title: Organic food

text: A 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis found that organic meat had comparable or slightly lower levels of saturated fat and monounsaturated fat as conventional meat, but higher levels of both overall and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Another meta-analysis published the same year found no significant differences in levels of saturated and monounsaturated fat between organic and conventional milk, but significantly higher levels of overall and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in organic milk than in conventional milk.


title: Organic food

text: The amount of nitrogen content in certain vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables and tubers, has been found to be lower when grown organically as compared to conventionally. When evaluating environmental toxins such as heavy metals, the USDA has noted that organically raised chicken may have lower arsenic levels. Early literature reviews found no significant evidence that levels of arsenic, cadmium or other heavy metals differed significantly between organic and conventional food products. However, a 2014 review found lower concentrations of cadmium, particularly in organically grown grains.


title: Organic food

text: A 2014 meta-analysis of 343 studies on phytochemical composition found that organically grown crops had lower cadmium and pesticide residues, and 17% higher concentrations of polyphenols than conventionally grown crops. Concentrations of phenolic acids, flavanones, stilbenes, flavones, flavonols, and anthocyanins were elevated, with flavanones being 69% higher. Studies on phytochemical composition of organic crops have numerous deficiencies, including absence of standardized measurements and poor reporting on measures of variability, duplicate or selective reporting of data, publication bias, lack of rigor in studies comparing pesticide residue levels in organic and conventional crops, the geographical origin of samples, and inconsistency of farming and post-harvest methods.


title: Organic food

text: The amount of pesticides that remain in or on food is called pesticide residue. In the United States, before a pesticide can be used on a food crop, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must determine whether that pesticide can be used without posing a risk to human health.


title: Organic food

text: A 2012 meta-analysis determined that detectable pesticide residues were found in 7% of organic produce samples and 38% of conventional produce samples. This result was statistically heterogeneous, potentially because of the variable level of detection used among these studies. Only three studies reported the prevalence of contamination exceeding maximum allowed limits; all were from the European Union. A 2014 meta-analysis found that conventionally grown produce was four times more likely to have pesticide residue than organically grown crops.


title: Organic food

text: The American Cancer Society has stated that no evidence exists that the small amount of pesticide residue found on conventional foods will increase the risk of cancer, although it recommends thoroughly washing fruits and vegetables. They have also stated that there is no research to show that organic food reduces cancer risk compared to foods grown with conventional farming methods.


title: Organic food

text: The Environmental Protection Agency maintains strict guidelines on the regulation of pesticides by setting a tolerance on the amount of pesticide residue allowed to be in or on any particular food.


title: Organic food

text: Although some residue may remain at the time of harvest, residue tend to decline as the pesticide breaks down over time. In addition, as the commodities are washed and processed prior to sale, the residues often diminish further.


title: Organic food

text: A 2012 meta-analysis determined that prevalence of "E. coli" contamination was not statistically significant (7% in organic produce and 6% in conventional produce). Differences in the prevalence of bacterial contamination between organic and conventional animal products were also statistically insignificant.


title: Organic food

text: Organic meat certification in the United States requires farm animals to be raised according to USDA organic regulations throughout their lives. These regulations require that livestock are fed certified organic food that contains no animal byproducts. Further, organic farm animals can receive no growth hormones or antibiotics, and they must be raised using techniques that protect native species and other natural resources. Irradiation and genetic engineering are not allowed with organic animal production. One of the major differences in organic animal husbandry protocol is the "pasture rule": minimum requirements for time on pasture do vary somewhat by species and between the certifying agencies, but the common theme is to require as much time on pasture as possible and reasonable.


title: Organic food

text: Organic agriculture has higher potential costs due to lower yields and higher labor costs, leading to higher consumer prices. Demand for organic foods is primarily driven by concerns for personal health and for the environment. Global sales for organic foods climbed by more than 170 percent since 2002 reaching more than $63 billion in 2011 while certified organic farmland remained relatively small at less than 2 percent of total farmland under production, increasing in OECD and EU countries (which account for the majority of organic production) by 35 percent for the same time period. Organic products typically cost 10% to 50% more than similar conventionally produced products, to several times the price. Processed organic foods vary in price when compared to their conventional counterparts.


title: Organic food

text: While organic food accounts for about 1% of total food production worldwide, the organic food sales market is growing rapidly with between 5 and 10 percent of the food market share in the United States according to the Organic Trade Association, significantly outpacing sales growth volume in dollars of conventional food products. World organic food sales jumped from US$23 billion in 2002 to $63 billion in 2011.


title: Organic food

text: Production and consumption of organic products is rising rapidly in Asia, and both China and India are becoming global producers of organic crops and a number of countries, particularly China and Japan, also becoming large consumers of organic food and drink. The disparity between production and demand, is leading to a two-tier organic food industry, typified by significant and growing imports of primary organic products such as dairy and beef from Australia, Europe, New Zealand and the United States.


title: Organic food

text: In April 2021, Sri Lanka started its "100% organic farming" program, banning imports of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides. In November 2021, it was announced that the country will lift its import ban, explained by both a lack of sudden changes to widely applied practices or education systems and contemporary economics and, by extension, food security, protests and high food costs. The effort for the first transition to a completely organic farming nation was further challenged by effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Organic food

text: In 2013 the government of Bhutan announced that the country will become the first in the world with 100% organic farming and started a program for qualification. This program is being supported by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). A 2021 news report found that "globally, only Bhutan has a complete ban on synthetic pesticides". A 2018 study found that "current organic by default farming practices in Bhutan are still underdeveloped".


title: Selfie

text: A selfie () is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a digital camera or smartphone, which may be held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick. Selfies are often shared on social media, via social networking services such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram.


title: Selfie

text: They are often casual in nature (or made to appear casual). A "Selfie" typically refers to self-portrait photos that are taken with the camera held at arm's length, as opposed to those taken by using a self-timer or remote. A selfie, however, may include multiple subjects however; as long as the photo is being taken by one of the subjects featured, it is considered a selfie. However, some other terms for selfies with multiple people include usie, groufie, and wefie. Alternatively, one can take a mirror selfie, with the camera pointed at a mirror instead of directly at one's face, often to get a full-body shot.


title: Selfie

text: "Selfie" is an example of hypocorism – a type of word formation that is popular in Australia where it was in general use before gaining wider acceptance.


title: Selfie

text: The first known use of the word "selfie" in any paper or electronic medium appeared in an Australian internet forum on 13 September 2002 – Karl Kruszelnicki's 'Dr Karl Self-Serve Science Forum' – in a post by Nathan Hope. Although Hope later dismissed the notion that he coined the term, describing it as "something that was just common slang at the time, used to describe a picture of yourself", he wrote the following: ""Um, drunk at a mates 21st, I tripped ofer [sic] and landed lip first (with front teeth coming a very close second) on a set of steps. I had a hole about 1cm long right through my bottom lip. And sorry about the focus, it was a selfie.""


title: Selfie

text: By 2013, the word "selfie" had become commonplace enough to be monitored for inclusion in the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary, which announced it as the "word of the year" in November and gave it an Australian origin.


title: Selfie

text: In 1839, Robert Cornelius, an American pioneer in photography, produced a daguerreotype of himself which ended up as one of the first photographs of a person. Because the process was slow, he was able to uncover the lens, run into the shot for a minute or more, and then replace the lens cap. He recorded on the back "The first light picture ever taken. 1839." A copy of his "first selfie" graces his tombstone at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.


title: Selfie

text: In 1900, the debut of the portable Kodak Brownie box camera led to photographic self-portraiture becoming a more widespread technique. The method was usually by mirror and stabilizing the camera either on a nearby object or on a tripod while framing via a viewfinder at the top of the box. Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, at the age of 13, was one of the first teenagers to take her own picture using a mirror to send to a friend in 1914. In the letter that accompanied the photograph, she wrote, "I took this picture of myself looking at the mirror. It was very hard as my hands were trembling." In 1934, a Swedish couple used a wooden stick to take the photo of themselves, which The New York Times called "the original selfie stick".


title: Selfie

text: During the 1970s, photographic self-portraiture flourished when affordable instant cameras birthed a new medium of self-expression, capturing uncharacteristically personal insight into otherwise conservative individuals and allowing amateurs to learn photography with immediate results. This practice transitioned naturally across to digital cameras as they supplanted film cameras around the turn of the millennium.


title: Selfie

text: The modern selfie has origins in Japanese kawaii (cute) culture, which involves an obsession with beautifying self-representation in photographic forms, particularly among females. By the 1990s, self-photography developed into a major preoccupation among Japanese schoolgirls, who took photos with friends and exchanged copies that could be pasted into kawaii albums. This inspired a young photographer, Hiromix (Hiromi Toshikawa), to publish a photo diary album called "Seventeen Girl Days", which included a number of self-posing photos. One of these was a pioneering selfie that was shot while holding the camera in front of herself. She rose to fame in Japan when her album received recognition from camera manufacturer Canon in 1995.


title: Selfie

text: The 1983 Minolta Disc-7 camera had a convex mirror on its front to allow the composition of self-portraits, and its packaging showed the camera mounted on a stick while used for such a purpose. A "telescopic extender" for compact handheld cameras was patented by Ueda Hiroshi and Mima Yujiro in 1983, and a selfie stick was featured in a 1995 book of "101 Un-Useless Japanese Inventions". While dismissed as a "useless invention" at the time, the selfie stick later gained global popularity in the early 21st century.


title: Selfie

text: The digital selfie originates from the purikura (Japanese shorthand for "print club"), which are Japanese photo sticker booths, introduced by the Japanese video game arcade industry in the mid-1990s. It was conceived in 1994 by Sasaki Miho, inspired by the popularity of girl photo culture and photo stickers in 1990s Japan. She worked for a game company, Atlus, where she suggested the idea, but it was initially rejected by her male bosses. Atlus eventually decided to pursue Miho's idea, and developed it with the help of a leading Japanese video game company, Sega, which later became the owner of Atlus. Sega and Atlus introduced the Print Club (Purinto Kurabu), the first purikura, in February 1995, initially at game arcades, before expanding to other popular culture locations such as fast food shops, train stations, karaoke establishments, and bowling alleys. The success of the original Sega-Atlus machine led to other Japanese arcade game companies producing their own purikura, including SNK's Neo Print in 1996 and Konami's Puri Puri Campus (Print Print Campus) in 1997.


title: Selfie

text: Purikura produced what would later be called selfies. A purikura is essentially a cross between a traditional license/passport photo booth and an arcade video game, with a computer that is connected to a colour video camera and colour printer, and which allows the manipulation of digital images. It involves users posing in front of a camera within the compact booth, having their images taken, and then printing the photos with various effects designed to look kawaii. It presents a series of choices, such as desired backdrops, borders, insertable decorations, icons, text writing options, hair extensions, twinkling diamond tiaras, tenderized light effects, and predesigned decorative margins. Purikura became a popular form of entertainment among youths in Japan, and then across East Asia, in the 1990s. These photographic filters were similar to the Snapchat filters that later appeared in the 2010s. Photographic features in purikura were later adopted by smartphone apps such as Instagram and Snapchat, including scribbling graffiti or typing text over selfies, adding features that beautify the image, and photo editing options such as cat whiskers or bunny ears.


title: Selfie

text: To capitalize on the purikura phenomenon in East Asia, Japanese mobile phones began including a front-facing camera, which facilitated the creation of selfies. Perhaps the first front-facing camera on a hand-held device was the Game Boy Camera, released in Japan in February 1998. The Game Boy Camera was an attachment for Game Boy. The 180°-swivel camera was specifically marketed to allow users to take self-portraits. The first front-facing camera phone was the Kyocera Visual Phone VP-210, released in Japan in May 1999. It was called a "mobile videophone" at the time. It stored up to 20 JPEG images, which could be sent over e-mail, or the phone could send up to two images per second over Japan's Personal Handy-phone System (PHS) wireless cellular network. This led to a transition in Japanese selfie culture from purikura to mobile phones.


title: Selfie

text: Selfie culture became popular in Japan and then other East Asian countries in the 1990s, starting with purikura booths and then front-facing camera phones. However, it was not until the 2000s that selfie culture was popularized outside of East Asia.


title: Selfie

text: Outside of East Asia, the concept of uploading group self-taken photographs to the Internet, albeit with a disposable camera instead of a smartphone, dates back to a webpage created by Australians in September 2001, including photos taken in the late 1990s (captured by the Internet Archive in April 2004).


title: Selfie

text: In the early 2000s, before Facebook became the dominant online social network, self-taken photographs were particularly common on MySpace. However, writer Kate Losse recounts that between 2006 and 2009 (when Facebook became more popular than MySpace), the "MySpace pic" (typically "an amateurish, flash-blinded self-portrait, often taken in front of a bathroom mirror") became an indication of bad taste for users of the newer Facebook social network. In 2009 in the image hosting and video hosting website Flickr, Flickr users used 'selfies' to describe seemingly endless self-portraits posted by teenagers. According to Losse, improvements in design—especially the front-facing camera of the iPhone 4 (2010), mobile photo apps such as Instagram and Snapchat led to the resurgence of selfies in the early 2010s.


title: Selfie

text: The Sony Ericsson Z1010 mobile phone, released in late 2003, introduced to Western markets the concept of a front-facing camera, which could be used for selfies and video calls. These cameras became common on mobile devices, such as the iPhone 4 (2010). The iPhone 4, which adopted the front-facing camera feature from earlier Japanese and Korean phones, helped popularize the selfie internationally, outside of East Asia.


title: Selfie

text: In 2011, the Instagram photo-sharing and social networking service introduced auto filters, allowing users to easily alter their photos.Initially popular with young people, selfies gained wider popularity over time. Life and business coach Jennifer Lee, in January 2011, was the first person to coin it as a hashtag on Instagram. By the end of 2012, "Time" magazine considered selfie one of the "top 10 buzzwords" of that year; although selfies had existed long before, it was in 2012 that the term "really hit the big time". According to a 2013 survey, two-thirds of Australian women age 18–35 take selfies—the most common purpose for which is posting on Facebook. A poll commissioned by smartphone and camera maker Samsung found that selfies make up 30% of the photos taken by people aged 18–24.


title: Selfie

text: Selfies have also been taken beyond Earth. Selfies taken in space include those by astronauts, an image by NASA's Curiosity rover of itself on Mars, and images created by an indirect method, where a self-portrait photograph taken on Earth is displayed on a screen on a satellite, and captured by a camera.


title: Selfie

text: In 2011, a crested black macaque pressed a trigger on a wildlife photographer's camera, set up in an Indonesian jungle for that specific purpose; when the camera was later recovered it was found to contain hundreds of selfies, including one of a grinning female macaque. This incident set off an unusual debate about copyright. In April 2013, the Wikipedia's Selfie page started. In 2016, a federal judge ruled that the monkey cannot own the copyright to the images.


title: Selfie

text: In October 2013, Imagist Labs released an iOS app called Selfie, which allows users to upload photos only from their front-facing smartphone camera.


title: Selfie

text: The app shows a feed of public photos of everyone's selfies and from the people they follow. The app does not allow users to comment and users can only respond with selfies. The app soon gained popularity among teenagers.


title: Selfie

text: In describing the popularity of the "foot selfie", a photograph taken of one's feet while sunbathing at exotic locations, "The Hollywood Reporter" said that it could be "2014's social media pose to beat".


title: Selfie

text: In January 2014, during the Sochi Winter Olympics, a "Selfie Olympics" meme was popular on Twitter, where users took self-portraits in unusual situations. The spread of the meme took place with the usage of the hashtags "#selfiegame" and "#selfieolympics".


title: Selfie

text: In April 2014, the advertising agency iStrategyLabs produced a two-way mirror capable of automatically posting selfies to Twitter, using facial recognition software.


title: Selfie

text: Social media apps like Instagram and Snapchat encourage people to take selfies with features like Geofilters, hashtag linking of related topics, and picture stories. Geofilters allow people to take selfies with overlays that can be comedic, altering your selfie image with the ability to show where you are located. In September 2017, Instagram boasted 500 million daily active users of its self-promotion, selfie-sharing app and 800 million monthly active users. Snapchat reports 178 million daily active users of its service. As of July 2017, in order of popularity, the four most popular social networking services are Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Snapchat.


title: Selfie

text: Selfies have been popular on social media. Instagram has over 53 million photos tagged with the hashtag #selfie. The word "selfie" was mentioned in Facebook status updates over 368,000 times during a one-week period in October 2013. During the same period on Twitter, the hashtag #selfie was used in more than 150,000 tweets.


title: Selfie

text: The appeal of selfies comes from how easy they are to create and share, and the control they give people over how they present themselves. Many selfies are intended to present a flattering image of the person, especially to friends whom the photographer expects to be supportive. Those selfies would be taken on trips, during activities that are considered interesting or as a group selfie with interesting or attractive people. However, a 2013 study of Facebook users found that posting photos of oneself correlates with lower levels of social support from and intimacy with Facebook friends (except for those marked as Close Friends). The lead author of the study suggests that "those who frequently post photographs on Facebook risk damaging real-life relationships." The photo messaging application Snapchat is also largely used to send selfies. Some users of Snapchat choose to send intentionally-unattractive selfies to their friends for comedic purposes.


title: Selfie

text: Posting intentionally unattractive selfies has also become common in the early 2010s—in part for their humor value, but in some cases also to explore issues of body image or as a reaction against the perceived narcissism or over-sexualization of typical selfies.


title: Selfie

text: The practice of taking selfies has been criticised not only for being narcissistic, preventing assessment and appreciation of what is happening in the present, but also for being mindlessly conformist behaviour, when everyone does what everyone else is doing, "like that scene in "The Life of Brian –" where the crowd gathers outside Brian's window and enthusiastically chants in unison: 'Yes, we're all individuals! ... Yes, we are all different! However, this has been disproved by more nuanced and detailed analyses of the genre.


title: Selfie

text: The pop-up museum called The Museum of Selfies is scheduled to open its doors to all selfie lovers in the year 2018 in Glendale, a suburb of Los Angeles County, California.


title: Selfie

text: Selfies are popular among both genders; however, sociologist Ben Agger describes the trend of selfies as "the male gaze gone viral", and sociologist and women's studies professor Gail Dines links it to the rise of "porn culture" and the idea that sexual attractiveness is the only way in which a woman can make herself visible. Feminist writer Megan Murphy has pointed out that posting images publicly or sharing them with others who do so may have a dramatic effect in the case of revenge porn, where ex-lovers post sexually explicit photographs or nude selfies to exact revenge or humiliate their former lovers. Nonetheless, some feminists view selfies as a subversive form of self-expression that narrates one's own view of desirability. In this sense, selfies can be positive and offer a way of actively asserting agency.


title: Selfie

text: In 2013 in the blog "Jezebel", author Erin Gloria Ryan criticized selfies, believing that the images they often portray, as well as the fact that they are usually posted to social media with the intent of getting positive comments and "likes", reinforce the "notion that the most valuable thing [a young woman] has to offer the world is her looks." The "Jezebel" post provoked commentary on Twitter from users arguing that selfies could be positive for women by promoting different standards of beauty. Media critic Jennifer Pozner saw selfies as particularly powerful for women and girls who did not see themselves portrayed in mainstream media.


title: Selfie

text: Research shows that there is a particular difference between perspectives of youngsters and adults. "While not all representative of all young people's experiences of digital picture-sharing cultures, these discussions point to a significant gap between young people's own interpretations of their ordinary or everyday digital practices and adults’ interpretations of these practices."


title: Selfie

text: Many celebrities – especially sex symbols – post selfies for their followers on social media, and provocative or otherwise interesting celebrity selfies are the subject of regular press coverage. Some commentators, such as Emma Barnett of "The Telegraph", have argued that sexy celebrity selfies (and sexy non-celebrity selfies) can be empowering to the selfie-takers but harmful to women in general as they promote viewing women as sex objects. Actor and avid selfie poster James Franco wrote an op-ed for "The New York Times" defending this frequent use of selfies on his Instagram page. Franco defends the self-portrait stating they should not be seen as an egocentric act, but instead a journalistic moment as the selfie "quickly and easily shows, not tells, how you're feeling, where you are, what you're doing" in a way that a text communication might fail to convey.


title: Selfie

text: A selfie orchestrated during the 86th Academy Awards by host Ellen DeGeneres was, at one point, the most retweeted tweet ever. DeGeneres said she wanted to pay homage to Meryl Streep's record 18 Oscar nominations by setting a new record with her, and invited twelve other Oscar celebrities to join them, which included Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Channing Tatum, Bradley Cooper, Kevin Spacey, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong'o, Jared Leto, and Jennifer Lawrence. The resulting photo of the celebrities broke the previous retweet record within forty minutes, and was retweeted over 1.8 million times in the first hour. By the end of the ceremony it had been retweeted over 2 million times, less than 24 hours later, it had been retweeted over 2.8 million times. It beat the previous record, 778,801, which was held by Barack Obama, following his victory in the 2012 presidential election.


title: Selfie

text: U.S. President Barack Obama made news headlines during Nelson Mandela's memorial celebration at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium with various world leaders, as he was snapped taking a selfie and sharing smiles with Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and later with British Prime Minister David Cameron, as they gathered to pay tribute to Mandela. The decision to take the selfies was considered to be in poor taste, as British political columnist Iain Martin critiqued the behaviour as "clowning around like muppets". The photos also depict the First Lady Michelle Obama sitting next to them looking "furious and mortified". Despite the criticism, Roberto Schmidt, the photographer who captured the photos taken at the celebration, reported to the "Today" show it was taken at "a jovial, celebratory portion of the service".


title: Selfie

text: In India, BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi posted a selfie on Twitter after voting in Gandhinagar, India. The post became a major trending item on the micro-blogging platform. In July 2014, the Swiss government became the first to take and post a picture of an entire national government (the picture was taken by one of the seven members of the government, Alain Berset).


title: Selfie

text: The Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is known to pose for several selfies in public appearances, once even claiming to have posed for "over 1500 selfies" in three days, during which he estimated to have greeted about four thousand people – the social media phenomenon has coined the term "Marcelfie" to refer to these. Most notably, the President posed for a selfie with Prime Minister António Costa in the Paris City Hall, during the Portugal Day ceremonies there on 10 June 2016.


title: Selfie

text: In January 2014, "Business Insider" published a story referring to selfies of groups as "usies". A photograph of Pope Francis with visitors to the Vatican was called an "usie" by The Daily Dot, and TMZ has used the term to describe a selfie taken of celebrity couple Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez.


title: Selfie

text: The term "groufie" has been trademarked by Chinese phone manufacturer Huawei Technologies in China, France, Germany, Russia, and the U.S. The word was introduced during the launch of its Ascend P7 smartphone in 2014. Huawei defines the groufie as a panoramic selfie involving multiple subjects, as well as background scenery, captured using the front facing, 8-megapixel camera and panorama capabilities of its phones.


title: Selfie

text: Another term for a group selfie is "wefie", originally trademarked by Samsung in the U.S. to promote the wide-angle lens of its NX series of cameras.


title: Selfie

text: Devices for holding smartphones or compact cameras called selfie sticks are often used when taking group selfies, as they allow a wider, more panoramic image capture.


title: Selfie

text: Another option for taking selfies from a distance beyond one's arm is a drone. Selfies made with a drone are also called dronies. The concept of taking a dronie first entered the mainstream in 2014 and coincided with a relatively sudden increase in the availability of relatively cheap, camera bearing multicopter drones. In 2014, the Nixie drone was designed to serve as a "personal photographer".


title: Selfie

text: First, Farace, van Laer, de Ruyter, and Wetzels describe three photography techniques with which people are more likely to engage: first-person perspective, action, and person rather than 'just' selfies and adaptation into artfulness.


title: Selfie

text: According to a study performed by Nicola Bruno and Marco Bertamini at the University of Parma, selfies by non-professional photographers show a slight bias for showing the left cheek of the selfie-taker. This is similar to observations of portraits by professional painters from many historical periods and styles, indicating that the left cheek bias may be rooted in asymmetries of brain lateralization that are well documented within cognitive neuroscience. In a second study, the same group tested if selfie takers without training in photography spontaneously adhere to widely prescribed rules of photographic composition, such as the rule of thirds. It seems that they do not, suggesting that these rules may be conventional rather than hardwired in the brain's perceptual preferences.


title: Selfie

text: A 2016 study examining the relationship between personality and selfie-posting behaviors suggests that extroversion and social exhibitionism positively predict frequency of selfie posting, whereas self-esteem is generally unrelated to selfie-posting behaviors.


title: Selfie

text: Selfitis is a condition described as the obsessive taking of selfies, although it is currently not listed as a mental disorder in the DSM-5.


title: Selfie

text: Obsessive taking of selfies and posting to social media has been found to be linked to many symptoms common to mental disorders. These include narcissism, low self-esteem, loneliness, self-centeredness, and attention-seeking behaviors.


title: Selfie

text: Since its popular usage, the term "selfie" has often been referred to describe self-portraits taken with the front camera of a mobile device. Because of this, the term "selfie camera" has also been used by some to describe the front-facing camera of mobile devices.


title: Selfie

text: A self photo taken against a mirror is sometimes known specifically as a "mirror selfie", distinguishing it from an otherwise standard selfie.


title: Selfie

text: The first known selfie-related death occurred 15 March 2014, when a man electrocuted himself on top of a train.


title: Selfie

text: 2014, 'The Year of the Selfie', was also the year Makati and Pasig, 'Selfie Capital of the World', saw their first selfie-related death when a 14-year-old girl fell from the 3rd floor staircase landing to the 2nd.


title: Selfie

text: In 2015 it was reported that more people had been killed taking selfies that year than by shark attacks. Other publications have debated that analysis. Takers of selfie photographs have fallen to their deaths while losing their balance in a precarious position, and others have been wounded or killed while posing with handguns which have accidentally fired.


title: Selfie

text: Concerned about the increasing number of incidents in Russia where attempts to set up a unique selfie had led to injuries and deaths, the Russian Ministry of the Interior released a "Selfie Safety Guide" in 2015 that warned selfie enthusiasts about some common dangerous behaviors. Moscow, Russia's most active selfie-taking city, is estimated to have 8 selfie-takers per 100,000 people, and ranks 301st among cities worldwide.


title: Selfie

text: A 2015 study showed that 20% of young Britons had taken selfies while driving a car. Manchester has the highest amount of selfie-takers per capita in Great Britain with 114 per 100,000 people, and ranks 7th internationally. The Italian chief of state police expressed concern over the same phenomenon in Italy on the occasion of the launch of a short film with the title "Selfie". Milan is the 8th most active selfie-taking city in the world with 108 selfie-takers per 100,000 people.


title: Selfie

text: According to Professor Amanda du Preez, there are least three types of selfie pictures documenting death, selfies unknowingly taken before death, where the taker's death is almost witnessed, or where the taker stands by while someone else dies.


title: Selfie

text: In 2019 a teen left an imprint on the ground where he landed after falling more than four stories while attempting to take a selfie with his friends on a bridge in Dallas, TX. He had multiple serious injuries, but he survived.


title: Selfie

text: Because they are typically taken much closer to the subject's face than a conventional photograph, phone selfies tend to distort the subject's face. When conventional photographers take headshots, they typically use a narrower lens (or zoom in) and stand at a normal distance, instead of getting physically closer to the subject's face. Front-facing cell phone cameras, on the other hand, feature wide-angle lenses and are held closer to the face, since the human arm is only so long. This results in extension distortion, where objects closer to the camera appear much larger than they actually are. Though this distortion has a slimming effect, it also exaggerates the auto-photographer's nose and chin, since those parts are closer to the camera than the rest of the face.


title: Selfie

text: A study published by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery has found that selfies have altered people's perception of their faces to the point where they increased the demand for rhinoplasties (nose jobs). 42% of surgeons surveyed have noticed that patients are seeking surgeries to improve their appearance in photographs, especially selfies taken at close distance. Another study found that selfies taken at a distance of 12 inches (30 cm) can exaggerate nasal size by as much as 30%, and recommends that people take pictures from a standard distance of 5 feet (1.5 meters) to minimize perspective distortion.


title: Oracle Park

text: Oracle Park is a Major League Baseball stadium in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Since 2000, it has been the home of the San Francisco Giants. Previously named Pacific Bell Park, SBC Park, and AT&T Park, the stadium's current name was purchased by the Oracle Corporation in 2019.


title: Oracle Park

text: The stadium stands along the San Francisco Bay; the section of the bay beyond Oracle Park's right field wall is unofficially known as McCovey Cove, in honor of former Giants player Willie McCovey.


title: Oracle Park

text: Oracle Park has also hosted professional and collegiate American football games. The stadium was the home of the annual college postseason bowl game now known as the Redbox Bowl from its inaugural playing in 2002 until 2013, and also served as the temporary home for the University of California's football team in 2011. Professionally, it was the home of the San Francisco Demons of the XFL and the California Redwoods of the United Football League.


title: Oracle Park

text: Public transit access to the stadium is provided within San Francisco by Muni Metro or Muni Bus, from the Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley via Caltrain, and from parts of the Bay Area across the water via various ferries of San Francisco Bay. The Muni 2nd and King Station is directly outside the ballpark, the 4th & King Caltrain station is 1.5 blocks from the stadium, and the Oracle Park Ferry Terminal is outside the eastern edge of the ballpark beyond the center field bleachers.


title: Oracle Park

text: Originally designed to be a 42,000-seat stadium, there were slight modifications before the final design was complete. When the ballpark was brought to the ballot box in the fall of 1996 for voter approval, the stadium was 15° clockwise from its current position. The center-field scoreboard was atop the right-field wall, with the Giants Pavilion Building being in two separate buildings.


title: Oracle Park

text: Groundbreaking on the ballpark began on December 11, 1997, in the industrial waterfront area of San Francisco known as China Basin in the up-and-coming neighborhoods of South Beach and Mission Bay. The stadium cost $357 million to build and supplanted the Giants' former home, Candlestick Park, a multi-use stadium in southeastern San Francisco that was also home to the NFL's San Francisco 49ers until 2014, when they relocated to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. A team of engineers from UC Davis was consulted in the design process of the park, resulting in wind levels that are approximately half those at Candlestick. But due to Oracle Park's location at San Francisco Bay, cold fog and temperatures in summer months are still not unusual at Giants games, despite reduced wind levels.


title: Oracle Park

text: When it opened on March 31, 2000, the ballpark was the first MLB ballpark built without public funds since the completion of Dodger Stadium in 1962. However, the Giants did receive a $10 million tax abatement from the city and $80 million for upgrades to the local infrastructure (including a connection to the Muni Metro). The Giants have a 66-year lease on the ballpark site, paying $1.2 million in rent annually to the San Francisco Port Commission. The park opened with a seating capacity of 40,800, but this has increased over time as seats have been added. In April 2010, the stadium became the first MLB ballpark to receive LEED Silver Certification for Existing Buildings, Operations and Maintenance.


title: Oracle Park

text: Following the 2019 season, the organization began the process of relocating the bullpens from the first and third base foul lines to behind the outfield walls in center and right-centerfield. The motivation was two-fold: to address player safety issues that had arisen over the years by having the bullpen mounds in the field of play, and to slightly alter the dimensions of the park to perhaps increase, if ever-so-slightly, the potential for home runs in certain areas of the outfield, most notably in right-center field, affectionately known as Triples Alley (a design feature meant as an homage to the centerfield depth of the Giants former home in New York, The Polo Grounds). Prior to these modifications, multiple players both home and away had experienced various levels of injury sustained by tripping over the bullpen mounds while chasing foul balls. Most notably, former Giants outfield prospect Mac Williamson sustained a concussion during such a play that significantly altered his season.


title: Oracle Park

text: On April 3, 1996, Pacific Bell, a telephone company serving California based in San Francisco, purchased the naming rights for the planned ballpark for $50 million for 24 years. The stadium was named Pacific Bell Park, or Pac Bell Park for short.


title: Oracle Park

text: Just days before the sponsorship was announced, SBC Communications had announced their intention to acquire Pacific Bell's parent company, Pacific Telesis, a deal which closed in April 1997. SBC eventually stopped using the Pacific Bell name for marketing, and reached an agreement with the Giants to change the stadium's name to SBC Park on January 1, 2004.


title: Oracle Park

text: After SBC bought AT&T Corporation on November 18, 2005, the name of the merged company became AT&T Inc. As a result, in 2006 the stadium was given its third name in six years: AT&T Park.


title: Oracle Park

text: On January 9, 2019, it was reported that AT&T had given the Giants the option of ending the naming deal a year early, if the team could quickly find a new partner. The Giants and Oracle Corporation came to a rapid agreement, with the old AT&T Park signs being replaced with temporary Oracle Park banners on January 10.


title: Oracle Park

text: The Giants renovated the center field section of Oracle Park between October 2019 and June 2020. The bullpens were moved from foul territory into center field, so the Giants decided to make their garden smaller to fit the bullpens behind the center-field wall. With this renovation, the dimensions of the park have slightly shrunk. Left-center was trimmed down from 404 feet to 399 feet, right-center (known as Triples Alley) was trimmed down from 421 feet to 415 feet (to represent the San Francisco area code), and dead-center was trimmed down from 399 feet to 391 feet, making it the second shortest dead-center field distance in MLB, behind only Fenway Park in Boston. With this renovation, approximately 650 bleacher seats had to be removed, so the two terraces could be built for fans to watch the relief pitchers warm-up from up close. The center field wall shortened from eight feet to seven feet, but after the Giants first exhibition of the 2020 season, the dead-center field part of the wall (covering the garden) was raised from seven feet to ten feet to improve visibility to the hitter.


title: Oracle Park

text: Despite having the unique moniker of the least home-run friendly field over several seasons prior to the renovations, it is believed that these renovations were made to increase home run output from the Giants. The MLB has seen a surge in home run production in recent years, and the Giants consistently ranked well towards the bottom in this category in large part because of Oracle Park's extreme advantage to pitchers. This hurt the run production of Giants players and also discouraged power hitters from wanting to play for the Giants. From 2017 to 2019, one of the common criticisms of the Giants was their lack of offensive output and unwillingness to adjust to a home run-heavy offense. However, the Giants significantly improved in 2020, the first year the dimensions were moved in. Things would trend upward with a massive bounce-back season in 2021; several Giants such as Brandon Belt and Mike Yastrzemski fueled the offense with more home runs, especially to a shortened triple's alley (which was infamous for turning what would be a long HR in several ballparks into deep 420-foot+ flyouts, killing several promising San Francisco scoring opportunities in the past). Oracle Park still ranks towards the bottom of the home run category, but this designation is not as consistent anymore.


title: Oracle Park

text: The stadium contains 68 luxury suites, 5,200 club seats on the club level, and an additional 1,500 club seats at the field level behind home plate.


title: Oracle Park

text: On the facing of the upper deck along the left-field line are the retired numbers of Bill Terry, Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell, Monte Irvin, Will Clark, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda, Jackie Robinson, Willie McCovey, and Gaylord Perry, as well as the retired uniforms, denoted "NY", of Christy Mathewson and John McGraw who played or managed in the pre-number era. These two pre-number–era retired uniforms are among only six such retired uniforms in all of the Major Leagues.


title: Oracle Park

text: Oracle Park has a reputation of being a pitcher's park and the most pitcher-friendly ballpark in the National League, because the depth of the outfield limits home runs, according to ESPN. ESPN's MLB Park Factors lists Oracle Park as having the fewest home runs per game 6 out of the past 7 years, the one exception coming in 2013, when it was the 3rd lowest.


title: Oracle Park

text: The most prominent feature of the ballpark is the right-field wall, which is high in honor of former Giants Willie Mays, who wore number 24. Because of the proximity to the San Francisco Bay, the right-field foul pole is only from home plate, the shortest in the NL [only AL Fenway Park's is shorter, at ]. The wall is made of brick, with fenced-off archways opening to the Cove beyond, above which are several rows of arcade seating. The fence angles quickly away from home plate; right-center field extended out to from home plate (changed with the 2020 renovations to 415 feet). Atop the fence are four fountain pillars. Jets of water burst from the four pillars at the end of the National Anthem, as well as when the Giants hit a home run or win a game.


title: Oracle Park

text: The right field area was designed to resemble the Polo Grounds. This deep corner of the ballpark has been dubbed "Death Valley" and "Triples Alley." Like its Polo Grounds counterpart, it is very difficult to hit a home run to this area, and a batted ball that finds its way into this corner often results in a triple. It is . Triples Alley is also infamous for bad bounces, most notably when Ichiro Suzuki hit the first-ever inside-the-park home run in an All-Star Game by lining the ball off one of the archways and sideways past the outfielders. Nate Schierholtz performed the same feat in the 2009 season as a pinch hitter. Aubrey Huff did it again in the 2010 season, as did Conor Gillaspie in 2011. Ángel Pagán ended a game in May 2013 with a two-run walk-off (extra-inning, come-from-behind) inside-the-park home run, the first of its kind at the then-named AT&T Park.


title: Oracle Park

text: Beyond right field is China Basin, a section of San Francisco Bay, which is dubbed McCovey Cove after famed Giants first baseman and left-handed slugger Willie McCovey, and into which a number of home runs have been hit on the fly. As of September 2, 2022, 96 "splash hits" have been knocked into the Cove by Giants players since the park opened; 35 of those were hit by Barry Bonds, who remains the only player to record two splash hits in the same game. The most recent splash hit occurred on September 2, 2022, by Joc Pederson. These hits are tallied on an electronic counter on the right field wall. Opponents have hit the water on the fly 55 times; Todd Hundley of the Los Angeles Dodgers was the first visitor to do so on June 30, 2000. Curtis Granderson, Luis Gonzalez, Cliff Floyd, and Max Muncy are the only visiting players to do so twice. Carlos Delgado and Adam LaRoche have performed the feat thrice. Bryson Stott is the most recent visiting player to record a splash hit, doing so on September 3, 2022. On June 27, 2010, David Ortiz became the first American League player to hit a splash hit. Since then, the only other AL players who have are Mitch Moreland, Adam Dunn, Rougned Odor, and Shin-Soo Choo.


title: Oracle Park

text: off at the park. On game days, fans take to the water of McCovey Cove in boats often with fishing nets in the hope of collecting a home run ball. Just beyond the wall, behind the King Street ballpark, is a public waterfront promenade. Across the cove from the ballpark is McCovey Point and China Basin Park, featuring monuments to past Giants legends.


title: Oracle Park

text: When the park opened in 2000, taking residence on the right field wall was Rusty the Mechanical Man, a two-dimensional, robotic baseball player that stood tall and weighed tons. The Santa Clarita-based firm Technifex engineered, fabricated and programmed Rusty to appear after major plays during games as a fully animated giant 1920s-era tin toy. After technical problems arose with Rusty, it was removed from the wall, though the enclosure that housed him remained for years. In 2008, the enclosure was removed to make way for luxury boxes.


title: Oracle Park

text: Behind the left field bleachers is "The Coca-Cola Fan Lot". The ballpark features an long Coca-Cola bottle with playground slides that light up with every Giants home run, and a miniature version of the stadium. Bubbles originally accompanied the bottle, but never worked as intended and were removed. Directly to the bottle's right from home plate is another oversized representation of a ballpark stalwart, the "Giant 1927 Old-Time Four-Fingered Baseball Glove" — this particular one is made of steel and fiberglass, which is behind the sign. Behind and farther to the left is "The Little Giants Park", a miniature baseball diamond.


title: Oracle Park

text: To the right of the glove sculpture is a large plaza area for functions and parties to be held during games. It is also the site of "Orlando's", the concessions stand of Giants great Orlando Cepeda. Right-center field features a retired San Francisco cable car numbered 44 (retired cable car #4, formerly #504) in honor of Giants great Willie McCovey. Originally, the cable car had a label that stated "No Dodgers Fans Allowed", as well as one end of the car numbered 24 in honor of Willie Mays and the other end numbered 44 in honor of Willie McCovey. The foghorn — a feature introduced at Candlestick Park by the current Giants ownership group – was transferred to Oracle and hung underneath the scoreboard. It blows when a Giants player hits a home run or at the conclusion of a Giants win.


title: Oracle Park

text: Located behind the centerfield bleachers, the ballpark features the @Café, a social media café, which opened in the 2013 season. The cafe serves Peet's Coffee and features large screens that show off fans' social media posts from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, which are curated by the Giants organization.


title: Oracle Park

text: The cafe replaced a team-themed Build-A-Bear Workshop store, where fans could build their own stuffed Giants' mascot, Lou Seal, or create other Giants-themed stuffed animals.


title: Oracle Park

text: In addition to the automated scoreboards, which now include a new HD videoboard by Mitsubishi, the park has a manually-operated scoreboard on the right field wall, which displays all the scores of Major League Baseball games being played elsewhere. The manual scoreboards are operated by three employees, whose work on game days starts at least two hours before the first pitch. A members-only bar, Gotham Club, is located behind the manual scoreboard, complete with a bowling alley and pool tables. Former players and VIPs are the only patrons of this exclusive area. Four other ballparks also use hand-operated out-of-town scoreboards: Fenway Park, Minute Maid Park, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and Wrigley Field.


title: Oracle Park

text: Starting in 2004, the Giants installed 122 wireless internet access points, covering all concourses and seating areas, creating one of the largest public hotspots in the world at the time.


title: Oracle Park

text: On September 23, 2008, the Giants Wall of Fame was unveiled on the King Street side of the ballpark, as part of the 50th-anniversary celebration of the Giants' move to San Francisco. 48 retired players were inducted, based on longevity and achievement. Eligibility requirements for players to be on the Wall are either five years as a San Francisco Giant with an All-Star Game appearance or nine years as a Giant. Rich Aurilia and Shawn Estes were added in 2010. Jason Schmidt and Marvin Benard were added in 2011, and Barry Bonds was added in 2017.


title: Oracle Park

text: Outside the ballpark are six statues, five of which are dedicated to San Francisco Giants all-time greats.


title: Oracle Park

text: The Willie Mays Statue is located in front of the ballpark entrance at 24 Willie Mays Plaza and is surrounded with 24 palm trees, in honor of his number 24 uniform, retired by the Giants. It was dedicated at noon on March 31, 2000, prior to the opening of the ballpark and was commissioned by Giants Managing Partner Peter Magowan


title: Oracle Park

text: Another statue, located at McCovey Point across McCovey Cove, is dedicated to Willie McCovey. Around the statue are a number of plaques that celebrate the winners of the Willie Mac Award. The statue is located at China Basin Park next to the Barry Bonds Junior Giants Field, a T-ball park. Also located on the sea wall promenade are plaques showing the Opening Day roster of every Giants team from 1958 through 1999. Giants fans who contributed funds to China Basin Park had their own tiles with their own inscriptions set into the wall.


title: Oracle Park

text: A third statue, dedicated in 2005, honors former Giants pitcher Juan Marichal, and is located outside the ballpark at the Lefty O'Doul Gate entrance.


title: Oracle Park

text: The fourth and only non-human statue is located at the park's ferry plaza behind center field, also known as Seals Plaza. A statue of a seal bobbing a baseball on its nose honors the memory of the San Francisco Seals, the minor league baseball club that played before the arrival of the Giants in 1958.


title: Oracle Park

text: On September 6, 2008, during a series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, a fifth statue depicting Giants great Orlando Cepeda was dedicated at the corner of 2nd Street and King Street, next to the ballpark. A sixth statue, dedicated on August 13, 2016, honors former Giants pitcher Gaylord Perry in the same location. All five player statues were created by sculptor William Behrends of North Carolina.


title: Oracle Park

text: One feature of the ballpark is the long-running Chevron advertisement located in left field, featuring an outline of the company's claymation Chevron Cars. The top 'roofs' of the cars (along with a dog and a surfboard hanging out a car window) are extended out, rendering it several inches higher than the wall base, creating a ground rules issue. Several instances where potential over-the-wall catches to take away home runs were thwarted have occurred because of the advertisement's top dimensions. One notable example of this occurred during Game 3 of the 2016 NLDS against the Chicago Cubs. Kris Bryant hit a ball well into left field, with Giants left fielder Gregor Blanco attempting a catch. The ball landed on the roof of one of the cars, past the wall, and out of his reach, rendering it a home run and tying the game in the top of the ninth inning. (though the Giants would win the game in extra innings for their only win in the series).


title: Oracle Park

text: The opening series took place April 11–13, 2000 against the Los Angeles Dodgers (the team the Giants faced in their final series at Candlestick Park), and the Giants were swept in three games. In the first game of that series, the Giants lost 6–5, highlighted by three home runs from the Dodgers' Kevin Elster. On May 1, 2000, Barry Bonds became the first player to hit a "splash hit" home run into McCovey Cove.


title: Oracle Park

text: In just its first few years of existence, the ballpark saw its share of historic events primarily due to veteran Giants outfielder Barry Bonds. On April 17, 2001, Bonds hit his 500th career home run at then-Pacific Bell Park. Later that year, he set the single season home run record when he hit home runs number 71, 72, and 73 over the weekend of October 5 to close the season. On August 9, 2002, Bonds hit his 600th career home run at the park. On April 12, 2004, Bonds hit career home run 660 at SBC Park to tie Willie Mays for third on the all-time list and on the next night, he hit number 661 to move into sole possession of third place. On September 17, 2004, Bonds hit his 700th career home run at the park to become just the third member of baseball's 700 club. On May 28, 2006, Bonds hit his 715th home run at the park to pass Babe Ruth for second place on the all-time list. On August 7, 2007, Bonds hit his 756th home run, breaking Hank Aaron's record.


title: Oracle Park

text: The park hosted games three through five of the 2002 World Series against the Anaheim Angels, which the Giants lost four games to three. It also hosted the 2007 MLB All-Star Game, which the American League won 5–4 over the National League.


title: Oracle Park

text: On October 27 & 28, 2010, the Giants hosted the first two games of the World Series, beating the Texas Rangers in both games. They ultimately went on to win the series four games to one, their first championship since the team moved to San Francisco in 1958, though the clinching game was played at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington rather than at Oracle Park.


title: Oracle Park

text: On June 13, 2012, Matt Cain threw the 22nd perfect game in MLB history — and first in Giants history — against the Houston Astros.


title: Oracle Park

text: Oracle Park hosted Games 1 and 2 of the 2012 World Series on October 24 and 25. The Giants beat the Detroit Tigers twice, 8–3 and 2–0 respectively. The Giants would go on to win the 2012 World Series in a four-game sweep at Comerica Park.


title: Oracle Park

text: The stadium hosted of the semifinal and final rounds of the 2013 World Baseball Classic on March 17–19.


title: Oracle Park

text: On July 23, 2013, due to a previous rain-out in Cincinnati, Oracle Park served as the "home" venue of the Cincinnati Reds for the second game of a doubleheader against the Giants. Giants manager Bruce Bochy won his 1,500th career game.


title: Oracle Park

text: On June 25, 2014, Tim Lincecum pitched the 3rd no-hitter at Oracle Park against the San Diego Padres in a 4–0 win. It was his 2nd no-hitter of his career, with both of them coming against the Padres.


title: Oracle Park

text: Oracle Park hosted Games 3, 4, and 5 of the 2014 World Series on October 24, 25 and 26. The Giants beat the Kansas City Royals 2 out of the 3 games played at Oracle Park, losing Game 3, 3–2, before winning Games 4 and 5, 11–4 and 5–0 respectively. They ultimately went on to win the series in seven games, with the clinching game played at Kauffman Stadium rather than at Oracle Park. As of 2019, the Giants have not hosted a World Series clincher at Oracle Park, but they did host two at Candlestick Park: the first being in , which was won by the New York Yankees, and the second in , which the Oakland Athletics won in a four-game sweep.


title: Oracle Park

text: On June 15, 2015, the Giants set a record for most consecutive home losses at Oracle Park at nine straight games with a 5–1 loss to the Seattle Mariners. This losing streak was the Giants' longest since an 11-game home loss streak at the Polo Grounds in New York in 1940.


title: Oracle Park

text: From October 1, 2010, to July 18, 2017, Oracle Park recorded 530 consecutive sellouts, the second longest in Major League history behind Fenway Park's 794 consecutive sellouts from 2003 to 2013.


title: Oracle Park

text: Giants Enterprises, a wholly owned subsidiary of the San Francisco Giants created and headed by longtime team executive Pat Gallagher, brings non-baseball events to Oracle Park on days when the Giants do not play. Prominent among these has been the usage of the stadium for football. It has also hosted a range of other sporting and musical events.


title: Oracle Park

text: The park was home to the XFL's San Francisco Demons in 2001, was the home of the East-West Shrine Game (until 2006), and was the former home stadium of the California Redwoods of the UFL in 2009.


title: Oracle Park

text: From 2002 to 2013, it was also home to college football's Redbox Bowl when the game was known as the San Francisco Bowl, Emerald Bowl, and Fight Hunger Bowl. In 2011, Oracle Park became the temporary home football stadium for the California Golden Bears while Cal's on-campus stadium, California Memorial Stadium, underwent renovation.


title: Oracle Park

text: Oracle Park also hosted its first high school football game in 2011, the Central Coast Section Division III football championship game between long-time San Francisco rivals St. Ignatius College Preparatory and Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory.


title: Oracle Park

text: In January 2019, it was reported that the Oakland Raiders had considered temporarily moving to Oracle Park for the 2019 NFL season, as an interim measure before construction of a stadium in their new home city of Las Vegas was complete for 2020. However, the 49ers refused to waive their territorial rights, and the Raiders would ultimately reach an agreement with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority to return to the Oakland Coliseum for the 2019 season with a provision for the 2020 season should construction of Allegiant Stadium be delayed.


title: Oracle Park

text: A match of the 2011 World Football Challenge between Manchester City and Club America was held at Oracle, drawing a crowd of 11,250.


title: Oracle Park

text: On March 17, 2012, the Houston Dynamo defeated the San Jose Earthquakes 1–0 in a regular season Major League Soccer match at Oracle.


title: Oracle Park

text: On July 31, 2013, Everton defeated Juventus 6–5 on penalties after ending regulation tied 1-1 as part of the 2013 International Champions Cup.


title: Oracle Park

text: Monster Jam attended the venue for four years in a row from 2004 to 2007. The tracks were usually wet due to the shows being held in the winter, of which rainfall is common on the west coast around those times. Monster Jam would never return to the stadium following 2007 for unknown reasons.


title: Oracle Park

text: The Mavericks big-wave surfing contest is broadcast live on the giant video display at Oracle Park when the event is held. In 2006, the park hosted ICER AIR the first stadium big-air ski and snowboard competition to be held in the United States.


title: Oracle Park

text: San Francisco Opera partnered with Giants Enterprises to do three broadcasts, most recently "Tosca", in June and September 2009.


title: Oracle Park

text: In October 2013, rapper Kanye West rented out the stadium and the scoreboard for a private event, which turned out to be an elaborate marriage proposal to his girlfriend, reality personality Kim Kardashian.


title: Oracle Park

text: Starting in 2015, the stadium began hosting commencement exercises for San Francisco State University.


title: Oracle Park

text: During the finale of "The Amazing Race 30", the park was the first location visited by teams after they arrived in San Francisco, with teams having to find a clue next to the Willie Mays Statue and then kayaking for baseballs in McCovey Cove.


title: War (U2 album)

text: War is the third studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Steve Lillywhite, and was released on 28 February 1983 on Island Records. The album is regarded as U2's first overtly political album, in part because of songs like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day", as well as the title, which stems from the band's perception of the world at the time; lead vocalist Bono stated that "war seemed to be the motif for 1982."


title: War (U2 album)

text: U2 recorded the album from September–November 1982 at Windmill Lane Studios with Lillywhite producing, the group's third consecutive album made at the studio with the producer. While the central themes of U2's previous albums "Boy" and "October" were adolescence and spirituality, respectively, "War" focused on both the physical aspects of warfare, and the emotional after-effects. Musically, it is also harsher than the band's previous releases. The album has been described as the record where the band "turned pacifism itself into a crusade."


title: War (U2 album)

text: "War" was a commercial success for the band, knocking Michael Jackson's "Thriller" from the top of the UK charts to become the band's first number-one album there. It reached number 12 in the United States and became the band's first gold-certified album there. "War" received generally favourable reviews, though it was poorly received by some British critics. The group supported the album with the War Tour through the end of 1983. In 2012, the album was ranked 223rd on "Rolling Stone"s list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".


title: War (U2 album)

text: In August 1982, Bono and Ali honeymooned in Jamaica. It has been noted that it was not a typical honeymoon, as Bono reportedly worked on the lyrics for the upcoming album. The lyrics to "New Year's Day" had its origins in a love song Bono wrote for his wife, but the song was reshaped and inspired by the Polish Solidarity movement. The band began recording the album in September 1982 at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin with producer Steve Lillywhite, their third consecutive record at the studio with the producer.


title: War (U2 album)

text: The album's opener, "Sunday Bloody Sunday", an ardent protest song, stems from a guitar riff and lyric written by the Edge in 1982. Following an argument with his girlfriend, and a period of doubt in his own song-writing abilities, the Edge – "feeling depressed... channeled [his] fear and frustration and self-loathing into a piece of music." Early versions of the song opened with the line, "Don't talk to me about the rights of the IRA, UDA". After Bono had reworked the lyrics, the band recorded the song. The opening drum pattern soon developed into the song's hook. A local violinist, Steve Wickham, approached the Edge one morning at a bus stop and asked if U2 had any need for a violin on their next album. In the studio for only half a day, Wickham's electric violin became the final instrumental contribution to the song.


title: War (U2 album)

text: During the sessions for "Sunday Bloody Sunday", Lillywhite encouraged drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. to use a click track, but Mullen was firmly against the idea. A chance meeting with Andy Newmark (of Sly & the Family Stone) – a drummer who used a click track religiously – changed Mullen's mind. Mullen used the click track to stay in time for other songs on the album. Mullen said of the album in a 1983 interview, "I think the drumming has always been pretty simple, I don't think it needs to be flashy. For "War" I use a click track, something I haven't used before, it's a way of keeping time in my headphones. When I listened to the music in time with the click track I knew I had to bring it down to the real basics. Hopefully for the next LP it will be more complicated, I'll move on. I think of it as a musical progression for myself because I learned a lot recording this album, just about my own style and that's what I wanted to do. I think there is a definite style on "War" where there isn't on the previous albums."


title: War (U2 album)

text: Three of the tracks featured backing vocals by the Coconuts, of Kid Creole and the Coconuts. In the words of Steve Lillywhite, "they just happened to be in Dublin on tour, so we hung out with them and they came in and sang on 'Surrender'. So it was sort of random – this serious Irish rock band having the Coconuts on their album."


title: War (U2 album)

text: The studio version of "40" was recorded during the final hours of the recording sessions in November 1982. Bassist Adam Clayton had already left the studio, and the three remaining band members decided they did not have a good song to end the album. Bono, the Edge, and Mullen Jr. quickly recorded the song with the Edge playing both the guitar and bass parts. Bono called the song "40" as he based the lyrics on . In live versions of the song, the Edge and Clayton switch roles, as Clayton plays guitar and Edge plays the bass.


title: War (U2 album)

text: The sound of "War" is arguably harsher than that of the band's other albums. A major reason for this is that the Edge uses far less delay and echo than in previous and subsequent works.


title: War (U2 album)

text: "War" opens with the protest song "Sunday Bloody Sunday". The song describes the horror felt by an observer of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, specifically Bloody Sunday. Already a departure from the themes of innocence and spirituality displayed on the group's first two albums, "Sunday Bloody Sunday" introduces the album with a startling, military-esque drum beat by Larry Mullen, Jr., a fuming solo by the Edge that segues into staccato bursts reminiscent of machine gun fire, and pointed lyrical couplets such as: "And today the millions cry / We eat and drink while tomorrow they die." The album as a whole is more direct than the ambient "October". Bono said in 1983,


title: War (U2 album)

text: "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is considered to be among the greatest political protest songs, and has remained a staple of U2's live concerts in the years since.


title: War (U2 album)

text: "Seconds" is a song about nuclear proliferation, and the possibility that Armageddon could occur by an accident. The track contains a sample from the 1982 documentary "Soldier Girls". The Edge sings the first two stanzas, making it one of the rare occasions on which he sings lead vocals.


title: War (U2 album)

text: In continuing the political motif of the album, "New Year's Day" is about the Polish solidarity movement. In 2004, "Rolling Stone" placed it as the 435th greatest song of all time. The song remains a staple of the band's live set, and is their third-most frequently performed song behind "I Will Follow" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)".


title: War (U2 album)

text: "Like a Song…" was intended as a message to those who believed that the band was too worthy, sincere and not "punk" enough. Bono speculated that the song's punk attitude would have made more sense in the 1950s and 1960s, as opposed to the "dressing up" of the genre in the early 1980s. "Like a Song…" was only played live once.


title: War (U2 album)

text: "Drowning Man" is the fifth track on the album. Its sound is a departure from the other tracks in "War" as it is a quiet, atmospheric song heavily influenced by the work of the Comsat Angels. It was never performed live, although there are also unconfirmed reports that it was performed at a concert in 1983.


title: War (U2 album)

text: The album was first released on 28 February 1983. The original cassette release contains the entire album on each side.


title: War (U2 album)

text: The album was titled "War" for several reasons; in 1982, Bono said, "War seemed to be the motif for 1982," adding that "Everywhere you looked, from the Falklands to the Middle East and South Africa, there was war. By calling the album "War" we're giving people a slap in the face and at the same time getting away from the cosy image a lot of people have of U2." The Edge said that "It's a heavy title. It's blunt. It's not something that's safe, so it could backfire. It's the sort of subject matter that people can really take a dislike to. But we wanted to take a more dangerous course, fly a bit closer to the wind, so I think the title is appropriate." The boy on the cover is Peter Rowen (brother of Bono's friend, Guggi). He also appears on the covers of "Boy", "Three", "The Best of 1980–1990", "Early Demos" and many singles. Bono described the reasoning behind the cover: "Instead of putting tanks and guns on the cover, we've put a child's face. War can also be a mental thing, an emotional thing between loves. It doesn't have to be a physical thing."


title: War (U2 album)

text: In , "New Year's Day" was released internationally as the album's lead single. The single reached the top ten in the UK, and was the first release by the band to chart on the "Billboard" Hot 100. In March 1983, "Two Hearts Beat as One" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" were released as singles in different regions. "Two Hearts Beat as One", a single in the US, UK, and Australia, reached number 18 on the UK Singles Chart; "Sunday Bloody Sunday", released in Germany and the Netherlands, reached number 3 on the Netherlands' charts. "40" was not released as a commercial single, but rather as a promotional single in Germany.


title: War (U2 album)

text: In a favourable review in "Rolling Stone", J. D. Considine said, "the album's musical strengths are largely the product of well-honed arrangements and carefully balanced dynamics". He added, "the songs here stand up against anything on the Clash's "London Calling" in terms of sheer impact, and the fact that U2 can sweep the listener up in the same sort of enthusiastic romanticism that fuels the band's grand gestures is an impressive feat. For once, not having all the answers seems a bonus." Critic Dave Marsh said that despite not "match[ing] the pure chilling intensity" of "Boy" and Lillywhite's production not giving the guitars enough prominence, "War" was a "solid set". He complimented "War" for its "passion and commitment" and potent songs, calling it "as good as any post-new wave rock around". He concluded, "It's rare to see a band sustain such courageous behavior through three albums and still wind up on the brink of stardom." Robert Christgau of "The Village Voice" wrote that "the deadly European virus that's always tainted this band turns out to be their characteristic melodic device", adding, "The Edge becomes a tuneful guitarist by the simple expedient of not soloing, and if Bono has too many Gregorian moments his conviction still carries the music." Dan Kennedy of the "Orlando Sentinel" said that on "War" the group "more clearly define its philosophical stance" and that below the sense of despair on the surface is a "voice of hope that flies in the face of most rock postures".


title: War (U2 album)

text: Brett Milano of "The Boston Globe" called "War" an "album of tension and conflict", with a "riveting opening" in "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "one of the year's most affecting love songs" in "Two Hearts Beat as One". He said the "arrangements are models of invention" and that the Edge's "expressive guitar is still the heart of U2's sound". Milano found the only weakness to be the "anti-climactic acoustic songs" that close each side. In a review published in the "Albuquerque Journal", Rick Shefchik said, "The arrangements on this precocious young band's third album are brighter than before", giving their politically motivated songs a "pop sound they once seemed to be avoiding". Bill Ashton of the "Miami Herald" called "War" one the year's best records and said it was the band's "most consistent album yet, full of plaintive lyrics and fiery guitar work" and a rhythm section that "sharpened noticeably" since "October". He complimented the lyrics for never being heavy-handed despite touching on "revolution, life in the age of The Bomb, love and faith". Philip Smith of "The New Zealand Herald" commended the band's maturing sound and labeled the album "a classic". He concluded his review, "So U2 have set out to make a big statement on a subject close to the Irishmen's hearts – and they have succeeded." Terry Atkinson of the "Los Angeles Times" was disappointed by the "gradual dissolution of [U2's] sound" and found that only the two songs that "hold to the group's established style" ("Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day") were "thoroughly satisfying". The review concluded, "In trying to escape formula, U-2 too often loses the battle, but this willingness to try the new, added to its still-bracing basic thrust, indicates how distinctive the band is even in failure."


title: War (U2 album)

text: Several reviews were negative in the United Kingdom. Gavin Martin of "NME" compared the album to U2's debut, stating that "where "Boy" shone and flowed "War" is dull and static", and "where "Boy" propelled lucid pellets of fire and imagination "War" cranks out blank liberal awareness"; he felt that after the single "New Year's Day", which he considered to be "their finest single since 'I Will Follow'", "War" "declines quite dramatically", ultimately calling the album "another example of rock music's impotence and decay". Dave McCullough of "Sounds" shared a similar point of view, recognising that the two singles were "by far the strongest tracks" on "War", but that "for the remainder, they are a (dejected sounding) mixture of the incomplete, the experimental (in the simplest sense) and the plain sub-standard." By contrast, Liam Mackey of "Hot Press" in the band's native Ireland said that "War" "totally eclipses" the group's first two albums and called it a "major leap forward, conceptually and technically". He praised the "resourcefulness and imagination" of the Edge's guitar playing and said the album "offers watertight evidence of the band's standing as a genuinely original force in contemporary music".


title: War (U2 album)

text: "War" was a commercial success, becoming U2's first number-one album in the UK and supplanting Michael Jackson's "Thriller" at the top of the charts. The album placed sixth on "The Village Voice"s 1983 year-end Pazz & Jop critics' poll.


title: War (U2 album)

text: In support of the album, the band began touring on 1 December 1982. The first month of shows, referred to as the "Pre-War Tour", preceded the album's release and the bulk of the tour, and was meant to showcase and test the new songs in a live setting. The War Tour proper began on 26 February 1983 and lasted until 30 November of that year. In total, the band played 110 gigs in Europe, the US, and Japan to promote "War". Over the course of the tour, the band began to play progressively larger venues, moving from clubs to halls to arenas. Bono attempted to engage the growing audiences with theatrical, often dangerous antics, climbing scaffoldings and lighting rigs and jumping into the audience. The sight of Bono waving a white flag during performances of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" became the tour's iconic image. The band played several dates at large European and American music festivals, including a performance at the US Festival on Memorial Day weekend for an audience of 125,000 people. The group's 5 June 1983 concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on a rain-soaked evening was singled out by "Rolling Stone" as one "50 Moments that Changed the History of Rock and Roll". The show was recorded for the concert video "" and was one of several concerts from the tour captured on their live album "Under a Blood Red Sky". Both releases received extensive play on the radio and MTV, expanding the band's audience and showcasing their prowess as a live act. During the tour, the group established a new tradition by closing concerts with "40", during which the Edge and Clayton would switch instruments and the band members would leave the stage one-by-one as the crowd continued to sing the refrain "How long to sing this song?". The War Tour was U2's first profitable tour, grossing about $2 million.


title: War (U2 album)

text: In 1989, "War" was ranked number 40 on "Rolling Stone"s list of "The 100 Greatest Albums of the '80s". In 2003, the magazine ranked "War" 221st on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", describing it as "the band's most overtly political album... charged with explosive, passionate guitar rock". An updated version of the list in 2012 re-ranked the album at number 223. "Slant Magazine" ranked "War" 94th on its list of the "Best Albums of the 1980s."


title: War (U2 album)

text: "Chicago Tribune" critic Greg Kot deemed "War" a "breakthrough" for U2 in which "the band's passion comes through with gripping clarity." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic viewed it as U2's first album to achieve "greatness", finding that their lyrics – which he said "came across as grandstanding" in U2's earlier work – cohered into a "remarkably clear" vision on "War" and, complemented by the band's "muscular, forceful performances", succeed at "making the universal sound personal". J. D. Considine and Nathan Brackett's overview of U2's discography in the 2004 edition of "The Rolling Stone Album Guide" states that with "War", the band brought more focus to their songwriting and effectively balanced personal and political subject matter, while also creating a musically "richer and more varied" album than "October".


title: War (U2 album)

text: Reviewing "War" upon its 2008 reissue, "Blender"s Jon Dolan opined that it marked a tonal shift from U2's more "inwardly focused" previous albums and demonstrated the band's newfound "titanic moral and sonic force", while "Rolling Stone"s David Fricke commented that on "War", "U2 sound like stars, not aspirants, ready for their money shot". Steven Hyden, writing for "The A.V. Club", said that the album showed Bono's mastery of "the art of the grand symbolic gesture" through "his inspirational iconography on anthems like 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' and 'New Year's Day'". "Pitchfork" reviewer Joe Tangari concluded, "The U2 we've known ever since had arrived on "War", and even today it sounds vital."


title: War (U2 album)

text: According to "Treble" writer Jeff Terich, "War" served as "a triumphant close to [U2's] post-punk trilogy" and "the dividing line between U2, the young Dublin new wave act and U2, the heroic stadium rock band". In a dissenting analysis, Bob Stanley believed the band had actually deviated from post-punk's regionalism and rejection of pop music universality by achieving progressively higher levels of international success. He wrote that, beginning with "War", "it became increasingly hard to tell what U2 stood for, or what their purpose was – their vastness and their complete avoidance of detail made them hard to read, let alone love. One day someone will explain to Bono that pop is always more expressive when it is trying to mend a broken heart than when it's trying to save the world."


title: War (U2 album)

text: In 1993, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab remastered the album from the original analog master tapes and released it on a 24kt gold plated CD. The original master recording has slightly different running times:


title: War (U2 album)

text: Following the remastered re-release of "The Joshua Tree" in 2007, it was rumoured that the band would also remaster and re-release "War", along with the albums "Boy" and "October". This was confirmed by U2.com on . The remastered album was released on in the UK, with the US version following it the next day. It was released in three different formats:


title: 37th AVN Awards

text: The 37th AVN Awards was a pornography award show recognizing the best actresses, actors, directors and films in the adult industry in 2019. Nominations were announced at a ceremony on November 24, 2019 at the Avalon Hollywood. The show was held on January 25, 2020 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. It was broadcast on Showtime. The awards show was hosted by adult star Nikki Benz, MyFreeCams celebrity Emily Bloom, with comedian Aries Spears. The 37th AVN Awards was noteworthy as one of the last events held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, before the facility's closure on February 3, 2020.


title: 37th AVN Awards

text: Musical guests featured Beyond Glascow, Doja Cat and DJ Diplo. Doja Cat performed songs off her album "Hot Pink", including "Juicy". DJ Diplo featured musician Lil Pump performing his Kanye West collaboration, "I Love It". Actress Angela White won Female Performer of the Year; she became the first actress in history to win the award three times in a row. Maitland Ward, a mainstream actress-turned pornographic actress previously known from "Boy Meets World" and "The Bold and the Beautiful", was recognized with multiple awards after first debuting in the adult industry in 2019. The 2020 awards was the first time a film from Greece received a nomination for Best Foreign Production.


title: 37th AVN Awards

text: The event was held inside the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas at the music venue called The Joint. The 37th AVN Awards was presented by MyFreeCams. Referred to in the media as "the Oscars of porn", the event honors excellence in the adult industry. Las Vegas has hosted the event since 1998. The AVN Awards draws 50,000 to the annual show and surrounding events. In the week leading up to the ceremony, it was preceded by the GayVN Awards, and a trade show. The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino closed on February 3, 2020, to be replaced by the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. The AVN Awards signed a contract with Virgin Hotels Las Vegas through the year 2023 to continue the event at the new location. "The Daily Beast" observed of the fact that the 37th AVN Awards was one of the last events held in the establishment, "There is no more fitting end for the rock and roll-themed hotel than the festival of debauchery that is AVN Awards week, a four-day adult entertainment convention that ends with the racy 'Oscars of Porn.'" Parties coinciding with the 37th AVN Awards included the Lair Fetish Party the day before, and the AVN Awards After Party the night of the event at the Vanity Night Club.


title: 37th AVN Awards

text: Presenting the 37th AVN Awards were Emily Bloom and adult star Nikki Benz. Emily Bloom was known from MyFreeCams, and garnered the award for Favorite Cam Girl. Comedian Aries Spears, who previously co-hosted the 35th AVN Awards in 2018, returned to co-host. The awards event was managed by executive producers AVN chief executive officer Tony Rios along with Gary Miller. Benz and Bloom reprised their roles for a May 2020 live stream of the event; they were joined for the live stream by adult film stars [Small Hands, Penny Pax, Vicki Chase, Violet Doll, Maitland Ward, Joanna Angel, Gianna Dior, and Angela White. The live stream event was held on AVN Stars — a social media site started in January 2020 at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. AVN Awards executive producer Gary Miller posed questions to the celebrities during the 90-minute live stream event.


title: 37th AVN Awards

text: Musical performances by rapper Doja Cat and DJ Diplo occurred throughout the show. Doja Cat commented to "AllHipHop", "I’m honored and excited to be the second woman ever to perform at the AVN Awards." Journalist Rosario Harper noted for "SOHH" that Doja Cat was following in the footsteps of Kanye West and Cardi B following a trend of hip hop music stars headlining at the AVN Awards. Layla Halabian reviewed Doja Cat's fashion choice favorably for "Nylon", "In her latest move, the rapper performed at the 2020 AVN Adult Entertainment Awards in Las Vegas on January 25 in a truly unforgettable nude mesh bodysuit, complete with rhinestone silhouettes highlighting her nipples, butt, and that most maligned of body hair — pubes." Doja Cat performed songs from her 2019 album "Hot Pink", including "Juicy", and "Cyber Sex".


title: 37th AVN Awards

text: DJ Diplo featured musician Lil Pump in his performance. Lil Pump performed from his collaboration with Kanye West, titled, "I Love It". Jed Gregorio of the "Inquirer" commented favorably of Diplo's outfit at the event, "Thomas Wesley a.k.a Diplo attended 'the only award show that matters this weekend' wearing probably the only outfit that, in fact, mattered this weekend." Gregorio observed, "The event is question is the 2020 Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas, where the DJ performed wearing a baby pink cowboy hat, a baby pink suit, and brown suede boots. The fit, fabricated by Union Western Clothing, features some delicious iconography, including a guy getting it on with a mermaid, some minotaur action, and anthropomorphic mushrooms." Union Western Clothing worked with Diplo in advance of the AVN Awards specifically to craft an outfit for the event itself.


title: 37th AVN Awards

text: Angela White won the night's main award, for Female Performer of the Year, becoming the first person ever to win this trophy three times in a row. Writing for "The Daily Beast" columnist Aurora Snow commented of her achievement, "she became the first woman ever to win three consecutive years; an unusual accolade for any female performer to receive".


title: 37th AVN Awards

text: Maitland Ward, a mainstream actress-turned pornographic actress who previously starred as Rachel McGuire on the sitcom "Boy Meets World" and Jessica Forrester on the soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful", was recognized with multiple awards at the ceremony. Ward first debuted in the adult film industry in 2019 and became the brand ambassador of the adult content creator Deeper. Ward had a starring role in the adult production "Drive" directed by Kayden Kross. "Drive" was Ward's first feature film role in the adult industry. Ward took honors for Best Supporting Actress, Best Three-Way Sex Scene, and Favorite Camming Cosplayer. She frequently attends comic book conventions and participates in cosplay. Kayden Cross took Best Director - Dramatic Production for "Drive", as well as Director of the Year after a prior win in the same category the year before.


title: 37th AVN Awards

text: The 37th AVN Awards was the first time a film from Greece was recognized with a nomination for Best Foreign Production. Adult film industry director Dimitris Sirinakis, commonly known within the industry as the Greek King of Porn, and his production company Sirina Productions received the nomination. Sirinakis was nominated for his film, "Filthy Rich Games".


title: 37th AVN Awards

text: Natalie Mars received the award for Transgender Performer of the Year. Additionally, the film starring Mars, "Transfixed: Natalie Mars Showcase", won the award for Best Transgender Production. Mars was also voted Favorite Trans Cam Star and Favorite Trans Porn Star. Mars joined the adult industry four and a half years prior, and had previously received nominations for Performer of the Year in the three previous AVN Awards.


title: 37th AVN Awards

text: Axel Braun, a prior inductee to the AVN Hall of Fame, garnered the award for Best Parody for his film in the Wicked Comix series, "Captain Marvel XXX: An Axel Braun Parody". This was his tenth win in the category in a row. The same film also won awards for Best Special Effects and Best Makeup for Dusty Lynn, Best Soundtrack, and Best Transgender One-on-One Sex Scene for Kenzie Taylor and Aubrey Kate.


title: 37th AVN Awards

text: "AVN" on January 14, 2020, announced the 2019 inductees into its hall of fame, who were later honored with a January 22 cocktail party and then a video as the awards show opened.


title: 37th AVN Awards

text: The 2020 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo was held prior to the award show from January 22 to January 25, 2020. The AVN Awards and Expo featured over 1,000 stars from the adult entertainment sector. The Expo itself contained more than 400 exhibitors at the convention. The convention featured a musical performance by rapper and songwriter T-Pain. "L.A. Weekly" noted it was the "largest porn industry gathering of its kind in the United States, featuring four days of events, panels and meetups, merch and memorabilia".


title: 37th AVN Awards

text: The convention also featured lectures on topics related to the adult film industry. Lawyer D. Gill Sperlein presented in an AVN seminar on the litigation implications related to producing pornographic content. Sperlein commented, "I think it's unlikely that there would be a conviction for obscenity." Sperlein observed regardless of legal merit, prosecutions were frequently sought against producers of adult film content, and were "done for political gain". Sperlein asserted of prosecutors of such litigation, "they don't care if they get a conviction or not." Decriminalize Sex Work organization staff member Kaytlin Bailey had a booth at the event to raise awareness to her cause; she stated the reaction to her issues was positive at the event, and discussed the stigma facing sex workers. The Free Speech Coalition and the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee handed out literature at the event supporting sex workers' rights. Sex educator and author Carol Queen attended the Expo, and presented a seminar on sex and technology impacting the industry. She commented regarding changing stigmas in society related to sex education and feminism.


title: Rebecca Ferguson (singer)

text: Rebecca Caroline Ferguson (born July 21, 1986) is a British soul singer and songwriter. In 2010, Ferguson finished in second place in the seventh series of "The X Factor." She later released her debut album titled "Heaven" in December 2011. The album peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart. Ferguson released three further top-ten albums: "Freedom" (2013), "Lady Sings the Blues" (2015) and "Superwoman" (2016). She cites Aretha Franklin, Kings of Leon, Christina Aguilera and Amy Winehouse among her influences.


title: Rebecca Ferguson (singer)

text: Rebecca Ferguson was born on 21 July 1986 at Mill Road Hospital in Liverpool to a father of Jamaican descent and a white British mother. She spent the first two years of her life in Huyton. She has a younger brother, Sam. The family then moved to a house on an estate in Woolton Village when her parents separated. Ferguson received her primary education at Woolton Primary School and her secondary and sixth form education at Gateacre Community Comprehensive School. As a teenager she later moved to Anfield. That was when she became pregnant with her first child Lillie May. Two years later she had her son, Karl. Ferguson has said her family supported her ambition to become a professional singer and helped her through two previous "X Factor" auditions. She also revealed that she was "bullied as a kid because my family was poor and I never had the right clothes or toys." Despite having a difficult start in life, Ferguson insisted she wanted people to focus solely on her talent. Ferguson also revealed that as a child she always wanted to be a pop star. She revealed on Loose Women that she was sexually abused in a care home when she was 8 years old.


title: Rebecca Ferguson (singer)

text: Ferguson is a qualified legal secretary, having studied at Hugh Baird College, Bootle. She later commented, "There is only so long you can chase the dream when you are a mum. I wanted the kids to see me do well and be a better role model. They were always seeing their mummy fail. That was why I started college."


title: Rebecca Ferguson (singer)

text: Ferguson had previously unsuccessfully auditioned for "The X Factor" and for "P. Diddy's Starmaker" in New York. She later commented "I went to other auditions, I was invited to New York to audition for "P.Diddy's Starmaker" and I was told ‘no’. "it was really upsetting because I spent money to get there. I also tried out for "The X Factor" but it did not turn out too well."


title: Rebecca Ferguson (singer)

text: Ferguson sang "A Change Is Gonna Come" for her audition in front of judges, Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and guest judge, Nicole Scherzinger. At her bootcamp audition, she sang "Like a Star" to which Cowell said "That is a recording voice!" and Scherzinger said, "I told you first time I saw her, she is our generation's songbird." She sang "Fireflies" at judges' houses and was sent through to the live shows by mentor Cheryl in her Girls category (solo females aged 16–27). For the first live show she sang "Teardrops" and in the second live show she sang "Feeling Good". In the third live show she sang "Why Don't You Do Right?" and in the fourth live show she sang "Wicked Game". In the fifth live show, Ferguson received a standing ovation from Cowell and Cheryl following her performance of "Make You Feel My Love". In the following episode, Ferguson received another standing ovation from Dannii Minogue and Cheryl after singing "Candle in the Wind". In the final, she performed a duet with Christina Aguilera, performing Aguilera's hit single "Beautiful". Ferguson's winner's song was a cover of Duffy's "Distant Dreamer". She avoided the final showdown every week and finished second to Matt Cardle, making her the first female runner-up on "The X Factor".


title: Rebecca Ferguson (singer)

text: After the final, it was announced that Ferguson had been signed by Syco Music. In January 2011, it was reported that Ferguson had signed a joint record deal between Syco Records and Epic Records. Ferguson and nine other contestants from the series participated in the "X Factor Live Tour" from February to April 2011. The tour saw Ferguson performing for 500,000 people throughout the UK.


title: Rebecca Ferguson (singer)

text: Ferguson released her debut single "Nothing's Real but Love" on 20 November 2011, which was written by Ferguson and Eg White. The single peaked at number ten on the UK Singles Chart. Her debut album "Heaven" followed and was released 5 December 2011 in the UK. The album features Ferguson collaborating with Eg White, Steve Booker, Fraser T Smith, Xenomania, Paul Barry, Mark Taylor and Brian Higgins. Ferguson later revealed that she would be co-writing the whole of her album for her to "connect" with the songs. The album would feature genres like Soul, pop and Blues. The album came to critical acclaim with critics lauding Ferguson for being the first credible artist to come from reality television format. Cowell also praised the album tweeting on 21 November how proud he was of Ferguson, "I am absolutely blown away by Rebecca Ferguson, her album and by her performance. Congratulations!". The album was certified platinum for shipments of 300,000 units by the British Phonographic Industry in its first two weeks of release.


title: Rebecca Ferguson (singer)

text: On 18 November 2011, Ferguson announced her first headlining UK and Ireland Tour, spanning 14 dates from 20 February to 13 March 2012. Due to high demand, Ferguson had to add more dates to her tour, all of which have sold out.