title: Samus Aran

text: Generally, Samus is considered a silent protagonist. She did not speak in the original NES games but she did in "Super Metroid" but only in the prologue. Samus broke her silence further in "Fusion" and "", although the latter received criticism due to poor character development and bad voice acting. The developers decided to revert to Samus' original concept in later games. In October 2021, producer Yoshio Sakamoto explained the reason why Samus barely speaks in "Metroid Dread" is "to convey the current situation of Samus or what Samus is thinking right now, this would be better conveyed to the player not through actual words or actual voice, but more with acting or visuals. I want the player to think, 'What is going on? What is Samus feeling right now?' That is why I decided to go this way for this game".


title: Samus Aran

text: Samus debuted in "Metroid" (1986). The Galactic Federation sends Samus to track down the Space Pirates on their home planet of Zebes. Deep within their base, she battles Mother Brain, the organism that controls the base's defenses, and she escapes just as the base self-destructs.


title: Samus Aran

text: In "" (1991) and its remake "" (2017), the Galactic Federation commissions Samus to exterminate all Metroid creatures on the planet SR388. She travels deep into the planet's caverns and after dispatching a Metroid Queen, Samus discovers a small Metroid hatchling, which imprints on her, thinking she is its mother. She spares its life and takes it back to her gunship.


title: Samus Aran

text: In "Super Metroid" (1994), just after giving the hatchling to a Federation research station, Samus tracks the hatchling, which was stolen by Ridley, to a newly rebuilt Space Pirate base on Zebes. She travels deep underground, eventually finding the now-fully-grown Metroid, then battling a newly rebuilt and more powerful Mother Brain. The Metroid hatchling sacrifices itself to save Samus, and Samus in turn defeats Mother Brain and escapes as the entire planet is destroyed.


title: Samus Aran

text: In "Metroid Fusion" (2002), Samus returns to SR388, where a parasitic organism infects and nearly kills her. Galactic Federation scientists surgically remove large portions of her corrupted Power Suit and inject her with the Metroid hatchling's DNA to save her. To prevent the now-dubbed X Parasites from spreading beyond SR388 and the space station orbiting above it, Samus sets the station to crash into the planet, during which she contends with the SA-X, an X Parasite that was born from her infected Power Suit pieces and possesses all of her abilities, while in "Metroid Prime" (2002) sub-series has its titular installment feature Samus traveling to the planet Tallon IV, which contains a Chozo colony in ruins and a Space Pirate base. There she learns of Phazon, a mysterious mutagen that can alter the genetic material of any organism. Samus is eventually able to access the source of the planet's Phazon contamination, a meteor impact crater, where she defeats the Phazon-infused creature Metroid Prime.


title: Samus Aran

text: In "" (2004), Samus is sent to the planet Aether, a Phazon meteor-ravaged planet split into light and dark dimensions. There she battles the Ing, creatures that are able to possess other organisms, and Dark Samus, an evil doppelgänger of herself formed from the remains of her Phazon Suit and Metroid Prime itself.


title: Samus Aran

text: In "" (2007), Dark Samus infects Samus with Phazon, which slowly corrupts her and further forces her to prevent it from spreading to other planets. By the end of the game, she renders all Phazon inert by destroying its original source, the planet Phaaze, and permanently destroys Dark Samus.


title: Samus Aran

text: "" (2010) expands Samus's backstory and emotional scope, such as her brief motherly connection to the Metroid hatchling; the deep respect for her former commanding officer and father figure Adam Malkovich; her reignited feud with Mother Brain in the form of the android MB; and overcoming a posttraumatic episode upon once again encountering her arch-nemesis Ridley.


title: Samus Aran

text: In "" (2016), Samus is tasked by the Galactic Federation to investigate the Space Pirates' presence in the Bermuda System and provide intelligence to the Federation Force. However, after the Force abruptly loses contact with her, they later discover that she had been captured by the Pirates and is brainwashed into fighting them while in her Morph Ball form. After the Federation Force reluctantly defeat her, they proceed to help their fleet destroy the Pirates' massive battleship before narrowly escaping death with the help of a recovered Samus.


title: Samus Aran

text: In "Metroid Dread" (2021), the Galactic Federation receives a video from an unknown source showing an X Parasite alive in the wild on Planet ZDR. To investigate, they send 7 EMMI (Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifier) units. However, after losing contact with the units, they hire Samus once again as she is the only being in the universe immune to the X. Upon arriving on ZDR, Samus is attacked, left unconscious and stripped of her equipment by an unknown Chozo warrior. From there she travels through the planet to reach her ship on the surface, having to contend with the near invincible EMMI and other threats on the way.


title: Samus Aran

text: Outside of "Metroid" series. Samus appears as a playable character throughout the "Super Smash Bros." series, where she can use her array of weapons in combat against characters from other Nintendo franchises. "Super Smash Bros. Brawl", "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS" and "Wii U" and "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" feature an alternate form of Samus called Zero Suit Samus, in which she wears her Zero Suit instead of her Power Suit, which in turn grants her a significantly different and unique move set.


title: Samus Aran

text: Samus is featured in a series of comic books called "", published by Valiant Comics in 1990, based on the animated series of the same name, though Samus never appears in the original cartoon version. In the comic series, set before the events of "Metroid", Samus is portrayed as brash, money-hungry, and fiercely independent, and title character Kevin Keene is depicted as her love interest. Comic book and manga adaptations of "Metroid" games where Samus also appeared were developed.


title: Samus Aran

text: She also appears in the film "Metroid: The Sky Calls", and was portrayed by actresses Jessica Chobot and America Young.


title: Samus Aran

text: Samus makes cameo appearances in the games "Galactic Pinball" (1995), "Super Mario RPG" (1996), "Kirby Super Star" (1996), and "Kirby's Dream Land 3" (1997), and a non-playable appearance in "" by "Metroid: Other M" co-developers Team Ninja.


title: Samus Aran

text: Various figures based on the character were produced by various manufacturers. Samus is one of the twelve original amiibo in November 2014.


title: Samus Aran

text: As a woman in a male-dominated role, Samus has been widely considered a breakthrough for female characters in video games, and is one of the most beloved video game characters of all time. Samus is one of the first major female protagonists in a video game, predated by one year by Toby Masuyo ("Kissy") from Namco's "Alien Sector" ("Baraduke"). In 2011, readers of "Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition" voted Samus at 14th of the top video game characters of all time. 2013's "Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition" declared Samus as "the first playable human female character in a mainstream videogame", and as being "enduringly" popular, noting that sales of the "Metroid" series has exceeded 17.44 million copies as of September 2012. In 2009, "GameDaily" called Samus the video game industry's "first dominant female, a femme de force that didn't rely on a man to save her", also ranking her number one on a list of the top Nintendo characters of all time. In 2010, James Hawkins of "Joystick Division" ranked her as number one top "badass lady" in video games, adding that she "made every other character on this list possible", while "UGO.com" ranked her as 20th in a list of top heroes of all-time. In 2011, "Nintendo Power" listed Samus as their third-favorite hero, citing her bravery in the face of dangerous situations, while "UGO.com" included her on the list of video game characters who need their own movies. That same year, "Empire" ranked her as the 26th-greatest video game character, adding, "whether you see her as a breakthrough for feminism or just another faceless sci-fi warrior, 1986's unexpected reveal that showed women could be more in gaming lore than eye candy for geeky boys was a refreshing and unforgettable moment". In 2012, "GamesRadar" ranked her as the "fifth-most memorable, influential, and badass" protagonist in video games: "Whether she's 2D or 3D, in a sidescroller or FPS, her strength and determination always shine through, allowing her the power to defeat floating aliens and space pirates alike". In 2013, "Complex" ranked her as the "11th-most badass" video game character of all time, as well as the greatest heroine in video game history, and the third-greatest soldier in video games.


title: Samus Aran

text: The unveiling of Samus in "Metroid", which "UGO.com" called the original "jaw-dropping moment" in gaming, was named as the greatest twist in video games by "Game Informer" in 2007 and as the greatest moment in Nintendo's history by GameDaily in 2008. "The Irish Times" found it refreshing to learn that the series' protagonist, who is "well disguised under the suit of heavy armour", is female, but Rupert Goodwins of "The Independent" wrote that the "Transformer-like suit she wears could just as easily contain a large centipede; it's hardly a breakthrough for feminism". According to the 2007 book "Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century: Literate Connections", Samus was perhaps the most nonsexualized female video game character ever, a belief shared by Steve Rabin in "Introduction to Game Development", which considered Samus as one of Nintendo's most popular video game mascots. "1UP.com" described Samus in the "Captain N" comics as "rambunctious, reckless, and gets into fighting contests with Lana over Kevin's affections, which makes for some of the most entertaining situations in the series", before adding that "not to say that the deadly quiet, contemplative Samus who fights for truth and justice in the more recent "Metroid" games isn't awesome, but there's something compelling about a Samus who's greedy and conniving – and is proud to admit it". In 2002, Justin Hoeger of "The Sacramento Bee" opined that "unlike most other female video game characters, Samus isn't some husky-voiced bimbo in tight leather included only for sex appeal. Samus is tough, silent, heavily armed and spends most of her time in a bulky suit of high-tech Power Armor". That same year, however, an article in the "Toronto Star" retorted that the "sexual politics" surrounding Samus and the "Metroid" series needed to stop, arguing that the original "big crazy shock to the gaming public" was "some seriously misspent energy" as she "is not a woman for the benefit of the sweaty/excited crowd, and neither is she a standard-bearer nor a courageous leader in the struggle for video game civil rights. She is a supremely talented action figure, and in the closeups on her helmet you can kind of see that she wears mascara, but that is all". "UGO.com" included Samus's one-piece bathing swimsuit on the list of the best alternate costumes and "IGN" chose "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" by Aerosmith as Samus's theme song because she "spends her time running around in a manly battle suit blasting first and taking names later". Featuring her in their 2004 list of "top ten forces of good" (one section on their list of top 50 "retro" game characters), "Retro Gamer" opined she has remained "a distinct female character, not relying on cheap thrills to capture the attention of gamers, which is more than can be said for some".


title: Samus Aran

text: Nevertheless, much of Samus's media reception came from her sex appeal. "GameTrailers" named Samus number one on a 2006 list of the top ten women of gaming, and number three among top ten "gamer babes" in 2007. "GameDaily" ranked Samus seventh on a list of the top "hottest game babes", describing her as "a refreshing change of pace, a tough, no-nonsense warrior that isn't afraid to remove her famous orange and yellow power suit and let her hair down, especially to reveal her skin-tight clothing". She was further listed on GameDaily's list of "hottest" blondes in video games, described as both one of Nintendo's most famous protagonists as well as a "curvaceous, drop-dead-gorgeous woman", and used to illustrate the "smart and sexy heroine" concept on their list of top video game archetypes. "Game Informer" listed her as number one on their list of the top ten "dorks" of 2010, citing her "lame backstory" in "Other M". In 2008, "Spike" placed Samus on the top of their list of "video game vixen" as "a foxy broad that conceals her curves inside a weapon of death and destruction", while "MSN" India listed her as one of "the best-looking game characters with perfect figures". In 2009, UGO.com ranked Samus as 11th on a list of the top "girls of gaming" and as the "eighth-hottest sci-fi girl", also including her in the 2011 list of 50 video game "hotties". Samus's Zero Suit was ranked by "ScrewAttack" as fourth on their 2010 list of the top 10 sexiest outfits in games on "GameTrailers", while Sarah Warn of "AfterEllen" ranked Samus as the "tenth-hottest" female video game character. In 2011, "GameFront" featured her twice on the list of the "best boobs in video game history", at 40th spot for her reveal in the original game and at sixth place for her modern appearance in "a ridiculously form-fitting jumpsuit". That same year, Lisa Foiles of "The Escapist" ranked the Zero Suit Samus as number one "hottest blonde chick" in video games. In 2012, "Complex" ranked her as the "24th-hottest" video game character, also ranking her as the fourth-top "hot female killer" from video games, while Nixie Pixel from Revision3 placed Samus on top of her sexiest "game girls" list. "Thanh Niên" ranked her as the tenth-most sexy female character in 2015, in particular for her Zero Suit. In 2021, Chris Morgan for "Yardbarker" described Samus as one of "the most memorable characters from old school Nintendo games". In 2021, "HobbyConsolas" also included Samus on their "The 30 best heroes of the last 30 years", while Rachel Weber of "GamesRadar" ranked Samus as 21st of their "50 iconic video game characters".


title: Samus Aran

text: Samus has been well received by the video game community. In 2001, "IGN" remarked that Samus has a cult following greater than most other female video game characters. She was chosen by the users of "IGN" as the most requested character who should have her own movie franchise by the website's users, the staff remarking that her tragic past makes her a perfect candidate for a movie, especially the loss of both her parents to the Space Pirates. Among their list of voted characters, "IGN" considered Samus to be the video game character that "could lead the pack of video game adaptations that actually manage to live up to the source material". In 2009, "GameSpot" featured her in their poll "All-Time Greatest Game Hero", in which she lost to Mario in the semi-finals. Paul O'Connor, the lead game designer for Sammy Studios and a fan of the "Metroid" series, remarked that players empathize and identify with Samus because she is often rewarded for indulging in her curiosity. The book "Videogames and Art" noted that in the original "Metroid" the player is not briefed on Samus's past or future; the only interaction that they have with the character is by being her through gameplay, while bits of information can be gleaned from the handbook and through concept art, adding, "Samus is very rare for the character intimacy gained solely through game play and for her stasis and then drastic change", referring to the revelation that she is a woman. Former mixed martial artist and actress Ronda Rousey told GameSpot in a 2016 interview that she "always wanted to be Samus" if a live-action "Metroid" film is made. Her controversial portrayal in "Metroid: Other M" received mixed reactions. Unlike other "Metroid" games, where Samus took full advantage of weapons and abilities available, she deactivated most of them until Commander Adam Malkovich authorized their use. "G4 TV" considered the portrayal of Samus as "sexist", stating that as she "cannot possibly wield the amount of power she possesses unless directed to by a man" and that her anxiety attack cannot be reconciled with her previous portrayals. According to "GamePro", though "Other M"s story and Samus's monologues did not compel them, "it helped contextualize her entire existence" which developed the character to "an actual human being who's using the vastness of space to try and put some distance between herself and the past". "1UP.com"s Justin Hayward found the portrayal "lifeless and boring" and "nonsensical". "GamesRadar" wrote that "Other M" painted Samus, widely considered a strong female lead character, as "an unsure, insecure woman who desperately wants the approval of her former [male] commanding officer". "The A.V. Club" echoed the misgivings about her immaturity, petulant behavior, and misguided loyalty. In "Metroid Dread", several people noted that Samus never talks as a protagonist. Alex Donaldson of "VG247" has claimed that the game proves that Samus is cooler than Master Chief. However, Ian Walker of "Kotaku" criticized and said that "Samus doesn't need to be an emotionless robot to be badass".


title: Samus Aran

text: In his review of "Super Smash Bros.", "GameSpot"s Jeff Gerstmann called Samus one of the characters that made Nintendo "what it is today". Samus was ranked fifth on "GameDaily"s 2009 list of top characters in the "Smash Bros." series, while "IGN" ranked her as the third-best character for "Super Smash Bros." Jeremy Parish of "Polygon" ranked 73 fighters from "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" "from garbage to glorious", placing Samus as 6th and praised the character by calling her as still by far "the toughest lady in Nintendo's stable of characters", while Gavin Jasper of "Den of Geek" ranked Samus as 5th of "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" characters, praising its inclusion in the roster, particularly her armor and abilities.


title: Kenneth Mars

text: Kenneth Mars (April 4, 1935 – February 12, 2011) was an American actor. He appeared in two Mel Brooks films: as the deranged Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind in "The Producers" (1967) and Police Inspector Hans Wilhelm Friedrich Kemp in "Young Frankenstein" (1974). He also appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's "What's Up Doc?" (1972), and Woody Allen's "Radio Days" (1987), and "Shadows and Fog" (1991).


title: Kenneth Mars

text: Mars appeared in two seasons of "Malcolm in the Middle" as Otto Mannkusser, Francis's well-meaning but dimwitted boss and a German immigrant who owns a dude ranch. He voiced King Triton, Ariel's father, in the 1989 Disney animated film "The Little Mermaid" and its , as well as its companion television series, and the "Kingdom Hearts" series. He also did several other animated voice-over film roles such as Littlefoot's grandfather in the "Land Before Time" series (up to 2008) and that of Professor Screweyes in "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story" (1993), and King Colbert (Prince Cornelius's father) in "Thumbelina" (1994).


title: Kenneth Mars

text: Mars was born in Chicago. His father, Bernard "Sonny" Mars, was a radio and television personality. Kenneth studied fine arts and acting at Northwestern University.


title: Kenneth Mars

text: Mars made his acting debut in 1962 as a book publisher on "Car 54, Where Are You?". He later appeared on such television series as "Gunsmoke", "Get Smart", "McMillan & Wife", "Columbo", and "The Bob Crane Show". He also appeared in dramatic roles such as Will Turner, a former FBI agent, in Warren Beatty's "The Parallax View".


title: Kenneth Mars

text: Mars played Harry Zarakartos on the Richard Benjamin-Paula Prentiss 1967 CBS-TV sitcom "He & She". He was featured in a number of small roles in broadcasts such as the "Misfits of Science" pilot episode and the "" episode "Shadowplay". He was cast opposite Bette Davis in "Hello Mother, Goodbye!", a 1973 television pilot aired by NBC but never picked up as a series. From 1970 to 1974, Mars guest starred in five episodes of "Love, American Style", playing various characters.


title: Kenneth Mars

text: In 1977, Mars became a series regular on both the "Sha Na Na" variety series and on Norman Lear's talk show parody "Fernwood 2-Night" in the memorable recurring role of eccentric William W.D. 'Bud' Prize, from Fernwood's Chamber of Commerce. He continued the role on "America 2-Night" in 1978. In 2001, Mars portrayed a comedic famous but washed-up photographer on "Just Shoot Me". Before his death, his final television roles were Otto, the German dude ranch owner on Fox Broadcasting Company's "Malcolm in the Middle", an appearance on Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana", and a reprise of his role as Grandpa Longneck in "The Land Before Time" television series.


title: Kenneth Mars

text: In 1969, Mars portrayed a marshal trying to raise a posse to pursue "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", only to have his address to the townsfolk hijacked by a friendly bicycle salesman. Mars frequently played characters with exaggerated accents. He portrayed German characters in "The Producers" (1967) and "Young Frankenstein" (1974), and played a Croatian musicologist, Hugh Simon, in "What's Up, Doc?" (1972). His first broadly accented character was that of Sir Evelyn Oakleigh in the 1962 Off-Broadway revival of the Cole Porter musical "Anything Goes". He also appeared in the 1962 Broadway play "The Affair".


title: Kenneth Mars

text: In 1975, ABC/Dunhill released a comedy LP produced by Earl Doud, "Henry the First", featuring Mars in a number of comedy bits as Henry Kissinger, including a cover version of the Bachman–Turner Overdrive song, "Takin' Care of Business".


title: Kenneth Mars

text: Mars cultivated a lengthy voice acting career, launching it by voicing several characters on "Uncle Croc's Block". He voiced the roles of Ariel's father King Triton in "The Little Mermaid" and in the video games "Kingdom Hearts" and "Kingdom Hearts II."


title: Kenneth Mars

text: He voiced Littlefoot's Grandpa Longneck in The "Land Before Time" series of films and the spin-off television series, and the villainous Professor Screweyes in "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story." He played some minor roles on the popular radio show, "Adventures in Odyssey". He played Sweet William in "Fievel's American Tails", which took place after "". He voiced characters on many animated television series, such as "The Smurfs", "The Biskitts", "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo", "TaleSpin", and "Animaniacs", as well as video games such as "Fallout" and "Kingdom Hearts".


title: Kenneth Mars

text: In 2008, Mars retired from acting after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years prior. His final performance was as Grandpa Longneck in the animated television series "The Land Before Time".


title: Kenneth Mars

text: In 1977, Mars married Barbara Newborn. They had two daughters, Susannah and Rebecca. The marriage lasted until his death in 2011.


title: Kenneth Mars

text: In 2006, Mars was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that had already spread beyond his pancreas. His cancer made him so ill that he could not reprise his role as King Triton for "", so Jim Cummings took over the role. As well as not being able to voice Triton, he could not voice Grandpa Longneck in "" (Littlefoot’s Grandpa does appear in the film, but has no lines) and couldn't return to reprise his role as Otto in season 6 of "Malcolm in the Middle".


title: Doctors' plot

text: The "Doctors' plot" affair was an alleged conspiracy of prominent Soviet medical specialists to murder leading government and party officials. It was also known as the case of saboteur doctors or killer doctors. In 1951–1953, a group of predominantly Jewish doctors from Moscow were accused of a conspiracy to assassinate Soviet leaders. This was later accompanied by publications of antisemitic character in the media, which talked about the threats of Zionism and condemned people with Jewish surnames. Following this, many doctors, both Jews and non-Jews, were dismissed from their jobs, arrested, and tortured to produce admissions. A few weeks after the death of Stalin in 1953, the new Soviet leadership said there was a lack of evidence regarding the Doctors' plot and the case was dropped. Soon after, it was declared that the case had been a fabrication.


title: Doctors' plot

text: A number of theories attempt to explain the origins of the Doctors' plot case. Historians typically relate it to the earlier case of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee and to the campaign against the so-called rootless cosmopolitans in the second half of the 1940s, as well as to the power struggle within the Soviet leadership during that time. The campaign against the doctors was presumably set in motion by Stalin as a pretext to launch a massive purge of the Communist Party, and, according to Edvard Radzinsky, even to consolidate the country for a future World War III.


title: Doctors' plot

text: In 1948, an allegation was made by a Soviet veteran medical worker, Lydia Timashuk, who stated that "intentional distortions in medical conclusions [were] made by major medical experts who served as consultants in the hospital". Timashuk "exposed their criminal designs" and as such the security bodies of the Soviet Union were made aware of the existence of the alleged conspiracy against Stalin. Stalin had strong doubts about Timashuk's allegations. Stalin's daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, stated that her father was "very saddened by the turn of events" and that the housekeeper heard him saying that he did not believe the doctors were "dishonest" and that the only evidence against them were the reports of Timashuk.


title: Doctors' plot

text: In 1951, Ministry for State Security (MGB) investigator Mikhail Ryumin reported to his superior, Viktor Abakumov, Minister of the MGB, that Professor Yakov Etinger, who was arrested as a "bourgeois nationalist" with connections to the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, had committed malpractice in treating Andrei Zhdanov (died 1948) and Alexander Shcherbakov (died 1945), allegedly with the intention of killing them. However, Abakumov refused to believe the story. Etinger died in prison (2 March 1951) due to interrogations and harsh conditions. Ryumin was then dismissed from his position in the MGB for misappropriating money and was held responsible for the death of Etinger. With the assistance of Georgy Malenkov, Ryumin wrote a letter to Stalin, accusing Abakumov of killing Etinger in order to hide a conspiracy to kill off the Soviet leadership. On 4 July 1951, the Politburo set up a commission (headed by Malenkov and including Beria) to investigate the issue. Based on the commission's report, the Politburo soon passed a resolution on the "bad situation in the MGB" and Abakumov was fired.


title: Doctors' plot

text: Beria and Malenkov both tried to use the situation to expand their power through gaining control of the MGB.


title: Doctors' plot

text: Abakumov was arrested and tortured soon after being dismissed as head of the MGB. He was charged with being a sympathizer and protector of the criminal Jewish underground. This arrest was followed by the arrests of many agents who worked for him in the central apparatus of the MGB, including most Jews.


title: Doctors' plot

text: The killer doctors case was revived in 1952 when the letter from cardiologist was dug up from the archives. In 1948, Timashuk wrote a letter to the head of Stalin's security, General Nikolai Vlasik, explaining that Zhdanov suffered a heart attack, but the Kremlin doctors who treated him missed it and prescribed the wrong treatment for him. Zhdanov soon died and the doctors covered up their mistake. The letter, however, was originally ignored. In 1953, Timashuk was awarded the Order of Lenin (later revoked) "for the assistance in unmasking killer doctors", and for a long time Timashuk had an unjust stigma of the instigator of this persecution of doctors after Khrushchev in his "Secret Speech" mentioned her in this respect.


title: Doctors' plot

text: The Kremlin doctors involved in the cover up were to be arrested, but they were all Russian. To portray the conspiracy as Zionist, Ryumin and Semyon Ignatyev, who had succeeded Abakumov as head of the MGB, had the Jewish doctors Etinger supposedly specified also added to the arrest list; many of them, like Miron Vovsi, had been consulted by the Kremlin's medical department. The arrests started in September 1952. Vlasik was fired as head of Stalin's security and eventually also arrested for ignoring the Timashuk letter.


title: Doctors' plot

text: Initially, 37 were arrested. Under torture, prisoners seized in the investigation of the alleged plot were compelled to produce evidence against themselves and their associates.


title: Doctors' plot

text: Stalin harangued Ignatyev and accused the MGB of incompetence. He demanded that the interrogations of doctors already under arrest be accelerated. Stalin complained that there was no clear picture of the Zionist conspiracy and no solid evidence that specifically the Jewish doctors were guilty.


title: Doctors' plot

text: Newly opened KGB archives provide evidence that Stalin forwarded the collected interrogation materials to Malenkov, Khrushchev and other "potential victims of Doctors' plot".


title: Doctors' plot

text: Stalin ordered the news agency TASS and "Pravda", the official newspaper of the CPSU, to issue reports about the uncovering of a Doctors' plot to assassinate top Soviet leaders, including Stalin himself. The possible goal of the campaign was to set the stage for show trials. Other sources say that the initiative came from Beria and Malenkov, who continued to use the plot for their own interests. Beria pushed the Politburo to decide to publicize the plot on 9 January 1953. For him, it was especially important that the Doctors' plot got more attention than the Mingrelian Affair, which personally affected him.


title: Doctors' plot

text: On January 13, 1953, nine eminent doctors in Moscow were accused of taking part in a vast plot to poison members of the top Soviet political and military leadership. "Pravda" reported the accusations under the headline "Vicious Spies and Killers under the Mask of Academic Physicians":


title: Doctors' plot

text: Today the TASS news agency reported the arrest of a group of saboteur-doctors. This terrorist group, uncovered some time ago by organs of state security, had as their goal shortening the lives of leaders of the Soviet Union by means of medical sabotage.


title: Doctors' plot

text: Investigation established that participants in the terrorist group, exploiting their position as doctors and abusing the trust of their patients, deliberately and viciously undermined their patients' health by making incorrect diagnoses, and then killed them with bad and incorrect treatments. Covering themselves with the noble and merciful calling of physicians, men of science, these fiends and killers dishonored the holy banner of science. Having taken the path of monstrous crimes, they defiled the honor of scientists.


title: Doctors' plot

text: Among the victims of this band of inhuman beasts were Comrades A. A. Zhdanov and A. S. Shcherbakov. The criminals confessed that, taking advantage of the illness of Comrade Zhdanov, they intentionally concealed a myocardial infarction, prescribed inadvisable treatments for this serious illness and thus killed Comrade Zhdanov. Killer doctors, by incorrect use of very powerful medicines and prescription of harmful regimens, shortened the life of Comrade Shcherbakov, leading to his death.


title: Doctors' plot

text: The majority of the participants of the terrorist group… were bought by American intelligence. They were recruited by a branch-office of American intelligence – the international Jewish bourgeois-nationalist organization called "Joint." The filthy face of this Zionist spy organization, covering up their vicious actions under the mask of charity, is now completely revealed…


title: Doctors' plot

text: Unmasking the gang of poisoner-doctors struck a blow against the international Jewish Zionist organization... Now all can see what sort of philanthropists and "friends of peace" hid beneath the sign-board of "Joint."


title: Doctors' plot

text: Other participants in the terrorist group (Vinogradov, M. Kogan, Egorov) were discovered, as has been presently determined, to have been long-time agents of English intelligence, serving it for many years, carrying out its most criminal and sordid tasks. The bigwigs of the USA and their English junior partners know that to achieve domination over other nations by peaceful means is impossible. Feverishly preparing for a new world war, they energetically send spies inside the USSR and the people's democratic countries: they attempt to accomplish what the Hitlerites could not do — to create in the USSR their own subversive "fifth column."...


title: Doctors' plot

text: The Soviet people should not for a minute forget about the need to heighten their vigilance in all ways possible, to be alert for all schemes of war-mongers and their agents, to constantly strengthen the Armed Forces and the intelligence organs of our government.


title: Doctors' plot

text: The list of alleged victims included high-ranked officials Andrei Zhdanov, Aleksandr Shcherbakov, Army Marshals Aleksandr Vasilevsky, Leonid Govorov and Ivan Konev, General Sergei Shtemenko, Admiral Gordey Levchenko and others.


title: Doctors' plot

text: Stalin intended to publish in "Pravda" a letter signed by many prominent Soviet Jews in which the Jews involved in the plot would be denounced, and differences between them and other Soviet Jews (those loyal to the USSR and to socialism) would be made clear. Two versions of the letter were created, but it was never published. Either Stalin eventually decided not to publish it or it was still being worked on at the time of his death.


title: Doctors' plot

text: After Stalin's death on March 5, 1953, the new leadership quickly dismissed all charges related to the plot; the doctors were exonerated in a March 31 decree by the newly appointed Minister of Internal Affairs, Lavrentiy Beria, and on April 6, this was communicated to the public in "Pravda". Chief MGB investigator and Deputy Minister of State Security Mikhail Ryumin was accused of fabricating the plot, arrested and later executed. A Komsomol official, Nikolai Mesyatsev, was assigned by Malenkov to review the Doctors' plot case and quickly found that it was fabricated.


title: Doctors' plot

text: In his 1956 "Secret Speech", First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev stated that the Doctors' plot was "fabricated... set up by Stalin," but that Stalin did not "have the time in which to bring it to an end," which saved the doctors' lives. Khrushchev also told the session that Stalin called the judge in the case and, regarding the methods to be used, stated "beat, beat and, beat again." Stalin supposedly told his Minister of State Security, "If you do not obtain confessions from the doctors we will shorten you by a head."


title: Doctors' plot

text: Khrushchev also claimed that Stalin hinted to him to incite antisemitism in Ukraine, saying, "The good workers at the factory should be given clubs so they can beat the hell out of those Jews." "Factory workers" armed with clubs were used in the Stalinist secret police operation known as the Kielce pogrom of 1946, overseen by GRU officer Mikhail Diomin – one of a coordinated series of pogroms across Eastern Europe.


title: Doctors' plot

text: According to Khrushchev, Stalin told Politburo members, "You are blind like young kittens. What will happen without me? The country will perish because you do not know how to recognize enemies."


title: Doctors' plot

text: Khrushchev asserted that Stalin intended to use the doctors' trial to launch a massive purge of the Communist Party.


title: Doctors' plot

text: There is a view, based on various memoirs and secondary evidence, that the Doctors' plot case was intended to trigger the mass repression and deportation of the Jews to the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, similar to the deportations of many other ethnic minorities in the Soviet Union, but the plan was not accomplished because of the sudden death of Stalin.


title: Doctors' plot

text: According to Louis Rapoport the alleged deportation was planned to start with the public execution of the imprisoned doctors, and then the "following incidents would follow": "attacks on Jews orchestrated by the secret police, the publication of the statement by the prominent Jews, and a flood of other letters demanding that action be taken. A three-stage program of genocide would be followed. First, almost all Soviet Jews ... would be shipped to camps east of the Urals ... Second, the authorities would set Jewish leaders at all levels against one another ... Also the MGB [Secret Police] would start killing the elites in the camps, just as they had killed the Yiddish writers ... the previous year. The ... final stage would be to 'get rid of the rest.'"


title: Doctors' plot

text: Four large camps were built in southern and western Siberia shortly before Stalin's death in 1953, and there were rumors that they were for Jews. A special "Deportation Commission" to plan the deportation of Jews to these camps was allegedly created. Nikolay Poliakov, the presumed secretary of the "Commission", stated years later that, according to Stalin's initial plan, the deportation was to begin in the middle of February 1953, but the monumental tasks of compiling lists of Jews had not yet been completed. "Pure blooded" Jews were to be deported first, followed by "half-breeds" ("polukrovki"). Before his death in March 1953, Stalin allegedly had planned the execution of Doctors' plot defendants already on trial in Red Square in March 1953, and then he would cast himself as the savior of Soviet Jews by sending them to camps away from the purportedly enraged Russian populace. There are further statements that describe some aspects of such a planned deportation.


title: Doctors' plot

text: Yakov Etinger described how former CPSU Politburo member Nikolai Bulganin said that Stalin asked him in the end of February 1953 to prepare railroad cars for the mass deportation of Jews to the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. According to a book by another Soviet Politburo member Alexander Yakovlev, Stalin started preparations for the deportation of Jews in February 1953 and ordered preparation of a letter from a group of notable Soviet Jews with a request to the Soviet government to carry out the mass deportation of Jews in order to save them from "the just wrath of Soviet people." The letter had to be published in the newspaper "Pravda" and was found later. According to historian Samson Madiyevsky, the deportation was definitely considered, and the only thing in question is the time-frame.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as, The Sydney Stock Exchange, a separate entity). The ASX was formed on 1 April 1987, through incorporation under legislation of the Australian Parliament as an amalgamation of the six state securities exchanges, and merged with the Sydney Futures Exchange in 2006.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: Today, ASX has an average daily turnover of A$4.685 billion and a market capitalisation of around A$1.6 trillion, making it one of the world's top 20 listed exchange groups.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: ASX Clear is the clearing house for all shares, structured products, warrants and ASX Equity Derivatives.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: ASX Group is a market operator, clearing house and payments system facilitator. It also oversees compliance with its operating rules, promotes standards of corporate governance among Australia's listed companies and helps to educate retail investors.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has responsibility for the supervision of real-time trading on Australia's domestic licensed financial markets and the supervision of the conduct by participants (including the relationship between participants and their clients) on those markets. ASIC also supervises ASX's own compliance as a public company with ASX Listing Rules.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: ASX Compliance is an ASX subsidiary company that is responsible for monitoring and enforcing ASX-listed companies' compliance with the ASX operating rules.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has oversight of the ASX's clearing and settlement facilities for financial system stability.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: Products and services available for trading on ASX include shares, futures, exchange traded options, warrants, contracts for difference, exchange-traded funds, real estate investment trusts, listed investment companies and interest rate securities.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: The biggest stocks traded on the ASX, in terms of market capitalisation, include BHP, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, Telstra, Rio Tinto, National Australia Bank and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: The major market index is the S&P/ASX 200, an index made up of the top 200 shares in the ASX. This supplanted the previously significant All Ordinaries index, which still runs parallel to the S&P ASX 200. Both are commonly quoted together. Other indices for the bigger stocks are the S&P/ASX 100 and S&P/ASX 50.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: The origins of the ASX date back to the mid-1800s when six separate exchanges were established in Australia's state capital cities of Melbourne, Victoria, (1861), Sydney, New South Wales (1871), Hobart, Tasmania (1882), Brisbane, Queensland (1884), Adelaide, South Australia (1887) and Perth, Western Australia (1889). A further exchange in Launceston, Tasmania, merged into the Hobart exchange.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: In November 1903 the first interstate conference was held to coincide with the Melbourne Cup. The exchanges then met on an informal basis until 1937 when the Australian Associated Stock Exchanges (AASE) was established, with representatives from each exchange. Over time the AASE established uniform listing rules, broker rules, and commission rates.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: Trading was conducted by a call system, where an exchange employee called the names of each company and brokers bid or offered on each. In the 1960s this changed to a post system. Exchange employees called "chalkies" wrote bids and offers in chalk on blackboards continuously, and recorded transactions made.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: The ASX (Australian Stock Exchange Limited) was formed in 1987 by legislation of the Australian Parliament which enabled the amalgamation of six independent stock exchanges that formerly operated in the state capital cities. After demutualisation the ASX was the first exchange in the world to have its shares quoted on its own market. The ASX was listed on 14 October 1998. On 7 July 2006 the Australian Stock Exchange merged with SFE Corporation, holding company for the Sydney Futures Exchange.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1861: Ten years after the official advent of the Gold Rush, Australia's first stock exchange was formed in Melbourne. In the 1850s Victoria was Australia's gold mining centre, its population increasing from 80,000 in 1851 to 540,000 in 1861.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1871: Thirty years after it lit the first gas street light in Sydney, the Australian Gas Light Company took its place in history again, becoming the second company to list on the Sydney Stock Exchange.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1885: Two years after the Broken Hill Mining Company (private company) was established by a syndicate of seven men from the Mount Gipps Station, the company was incorporated to become the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP). In 1885, BHP listed on the Melbourne Stock Exchange.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1937: The Australian Associated Stock Exchanges (AASE) was established in 1937. Since 1903 the state stock exchanges had met on an informal basis, but in 1936 Sydney took the lead in formalising the association. Initially this involved the exchanges in Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart and Sydney. Melbourne and Perth joined soon after. Through the AASE the exchanges gradually brought in common listing requirements for companies and uniform brokerage and other rules for stockbroking firms. They also set the ground rules for commissions and the flotation of government and semi-government loan raisings.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1960: Sydney Futures Exchange began trading as Sydney Greasy Wool Futures Exchange (SGWFE). Its original goal was to provide Australian wool traders with hedging facilities in their own country. SGWFE offered a single contract of greasy wool that by the end of the year had traded 19,042 lots.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1969–1970: The Poseidon bubble (a mining boom triggered by a nickel discovery in Western Australia) caused Australian mining shares to soar and then crash, prompting regulatory recommendations that ultimately led to Australia's national companies and securities legislation.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1980: The separate Melbourne and Sydney stock exchange indices were replaced by Australian Stock Exchange indices.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1984: Brokers' commission rates were deregulated. Commissions have gradually fallen ever since, with rates today as low as 0.12% or 0.05% from discount internet-based brokers.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1984: Sydney Stock Exchange closed due to heavy rain and flooding on 9 November 1984 with 70 millimetres of rain falling in one half-hour. All trading on the floor of the Sydney Exchange was suspended throughout Friday. Damage totaled $2 million and repairs took more than six months, with new carpet laid and cables and computers replaced.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: Stockbrokers who had taken advantage of joint access were able to trade on the Melbourne Stock Exchange. And, with the Sydney trading floor closed by floodwaters, the Melbourne Exchange enjoyed its busiest trading day for the year. After that episode a back-up site was established out side the Sydney CBD.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1987: The Australian Stock Exchange Limited (ASX) was formed on 1 April 1987, through incorporation under legislation of the Australian Parliament. The formation of the national stock exchange involved the amalgamation of the six independent stock exchanges that had operated in the states' capital cities.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: Launch of the Stock Exchange Automated Trading System (SEATS). It was a far cry from the original system which dated back over 100 years. During that time there had been three different forms of trading on the Australian stock exchanges. The earliest was the auction-based call system, which saw a stock exchange employee (the caller) call the name of each listed security in turn while members bid, offered, sold or bought the stock at each call. This system proved inadequate to handle the increased volume of trading during the mining booms. It was replaced by the 'post' system in the early 1960s, which involved stocks being quoted on 'posts' or 'boards'. 'Chalkies' were employed by the Stock Exchange and it was their function to record in chalk the bids and offers of the operators (employees of stockbrokers) and the sales made. This system stayed in place until 1987.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1993: Fixed-interest securities were added (see Interest rate market below). Also in 1993, the FAST system of accelerated settlement was established, and the following year the CHESS system (see Settlement below) was introduced, superseding FAST.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1994: The Sydney Futures Exchange announced trading in futures over individual ASX stocks. The ASX responded with the Low Exercise Price Option or LEPO (see below). The SFE went to court, claiming that LEPOs were futures and therefore that the ASX could not offer them. The court held they were options and so LEPOs were introduced in 1995.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1995: Stamp duty on share transactions was halved from 0.3% to 0.15%. The ASX had agreed with the Queensland State Government to locate staff in Brisbane in exchange for the stamp duty reduction there, and the other states followed suit so as not to lose brokerage business to Queensland. In 2000 stamp duty was abolished in all states as part of the introduction of the GST.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1996: The exchange members (brokers etc.) voted to demutualise. The exchange was incorporated as ASX Limited and in 1998 the company was listed on the ASX itself, with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission enforcing the listing rules for ASX Limited.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1997: Electronic trading commences as the option market moves from floor to screen. A phased transition to the electronic CLICK system for derivatives began.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 1998: ASX demutualised to become a listed company. It was the first exchange in the world to demutualise and list on its own market, a trend that has been imitated by several other exchanges over the years. The Australian Mutual Provident Society began in 1849 as an organisation offering life insurance. Now known as AMP it became a publicly listed company on the ASX in 1998.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 2000: In October, ASX acquires a 15% stake in the trading and order management software company IRESS (formerly BridgeDFS Ltd).


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 2006: The ASX announced a merger with the Sydney Futures Exchange, the primary derivatives exchange in Australia.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: ASX Group has two trading platforms – ASX Trade, which facilitates the trading of ASX equity securities and ASX Trade24 for derivative securities trading.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: All ASX equity securities are traded on screen on ASX Trade. ASX Trade is a NASDAQ OMX ultra-low latency trading platform based on NASDAQ OMX's Genium INET system, which is used by many exchanges around the world. It is one of the fastest and most functional multi-asset trading platforms in the world, delivering latency down to ~250 microseconds.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: ASX Trade24 is ASX global trading platform for derivatives. It is globally distributed with network access points (gateways) located in Chicago, New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne. It also allows for true 24-hour trading, and simultaneously maintains two active trading days which enables products to be opened for trading in the new trading day in one time zone while products are still trading under the previous day.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: The normal trading or business days of the ASX are week-days, Monday to Friday. ASX does not trade on national public holidays: New Year's Day (1 January), Australia Day (26 January, and observed on this day or the first business day after this date), Good Friday (that varies each year), Easter Monday, Anzac day (25 April), Queen's birthday (June), Christmas Day (25 December) and Boxing Day (26 December).


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: On each trading day there is a pre-market session from 7:00am to 10:00am AEST and a normal trading session from 10:00am to 4:00pm AEST. The market opens alphabetically in single-price auctions, phased over the first ten minutes, with a small random time built in to prevent exact prediction of the first trades. There is also a single-price auction between 4:10pm and 4:12pm to set the daily closing prices.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: Security holders hold shares in one of two forms, both of which operate as uncertificated holdings, rather than through the issue of physical share certificates:


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: Holdings may be moved from issuer-sponsored to CHESS or between different brokers by electronic message initiated by the controlling participant.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: Short selling of shares is permitted on the ASX, but only among designated stocks and with certain conditions:


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: Many brokers do not offer short selling to small private investors. LEPOs can serve as an equivalent, while contracts for difference (CFDs) offered by third-party providers are another alternative.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: In September 2008, ASIC suspended nearly all forms of short selling due to concerns about market stability in the ongoing global financial crisis. The ban on covered short selling was lifted in May 2009.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: Also, in the biggest change for ASX in 15 years, ASTC Settlement Rule 10.11.12 was introduced, which requires the broker to provide stocks when settlement is due, otherwise the broker must buy the stock on the market to cover the shortfall. The rule requires that if a Failed Settlement Shortfall exists on the second business day after the day on which the Rescheduled Batch Instruction was originally scheduled for settlement (that is, generally on T+5), the delivering settlement participant must either:


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: Options on leading shares are traded on the ASX, with standardised sets of strike prices and expiry dates. Liquidity is provided by market makers who are required to provide quotes. Each market maker is assigned two or more stocks. A stock can have more than one market maker, and they compete with one another. A market maker may choose one or both of:


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: In both cases there is a minimum quantity (5 or 10 contracts depending on the shares) and a maximum spread permitted.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: Due to the higher risks in options, brokers must check clients' suitability before allowing them to trade options. Clients may both take (i.e. buy) and write (i.e. sell) options. For written positions, the client must put up margin.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: The ASX interest rate market is the set of corporate bonds, floating rate notes, and bond-like preference shares listed on the exchange. These securities are traded and settled in the same way as ordinary shares, but the ASX provides information such as their maturity, effective interest rate, etc., to aid comparison.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: The Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE) was the 10th largest derivatives exchange in the world, providing derivatives in interest rates, equities, currencies and commodities. The SFE is now part of ASX and its most active products are:


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: The ASX trades futures over the ASX 50, ASX 200 and ASX property indexes, and over grain, electricity and wool. Options over grain futures are also traded.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: The ASX maintains stock indexes concerning stocks traded on the exchange in conjunction with Standard & Poor's. There is a hierarchy of index groups called the S&P/ASX 20, S&P/ASX 50, S&P/ASX 100, S&P/ASX 200 and S&P/ASX 300, notionally containing the 20, 50, 100, 200 and 300 largest companies listed on the exchange, subject to some qualifications.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: ASX sharemarket games give members of the public and secondary school students the chance to learn about investing in the sharemarket using real market prices. Participants receive a hypothetical $50,000 to buy and sell shares in 150 companies and track the progress of their investments over the duration of the game.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: ASX was (25 October 2010) in merger talks with Singapore Exchange (SGX). The merger would have created a bourse with a market value of US$14 billion. The merger was blocked by Treasurer of Australia Wayne Swan on 8 April 2011, on advice from the Foreign Investment Review Board that the proposed merger was not in the best interests of Australia.


title: Australian Securities Exchange

text: 2015 – Information Services and Technical Services revenues grew by 8% and 10% respectively, while Austraclear chipped in with 9%. Another bright spot was the dividend from IRESS, which rose 47% from the prior period, to $4.9m. This financial software company has risen by 27% over the past couple of years and ASX's 19.3% stake is now worth $334m, more than 4% of its own market value.


title: 2021 Major League Baseball draft

text: The 2021 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on July 11–13, 2021. In conjunction with the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the draft was held in Denver. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2020 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks were distributed for players who did not sign from the 2020 MLB Draft and for teams who lost qualifying free agents. On March 26, 2020, MLB and the MLBPA reached a deal that included the option to halve the draft to 20 rounds due to the COVID-19 pandemic. MLB ultimately opted to shorten the draft to 20 rounds. In total, 612 college and high school players were drafted.


title: 2021 Major League Baseball draft

text: The Pittsburgh Pirates, who had the worst record of the 2020 season, selected Henry Davis with the first overall pick in the draft. As punishment for their role in the sign stealing scandal, the Houston Astros forfeited both their first- and second-round picks in the draft.


title: 2021 Major League Baseball draft

text: On April 2, 2021, MLB announced that the 2021 MLB All-Star Game, along with the draft, was being relocated from Atlanta in protest of the Georgia State Legislature's passage of the controversial Election Integrity Act of 2021; three days later, Denver was announced as the new host city.


title: 2021 Major League Baseball draft

text: Chase Silseth made his MLB debut on May 13, 2022, making him the first player from the 2021 draft to make his major league debut.


title: Caleb Williams (American football)

text: Caleb Williams (born November 18, 2002) is an American football quarterback for the USC Trojans. Williams played for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2021 before transferring to USC as a sophomore in 2022, where he won several player of the year awards, including the Heisman Trophy, after throwing for 4,075 yards with a school-record 47 total touchdowns; 37 passing and 10 rushing.


title: Caleb Williams (American football)

text: Williams attended Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C. As a sophomore in 2018 he led Gonzaga to a WCAC Championship as the best team in the District, and was named "Washington Post" All-Metropolitan 1st team and Washington, D.C. Gatorade Football Player of the Year after he passed for 2,624 passing yards with 26 touchdowns and rushed for 394 yards and 10 touchdowns. As a junior in 2019 he was named "Washington Post" All-Metropolitan 1st team for the second consecutive year after he passed for 1,770 yards with 19 touchdowns and rushed for 838 yards with 18 touchdowns. He was named the Elite 11 finals MVP the following summer. In 2020 his senior season was cancelled due to COVID-19. The highest-rated quarterback prospect of his class, Williams committed to play college football at the University of Oklahoma.


title: Caleb Williams (American football)

text: Williams entered his true freshman season at Oklahoma in 2021 as the backup to Spencer Rattler, before assuming the role as starting quarterback midway through the Sooners' rivalry game with the Texas Longhorns in the team's sixth game of the season. In that game, Oklahoma was down 17–35 before Williams replaced Rattler and led the Sooners to a 55–48 victory. He finished with 212 passing yards, 2 passing touchdowns, 88 yards rushing, and a rushing touchdown. Williams made his first start the following week, against Texas Christian University, and threw for 295 yards, four touchdowns and rushed for 66 yards and a rushing touchdown as Oklahoma won 52–31. In 7 games he finished his freshman year with 21 passing touchdowns, 6 rushing touchdowns, and 4 interceptions.


title: Caleb Williams (American football)

text: On January 3, 2022, Williams entered the transfer portal, and on February 1, he announced that he had transferred to USC, reuniting him with head coach Lincoln Riley, who had been the head coach for the Sooners before being hired away by the Trojans the previous November. Williams was named the starter on August 25 and team captain on August 31. In his first start against Rice, he went 19/22 with 249 yards and two touchdowns, as USC won 66–14.


title: Caleb Williams (American football)

text: He became the AP College Football Player of the Year, USC's first winner since Reggie Bush in 2005, and was named 2022's Heisman trophy winner.


title: Atomic radii of the elements (data page)

text: The atomic radius of a chemical element is the distance from the center of the nucleus to the outermost shell of an electron. Since the boundary is not a well-defined physical entity, there are various non-equivalent definitions of atomic radius. Depending on the definition, the term may apply only to isolated atoms, or also to atoms in condensed matter, covalently bound in molecules, or in ionized and excited states; and its value may be obtained through experimental measurements, or computed from theoretical models. Under some definitions, the value of the radius may depend on the atom's state and context.


text: Atomic radii vary in a predictable and explicable manner across the periodic table. For instance, the radii generally decrease rightward along each period (row) of the table, from the alkali metals to the noble gases; and increase down each group (column). The radius increases sharply between the noble gas at the end of each period and the alkali metal at the beginning of the next period. These trends of the atomic radii (and of various other chemical and physical properties of the elements) can be explained by the electron shell theory of the atom; they provided important evidence for the development and confirmation of quantum theory.


text: Note: All measurements given are in picometers (pm). For more recent data on covalent radii see Covalent radius. Just as atomic units are given in terms of the atomic mass unit (approximately the proton mass), the physically appropriate unit of length here is the Bohr radius, which is the radius of a hydrogen atom. The Bohr radius is consequently known as the "atomic unit of length". It is often denoted by "a" and is approximately 53 pm. Hence, the values of atomic radii given here in picometers can be converted to atomic units by dividing by 53, to the level of accuracy of the data given in this table.


title: Hopsin

text: Marcus Jamal Hopson (born July 18, 1985), known professionally as Hopsin, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Los Angeles.


title: Hopsin

text: In 2007, he was signed to Ruthless Records, and had founded his own record label, Funk Volume, in 2009. He would then go on to found another record label, Undercover Prodigy, in 2016. Hopsin has released five studio albums, "Gazing at the Moonlight" through Ruthless Records, "Raw", "Knock Madness" and "Pound Syndrome" along with the collaborative project Haywire with SwizZz through Funk Volume and "No Shame". He is well known for his use of white colored eye contacts in music videos, performances, and interviews.


title: Hopsin

text: Marcus Hopson was born on July 18, 1985, in Los Angeles, and was raised in the largely Hispanic Panorama City neighborhood of Los Angeles. He attended James Monroe High School, where he was placed into special education classes. Hopsin has been an avid skateboarder since the age of twelve, and many of his music videos feature him skateboarding. He started rapping at sixteen years old, and took his hobby more seriously by 2003 which is the year the majority of the tracks from Hopsin's self-produced album "Emurge" were recorded.


title: Hopsin

text: In 2004, Hopsin and a group of friends were arrested for vandalizing James Monroe High School property. It was supposed to be a school prank but later they were all charged and held on $20,000 bail. Hopsin, who dropped out earlier that year, was sent to Los Angeles County Jail where he spent 8 days. Upon his release, he began to pursue a career in music, purchased a microphone, and installed FL Studio (known as FruityLoops at the time) on his computer. He credits Eminem as the rapper that initially got him interested in hip hop music.


title: Hopsin

text: Hopsin began recording his debut project "Emurge" in 2002 and was eventually released locally in 2003, copies of the project are very sparse and hard to find, a bootleg version appeared online in 2008 and had many extra songs on it, however to this day the album has never been released officially. Hopsin had initially signed with Ruthless Records in 2007 and even began recording his debut album as early as 2004. He was originally hailed as one of the driving forces behind attempting to bring Ruthless Records back to previous glory. Hopsin's lead single from his debut album "Pans in the Kitchen" was released on May 27, 2008. The album was set to be self-produced by Hopsin and feature no collaborations with other artists. However his debut album, "Gazing at the Moonlight" was not released until October 27, 2009, with little to no promotion. Shortly after the album's release, Hopsin sought his release from Ruthless Records due to lack of financial compensation, artist support, and promotion. Shortly before the departure from Ruthless Records, Hopsin founded his own independent label, Funk Volume, with Damien Ritter. SwizZz, Damien Ritter's younger brother and a former classmate of Hopsin at Monroe High, was the first artist to be signed to Funk Volume. Shortly after launching Funk Volume, both Hopsin and SwizZz released a collaborative mixtape titled "Haywire" in June 2009 to promote the label. Funk Volume originally wanted to sell it for retail sale, but were unable due to Hopsin still being contracted by Ruthless Records at the time. On mixtape website DatPiff, it has been certified Gold for being downloaded over 100,000 times and it later made available for purchase for digital download via iTunes and Amazon.com.


title: Hopsin

text: Hopsin released "Nocturnal Rainbows" as the first single off of his upcoming second album "Raw" on August 1, 2010. On October 8, 2010, Hopsin released a music video for the song "Sag My Pants", the second single off "Raw" on YouTube. The video became a YouTube success and currently has over 37 million views. In the song Hopsin pokes fun and disses other rappers such as Lil Wayne, Drake, Soulja Boy, Lupe Fiasco, Rick Ross and Tomica Wright, the owner of Ruthless Records. Hopsin's second album, "Raw", was released on November 19, 2010. In March 2011, Hopsin went on a two-month nationwide tour to promote "Raw" with the "I Am RAW" tour.


title: Hopsin

text: In July 2011, Hopsin released the fourth installment of his "Ill Mind of Hopsin" video series which later received over 21 million views on YouTube. In it he disses Tyler, the Creator of the Los Angeles hip hop collective, Odd Future. On October 31, 2011, Hopsin was featured in a mobile battle rap game, Battle Rap Stars by Jump Shot Media.


title: Hopsin

text: In January 2012, Hopsin landed a spot on MTV2's "Sucker Free Sunday" by appearing in Tech N9ne's music video for "Am I A Psycho?". In February 2012 Hopsin appeared on the front cover of "XXL" as part of their annual "Top 10 Freshmen list" along with fellow rappers French Montana, MGK, Danny Brown, Roscoe Dash, Iggy Azalea, Macklemore, Don Trip, and Kid Ink. In July 2012, Hopsin released the fifth installment of his "Ill Mind of Hopsin" video series which hit YouTube with huge success. It had received over 1 million views in less than 24 hours and currently has over 50 million views. In "Ill Mind of Hopsin 5" Hopsin expresses his frustration with jaded youth and disenchantment towards other rappers who are unrelatable. It had also charted at number 17 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Digital songs chart. In October 2012, Hopsin made an appearance on a BET Cypher during the 2012 BET Hip Hop Awards alongside Schoolboy Q, Mac Miller and Mystikal.


title: Hopsin

text: Hopsin's album, "Knock Madness" was released on November 26, 2013, to fairly good success in US Rap Charts. Featured guests for the album include Dizzy Wright, SwizZz, Jarren Benton, and Tech N9ne. He has said the album has more of a positive message and said it is "better than Dr. Dre's "Detox"." Hopsin and the rest of the Funk Volume artists went on a three-month worldwide tour in the fall of 2012 which included 58 shows in 60 days in the United States, Europe, and Australia.


title: Hopsin

text: In December 2012, Hopsin had hinted on his Facebook and Twitter pages that he and Travis Barker are working on a project together, further details on the project were yet to be released. However, in late December, Travis Barker would say they are working on a collaboration EP which would be released in 2013. Then on February 5, 2012, Hopsin would say all the production had been finished for the EP. On January 24, 2013, Funk Volume released a music video featuring the entire roster; Hopsin, Dizzy Wright, SwiZzZ, Jarren Benton and DJ Hoppa for a song titled "Funk Volume 2013." On March 30, 2013, performed at the 2013 Paid Dues festival in San Bernardino, California.


title: Hopsin

text: On July 18, 2013, Hopsin released "Ill Mind Six: Old Friend" on his YouTube channel. At the end of the video, the release date for "Knock Madness" was confirmed as November 26, 2013. He later said that the song is not the sixth song in the "Ill Mind of Hopsin" series, and is instead a track on Knock Madness titled "Old Friend". "Knock Madness" was released on November 26, 2013, by Funk Volume and debuted at number 76 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 12,000 copies. The album contains guest appearances from SwizZz, Dizzy Wright, Jarren Benton and Tech N9ne along with being production primarily by Hopsin himself. It was also supported by the singles "Hop Is Back" and "Rip Your Heart Out". Following the Knock Madness tour beginning in December 2013, Hopsin planned to go on a hiatus also saying, "When I take a break, I am still going to be making music, I am [just] not going to be out publicly promoting shit. I am just going to be in my own house, doing whatever the fuck I want to do. Finding myself as a person."


title: Hopsin

text: On January 30, 2014, while on tour, Hopsin was scheduled to perform a show in Fort Collins, Colorado but feeling deeply depressed and even suicidal he walked out the back door of the venue before the performance. He hid in a house under construction until he called a friend to pick him up. However, on July 11, 2015, to make amends, he performed a free show for fans in Fort Collins at the same venue where he was originally to perform and dedicated a song titled "Fort Collins" on his album "Pound Syndrome".


title: Hopsin

text: On July 1, 2014, Hopsin posted a picture of his mugshot stating that he would be releasing "Ill Mind of Hopsin 7" on July 18, 2014. He then stated that it was for sure the realest song he has ever wrote in his career. The video for "Ill Mind of Hopsin 7" had gotten over 1 million YouTube views in a day. On "Ill Mind of Hopsin 7", Hopsin lyrically shares his religious beliefs, his views on other religious beliefs and the connections between religion, history and governance.


title: Hopsin

text: Hopsin had revealed on his Instagram that he would be retiring from rap and moving to Australia. However, on December 25, 2014, Hopsin shared a video on his YouTube channel called "The REAL reason Hopsin left the music industry" with label mate Jarren Benton inspired by the film "Dumb and Dumber To" which stated that he was not quitting rap and it was all a joke, also revealing that he will be releasing a new album called "Pound Syndrome" in 2015.


title: Hopsin

text: On May 27, 2015, an interview was released on Sway Calloway's YouTube channel, touching on his appearance at Soundest Music Festival, and announcing that "Pound Syndrome" would be released on July 24. In the interview, he said that this is "definitely the best album that [he's] ever created, hands down." In June 2015, both "Sag My Pants" and "Ill Mind of Hopsin 5" were certified Gold by the RIAA. On June 1, 2015, the first single off the album "Crown Me" was released. The second single "Fly" was released on July 8, 2015. Also in July 2015, it was announced that Hopsin had signed a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records. "Pound Syndrome" was released on July 24, 2015. The album debuted at number 17 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 17,000 copies.


title: Hopsin

text: In January 2016, Hopsin had announced on social media that his label Funk Volume, is "officially dead", due to ongoing business issues and financial disputes with his business partner and co-founder of the label, Damien Ritter. In March 2016, Hopsin released "Ill Mind of Hopsin 8". The song was a diss track directed towards Damien Ritter and Funk Volume. Hopsin officially left Funk Volume after the song's release and went on to create a new label called Undercover Prodigy. Hopsin later went on to release more singles with his new label with, "Bout the Business" on April 20, "Die This Way" on May 31, "False Advertisement" on August 25, and "Scrollin" with Futuristic off his "As Seen on the Internet" album on August 26.


title: Hopsin

text: In February 2017, Hopsin confirmed he was working on his next studio album and released the singles "All Your Fault", and "Bus That" on April 17. On September 22, 2017, Hopsin released the lead single to his fifth album titled, "The Purge". The following single, "Happy Ending", was released as the second single on October 13. In the same month, Hopsin confirmed in an interview that he signed a distribution deal with 300 Entertainment. On November 1, 2017, Hopsin released the third single, "Witch Doctor", and announced and revealed the album's title and cover of his fifth studio album titled, "No Shame". The album was released on November 24, 2017, and debuted at number 42 on the US "Billboard" 200 chart.


title: Hopsin

text: Following the release of "No Shame", Hopsin later went on to release music videos from the album with, "Ill Mind of Hopsin 9", being released the same day as the album's fourth single. "Panorama City" and "Tell'em Who You Got It From" were released in January and February 2018, respectively. In July 2018, Hopsin appeared on a single and music video with Canadian rapper Dax titled, "YourWorthIt.org". In December 2018, Hopsin released the singles "Low-Key" and "Hell's Carol".


title: Hopsin

text: On January 28, 2019, Hopsin released another collaboration with Dax titled, "You Should've Known". Hopsin later went on to release the singles "The Old Us" and "Picasso" on February 28 and May 8, respectively. On July 15, 2019, Hopsin released a new song titled, "I Don't Want It". In the song, he announces that he will be taking a break from music to recover from problems in his personal life.


title: Hopsin

text: On February 16, 2020, Hopsin uploaded a video to his YouTube channel announcing his return from his hiatus and announcing an upcoming album. On April 21, Hopsin released a new single titled, "Covid Mansion".


title: Hopsin

text: In September 2020, Hopsin joined the advisory board of music social networking startup Artist Republik.


title: Hopsin

text: In July 2011 Hopsin released "Ill Mind of Hopsin 4" which in the second verse he disses Tyler, the Creator of the Los Angeles hip hop collective, Odd Future and his "Yonkers" music video. Hopsin said that he hates Odd Future's music, noting its negativity and "random" lyrical content and criticizing the group's production values. Tyler responded via Formspring, stating that although "[Hopsin] can rap," Tyler felt that Hopsin was "bitter" and attempting to "get a name" by dissing Tyler and Odd Future. Hopsin later said he did not have a beef with Tyler.


title: Hopsin

text: Hopsin's feud with Soulja Boy dates back to Hopsin's single "Sag My Pants", in which he disses Soulja. In late 2011, Soulja Boy called Hopsin "dope" but said that he wouldn't bother dissing him until Hopsin got more known. On August 25, 2012, Soulja Boy made controversial comments towards Hopsin on one of his webcam chats with his fans when Soulja stated "Fuck Hopsin. I'm about to go in the studio and record this Hopsin diss real quick". He continued, saying: "That nigga's a bitch; fuck that bitch ass nigga." Two days later on August 27, 2012, Hopsin and Soulja confronted each other on Tinychat where Hopsin goaded Soulja into dissing him. On September 3, 2012, Soulja released a Hopsin diss entitled "That Nigga Not Me", to which Hopsin has not responded. In an interview with Tim Westwood following that diss, Hopsin put down the diss song as horrible and said the only rapper he has legitimate beef with is Soulja Boy. He also said he is contemplating "smashing the hell out of Soulja's career."


title: Hopsin

text: On August 25, 2012, Hopsin was scheduled to perform at Club 57 West, a popular night club located in Orlando, Florida. At the last minute, the club promoters chose to pull the last opening act, causing a verbal altercation between the club promoters and the artist's entourage. Some witnesses claim Hopsin tried to settle the argument verbally, while Hopsin claims he tried to defuse a fight outside of the club on his way to 7-Eleven (without indicating whether this was the same conflict, or something unrelated). At one point, Hopsin even offered 15 minutes of his own set to help find a solution to the problem. Hopsin was detained shortly thereafter once police responded to the initial call stemming from the altercation inside the club. According to court records, he was arrested for disorderly conduct. On September 21, the assistant state attorney decided not to officially file the information. Hopsin later commented on the case, referring to the police officer as a racist.


title: Hopsin

text: Hopsin got his start in entertainment appearing as a background extra in movies and Disney Channel TV shows such as "John Tucker Must Die", "Even Stevens", "Lizzie McGuire", "Cold Case", "Malcolm in the Middle" and "Gilmore Girls" among many others. His most notable work was on "That's So Raven", which he worked on for several years, starting when he was 15. In the entire course of his appearances he only had a speaking part a single time. He also made an appearance in the 2009 film "Fame" as a rapper. In 2015, Hopsin co-starred in the second season of the TV drama series "Murder in the First".


title: Hopsin

text: In 2004, Hopsin began wearing colored eye contacts in appearances in interviews, music videos, and performances. He stated that he used the contacts to give himself a memorable appearance and differentiate himself from other African American rappers.


title: Hopsin

text: Hopsin is against drug and alcohol usage, and has criticized how mainstream entertainers promote usage of drugs and alcohol to youth. In some of his tracks, such as "Nocturnal Rainbows", he emphasizes his dislike for drugs (most notably crystal meth) and the irreversible damage they are capable of. Hopsin has stated that he tries to be a hip hop musician who can instill positive influences in people who listen to his music. He follows a straight edge lifestyle, and has claimed to have never drunk, taken recreational drugs, or smoked.


title: Captain Morgan

text: Captain Morgan is a brand of flavored rums (including, in Europe, some rum-flavored "premium spirit drinks") produced by British alcohol conglomerate Diageo. It is named after the 17th-century Welsh privateer of the Caribbean, Sir Henry Morgan.


title: Captain Morgan

text: In 1984, Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum was introduced to the United States. On 15 April 2005, Captain Morgan Tattoo Black Spiced rum and its mysterious 'sweet-to-heat' finish became the newest addition to the Captain Morgan Family. Captain Morgan was, by volume, the second largest brand of spirits in the United States, and the seventh largest worldwide in 2007. , 7.6 million 9-litre cases were sold. Most Captain Morgan rum is sold in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, South Africa, and Global Travel.


title: Captain Morgan

text: In November 2009, the NFL banned a covert ad campaign allegedly put on by Diageo. It was understood that for each NFL player striking the "Captain Morgan" pose on camera during a regular season game, Diageo would donate to the Gridiron Greats (a non-profit which helps retired NFL players with various hardships after leaving the game). The league made this announcement following such a celebration by Brent Celek of the Philadelphia Eagles.


title: Captain Morgan

text: In 2010 two American territories, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands bickered over plans for Captain Morgan to move operations to the Virgin Islands for tax reasons. The matter came to a head during a debate in the United States Congress over the USVI's attempt to use tax benefits to lure the company to that territory.


title: Captain Morgan

text: In 2014, Diageo Canada filed a trade dress infringement lawsuit against Heaven Hill Distilleries Inc, claiming striking similarities between the Captain Morgan character and Admiral Nelson, and that the similarity would dilute the Captain Morgan trademark. Diageo Canada won the lawsuit in 2017.


title: Captain Morgan

text: In 2020, the brand launch a new product called Captain Morgan Tiki. This new pineapple mango flavor rum is available in the United Kingdom, Australia, the Czech Republic and Germany.


title: Captain Morgan

text: Before and after the 2015 SummerSlam event, John Cena used the brand as a nickname for Seth Rollins (the WWE World Heavyweight Champion) on WWE's "Monday Night Raw" show. In 2016, Diageo created special limited edition bottles to commemorate Wes Morgan captaining Leicester City F.C. to the 2015–16 Premier League title.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: A 50-minute original video animation based on the franchise was produced by Yutaka Yamamoto's studio Ordet, written by Nagaru Tanigawa and Shinobu Yoshioka, and directed by Shinobu Yoshioka. A "Pilot Edition" was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in September 2009, before the full version was released on DVDs bundled with select magazines from July 24, 2010, subtitled in seven languages, followed by a retail release on December 17, 2010. An eight-episode anime television series, produced by Ordet and Sanzigen, aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block between February and March 2012. A new anime television series titled "Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall" aired from April to June 2022.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: The franchise has also spawned several manga series and a video game for the PlayStation Portable titled "", each set in their own universe.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: While each piece of media takes place in its own universe, they each focus around Black Rock Shooter, a mysterious black haired girl who possesses a burning blue eye and a powerful cannon that can shoot rapid shots at high speed. Other characters also appear in more than one form of media.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: The OVA focuses on a girl named Mato Kuroi, who befriends another girl, Yomi Takanashi, upon entering school. As the two start to drift apart, with Yomi becoming jealous of Mato's friendship with Yuu Kotari, Yomi suddenly disappears. As Mato searches for her, she is taken to a strange world where she meets the mysterious Black Rock Shooter, who merges with her and helps her search for Yomi, fighting off the evil Dead Master who possessed her. The first television series uses the same characters from the OVA in a similar but slightly different storyline. As Mato enters middle school and becomes friends with Yomi, she soon faces personal troubles and the influence caused by another world where Black Rock Shooter fights other girls.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: The manga series, "Black Rock Shooter: Innocent Soul", follows Black Rock Shooter and her serpent partner, Ron, as they venture the Hazama, a world between Heaven and Earth where stagnant souls that have had regrets become trapped. Left alone, these souls can become demons that can pull in other souls, so it is up to Rock to stop them so they may ascend to heaven. "Black Rock-chan" is a comedy series following the everyday life of a chibi-styled Black Rock Shooter named Rock-chan and her babysitter De-chan.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: "Black Rock Shooter: The Game" takes place in the year 2051, where Black Rock Shooter, also known as Stella, is awoken from slumber and enters a futuristic battlefield where alien forces have invaded the Earth and have been terrorizing the planet for 19 years. She must fight off the aliens while also trying to regain her memories.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: The anime "Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall" follows a plot similar to the game. Black Rock Shooter, also known as Empress, awakens from slumber in 2062 and learns an AI called Artemis rebelled against humanity and terrorized the planet with an army of machines. She must fend off the machines while also trying to regain her memories and fend off attacks from her former comrades, Strength and Dead Master.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: The origins of "Black Rock Shooter" date back to an original character illustration titled "Black Rock Shooter" by illustrator Ryohei Fuke, best known by his handle 'Huke', who posted it on his blog and the online artist community Pixiv on December 26, 2007. Ryo of Supercell was inspired by the illustration and created the song "Black Rock Shooter" based on that character using vocals from the Vocaloid singing synthesizer Hatsune Miku. Huke joined Supercell and provided the illustrations used in the music video of the song, which was later posted online on the video sharing website Nico Nico Douga on June 13, 2008, which as of August 2009 had over 2.2 million views. The song was later used as the opening theme for the 2012 anime television series. The song has also been included in "" as a playable song.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: Produced by Yutaka Yamamoto's studio Ordet and directed by Shinobu Yoshioka, an original video animation (OVA) project based on "Black Rock Shooter" and its music video was announced on August 22, 2009. The screenplay was written by Nagaru Tanigawa and Shinobu Yoshioka, and character design was done by Yuusuke Matsuo. The music was composed by Ryo and the ending theme song is "Braveheart" performed by The Gomband.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: A "Pilot Edition" of the anime was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BD) on September 30, 2009 by Good Smile Company. The pilot contains three short animated videos showing the same scenes from the anime while playing different versions of the song "Black Rock Shooter", much like in anime music videos. The first video uses the instrumental track from the original version of "Black Rock Shooter", the second video uses the "2M Mix" remix of the song with vocals using Hatsune Miku Append, and the third video uses the instrumental version of the "2M Mix". The DVD/BD also came bundled with an image booklet and a CD containing the vocal and instrumental versions of the "2M Mix".


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: The full 50-minute version of "Black Rock Shooter" is subtitled in seven languages, and was released as a free DVD bundled with "Hobby Japan" magazine on July 24, 2010. The OVA also came with Gakken's "Megami Magazine" on July 30, 2010, "Animedia" magazine on August 10, 2010, and is also packaged with Figma and Nendoroid Black Rock Shooter figurines. A retail version was released on December 17, 2010 in special (BD+DVD) and regular (BD) editions. Both editions feature a 30-second test short stop motion video as a bonus featuring a remix of "Black Rock Shooter" by Joe Hahn, the DJ of Linkin Park, as well as its making-of video.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: An eight-episode anime television series of "Black Rock Shooter" was produced by Ordet with CG production by Sanzigen, and was directed by Shinobu Yoshioka, with the script written by Mari Okada, animation direction and character design by Yusuke Yoshigaki and CG battle direction by Hiroyuki Imaishi. Fuji TV, Good Smile Company, Toho, Mages, Aniplex, Dentsu and Ultra Super Pictures were involved in the production. The opening theme is by Supercell, sung by Hatsune Miku, while the ending theme music is by Supercell sung by Koeda.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: On September 16, 2021, a new anime television series titled "Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall" was announced. It is produced by Bibury Animation Studios and Bibury Animation CG and directed by Tensho, with scripts written by Makoto Fukami in cooperation with Ryō Yoshigami. Character designs are provided by Masayuki Nonaka and Yō Nakagawa, both of whom also serving as chief animation directors. Disney licensed the anime as one of its first in a move to release more Asian-produced content on its streaming platform Disney+. The opening theme is "Aseed" by Zaq, while the ending theme is "Before the Nightmare" by Kanako Takatsuki.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: "Black Rock Shooter" aired on Fuji TV's noitamina slot between February 2 and March 22, 2012, and was being streamed in eight languages a day after its initial broadcast. The series was released on DVD and BD on June 22, 2012 in a box set containing the original soundtrack and an Insane Black Rock Shooter Figma figurine. The television series is licensed in Australia and New Zealand by Siren Visual. Manga Entertainment released the series in the United Kingdom as a subtitle-only DVD boxset on May 13, 2013. Discotek Media licensed the anime in North America and released it with an English dub on July 27, 2021.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: "Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall" aired from April 3 to June 19, 2022, on Tokyo MX and other networks. The international release dates on Disney+ vary between regions, beginning from April 30, 2022 in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand; May 25, 2022 in Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Singapore. On October 18, 2022, the series was released on Hulu in America and Disney+ in Canada.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: "Black Rock Shooter"—the original series—was awarded for technical achievement in broadcast animation at the 65th Motion Picture and Television Engineering Society of Japan Awards in 2012.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: A role-playing video game, titled , was developed by Imageepoch for the PlayStation Portable and was released on August 25, 2011. Set in a different universe to the OVA, it features animated cut scenes by Ufotable. The opening theme for the game is "No Scared" by One Ok Rock. A limited edition Premium Box of the game was released, bundled with a Figma figurine of the game's antagonist, White Rock Shooter. The game was published digitally by NIS America via the PlayStation Store in North America on April 23, 2013 and in Europe on April 24, 2013.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: A browser game titled was released on Nico Nico Douga on March 9, 2011, featuring illustrations by CHAN×CO. Imageepooch are developing an iOS follow-up titled for release in September 2012. Various "Black Rock Shooter" elements have been made available for the Japanese PlayStation Home. Characters from "Black Rock Shooter" also appear in the PSP game "Nendoroid Generation", produced by Namco Bandai, Good Smile Company and Banpresto, based on the Nendoroid series of figures. The game was released on February 23, 2012.


title: Black Rock Shooter

text: A four-panel comic strip manga titled , illustrated by Ringo, was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's "4-Koma Nano Ace" magazine from the April 2011 and March 2012 issues. The series features super-deformed versions of Black Rock Shooter and Dead Master, respectively, named Rock-chan and De-chan. A single "tankōbon" volume of "Black Rock-chan" was released on February 4, 2012. Another manga by Sanami Suzuki, titled , was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's "Young Ace" magazine from the July 2011 and June 2012 issues. Three volumes were published for "Innocent Soul" from November 4, 2011 and June 4, 2012. A manga adaptation of "Black Rock Shooter: The Game" illustrated by TNSK was serialized from September 2011 and September 2012 issues of Kadokawa Shoten's "Comptiq". The first volume of "The Game" was released on February 10, 2012 and the second and last on September 26, 2012.


title: Freakonomics

text: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything is the debut non-fiction book by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and "New York Times" journalist Stephen J. Dubner. Published on April 12, 2005, by William Morrow, the book has been described as melding pop culture with economics. By late 2009, the book had sold over 4 million copies worldwide. Based on the success of the original book, Levitt and Dubner have grown the "Freakonomics" brand into a multi-media franchise, with a sequel book, a feature film, a regular radio segment on National Public Radio, and a weekly blog.


title: Freakonomics

text: The book is a collection of articles written by Levitt, an expert who had gained a reputation for applying economic theory to diverse subjects not usually covered by "traditional" economists. In "Freakonomics", Levitt and Dubner argue that economics is, at root, the study of incentives. The book's chapters cover:


title: Freakonomics

text: One example of the authors' use of economic theory involves demonstrating the existence of cheating among sumo wrestlers. In a sumo tournament, all wrestlers in the top division compete in 15 matches and face demotion if they do not win at least eight of them. The sumo community is very close-knit, and the wrestlers at the top levels tend to know each other well. The authors looked at the final match, and considered the case of a wrestler with seven wins, seven losses, and one fight to go, fighting against an 8–6 wrestler. Statistically, the 7–7 wrestler should have a slightly below even chance, since the 8–6 wrestler is slightly better. However, the 7–7 wrestler actually wins around 80% of the time. Levitt uses this statistic and other data gleaned from sumo wrestling matches, along with the effect that allegations of corruption have on match results, to conclude that those who already have eight wins collude with those who are 7–7 and let them win, since they have already secured their position for the following tournament. Despite condemnation of the claims by the Japan Sumo Association following the book's publication in 2005, the 2011 Grand Tournament in Tokyo was canceled for the first time since 1946 because of allegations of match-fixing.


title: Freakonomics

text: The authors attempt to demonstrate the power of data mining, as a number of their results emerge from Levitt's analysis of various databases. The authors posit that various incentives encourage teachers to cheat by assisting their students with multiple-choice high-stakes tests. Such cheating in the Chicago school system is inferred from detailed analysis of students' answers to multiple-choice questions. Levitt asks, "What would the pattern of answers look like if the teacher cheated?", and hypothesizes that the more difficult questions found at the end of test sections will be answered correctly more frequently than the easy questions at the beginning of test sections.


title: Freakonomics

text: In Chapter 2 of "Freakonomics", the authors wrote of their visit to folklorist Stetson Kennedy's Florida home where the topic of Kennedy's investigations of the Ku Klux Klan were discussed. However, in their January 8, 2006, column in "The New York Times Magazine", Dubner and Levitt wrote of questions about Stetson Kennedy's research ("Hoodwinked", pp. 26–28) leading to the conclusion that Kennedy's research was at times embellished for effectiveness.


title: Freakonomics

text: "Several months after "Freakonomics" was first published, it was brought to our attention that this man's portrayal of his crusade, and various other Klan matters, was considerably overstated ... we felt it was important to set straight the historical record."


title: Freakonomics

text: "Freakonomics" has been criticized for being a work of sociology or criminology, rather than economics. Israeli economist Ariel Rubinstein criticized the book for making use of dubious statistics and complained that "economists like Levitt ... have swaggered off into other fields", saying that the "connection to economics ... [is] none" and that the book is an example of "academic imperialism". Arnold Kling has suggested the book is an example of "amateur sociology".


title: Freakonomics

text: Revisiting a question first studied empirically in the 1960s, Donohue and Levitt argue that the legalization of abortion can account for almost half of the reduction in crime witnessed in the 1990s. This paper has sparked much controversy, to which Levitt has said