title: Elapidae

text: This however doesn't touch the number of elapidae that are under threat, for instance 9 % of elapid sea snakes are threatened with another 6 % near-threatened. A rather large road block that stands in the way of more species being put under protection is lack of knowledge of the taxa; many known species have little research done on their behaviors or actual population as they live in very remote areas or live in habitats that are so vast its nearly impossible to conduct population studies, like the sea snakes.


title: Tiny Dancer

text: "Tiny Dancer" is a song written by English musician Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin, and performed by John. It was originally released on John's 1971 album "Madman Across the Water," and was later released as a single in 1972. It was ranked No. 47 on the 2021 list of "Rolling Stone"'s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.


title: Tiny Dancer

text: In the United States, it was certified gold on 19 May 2005, platinum on 19 August 2011 and 3× platinum on 26 April 2018 by the Recording Industry Association of America. In the UK, "Tiny Dancer" was certified gold on 17 August 2018 by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of 400,000 copies. On 2 August 2019 it was certified platinum for sales of 600,000 and on 24 December 2021 it was certified 2× Platinum for sales of 1,200,000, despite never being released as an official single there.


title: Tiny Dancer

text: With lyrics written by Bernie Taupin, the song was first featured as the opening track to John's 1971 album, "Madman Across the Water". The song's lyrics were inspired by Taupin's first visit to the US in 1970, and were intended to capture the spirit of California, where he found the women he met highly contrasted with those who he had known in his home country of England. Taupin also stated in a 1973 interview in "Rolling Stone" that the song is about Maxine Feibelman, his wife at the time. In 2019, Feibelman said, "I knew [the song] was about me. I had been into ballet as a little girl and sewed patches on Elton's jackets and jeans", referring to the song's description of a "seamstress for the band".


title: Tiny Dancer

text: The song features piano-based accompaniment during verses. The arrangement start features pedal steel guitar played by English guitarist BJ Cole, light percussion, Paul Buckmaster's strings and a quiet choir. Back-up vocals are provided by Tony Burrows, among others.


title: Tiny Dancer

text: Due to the song's lengthy run time of 6:12 minutes, "Tiny Dancer" was initially a non-starter as a single in the US, reaching only No. 41 on the U.S. pop chart, and was not even released as a single in the UK. Some radio edits ended the song following the first chorus, because the first verse repeats. Some radio stations banned the song, due to the controversial opening lines of the second verse: "Jesus Freaks/ Out in the Streets". The song fared better in Canada, where John had much of his early commercial breakthrough success, peaking at #19. It was also a hit in Australia, peaking at #13. Eventually, the song slowly became one of John's most popular songs even in the territories that initially failed to embrace it, and the full-length version is now a fixture on North American, UK and Australian adult contemporary and rock radio stations. The song also received a boost of popularity after having been prominently featured in the 2000 film "Almost Famous". The song was also featured in the 1975 film "Aloha, Bobby and Rose".


title: Tiny Dancer

text: In 1971, Elton John performed the song on the first series of "The Old Grey Whistle Test". The performance has been released as part of "The Old Grey Whistle Test – Volumes 1–3 Box Set".


title: Tiny Dancer

text: In 2010, "Rolling Stone" ranked the song number 397 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.


title: Tiny Dancer

text: Since 1971, John regularly performed this song alongside "Levon" on his concert tours in various decades.


title: Tiny Dancer

text: An orchestral live version of the song was performed by John with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on 14 December 1986 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre during the final concert of his 1986 Tour De Force tour in Australia and that performance was included on his 1987 live album "Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra".


title: Tiny Dancer

text: In May 2017, an official music video for "Tiny Dancer" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival as a winner of "Elton John: The Cut", a competition organised in partnership with AKQA, Pulse Films, and YouTube in honour of the fiftieth anniversary of his songwriting relationship with Bernie Taupin. The competition called upon independent filmmakers to submit treatments for music videos for one of three Elton John songs from the 1970s, with each song falling within a specific concept category. "Tiny Dancer" was designated for the live-action category, with the competition won by Max Weiland. The video was filmed in Los Angeles, and features scenes of various residents driving around the city, including performer Marilyn Manson and Iris Karina.


title: Tiny Dancer

text: In 2009, DJ Ironik and Chipmunk created a remix of the song, featuring John singing the chorus, which peaked at No.3 in the UK Singles Chart.


title: Tiny Dancer

text: In 1990, John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers performed his first impromptu performance of the song for the audience of Pinkpop that year.


title: Tiny Dancer

text: A version featuring Mary Black, Paddy Casey and Declan O'Rourke was recorded in Galway, Ireland in 2012 as a charity single. This version reached number one on the Irish Singles Chart.


title: Tiny Dancer

text: In season 3 episode 1 of "Friends" "The One with the Princess Leia Fantasy", when discussing the most romantic songs, Lisa Kudrow's character Phoebe says that her favourite, the song Tiny Dancer, was in fact written for Tony Danza which she tries to prove by singing the line "Hold me close, young Tony Danza". After a episode, Courteney Cox invited Elton John, Ed Sheeran and Brandi Carlile to pay a short tribute to Lisa's character once famously misquoting the song.


title: Tiny Dancer

text: In 2022, it was reported that John was teaming with Britney Spears in a remake of "Tiny Dancer". Later on, John announced a song titled "Hold Me Closer", with Spears also confirming her involvement in the track. The song was released on 26 August 2022, though it leaked online a week ahead. "Hold Me Closer" is a duet between John and Spears that blends the chorus of "Tiny Dancer" with verses from John's 1992 single "The One".


title: 1920s

text: The 1920s (pronounced "nineteen-twenties" often shortened to the "20s" or the "Twenties") was a decade that began on January 1, 1920, and ended on December 31, 1929. In America, it is frequently referred to as the "Roaring Twenties" or the "Jazz Age", while in Europe the period is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Twenties" because of the economic boom following World War I (1914-1918). French speakers refer to the period as the ""Années folles"" ("Crazy Years"), emphasizing the era's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism.


title: 1920s

text: The 1920s saw foreign oil companies begin operations in Venezuela, which became the world's second-largest oil-producing nation. The devastating Wall Street Crash in October 1929 is generally viewed as a harbinger of the end of 1920s prosperity in North America and Europe. In the Soviet Union, the New Economic Policy was created by the Bolsheviks in 1921, to be replaced by the first five-year plan in 1928. The 1920s saw the rise of radical political movements, with the Red Army triumphing against White movement forces in the Russian Civil War, and the emergence of far right political movements in Europe. In 1922, the fascist leader Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy. Other dictators that emerged included Józef Piłsudski in Poland, and Peter and Alexander Karađorđević in Yugoslavia. First-wave feminism made advances, with women gaining the right to vote in the United States (1920), Albania (1920), , and with suffrage being expanded in Britain to all women over 21 years old (1928).


title: 1920s

text: In Turkey, nationalist forces defeated Greece, France, Armenia and Britain in the Turkish War of Independence, leading to the Treaty of Lausanne (July 1923), a treaty more favorable to Turkey than the earlier proposed Treaty of Sèvres. The war also led to the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate. Nationalist revolts also occurred in Ireland (1919–1921) and Syria (1925–1927). Under Mussolini, Italy pursued a more aggressive domestic and foreign policy, leading to the nigh-eradication of the Sicilian Mafia and the Second Italo-Senussi War in Libya respectively. In 1927, China erupted into a civil war between the Kuomintang (KMT)-led government of the Republic of China (ROC) and forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Civil wars also occurred in Paraguay (1922–1923), Ireland (1922–1923), Honduras (1924), Nicaragua (1926–1927), and Afghanistan (1928–1929). Saudi forces conquered Jabal Shammar and subsequently, Hejaz.


title: 1920s

text: A severe famine occurred in Russia in 1921–1922 due to the combined effects of economic disturbance because of the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War, exacerbated by rail systems that could not distribute food efficiently, leading to 5 million deaths. Another severe famine occurred in China in 1928–1930, leading to 6 million deaths. The Spanish flu (1918–1920) and the 1918–1922 Russia typhus epidemic, which had begun in the previous decade, caused 25–50 million and 2–3 million deaths respectively. Major natural disasters of this decade include the 1920 Haiyuan earthquake (258,707~273,407 deaths), the 1922 Swatow typhoon (50,000–100,000 deaths), the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake (105,385–142,800 deaths), and the 1927 Gulang earthquake (40,912 deaths).


title: 1920s

text: Silent films were popular in this decade, with the 1925 American silent epic adventure-drama film "" being the highest-grossing film of this decade, grossing $9,386,000 worldwide. Other high-grossing films included "The Big Parade" and "The Singing Fool". Sinclair Lewis was a popular author in the United States in the 1920s, with his books "Main Street" and "Elmer Gantry" becoming best-sellers. Best-selling books outside the US included the Czech book "The Good Soldier Švejk", which sold 20 million copies. Songs of this decade included "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" and "Stardust".


title: 1920s

text: During the 1920s, the world population increased from 1.87 to 2.05 billion, with approximately 700 million births and 525 million deaths in total.


title: 1920s

text: The Roaring Twenties brought about several novel and highly visible social and cultural trends. These trends, made possible by sustained economic prosperity, were most visible in major cities like New York, Chicago, Paris, Berlin and London. "Normalcy" returned to politics in the wake of hyper-emotional patriotism during World War I, jazz blossomed, and Art Deco peaked. For women, knee-length skirts and dresses became socially acceptable, as did bobbed hair with a finger wave or marcel wave. The women who pioneered these trends were frequently referred to as flappers.


title: 1920s

text: The era saw the large-scale adoption of automobiles, telephones, motion pictures, radio and household electricity, as well as unprecedented industrial growth, accelerated consumer demand and aspirations, and significant changes in lifestyle and culture. The media began to focus on celebrities, especially sports heroes and movie stars. Large baseball stadiums were built in major U.S. cities, in addition to palatial cinemas.


title: 1920s

text: Most independent countries passed women's suffrage after 1918, especially as a reward for women's support of the war effort and endurance of its deaths and hardships.


title: 1920s

text: The 1920s is the decade in which fashion entered the modern era. It was the decade in which women first abandoned the more restricting fashions of past years and began to wear more comfortable clothes (such as short skirts or trousers). Men also abandoned highly formal daily attire and even began to wear athletic clothing for the first time. The suits men wear today are still based, for the most part, on those worn in the late 1920s. The 1920s are characterized by two distinct periods of fashion. In the early part of the decade, change was slow, as many were reluctant to adopt new styles. From 1925, the public passionately embraced the styles associated with the Roaring Twenties. These styles continued to characterize fashion until the worldwide depression worsened in 1931.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: Land of the Lost is a 2009 American science fiction adventure comedy film directed by Brad Silberling, written by Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas and starring Will Ferrell, Danny McBride and Anna Friel, loosely based on the 1974 Sid and Marty Krofft television series of the same name. The film was theatrically released on June 5, 2009 by Universal Pictures.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: The film received generally negative reviews from critics and was a box office bomb, grossing just $68 million against its $100 million budget. It received seven Golden Raspberry Award nominations, including Worst Picture, winning Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: Pompous paleontologist Rick Marshall has a low-level job at the La Brea Tar Pits, three years after a disastrous interview with Matt Lauer on "Today" went viral and ruined his career. Doctoral candidate from Cambridge Holly Cantrell tells him that his controversial theories combining time warps and paleontology inspired her.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: She shows him a fossil with an imprint of a cigarette lighter that he recognizes as his own, along with a crystal made into a necklace that gives off strong tachyon energy. She convinces him to finish his tachyon amplifier and go on an expedition to the cave where Holly found the fossil, in the desert.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: They raft into the cave, with cave gift shop owner Will Stanton, where Marshall detects high levels of tachyons. Activating the tachyon amplifier triggers an earthquake, opening a time warp the raft falls into. They find themselves in an inter-dimensional desert, filled with items from many eras, and without the amplifier. They rescue Cha-Ka, a Pakuni (a primate-like creature), who becomes their friend and guide.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: They spend a night in a cave after surviving a meeting with a fast and intelligent "Tyrannosaurus" they nickname "Grumpy", who develops a grudge against Marshall for calling him "stupid". Marshall receives a telepathic message begging for help and finds himself in ancient ruins. They encounter a race of lizard men called Sleestaks before meeting Enik the Altrusian (who sent the message). Exiled by the Zarn, who wants to take over Earth with his Sleestak minions, Enik can prevent the invasion if Marshall gets the tachyon amplifier.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: The group stumbles across a desert with many things from across time, encountering many "Compsognathus", Dromaeosaurs, Grumpy, and a female "Allosaurus" nicknamed "Big Alice". These last two are battling it out over a dead ice-cream seller, who was killed by the "Compsognathus" and Dromaeosaurs, until they sense Marshall and chase him. Marshall kills Big Alice with liquid nitrogen, finding the amplifier was eaten by the "Allosaurus". A "Pteranodon" then steals it, taking it to its nest. Marshall lightly steps through the pterosaur eggs to retrieve the amplifier in the nest. When he reaches it, it stops playing the music (Marshall's favorite musical "A Chorus Line"). The eggs begin to hatch, and they realize the music was keeping the baby pterosaurs asleep. Marshall, Will and Holly belt out "I Hope I Get It", with Cha-Ka joining in, displaying a great singing voice, much to Marshall's surprise. (As well as the viewers').


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: Marshall, Will and Cha-Ka celebrate, Holly takes a dinosaur egg and learns from a recording left by the long-deceased Zarn that Enik is lying (he is the one planning the Earth invasion). She is captured by the Sleestaks, and brought to the Library of Skulls for judgment. The others save her, but the villain, with the amplifier, and controlling the Sleestaks, leaves to open a portal to Earth.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: Marshall pole vaults into Grumpy's mouth and (after removing an intestinal blockage), finally befriends him. He joins the others to defeat the Sleestak army and confront Enik. After the crystal link between the Land of the Lost and Earth is shattered, Enik reveals the portal will close forever. Thinking fast, Marshall grabs Holly's crystal, inserting it into the port. Knowing the substitute crystal won't hold for long, they leave quickly. Will chooses to stay, learning later that female Pakuni are very attractive.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: A triumphant Marshall reappears on "Today" with the dinosaur egg Holly brought back, promoting his new book ""Matt Lauer Can Suck It!"". The egg left behind on the "Today" set hatches a baby Sleestak, which hisses as the screen goes black.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: The original actors who played Holly and Will in the TV series, Kathy Coleman and Wesley Eure, filmed cameos for the film. However, the final version of the film cut these scenes. Bobb'e J. Thompson, Kiernan Shipka ("uncredited"), Dylan Sprayberry, and Sierra McCormick appeared in a cameo as Tar Pit Kids and Raymond Ochoa as an uncredited boy in a museum.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: Production for the film began on March 4, 2008. Only one week's worth of filming was shot using a large-scale soundstage with green screen technology. The rest of filming took place on location in places such as the Dumont Dunes in the Mojave Desert, the La Brea Tar Pits in Hancock Park, and Trona, California.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: The first trailer was shown during Super Bowl XLIII. Subway Restaurants, which paid to appear in the film and had cross promotions with (appearing on their cups), unveiled the second trailer exclusively on their website. JW Marriott Hotels and Pop Rocks also purchased rights to market with film tie-ins. Syfy aired a marathon of the original series on Memorial Day in 2009 in coordination with the studio to have frequent film clips and an interview with Sid and Marty Krofft. After the film's release, another marathon aired on Chiller on June 6. The majority of the first two seasons were also made available on Hulu. Ahead of the film's release, Universal also released the complete series on DVD; it had previously been released by Rhino Home Video. The entire series is also available via download from Xbox Live. Two different games were released online to promote the film. "Chakker" was available to play on the film's official Web site while "Crystal Adventure" was a free downloadable game for iPhones from Kewlbox. Both Subway and MapQuest hosted an online sweepstakes on their respective Web sites with various movie-related merchandise given away as prizes. Both sweepstakes ran from May 18 through June 7 of 2009. Ferrell also appeared on the season 4 premiere of "Man vs. Wild", which aired June 2, 2009, to promote the film.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: The score to "Land of the Lost" was composed by Michael Giacchino, who recorded his score with an 88-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony and a 35-person choir. On May 10, it was also announced by Dave Mustaine on TheLiveLine that some music from Megadeth would appear in the film. Whether this would be music from the new record was not entirely clear, however during the phone message Mustaine stated that there was new music playing in the background of the message. However parts of the song "The Right to Go Insane", from the 2009 album "Endgame", can be heard near the end of the film. In the film, Rick Marshall sings the original "Land of the Lost" theme and two other tracks (Tracks 5 and 27) utilize parts of the theme as well., The musical "A Chorus Line" plays a part in the story, and Ferrell sings Cher's 1998 dance pop hit "Believe". Varèse Sarabande released the soundtrack album on June 9, 2009 (tracks 30-32 are bonus tracks).


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: The film serves as a parody of the original TV series, similar to "The Brady Bunch Movie" and "Starsky & Hutch". In the original series, the main characters were the father and two children. While the first names remain the same, the film converts the Holly character into an unrelated research assistant to allow for more risque humor because she is the main character's love interest. Will, instead of being a son, is an amusement park operator and survivalist. Rick Marshall is a paleontologist in the film, not a park ranger as in the original series. The film's budget also uses CGI special effects rather than the puppet and stop motion animation effects that defined the original series. While the original Saturday morning show targeted a child audience, the film was intended for an adult audience and includes profanity, sex, drug references, and other adult-oriented material.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: On its opening day of June 5, the film was a box office flop by grossing only $7.9 million. The film performed under expectations in its first weekend in theaters, its $19 million opening was far less than the expected $30 million. The film's box office results fell far behind that of the 2009 comedy "The Hangover", which opened during the same weekend. The film's opening weekend gross was about two-thirds what Universal reportedly expected to earn. It made $69 million worldwide. In 2014, the "Los Angeles Times" listed the film as one of the most expensive box office flops of all time.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 26% based on 191 reviews, with an average rating of 4.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Only loosely based on the original TV series, "Land of the Lost" is decidedly less kid-friendly and feels more like a series of inconsistent sketches than a cohesive adventure comedy." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 32 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" remarked that it "has stray amusing tidbits, but overall it leaves you feeling splattered", Kirk Honeycutt of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote: "Lame sketch comedy, an uninspired performance from Will Ferrell and an overall failure of the imagination turn Brad Silberling's Land of the Lost into a lethargic meander through a wilderness of misfiring gags." "The Wall Street Journal" stated that it "isn't worth the celluloid it's printed on". The New York "Daily News" called it "a high-concept disaster". "The Miami Herald" commented that "the whole thing feels at least three summers too stale."


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: Roger Ebert gave the film a rating of 3 out of 4, and said that despite the widespread disdain he had "moderate admiration" for the film. Ebert wrote "I guess you have to be in the mood for a goofball picture like this. I guess I was." Dana Stevens of Slate.com called it "an enjoyable regression to Saturday mornings gone by, as junky and sweet as a strawberry Pop-Tart."


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: At the Savannah Film Festival in 2011, Ron Meyer (president of Universal Pictures), said that ""Land of the Lost" was just crap. I mean, there was no excuse for it. The best intentions all went wrong." In 2012, Danny McBride defended the film, saying "There are the purists, who I always read about, that are like, 'I can't believe you're raping my childhood.' If "Land of the Lost" is your childhood, and we're raping it, I apologize. I think the show is awesome, and I think [screenwriters] Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas keep the mythology intact without taking it too seriously. If it was taken too seriously, it's just "Jurassic Park". We've seen that movie before. This is a more interesting take on that tone."


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: Sid & Marty Krofft apologized for the film at a 2017 Comic-Con appearance, calling it "one of the worst films ever made", saying that they had very little involvement in the film and only sporadically visited the set.


title: Land of the Lost (film)

text: On February 1, 2010, the film led the 30th Golden Raspberry Awards with seven nominations (tied with "") including Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Ferrell), Worst Director (Silberling), Worst Screenplay, Worst Supporting Actor (Taccone), Worst Screen Couple (Ferrell and any co-star, creature or "comic riff") and Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel. The film won the Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel award.


title: Technetium

text: Technetium is a chemical element with the symbol Tc and atomic number 43. It is the lightest element whose isotopes are all radioactive. All available technetium is produced as a synthetic element. Naturally occurring technetium is a spontaneous fission product in uranium ore and thorium ore, the most common source, or the product of neutron capture in molybdenum ores. This silvery gray, crystalline transition metal lies between manganese and rhenium in group 7 of the periodic table, and its chemical properties are intermediate between those of both adjacent elements. The most common naturally occurring isotope is Tc, in traces only.


title: Technetium

text: Many of technetium's properties had been predicted by Dmitri Mendeleev before it was discovered. Mendeleev noted a gap in his periodic table and gave the undiscovered element the provisional name "ekamanganese" ("Em"). In 1937, technetium (specifically the technetium-97 isotope) became the first predominantly artificial element to be produced, hence its name (from the Greek , " technetos", from "techne", as in "craft", "art" and having the meaning of "artificial", +


title: Technetium

text: One short-lived gamma ray-emitting nuclear isomer, technetium-99m, is used in nuclear medicine for a wide variety of tests, such as bone cancer diagnoses. The ground state of the nuclide technetium-99 is used as a gamma-ray-free source of beta particles. Long-lived technetium isotopes produced commercially are byproducts of the fission of uranium-235 in nuclear reactors and are extracted from nuclear fuel rods. Because even the longest-lived isotope of technetium has a relatively short half-life (4.21 million years), the 1952 detection of technetium in red giants helped to prove that stars can produce heavier elements.


title: Technetium

text: From the 1860s through 1871, early forms of the periodic table proposed by Dmitri Mendeleev contained a gap between molybdenum (element 42) and ruthenium (element 44). In 1871, Mendeleev predicted this missing element would occupy the empty place below manganese and have similar chemical properties. Mendeleev gave it the provisional name "ekamanganese" (from "eka"-, the Sanskrit word for "one") because the predicted element was one place down from the known element manganese.


title: Technetium

text: Many early researchers, both before and after the periodic table was published, were eager to be the first to discover and name the missing element. Its location in the table suggested that it should be easier to find than other undiscovered elements.


title: Technetium

text: German chemists Walter Noddack, Otto Berg, and Ida Tacke reported the discovery of element 75 and element 43 in 1925, and named element 43 "masurium" (after Masuria in eastern Prussia, now in Poland, the region where Walter Noddack's family originated). The group bombarded columbite with a beam of electrons and deduced element 43 was present by examining X-ray emission spectrograms. The wavelength of the X-rays produced is related to the atomic number by a formula derived by Henry Moseley in 1913. The team claimed to detect a faint X-ray signal at a wavelength produced by element 43. Later experimenters could not replicate the discovery, and it was dismissed as an error for many years. Still, in 1933, a series of articles on the discovery of elements quoted the name "masurium" for element 43. Whether the 1925 team actually discovered element 43 is still debated.


title: Technetium

text: The discovery of element 43 was finally confirmed in a 1937 experiment at the University of Palermo in Sicily by Carlo Perrier and Emilio Segrè. In mid-1936, Segrè visited the United States, first Columbia University in New York and then the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. He persuaded cyclotron inventor Ernest Lawrence to let him take back some discarded cyclotron parts that had become radioactive. Lawrence mailed him a molybdenum foil that had been part of the deflector in the cyclotron.


title: Technetium

text: Segrè enlisted his colleague Perrier to attempt to prove, through comparative chemistry, that the molybdenum activity was indeed from an element with the atomic number 43. In 1937, they succeeded in isolating the isotopes technetium-95m and technetium-97. University of Palermo officials wanted them to name their discovery ""panormium"", after the Latin name for Palermo, "Panormus". In 1947 element 43 was named after the Greek word "τεχνητός", meaning "artificial", since it was the first element to be artificially produced. Segrè returned to Berkeley and met Glenn T. Seaborg. They isolated the metastable isotope technetium-99m, which is now used in some ten million medical diagnostic procedures annually.


title: Technetium

text: In 1952, the astronomer Paul W. Merrill in California detected the spectral signature of technetium (specifically wavelengths of 403.1 nm, 423.8 nm, 426.2 nm, and 429.7 nm) in light from S-type red giants. The stars were near the end of their lives but were rich in the short-lived element, which indicated that it was being produced in the stars by nuclear reactions. That evidence bolstered the hypothesis that heavier elements are the product of nucleosynthesis in stars. More recently, such observations provided evidence that elements are formed by neutron capture in the s-process.


title: Technetium

text: Since that discovery, there have been many searches in terrestrial materials for natural sources of technetium. In 1962, technetium-99 was isolated and identified in pitchblende from the Belgian Congo in extremely small quantities (about 0.2 ng/kg), where it originates as a spontaneous fission product of uranium-238. The Oklo natural nuclear fission reactor contains evidence that significant amounts of technetium-99 were produced and have since decayed into ruthenium-99.


title: Technetium

text: Technetium is a silvery-gray radioactive metal with an appearance similar to platinum, commonly obtained as a gray powder. The crystal structure of the bulk pure metal is hexagonal close-packed. The crystal structure of the nanodisperse pure metal is cubic. Nanodisperse technetium does not have a split NMR spectrum, while hexagonal bulk technetium has the Tc-99-NMR spectrum split in 9 satellites. Atomic technetium has characteristic emission lines at wavelengths of 363.3 nm, 403.1 nm, 426.2 nm, 429.7 nm, and 485.3 nm.


title: Technetium

text: The metal form is slightly paramagnetic, meaning its magnetic dipoles align with external magnetic fields, but will assume random orientations once the field is removed. Pure, metallic, single-crystal technetium becomes a type-II superconductor at temperatures below 7.46 K. Below this temperature, technetium has a very high magnetic penetration depth, greater than any other element except niobium.


title: Technetium

text: Technetium is located in the seventh group of the periodic table, between rhenium and manganese. As predicted by the periodic law, its chemical properties are between those two elements. Of the two, technetium more closely resembles rhenium, particularly in its chemical inertness and tendency to form covalent bonds. This is consistent with the tendency of period 5 elements to resemble their counterparts in period 6 more than period 4 due to the lanthanide contraction. Unlike manganese, technetium does not readily form cations (ions with a net positive charge). Technetium exhibits nine oxidation states from −1 to +7, with +4, +5, and +7 being the most common. Technetium dissolves in aqua regia, nitric acid, and concentrated sulfuric acid, but it is not soluble in hydrochloric acid of any concentration.


title: Technetium

text: Technetium can catalyse the destruction of hydrazine by nitric acid, and this property is due to its multiplicity of valencies. This caused a problem in the separation of plutonium from uranium in nuclear fuel processing, where hydrazine is used as a protective reductant to keep plutonium in the trivalent rather than the more stable tetravalent state. The problem was exacerbated by the mutually enhanced solvent extraction of technetium and zirconium at the previous stage, and required a process modification.


title: Technetium

text: The most prevalent form of technetium that is easily accessible is sodium pertechnetate, Na[TcO]. The majority of this material is produced by radioactive decay from [MoO]:


title: Technetium

text: Pertechnetate (tetroxidotechnetate) behaves analogously to perchlorate, both of which are tetrahedral. Unlike permanganate (), it is only a weak oxidizing agent.


title: Technetium

text: Related to pertechnetate is technetium heptoxide. This pale-yellow, volatile solid is produced by oxidation of Tc metal and related precursors:


title: Technetium

text: It is a molecular metal oxide, analogous to manganese heptoxide. It adopts a centrosymmetric structure with two types of Tc−O bonds with 167 and 184 pm bond lengths.


title: Technetium

text: HTcO is a strong acid. In concentrated sulfuric acid, [TcO] converts to the octahedral form TcO(OH)(HO), the conjugate base of the hypothetical triaquo complex [TcO(HO)].


title: Technetium

text: Technetium forms a dioxide, disulfide, diselenide, and ditelluride. An ill-defined TcS forms upon treating pertechnate with hydrogen sulfide. It thermally decomposes into disulfide and elemental sulfur. Similarly the dioxide can be produced by reduction of the TcO.


title: Technetium

text: Unlike the case for rhenium, a trioxide has not been isolated for technetium. However, TcO has been identified in the gas phase using mass spectrometry.


title: Technetium

text: The following binary (containing only two elements) technetium halides are known: TcF, TcF, TcCl, TcBr, TcBr, α-TcCl, β-TcCl, TcI, α-TcCl, and β-TcCl. The oxidation states range from Tc(VI) to Tc(II). Technetium halides exhibit different structure types, such as molecular octahedral complexes, extended chains, layered sheets, and metal clusters arranged in a three-dimensional network. These compounds are produced by combining the metal and halogen or by less direct reactions.


title: Technetium

text: TcCl is obtained by chlorination of Tc metal or TcO Upon heating, TcCl gives the corresponding Tc(III) and Tc(II) chlorides.


title: Technetium

text: The structure of TcCl is composed of infinite zigzag chains of edge-sharing TcCl octahedra. It is isomorphous to transition metal tetrachlorides of zirconium, hafnium, and platinum.


title: Technetium

text: Two polymorphs of technetium trichloride exist, α- and β-TcCl. The α polymorph is also denoted as TcCl. It adopts a confacial bioctahedral structure. It is prepared by treating the chloro-acetate Tc(OCCH)Cl with HCl. Like ReCl, the structure of the α-polymorph consists of triangles with short M-M distances. β-TcCl features octahedral Tc centers, which are organized in pairs, as seen also for molybdenum trichloride. TcBr does not adopt the structure of either trichloride phase. Instead it has the structure of molybdenum tribromide, consisting of chains of confacial octahedra with alternating short and long Tc—Tc contacts. TcI has the same structure as the high temperature phase of TiI, featuring chains of confacial octahedra with equal Tc—Tc contacts.


title: Technetium

text: Several anionic technetium halides are known. The binary tetrahalides can be converted to the hexahalides [TcX] (X = F, Cl, Br, I), which adopt octahedral molecular geometry. More reduced halides form anionic clusters with Tc–Tc bonds. The situation is similar for the related elements of Mo, W, Re. These clusters have the nuclearity Tc, Tc, Tc, and Tc. The more stable Tc and Tc clusters have prism shapes where vertical pairs of Tc atoms are connected by triple bonds and the planar atoms by single bonds. Every technetium atom makes six bonds, and the remaining valence electrons can be saturated by one axial and two bridging ligand halogen atoms such as chlorine or bromine.


title: Technetium

text: Technetium forms a variety of coordination complexes with organic ligands. Many have been well-investigated because of their relevance to nuclear medicine.


title: Technetium

text: Technetium forms a variety of compounds with Tc–C bonds, i.e. organotechnetium complexes. Prominent members of this class are complexes with CO, arene, and cyclopentadienyl ligands. The binary carbonyl Tc(CO) is a white volatile solid. In this molecule, two technetium atoms are bound to each other; each atom is surrounded by octahedra of five carbonyl ligands. The bond length between technetium atoms, 303 pm, is significantly larger than the distance between two atoms in metallic technetium (272 pm). Similar carbonyls are formed by technetium's congeners, manganese and rhenium. Interest in organotechnetium compounds has also been motivated by applications in nuclear medicine. Technetium also forms aquo-carbonyl complexes, one prominent complex being [Tc(CO)(HO)], which are unusual compared to other metal carbonyls.


title: Technetium

text: Technetium, with atomic number "Z" = 43, is the lowest-numbered element in the periodic table for which all isotopes are radioactive. The second-lightest exclusively radioactive element, promethium, has atomic number 61. Atomic nuclei with an odd number of protons are less stable than those with even numbers, even when the total number of nucleons (protons + neutrons) is even, and odd numbered elements have fewer stable isotopes.


title: Technetium

text: The most stable radioactive isotopes are technetium-97 with a half-life of 4.21 million years, technetium-98 with 4.2 million years, and technetium-99 with 211,100 years. Thirty other radioisotopes have been characterized with mass numbers ranging from 85 to 118. Most of these have half-lives that are less than an hour, the exceptions being technetium-93 (2.73 hours), technetium-94 (4.88 hours), technetium-95 (20 hours), and technetium-96 (4.3 days).


title: Technetium

text: The primary decay mode for isotopes lighter than technetium-98 (Tc) is electron capture, producing molybdenum ("Z" = 42). For technetium-98 and heavier isotopes, the primary mode is beta emission (the emission of an electron or positron), producing ruthenium ("Z" = 44), with the exception that technetium-100 can decay both by beta emission and electron capture.


title: Technetium

text: Technetium also has numerous nuclear isomers, which are isotopes with one or more excited nucleons. Technetium-97m (Tc; "m" stands for metastability) is the most stable, with a half-life of 91 days and excitation energy 0.0965 MeV. This is followed by technetium-95m (61 days, 0.03 MeV), and technetium-99m (6.01 hours, 0.142 MeV). Technetium-99m emits only gamma rays and decays to technetium-99.


title: Technetium

text: Technetium-99 (Tc) is a major product of the fission of uranium-235 (U), making it the most common and most readily available isotope of technetium. One gram of technetium-99 produces 6.2×10 disintegrations per second (in other words, the specific activity of Tc is 0.62 GBq/g).


title: Technetium

text: Technetium occurs naturally in the Earth's crust in minute concentrations of about 0.003 parts per trillion. Technetium is so rare because the half-lives of Tc and Tc are only 4.2 million years. More than a thousand of such periods have passed since the formation of the Earth, so the probability of survival of even one atom of primordial technetium is effectively zero. However, small amounts exist as spontaneous fission products in uranium ores. A kilogram of uranium contains an estimated 1 nanogram (10 g) equivalent to ten trillion atoms of technetium. Some red giant stars with the spectral types S-, M-, and N contain a spectral absorption line indicating the presence of technetium. These red giants are known informally as technetium stars.


title: Technetium

text: In contrast to the rare natural occurrence, bulk quantities of technetium-99 are produced each year from spent nuclear fuel rods, which contain various fission products. The fission of a gram of uranium-235 in nuclear reactors yields 27 mg of technetium-99, giving technetium a fission product yield of 6.1%. Other fissile isotopes produce similar yields of technetium, such as 4.9% from uranium-233 and 6.21% from plutonium-239. An estimated 49,000 TBq (78 metric tons) of technetium was produced in nuclear reactors between 1983 and 1994, by far the dominant source of terrestrial technetium. Only a fraction of the production is used commercially.


title: Technetium

text: Technetium-99 is produced by the nuclear fission of both uranium-235 and plutonium-239. It is therefore present in radioactive waste and in the nuclear fallout of fission bomb explosions. Its decay, measured in becquerels per amount of spent fuel, is the dominant contributor to nuclear waste radioactivity after about 10 to 10 years after the creation of the nuclear waste. From 1945 to 1994, an estimated 160 TBq (about 250 kg) of technetium-99 was released into the environment during atmospheric nuclear tests. The amount of technetium-99 from nuclear reactors released into the environment up to 1986 is on the order of 1000 TBq (about 1600 kg), primarily by nuclear fuel reprocessing; most of this was discharged into the sea. Reprocessing methods have reduced emissions since then, but as of 2005 the primary release of technetium-99 into the environment is by the Sellafield plant, which released an estimated 550 TBq (about 900 kg) from 1995 to 1999 into the Irish Sea. From 2000 onwards the amount has been limited by regulation to 90 TBq (about 140 kg) per year. Discharge of technetium into the sea resulted in contamination of some seafood with minuscule quantities of this element. For example, European lobster and fish from west Cumbria contain about 1 Bq/kg of technetium.


title: Technetium

text: The metastable isotope technetium-99m is continuously produced as a fission product from the fission of uranium or plutonium in nuclear reactors:


title: Technetium

text: Because used fuel is allowed to stand for several years before reprocessing, all molybdenum-99 and technetium-99m is decayed by the time that the fission products are separated from the major actinides in conventional nuclear reprocessing. The liquid left after plutonium–uranium extraction (PUREX) contains a high concentration of technetium as but almost all of this is technetium-99, not technetium-99m.


title: Technetium

text: The vast majority of the technetium-99m used in medical work is produced by irradiating dedicated highly enriched uranium targets in a reactor, extracting molybdenum-99 from the targets in reprocessing facilities, and recovering at the diagnostic center the technetium-99m produced upon decay of molybdenum-99. Molybdenum-99 in the form of molybdate is adsorbed onto acid alumina () in a shielded column chromatograph inside a technetium-99m generator ("technetium cow", also occasionally called a "molybdenum cow"). Molybdenum-99 has a half-life of 67 hours, so short-lived technetium-99m (half-life: 6 hours), which results from its decay, is being constantly produced. The soluble pertechnetate can then be chemically extracted by elution using a saline solution. A drawback of this process is that it requires targets containing uranium-235, which are subject to the security precautions of fissile materials.


title: Technetium

text: Almost two-thirds of the world's supply comes from two reactors; the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario, Canada, and the High Flux Reactor at Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group in Petten, Netherlands. All major reactors that produce technetium-99m were built in the 1960s and are close to the end of life. The two new Canadian Multipurpose Applied Physics Lattice Experiment reactors planned and built to produce 200% of the demand of technetium-99m relieved all other producers from building their own reactors. With the cancellation of the already tested reactors in 2008, the future supply of technetium-99m became problematic.


title: Technetium

text: The long half-life of technetium-99 and its potential to form anionic species creates a major concern for long-term disposal of radioactive waste. Many of the processes designed to remove fission products in reprocessing plants aim at cationic species such as caesium (e.g., caesium-137) and strontium (e.g., strontium-90). Hence the pertechnetate escapes through those processes. Current disposal options favor burial in continental, geologically stable rock. The primary danger with such practice is the likelihood that the waste will contact water, which could leach radioactive contamination into the environment. The anionic pertechnetate and iodide tend not to adsorb into the surfaces of minerals, and are likely to be washed away. By comparison plutonium, uranium, and caesium tend to bind to soil particles. Technetium could be immobilized by some environments, such as microbial activity in lake bottom sediments, and the environmental chemistry of technetium is an area of active research.


title: Technetium

text: An alternative disposal method, transmutation, has been demonstrated at CERN for technetium-99. In this process, the technetium (technetium-99 as a metal target) is bombarded with neutrons to form the short-lived technetium-100 (half-life = 16 seconds) which decays by beta decay to stable ruthenium-100. If recovery of usable ruthenium is a goal, an extremely pure technetium target is needed; if small traces of the minor actinides such as americium and curium are present in the target, they are likely to undergo fission and form more fission products which increase the radioactivity of the irradiated target. The formation of ruthenium-106 (half-life 374 days) from the 'fresh fission' is likely to increase the activity of the final ruthenium metal, which will then require a longer cooling time after irradiation before the ruthenium can be used.


title: Technetium

text: The actual separation of technetium-99 from spent nuclear fuel is a long process. During fuel reprocessing, it comes out as a component of the highly radioactive waste liquid. After sitting for several years, the radioactivity reduces to a level where extraction of the long-lived isotopes, including technetium-99, becomes feasible. A series of chemical processes yields technetium-99 metal of high purity.


title: Technetium

text: Molybdenum-99, which decays to form technetium-99m, can be formed by the neutron activation of molybdenum-98. When needed, other technetium isotopes are not produced in significant quantities by fission, but are manufactured by neutron irradiation of parent isotopes (for example, technetium-97 can be made by neutron irradiation of ruthenium-96).


title: Technetium

text: The feasibility of technetium-99m production with the 22-MeV-proton bombardment of a molybdenum-100 target in medical cyclotrons following the reaction Mo(p,2n)Tc was demonstrated in 1971. The recent shortages of medical technetium-99m reignited the interest in its production by proton bombardment of isotopically enriched (>99.5%) molybdenum-100 targets. Other techniques are being investigated for obtaining molybdenum-99 from molybdenum-100 via (n,2n) or (γ,n) reactions in particle accelerators.


title: Technetium

text: Technetium-99m ("m" indicates that this is a metastable nuclear isomer) is used in radioactive isotope medical tests. For example, Technetium-99m is a radioactive tracer that medical imaging equipment tracks in the human body. It is well suited to the role because it emits readily detectable 140 keV gamma rays, and its half-life is 6.01 hours (meaning that about 94% of it decays to technetium-99 in 24 hours). The chemistry of technetium allows it to be bound to a variety of biochemical compounds, each of which determines how it is metabolized and deposited in the body, and this single isotope can be used for a multitude of diagnostic tests. More than 50 common radiopharmaceuticals are based on technetium-99m for imaging and functional studies of the brain, heart muscle, thyroid, lungs, liver, gall bladder, kidneys, skeleton, blood, and tumors.


title: Technetium

text: The longer-lived isotope, technetium-95m with a half-life of 61 days, is used as a radioactive tracer to study the movement of technetium in the environment and in plant and animal systems.


title: Technetium

text: Technetium-99 decays almost entirely by beta decay, emitting beta particles with consistent low energies and no accompanying gamma rays. Moreover, its long half-life means that this emission decreases very slowly with time. It can also be extracted to a high chemical and isotopic purity from radioactive waste. For these reasons, it is a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standard beta emitter, and is used for equipment calibration. Technetium-99 has also been proposed for optoelectronic devices and nanoscale nuclear batteries.


title: Technetium

text: Like rhenium and palladium, technetium can serve as a catalyst. In processes such as the dehydrogenation of isopropyl alcohol, it is a far more effective catalyst than either rhenium or palladium. However, its radioactivity is a major problem in safe catalytic applications.


title: Technetium

text: When steel is immersed in water, adding a small concentration (55 ppm) of potassium pertechnetate(VII) to the water protects the steel from corrosion, even if the temperature is raised to . For this reason, pertechnetate has been used as an anodic corrosion inhibitor for steel, although technetium's radioactivity poses problems that limit this application to self-contained systems. While (for example) can also inhibit corrosion, it requires a concentration ten times as high. In one experiment, a specimen of carbon steel was kept in an aqueous solution of pertechnetate for 20 years and was still uncorroded. The mechanism by which pertechnetate prevents corrosion is not well understood, but seems to involve the reversible formation of a thin surface layer (passivation). One theory holds that the pertechnetate reacts with the steel surface to form a layer of technetium dioxide which prevents further corrosion; the same effect explains how iron powder can be used to remove pertechnetate from water. The effect disappears rapidly if the concentration of pertechnetate falls below the minimum concentration or if too high a concentration of other ions is added.


title: Technetium

text: As noted, the radioactive nature of technetium (3 MBq/L at the concentrations required) makes this corrosion protection impractical in almost all situations. Nevertheless, corrosion protection by pertechnetate ions was proposed (but never adopted) for use in boiling water reactors.


title: Technetium

text: Technetium plays no natural biological role and is not normally found in the human body. Technetium is produced in quantity by nuclear fission, and spreads more readily than many radionuclides. It appears to have low chemical toxicity. For example, no significant change in blood formula, body and organ weights, and food consumption could be detected for rats which ingested up to 15 µg of technetium-99 per gram of food for several weeks. In the body, technetium quickly gets converted to the stable ion, which is highly water-soluble and quickly excreted. The radiological toxicity of technetium (per unit of mass) is a function of compound, type of radiation for the isotope in question, and the isotope's half-life.


title: Technetium

text: All isotopes of technetium must be handled carefully. The most common isotope, technetium-99, is a weak beta emitter; such radiation is stopped by the walls of laboratory glassware. The primary hazard when working with technetium is inhalation of dust; such radioactive contamination in the lungs can pose a significant cancer risk. For most work, careful handling in a fume hood is sufficient, and a glove box is not needed.


title: Weyes Blood

text: Natalie Laura Mering (born June 11, 1988), known professionally as Weyes Blood (pronounced ), is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She was primarily raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She has been performing her own material under variations of the name Weyes Blood since 2003.


title: Weyes Blood

text: Her music has undergone significant changes throughout her career. She has been involved in the underground noise music scene and was briefly bassist of the Portland, Oregon-based group Jackie-O Motherfucker and was singer for the band Satanized. As Weyes Blood she made two self-released albums, changing to Weyes Blood to release "The Outside Room" (2011) on microlabel Not Not Fun Records. She then signed a recording contract with independent label Mexican Summer, releasing "The Innocents" (2014) and "Front Row Seat to Earth" (2016). She released her fourth studio album, "Titanic Rising" (2019) on Sub Pop, to critical acclaim. Her fifth studio album, "And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow", was released on Sub Pop on November 18, 2022.


title: Weyes Blood

text: Natalie Laura Mering was born on June 11, 1988 in Santa Monica, California, into a deeply religious born again Pentecostal Christian family. Commenting on her upbringing, Mering said: "I was raised in a real spiritual, Bible Belt household. So I developed my own cynicism because there are always things in the Bible that really bum me out... I became really obsessed with the Kids in the Hall as a kid, and they had Scott Thompson, who's like the one gay member. I remember having this feeling that 'Oh, Scott Thompson isn't going to heaven? How could that be?' That was my first big tipoff that something wasn't quite right with dogmatic Christianity. And then I was just trying to undo it at the age of 12."


title: Weyes Blood

text: Mering's family moved several times throughout her childhood; she spent her early life in Scotts Valley, California before they settled in Doylestown, Pennsylvania in 1999, where she attended high school. Both her older brothers and parents are musicians and music played an important part in her upbringing. Her father, Sumner Mering, is a musician and guitarist who was in the Los Angeles new wave band Sumner in the late 1970s.


title: Weyes Blood

text: At the age of 15, Mering began using the moniker Wise Blood (a reference to the 1952 Flannery O'Connor novel) to write songs. She changed to Weyes Bluhd on several self-released records before changing the spelling to Weyes Blood. After finishing high school, Mering relocated to Portland, Oregon to attend Lewis & Clark College, where she majored in music and had a radio show on the campus radio station. However, Mering dropped out after her first year of studies. She subsequently began touring the underground music scene, performing as a bassist in the Portland-based band Jackie-O Motherfucker and playing keyboards and singing with noise rock band Satanized.


title: Weyes Blood

text: In 2011, she released her debut studio album "The Outside Room" as Weyes Blood and the Dark Juices on Not Not Fun Records. "Uncut" magazine described the album as <nowiki>"</nowiki>devotional and ethereal, but with an edge", while Beatbots found it "an impressive and ambitious album". Mering released her second studio album in October 2014 called "The Innocents," which was released through Mexican Summer. It was recorded in rural Pennsylvania, Mering's apartment and Gary's Electric Studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It included contributions by Jacob Brunner (drums) and James Strong (bass). Mering described the theme of the album as being "about my first real relationship that went really awry."


title: Weyes Blood

text: After the album's release, Mering relocated from New York to Los Angeles, California. She commented: "I was in New York alone: no friends, no money, no record deal at the time. Literally I had nothing." In 2016, she released her third studio album "Front Row Seat to Earth", on Mexican Summer to critical acclaim, and toured throughout Europe and the States. NPR wrote that the album reexamines "intimacy and idealism in ways that showcase Mering's gift for measuring and mediating heady emotions." Mering stated the songs on the album were largely inspired by the isolation she felt while living in New York.


title: Weyes Blood

text: On February 12, 2019, a new studio album titled "Titanic Rising" was announced and available to pre-order on her website, along with dates of her upcoming tour. The album was released by Sub Pop on April 5, 2019 to critical acclaim. Mering describes "Titanic Rising" as "The Kinks meet WWII or Bob Seger meets Enya." Other influences include Kate Bush and Karen Carpenter of the Carpenters. "Titanic Rising" is described as a record about romantic disappointment, damaged reality, and finding hope.


title: Weyes Blood

text: The record received high placements on year-end and decade-end lists from publications such as "Pitchfork", "Uproxx", "Paste", "Uncut", "Dazed", "The Guardian", and NPR. On July 16, 2019, she had her TV debut on "Late Night with Seth Meyers", where she performed her single "Everyday" from "Titanic Rising". Live performance highlights include sold-out tours in the US and Europe, as well as opening for Kacey Musgraves in the fall of 2019 and singing with Lana Del Rey at the Hollywood Bowl."


title: Weyes Blood

text: Mering was heavily involved in the 2020 Tim Heidecker concept album "Fear of Death", singing on all twelve tracks, co-writing two and receiving a co-producer credit. She received wider attention when she featured (along with Zella Day) on the closing track of the 2021 Lana Del Rey studio album "Chemtrails over the Country Club", a cover of the Joni Mitchell song "For Free".


title: Weyes Blood

text: On September 12, 2022, Mering announced her fifth studio album "And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow" would be released on November 18, 2022, and released its lead single "It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody" the same day. In promotion of the album she will embark on the In Holy Flux Tour across North America and Europe in 2023. The second single, "Grapevine", followed on October 11, 2022. Upon its release, the album received critical acclaim, aggregating a weighted average score of 88 on Metacritic based on 19 critic reviews.


title: Weyes Blood

text: Mering's musical style has been labelled as chamber pop, psychedelic folk, soft rock, noise and experimental rock.


title: Weyes Blood

text: Mering has stated that church music, which figured prominently in her upbringing, has been an influence on her songwriting. "Most of the great classical music and early music of our time is written for God in a sacred space," she said. "So sacred music and sacred space music — that was my favorite thing about music. Not so much content-wise. Not so much the theory and concept of God, but just the idea that we've built this gigantic, stone cathedral palace for people to sing in...When I record, I think about sacred space and I think about what would be the sound of your soul if there is music coming out of it. It would probably be an echoey, strange chamber." In an interview with Nardwuar in 2019 she revealed that she is also influenced by the Velvet Underground, Wolf Eyes, and experimental artist Inca Ore. Mering states in the same interview that early in her career while making experimental music, people likened her songs to horror film soundtracks. So she began to listen to and be influenced by film soundtracks such as "Jaws" (1975) and "The Wizard of Oz" (1939).


title: Weyes Blood

text: Mering is also highly influenced by the late singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson, in both singing style and songwriting.


title: Jordan Love

text: Jordan Alexander Love (born November 2, 1998) is an American football quarterback for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Utah State and was drafted by the Packers in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.


title: Jordan Love

text: Love was born in Bakersfield, California, on November 2, 1998. His father, Orbin, died when Love was 14 years old. Love attended Liberty High School. After being told he could not play quarterback as a freshman, he was named the starter by his senior year. As a senior, Love passed for 2,148 yards and 24 touchdowns and rushed for 806 yards with eight touchdowns. A 2-star recruit, he committed to play college football at Utah State over offers from Eastern Washington, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, and Sacramento State.


title: Jordan Love

text: As a redshirt freshman in 2017, he played in 12 games and started the final six. He finished the season, completing 129 of 235 passes for 1,631 yards, eight touchdowns and six interceptions. Following his debut at UNLV, he was named the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week.


title: Jordan Love

text: As a sophomore in 2018, Love started all 13 games, completing 267 of 417 passes for a school season record 3,567 yards with 32 touchdowns and six interceptions. He was named the MVP of the 2018 New Mexico Bowl after passing for 359 yards and four touchdowns. His team finished the season with an 11–2 record and ranked No. 22 on the AP poll. Following his sophomore season, he was expected to be a future NFL first-round draft pick.


title: Jordan Love

text: In 2019, Love returned to Utah State under a new head coach and offensive coordinator, and saw many teammates from his previous season graduate, including four starters on the offensive line. He again started all 13 games, completing 293 of 473 passes for 3,402 yards with 20 touchdowns and a career-high 17 interceptions. His team slid to a 7–6 record with the changes to the roster and coaching staff.


title: Jordan Love

text: Following the end of the 2019 season, Love announced that he would forgo his senior year by entering the 2020 NFL Draft.


title: Jordan Love

text: Love was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the first round with the 26th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, making him the first player from a Group of Five conference to be chosen in that draft. The Packers traded their original first round pick (30th overall) and a fourth-round pick (136th overall) to the Miami Dolphins to move up and select Love. The move shocked draft analysts and the news media, as the Packers already had a (then 2x) MVP quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. General manager Brian Gutekunst explained that Love was the top remaining player on his draft board, and said there "really wasn't anyone else [...] that we felt comfortable taking" with their first-round pick.


title: Jordan Love

text: On July 1, 2020, Love signed his rookie four-year, fully guaranteed contract worth $12,383,470 with a signing bonus of $6,566,160. It was the first time a quarterback received a fully guaranteed contract since the rookie pay scale was changed.


title: Jordan Love

text: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL cancelled pre-season activities for the 2020 season on July 28, 2020.


title: Jordan Love

text: On September 11, 2020, the Packers officially listed Love as the third quarterback on the depth chart to begin the season, behind Rodgers and third-year quarterback Tim Boyle, reportedly so Love could focus on his development. Love was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list by the team on November 6, 2020, and activated four days later on November 10.


title: Jordan Love

text: The Packers would finish the 2020 season with a 13–3 record, earning the number one seed in the NFC, and losing to the eventual Super Bowl champions Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship Game. Love was inactive for every game in the 2020 season, both regular season and the post-season.


title: Jordan Love

text: The Packers named Love their second-string quarterback behind Aaron Rodgers to start the 2021 season. He played in preseason games against the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills. Love made his NFL regular season debut in the fourth quarter of a 38–3 loss to the New Orleans Saints on September 12, 2021, in relief of Rodgers. He completed five of seven passes for 68 yards and lost a fumble. His first NFL completion was a 19-yard pass to rookie receiver Amari Rodgers.


title: Jordan Love

text: Love made his first NFL start on November 7, 2021, against the Kansas City Chiefs, replacing Aaron Rodgers, who had tested positive for COVID-19 four days earlier and was ineligible to play. Love completed 19-of-34 passes for 190 yards, one interception, and his first NFL touchdown, a 20-yard pass to Allen Lazard, during a 13–7 loss.


title: Jordan Love

text: On December 6, 2021, Love was placed on reserve/COVID-19 list. He was activated on December 15, 2021. On January 9, 2022, against the Detroit Lions, Love relieved Aaron Rodgers in the second half, where he completed 10 of 17 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown, but also threw 2 late interceptions as the Packers lost 37–30.


title: Jordan Love

text: On November 27, 2022, Love replaced an injured Aaron Rodgers and completed six of nine passes for 113 yards and a touchdown in a 40–33 loss against the Philadelphia Eagles. Love finished the game with a 146.8 passer rating.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin Dan (born 14 October 1983) is a Chinese former professional badminton player. He is a two-time Olympic champion, five-time World champion, as well as a six-time All England champion. Widely regarded as the greatest badminton player of all time, by the age of 28 Lin had completed the "Super Grand Slam", having won what some consider to be the nine major titles in the badminton world: Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, Thomas Cup, Sudirman Cup, Super Series Masters Finals, All England Open, Asian Games, and Asian Championships, becoming the first and only player to achieve this feat. He also became the first men's singles player to retain the Olympic gold medal by winning in 2008 and successfully defending his title in 2012.


title: Lin Dan

text: In 2004, he was dubbed "Super Dan" by opponent Peter Gade after winning the All England Open final, and the nickname has since been widely used by his fans as well as the media to refer to him, in recognition of his achievements.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin was born in Fujian, China. At a young age, Lin was encouraged to learn to play the piano by his parents, and to be a pianist. However, he chose to play badminton instead. Having started his training at the age of five, he was scouted by the People's Liberation Army Sports Team after winning the National Junior Championships aged twelve, and was enlisted into the Chinese National Badminton Team in 2001, when he was 18.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin emerged as a winner in the 2000 Badminton Asia Junior Championships in both the team and the singles events. He was also a member of the winning Chinese team and a boys' singles semi-finalist in the 2000 World Junior Championships.


title: Lin Dan

text: 2001 marked the start of then 18 year-old Lin's professional career. In his first final, at the Asian Badminton Championships, he was thrashed by compatriot Xia Xuanze.


title: Lin Dan

text: In 2002 Lin took his first title at the Korea Open. He was a member of China's 2002 Thomas Cup squad which defeated Sweden (5–0), Denmark (3–2), and South Korea (4–1) to reach the semifinals. However, Lin didn't play in the semifinal tie against Malaysia, which saw China's team tumble to a 1–3 defeat. Lin participated in another four tournaments without coming close to victory. He was knocked out in the first round of the Singapore, and Indonesia Opens, second round of the Denmark Open, and third round of the China Open. In October Lin was defeated in the semifinals of the Asian Games team competition which ended China's hope of a team gold medal.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin started the 2003 season with a third round defeat in the All England Open. He reached a final later in the year at the Japan Open but was beaten by his compatriot Xia Xuanze once again. Lin then made his inaugural debut in the World Championships in Birmingham, England. He breezed past Per-Henrik Croona and Przemysław Wacha in the first two rounds, but was beaten by Xia again in his third round match. After the world meet, he was eliminated in the semifinals of the Singapore Open, third round of the Indonesia Open, and second round of the Malaysia Open. However, Lin ended the season strongly by capturing the Denmark, Hong Kong, and China Opens, and finishing runner-up at the German Open.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin had a good start to 2004, earning the BWF's number one world ranking for the first time in February. He helped China win the qualifying round of Thomas Cup and then captured the Swiss Open. He won his first ever All England Open title by beating Peter Gade in the final. He reached the semifinal of the Japan Open before going off to Jakarta, Indonesia in May for the Thomas Cup campaign.


title: Lin Dan

text: In Thomas Cup, Lin helped China to an excellent start in which they thrashed United States and defending champion Indonesia 5–0 respectively to enter the quarterfinals. Lin then defeated Shoji Sato and Lee Hyun-il in quarterfinal and semifinal ties against Japan and South Korea respectively, each ending in 3–0 wins for China. In the final, he beat Peter Gade in straight games to give China the lead before the Chinese team eventually won three matches to one. China thus took the crown, ending a 14 years drought in the tournament.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin suffered setbacks later in the 2004 season when he was ousted in the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open, and was reported to have a leg injury in mid-July, prior to the Olympic Games. Lin "crashed" in his first Olympic Games when, as the first seed, he was ousted early by Singapore's Ronald Susilo, who claimed Lin was "too eager to win". However, Lin bounced back with three titles at the Denmark, German, and China Opens, and ended the season as a semi-finalist at the Indonesia Open.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin retained his number one world ranking during 2005, winning his second German and Hong Kong Open titles, as well as the Japan Open, China Masters, and World Cup tournaments. He also helped China recapture the Sudirman Cup (combined men's and women's team championship) when it shut-out both defending champion South Korea in the semifinals and Indonesia in the final.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin failed to retain his All England title, losing a three set final to teammate Chen Hong, and he was beaten in the final of the Malaysia Open by another rising star, Lee Chong Wei. In his bid to capture his first BWF World title at Anaheim California, he beat Kennevic Asuncion, Shoji Sato, Lee Hyun-il, and Peter Gade in succession to reach the final. There he was decisively beaten by a peak-form Taufik Hidayat. Lin was also eliminated in the semifinals of the Singapore Open and the quarterfinals of the China Open.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin started the season by reaching the semifinals of the German Open, and had a same result in China Masters and China Open. He failed to win the Malaysia Open in June, which saw his opponent Lee Chong Wei produce a superb display to save the title after being 13–20 down in the deciding game, and also lost to Taufik Hidayat in Asian Games final.


title: Lin Dan

text: However, he won six individual titles in the season. He recaptured the All England Open, and won the Chinese Taipei, Macau, Hong Kong, and Japan Opens. Most significantly, in Madrid, Spain that September he won his first world title after beating his compatriot Bao Chunlai in the final.


title: Lin Dan

text: In May, Lin and his teammates had extended China's Thomas Cup reign by shutting out Denmark 3–0 for a second consecutive title.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin Dan entered 2007 with a loss to South Korea's Park Sung-hwan in the round of 16 at the Malaysia Open. A week later he captured the Korea Open by defeating Chinese teammate Chen Jin in the final. He went on to win the German Open and then the All England championships again, crushing compatriot Chen Yu 21–13, 21–12. In June, Lin Dan was part of the Chinese Sudirman Cup team that retained the cup after beating Indonesia 3–0 in the final at Glasgow, Scotland. Later in the season Lin Dan defeated Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia and became the China Masters champion for 2007. In August, Lin Dan extended his reign as the world champion when he beat Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21–11, 22–20 in the final of the tournament held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Lin Dan thus became the first man since Yang Yang to win back to back world championships.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin started the season with a defeat in the final of the Korea Open to Lee Hyun-il. It was a match filled with controversy as Lin had a scuffle with South Korea's coach Li Mao after a line call dispute. Lin refused to apologize and received no punishment from Badminton World Federation (BWF) after its probe of the altercation. In March he suffered another defeat to his compatriot Chen Jin in the final of the All England Open, which was followed by press accusations that Lin "gave" the match to Chen in order to increase Chen's ranking points for Olympic qualification (which placed stringent limits on the number of participants from any one country). In the following week, Lin won his first Swiss Open. At the Asia Championships, Lin was again accused of helping his compatriot when his loss to Chen Jin in the semifinals ensured Chen's qualification for the Olympic Games.


title: Lin Dan

text: On 10 April 2008, Lin was involved in yet another controversy when he struck coach Ji Xinpeng in front of his teammates and the media during an intra-squad tournament prior to the Thomas Cup. The incident was allegedly triggered by his unhappiness with Ji's arrangement of the starting line-up for the tournament. Despite the episode, in May Lin proceeded to win each match he played in the Thomas Cup until China's semifinal clash with Malaysia when he lost rather tamely to Lee Chong Wei. However, China still managed to reach the final by edging Malaysia 3-2, then retained the cup against South Korea with Lin's win at first singles helping China to a 3-1 victory.


title: Lin Dan

text: In the Beijing Olympic Games, he beat Hong Kong's Ng Wei in the first round, Park Sung-hwan in the second round, and Peter Gade in the quarterfinals. He then beat his teammate Chen Jin in straight sets to set up a "dream" final against Lee Chong Wei. However, the final was a one-sided match as Lin demolished Lee 21–12, 21–8, and became the first men's singles player to win the Olympic gold as a first seed.


title: Lin Dan

text: Not back in action until the China Open in November, Lin again beat Lee in the final, before losing to Chen Jin once again in the Hong Kong Open. Lin was eligible to participate in the lucrative Masters Finals in December, but due to the withdrawal of the whole Chinese contingent (citing weariness and injuries), he didn't take part in the tournament.


title: Lin Dan

text: In March, at his first tournament appearance of 2009, Lin won his fourth All England title without dropping a game, defeating Lee Chong Wei in the final. After this dominant performance, he lost to Lee in the final of Swiss Open a week later.


title: Lin Dan

text: In May, Lin participated in the Sudirman Cup helping China to consecutive 5–0 victories over England, Japan, and Indonesia. In the semifinals against Malaysia Lin defeated Lee Chong Wei in straight games as China advanced to the final against South Korea with another shutout. In the last round the same form held true as Lin beat Park Sung-hwan thus helping China to secure the Cup for the third time in a row, and each time without dropping a match in the series.


title: Lin Dan

text: During the rest of 2009 Lin dropped only two matches; in June in the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Open, and, perhaps most surprisingly, in the finals of December's East Asian Games in Hong Kong to South Korea's little known Choi Ho-jin. Aside from those upsets, Lin dominated. In August in Hyderabad he became the first player to win the World Championships three times by beating compatriot Chen Jin in the final. Later Dan would go on to win his fourth China Masters title and first French Open title. He ended his tournament winning streak in November with the China Open title before the late-year upset loss in Hong Kong.


title: Lin Dan

text: After starting the season disappointingly with quarterfinal losses at both the All England and Swiss Opens, Lin won his first title of the year at the Badminton Asia Championships in New Delhi, which also marked his first victory at this annual event.


title: Lin Dan

text: Taking part in his fifth Thomas Cup campaign for China in May, Lin won a pair of hard fought encounters with South Korea's Park Sung-hwan in the group ties and the quarterfinals respectively. In the semifinals, he handily defeated Lee Chong Wei in contributing to China's 3-0 victory over Malaysia and a berth in the final against long time rival Indonesia. Here, Lin led off with a comfortable victory over familiar opponent Taufik Hidayat, as China went on to capture its eighth Men's World Team title; its fourth consecutively.


title: Lin Dan

text: After the Thomas Cup triumph, Lin played in the World Championships in Paris, France. He won his opening match and then beat Henri Hurskainen and Bao Chunlai in the second and third rounds respectively before being upset by Park Sung-hwan in the quarterfinals. That day also saw his archrival Lee Chong Wei exit from the tournament which was eventually won by Lin's compatriot Chen Jin. Lin then bounced back to win the China Masters, but


title: Lin Dan

text: lost the final of the Japan Open to Lee Chong Wei the following week, and conceded walkovers in the quarterfinals of both the China Open, and Hong Kong Open late in the year.


title: Lin Dan

text: However, Lin managed to win his first ever Asian Games gold medal in November by beating Lee Chong Wei in final, thus, at 27, becoming the first player to win all of the present major titles available to Asian men in badminton, both individual and national team. Lin was voted the most valuable player (MVP) at the games' closing ceremony.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin began the year with a withdrawal in the Malaysia Open's quarterfinals, which marked his third consecutive withdrawal since late 2010. This action brought some criticism, particularly by well known fellow competitor Taufik Hidayat. The very next week Lin sprang back to win the first ever million dollar badminton tournament, Korea Open by beating Lee Chong Wei in the final. He next won the German Open, beating his compatriot and reigning world champion Chen Jin in the final.


title: Lin Dan

text: At the prestigious All England Championships in March his hopes for a fifth title were put on hold when he was defeated by Lee Chong Wei in the final. However, in April he won his second Asian Championships on a day which saw China sweep all five titles and in May he helped China to a fourth consecutive Sudirman Cup title by defeating Denmark 3–0 in the final. In June, Lin's withdrawal from the Singapore Open final due to gastric flu drew jeers from fans in the stadium. Just few days later, he was upset by Sho Sasaki in the second round of Indonesia Open.


title: Lin Dan

text: Healthy again in August, Lin won his fourth World Championship title by beating familiar rivals Peter Gade in the semifinal and Lee Chong Wei in a very tight three game final at Wembley Arena, a venue which would host the badminton competition for 2012 Summer Olympics.


title: Lin Dan

text: The rather up and down season for Lin continued with the China Masters in September where he was ousted in the semi-finals, and at the Japan Open where he withdrew from the semifinals. This was followed up by a shock exit in the second round of the Denmark Open to Hong Kong player Wong Wing Ki, and another withdrawal during the semifinals of French Open despite leading in the match. He told officials that he was suffering from paronychia (an infection below the fingernail). This was his sixth retirement of the season and many in the media imputed that this was part of a strategy to improve the rankings of other Chinese singles players to allow the maximum number to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. Both Lin and Chinese coach Li Yongbo denied this, citing, instead, the heavy tournament schedule that BWF required of top players, and Lin's need to be ready for the biggest events such as the Olympics. In any case, Lin's slump did not last long. He ended the year by winning three straight events, His fifth Hong Kong Open, the China Open, and his first Super Series Masters Finals title.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin started the year by losing to Lee Chong Wei in the final of the Korea Open, and then losing in the second round of the Malaysia Open to Denmark's Jan O. Jorgensen. In early March he took his first title of the season by winning his fifth German Open. The very next week he won his fifth All England Open title as rival Lee Chong Wei was forced to retire in discomfort early in the second game of the final. In April, Lin was again the subject of some controversy when he withdrew from the semifinals of the Badminton Asia Championships, a move that was openly seen as a ploy to secure an Olympic berth for his compatriot Chen Jin.


title: Lin Dan

text: In Wuhan, China in May, Lin Dan and his teammates won all of their individual matches in each tie they played to win their fifth consecutive Thomas Cup (remarkably China's women also went entirely undefeated to regain the Uber Cup from South Korea). With only a week between Thomas Cup and the Thailand Open in early June, a fatigued Lin lost in the semifinals to Indonesia's highly capable Sony Dwi Kuncoro.


title: Lin Dan

text: At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Lin routinely beat Ireland's Scott Evans to qualify for the main draw of sixteen players where he started by trouncing fading star Taufik Hidayat. In the quarterfinals, however, Japan's hard-fighting Sho Sasaki put Lin to the test before yielding 16-21 in the third game. Lin then handily beat South Korean veteran Lee Hyun-il in the semifinals to set up yet another meeting with his chief rival Lee Chong Wei. Unlike the 2008 Olympic final this one was no cakewalk for Lin. He lost the first game to Lee but came back strongly to take the second. The rubber game was a thriller which saw Lin claw back from slight deficits most of the way to finally prevail 21-19 An ecstatic Lin thus became the first men's singles player to retain the Olympic title, while Lee, now almost 30, was once again foiled at one of the sport's two biggest events (aside from the Thomas and Uber Cups), the Olympics and the World Championships.


title: Lin Dan

text: After his 2012 Olympic victory Lin did not make another tournament appearance until the 2013 Badminton Asia Championships, in April where, citing injury, he withdrew from the quarterfinals. Amid some speculation that he was planning to retire, Lin was granted a special wild card entry into the World Championships in Guangzhou, as, despite his great achievements, his recent inactivity had caused his world ranking to fall below that of other Chinese players who would then normally fill the maximum quota of three entrants that any one country was allowed. Without appearing in any tournament between the Badminton Asia Champiohships in April and the World Championships in August, Lin was able to convert this wildcard entry into his fifth world title. He won all of his matches in straight games until the final where, yet again, hard-luck Lee Chong Wei could not quite catch him in the third game rubber, and was forced to submit with a painful cramp down 17-20.


title: Lin Dan

text: After seven month tournament absence, Lin, down to 104th in the official world rankings, returned in April and took titles in the China Masters and the Badminton Asia Championships in quick succession. Lin was part of China's Thomas Cup team which defended its title in May, but because of his deflated ranking could only play at third singles. Consequently, when China met a talented and highly motivated Japanese team in the semifinals at New Delhi, Lin could only watch helplessly as Japan took the first two singles and a doubles to break China's ten year streak of men's world team titles. Beyond this disappointment, the BWF would not grant Lin a wild card entry into the 2014 World Championships, as they did in 2013. Thus Lin could not defend his title which was won by Chinese teammate Chen Long who defeated the unlucky Lee Chong Wei in a close two game final.


title: Lin Dan

text: In June, Lin lost in the quarterfinals of Japan Open. Shortly afterwards, he won the Australian Open, his first Super Series title since the 2012 All England Open. In November, Lin lost in the final of the China Open to Kidambi Srikanth from India.


title: Lin Dan

text: In April, Lin won the men's singles title at the Badminton Asia Championships in China, defending his title won the previous year in South Korea. He defeated compatriot Tian Houwei 21–19, 21–8 in a match that lasted 50 minutes in the central city of Wuhan. In May, Lin Dan contributed to China winning its 10th Sudirman Cup by defeating Japan's Takuma Ueda 21–15, 21–13 in the final for his team's third and decisive point. His return to the World Championships in August, however, was not particularly auspicious as he was routinely eliminated by Denmark's Jan O. Jorgensen in the quarterfinals, as Lin's compatriot Chen Long again prevailed over Lee Chong Wei in the finals. Recovering from this disappointment, in September Lin won his only Super Series title of the year at the Japan Open, making a remarkable comeback after trailing 3–11 in the deciding game of the final against Denmark's young star Viktor Axelsen.


title: Lin Dan

text: In March, Lin defeated Taiwan's Chou Tien-Chen in three hard games to clinch his seventh men's singles title at the German Open. A week after this win, Lin regained his All England title in Birmingham England, giving him his 6th victory at this prestigious event. In impressive form, he beat compatriot Tian Houwei 21–9, 21–10 in the final.


title: Lin Dan

text: In April, Lin Dan beat world No. 1 Chen Long in straight games to lift his sixth China Masters crown in Jiangsu, China. Here Lin showed his competitive mettle by coming from 11-16 behind in the second game to clinch the match 23-21. In June, however, he was stunned in second round of Indonesia Open by eighteen year old Jonatan Christie.


title: Lin Dan

text: At the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, Lin sailed through his group round robin to qualify for the main draw. In the quarterfinals he was tested by India's Srikanth Kidambi, but pulled through 21-18 in the third game. This set up a semifinal confrontation with long-time rival Lee Chong Wei which drew great fan interest as the players, both in their thirties, were assumed to be near retirement. In another epic match Lee was finally able to reverse past Olympic and World Championship losses to Lin and prevail, 15–21, 21–11, 22–20. But Lee's quest for Olympic gold after two silver medals ended with a disappointing finale, as he was beaten in two close games by Lin's compatriot Chen Long. In the bronze medal match, Lin played Denmark's Viktor Axelsen. After taking the first set 21–15, the two-time Olympic champion lost the next two and the match with a scoreline of 21–15, 10–21, 17–21. After the Rio Olympics, he skipped all international tournaments for the remainder of the year.


title: Lin Dan

text: In March, at the prestigious All England Championships Lin defeated Viktor Axelson in the quarterfinals but was eliminated in the semifinals by his countryman Shi Yuqi, more than twelve years Lin's Junior. However, he bounced back to win the Swiss Open by beating Shi Yuqi in the finals. In April he won the Malaysia Open for the first time by defeating Lee Chong Wei, who had virtually owned this title for more than a decade. In the China Masters he lost in the semifinal to Qiao Bin, and in the Badminton Asia Championship, where he recorded a semifinal win over Lee Chong Wei, he took a silver medal after losing to Chen Long in the final. Lin was beaten in the German Open and Indonesian Open respectively in round of 16. He lost to Chen Long in the Australian Open quarter finals.


title: Lin Dan

text: At the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, at age 33, Lin managed to reach a record seventh men's singles final by beating Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki, 21–17, 21–18 in the quarter finals and beating Korea's Son Wan-ho, 21–17, 21–14 in the semi finals. But in the finals, he was beaten in straight sets by his ten years younger opponent, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, 22–20, 21–16.


title: Lin Dan

text: In March, the 34-year-old Lin tied Rudy Hartono's record of reaching ten All England men's singles finals, but was foiled in his try for a seventh title by his much younger compatriot, Shi Yuqi in three exhausting games, 19-21, 21-16, 9-21. In May, he won the New Zealand Open by beating talented Indonesian youngster Jonatan Christie in two close games, 21-14, 21-19. Later that month, Lin was a member of the Chinese team which regained the Thomas Cup after four years of absence, though his team was never extended to a deciding 5th match which would have required his services in the third singles position.


title: Lin Dan

text: In his first tournament of 2019, Lin reached the final of the Thailand Masters, where he lost to the up and coming Loh Kean Yew in two tightly contested games, 19-21, 18-21. In April, at the age of 35, he won his second Malaysia Open title, beating higher ranked compatriot Shi Yuqi, 21-19, 16-21, 21-12 and Chen Long, 9-21, 21-17, 21-11 in the semifinals and finals respectively. However, he withdrew from the Singapore Open during the first round against Viktor Axelsen, citing a "thigh injury", but only after being visibly upset by early line calls. In May, he lost in the semifinals of the New Zealand Open to Ng Ka Long in two straight games, 13-21, 11-21. In November, he lost in the finals of the Korea Masters tournament to Kanta Tsuneyama in two straight games as well, 22-24, 12-21.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin begins the 2020 season poorly. In January, he was eliminated in the first round of the Malaysia Masters by Jan Ø. Jørgensen in two tense games, 19-21, 18-21. The following week, he participated in the Indonesia Masters and was defeated in the first round again, this time by Viktor Axelsen, who beat him in two relatively easy games, 12-21, 14-21. Lin then followed up with yet another first round exit at the Thailand Masters where he lost to Ng Ka Long in another two straight games defeat, 18-21, 9-21. At the All England Open held in March, he reached the second round but was defeated by compatriot Chen Long, 17-21, 8-21. This will turn out to be his last tournament as the rest were canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.


title: Lin Dan

text: On 4 July 2020 Lin Dan announced his retirement, saying "at 37, pain and injuries no longer allow me to fight with my teammates. I have gratitude, a heavy heart and unwillingness." After his retirement, he joined Instagram to stay connected with his fans all over the world.


title: Lin Dan

text: The Lee–Lin rivalry was a rivalry between two professional badminton players, Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan whose careers were almost exactly contemporaneous. The rivalry is often considered the greatest in the history of badminton even though Lin had the decided edge. Of their 40 meetings, Lin won the head-to-head by 28–12.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin has been in a relationship with Xie Xingfang, herself a former world champion, since 2003. They were quietly engaged on 13 December 2010 in Haizhu, Guangzhou. Xie initially denied but later acknowledged romantic involvement with Lin, who reacted angrily at the public exposure of their relationship, citing reasons of personal privacy. The two were married on 23 September 2012 and the wedding ceremony was held at the Beijing University of Technology.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin had five tattoos visible during the 2012 Summer Olympics. His upper left arm has a Christian cross, his lower left arm has five stars, his right upper arm reads "until the end of world", a double "F" lettering on his lower right arm, and his initials "LD" are tattooed on the back of his neck. These tattoos have been the subject of controversy due to his military and religious status.


title: Lin Dan

text: On 17 October 2012, he became the first active Chinese badminton player to accept a master's degree, which was presented at Huaqiao University. His autobiography, "Until the End of the World", was published after he successfully defended his Olympic title at the London 2012 Olympics.


title: Lin Dan

text: He and his wife Xie Xingfang had their first child "Xiao Yu" (Little feather) on 5 November 2016. On November 17, 2016, he admitted to an affair and apologised on Weibo. Social media users had purportedly identified the woman as actress and model Zhao Yaqi.


title: Lin Dan

text: Lin won the Eddie Choong Player of the Year award for two consecutive years in 2006 and 2007. He also secured the BWF Best Male Player of the Year in 2008. Lin was voted Most Valuable Player (MVP) during the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. On 16 January 2011, he was named China's best male athlete for 2010 in China Central Television's Sports Personality of the Year poll for his clean sweep in major badminton titles.


title: Lin Dan

text: Weibo is the main social media platform which Lin is using to post and update his latest status as well as communicate with his fans or friends. Lin uses his name '林丹‘as the name of the account. In February 2018, the latest number of his followers in Weibo has achieved 3.7 million. Additionally, Lin's fan group has set an exclusive account called '林丹全国球迷会‘ in Weibo to update Lin's latest status, post his pictures and results of matches.


title: House (1977 film)

text: Toho Studios approached Obayashi with the suggestion to make a film like "Jaws". Influenced by ideas from his daughter Chigumi, he developed ideas for a script by Chiho Katsura. After the project was green-lit, it was put on hold for two years as no one at Toho wanted to direct it. However, Obayashi kept promoting the film until the studio allowed him to direct it himself. "House" was filmed on one of Toho’s largest sets, where Obayashi shot the film without a storyboard over a period of about two months.


title: House (1977 film)

text: It received negative reviews, but was a box office hit in Japan. It received a wide release in 2009 and 2010 in North America where it received more favorable reviews and has since received a cult following.


title: House (1977 film)

text: In Tokyo, a young girl known as Gorgeous, so called for her beauty, has plans for a summer vacation with her father, a wealthy film composer who has been away in Italy on business. When he returns home, he surprises Gorgeous by announcing she has a new stepmother, Ryoko Ema. This upsets Gorgeous, whose mother had died eight years earlier. Gorgeous goes to her bedroom and writes a letter to her aunt asking to come visit her for the summer instead. Gorgeous' aunt replies and allows her to come visit. Gorgeous invites her six friends: Prof, who is highly academic and very good at problem solving; Melody, who has an affinity for music; Kung Fu, who is athletic and especially skilled at kung fu; Mac, who has a big appetite; Sweet, who is bubbly and gentle; and Fantasy, who is a constant daydreamer, to come along with her. On arriving at the aunt's house, the girls are greeted by Gorgeous' aunt, to whom they present a watermelon.


title: House (1977 film)

text: After a tour of the home, the girls leave the watermelon in a well to keep it cold. Mac later goes to retrieve the watermelon and does not return. When Fantasy goes to retrieve the watermelon from the well, she finds Mac's decapitated head, which flies in the air and bites Fantasy's buttocks before she escapes. The encounter is initially disregarded by the other girls, but over time they also begin to encounter other supernatural traps throughout the house. The aunt disappears after entering the broken refrigerator, and the girls are attacked or possessed by a series of items in the house, such as Gorgeous becoming possessed after using her aunt's mirror and Sweet disappearing after being attacked by mattresses. The girls try to escape the house, but after Gorgeous is able to leave through a door, the rest of the girls find themselves locked in. The girls try to find the aunt to unlock the door but discover Mac's severed hand in a jar. Melody begins to play the piano to keep the girls' spirits up and they hear Gorgeous singing upstairs. As Prof and Kung Fu go to investigate, Melody's fingers are bitten off by the piano, and it ultimately eats her whole.