes. Their journey also involves Mrinalini Sarabhai, a strong pillar in Dr. Sarabhai's life, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, who pioneered modern Indian aerospace and nuclear technology, Parvana Irani a close companion of Dr. Bhabha, Raza Mehdi (Not a real person but a fictional character scripted as antagonist for dramatization), a distinguished scientist, and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who supported them at every step.


title: Rocket Boys (web series)

text: The season builds upon their friendship, sacrifice, and great determination and how everything led to India's first rocket launch; its emblematic of the journey of India as the country emerges into a new, post-war world.


title: Rocket Boys (web series)

text: The Hari Mahal Palace in Jaipur was used as a location of the "Retreat", the Sarabhai family house. The art team met Mallika Sarabhai, daughter of Sarabhai, for detailed information about their home, culture, environment and lifestyle.


title: Rocket Boys (web series)

text: The show received positive reviews from critics and audience, with praise for the performances, direction, writing and other technical aspects.


title: Rocket Boys (web series)

text: "The Times of India" gave a rating of 3.5 and stated that Jim Sarbh and Ishwak Singh's show is a glowing tribute to India's scientific luminaries. Further, they also said that the show is captivating from the start. Anuj Kumar of "The Hindu" mentioned that the lead actors Jim Sarbh and Ishwak Singh head a fantastic ensemble cast that gloriously brings to life the achievements of the scientific community in launching India's atomic and space programs. Shefali Deshpande of "The Quint" gave 4.5/5 stars and said that Rocket Boys is the kind of story that the Oscars and the people at BAFTA look for. In addition to this they also stated that the top-notch acting, storytelling, direction, and music, with actual footage from back in the day and audio to go along with it, this show is here to win slow, steady, and big. "Moneycontrol" said in their article that Roy Kapur Films, Emmay Entertainment, and SonyLIV together put up a brilliant show that is unmissable. Shubhra Gupta of "The Indian Express" mentioned Rocket Boys is an absorbing state-of-the-nation saga and both Jim Sarbh and Ishwak Singh are excellent. "Hindustan Times" expressed Rocket Boys as one of the web series with the most well-crafted, earnestly performed, and tightly-written scenes. Moreover, it also said that the show is a shining star on the streamer's roster. The "Scroll.in" wrote that Rocket Boys is fuelled by vaulting ambition on the screen and beyond, and it's a heady mix of research and creative liberty, pop quiz-level trivia, and a flair for drama. "NDTV Gadgets 360" said that Abhay Pannu's Rocket Boys delivers in spades with the story of Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai and mentioned India comes of age in SonyLIV's terrific new series. "NDTV" gave a 3.5 rating to Rocket Boys and further said that The series gets the science of blending fact and fiction absolutely right and delivers a viewing experience that is a marked remove from generic shows. "ThePrint" featured Rocket Boys as a unique blend of science and the everyday, personal and political, fact and fiction, that makes science less elite, more accessible, more awe-inspiring while being grounded. Priya Hazra of "ScoopWhoop" said praised the show by saying that it is an on-point casting & brilliant storytelling that makes 'Rocket Boys' a biopic Bollywood could learn from. It further added that witnessing the historic event unfold, even on the screen, was an overwhelming and proud moment, and given the earnestness with which it was played out made it even better. "Pinkvilla" gave 4/5 stars and stated that Jim Sarbh and Ishwak Singh fabulously bolster India's empirical history. It also mentioned that Rocket Boys treads a measured pace and gradually develops a story and its characters to make the bigger picture more interesting and entertaining. While the writing, casting, and acting are on point, the show also scores big on its background music and production music. "Outlook" gave a rating of 4 and said that Jim Sarbh, Ishwak Singh shines in this humanized tale of India's greatest scientists and makes it a wonderful biopic drama that never stops inspiring. "Arré's" thoughts on Rocket Boys were that the series did a good job of visualizing and explaining technical details to a layperson in a cinematic way. In addition to this, it also said that "Rocket Boys" is an important watch to reflect on the dreams of India's OG scientific pioneers and hopefully inspire young minds. "Rediff" gave a rating of 4 and stated that Rocket Boys is a soaring tribute to the two pillars of India's science world. Shekhar Gupta of The Print criticized in his article titled "'Rocket Boys’ crime on history: Inventing Muslim villain, stealing Meghnad Saha's identity"' saying "That he [Meghnad Saha] was from a lower caste, and has mostly been forgotten in our popular memory since (on his centenary in 1993, the Narasimha Rao government issued a postage stamp), probably made it more convenient to bury his character in what pretends to be a “true” history and give him a mostly evil, dark, Muslim avatar. In our book, this is a crime on not just history but on all the ideals so dear to people like Saha, Bhabha and Sarabhai. Remember, those incredible scientists were freedom fighters too."


title: Rocket Boys (web series)

text: Amrita Shah, author of "Vikram Sarabhai – A Life" criticised the series for distorting history with fictionalized events, puerile depiction of India's technological programmes in space and nuclear energy and egregious misrepresentation of Sarabhai's character that diminishes his significance and lacks depth without any nuance. Journalist Gita Aravamudan (wife of Ramabhadran Aravamudan and co-author of ) found the series reducing iconic Indian scientists into Bollywood stereotypes, falsifying major events and dates and concocting a fake version of A. P. J. Abdul Kalam that suits the script. She adds that real story of Indian nuclear and space programs is far more richer than fictionalized screen version which ignores scientific and technical aspects of their journey.


title: Rocket Boys (web series)

text: The character of Raza Mehdi, who is the series' antagonist, is a fictional character added for dramatization of the web series. Some of the background of this character is similar to India's brilliant physicist Meghnad Saha who happened to be a namasudra (Dalit). The character is shown similar in physical appearance, dark complexion, nativity (Calcutta) and achievements (member of parliament). Raza Mehdi is scripted as a Muslim, a communist and vulnerable to CIA.


title: Micro-Star International

text: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd (MSI; ) is a Taiwanese multinational information technology corporation headquartered in New Taipei City, Taiwan. It designs, develops and provides computer hardware, related products and services, including laptops, desktops, motherboards, graphics cards, All-in-One PCs, servers, industrial computers, PC peripherals, car infotainment products, etc.


title: Micro-Star International

text: The company has a primary listing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and was established on August 4, 1986 by 5 founders – Hsu Xiang (a.k.a. Joseph Hsu), Huang Jinqing (a.k.a. Jeans Huang), Lin Wentong (a.k.a. Frank Lin), Yu Xian'nengyu (a.k.a. Kenny Yu), and Lu Qilong (a.k.a. Henry Lu). First starting its business in New Taipei City, Taiwan, MSI later expanded into China, setting up its Bao'an Plant in Shenzhen in 2000 and establishing research and development facilities in Kunshan in 2001. It also provides global warranty service in North America, Central/South America, Asia, Australia and Europe.


title: Micro-Star International

text: The company has been a sponsor for a number of esports teams and is also the host of the international gaming event MSI Masters Gaming Arena (formerly known as MSI Beat IT). The earliest Beat IT tournament can be traced back to 2010, featuring Evil Geniuses winning the championship.


title: Micro-Star International

text: MSI's offices in Zhonghe District, New Taipei City, Taiwan serve as the company's headquarters, and house a number of different divisions and services.


title: Micro-Star International

text: Manufacturing initially took place at plants in Taiwan, but has been moved elsewhere. Many MSI graphics cards are manufactured at its plant in China.


title: Micro-Star International

text: The company has branch offices in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia and South Africa. As of 2015, the company has a global presence in over 120 countries.


title: Micro-Star International

text: The company first built its reputation on developing and manufacturing computer motherboards and graphics cards. It established its subsidiary FUNTORO in 2008 for the vehicle infotainment market. It provides products ranging from laptops, desktops, monitors, motherboards, graphics cards, power supply, computer cases and liquid cooler for gamers and content creators, to all-in-one PCs, mobile workstations, servers, IPCs, multimedia peripherals, vehicle infotainment, and an autonomous mobility robot.


title: Micro-Star International

text: When established in 1986, MSI focused on the design and manufacturing of motherboards and add-on cards. Later that year, it introduced the first over clockable 286 motherboard.


title: Micro-Star International

text: In 1989, MSI introduced its first 486 motherboard; in 1990 it introduced its first Socket 7 based motherboard, and in 1993, its first 586 motherboard; in 1995, its Dual Pentium Pro-based motherboard. In 1997 it introduced its Intel Pentium II-based motherboard with Intel MMX Technology, along with its first graphics card product, and its first barebone product; in 2002, its first PC2PC Bluetooth & WLAN motherboard.


title: Micro-Star International

text: In 2000, MSI introduced its first set-top box product (MS-5205). In 2003, its first Pen Tablet PC product (PenNote3100), and in 2004, its first Notebook product (M510C). In 2009, MSI introduced its first Ultra Slim Notebook (X320), and first All-in-One PC (AP1900).


title: Micro-Star International

text: In 2008, MSI sponsored Fnatic and dived into the PC gaming market. Its GAMING series features laptops, desktops, motherboards, graphic cards, All-in-One PCs and gaming peripherals designed for gamers and power users.


title: Micro-Star International

text: In 2015, MSI teamed up with eye-tracking tech firm Tobii for the creation of eye-tracking gaming laptops.


title: Micro-Star International

text: In early 2016, MSI announced a collaboration with HTC and has revealed Vive-ready systems to offer Virtual Reality experiences.


title: Micro-Star International

text: MSI expanded its scope of business into Content Creation in 2018 and demonstrated creator-centric laptops at IFA 2018.


title: Micro-Star International

text: MSI Optix MPG27CQ Gaming Monitor was the recipient of the 27th Taiwan Excellence Gold & Silver Awards.


title: Micro-Star International

text: MSI's five founders Joseph Hsu, Jeans Huang, Frank Lin, Kenny Yu and Henry Lu all worked for Sony electronics company before establishing MSI. Sony's corporate downsizing in 1985 brought them together. With the engineering background working for Sony, they established Micro Star International together in August 1986.


title: Micro-Star International

text: In 1998, it became a public company with an IPO (Initial Public Offering) on the Taipei Stock Exchange (TAIEX).


title: Micro-Star International

text: In 2000, MSI Computer (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. was founded, and in 2001, MSI Electronics (Kunshan) Co., Ltd.


title: Micro-Star International

text: In 2003, MSi released the "Mega PC", a shelf stereo computer hybrid with a front panel resembling the former and desktop computer connectors on the rear.


title: Micro-Star International

text: In 2008, MSI was ranked among the Top 20 Taiwan Global Brands. In 2011, the firm was named one of the Top 100 Taiwan Brands, distinguished among 500 brands. By 2013, MSI has been awarded from Taiwan Excellence for 15 consecutive years.


title: Micro-Star International

text: MSI launched "Join the Dragon" team sponsorship program in April 2017 to discover talented eSports teams. Also in April 2017, MSI names certified partners for the creation of an RGB ecosystem with MSI Mystic Light Sync which includes Corsair, SteelSeries, G.Skill, Cooler Master, InWin, Phanteks, and others.


title: Micro-Star International

text: MSI was the official partner of ESL One Cologne 2018, one of the biggest events on the CS:GO calendar.


title: Micro-Star International

text: In August 2018, MSI was rated the Best Gaming Laptop Brand of 2018 by Laptop Mag. New designs of its GS65 Stealth Thin and GE63 Raider RGB laptops earned the company a stellar 84 out of 100 and put it on the top spot.


title: Micro-Star International

text: MSI partnered with ESL to bring MGA 2018 grand finals to New York. Kazakhstan's AVANGAR won the Championship.


title: Micro-Star International

text: MSI & Ubisoft jointly presented Ambient Link synchronized game lighting on Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Tom Clancy's The Division 2 in 2019.


title: Micro-Star International

text: In September 2020, MSI unveiled a new line of business-oriented laptops under the "Modern", "Prestige", and "Summit" lines, and a new logo specific to these models.


title: Micro-Star International

text: On 7 October 2020 MSI released a public statement about their subsidiary Starlit scalping MSI made Nvidia RTX 3080 and 3090 GPUs, and selling them for higher than MSRP on eBay.


title: Micro-Star International

text: It has also been a sponsor for a number of eSports teams worldwide, including METHOD, PENTA Sports, Energy eSports, HWA Gaming, yoe Flash Wolves, NXA-Ladies, Saigon Fantastic Five, MSI-Evolution, Vox Eminor, DeToNator, Team Infused, Aperture Gaming, Phoenix GaminG, Karmine Corp, Aiolikos FC, etc.


title: Micro-Star International

text: MSI announced partnership with Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP in February 2022 to support the team with PC hardware throughout the MotoGP season.


title: Micro-Star International

text: During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, MSI refused to join the international community and withdraw from the Russian market. Research from Yale University updated on September 14, 2022, identifying how companies were reacting to Russia's invasion identified MSI in the worst category of "Digging In", meaning Defying Demands for Exit: companies defying demands for exit/reduction of activities. MSI remains the only major Taiwanese company to have defied demands for exit or reduction of activities in Russia.


title: Micro-Star International

text: MSI issued a statement on March 28, 2022, claiming that it abides by all international regulations in terms of its sales and operations in Russia.


title: Jan Koum

text: Jan Koum (; born Yan Borysovych Kum, , on February 24, 1976) is a Ukrainian-American billionaire businessman and computer engineer. He is the co-founder and former CEO of WhatsApp, a mobile messaging app which was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for US$19.3 billion. According to "Forbes", he has an estimated net worth of US$13.8 billion as of September 2022, making him one of the richest people in the world. He entered the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans in 2014 at No. 62, with an estimated net worth of $7.5 billion, the highest-ranked newcomer to the list that year.


title: Jan Koum

text: Koum was born in Kyiv, then in the Ukrainian SSR, on February 24, 1976. He grew up in Fastiv. In 1992, at the age of 16, he moved with his mother and grandmother to Mountain View, California. A social support program helped the family get a small two-bedroom apartment there. His father had intended to join the family later, but he never left Ukraine and died in 1997. Koum and his mother remained in touch with his father until his death. At first, his mother worked as a babysitter while he worked as a cleaner at a grocery store. His mother died in 2000 after a long battle with cancer.


title: Jan Koum

text: By the age of 18, Koum had become interested in programming. He enrolled at San Jose State University and simultaneously worked at Ernst & Young as a security tester. He also joined w00w00, a computer security think tank started in 1996, where he met future Napster creators Shawn Fanning and Jordan Ritter.


title: Jan Koum

text: In 1997, Koum met Brian Acton while working at Ernst & Young. Later that year, he was hired by Yahoo! as an infrastructure engineer. He quit school shortly thereafter. Over the next nine years, Koum and Acton worked at Yahoo! together. In September 2007, they left and took a year off, traveling around South America and playing ultimate frisbee. Both applied to work at Facebook but were rejected.


title: Jan Koum

text: In January 2009, Koum bought an iPhone and realized that the then seven-month-old App Store was about to spawn a whole new industry of apps. He visited his friend Alex Fishman and they talked for hours about Koum's idea for an app. Koum almost immediately chose the name WhatsApp because it sounded like "what's up". A week later, on his 33rd birthday, he incorporated WhatsApp Inc. in California.


title: Jan Koum

text: WhatsApp was initially unpopular, but its fortunes began to turn after Apple added push notification ability to apps in June 2009. Koum changed WhatsApp to "ping" users when they received a message, and soon afterward he and Fishman's Russian friends in the area began to use WhatsApp as a messaging tool, in place of SMS. The app gained a large user base, and Koum convinced Acton, then unemployed, to join the company. Koum granted Acton co-founder status after Acton managed to bring in $250,000 in seed funding.


title: Jan Koum

text: On February 9, 2014, Zuckerberg asked Koum to have dinner at his home, and formally proposed Koum a deal to join the Facebook board. Ten days later Facebook announced that it was acquiring WhatsApp for US$19 billion. Over the first half of 2016, Koum sold more than $2.4 billion worth of Facebook stock, which was about half of his total holdings.


title: Jan Koum

text: In April 2018, Koum announced that he was leaving WhatsApp and stepping down from Facebook's board of directors due to disputes with Facebook. It was originally thought that by leaving he was forfeiting his unvested stock, worth almost $1 billion. However, several months later it was discovered that he was still formally employed by Facebook, earning a reported $450 million in stock from the company through a method called "rest and vest."


title: Jan Koum

text: In 2014, Koum donated $1 million to The FreeBSD Foundation and close to $556 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF). In 2016, The FreeBSD Foundation received another $500,000; further donations from the Koum Family Foundation included $750,000 in 2018 and $500,000 in 2019.


title: Jan Koum

text: Koum is Jewish. He dislikes being called an entrepreneur and once tweeted, "Next person to call me an entrepreneur is getting punched in the face by my bodyguard." He feels that he is not an entrepreneur because entrepreneurs are motivated by the desire to make money, whereas he has said that he only wants to build useful products.


title: Jan Koum

text: In February 1996, a restraining order was granted against Koum in state court in San Jose, California. An ex-girlfriend detailed incidents in which she said Koum verbally and physically threatened her. In October 2014, Koum said about the restraining order, "I am ashamed of the way I acted and ashamed that my behavior forced her to take legal action".


title: African trypanosomiasis

text: African trypanosomiasis, also known as African sleeping sickness or simply sleeping sickness, is an insect-borne parasitic infection of humans and other animals. It is caused by the species "Trypanosoma brucei". Humans are infected by two types, "Trypanosoma brucei gambiense" (TbG) and "Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense" (TbR). TbG causes over 98% of reported cases. Both are usually transmitted by the bite of an infected tsetse fly and are most common in rural areas.


title: African trypanosomiasis

text: Initially, the first stage of the disease is characterized by fevers, headaches, itchiness, and joint pains, beginning one to three weeks after the bite. Weeks to months later, the second stage begins with confusion, poor coordination, numbness, and trouble sleeping. Diagnosis is by finding the parasite in a blood smear or in the fluid of a lymph node. A lumbar puncture is often needed to tell the difference between first- and second-stage disease. If the disease is not treated quickly it can lead to death.