title: Jason Manford

text: In February 2022, Manford appeared on the final of the Masked Singer third series masked as Hedgehog performing a duet with winner Natalie Imbruglia masked as Panda.


title: Jason Manford

text: In November 2022, Manford presented "Children In Need" alongside Mel Giedroyc, Ade Adepitan , Alex Scott and Chris Ramsey.


title: Jason Manford

text: After a successful first UK tour and high sales of the following DVD, filmed live at the Manchester Apollo, he began his "Turning into My Dad" tour on 14 July 2010.


title: Jason Manford

text: In March 2010, Manford took part in "Channel 4's Comedy Gala", a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London on 30 March. He toured the UK with "First World Problems", between June and December 2013 and produced a DVD of the same name. His show "Muddle Class" was toured across the UK until the end of 2018. His tour "Like me" began in early September 2020 and will finish in October 2021.


title: Jason Manford

text: In 2011, Manford became one of the shareholders of the Chester-based comedy club The Laugh Inn. He frequented the club to see shows and support the circuit comedians, as well as performing impromptu shows. The club closed in 2013.


title: Jason Manford

text: Manford comes from a family of singers and musicians and sang regularly with them. In the TV competition "Born to Shine" in 2011, he was taught daily to sing in an operatic style; he went on to win the show, and has released an album of show tunes, titled "A Different Stage".


title: Jason Manford

text: On 25 November 2022, Manford released the single "Assembly Bangers", a song he had been closing his standup show with. The track, a medley of songs nostalgically associated with school assemblies including "This Little Light of Mine", "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and "Lord of the Dance", will donate all profits to the Trussell Trust's Emergency Fund Appeal. The single charted at number two on the UK Official Singles Sales Chart on 2 December 2022.


title: Jason Manford

text: On 16 December 2022, Manford released "Assembly Bangers: The Album" with Chris Sutherland, with the "Christmas Assembly Bangers" single being released on the same day. Again, all proceeds were donated to the Trussell Trust.


title: Jason Manford

text: In late 2013, Manford was the voiceover artist for the Jet2.com and Churchill Insurance adverts and is one of the voices in the BBC comedy sketch show "Walk on the Wild Side". He appeared in series four of Channel 4's "Shameless" as a security guard who is seduced by Karen Maguire. In July 2012, Manford took over the role of Pirelli for a month (followed by a few dates in August) in the London revival of musical "" at the Adelphi Theatre opposite Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton.


title: Jason Manford

text: Manford has a minor voice role in the Xbox 360 video game "Fable III", playing Jammy, who teaches the player how to use mortars. He had a role in the BBC Three series "Ideal" and starred in an episode of BBC One's "Moving On". In 2015, Manford played the role of Marty in the BBC One drama series "Ordinary Lies", starring alongside Michelle Keegan, Max Beesley and Sally Lindsay. He also played the medium Alexander Le Cheyne in Episode 3 of Series 3 of "Ripper Street". In 2015, Manford starred in his second musical as Leo Bloom in the 2015 UK tour of Mel Brooks' "The Producers" opposite Louie Spence, Phill Jupitus and Ross Noble.


title: Jason Manford

text: He played Caractacus Potts in the UK tour of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" alongside Phill Jupitus, Michelle Collins, Martin Kemp, Carrie Hope Fletcher and Claire Sweeney. He toured with the production from February to April 2016, before the role was played by Lee Mead. Manford returned to the role in October 2016 and continued until the end of the tour in February 2017.


title: Jason Manford

text: In 2019, he starred in "Curtains", a musical whodunnit by Fred Ebb and John Kander, which toured the UK. It moved to the Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End mid-December until mid January 2020, after which it began a further UK tour.


title: Jason Manford

text: In December 2020 he was due to make his pantomime debut as Muddles in "Sleeping Beauty" at the Manchester Opera House alongside Billy Pearce, Jodie Prenger, Eric Potts and Louis Gaunt, however due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the government's guidelines the performances were cancelled.


title: Jason Manford

text: Manford cites Billy Connolly as his comedy hero, after seeing him when Manford was 11, and comics such as Tommy Cooper and Peter Kay heavily influenced his comic style. In 2009, in an interview on "Friday Night With Jonathan Ross", Manford talked about his passion for musicals, expressing an interest in taking a singing and acting role on stage, and giving a short, impromptu performance of "Suddenly Seymour" from "Little Shop of Horrors".


title: Jason Manford

text: In April 2014, Manford became a supporter of the cancer charity Stephen's Story. It was set up by Stephen Sutton , a 19-year-old blogger with terminal colorectal cancer who set up the initiative to help others battling cancer. All profits made by Manford's comedy clubs during May 2014, the month of Sutton's death, were given to the charity.


title: Jason Manford

text: Manford married his first wife, Catherine, in October 2007. They had four children together before separating in 2013: twin daughters born on 20 August 2009, a third daughter born in December 2010, and a son born in 2012. The family lived in Bramhall. He married his second wife, Lucy Dyke, in 2017; they have two children together.


title: Petite Maman

text: Petite Maman is a 2021 French fantasy drama film, written and directed by Céline Sciamma. Starring Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Stéphane Varupenne, Nina Meurisse and Margo Abascal, the film follows a young girl coping with the death of her maternal grandmother by bonding with her mother.


title: Petite Maman

text: The film had its world premiere at the 71st Berlin International Film Festival on 3 March 2021, and was released in France on 2 June 2021, by Pyramide Distribution. The film received widespread critical acclaim.


title: Petite Maman

text: Eight year old Nelly has just lost her maternal grandmother. Her parents retreat to her mother's childhood home in order to empty it out. Nelly's mother is deeply upset by the whole process and leaves during the night without saying goodbye to Nelly.


title: Petite Maman

text: Going out into the woods to play, Nelly meets a girl her own age building a fort. The girl, Marion, is extremely friendly and invites Nelly to help her. When it begins to rain, Marion takes Nelly to her home. After Nelly explains that she is visiting the area after the death of her grandmother, Marion tells her that her own grandmother, also named Nelly, died recently. Going through the house, Nelly realizes that it is her grandmother's house and Marion is her mother. Alarmed, she flees and is relieved when she returns to the house and finds her father in the present.


title: Petite Maman

text: Nelly returns a second time to the woods and sees her mother again. They continue to build the fort. Nelly learns that they are the same age and that in three days, Marion is set to have an operation to prevent her from developing the same illness as her mother. Returning repeatedly, Nelly is able to spend time with her grandmother and learn things about her mother such as she harbours ambitions of being an actress.


title: Petite Maman

text: The day before departure, Nelly reveals to Marion that she is her daughter and comes from the future. To prove it, she brings Marion to her grandmother's house where she reveals to Marion that her mother dies when Marion is 31 and that Nelly loved her deeply. The two are interrupted by Nelly's father, who tells Nelly that he has finished early and wants to return in time for her mother's birthday. Marion asks Nelly to sleep over and Nelly convinces her father to let her stay an extra night so she can spend more time with Marion.


title: Petite Maman

text: Nelly and Marion celebrate Marion's ninth birthday during the sleepover. The following morning, Marion prepares to go to the hospital. Nelly reassures her the operation will be fine. Nelly also reveals that her mother is a sad person and she often wonders if it is because of her. Marion reassures her that she does not think this is the case. The two hug before Marion leaves for the hospital and Nelly returns home for a final time.


title: Petite Maman

text: Returning to her grandmother's house, Nelly is surprised by her mother who has returned for a final viewing of the house. The two embrace, as they say each other's names.


title: Petite Maman

text: In November 2020, it was announced Céline Sciamma would write and direct, with Bénédicte Couvreur serving as a producer, with Pyramide Distribution set to distribute.


title: Petite Maman

text: "Petite Maman" had its world premiere at the 71st Berlin International Film Festival in March 2021, where Neon bought North American distribution rights to the film the same day. A week later, MUBI acquired the distribution rights for the UK, Ireland and Turkey. It was released in France on 2 June 2021, by Pyramide Distribution.


title: Petite Maman

text: The film screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2021. It also screened at the 2021 San Sebastián International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award.


title: Petite Maman

text: "Petite Maman" received critical acclaim. On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 93 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". English film critic Mark Kermode called it his favourite film of 2021, writing "Whether you are six or 60, this astonishingly insightful and heartbreakingly hopeful cinematic poem will pierce your heart, broaden your mind and gladden your soul, even as you wipe away tears."


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: The Fallschirmjäger () were the paratrooper branch of the German Luftwaffe before and during World War II. They were the first German paratroopers to be committed in large-scale airborne operations. Throughout World War II, the commander of the branch was Kurt Student.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: During the interwar years the rapid development of aircraft and aviation technology drew the attention of imaginative military planners. The idea of aerially inserting a large body of troops inside enemy territory was first proposed during World War I by Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, commander of the U.S. Army Air Corps in France. However, the Allied High Command was forced to abandon the idea, as it was unprepared for such an undertaking, both logistically and in materiel. Among the first to recognize the potential of airborne forces were Italy and the Soviet Union. The first effective means of supporting massed infantry airborne operations came with the development of the static-line parachute in Italy in the 1920s, whereby parachutes are attached to the inside of the aircraft and deployed automatically upon departure. This technique used in the German Rückfallschirm, Zwangablösung (backpack parachute, static line) rig allowed jumps at lower altitudes, limiting exposure to enemy fire and providing a tighter drop zone grouping than individually deployed rip-cord type parachutes. The word "Fallschirmjäger" is from the German "Fallschirm" "parachute" and "Jäger" "hunter", the light infantry of the Prussian Army.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: The Soviets were the first to demonstrate the military possibilities of airborne infantry in the 1930s with a series of maneuvers held in 1935 and 1936. Though somewhat crude (the Soviet paratroopers had to exit their slow-moving Tupolev TB-3 transporters through a hatch in the roof and then, crawling along the wire, position themselves along the wings and top of the fuselage, and jump together when ordered), the exercise managed to land 1,000 troops through air-drops followed by another 2,500 soldiers with heavy equipment delivered via airlandings. The gathered forces proceeded to carry out conventional light infantry attacks with the support of heavy machine guns and light artillery. Among the foreign observers present was Hermann Göring.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: Impressed, Göring became personally committed to the creation of Germany's airborne arm in the 1930s. As the Prussian Prime Minister of the Interior, he had ordered the formation of a specialist police unit in 1933, the "Polizeiabteilung Wecke", devoted to protecting Nazi Party officials. The organization of this unit was entrusted to "Polizeimajor" Walther Wecke of the Prussian Police Force, who had assembled a special detachment of 14 officers and 400 men within just two days. On 17 July, the detachment was officially renamed "Landespolizeigruppe Wecke". On 22 December 1933, the unit was again retitled, becoming the "Landespolizeigruppe General Göring". The unit carried out conventional police duties for the next two years under the command of Göring's ministerial adjutant Friedrich Jakoby, but it was Göring's intention to ultimately produce a unit that would match the "Reichswehr".


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: In March–April 1935, Göring transformed the "Landespolizei General Göring" into Germany's first dedicated airborne regiment, giving it the military designation "Regiment General Göring" (RGG) on 1 April 1935 (after Hitler introduced conscription on 16 March 1935). The unit was incorporated into the newly formed Luftwaffe on 1 October of the same year and training commenced at Altengrabow. Göring also ordered that a group of volunteers be drawn for parachute training. These volunteers would form a core "Fallschirmschützen Bataillon" ("parachute soldiers battalion"), a cadre for future "Fallschirmtruppe" ("parachute troops"). In January 1936, 600 men and officers formed the 1st "Jäger" Battalion/RGG, commanded by Bruno Bräuer, and the 15th Engineer Company/RGG and were transferred to training area Döberitz for jump training while the rest of the regiment was sent to Altengrabow. Germany's parachute arm was officially inaugurated on 29 January 1936 with an Order of the Day calling for recruits for parachute training at the Stendal Parachute Training School located west of Berlin. The school was activated several months after the first parachute units were established in January 1936 and was open to active and reserve Luftwaffe personnel. NCOs, officers and other ranks of the Luftwaffe were required to successfully complete six jumps in order to receive the Luftwaffe Parachutist's Badge (instituted on 5 November 1936).


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: The 1st Parachute Division was originally formed in 1938, when it was designated as the 7th Air Division. It carried out airborne operations in the early stages of the war, including the successful capture of Fort Eben-Emael in Belgium. It later fought in the Battle of Crete but its heavy losses there saw Hitler refuse to consider using his troops in a significant airborne role again. It became the 1st Parachute Division in 1942, when it was reformed in Russia. The division existed as a fighting unit until the German surrender in Italy of 2 May 1945, one week before the end of World War II in Europe.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: The 2nd Parachute Division was formed in France under the command of Generalleutnant Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke in early 1943, based on the 2nd Parachute Brigade that had fought in North Africa. Sent to Rome as part of the occupation force when the Italian government began to reconsider its war effort, it later fought in the Ukraine and in western France. The majority of the division was cut off and surrounded in Brest during the German retreat from France, resulting in the Battle for Brest, that lasted until September 1944. A new 2nd Parachute Division was formed in November 1944 and the following year was involved in fighting in Arnhem, during the Rhine crossings and in the Ruhr Pocket with Army Group B.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: The 3rd and 4th Parachute divisions were formed in 1943. The 4th also contained Italian paratroopers drawn from the 184th Airborne Division Nembo and 185th Paratroopers Division Folgore. The 3rd fought during the Normandy Campaign; it was largely destroyed in the Falaise Pocket in August 1944. It was then reformed and took part in the Battle of the Ardennes, and ended the war in the Ruhr Pocket where it surrendered to US troops in April 1945. The 4th fought exclusively on the Italian front including the Battle of Anzio, Rome and on the Gothic Line. It surrendered to Allied forces in April 1945.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: The 5th Parachute Division was formed in France in 1943. It was involved in the fighting in Normandy after D-Day and most of its personnel were killed or captured in the Falaise Pocket. It was reformed in the Netherlands but with Luftwaffe ground crew. It fought in the Ardennes offensive and along the Rhine before its survivors surrendered at the end of the war. The 6th and 7th Parachute divisions were formed in 1944 in France and Germany respectively and fought on the western front as regular infantry. Both divisions surrendered at the end of May.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: The 8th, 9th and 10th were "Fallschirmjäger" by name only, as they were hastily formed in late 1944–early 1945 from a disparate collection of Luftwaffe units, including ground crews. Furthermore, they never reached divisional strength and under-trained and mostly ill-prepared for combat. The 8th fought in the Netherlands before being destroyed in the Ruhr Pocket while the 9th and 10th fought on the rapidly collapsing Eastern Front, including within Germany. The 9th fought in the Battle of the Seelow Heights and in the Battle of Berlin before being destroyed in April 1945; the 10th surrendered to Soviet army forces in May 1945.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: During the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 the "Fallschirmjäger" were sent to occupy several airfields between the Vistula and Bug rivers.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: The first opposed airborne attacks occurred during the Norwegian Campaign, first during the initial invasion when "Fallschirmjäger" captured the defended air base of Sola, near Stavanger. The "Fallschirmjäger" also had their first defeat in Norway, when a company was dropped on the village and railroad junction of Dombås on 14 April 1940 and was destroyed by the Norwegian Army in a five-day battle.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: On 10 May 1940, the "Fallschirmjäger" performed a successful raid on the powerful fortification known as Eben Emael. Eben Emael consisted of multiple gun emplacements and was defended by 1,200 Belgian troops. There are few better representations by elite troops and everything was cutting edge at the time, from tactics to method of deployment. The airborne troops attacked the artillery casements and pillboxes with flame throwers, demolition charges, and hollow charge grenades. The mission was accomplished by "Sturmgruppe Granit" (Assault Group Granite), which consisted of only 85 soldiers. Despite being at both a numerical and firepower disadvantage, the airborne troops took control of the fort after a few hours of fighting.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: During the invasion of the Netherlands over 2,000 troops of the 7th Air Division were deployed, while approximately 12,000 troops of the 22nd Airlanding Division also participated. The "Fallschirmjäger" successfully captured bridges at Moerdijk and Dordrecht. The airborne troops suffered heavy casualties while taking Dordrecht. The paratroopers were able to capture airfields at Valkenburg, Ockenburg, Waalhaven, and Ypenburg. Yet, the Germans failed to capture The Hague and force the Dutch to surrender. Therefore, the performance of the paratroopers in the Netherlands was mixed as far as efficiency and results was concerned. The 22nd Airlanding Division was forced to land many of its aircraft on exposed motorways because the 7th Air Division had failed to secure designated airfields. Most aircraft ended up being shot up by Dutch infantry and artillery fire. The airborne troops were able to cause disruption behind Dutch lines.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: During the Greece campaign, the German airborne forces would perform their last strategic parachute and glider performances of the war. The airborne troops captured a critical bridge that crossed the canal in the Isthmus of Corinth so German forces could pursue Allied forces further in the Greek mainland. The operation did not go smoothly due in part to heavy enemy ground fire. Demolition charges were also accidentally detonated, due to carelessness, leading to damage to the bridge and heavy casualties. One group of paratroopers was accidentally dropped into the sea where they all drowned. The airborne forces did manage to capture British anti-aircraft positions, which forced the surrender of the local town. 12,000 Commonwealth and Greek troops were also captured. The German airborne forces suffered 63 killed and 174 wounded.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: The final major offensive German action of the Greece campaign was the German invasion of Crete, in May 1941. The "Fallschirmjäger" would suffer further heavy losses during the Battle of Crete especially during Operation Merkur which would be the end of large scale airborne and glider operations for the Fallschirmjäger. The Battle for Crete would see the Germans lose approx 3,800 dead and 2,600 wounded. The Allies’ losses were approximately 1,700 dead and 15,000 captured.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: During the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 1st Parachute Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the Luftlande-Sturmregiment (Airlanding Assault Regiment) were assigned to the Army Group North's 18th Army where they would conduct operations in the Leningrad area. The Fallschirmjäger were specifically deployed to the east of Leningrad on the River Neva to confront a Red Army effort to relieve the city. In October 1941, the German paratroopers were involved in heavy fighting against the Soviets and were successful in holding off Soviet attacks.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: From late October 1941 until 4 July 1942, the 22nd Airlanding Division participated in the Siege of Sevastopol. The Fallschirmjäger overran most of the Soviet 79th Naval Infantry Brigade during combat operations. The Soviet unit tried counterattacking on 10 June, but was repulsed. The Soviet formation was effectively destroyed, with the support of the Luftwaffe, which used anti-personnel bombs against Soviet infantry caught in the open.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: In July 1942, the Ramcke Parachute Brigade was deployed to North Africa to assist the Axis war effort there. In late October the Brigade participated in the 2nd Battle of El Alamein. The Brigade successfully captured a British supply column which provided it with some trucks and much needed supplies for the retreat westwards.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: Between November and December 1942, the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 5th Parachute Regiment were flown into Tunisia to protect its airfields and take up defensive positions around the city of Koch during the Allied Operation Torch. It was followed closely by the 11th Parachute Pioneer Battalion under the command of Major Rudolf Witzig. It had the strength of 716 men. It took up defensive positions west of Tunis where it had a series of battles with the advance guard of the Allied spearhead. Parts of the unit had received special training in reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. This intelligence led to the last parachute drop in North Africa. The operation ended up a major failure due to mostly inexperienced and poorly trained pilots. The Fallschirmjäger were dropped too far from their targets. The paras never made it to their targets because many were captured by British patrols as they landed.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: On 26 December 1942, the men of Parachute Company of the Brandenburg Regiment were transported by gliders in an operation to destroy bridges and supply routes used by the British. It too was a disaster. Some of the gliders were shot down while flying over enemy lines while others were destroyed while approaching their targets. Most of the paras were killed in the operation.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: The 2nd Parachute Regiment, an Assault Regiment Battalion, and Antitank and Machine Gun Battalions were sent to conduct operations in Ukraine. They would be assigned to Army Group South. This force would be known as Kampfgruppe Sturm commanded by Oberst Alfred Sturm. The Fallschirmjäger suffered heavy casualties while defending a sector along the River Mius around the town of Charzysk during the winter of 1941 and into early 1942.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: In March 1943, the Fallschirmjäger of the 3rd Battalion of the 4th Regiment, 7th Airborne Division defended a hill at Lushi on the Eastern Front. They were reinforced by paras from 3rd Battalion of the 3rd Regiment. Between 20–27 March these two battalions held off two complete Soviet divisions.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: In May 1943, what was left of Fallschirmjäger units in North Africa had been captured by Allied forces. The Fallschirmjäger commanders were flown out of North Africa and managed to escape captivity.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: On 12 September 1943, the Fallschirmjäger conducted a successful rescue mission of Italian Prime minister Benito Mussolini at the Gran Sasso. It is known as the Gran Sasso raid. The operation received wide acclaim despite there being very little enemy resistance during the operation. Only two enemy soldiers died during the operation. The primary unit responsible for the success of the mission was Fallschirmjäger Lehr Batallion. It was considered elite of the elite and named for security reasons 1./FJR7. It was under the command of Major Harald Mors. General Kurt Student played a major role in the planning of the operation. The operation ended up being controversial due to Waffen SS legend Otto Skorzeny also participating in the operation. Skorzeny and his participating 26 Waffen SS troops managed to take much of the credit for the success of the operation despite the fact the 82 Fallschirmjäger soldiers played a more significant role during the operation. Skorzeny received a promotion to Sturmbannführer, the award of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and fame that led to his "most dangerous man in Europe" image.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: During 26 September 1943 to 16 November 1943, the Fallschirmjäger participated in the Battle of Leros.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: In November 1943, the 2nd Parachute Division was ordered to the Eastern Front where it took up position near the Russian held town of Zhitomir. The Red Army was to seize a communication centre there and destroy the entire German Southern wing. The Red Army's primary aim was also to take Kiev. By December the Red Army had massed a large force northeast of the city. The Fallschirmjäger managed to assist other German forces in plugging the gaps created by the Soviet advance.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: On 15 December 1943, the 2nd Parachute Division was airlifted to Kirovograd and put on the front at Klintsy. It was supported by the 11th Panzer Division and the 286th Self Propelled Artillery Brigade. The Fallschirmjäger participated in fierce fighting around Novgorodka. By 23 December the paratroopers stabilized the front but suffered heavy casualties.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: During 17 January – 18 May 1944, the Fallschirmjäger participated in the Battle of Monte Cassino. Allied Forces' aim was a breakthrough to Rome. At the beginning of 1944, the western half of the Winter Line was being anchored by Germans holding the Rapido-Gari, Liri and Garigliano valleys and some of the surrounding peaks and ridges. Together, these features formed the Gustav Line. Monte Cassino, a historic hilltop abbey founded in AD 529 by Benedict of Nursia, dominated the nearby town of Cassino and the entrances to the Liri and Rapido valleys. Lying in a protected historic zone, it had been left unoccupied by the Germans. They had defended some positions set into the steep slopes below the abbey's walls.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: Repeated pinpoint artillery attacks on Allied assault troops caused their leaders to conclude the abbey was being used by the Germans as an observation post, at the least. Fears escalated along with casualties and in spite of a lack of clear evidence, it was marked for destruction. On 15 February American bombers dropped 1,400 tons of high explosives, creating widespread damage. The raid failed to achieve its objective, as the Fallschirmjäger occupied the rubble and established excellent defensive positions amid the ruins.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: Between 17 January and 18 May, Monte Cassino and the Gustav defences were assaulted four times by Allied troops, the last involving twenty divisions attacking along a twenty-mile front. The German defenders were finally driven from their positions, but at a high cost. The capture of Monte Cassino resulted in 55,000 Allied casualties, with German losses being far fewer, estimated at around 20,000 killed and wounded.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: In early January 1944, the Red Army conducted a new offensive against the 2nd Parachute Division. The Fallschirmjäger suffered heavy casualties. The 2nd Battalion of the 5th Regiment was destroyed. By 6 January 1944 The 7th, 5th, and 2nd Regiments had been forced to retreat from Novgorodka due to the efforts of the Red Army. The Paras dug in around Kirovograd. In March the Red Army once again resumed operations against the 2nd Parachute Division. By the last week of the month the Red Army had forced the paras across the Southern Bug River where they would establish defensive positions on the opposite bank. By May the Red Army forced the Fallschirmjäger back to the river of Dniester. The Fallschirmjäger had been decimated by the fighting and by the end of the month the division was transferred back to Germany for refitting.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: On 3 July 1944 the 2nd Parachute Corps battled the U.S. 1st Army at Coutances-Marigny-St. Lo. The Fallschirmjäger utilized the terrain of the so-called Bocage and the hedgerows to their advantage to negate American superiority in both firepower and quantity of troops. The Fallschirmjäger inflicted heavy casualties on American forces due mostly to tactical superiority and the terrain preventing the Americans from utilizing their armored forces.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: On 11 July 1944 the 1st Battalion, 9th Parachute Regiment executed a successful attack on the U.S. 1st Battalion, 115th Infantry Regiment. Initially, the Americans would suffer the loss of their outposts mostly due to German artillery and mortar fire. The Americans held due to their artillery and air support, and the paras eventually were forced to retreat.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: On 11 July 1944 the 3rd Parachute Division suffered heavy casualties while attempting to prevent American forces from capturing the city of St. Lo. The German 12th Parachute Gun Brigade, 3rd Parachute Reconnaissance Company, and 3rd Engineer Battalion all suffered heavy casualties mostly due to outstanding American artillery fire. The Paras would hold out until 27 July due to their great effort. German forces managed to inflict 11,000 casualties on its American opponents.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: On 25 July 1944, the 21st Parachute Pioneer Battalion was positioned on the road between Dunaburg and Kovno in Lithuania. The Red Army attacked the Battalion the following day. The Battalion would be encircled and eventually destroyed. The unit would be disbanded and sent to other Fallschirmjäger units.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: On 25 July 1944, the 2nd Parachute Division was involved in the defense of Brest against the American 7th Corps. American forces suffered 4,000 casualties in its effort to invest the port. Other elements of the 2nd Parachute Division were destroyed by American armored forces while on their way to assist the 5th Parachute Division at St. Malo. American forces captured Brest on 20 September 1944. What was left of the 2nd Parachute Corps was sent to Cologne after Falaise for rest and refitting. Heydte's 6th Parachute Regiment went to Guestrow-Mecklenburg to form the foundation of a new regiment.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: In September 1944, the 1st Parachute Corps fought in the Allied Offensive in Italy known as Operation Olive.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: In September 1944, the 4th Parachute Division was defending positions at the Futa and 2 Giogo Passes when the U.S. 91st and 85th divisions mounted an attack. This was followed by six days of intense fighting. American forces succeeded in capturing the 2nd Giogo Pass, Monticelli Ridge, and Monte Altuzzo, in Italy, mostly due to the overwhelming firepower of American forces.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: On 21 September 1944, British and Canadian forces were successful in overcoming defensive positions occupied by the 1st Parachute Corps to capture Rimini.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: On 13 October 1944, Axis forces which included the 4th Parachute Division manage to halt an Allied 2nd Corps' advance south of Bologna, Italy.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: In April 1945, the 9th Parachute Division would be destroyed while trying to contain a Russian bridgehead on the west bank of the River Oder. What remained of the unit would be destroyed while trying to defend Berlin from the Red Army.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: In April 1945, the 10th Parachute Division would be destroyed by the Red Army in Austria. The division's artillery battalion was destroyed in Feldbach by the Red Army. What remained of the unit would be destroyed north of Bruenn.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: On 15 April 1945, 760 Allied bombers pounded the positions of 1st Parachute Corps and other Axis units in the Argenta Gap, Italy. The paratroopers continued to fight but by 18 April, the Axis forces wavered to the massive Allied ground and aerial onslaught.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: In May 1945, the remaining paratroopers of the 1st and 4th Parachute Divisions surrendered in Italy along with the remaining Axis Forces. The Allied Forces had succeeded in driving Axis forces into the open where massive air support inflicted heavy casualties and material losses. The Axis campaign in Italy had ended in defeat.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: According to the General Staff of the Wehrmacht the Fallschirmjäger had suffered the following losses by February 1945:


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: After mid-1944, "Fallschirmjäger" were no longer trained as paratroops due to Nazi Germany's deteriorating strategic situation and fought as infantrymen. Near the end of the war, the series of new "Fallschirmjäger" divisions extended to thirteen on paper; the last three divisions to be created (11th, 20th and 21st) were never fully formed and saw no combat.


title: Fallschirmjäger

text: During the German invasion of Crete, the Allied forces and Cretan irregulars inflicted heavy losses on the Wehrmacht. A reprisal was ordered to send a message to the Cretan population to not resist German occupation of the island. A select group of Fallschirmjäger were chosen to carry out the civilian reprisal which was composed of four trucks full of German paratroopers from the III Battalion of Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment 1 commanded by Oberleutnant Horst Trebes. On 2 June 1941, the paratroopers arrived at the village of Kondomari and rounded up the male villagers and chose their victims. Between twenty-three to sixty men were killed in a firing squad while the women and children of the village watched as witnesses to the mass murder which came to be known as the Massacre of Kondomari. As a further reprisal against the Cretans the following day, the 1st Air Landing Assault Regiment of the Fallschirmjäger killed one hundred eighty inhabitants in the village of Kandanos and razed the village to the ground.


title: Douglas DC-4

text: The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s. From 1945, many civil airlines operated the DC-4 worldwide.


title: Douglas DC-4

text: Following proving flights by United Airlines of the DC-4E, it became obvious that the 52-seat airliner was too inefficient and unreliable to operate economically and the partner airlines, American Airlines, Eastern, Pan American, Trans World and United, recommended a lengthy list of changes to the design. Douglas took the new requirements and produced an entirely new, much smaller design, the DC-4A, with a simpler, still unpressurized fuselage, Pratt & Whitney R-2000 Twin Wasp engines, and a single fin and rudder. A tricycle landing gear was retained.


title: Douglas DC-4

text: With the entry of the United States into World War II, in December 1941, the United States Army Air Forces took over the provisional orders for the airlines and allocated them the designation C-54 Skymaster. The first C-54 flew from Clover Field in Santa Monica, California, on 14 February 1942.


title: Douglas DC-4

text: To meet military requirements, the first production aircraft had four additional auxiliary fuel tanks in the main cabin, which reduced the passenger seats to 26. The following batch of aircraft was the first built to military specifications, and was designated C-54A and built with a stronger floor and a cargo door with a hoist and winch. The first C-54A was delivered in February 1943. With the introduction of the C-54B in March 1944, the outer wings were changed to hold integral fuel tanks, allowing two of the cabin tanks to be removed; this allowed 49 seats (or 16 stretchers) to be fitted. The C-54C was a hybrid for Presidential use, it had a C-54A fuselage with four cabin fuel tanks and the C-54B wings with built-in tanks to achieve maximum range.


title: Douglas DC-4

text: The most common variant was the C-54D, which entered service in August 1944, essentially a C-54B with more powerful R-2000-11 engines. With the C-54E the last two cabin fuel tanks were moved to the wings, which allowed more freight or 44 passenger seats.


title: Douglas DC-4

text: In total, 1,163 C-54s (or R5D in US Navy service) were built for the United States military between 1942 and January 1946 and another 79 DC-4s were built after the war. A later variant, with more powerful Merlin engines allowing it to fly over 40% faster, was built in Canada as the Canadair North Star.


title: Douglas DC-4

text: The DC-4/C-54 proved to be a popular and reliable type, with 1,245 being built between May 1942 and August 1947, including 79 postwar DC-4s. Several remain in service as of 2022.


title: Douglas DC-4

text: Douglas continued to develop the type during the war in preparation for a return to airline use when peace returned. Sales of new aircraft had to compete against 500 wartime ex-military C-54s and R5Ds which came onto the civilian market, many of which were converted to DC-4 standard by Douglas. DC-4s were a favorite of charter airlines such as Great Lakes Airlines, North American Airlines, Universal Airlines, and Transocean Airlines. In the 1950s, Transocean (Oakland, California) was the largest civilian C-54/DC-4 operator.


title: Douglas DC-4

text: Douglas produced 79 new-build DC-4s between January 1946 and August 9, 1947, the last example being delivered to South African Airways. Pressurization was an option, but all civilian DC-4s (and C-54s) were built unpressurized.


title: Douglas DC-4

text: A total of 330 DC-4s and C-54s were used in the Berlin Airlift, which made them one of the most numerous types involved.


title: Douglas DC-4

text: Purchasers of new-build DC-4s included Pan American Airways, National Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and Western Airlines in the US, and KLM Royal Dutch Air Lines, Scandinavian Airlines System, Iberia Airlines of Spain, Swissair, Air France, Sabena Belgian World Airlines, Cubana de Aviación, Avianca, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Aeropostal of Venezuela (1946), and South African Airways overseas. Several airlines used new-build DC-4s to start scheduled transatlantic flights between Latin America and Europe. Among the earliest were Aerolíneas Argentinas (1946), Aeropostal of Venezuela (1946), Iberia Airlines of Spain (1946), and Cubana de Aviación (1948).


title: Douglas DC-4

text: Basic prices for a new DC-4 in 1946–47 were around £140,000-£160,000. In 1960, used DC-4s were available for around £80,000.


title: Douglas DC-4

text: , two DC-4s were used for charters in South Africa by the South African Airways Museum Society, with both aircraft (ZS-BMH and ZS-AUB) carrying historical South African Airways livery.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: The Pioneer plaques are a pair of gold-anodized aluminum plaques that were placed on board the 1972 "Pioneer 10" and 1973 "Pioneer 11" spacecraft, featuring a pictorial message, in case either "Pioneer 10" or "11" is intercepted by intelligent extraterrestrial life. The plaques show the nude figures of a human male and female along with several symbols that are designed to provide information about the origin of the spacecraft.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: The "Pioneer 10" and "11" spacecraft were the first human-built objects to achieve escape velocity from the Solar System. The plaques were attached to the spacecraft's antenna support struts in a position that would shield them from erosion by interstellar dust.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: The original idea, that the Pioneer spacecraft should carry a message from mankind, was first mentioned by Eric Burgess when he visited the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, during the Mariner 9 mission. He approached Carl Sagan, who had lectured about communication with intelligent extraterrestrials at a conference in Crimea.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: Sagan was enthusiastic about the idea of sending a message with the Pioneer spacecraft. NASA agreed to the plan and gave him three weeks to prepare a message. Together with Frank Drake he designed the plaque, and the artwork was prepared by Linda Salzman Sagan, who was Sagan's wife at the time.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: The first plaque was launched with "Pioneer 10" on March 2, 1972, and the second followed with "Pioneer 11" on April 5, 1973.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: In May 2017, a limited edition of 200 replicas engraved from the original master design at Precision Engravers was made available in a Kickstarter Campaign, which also offered laser-engraved replicas.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: At the top left of the plaque is a schematic representation of the hyperfine transition of hydrogen, which is the most abundant element in the universe. The spin-flip transition of a hydrogen atom's electron has a frequency of about 1420.405 MHz, which corresponds to a period of 0.704 ns. Light at this frequency has a vacuum wavelength of (which is also the distance the light travels in that time period). Below the symbol, the small vertical line—representing the binary digit 1—specifies a unit of length (21 cm) as well as a unit of time (0.7 ns). Both units are used as measurements in the other symbols.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: On the right side of the plaque, a nude man and woman are shown in front of the spacecraft. Between the brackets that indicate the height of the woman, the binary representation of the number 8 can be seen (1000). In units of the wavelength of the hyperfine transition of hydrogen this means 8 × 21 cm = .


title: Pioneer plaque

text: The small defect in the first zero is only in reproductions of the plaque (like here) and "not" on the original. It probably dates back to a printing error in the original article "A Message from Earth" which is the primary source for many of the copies of the engraving. In the replicas from the 2017 Kickstarter campaign mentioned above the delineation is correct.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: The right hand of the man is raised as a sign of good will. Although this gesture may not be understood, it offers a way to show the opposable thumb and how the limbs can be moved.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: Originally Sagan intended the humans to be shown holding hands, but soon realized that an extraterrestrial might perceive them as a single creature rather than two organisms.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: The original drawings of the figures were based on drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and Greek sculptures.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: The woman's genitals are not depicted in detail; only the "Mons pubis" is shown. It has been claimed that Sagan, having little time to complete the plaque, suspected that NASA would have rejected a more intricate drawing and therefore made a compromise just to be safe. Sagan said that the decision to not include the vertical line on the woman's genitalia (pudendal cleft) which would be caused by the intersection of the labia majora was due to two reasons. First, Greek sculptures of women do not include that line. Second, Sagan believed that a design with such an explicit depiction of a woman's genitalia would be considered too obscene to be approved by NASA. According to the memoirs of Robert S. Kraemer, however, the original design that was presented to NASA headquarters included a line which indicated the woman's vulva, and this line was erased as a condition for approval of the design by John Naugle, former head of NASA's Office of Space Science and the agency's former chief scientist.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: The radial pattern on the left of the plaque shows 15 lines emanating from the same origin. Fourteen of the lines have corresponding long binary numbers, which stand for the periods of pulsars, using the hydrogen spin-flip transition frequency as the unit. Since these periods will change over time, the epoch of the launch can be calculated from these values.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: The lengths of the lines show the relative distances of the pulsars to the Sun. A tick mark at the end of each line gives the Z coordinate perpendicular to the galactic plane.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: If the plaque is found, only some of the pulsars may be visible from the location of its discovery. Showing the location with as many as 14 pulsars provides redundancy so that the location of the origin can be triangulated even if only some of the pulsars are recognized.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: The data for one of the pulsars is misleading. When the plaque was designed, the frequency of pulsar "1240" (now known as J1243-6423) was known to only three significant decimal digits: 0.388 second. The map lists the period of this pulsar in binary to much greater precision: 100000110110010110001001111000. Rounding this off at about 10 significant bits (100000110100000000000000000000) would have provided a hint of this uncertainty. This pulsar is represented by the long line pointing down and to the right.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: The fifteenth line on the plaque extends to the far right, behind the human figures. This line indicates the Sun's relative distance to the center of the galaxy.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: At the bottom of the plaque is a schematic diagram of the Solar System. A small picture of the spacecraft is shown, and the trajectory shows its way past Jupiter and out of the Solar System. Both "Pioneers 10" and "11" have identical plaques; however, after launch, "Pioneer 11" was redirected toward Saturn and from there it exited the Solar System. In this regard the "Pioneer 11" plaque is somewhat inaccurate.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: The Saturn flyby of "Pioneer 11" would also greatly influence its future direction and destination as compared to "Pioneer 10", but this fact is not depicted in the plaques.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: Saturn's rings could give a further hint to identifying the Solar System. Rings around the planets Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune were unknown when the plaque was designed; however, unlike Saturn, the ring systems on these planets are not so easily visible and apparent as Saturn's. Pluto was considered to be a planet when the plaque was designed; in 2006 the IAU reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet. Other large bodies classed as dwarf planets, such as Eris, are not depicted, as they were unknown at the time the plaque was made.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: The binary numbers above and below the planets show the relative distance to the Sun. The unit is of Mercury's orbit. Rather than the familiar "1" and "0", "I" and "–" are used.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: Behind the figures of the human beings, the silhouette of the Pioneer spacecraft is shown in the same scale so that the size of the human beings can be deduced by measuring the spacecraft.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: One of the parts of the diagram that is among the easiest for humans to understand may be among the hardest for potential extraterrestrial finders to understand: the arrow showing the trajectory of Pioneer. Ernst Gombrich criticized the use of an arrow because arrows are an artifact of hunter-gatherer societies like those on Earth; finders with a different cultural heritage may find the arrow symbol meaningless.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: Art critic Craig Owens said that sexual bias is exhibited by the decision to have the man in the diagram perform the raised hand gesture to greet the extraterrestrials while the woman in the diagram has her hands at her sides. Feminists also took issue with this choice for the same reason.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: Carl Sagan regretted that the figures in the finished engraving failed to look panracial. Although this was the intent, the final figures were criticised for looking too white. In the original drawing, the man was drawn with an "Afro" haircut, so an additional African physical trait would be included in the man to make the figures look more panracial, but that detail was changed to a "non-African Mediterranean-curly haircut" in the finished engraving. Furthermore, Carl Sagan said that Linda Sagan intended to portray both the man and woman as having brown hair, but the hair being only outlined rather than being both outlined and shaded made the hair appear blonde instead. Other people had different interpretations of the race of people depicted by the figures. White people, black people and East-Asian people each tended to think that the figures resembled their own racial group, so, although some people were proud that their race appeared to have been selected to represent all of humankind, others viewed the figures as "terribly racist" for "the apparently blatant exclusion" of other races.


title: Pioneer plaque

text: Linda Sagan decided to make the figures nude to address the problem of the type of clothes they should wear to represent all of humanity and to make the figures more anatomically educational for extraterrestrials, but some viewed their nudity as pornographic. According to astronomer Frank Drake, there were many negative reactions to the plaque because the human beings were displayed naked. When images of the final design were published in American newspapers, one newspaper published the image with the man's genitalia removed and another newspaper published the image with both the man's genitalia and the woman's nipples removed. In one letter to a newspaper, a person angrily wrote that they felt that the nudity of the images made the images obscene. In contrast, in another letter to the same newspaper, a person was critical of the prudishness of the people who found depictions of nudity to be obscene. There have also been criticisms of the censorship of the female figure's genitals. Scientist and artist Joe Davis protested the depiction with his "Poetica Vaginal" project wherein he used an MIT radar dish to transmit the recordings of a vaginal detector.


title: Aurus Senat

text: The Aurus Senat () is a luxury full-size sedan by Russian automaker Aurus Motors and developed by NAMI in Moscow, Russia. The armoured limousine is powered by a 4.4 litre V8 engine developed by NAMI, with a 6.6 litre V12 (634 kW) becoming available at a later date. It is the Presidential state car of Russia. Development of the Senat started in 2013 with the car (in civilian S600 or official L700 versions) being put into production in 2021 at the Sollers JSC factory in Yelabuga.


title: Aurus Senat

text: The Aurus Senat was styled after the ZIS-110 limousine, which obtains a legendary status in Russia. The Aurus Senat is part of the Kortezh series, which will eventually include a van and an SUV. The Senat was shown publicly for the first time at the Moscow International Automobile Salon in September 2018.


title: Aurus Senat

text: Cars of the Kortezh series (also known in ) were expected to be available for export to the Middle East and China in late 2018. A civilian version of the Senat is manufactured by a joint venture between the NAMI and LiAZ firms. Expected retail prices were increased in 2018 to 10 million rubles ($160k), but in 2021, still before the first deliveries, became higher than 20 million rubles (~$300k).


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: Blue Ocean Strategy is a book published in 2004 written by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, professors at INSEAD, and the name of the marketing theory detailed on the book.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: They assert that these strategic moves create a leap in value for the company, its buyers, and its employees while unlocking new demand and making the competition irrelevant. The book presents analytical frameworks and tools to foster an organization's ability to systematically create and capture "blue oceans"—unexplored new market areas. An expanded edition of the book was published in 2015, while a sequel entitled "Blue Ocean Shift" was published in 2017.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: In the book the authors draw the attention of their readers towards the correlation of success stories across industries and the formulation of strategies that provide a solid base to create unconventional success – a strategy termed as "blue ocean strategy". Unlike the "red ocean strategy", the conventional approach to business of beating competition derived from the military organization, the "blue ocean strategy" tries to align innovation with utility, price and cost positions. The book mocks the phenomena of conventional choice between product/service differentiation and lower cost, but rather suggests that both differentiation and lower costs are achievable simultaneously.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: The authors ask readers "What is the best unit of analysis of profitable growth? Company? Industry?" – a fundamental question without which any strategy for profitable growth is not worthwhile. The authors justify with original and practical ideas that neither the company nor the industry is the best unit of analysis of profitable growth; rather it is the strategic move that creates "blue ocean" and sustained high performance. The book examines the experience of companies in areas as diverse as watches, wine, cement, computers, automobiles, textiles, coffee makers, airlines, retailers, and even the circus, to answer this fundamental question and builds upon the argument about "value innovation" being the cornerstone of a blue ocean strategy. Value innovation is necessarily the alignment of innovation with utility, price and cost positions. This creates uncontested market space and makes competition irrelevant. The new chapters in the expanded edition of the book deal with the issues of how to develop and align the three strategy propositions of value, profit and people, how to sustain and renew blue ocean strategy at both the business level and the corporate level, and how to avoid red ocean traps that keep organizations anchored in existing market space even as they attempt to create new market space. The following section discusses the concept behind the book in detail.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: Red oceans represent all the industries in existence today – the known market space. In the red oceans, industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. Here companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of product or service demand. As the market space gets crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced. Products become commodities or niche, and cutthroat competition turns the ocean bloody; hence, the term "red oceans".


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: Blue oceans, in contrast, denote all the industries not in existence today – the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid. In blue oceans, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set. Blue ocean is an analogy to describe the wider, deeper potential of market space that is not yet explored.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: The cornerstone of blue ocean strategy is "value innovation", a concept originally outlined in Kim & Mauborgne's 1997 article "Value Innovation - The Strategic Logic of High Growth". Value innovation is the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost, creating value for both the buyer, the company, and its employees, thereby opening up new and uncontested market space. The aim of value innovation, as articulated in the article, is not to compete, but to make the competition irrelevant by changing the playing field of strategy. The strategic move must raise and create value for the market, while simultaneously reducing or eliminating features or services that are less valued by the current or future market. The Four Actions Framework is used to help create value innovation and break the value-cost trade-off. Value innovation challenges Michael Porter's idea that successful businesses are either low-cost providers or niche-players. Instead, blue ocean strategy proposes finding value that crosses conventional market segmentation and offering value "and" lower cost. Educator Charles W. L. Hill proposed a similar idea in 1988 and claimed that Porter's model was flawed because differentiation can be a means for firms to achieve low cost. He proposed that a combination of differentiation and low cost might be necessary for firms to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: Many others have proposed similar strategies. For example, Swedish educators Jonas Ridderstråle and Kjell Nordström in their 1999 book "Funky Business" follow a similar line of reasoning. For example, "competing factors" in blue ocean strategy are similar to the definition of "finite and infinite dimensions" in "Funky Business". Just as blue ocean strategy claims that a red ocean strategy does not guarantee success, "Funky Business" explained that "Competitive Strategy is the route to nowhere". "Funky Business" argues that firms need to create "sensational strategies". Just like blue ocean strategy, a sensational strategy is about "playing a different game" according to Ridderstråle and Nordström. Ridderstråle and Nordström also claim that the aim of companies is to create temporary monopolies. Kim and Mauborgne explain that the aim of companies is to create blue oceans, that will eventually turn red. This is the same idea expressed in the form of an analogy. Ridderstråle and Nordström also claimed in 1999 that "in the slow-growth 1990s overcapacity is the norm in most businesses". Kim and Mauborgne claim that blue ocean strategy makes sense in a world where supply exceeds demand.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: Kim and Mauborgne argue that while traditional competition-based strategies (red ocean strategies) are necessary, they are not sufficient to sustain high performance. Companies need to go beyond competing. To seize new profit and growth opportunities they also need to create blue oceans. The authors argue that competition based strategies assume that an industry's structural conditions are given and that firms are forced to compete within them, an assumption based on what academics call the structuralist view, or environmental determinism. To sustain themselves in the marketplace, practitioners of red ocean strategy focus on building advantages over the competition, usually by assessing what competitors do and striving to do it better. Here, grabbing a bigger share of the market is seen as a zero-sum game in which one company's gain is achieved at another company’s loss. Hence, competition, the supply side of the equation, becomes the defining variable of strategy. Here, cost and value are seen as trade-offs and a firm chooses a distinctive cost or differentiation position. Because the total profit level of the industry is also determined by structural factors, firms principally seek to capture and redistribute wealth instead of creating wealth. They focus on dividing up the red ocean, where growth is increasingly limited.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: Blue ocean strategy, on the other hand, is based on the view that market boundaries and industry structure are not given and can be reconstructed by the actions and beliefs of industry players. This is what the authors call "the reconstructionist view". Assuming that structure and market boundaries exist only in managers’ minds, practitioners who hold this view do not let existing market structures limit their thinking. To them, extra demand is out there, largely untapped. The crux of the problem is how to create it. This, in turn, requires a shift of attention from supply to demand, from a focus on competing to a focus on "value innovation" – that is, the creation of innovative value to unlock new demand. This is achieved via the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low-cost. As market structure is changed by breaking the value/cost tradeoff, so are the rules of the game. Competition in the old game is therefore rendered irrelevant. By expanding the demand side of the economy, new wealth is created. Such a strategy therefore allows firms to largely play a non–zero-sum game, with high payoff possibilities.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: The concept was initially developed in the 1990s when W. Chan Kim was taking part in a consulting project for Philips, headed by the management scholar C.K. Prahalad. Working with consultants from the Mac Group (a consulting company that was later bought by Capgemini), he developed strategy tools leading to the publication of a series of articles in the Harvard Business Review, and then in 2005 of the "Blue Ocean Strategy" book.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: Nintendo's Wii video game console, first released in 2006, has been often considered an example of the blue ocean concept. Instead of trying to compete with the high performance and computational power of the consoles from Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo designed the Wii's hardware to focus on innovative gameplay, incorporating the use of motion controls atypical of video games. These changes brought new gameplay ideas to the system as well as reduced the cost of the console compared to its competitors. As a result, the Wii sold more than 100 million units over its lifetime, far outselling the competitors.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: Since "Blue Ocean Strategy" was published in 2005 it has been translated into 43 languages and has sold over 3.5 million copies. The book was named a bestseller by the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Amazon.com. It was selected as one of the “Best Books of 2005” by Fast Company magazine, won “The Best Business Book of 2005” Prize at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and achieved bestselling book of the decade status by 800-CEO-READ (2000-2010). Strategy+Business magazine selected it as #1 strategy book of 2005.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: In 2009, "Blue Ocean Strategy" was selected by the China Daily and the China Research Institute as one of the 40 most influential books in the History of the People's Republic of China (1949-2009) along with Adam Smith’s ″The Wealth of Nations″ under the category of ″Economics and Finance.″ In 2010, Polish group ThinkTank selected "Blue Ocean Strategy" as one of the Top 20 books that have shaped Polish Leaders. "Blue Ocean Strategy" won the Thinkers50 2011 Strategy Award for Best Business Book of the decade and in the same year, it was introduced to the Fast Company Leadership Hall of Fame. In 2013, the book received the GoodBooks Award in the Management category by the Vietnamese Institute for Research on Education Development (IRED), was selected as one of the 15 Best Business Books of the last decade in Russia by the Kommersant.ru magazine, and selected as one of the top three best management books in Japan by the Diamond Harvard Business Review.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: The Wall Street Journal recommends "Blue Ocean Strategy" for the top manager. Forbes calls it one of the ten business trends for 2013 and argues that "blue ocean strategies are more influential than ever." BusinessWeek says that ""Blue Ocean Strategy" will have you wondering why companies need so much persuasion to stay out of shark-infested waters." The Business Strategy Review said the book "challenges everything you knew about strategy", and the Business Times called on firms to "adopt blue ocean strategy to stay ahead." Marketplace magazine recommends "Blue Ocean Strategy" as a book "you need to read." In addition, the book has received many positive reviews from various publications that include Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald, Credit Union Journal, Vancouver Sun, Association Meetings, Strategy & Leadership, and Business First, among many others.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: While Kim and Mauborgne propose approaches to finding uncontested market space, at the present there are few success stories of companies that have actively applied their theories. One success story that does exist is Nintendo, who applied the blue ocean strategy to the Nintendo DS, Wii, and Nintendo Switch.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: With just one case study, however, this hole in their data persists despite the publication of value innovation concepts dating back to 1997. Hence, a critical question is whether this book and its related ideas are "descriptive" rather than "prescriptive." The authors present many examples of successful innovations, and then explain from their Blue Ocean perspective – essentially interpreting success through their lenses.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: The research process followed by the authors has been criticized on several grounds. Criticisms include claims that no control group was used, that there is no way to know how many companies using a blue ocean strategy failed and the theory is thus unfalsifiable, that a deductive process was not followed, and that the examples in the book were selected to "tell a winning story". Meanwhile, several attempts at empirical validations and conceptual extensions of the blue ocean strategy have been published.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: Additionally, blue ocean strategy cannot be identified as true causation for success. The authors cite the strategies used by NYPD Commissioner Bratton as a key example of Blue Ocean applied in the public sector. They defined this success as a significant drop in crime in the City of New York after Bratton took office in 1994. Many social scientists would disagree that it was Bratton's policies that led to crime reduction: rather, the city was simply part of a nationwide trend in decreasing crime.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: Brand and communication are taken for granted and do not represent a key for success. Kim and Maubourgne take the marketing of a value innovation as a given, assuming the marketing success will come as a matter of course.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: It is argued that rather than a theory, blue ocean strategy is an extremely successful attempt to brand a set of already existing concepts and frameworks with a highly "sticky" idea. The blue ocean/red ocean analogy is a powerful and memorable metaphor, which is responsible for its popularity. This metaphor can be powerful enough to stimulate people to action. The concepts behind the Blue Ocean Strategy (such as the competing factors, the consumer cycle, non-customers, etc.) are not new, however. Many of these tools are also used by Six Sigma practitioners and proposed by other management theorists.


title: Blue Ocean Strategy

text: Many of the book's key concepts were previously covered in "Competing For The Future" by Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad, which was published in 1996. The authors encouraged managers to stake out new marketing space, which they termed "white space", in order to "create and dominate emerging opportunities".


title: 2021 Major League Soccer season

text: The 2021 Major League Soccer season was the 26th season of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. The 2021 season included the addition of Austin FC as an expansion club, which took the league to 27 teams.


title: 2021 Major League Soccer season

text: Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the season was originally scheduled to begin on April 3, as opposed to the normal late February or early March start. This was later pushed back to April 16, the latest ever start to an MLS season, due to negotiations with the MLS Players Association for a new collective bargaining agreement. The regular season concluded on November 7. The 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs began on November 20, and concluded with MLS Cup 2021 on December 11.


title: 2021 Major League Soccer season

text: At the beginning of the season, COVID-19 cross-border restrictions imposed by the Canadian government has also made the Canadian teams to play their home matches in the United States from the start of the season, while also sharing stadiums with other American MLS teams. On July 14, MLS announced that a select Toronto FC and CF Montréal matches would be played in Canada while working with the Canadian government on how the matches were to be held. Nearly a week later, the MLS announced that the Canadian teams would play home matches in Canada in August 2021.


title: 2021 Major League Soccer season

text: The Columbus Crew were the defending champions, having defeated Seattle Sounders FC in MLS Cup 2020 but was eliminated from playoffs during the regular season, while the Philadelphia Union were the defending Supporters' Shield winners. The New England Revolution won their first Supporters' Shield, in the process breaking the record for most regular season points collected. New York City FC won their first ever MLS Cup, beating Portland Timbers in the decider.


title: 2021 Major League Soccer season

text: Each team played 34 matches, including 17 home games and 17 away games. Due to the difference in the number of teams in each conference, each conference had its own schedule construction format:


title: 2021 Major League Soccer season

text: All cross-conference matches are shown on the Eastern Conference table. In some cases, a team hosted another more than once; in this case, the first matchup is listed on top and the second is listed below.


title: 2021 Major League Soccer season

text: From the start of the season, all Canadian teams played home matches behind closed doors at venues in a U.S. market (notwithstanding any local regulations otherwise allowing spectators) due to Canadian border restrictions.


title: 2021 Major League Soccer season

text: On July 14, MLS announced that both CF Montreal and Toronto FC planned to return to playing matches at their home stadiums beginning July 17, citing new policies allowing vaccinated individuals to enter the country without 14 days self-isolation, provided that they test negative on a COVID-19 test. Unvaccinated individuals must still self-isolate, but a member of the MLS Players Association stated that nearly 95% of the league's player pool had been vaccinated, and Toronto FC manager Ali Curtis stated that all but two of their players were fully vaccinated. Toronto FC planned to admit 7,000 essential workers for the first match before expanding to 15,000 for subsequent matches, and CF Montreal planned to admit 5,000. However, Sportsnet reported that the plans had not yet been formally approved by the Public Health Agency of Canada, and that the Canadian government was expected to issue a statement on the matter.


title: 2021 Major League Soccer season

text: Games without fans are not counted in averages or games played. Additionally, multiple games (above all the NYCFC games at Yankee Stadium) did not have their attendance listed and are also not counted in averages or games played.


title: Novavax

text: Novavax, Inc. is an American biotechnology company based in Gaithersburg, Maryland that develops vaccines to counter serious infectious diseases. Prior to 2020, company scientists developed experimental vaccines for influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), as well as Ebola and other emerging infectious diseases. During 2020, the company redirected its efforts to focus on development and approval of its NVX-CoV2373 vaccine for COVID-19.


title: Novavax

text: Their vaccine, Nuvaxovid, was approved in the European Union at the end of 2021 and in Canada in February 2022, as the fifth vaccine against COVID-19, following Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Janssen and AstraZeneca.


title: Novavax

text: In June 2013, Novavax acquired the Matrix-M adjuvant platform with the purchase of Swedish company Isconova AB and renamed its new subsidiary Novavax AB.


title: Novavax

text: In March 2015, the company completed a Phase I trial for its Ebola vaccine candidate, as well as a phase II study in adults for its RSV vaccine, which would become ResVax. The ResVax trial was encouraging as it showed significant efficacy against RSV infection, using a nanoparticle-based treatment using a recombinant F lipoprotein or saponin, "extracted from the Quillaja saponaria [or?] Molina bark together with cholesterol and phospholipid." It is aimed at stimulating resistance to respiratory syncytial virus infection, targeting both adult and infant populations.


title: Novavax

text: 2016 saw the company's first phase III trial, the 12,000 adult Resolve trial, for its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, which would come to be known as ResVax, fail in September. This triggered an eighty-five percent dive in the company's stock price. Phase II adult trial results also released in 2016 showed a stimulation of antigenicity, but failure in efficacy. Evaluation of these results suggested that an alternative dosing strategy might lead to success, leading to plans to run new phase II trials. The company's difficulties in 2016 led to a three part strategy for 2017: cost reduction through restructuring and the termination of 30% of their workforce; pouring more effort into getting ResVax to market; and beginning clinical trials on a Zika virus vaccine.


title: Novavax

text: Alongside the adult studies of ResVax, the vaccine was also in 2016 being tested against infant RSV infection through the route of maternal immunization.


title: Novavax

text: In 2019, late-stage clinical testing of ResVax, failed for a second time, which resulted in a major downturn in investor confidence and a seventy percent reduction in capital value for the firm. As a secondary result, the company was forced to conduct a reverse stock split in order to maintain Nasdaq minimum qualification, meaning it was in risk of being delisted.


title: Novavax

text: NanoFlu is a quadrivalent influenza vaccine, which completed Phase II clinical trials successfully in 2019. In January 2020, it was granted fast track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to move into Phase III trials, which completed in March 2020.


title: Novavax

text: Novavax is financed by both public and private investors, of which approximately 50% of the free float shares are held by institutional investors.


title: Novavax

text: Novavax is funded by a mix of private and public investment. In 2015, Novavax received a US$89 million research grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support the development of a vaccine against human respiratory syncytial virus for infants via maternal immunization.


title: Novavax

text: In May 2020, Novavax received from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to fund early-stage evaluation in healthy adults of the company's COVID-19 vaccine candidate NVX-CoV2373 and to develop resources in preparation for large-scale manufacturing, if the vaccine proves successful. CEPI had already invested $4 million in March.


title: Novavax

text: On July 7, 2020, during the Donald Trump administration, the company was awarded a loan from the United States government from Operation Warp Speed program to cover the testing, commercialization and production of a potential coronavirus vaccine in the United States, with a goal of delivering 100 million doses by January 2021.


title: Novavax

text: In January 2020, Novavax announced development of a vaccine candidate, named NVX-CoV2373, to establish immunity to SARS-CoV-2. NVX-CoV2373 is a protein subunit vaccine that contains the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Novavax's work is in competition for vaccine development among dozens of other companies.


title: Novavax

text: In January 2021, the company released phase III trials showing that it has 89% efficacy against Covid-19, and also provides strong immunity against new variants. It has applied for emergency use in the US and UK but will be distributed in the UK first. , the company does not anticipate that it will file for approval in the UK "until July at the earliest". On 14 June 2021, Novavax announced overall 90.4% efficacy in Phase 3 U.S & Mexico trial. Of the total 77 COVID-19 cases among the volunteer of the trial, 14 occurred in the vaccine group, while 63 occurred in the placebo group.


title: Novavax

text: On May 22, 2021, Novavax and Moderna announced a deal with the South Korean government to manufacture their COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccine is also being co-developed (with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) in India under the brand name Covovax.


title: Novavax

text: On September 6, 2021, Novavax and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company announced that the Government of Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare will purchase 150 million doses of Novavax's vaccine candidate TAK-019 pending regulatory approval. The Government of Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare signed an agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company for Takeda to manufacture and distribute Novavax's TAK-019 upon regulatory approval.


title: Novavax

text: On December 22, 2021, Novavax confirmed the efficacy of two doses of vaccine against the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. The new data suggest that the vaccine provides an immune response against the Omicron variant and other variants of the coronavirus. The response of antibodies against omicron is four times lower than the original variant. A third dose of the vaccine given to adults, six months after the first two doses, increased the level of neutralizing antibodies against the omicron variant by 73.5 times, making it more effective in preventing omicron from entering human cells.


title: Novavax

text: The data shows that the 73.5-fold increase in antibody level following a third dose of Novavax vaccine (protein subunit vaccine) was higher than the booster doses of Pfizer and Moderna (mRNA vaccines), which increased the antibody levels 25-fold and 37-fold, respectively.


title: Novavax

text: On November 1, 2021, Novavax and Serum Institute of India announced that the National Agency of Drug and Food Control of Indonesia, or Badan Peng was Obat dan Makanan (Badan POM), has granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for Novavax' recombinant nanoparticle protein-based COVID-19 vaccine with Matrix-M adjuvant. It will be manufactured by SII in India and marketed by SII in Indonesia under the brand name Covovax.


title: Novavax

text: On December 17, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) added Novavax's Covovax vaccine, jointly developed with the Serum Institute of India (SII), to the list of approved coronavirus vaccines for emergency use. The vaccine can then be used in the Covax programme for the supply of vaccines to low and middle income countries. Novavax and SII provide Covax program with 1.1 billion doses of vaccine.


title: Novavax

text: On 20 December 2021, the European Medicines Agency recommended Novavax's Nuvaxovid vaccine for conditional marketing authorisation, which was formally approved by the European Commission, making it the fifth approved COVID-19 vaccine in the European Union after Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Janssen and AstraZeneca.


title: Novavax

text: On 20 January 2022, The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has granted provisional approval to Biocelect Pty Ltd (on behalf of Novavax Inc) for its COVID-19 vaccine, NUVAXOVID. This is the first protein COVID-19 vaccine to receive regulatory approval in Australia.


title: Novavax

text: On 31 January 2022, Novavax applied to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorization (EUA) for NVX-CoV2373, and on June 7, FDA's panel of outside advisors recommended FDA grant the EUA.


title: Novavax

text: In February 2022, Health Canada authorized Nuvaxovid for the prevention of COVID-19 in adults 18 years of age and older.


title: Novavax

text: On 13 July 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine, Adjuvanted for the prevention of COVID-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in individuals 18 years of age and older.


title: Novavax

text: Novavax also develops proprietary immune-stimulating saponin-based immunologic adjuvants at a wholly-owned Swedish subsidiary, Novavax AB. One of these, Matrix-M, is used in Novavax's approved vaccine for COVID-19 (NVX-CoV2373).


title: Awkward (TV series)

text: Awkward is an American teen comedy-drama television series created by Lauren Iungerich for MTV. The show's central character is Jenna Hamilton (Ashley Rickards), a Palos Verdes, California, teenager who struggles with her identity, especially after an accident is misconstrued as a suicide attempt.


title: Awkward (TV series)

text: The series premiered on July 19, 2011, and was renewed for a second season in August 2011. In June 2013, it was announced that creator Iungerich would be exiting the series after production of the third season concluded in June 2013. MTV renewed the series for a fourth season in August 2013 with new showrunners Chris Alberghini and Mike Chessler replacing Iungerich.


title: Awkward (TV series)

text: "Awkward"s first season was generally well received, with television critics praising the show's realism and writing as well as its central character, and it was included in various critics' top ten lists. The show also earned several award nominations, winning one Teen Choice Award and one People's Choice Award.


title: Awkward (TV series)

text: In October 2014, "Awkward" was renewed for a fifth and final season, which premiered in August 2015. The second half of the fifth season did not begin to air until March 2016. Alberghini indicated that there could possibly be a sixth season. While most cast members agreed that they would happily return in that event, telling fans to let MTV know if they wanted more seasons, no further episodes of the series were produced. The series finale aired on May 24, 2016. During the course of the series, 89 episodes of "Awkward" aired over five seasons.


title: Awkward (TV series)

text: Social outcast Jenna Hamilton has a freak accident but it is mistaken for a suicide attempt because she had received a harsh "care-frontation" letter suggesting ways on how she could be less unpopular. She begins a blog that helps her deal with different high school issues such as boy troubles, peer pressure and maintaining friendships. By making changes and embracing her misfortune, she grows up and becomes well known among her peers, for better or worse.


title: Awkward (TV series)

text: The series premiered on July 19, 2011. MTV renewed the series for a second season on August 24, 2011. The second season premiered on June 28, 2012, at 10:30pm. "Awkward" was officially renewed for a third season with an order of 20 episodes on July 25, 2012, which began airing on April 16, 2013, at 10:00pm. On June 26, 2013, it was announced that the show's creator Lauren Iungerich would be exiting the show after production of season three concluded on June 27, 2013. The rest of the show's third season began airing on October 22, 2013.


title: Awkward (TV series)

text: MTV renewed the series for a fourth season on August 5, 2013, that premiered on April 15, 2014, with new showrunners, Chris Alberghini and Mike Chessler, to replace creator and former showrunner, Lauren Iungerich.


title: Awkward (TV series)

text: "Awkward" first season was generally well-received with television critics praising the show's realism and writing as well as its central character, and was included in various critics' top ten lists. The show also earned several award nominations, winning one Teen Choice Award and one People's Choice Award.


title: Awkward (TV series)

text: On October 8, 2014, "Awkward" was renewed for a fifth and final season, which premiered on August 31, 2015. The mid-season finale aired on November 9, 2015; when the show returned in 2016, the story picked up during the summer after the characters' freshman year of college. The second half of season 5 premiered on March 15, 2016. Producer Chris Alberghini said that there could possibly be a season 6 if MTV decides and that there are more stories to tell. While most cast members agreed that they would happily return if there was a season 6, suggesting that fans should tell MTV if they want more seasons, no further episodes of the series were produced.


title: Awkward (TV series)

text: Series creator Lauren Iungerich spent time with actual high school students to elaborate the teen dialogue of the show. She also met them to talk about their lives and to make sure the show reflects the reality. Speaking to the first three seasons' themes, Iungerich said:


title: Awkward (TV series)

text: Citing her writing influences, Iungerich said she likes "Friday Night Lights": "What Jason Katims did in five seasons was utterly beautiful. The story and who the people truly were came first. That's what I sort of took away from it; to be so bold as to graduate people, and wrap up story lines or allow them to come back in organic ways and to fall in love with the new characters. I want to take a lesson from that. Moving forward, I'm going to take a note from the brave things that he did in that show."


title: Awkward (TV series)

text: "Awkward" mostly received positive reviews for its first season. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the TV series received an average score of 74, based on 13 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". "The Wall Street Journal"s Dorothy Rabinowitz explained "Awkward" is a "series about a high-school girl that's neither maudlin nor alarming nor conceived with intent to preach or to shock. It's further distinguished by its focus on entirely recognizable teenage pains, as endured by an entirely recognizable teenager, Jenna (Ashley Rickards). Its other distinction: strong echoes of an older kind of storytelling, the sort whose characters grow and acquire depth. This is a lot to expect these days from TV writing of any kind, much less a series about teenagers—it's relief enough when it's not about vampires." Hank Stuever of "The Washington Post" found that series "funny", which was "a pleasant surprise from MTV, the maker of so many lame teen comedies that I've lost count". "The New York Times" called "Awkward" as "a wry show about longing—for love, certainly, but also for consistency, that great intangible in the ever-morphing world of high school life". John Kubicek of BuddyTV website wrote "Just like "Easy A", "Mean Girls" or other strong, female-centric teen comedies, "Awkward" has a quick wit and a very distinct vision of the world. It's the perfect blend of comedy and painful teenage awkwardness, and in the end, the title says it all." He concluded "The result is one of the most enjoyable and earnest teen comedies TV has produced". Writing for the "San Francisco Chronicle", David Wiegand described the show as "a very smart mix of realism and satirical exaggeration" and praised the writing for being sharp. Curt Wagner of "RedEye" stated "Awkward" is "whip-smart and hilarious" while lauding the sharpness of the writing, stating: "With the right amount of exaggerated realism, creator Lauren Iungerich turns all the yearning, pain and, well, awkwardness of high school into a frothy, funny satire that should make anyone feel better about their own fumbling ways."


title: Awkward (TV series)

text: "The New York Post" writer Linda Stasi gave the show a three stars rating out of four commenting "aside from the gratuitous sexual stuff, "Awkward" is a really good, funny, fun show". However, Stasi mentioned "this just isn't the kind of thing you'd want to watch with your kids—nor want your kids to watch". According to "The Philadelphia Daily News", ""Awkward", like "Glee", deals gently and semicomically with issues of sexuality and bullying but never really draws blood". HitFix's Daniel Fienberg gave the show a B rating commenting "Not only are high school horrors pretty universal, even if the specifics change, but I can find a way to fit "Awkward" into a tradition of hyper-literal high school comedies like "Pretty in Pink" or "Heathers" or "Mean Girls" or "Juno". It's not as good as any of those, but it's not as bad as "Jawbreaker", which is in the same tradition." "Variety"s Brian Lowry was less enthusiastic about the show: "While the premise is refreshingly gimmick-free compared with "RJ Berger" or "Teen Wolf", the situations aren't compelling enough to make this much more than a latter-day "Doogie Howser, M.D." with a gender switch."


title: Awkward (TV series)

text: The character of Jenna Hamilton has received positive feedback. "Entertainment Weekly" wrote Jenna "navigates the sharky waters of high school, friends, mean cheerleaders, and cute boys with a snarky voice-over that makes her—and "Awkward."—easy to fall in love with". "The Huffington Post" deemed Jenna's voice-overs "witty" as "[they] make this high-school dark comedy stand out from a crowd of stereotypical high school prime-time soaps". David Hinckley of the "Daily News" gave the show a four stars rating out of five and wrote ""Awkward" is very good". He explained "For all the times we've seen the high school outcast who feels alternately ignored and humiliated by her peer group, she has rarely been played better than Ashley Rickards plays Jenna Hamilton." and went on "If the dramas are exaggerated, Jenna makes the trauma feel legitimate, and her narration gives everything a knowing undertone of humor and self-awareness that keeps the most uncomfortable moments from being painful." Stasi compared Ashley Rickards to "Juno" actor Elliot Page: "Rickards is a great teen actress of the [Elliot] Page variety—the kind of kid whose pretty face and adorable bearing is swamped by [their] ability to look awkward and offbeat." "The Washington Post" wrote of Rickards: "Following the well-trod path of Molly Ringwald's "Sixteen Candles" and Claire Danes's "My So-Called Life", she effortlessly manages to elevate the unfresh premise of MTV's new Tuesday night comedy series, "Awkward", to something that is tawdry yet honest.


title: Awkward (TV series)

text: Other characters' performances were also well received by critics. Kubicek appreciated that the show's villain, Sadie Saxton, is not "the typical perfect skinny girl" but "an overweight cheerleader who is popular only thanks to her parents".


title: Ellen White (footballer)

text: Ellen Toni Convery (née White, born 9 May 1989), commonly known as Ellen White, is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. She is the record England women’s goal scorer. With England, she has competed at three FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments: in the 2011, 2015 and 2019, reaching the semi-finals in 2015 and 2019 and finishing third in 2015. White earned the Bronze Boot award at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France. She represented Great Britain team at the 2012 and 2020 Summer Olympics.


title: Ellen White (footballer)

text: Having progressed through Arsenal academy, White returned to the Gunners in 2010 after spells with Chelsea and Leeds United. She has also played for Notts County and Birmingham City. White earned the WSL's Golden Boot Award for most goals scored during the 2017–18 season. With Arsenal, she won the league in 2011 and 2012; the FA Women's Cup in 2011 and 2013 and the FA WSL Cup in 2011, 2012, and 2013. With Birmingham City, she was the league's top scorer in 2018. With Manchester City, she won the Women's FA Cup in 2020.


title: Ellen White (footballer)

text: Born and raised in Aylesbury, White attended The Grange School, Aylesbury before attending Waddesdon Church of England School for sixth form. Because the school did not have a girls' football team, she played with the boys. Her father, Jon, ran a soccer academy called 'Mini Dux' in Aylesbury, where she played football as a child. She then played football for Aylesbury Town before being spotted by Arsenal scouts at the age of eight. Aged nine, she appeared on the front page of The Bucks Herald, in a report on how she had been banned from playing in a football league with boys.


title: Ellen White (footballer)

text: Ellen White left Arsenal aged 16 to join London rivals Chelsea in 2005. White was top scorer for Chelsea for three seasons.


title: Ellen White (footballer)

text: White left Chelsea to join Leeds Carnegie in June 2008. Within months of signing for Leeds, she suffered a cruciate ligament injury that kept her out of the game for a lengthy spell. At the end of the 2008 season, she scored five goals in four matches. During the 2009–10 season, her five goals in seven appearances ranked second on the team. In February 2010, she scored twice as Leeds beat Everton in the final of the FA Women's Premier League Cup.


title: Ellen White (footballer)

text: In July 2010, White returned to Arsenal after five years away, following the break up of the Leeds squad due to a funding crisis. During her time at Arsenal with manager Laura Harvey, they won three league titles and two FA Cups. During the 2011 season, she scored six goals in thirteen appearances for the club. Her first goal was a game-opener in the 40th minute of a 2–1 loss to Birmingham City. Arsenal finished first in the league with a record. White's six goals ranked fourth highest in the league and second highest on the team. The same year, she helped the club win the 2011 FA WSL Cup and 2010–11 FA Women's Cup. During the semi-final of the 2010–11 FA Women's Cup, she scored a hat-trick lifting Arsenal to a 5–0 win over Barnet F.C. and berth to the final where they defeated Bristol Academy 2–0.


title: Ellen White (footballer)

text: During the 2012 season, White scored three goals in ten appearances. On 23 September, she scored a brace against Liverpool lifting the team to a 4–0 win. Her final goal of the season during a 1–1 draw against Birmingham City on 7 October ensured that Arsenal finished the season undefeated and in first place with a record.


title: Ellen White (footballer)

text: White scored 2 goals in 14 appearances during the 2013 season. Arsenal finished in first place for the third consecutive season of the new league.


title: Ellen White (footballer)

text: White left Arsenal at the end of the 2013 season, joining Notts County on a three-year deal ahead of the 2014 season. In April, White suffered an ACL injury and was out for the entire WSL season. In January 2015, the club confirmed that she was back in training ahead of the 2015 season. White scored a goal and assist in her first two games since returning from injury. She finished the 2015 season with 3 goals in 14 appearances. Notts County finished the regular season in fifth place. White scored three goals for Notts County during the 2016 season in ten appearances. The club finished in sixth place during the regular season.


title: Ellen White (footballer)

text: White left Notts County in 2017 and signed for Birmingham City after her contract had expired. Despite being offered a new contract by Notts County, White made the move to the West Midlands, which seemed even more prudent after the latter were disbanded. White scored the winning penalty against Chelsea to take Birmingham to the 2017 FA Women's Cup Final where they were defeated 4–1 by Manchester City. During the FA WSL Spring Series, White scored two goals in four appearances. Birmingham City finished in seventh place. During the 2017–18 season, her 15 goals in 14 matches ranked first in the league. She scored a game-winning brace against Bristol City on 28 March and a hat-trick against Arsenal on 29 April securing the club's 3–0 win. Birmingham City finished in fifth place during the regular season. During the 2018–19 season, White scored six goals in eight appearances. On 17 April 2019, she scored a brace against Everton lifting Birmingham City to a 3–1 win. On 28 April, she scored a game-winning brace against Liverpool. Birmingham City finished in fourth place during the regular season with a record.