title: Rockwell scale

text: After leaving the Connecticut company, Stanley Rockwell, then in Syracuse, NY, applied for an improvement to the original invention on September 11, 1919, which was approved on November 18, 1924. The new tester holds . Rockwell moved to West Hartford, CT, and made an additional improvement in 1921. Stanley collaborated with instrument manufacturer Charles H. Wilson of the Wilson-Mauelen Company in 1920 to commercialize his invention and develop standardized testing machines. Stanley started a heat-treating firm circa 1923, the Stanley P. Rockwell Company, which still exists in Hartford, CT. The later-named Wilson Mechanical Instrument Company has changed ownership over the years, and was acquired by Instron Corp. in 1993.


title: Rockwell scale

text: The Rockwell hardness test can be conducted on several various hardness testers. All testers, however, fall under one of three categories. Bench model hardness testers can be found either in a digital or analog model. Digital bench models utilize a digital display and typically take more technical training to be able to operate, whereas the analog models are simpler to operate as well as very accurate and display results on a dial on the front of the machine. All bench model testers are usually found within a workshop or laboratory setting. Other testers are portable, and all portable testers will come in a digital model including a digital results screen similar to that of the bench digital model. Nowadays, some companies may prefer employees to use these portable testers as they may be found to be the easiest and most practical to use.


title: Rockwell scale

text: One popular brand among engineers is the Phase portable tester which also includes the options to perform several other types of hardness tests including Brinell, Vickers, and Shore. This proves to be the most efficient form of on-the-go testing throughout a manufacturing setting. This also disregards the need for a conversion chart since all of the work is done within the Phase portable tester.


title: Rockwell scale

text: The determination of the Rockwell hardness of a material involves the application of a minor load followed by a major load. The minor load establishes the zero position. The major load is applied, then removed while still maintaining the minor load. The depth of penetration from the zero datum is measured from a dial, on which a harder material gives a lower measure. That is, the penetration depth and hardness are inversely proportional. The chief advantage of Rockwell hardness is its ability to display hardness values directly, thus obviating tedious calculations involved in other hardness measurement techniques.


title: Rockwell scale

text: The Rockwell test is very cost-effective as it does not use any optical equipment to measure the hardness based on the small indention made, rather all calculations are done within the machine to measure the indention in the specimen, providing a clear result in a manner in which is easy to read and understand once given. This also prevents any reworking or finishing needing to be done to the specimen both before and after testing. However, it is critical to double check specimens as the smallest indentions made from testing could potentially result in incorrect measurements in hardness, leading to catastrophe. After time, the indenter on a Rockwell scale can become inaccurate as well and need replacing to ensure accurate and precise hardness measurements.


title: Rockwell scale

text: The equation for Rockwell Hardness is formula_1, where "d" is the depth in mm (from the zero load point), and "N" and "h" are scale factors that depend on the scale of the test being used (see following section).


title: Rockwell scale

text: It is typically used in engineering and metallurgy. Its commercial popularity arises from its speed, reliability, robustness, resolution and small area of indentation.


title: Rockwell scale

text: In order to get a reliable reading the thickness of the test-piece should be at least 10 times the depth of the indentation. Also, readings should be taken from a flat perpendicular surface, because convex surfaces give lower readings. A correction factor can be used if the hardness of a convex surface is to be measured.


title: Rockwell scale

text: There are several alternative scales, the most commonly used being the "B" and "C" scales. Both express hardness as an arbitrary dimensionless number.


title: Rockwell scale

text: The "superficial" Rockwell scales use lower loads and shallower impressions on brittle and very thin materials. The 45N scale employs a 45-kgf load on a diamond cone-shaped Brale indenter, and can be used on dense ceramics. The 15T scale employs a 15-kgf load on a hardened steel ball, and can be used on sheet metal.


title: Rockwell scale

text: The B and C scales overlap, such that readings below HRC 20 and those above HRB 100, generally considered unreliable, need not be taken or specified.


title: Rockwell scale

text: Several other scales, including the extensive A-scale, are used for specialized applications. There are special scales for measuring case-hardened specimens.


title: Phil Tippett

text: Phil Tippett (born September 27, 1951) is an American movie director and Oscar and Emmy Award-winning visual effects supervisor and producer, who specializes in creature design, stop-motion and computerized character animation. Over his career, he has assisted ILM and DreamWorks, and in 1984 formed his own company, Tippett Studio.


title: Phil Tippett

text: His work has appeared in movies such as the original "Star Wars" trilogy, "Jurassic Park", and "RoboCop". In 2021, he released his long-gestating stop-motion film "Mad God", which was funded through Kickstarter and distributed by Shudder.


title: Phil Tippett

text: Tippett was born in Berkeley, California. When he was seven, Tippett saw Ray Harryhausen's special effects classic, "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad", and his life's direction was set. Tippett completed a bachelor's degree in art at the University of California, Irvine, and went to work at the animation studio Cascade Pictures in Los Angeles.


title: Phil Tippett

text: In 1975, while still working at Cascade Pictures, Phil Tippett and Jon Berg were hired by George Lucas at Industrial Light & Magic to create a stop-motion miniature chess scene for the original "Star Wars" film. When "Star Wars" was being released on theatres, in 1977, Tippett was approached by Joe Dante and Jon Davison to create the fish for Roger Corman's "Piranha". It was released in 1978, although Tippett was not credited in the film.


title: Phil Tippett

text: In 1978, Tippett headed the ILM animation department with Jon Berg for "The Empire Strikes Back", released in 1980. For this film, Tippett co-developed the animation technique called go motion to animate the sinister AT-AT Imperial Walkers and the hybrid alien tauntauns. In 1981, Tippett continued using go motion for "Dragonslayer", and received his first Academy Award nomination for the extraordinarily realistic dragon animation. By 1983, Tippett led the famed Lucasfilm creature shop for "Return of the Jedi" for which he was awarded his first Oscar in 1984.


title: Phil Tippett

text: In 1984, Tippett Studio was born when Tippett left ILM and set up a studio in his garage to create a 10-minute experimental film called "Prehistoric Beast". The realism of the dinosaurs it depicted and the film's reflection of contemporary scientific theory led to the 1985 CBS animated documentary "Dinosaur!". The next year, in 1986, "Dinosaur!" earned Tippett Studio its first award, a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects, for the animated dinosaur sequences.


title: Phil Tippett

text: In 1986, producer Jon Davison hired Tippett to create the animated robot sequences for "RoboCop". The ED-209 stop-motion model was animated by Tippett but designed by Craig Hayes (also known as Craig Davies), who also built the full size models. As one of the setpieces of the movie, the ED-209's look and animated sequences were under the close supervision of director Paul Verhoeven, who sometimes acted out the robot's movements himself. ED 209 was voiced by producer Jon Davison. This project became the start of a long and successful collaboration between Davies and Tippett.


title: Phil Tippett

text: In 1991, Tippett was hired to create the dinosaur effects for the Steven Spielberg blockbuster "Jurassic Park" using his go motion technique made famous in the film "Dragonslayer". However, Dennis Muren and his CGI team at Industrial Light & Magic created animated test footage of a "T. rex" that Spielberg loved.


title: Phil Tippett

text: When Tippett was told that "Jurassic Park" dinosaurs would be computer-generated, he was shocked, exclaiming "I've just become extinct", a line Spielberg borrows and uses in the movie. Far from being extinct, Tippett evolved as stop-motion animation gave way to computer-generated imagery or CGI. Because of Tippett's background and understanding of animal movement and behavior, Spielberg kept Tippett on to supervise the animation on 50 dinosaur shots for "Jurassic Park". Tippett supervised both the Tippett Studio and ILM animators, resulting in realistic digital dinosaurs that breathe, flex, twitch and react. His effort earned him a second Oscar.


title: Phil Tippett

text: Work done on "Jurassic Park" resulted in the development by Tippett Studio's Craig Hayes of the DID (Digital Input Device) which was pivotal in the transition from stop motion to computer generated animation in bringing creatures to life. Tippett is also the subject of a humorous internet meme regarding his credit in the film ("Dinosaur Supervisor"), which is displayed with the tagline "One job, Phil! You had one job!", implying that because he didn't supervise the dinosaurs properly, he was responsible for the on-screen deaths. Mashable interviewed Tippett in April 2014 about this meme, which he called "beyond silly" and "such a waste of time".


title: Phil Tippett

text: In June 2015, after media attention due to his new credit of "Dinosaur Consultant" in "Jurassic World" and the ensuing deaths in the film, Tippett tweeted: "to be fair, there were a lot of dinosaurs. It was a large job."


title: Phil Tippett

text: In 1995, Tippett Studio was hired to create the giant, hostile alien arachnids in Paul Verhoeven's adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein's classic science fiction novel "Starship Troopers". Tippett marshaled a team of 100 animators, model makers, computer artists and technicians and expanded his all-CGI facility. Because of the intensity of his involvement, and his ability to pre-visualize the hordes of teeming arachnids, Verhoeven has credited Tippett with co-directing the large-scale battle sequences for the film. The excellence of this work resulted in Tippett's sixth nomination in 1997 for an Academy Award.


title: Phil Tippett

text: During 1997–98, Tippett supervised animation and effects for Universal's "Virus" and Disney's "My Favorite Martian". In 1998–99 he and Craig Hayes co-supervised the visual effects on Jan De Bont's "The Haunting", for DreamWorks. Under Tippett and Hayes' lead, Tippett Studio created over 100 complex effects shots that expressed the horrific character of the house and the spirits that live there.


title: Phil Tippett

text: In 2000, Tippett joined director Ivan Reitman as the visual effects supervisor on the DreamWorks science fiction comedy "Evolution". In just under a year, Tippett Studio designed, realized and animated over 17 extraterrestrial creatures in 175 shots.


title: Phil Tippett

text: Throughout 2001 and into 2002, Tippett changed direction to focus on developing and directing his own film. Tippett achieved this with "", by partnering with his longtime associates, writer Ed Neumeier and producer Jon Davison, with whom he worked on the original "Starship Troopers" and "Robocop".


title: Phil Tippett

text: In 1990, Tippett began work on an independent project entitled "Mad God" but during the rise of his studio, the project was dropped. In 2010, "Mad God" was brought back up, but Tippett did not have the budget for the film, so he started a Kickstarter with a budget goal of $40,000. On June 16, 2012, the project was successfully funded, exceeding the goal and obtaining $124,156. The first and second chapters have been completed as of August 2017, with parts 3 and 4 underway.


title: Phil Tippett

text: The film was first screened December 11th, 2021 and continued screening through mid-2022. The film took 30 years to complete, and a year before it was finished, Phil Tippett had a mental breakdown, causing him to go into a psych ward.


title: Shanghai Media Group

text: Radio and Television Station of Shanghai (RTS), a Shanghai-based state media outlet, and its wholly owned subsidiary, Shanghai Media Group (SMG), represent one of China's largest state-owned media and cultural conglomerates, with the most complete portfolio of media and related businesses. The Oriental Pearl Media Company under SMG was the first cultural and media company in China to realize a market capitalization totaling more than ¥100 billion (US$15B) on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2015. By June 2015, SMG has more than ¥61B (US$10B) in assets and about 17,200 employees.


title: Shanghai Media Group

text: SMG's businesses span operations of radio and TV networks, signal transmission, newspapers and magazines, drama and film production and distribution, OTT and streaming, IPTV, online and console gaming, digital advertising, home shopping and e-commerce, financial data and information services, children's arts training, TV post-production services, live entertainment, tourism and cultural investments, etc.


title: Shanghai Media Group

text: Formed in 2001, SMG is the result of a merger between the People's Radio Station of Shanghai, East Radio Shanghai, Shanghai Television, and Oriental Television. It has 11 analogue TV channels, 90 digital paid cable TV channels, an internet TV service, plus 10 analogue and 19 digital radio services. The group also operates and owns five sports centres and 14 cultural art centres. According to a survey of AC Nielsen, eleven of the group's TV channels have achieved a market share of 76% during prime time in 2003.


title: Shanghai Media Group

text: In 2003 the group conducted a feasibility study with a view to set up a new English channel. It renamed its Shanghai Broadcasting Network to Dragon TV and moved that channel's best-known English program "News at Ten" to Shanghai Television Business Channel and Dragon TV. In January 2008, the Group launch a 24-hour English TV news channel, (ICS – International Channel Shanghai), the second in China after the state-own China Central Television's English channel (CCTV-9). The content of ICS News is distributed on mobile and internet platforms by US Company China Animation Partners, LLC.


title: Shanghai Media Group

text: English radio programming includes "Live It Up, Shanghai" broadcasts on the "East Radio" channel (792am and 89.9fm).


title: Shanghai Media Group

text: On 2 October the Group hosted special concert to mark the 20th anniversary of South Korea and China's diplomatic ties, with performers including along Kim Jang-hoon, Super Junior-M and EXO-K.


title: Shanghai Media Group

text: The Walt Disney Studios and Shanghai Media Group Pictures signed a movie development agreement, before 6 March 2014 announcement, in which Chinese themes would be incorporated into Disney branded movies.


title: Shanghai Media Group

text: Shanghai Media Group is the holding company of Yicai Global (China) (formerly known as "China Business Network"), which in addition to the TV channel also runs a magazine named "CBN Weekly", a newspaper called "CBN Paper", radio channel "CBN Radio" and a number of websites carrying the name. In 2015 Alibaba Group paid 1.2 billion yuan ($193.5 million) to Shanghai Media Group for 30% of CBN's stocks. In October 2020, the United States Department of State designated Yicai Global as a foreign mission of the Chinese government.


title: Shanghai Media Group

text: All Channels are using callsigns with a prefix of "Shanghai People's Radio Station"(Chinese: 上海人民广播电台), but most programmes of them has been produced by of SMG Radio Centre (Chinese: 东方广播中心) (a.k.a. Shanghai East Radio Company Limited, Chinese: 上海东方广播有限公司) since 2014.


title: Jal Mahal

text: Jal Mahal (meaning "Water Palace") is a palace in the middle of the Man Sagar Lake in Jaipur city, the capital of the state of Rajasthan, India. The palace was originally constructed in 1699; the building and the lake around it were later renovated and enlarged in the 18th century by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Amber.


title: Jal Mahal

text: The Jal Mahal palace is an architectural showcase of the Rajput style of architecture (common in Rajasthan) on a grand scale. The building has a picturesque view of Man Sagar Lake, but owing to its seclusion from land is equally the focus of a viewpoint from the Man Sagar Dam on the eastern side of the lake in front of the backdrop of the surrounding Nahargarh ("tiger-abode") hills. The palace, built in red sandstone, is a five-storied building, of which four floors remain underwater when the lake is full and the top floor is exposed. One rectangular Chhatri on the roof is of the Bengal type. The chhatris on the four corners are octagonal. The palace had suffered subsidence in the past and also partial seepage (plaster work and wall damage equivalent to rising damp) because of water logging, which have been repaired under a restoration project of the Government of Rajasthan.


title: Jal Mahal

text: The hills surrounding the lake area, towards the north east of Jaipur, have quartzite rock formations (with a thin layer of soil cover), which is part of the Aravalli hills range. Rock exposures on the surface in some parts of the project area have also been used for constructing buildings. From the northeast, the Kanak Vrindavan valley, where a temple complex sits, the hills slope gently towards the lake edge. Within the lake area, the ground area is made up of a thick mantle of soil, blown sand, and alluvium. Forest denudation, particularly in the hilly areas, has caused soil erosion, compounded by wind and water action. As a result, silt built up in the lake incrementally raises the lake bed.


title: Jal Mahal

text: On the terrace of the palace, a garden was built with arched passages. At each corner of this palace semi-octagonal towers were built with an elegant cupola.


title: Jal Mahal

text: The restoration works of the early 2000s were not satisfactory and an expert in the field of similar architectural restoration works of Rajasthan palaces examined the designs that could decipher the originally existing designs on the walls, after removing the recent plasterwork. Based on this finding, restoration works were re-done with traditional materials for plastering – the plaster consists of partly organic material: a mortar mix of lime, sand and "surkhi" mixed with jaggery, guggal and methi powder. It was also noticed that there was hardly any water seepage, except for a little dampness, on the floors below the water level. But the original garden, which existed on the terrace had been lost. Now, a new terrace is being created based on a similar roof garden of the Amer Palace. The building is located near the shoreline of a lake with a maximum depth of 15 ft. As the four stories of the building are built under the water, this means it would be structured on the bottom of the lake.


title: Jal Mahal

text: At Gaitore opposite the lake are chhatris and cenotaphs erected over cremation platforms of some of the Kachwaha rulers of Jaipur. They were built by Jai Singh II within landscaped gardens. The cenotaphs are in honor of Pratap Singh, Madho Singh II and Jai Singh II among others. Jai Singh II's cenotaph is made of marble and has impressive intricate carvings. It has a dome with 20 carved pillars.


title: Jal Mahal

text: Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation took matters in its hands in the year 2004, and decided to try and restore the monument to its original glory. They signed an agreement with Jal Mahal Resorts, granting it a 99-year lease to develop 100 acres along the Man Sagar Lake (in the middle of which Jal Mahal stands) and the palace. The 99-year lease was given out to a business tycoon, Navratan Kothari Chairman KGK Group. For the past 9 years, he has worked on the cleaning of the lake and restoration of the Palace. Now there are many inhabitants of the area and it has created a great job opportunity for the people of Jaipur and Rajasthan. For the future, Navratan plans to build a few hotels around the Jal Mahal and make it a very popular tourist destination.


title: Jal Mahal

text: The Lake restoration project of the Man Sagar Lake area with an estimated investment of ₹150 crores (considered one of the largest and unique such projects in India) has evolved a plan that has diverse project components. Consequently, there are many project stakeholders and beneficiaries. The project stake holders are: the Government of Rajasthan and their subordinate organizations such as the Public Works Department (PWD), Rajasthan Urban Development Authority (RUIDP), the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA – the nodal agency for implementation of all aspects of the project), the Department of Tourism, Rajasthan Project Development Fund (RPDF) and the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) and an Empowered Committee on Infrastructure Development (ECID); the Central Government organizations associated for planning and financing are the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOE&F) through its National River Conservation Program (NRCP) and ILFS.


title: Jal Mahal

text: The Private Sector Developer (PSD) appointed was M/s KGK Consortium. Under the public-private sector partnership model approved by the EICD, PDCOR had prepared the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the restoration of Man Sagar Lake, Jal Mahal restoration and lake precincts development. The total project area for restoration and development approved by ECID was comprising the lake with water spread, the lake precincts area of , which subsumed of submerged land) for tourism development under joint sector cooperation and for lake promenade and tertiary treatment facility and related works.


title: Jal Mahal

text: The studies indicated two approaches to tackle the environmental degradation that had occurred in the lake, namely, dealing with natural catchment area and concurrently addressing the serious problem of municipal sewerage emerging from large scale urbanization or human settlement. Keeping this broad planning approach in view, under the lake restoration project, the works undertaken involved were: the re-alignment of city drains, de-silting of the lake, construction of artery road from Amber to Man Sagar Dam (about ), construction of check dam in a length with silt removed from the lake, creation of three nesting islands for migratory birds, lakefront promenade in), afforestation and treatment of forest area portion of lake catchment, plantation to stabilise the slopes of bank formation. Afforestation envisaged plantation of local plant species such as "Acacia arabica" (desi babool) and


title: Jal Mahal

text: "Tamarix indica" (planting close to the water edge where they can grow well), "Terminalia arjuna" (Arjun) poplar, neem and all species of "Ficus", which would provide diversity in vegetation and also better habitat diversity for feeding by birds and wildlife.


title: Jal Mahal

text: In addition, to remove eutrophication of the lake water and improve its water quality, in-situ Bioremediation process with 140 diffusers & 5 air compressors to aerate and create an inversion of the lake bed and stored water was also envisaged. The city sewage, which supplied 7.0 MLD of untreated sewage was treated with Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) and then led to the lake to maintain its water level, after due removal of nutrients through tertiary treatment. This process involved diversion of the Brahampuri Nala into the Nagtalai Nala by a lined channel to its south. This was then led through a treatment plant on site to generate secondary level effluent, which was then discharged into an artificial wetland through a hyacinth channel. For this purpose, a Physico Chemical Treatment Plant was also envisaged and the effluent from this plant was taken through artificially created wetlands in an area of ) (not only to treat the water but also to serve as natural habitat for birds) and through this process the entire eco-system is being re-generated. Vegetation generated in this process is disposed of in a compost pit near the lake.


title: Jal Mahal

text: It is also reported that about 500,000 cubic metres of silt was removed from the lake. This silt was then put to use for a strengthening of embankment and building of islands as wintering grounds for migratory birds.


title: Jal Mahal

text: After the above initial restoration works of the lake and its feeder system were mostly completed by the JDA, during 2003, private sector developers were invited to develop identified tourism components on the land adjoining the lake. After following the due process, a joint sector undertaking called the PDCOR was formed between the JDA of the Rajasthan Government and the consortia of private developers with the lead provided by M/s. KGK Enterprises. The project for tourism development was entrusted to this joint group. The tourism project entailed the development of Convention Centre and Art Gallery, Multiplex and Entertainment Centre, Craft Bazaar, Arts and Craft Village, Resort Hotels, restaurants, and food courts, public park and gardens including responsibility for restoration and maintenance of the Jal Mahal.


title: Equisetum

text: Equisetum (; horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of ferns, which reproduce by spores rather than seeds.


title: Equisetum

text: "Equisetum" is a "living fossil", the only living genus of the entire subclass Equisetidae, which for over 100 million years was much more diverse and dominated the understorey of late Paleozoic forests. Some equisetids were large trees reaching to tall. The genus "Calamites" of the family Calamitaceae, for example, is abundant in coal deposits from the Carboniferous period. The pattern of spacing of nodes in horsetails, wherein those toward the apex of the shoot are increasingly close together, is said to have inspired John Napier to invent logarithms. Modern horsetails first appeared during the Jurassic period.


title: Equisetum

text: A superficially similar but entirely unrelated flowering plant genus, mare's tail ("Hippuris"), is occasionally referred to as "horsetail", and adding to confusion, the name "mare's tail" is sometimes applied to "Equisetum".


title: Equisetum

text: Despite centuries of use in traditional medicine, there is no evidence that "Equisetum" has any medicinal properties.


title: Equisetum

text: The name "horsetail", often used for the entire group, arose because the branched species somewhat resemble a horse's tail. Similarly, the scientific name "Equisetum" is derived from the Latin ('horse') + ('bristle').


title: Equisetum

text: Other names include candock for branching species, and snake grass or scouring-rush for unbranched or sparsely branched species. The latter name refers to the rush-like appearance of the plants and to the fact that the stems are coated with abrasive silicates, making them useful for scouring (cleaning) metal items such as cooking pots or drinking mugs, particularly those made of tin. "E. hyemale", rough horsetail, is still boiled and then dried in Japan to be used for the final polishing process on woodcraft to produce a smooth finish. In German, the corresponding name is ('tin-herb'). In Spanish-speaking countries, these plants are known as ('horsetail').


title: Equisetum

text: "Equisetum" leaves are greatly reduced and usually non-photosynthetic. They contain a single, non-branching vascular trace, which is the defining feature of microphylls. However, it has recently been recognised that horsetail microphylls are probably not ancestral as in lycophytes (clubmosses and relatives), but rather derived adaptations, evolved by reduction of megaphylls.


title: Equisetum

text: The leaves of horsetails are arranged in whorls fused into nodal sheaths. The stems are usually green and photosynthetic, and are distinctive in being hollow, jointed and ridged (with sometimes 3 but usually 6–40 ridges). There may or may not be whorls of branches at the nodes. Unusually, the branches often emerge below the leaves in an internode, and grow from buds between their bases.


title: Equisetum

text: The spores are borne under sporangiophores in strobili, cone-like structures at the tips of some of the stems. In many species the cone-bearing shoots are unbranched, and in some (e.g. "E. arvense", field horsetail) they are non-photosynthetic, produced early in spring. In some other species (e.g. "E. palustre", marsh horsetail) they are very similar to sterile shoots, photosynthetic and with whorls of branches.


title: Equisetum

text: Horsetails are mostly homosporous, though in the field horsetail, smaller spores give rise to male prothalli. The spores have four elaters that act as moisture-sensitive springs, assisting spore dispersal through crawling and hopping motions after the sporangia have split open longitudinally.


title: Equisetum

text: The crude cell extracts of all "Equisetum" species tested contain (MXE) activity. This is a novel enzyme and is not known to occur in any other plants. In addition, the cell walls of all "Equisetum" species tested contain mixed-linkage glucan (MLG), a polysaccharide which, until recently, was thought to be confined to the Poales. The evolutionary distance between "Equisetum" and the Poales suggests that each evolved MLG independently. The presence of MXE activity in "Equisetum" suggests that they have evolved MLG along with some mechanism of cell wall modification. Non-"Equisetum" land plants tested lack detectable MXE activity. An observed negative correlation between XET activity and cell age led to the suggestion that XET may be catalysing endotransglycosylation in controlled wall-loosening during cell expansion. The lack of MXE in the Poales suggests that there it must play some other, currently unknown, role. Due to the correlation between MXE activity and cell age, MXE has been proposed to promote the cessation of cell expansion.


title: Equisetum

text: The living members of the genus "Equisetum" are divided into three distinct lineages, which are usually treated as subgenera. The name of the type subgenus, "Equisetum", means "horse hair" in Latin, while the name of the other large subgenus, "Hippochaete", means "horse hair" in Greek. Hybrids are common, but hybridization has only been recorded between members of the same subgenus. While plants of subgenus "Equisetum" are usually referred to as horsetails, those of subgenus "Hippochaete" are often called scouring rushes, especially when unbranched.


title: Equisetum

text: Two "Equisetum" plants are sold commercially under the names "Equisetum japonicum" (barred horsetail) and "Equisetum camtschatcense" (Kamchatka horsetail). These are both types of "E. hyemale" var. "hyemale", although they may also be listed as separate varieties of "E. hyemale".


title: Equisetum

text: The oldest remains of modern horsetails of the genus "Equisetum" first appear in the Early Jurassic, represented by "Equisetum dimorphum" from the Early Jurassic of Patagonia and "Equisetum laterale" from the Early-Middle Jurassic of Australia. Silicified remains of "Equisetum thermale" from the Late Jurassic of Argentina exhibit all the morphological characters of modern members of the genus. The estimated split between "Equisetum bogotense" and all other living "Equisetum" is estimated to have occurred no later than the Early Jurassic.


title: Equisetum

text: The genus "Equisetum" as a whole, while concentrated in the non-tropical northern hemisphere, is near-cosmopolitan, being absent only from Antarctica, though they are not known to be native to Australia, New Zealand nor the islands of the Pacific. They are most common in northern North America (Canada and the northernmost United States), where the genus is represented by nine species ("E. arvense", "E. fluviatile", "E. hyemale", "E. laevigatum", "E. palustre", "E. pratense", "E. scirpoides", "E. sylvaticum"', and "E. variegatum"). Only four ("E. bogotense", "E. giganteum", "E. myriochaetum", and "E. ramosissimum") of the fifteen species are known to be native south of the Equator. They are perennial plants, herbaceous and dying back in winter as most temperate species, or evergreen as most tropical species and the temperate species "E. hyemale" (rough horsetail), "E. ramosissimum" (branched horsetail), "E. scirpoides" (dwarf horsetail) and "E. variegatum" (variegated horsetail). They typically grow 20 cm–1.5 m (8 in–5 ft) tall, though the "giant horsetails" are recorded to grow as high as ("E. telmateia", northern giant horsetail), ("E. giganteum", southern giant horsetail) or ("E. myriochaetum", Mexican giant horsetail), and allegedly even more.


title: Equisetum

text: One species, "Equisetum fluviatile", is an emergent aquatic, rooted in water with shoots growing into the air. The stalks arise from rhizomes that are deep underground and difficult to dig out. Field horsetail ("E. arvense") can be a nuisance weed, readily regrowing from the rhizome after being pulled out. It is unaffected by many herbicides designed to kill seed plants. Since the stems have a waxy coat, the plant is resistant to contact weedkillers like glyphosate. However, as "E. arvense" prefers an acid soil, lime may be used to assist in eradication efforts to bring the soil pH to 7 or 8. Members of the genus have been declared noxious weeds in Australia and in the US state of Oregon.


title: Equisetum

text: All the "Equisetum" are classed as "unwanted organisms" in New Zealand and are listed on the National Pest Plant Accord.


title: Equisetum

text: People have regularly consumed horsetails. For example, the fertile stems bearing strobili of some species are cooked and eaten like asparagus (a dish called in Japan). Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest eat the young shoots of this plant raw. The young plants are eaten cooked or raw, but considerable care must be taken.


title: Equisetum

text: If eaten over a long enough period of time, some species of horsetail can be poisonous to grazing animals, including horses. The toxicity appears to be due to thiaminase, which can cause thiamin (vitamin B1) deficiency.


title: Equisetum

text: "Equisetum" species may have been a common food for herbivorous dinosaurs. With studies showing silicate within hadrosaur teeth and that horsetails are nutritionally of high quality, it is assumed that horsetails were an important component of herbivorous dinosaur diets.


title: Equisetum

text: Extracts and other preparations of "E. arvense" have served as herbal remedies, with records dating over centuries. In 2009, the European Food Safety Authority concluded there was no evidence for the supposed health effects of "E. arvense", such as for invigoration, weight control, skincare, hair health or bone health. , there is insufficient scientific evidence for its effectiveness as a medicine to treat any human condition.


title: Equisetum

text: "E. arvense" contains thiaminase, which metabolizes the B vitamin, thiamine, potentially causing thiamine deficiency and associated liver damage, if taken chronically. Horsetail might produce a diuretic effect. Further, its safety for oral consumption has not been sufficiently evaluated and it may be toxic, especially to children and pregnant women.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: The Promise is a 2016 American epic historical war drama film directed by Terry George, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Robin Swicord. Set in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, the film stars Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon and Christian Bale. The plot is about a love triangle that develops between Mikael (Isaac), an Armenian medical student, Chris (Bale), an American journalist, and Ana (Le Bon), an Armenian-born woman raised in France, immediately before and during the Armenian genocide.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: "The Promise" premiered on September 11, 2016, at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released by Open Road Films in the United States on April 21, 2017, on the 102nd anniversary of the week the Genocide started. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a box office bomb, grossing just $12 million against its $90 million budget and losing Open Road over $100 million. However the studio noted the main purpose of the film was to bring attention to the story, not make money, with George saying that "audiences learn more from films today than they do from history books."


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Mikael Boghosian is an apothecary who lives in the small Armenian village of Siroun in the southeast part of Turkey, within the Ottoman Empire. In order to help pay the expenses for medical school, he promises to marry Maral, the daughter of an affluent neighbor, receiving 400 gold coins as a dowry. This allows him to travel to Constantinople and attend the Imperial School of Medicine.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: There, he befriends Emre, the son of a high-ranking Ottoman official. Through his wealthy uncle, Mikael also meets Ana Khesarian, an Armenian woman raised in Paris, who is involved with an American reporter for the Associated Press, Chris Myers. Mikael falls in love with Ana just as international tensions begin to rise with the outbreak of World War I. Mikael temporarily manages to avoid conscription into the Ottoman Army through a medical student exemption with the help of Emre. When Mikael tries to save his uncle from imprisonment during the roundups of April 24, 1915, he is detained and sent to a labor camp, while Emre is conscripted.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Mikael eventually escapes the camp. Returning to his village, he finds that the townspeople of Turkish background have violently turned on their fellow townspeople of Armenian background. His parents, and particularly his mother, persuade him to marry Maral and seek refuge in a remote mountain cabin, where she soon becomes pregnant. A difficult pregnancy leads Mikael to bring his wife back to the care of his mother in the village. There he learns that Ana and Christopher are at a nearby Red Cross facility and he goes to seek their help for his family to escape the imminent Turkish threat.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Departing the mission with a group of orphans, they head back to Siroun to retrieve Mikael's family. Along the way, however, they encounter a site of a massacre, as it becomes clear all of Siroun's inhabitants, including Mikael's family, except his mother, have been killed by Ottoman troops. Mikael's wife is found with their unborn child cut out from her body. Chris is captured by Ottoman soldiers and sent back to Constantinople, charged with being a spy for the Allied Powers and, while held at Selimiye Barracks, slated for execution by the authorities; with the help of Emre, and through the intercession of American Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, Chris is released and deported to Malta. Once there, he boards the French cruiser "Guichen", as it prepares to set sail along the Ottoman coast. Emre's role in helping to save Chris is discovered and he is executed by firing squad.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Escaping pursuit, Mikael, Ana, and the orphans join a large group of refugees determined to fight off the Ottoman Army on Mount Musa Dagh. As they fend off repeated assaults, Mikael's mother succumbs to her wounds and is buried on the mountain. The refugees hold on long enough to escape on the back side to the coast as the "Guichen" comes to evacuate them. But as the life boats return to the ship, a Turkish artillery barrage throws Ana and Yeva, the young daughter of Mikael's uncle, overboard. Mikael jumps in after them and is able to rescue Yeva, but Ana drowns.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: In a voice over, Mikael recounts that he adopted Yeva and together they settled in Watertown, Massachusetts while Chris was killed reporting the Spanish Civil War in 1938. During Yeva's wedding reception in 1942, with the now grown Armenian orphans in attendance, Mikael presides over a toast, wishing good fortune to their families and future generations to come.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Other actors in the film include Andrew Tarbet as Pastor Merrill, Aaron Neil as Talaat Pasha, Ozman Sirgood as Hasan Mazhar, Aharon Ipalé as Dr. Nazim, Lucía Zorrilla as Tamar, Roman Mitichyan as Van, Armin Amiri as Ali, Shnorhk Sargsyan as Komitas, Anthony Rotsa as Ahmet, Michael Stahl-David as Brad, Marco Khan as a Turkish nightwatchman, Simón Andreu as an Armenian peasant, and Vic Tablian as an Armenian prisoner.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: The story of "The Promise" was based on an unproduced screenplay titled "Anatolia" by Robin Swicord, though Terry George completely rewrote the screenplay. Swicord says, "There’s some very fragmentary bits of my story that are in there, but he invented the Christian Bale character and changed the other characters. I had a medical student in my screenplay, but he wasn’t at all like the character in "The Promise"." George stated that he added Chris and lengthened the storyline to illustrate the scope of the genocide. The original script only focused on Mikael and his family.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: George, who directed human rights-related films, became interested in the Armenian genocide as a filming topic after reading chapters about it in "A Problem from Hell" while doing research for "Hotel Rwanda". George traveled to Armenia and Turkey to do further research on the topic. He became involved with this project after reading Swicord's script, which his agent had sent to him.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: The entire $100 million budget was donated by Armenian-American Kirk Kerkorian, as Kerkorian did not have expectations of the film generating profits. the budget was the highest of any film about the Armenian genocide. The donation of the budget meant that the Turkish government would have been unable to pressure the studio into canceling the film, as it had done in the past with other productions. George stated that the film "would not exist" without Kerkorian, who gave approval to the script prior to his death in 2015, but did not live to see it filmed and finished. Kerkorian and co-producer Esrailian, the latter of whom had great-grandparents who lived through the genocide, organized Survival Pictures as the production company. Esrailian became interested in studying the Armenian genocide while a university undergraduate, and received a master's degree in public health, a degree which he said enhanced his understanding of demography.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Bale and Isaac were cast in June 2015, while Le Bon, Cromwell, Reno, Aghdashloo and Giménez-Cachowere were all confirmed by September.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Esrailian said that he used a romance plot in order to "use old fashioned storytelling" to immerse an unfamiliar audience into the plot, hoping to avoid making the film only "a history lesson" and making a "throwback to cinema" like "Doctor Zhivago" or "Lawrence of Arabia"; in another interview he also cited "Casablanca". Esrailian stated that he would have encountered less difficulty producing "a straightforward genocide story" but chose to use the romance angle anyway.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: George prepared for the film by reading "Armenian Golgotha", which discusses the extent of and survival of the genocide; and "The Burning Tigris", which discusses journalists documenting the genocide. George said that he deliberately used a 1970s production style and that he intended to reach the average common movie-goer, using the analogy of "is 'Hotel Rwanda' going to play in Peoria? Will it be understood? Is it main stream enough?" George also stated that he extensively fact checked historical details to ensure they reflected what happened in reality. Crow stated that the film reminded him of David Lean's works, and Esrailian responded by stating the production crew had discussed that style of filming.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: George chose to make the film with English as its single medium as he felt it would be too confusing for a moviegoer to manage hearing multiple languages spoken throughout the film. The final scene of a toast is given in Armenian.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Filming began in Autumn 2015 in Portugal, Malta, and Spain, with the shooting scheduled to last until December.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Filming sites in Portugal included the National Museum of Natural History and Science, Lisbon, and the Lisbon School for Hospitality and Tourism held a casting call for film extras. Filming sites in Spain included the Canary Islands.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: There were seventy days of production. Reshoots took place in New York in May and June 2016, ending in early June. Joe Berliger, director of the documentary "Intent to Destroy", embedded in the filming crew of "The Promise" to shoot his own documentary. George stated that he took two months of research in comparing photographs of Ottoman-era Turkey and prospective filming locations to make the proper selections.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Security details were arranged during filming due to political sensitivities around the Armenian genocide. For the same reason, the producers did not issue publicity for the film during the filming process. Berlinger stated, in regards to safety issues, "A lot of that is overblown — I think we’ve gone from historical assassinations to digital assassinations. But we all had this nebulous fear."


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: According to Giménez Cacho, an ambassador in the Turkish foreign service had contacted him and told him the Turkish government's position that the killings in the Armenian genocide were not a genocide; his statements were featured in "Intent to Destroy".


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: The film producers deliberately made a final film cut that would be, according to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rating system, PG-13, so the audience could include teenagers and children; the producers did this by removing scenes that would otherwise give it an "R" rating. This meant not having extensive footage of violence. A scene in the film was inspired by the death of Alan Kurdi, who was fleeing the Middle East for Europe, to show parallels between Armenians fleeing the Armenian genocide to modern refugees like Alan Kurdi.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: The film premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2016. The initial three public viewings of the film were attended altogether by viewers numbering in the thousands. George stated that the final theatrical version is "essentially the same film" but with minor changes and slightly shortened.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: In December 2016, Open Road Films acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film, and set an April 28, 2017, release date. Esrailian stated that there were difficulties finding a U.S. distributor due to Turkey historically taking action against companies making films about the Armenian genocide.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: The release date was later changed to April 21, 2017. The final release date was meant to coincide on the same week with the day the Armenian genocide began, April 24. The film opened at 2,000 theaters. Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, at the time the Armenian government's representative to the United Nations, assisted with the New York City premiere.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: The film also aired elsewhere outside of the United States before April 21, catering to the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek diaspora. George stated that "Open Road certainly sees Armenians as its core audience to generate box office momentum." Another screening occurred at Vatican City. The production did not make plans to have a Turkish release.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: "The Promise" grossed $8.2 million in the United States and Canada and $4.2 in other territories for a total of $12.4 million, against a production budget of $90 million. "Deadline Hollywood" calculated the film lost the studio $102.1 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: In the United States and Canada, "The Promise" opened alongside "Unforgettable", "Born in China", "Free Fire" and "Phoenix Forgotten", and was projected to gross around $5 million from 2,251 theaters in its opening weekend. It ended up debuting to $4.1 million, finishing 9th at the box office. "Deadline Hollywood" attributed the low opening to the lack of critical support and the film being released in the spring to coincide with the anniversary of the Armenian genocide, instead of in the fall during award season.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Open Road's president of marketing Jonathan Helfgot said the film's goal was not purely money related, saying: "[While] we certainly hoped for a better box office result ... It was about bringing the world's attention to this issue. And looking at the amount of conversation ... it's undeniable that there's been more focus and attention in the past two weeks than the past hundred years since the atrocity took place". The producers stated that they intended to give the profits to charitable organizations.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Frank Scheck of "The Hollywood Reporter" characterized the film as a "box-office disaster" that "sank like a stone ... attracting critical brickbats and going virtually unseen."


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 51% based on 161 reviews, with an average rating of 5.70/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""The Promise" wastes an outstanding cast and powerful real-life story on a love triangle that frustratingly fails to engage." On Metacritic the film has a score of 49 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Benjamin Lee of "The Guardian" gave the film 3 stars (out of 5) and called it an "often soapy but well-intentioned and extravagantly mounted epic". Richard Roeper of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, saying: "Yes, "The Promise" veers into corny territory, and yes, it's derivative of better war romances — but it's a solid and sobering reminder of the atrocities of war, bolstered by strong performances from Isaac and Bale, two of the best actors of their generation".


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Sarafian praised the film for its historical accuracy. "The key themes were historically accurate," he said. "The producers did not take license to go beyond the historical material at hand yet they managed to capture much of the enormity of the Armenian genocide". Sarafian also commended director Terry George for his "well balanced and creditworthy" sense of history.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Harout Kassabian of "The Armenian Weekly" said the film will help the world recognize the trauma of the genocide as it has long been felt by Armenians: "The personal connection developed with the characters helps deepen the empathy felt by the audience".


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Numerous celebrities reacted positively to the movie, including fourth-generation Armenian-American Kim Kardashian, as well as Reddit co founder Alexis Ohanian.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Michael Daly of "The Daily Beast" contrasted the film with "The Ottoman Lieutenant", a Turkish-backed film which he said expresses a distorted view of the Armenian genocide. Cara Buckley of "The New York Times" wrote that, due to similarities of some plot points, "The Ottoman Lieutenant" had "uncanny parallels" to "The Promise".


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: Christopher H. Zakian, of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University, analyzed the ending of the film. Zakian stated that, since the ending does not show that Mikael had found a new lover, this suggests that he focused instead on raising Yeva, and therefore held true to the Armenian ideal of sacrificing one's own desires in favor of the well-being of children, the next generation. Furthermore, Zakian wrote that Ana's actions in saving children reflects an idea in Matthew 18:6: "It would be better to have a great millstone fastened round the neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea" than to cause harm to a child.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: By the end of October 2016, before its official release and after only three pre-release screenings in September 2016 at the Toronto International Film Festival to small audiences, IMDb had registered over 86,000 ratings for the film, 55,126 of which were one-star and 30,639 of which were 10-star, with very few ratings falling anywhere in between. The majority of these votes had been cast by males outside of the U.S. By mid-November the total was over 91,000 votes, with over 57,000 one-star votes. Commentators assessed that these were mostly votes by people who could not possibly have seen the film, and that the one-star voting was part of an orchestrated campaign by Armenian genocide deniers to downrate the film, which had then initiated an Armenian response to rate the film highly. Grassroots attempts to fight against false ratings have gone viral, including a video by Harvard student Michael He that has received 300,000 views. At the time of its American release, the film had an IMDb rating of 5.5/10 from 129,241 votes, and as of May 24, 2019 holds an IMDb rating of 6.1/10 based on 164,475 votes.


title: The Promise (2016 film)

text: In 2017 George received the Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award in honor of his films depicting genocides, including "The Promise". In addition he received a khachkar, made by Hrach Gukasyan and commissioned by the Arpa International Film Festival and Awards Gala, with Armenian-style patterns in the shape of a Celtic cross, the latter in honor of his Irish heritage.


title: Toyota Harrier

text: The is a five-passenger compact, later mid-size crossover SUV produced by Toyota since December 1997 in Japan, which was once exclusive to "Toyopet Store" Japanese dealerships. In export markets, the Harrier was rebadged as the Lexus RX from March 1998 to December 2008. At this stage, Toyota had yet to retail the Lexus brand to its Japanese customers.


title: Toyota Harrier

text: The second generation (XU30) debuted in February 2003, along with the export Lexus version. The third-generation RX (separated from the Harrier) arrived in late 2008, while the Harrier continued on in second-generation form unchanged. Lexus had by now made its debut in Japan as an independent marque, thus the third-generation RX was sold in the domestic market in the same livery as its export counterpart.


title: Toyota Harrier

text: The third generation (XU60) debuted in 2013, when it morphed into an independent model line constructed on a separate platform from the RX (the Harrier since then built on the same platform as the RAV4) but retaining a visual link with it. Starting at this point, it is considered as a more road-oriented and upmarket alternative to the RAV4, comparable to the luxury-class Lexus NX. From the fourth generation (XU80), it is also sold as the second-generation Venza in North America and China.


title: Toyota Harrier

text: The Harrier is named for the eastern marsh harrier, a bird of prey common to Hokkaidō and northern Honshū called the "chūhi" in Japanese, and an emblem depicting the bird in stylized profile can be found on the grille until the XU60 model.


title: Toyota Harrier

text: Released on 2 December 2013 in Japan for the petrol model and 15 January 2014 for the hybrid model, the XU60 series Harrier replaced not only its XU30 series namesake, but also the XA30 series Vanguard. Unlike the second and third-generation RX, which is built on the K platform, the XU60 series Harrier derived from the XA40 series RAV4's New MC underpinnings.


title: Toyota Harrier

text: Trim levels available in Japan include Grand, Elegance, and Premium for both the petrol and hybrid models. The top-of-the-line Premium trim came with JBL GreenEdge audio with 8-inch T-Connect touchscreen entertainment system with navigation and sensing features. A "Style Mauve" special edition and subsequently the "Style Ash" special edition was released later.


title: Toyota Harrier

text: The XU60 series Harrier received a facelift on 8 June 2017. For the facelift model, the Grand trim was removed and Elegance became the base trim. The Progress trim replaced Premium as the flagship trim, with the "Metal and Leather Package" added to both Premium and Progress trims. The "Style NOIR" special edition for naturally-aspirated Premium trim were also added later. A Turbo model was introduced with a 2.0-litre turbocharged "8AR-FTS" engine mated to a 6-speed "U661" automatic transmission, while the 2.0-litre naturally-aspirated "3ZR-FAE" and 2.5-litre "2AR-FXE" hybrid engines remained.


title: Toyota Harrier

text: Toyota Safety Sense P safety system (adaptive cruise control, lane departure assist, pre-collision system and automatic high beam) were standard across the trim levels.


title: Toyota Harrier

text: The XU60 series Harrier was the first Harrier to be officially sold outside of Japan. It was offered in Singapore and Malaysia. In Malaysia, it was introduced in 9 November 2017 with two trim levels offered: Premium and Luxury. Both trim levels are powered by a 2.0-litre "8AR-FTS" engine.


title: Toyota Harrier

text: The XU80 series Harrier was announced on 13 April 2020 and went on sale on 17 June 2020. It is built on the same GA-K platform as the XA50 series RAV4. Compared with the outgoing model, the width and the wheelbase is up by and respectively, while the height has been cut by . Unlike the previous model, the turbocharged engine option is not available in this generation. It is available in S, G and Z grade levels in Japan. The Leather Package is also available in G and Z grades.


title: Toyota Harrier

text: In September 2022, the plug-in hybrid version was released in Japan in a sole Z grade level. It shares the same system with the RAV4 PHEV.


title: Toyota Harrier

text: In other Asian markets, the fourth-generation Harrier was launched in Singapore on 29 January 2021. It is offered in Elegance trim with a regular petrol engine, and Premium and Luxury trims with a hybrid engine. It was also launched in Malaysia on 8 April 2021, offered in a single Luxury trim paired with the 2.0-litre "M20A-FKS" engine and CVT. It is also offered in China under both Harrier and Venza nameplates.


title: Toyota Harrier

text: The Harrier was unveiled in North America as the second-generation Venza on 18 May 2020. The Venza for this market is only available in a four-wheel drive hybrid powertrain. It went on sale in September 2020. Unlike the Harrier, it lacks the grille-mounted fog lamps on all trims. The second-generation Venza for North American market is built alongside the Harrier in Japan at the Takaoka plant, as opposed to the first-generation model which was built in the United States at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky. It is offered in LE, XLE and Limited trims.


title: Toyota Harrier

text: The Venza is also sold in China by GAC Toyota and produced at the Guangzhou factory. The front fascia differs from the Harrier that is also sold there by FAW Toyota, being produced at the Tianjin factory, making China the only country that offers both the Venza and Harrier models.


title: Backstreet Boys discography

text: The discography of American pop vocal group Backstreet Boys consists of ten studio albums, 31 singles, one live album, three compilation albums and 33 music videos. As of 2019, they have sold more than 130 million records worldwide, becoming the best-selling boy band of all time. Formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993, the group consists of Nick Carter, Brian Littrell, Kevin Richardson, A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough. Richardson left the group in 2006 to pursue other interests, but rejoined in 2012. The Backstreet Boys released their debut single "We've Got It Goin' On" in 1995, which peaked at number sixty-nine on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The single, however, entered the top ten in many European countries. Their debut album, "Backstreet Boys", was released internationally in 1996, and was certified three times platinum in Europe, and diamond in Canada. In 1997, they released their second international album, "Backstreet's Back", which continued their international success. At the same time, they released their second self-titled album in the United States. It peaked at number four and eventually became the tenth best-selling album of the 1990s.


title: Backstreet Boys discography

text: In 1999, the Backstreet Boys released their third and most successful album to date, "Millennium", which entered the "Billboard" 200 at number one with first-week sales of 1,133,000 copies. It became the best-selling album of the year and sold over 24 million copies internationally. In the following year, they released their fourth album, "Black & Blue", which also entered the "Billboard" 200 at number one with first-week sales of over a million copies. After the Black & Blue Tour in 2001, the Backstreet Boys entered a hiatus. They released their fifth studio album, "Never Gone", in 2005. The album debuted at number three on the "Billboard" 200, selling over 291,000 copies in its first week of release. "Never Gone"'s follow-up, "Unbreakable", released in 2007, became their first album to not receive any certification in the United States. The following album, "This Is Us", became their seventh consecutive album to make the top ten on the "Billboard" 200, with first-week sales of 42,000 copies. The group has also released two compilation albums, including the platinum-certified "The Hits: Chapter One".


title: Backstreet Boys discography

text: The Backstreet Boys have received a total of nine Grammy nominations, including five nominations in 2000. According to the RIAA, they are the best selling artist in the US with shipments of over 37 million albums. They are also ranked as the seventh best-selling group of the SoundScan era in the United States (nineteenth best-selling artist overall), with sales of 30,900,000 albums, and as the third best-selling artist of the SoundScan era in Canada, with sales of 4,128,000 albums.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Johny Harvey Hendricks (born September 12, 1983) is an American former mixed martial artist and collegiate wrestler. He competed in the welterweight and middleweight divisions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and is a former UFC Welterweight Champion. He is currently a Texas police officer.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks was born in Ada, Oklahoma. He was a three-time Oklahoma high school wrestling state champion and was a two-time high school national champion while at Edmond Memorial High School. His final high school record was 101–5. He would go on to attend college at Oklahoma State University (OSU).


title: Johny Hendricks

text: After a 10–0 redshirt season in 2003, Hendricks finished 5th in the nation at 157 pounds in 2004, while compiling a 37–7 record. Hendricks moved up to 165 pounds for the next three seasons. He won the 2005 and 2006 Big 12 titles and NCAA Division I national championships. He was 27–4 in 2005 and 29–1 in 2006.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Going into the 2007 national championships final match, Hendricks had a record of 34–0 for the season and had won his third straight Big 12 title along the way. He suffered an upset loss to Mark Perry from the University of Iowa and finished 2nd in the nation. The four-time All-American for OSU finished with a college record of 159–13.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: After graduating from OSU in 2007, Hendricks moved to Las Vegas and trained at Cobra Kai Jiu Jitsu under Marc Laimon, along with two other former OSU wrestlers, Shane Roller and Jake Rosholt. Hendricks then later moved to Texas and signed with Team Takedown. This elite fighter management team funds fighters' training and splits his profits. Hendricks would go on to have his first career mixed martial arts (MMA) fight only seven months after his last collegiate wrestling match. He made his professional MMA debut on September 28, 2007, in which he scored a third-round controversial TKO victory over Victor Rackliff at Masters of the Cage 16 held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Rackliff was getting the better of the exchanges on the feet and he rocked Hendricks in the 3rd when both fighters exchanged punches. Hendricks fought once more in 2007, defeating Spencer Cowley by second-round TKO at Snakebite Fight Night held in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hendricks won his television debut on March 15, 2008, with a first-round submission victory over Richard Gamble at HDNet Fights Xtreme Fighting League, also in Tulsa.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Next, Hendricks defeated Alex Serdyukov via unanimous decision on March 1, 2009 at WEC 39. which was the last 170-pound bout in WEC history due to the company's decision to dissolve its welterweight division and focus on lighter weight fighters.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: With the WEC eliminating his weight class, Hendricks had to find another place to fight and signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. In May 2009, it was announced that Hendricks would be making his UFC debut against Ultimate Fighter 7 champion Amir Sadollah at UFC 101 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 8, 2009. In the opening seconds of the first round, Hendricks blocked a high head kick from Sadollah and countered with an uppercut, knocking Sadollah to his knees. Hendricks continued to land punches until referee Dan Miragliotta pulled him off and ended the fight 29 seconds into the first round. Some people criticized Miragliotta for stopping the fight too early, as Sadollah seemed to be trying to get up, but Miragliotta defended his stoppage, saying Sadollah was "out of it" and "still looked glassy eyed and asked me what happened."


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks faced promotional newcomer Ricardo Funch on December 12, 2009, at UFC 107. Hendricks won the fight via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, and 30–25).


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks next faced T. J. Grant on May 8, 2010, at UFC 113. Hendricks won the bout via majority decision, improving his record to 3–0 in the UFC.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: He next faced Charlie Brenneman on August 7, 2010, at UFC 117. Hendricks defeated him via TKO in the second round.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks was expected to face Paulo Thiago on March 3, 2011, at . However, Thiago was forced out of the bout with an elbow injury. Instead, Hendricks fought TJ Waldburger on March 26, 2011, at UFC Fight Night 24, replacing an injured Dennis Hallman. Hendricks won via first-round TKO, earning "Knockout of the Night" honors.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks fought longtime #2 welterweight Jon Fitch on December 30, 2011, at UFC 141. Hendricks became the first man to finish Fitch in the UFC, winning via knockout just 12 seconds into the first round. The performance also earned "Knockout of the Night" honors.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks next faced Josh Koscheck on May 5, 2012, in the co-main event at . He won the fight via split decision.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks faced Martin Kampmann on November 17, 2012, at UFC 154. Hendricks won via KO in the first round, with the fight only lasting 46 seconds. He earned "Knockout of the Night" honors for his performance.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks was expected to face Jake Ellenberger on March 16, 2013, at UFC 158. However, Hendricks was pulled from the Ellenberger bout in favor of a matchup with Carlos Condit at the event after Condit's original opponent, Rory MacDonald, pulled out of the bout with an injury. Hendricks won the fight via unanimous decision and both participants earned "Fight of the Night" honors.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Having earned his title shot, Hendricks faced Georges St-Pierre on November 16, 2013, at UFC 167 for the UFC Welterweight Championship. He lost via controversial split decision, a loss that UFC president Dana White felt was unwarranted as he publicly stated he believed Hendricks won the fight. In addition, the site MMADecisions.com reported that every one of the sixteen MMA media members whose scores they collect declared the fight a decision victory for Hendricks. Despite the controversy, the bout did earn him "Fight of the Night" honors in the UFC for the second time.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: On December 13, 2013, news came that Georges St-Pierre would be taking an indefinite break from MMA and vacating his belt. Following this report, Dana White announced that Hendricks would be facing Robbie Lawler on March 15, 2014, at UFC 171 for the vacant UFC Welterweight Championship. Hendricks won the back-and-forth fight via unanimous decision. The bout also earned him his third consecutive "Fight of the Night" bonus award. Hendricks underwent surgery to repair a torn bicep that he sustained prior to his fight with Lawler. He returned to training in May 2014.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: A rematch with Robbie Lawler took place at UFC 181 on December 6, 2014. After a strong start, Hendricks slowed in the later rounds and ultimately lost the fight and the title via split decision.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks faced Matt Brown on March 14, 2015, at UFC 185. While Brown had a limited amount of success on the feet, Hendricks was successful on nine of ten takedown attempts and neutralized Brown's attacks. Hendricks won the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks was expected to face Tyron Woodley on October 3, 2015, at UFC 192. However, the bout was scrapped prior to the weigh-ins due to an intestinal blockage and kidney stone attack suffered by Hendricks during the weight cut.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks faced Stephen Thompson on February 6, 2016, at UFC Fight Night 82. Despite being the betting favorite in this encounter, Hendricks had no answer for Thompson's striking and lost the bout via TKO in the first round, marking the first time Hendricks had ever been finished in his MMA career.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks faced Kelvin Gastelum on July 9, 2016, at UFC 200. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. Prior to the bout, Hendricks missed weight by a quarter of a pound and therefore surrendered 20% of his purse to Gastelum.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks faced Neil Magny on December 30, 2016, at UFC 207. At the weigh-ins, Hendricks once again missed weight, weighing in at 173.5 lbs., two and a half pounds over the welterweight limit. As a result, he forfeited 20% of his purse to Magny. Hendricks lost the bout by unanimous decision in what was a close and competitive fight. Prior to the fight, Hendricks announced his intentions to move up to middleweight after facing Magny due to the hard weight-cut.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: After several struggles to make the welterweight limit, Hendricks opted to move up a weight class to the middleweight division. He faced Héctor Lombard in his middleweight debut on February 19, 2017, at UFC Fight Night 105. Hendricks won the back-and-forth fight via unanimous decision.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks faced Tim Boetsch on June 25, 2017 at UFC Fight Night 112. He missed weight for this event, and weighed in at 188 pounds, 2 pounds over the middleweight limit of 186 pounds for a non-championship fight. Hendricks lost the fight via TKO due to a head kick and punches early in the second round.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks faced Paulo Costa on November 4, 2017 at UFC 217. He lost the fight via TKO in the second round. It was the last fight on Hendricks' fight contract.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: On June 27, 2018, Hendricks announced his retirement from competing in professional mixed martial arts and would concentrate on coaching wrestling.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Only a few months after retiring from mixed martial arts, news surfaced that Hendricks will be transitioning into bare knuckle boxing. His debut was expected to be against fellow retired mixed martial artist Brennan Ward at World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation's inaugural event on November 9, 2018. During the fight week, Ward announced that he won't be competing at the event due to a contract dispute and was replaced by Dakota Cochrane. Cochrane defeated Hendricks by knock out in the second round.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks' moniker, 'Bigg Rigg', is derived from his jiu-jitsu coach's comment that Hendricks hit like a Mack truck, having also owned a Ford F350 truck.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: Hendricks is of Native American descent and a member of the Otoe–Missouria Tribe of Indians. His great great grandfather was an Otoe Missouri Tribal chief.


title: Johny Hendricks

text: After retiring from mixed martial arts competition, Hendricks began working as a police officer in Texas.


title: The Sims 3

text: The Sims 3 is a 2009 life simulation video game developed by the Redwood Shores studio of Maxis, and published by Electronic Arts. Part of "The Sims" series, it is the sequel to "The Sims 2". It was released on June 2, 2009, for macOS, Microsoft Windows and smartphone versions. Console versions were released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo DS in October 2010 and a month later for Wii. The Windows Phone version was released on October 15, 2010. A Nintendo 3DS version, released on March 27, 2011, was one of the platform's launch titles.


title: The Sims 3

text: The game follows the same premises as its predecessors "The Sims" and "The Sims 2" and is based around a life simulation where the player controls the actions and fates of its characters, the "Sims", as well as their houses and neighbourhoods. "The Sims 3" expands on previous games in having an open world system, where neighbourhoods are completely open for the sims to move around without any loading screens. A new design tool is introduced, the Create-a-Style tool, which allows every object, clothing and hair to be redesigned in any color, material or design pattern.


title: The Sims 3

text: "The Sims 3" was a commercial success, selling 1.4 million copies in its first week. It received mostly positive reviews from critics, with an 86/100 score from aggregator Metacritic indicating "generally favorable" reviews. The game has sold over ten million copies worldwide since its 2009 release, making it one of the best-selling PC games of all time. "The Sims 3" has additionally received eleven expansion packs and nine "stuff packs". A sequel, "The Sims 4", was released in September 2014 for PC; it received mixed reviews, largely due to the removal of the open world, Create-a-Style tool, and lack of content.


title: The Sims 3

text: As in previous games of the franchise, in "The Sims 3" players control their own Sims' activities and relationships. The gameplay is open-ended and does not have a defined goal. The sims live in neighbourhoods, now being officially referred to as 'worlds', which can be customized, allowing the player to create their houses, community lots, and sims, although many of these come with the core game.


title: The Sims 3

text: These worlds are now 'seamless', allowing all sims to move around freely without any loading screen in between lots, as happened in the previous games. Thus, the neighbourhood includes community lots which can be leisure lots (such as parks, gyms, and movie theatres) and job lots (town hall, hospital, businesses). Since the neighbourhood is open, the game includes the "Story Progression" mechanic, which allows all Sims in the neighborhood to autonomously continue their lives without the player ever controlling them. This helps to advance the story of the whole neighbourhood instead of only the active playing units. Sims live for a set duration of time that is adjustable by the player and advances through several life stages (baby, toddler, child, teen, young adult, adult, and elder). Sims can die of old age or they can die prematurely from causes such as fire, starvation, drowning, and electrocution.


title: The Sims 3

text: The primary world in the game is Sunset Valley (in the console version, the main world is Moonlight Bay), while an additional world called Riverview can be obtained for free. All expansion packs to date (except and ) have included a world, and additional worlds can be bought at The Sims 3 Store for SimPoints. Additionally, Sunset Valley and a few of the other worlds available have some degree of connection to the storyline set up by "The Sims" and "The Sims 2". In-game Sunset Valley is stated to be the same town as the default neighborhood in "The Sims", and Pleasantview from "The Sims 2", although set twenty five and fifty years earlier, respectively. Several pre-made characters from other Sims games appear throughout the Sims 3's worlds, many of them in younger form.


title: The Sims 3

text: Career opportunities like working overtime or completing tasks can yield a pay raise, cash bonus, or relationship boost. Challenges occur randomly based on each Sim's lifestyle, like relationships, skills, and jobs. Skill opportunities are the requests by your sim's neighbors or community members for Sims to solve problems using their acquired skills for cash or relationship rewards.


title: The Sims 3

text: The new Wishes reward system replaces the Wants and Fears system in its predecessor "The Sims 2". Fulfilling a Sim's wishes contributes to the Sim's Lifetime Happiness score, allowing players to purchase Lifetime Rewards for the cost of those Lifetime Happiness points.


title: The Sims 3

text: The game introduces a big change in terms of customization with the "Create-a-Style" tool. In this way, every object or piece of clothing in the game is completely customizable in terms of color (which can be picked from a color wheel), material (plastic, stone, fabric, wood...) or design pattern.


title: The Sims 3

text: "The Sims 3" introduces many more character customization options than its predecessor "The Sims 2". Like the previous game, the player can customize age, body build, skin color, hairstyles, clothing and personality. A new life stage is included between adolescence and adulthood: young adulthood. This stage was introduced in "The Sims 2" only during university period, but is now the main life stage for the game. Additional options were added in expansions and updates, such as tattoos, breast size, and muscle definition. "The Sims 3" offers a wider range of skin tones than its predecessors, ranging from realistic light and dark skin tones to fantasy green and purple colors.


title: The Sims 3

text: The game builds upon a new personality system. As opposed to previous games, where personalities consisted on sliders, and a limited set of personality points to distribute among them, "The Sims 3" introduces a trait system: adult sims can have up to 5 personality traits to pick from a list. These traits can be mental, physical, social or influenced by lifestyle and jobs. The traits will determine different actions the sims can make, as well as behaviors and wishes.


title: The Sims 3

text: The sims can learn skills from interacting with different objects. Skills improve gradually in 10 levels. Skill improvements are useful for achieving career goals, as well as unlocking new possibilities for those activities which require the skills, for example, a high gardening level allows the sims to plant different rare seeds. The basic skills include Logic, Cooking, Painting, Gardening, Writing, Guitar, Athletic, Handiness, Charisma and Fishing. New skills were later added in expansion packs.


title: The Sims 3

text: Many of the careers from "The Sims 2" and "The Sims" are back in "The Sims 3". The careers in the core game are Business, Culinary, Criminal, Education, Journalism, Law Enforcement, Medical, Military, Music, Political, Science, and Professional Sports, as well as part-time jobs in the book shop, supermarket or spa, which can be accomplished by both adults and teenagers. Each one of the jobs takes place in a community lot of the neighbourhood. However, these lots are only "rabbit-hole" buildings, with an external façade, but the player cannot access them and is not able to see what happens inside. Thus, jobs are automatic in the game, even if the player will sometimes receive challenges and questions with different options to have more control over the sims' career performance. Advancing in a career still depends on mood and skills, but with the addition that relationships with colleagues/boss and even certain goals that have to be fulfilled. Players can control if the sims "Work Hard", "Take It Easy", "Suck Up To Boss", etc., thus affecting their performance. A new feature "The Sims 3" offers is branching careers, which allows Sims to choose a certain path in their career (such as a Sim in the Music career can eventually choose to specialize in Symphonic music or Rock). These branches are generally offered around level 6 of a career, depending on which career the Sim is working.


title: The Sims 3

text: The "Ambitions" expansion pack includes brand new professions that are actually playable: Firefighter, Ghost Hunter, Investigator, Architectural Designer, and Stylist. Some of them take place in a playable community lot, such as Firefighter or Stylist, while the others are freelance jobs. Players can search for gigs in the neighbourhood and actually accomplish them. For example, an Architectural Designer can visit other sims' houses and redecorate them in exchange for money and career performance.


title: The Sims 3

text: Sims are also able to make a living at home through their skills such as selling their own paintings, writing novels, playing guitar for tips, or growing fruit and vegetables. Sims can also buy out businesses and receive a percentage of the profits they earn.


title: The Sims 3

text: As in previous games, a build/buy tool is included to design houses and community lots. The two modes retain most of the main fundamental tools from the previous games.


title: The Sims 3

text: Build mode is used to add walls, paint them, add stairs, doors and windows, lay down flooring, create foundations, basements, pools and ponds. Some expansion packs add extra build mode features such as terrain design. Players cannot build or place objects outside the limits of the lot.


title: The Sims 3

text: In Buy mode, the player can purchase and place down new objects, such as appliances, electronics, furniture and vehicles. Buy mode largely focuses on providing objects that are useful or necessary for the sims, allowing them to build skills, provide some sort of utility, or purely to act as house decoration. The descriptions of many of the objects available for purchase in the game involve humor, sarcasm, insults towards the player, and wit, and serves as comic relief in the game.


title: The Sims 3

text: The build and buy modes have received their own makeover. The modes maintain the grid building system from the previous game, however, this grid is more flexible now, allowing the objects to be laid down in the middle of the tiles or without any grid help at all. A blueprint mode is added in further expansions, where pre-designed rooms are available to lay down as-is. The Create-a-Style tool can also be applied to redesign every single piece of furniture or building, changing to any color, material or design pattern.


title: The Sims 3

text: On October 29, 2009, Electronic Arts announced "Create-a-World" (CAW), which is a game world editor that allows players to create their own custom cities from scratch for use within the game. Players can customize lots, choose terrain patterns and add roads, vegetation and neighborhood accents (such as water towers and lighthouses). CAW also allows players to import designs from PNG files for use in their worlds. Users can upload their worlds to "The Sims 3 Exchange" for download by other players. The editor tool is offered to players as a separate download, and was released on December 16, 2009, as a beta version. EA will offer technical support and updates. Players are able to share their neighborhoods as with other content. The Create-a-World tool is available for Windows-based PCs.


title: The Sims 3

text: As this game is a life simulation, sims can have families. You can create a family in Create-a-Sim and edit their relationships, or you can manually meet different sims and have children.


title: The Sims 3

text: Young adults and adults can try for a baby. There is no "Try for Baby" option for any younger or older sims. The only exception is senior males - they can try for a baby with a female of any age, though conception can be significantly harder. In order to try for a baby, two sims of the opposite gender must have a relationship of "Romantic Interest" or higher. A lullaby-like melody will play if the sim is pregnant, although sometimes it may not play.


title: The Sims 3

text: Sims will get the Nauseous moodlet if they are pregnant, and these symptoms will persist for about 1 sim day until they discover they are pregnant and will change into default pregnancy clothes. From now on until after birth, the sim will not be able to wear their usual clothes. Some pregnancy symptoms sims can experience are: Nausea, backache, reduced or increased appetite and inability to partake in certain actions or exercise.


title: The Sims 3

text: When the sim goes into labour, they can either deliver the baby at hospital or have a home birth. Most sims go to hospital by default, but this action can be cancelled. Kids and baby interior can be bought in buy mode. Babies require a lot of attention and care, and can get whisked away by social services if it is not given to them - along with toddlers, kids and teenagers. Babysitters can be hired to accompany children if their parents are busy.


title: The Sims 3

text: Electronic Arts announced "The Sims 3" on March 19, 2008. On January 15, 2009, Maxis invited "some of the best" custom content creators to their campus at Redwood Shores where they were hosting a Creator's Camp. Creators have been invited to spend the week exploring and creating content like Sims, houses and customized content. The Creators' work was used to pre-populate The Sims 3 Exchange.


title: The Sims 3

text: On May 8, 2009, Maxis announced that "The Sims 3" had gone gold meaning that the game had finished beta testing stage and was off for manufacturing ahead of its June 2009 release. On May 15, 2009, Maxis released several online interactive teaser experiences on "The Sims 3" Website, including 'SimFriend', which allows users to choose a virtual Sim Friend who would email them throughout the day. 'SimSocial', which allows users to create their own Sim online, and have an adventure with them. 'SimSidekick', which allows users to surf the web with a sim. Two weeks before the game was scheduled to be released, an unauthorized copy of the digital distribution version of the game leaked onto the Internet. Maxis later commented the leak was a "buggy, pre-final" version. Maxis claims that more than half of the game is missing and is susceptible to crashes or worse. Reportedly, the title has seen higher copyright infringement rates than that of the most torrented game of 2008, "Spore", also developed by Maxis.


title: The Sims 3

text: Maxis relied on user feedback from previous games. In order to create the animations in the game, so they look believable but goofy, they shot real life references of people doing tasks in outrageous ways until satisfied with the outcome.


title: The Sims 3

text: Each character in the game was specifically created by the developers to have their own life story, wishes, dreams, and personalities. The developers spend a lot of time trying to get the world to feel seamless and the characters to feel real.


title: The Sims 3

text: On October 31, 2008, two teaser trailers were released by Electronic Arts featuring a comical view on the 2008 presidential election in the United States. Candidates John McCain and Barack Obama were included along with respective running mates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden.


title: The Sims 3

text: In April 2009, Electronic Arts began to post billboards in many areas in advertisement for the game. Many of the billboards covered skyscrapers in densely populated areas, most notably Times Square in New York City. The costs of these billboards was estimated to be $10 million a month.


title: The Sims 3

text: On March 23, 2009, "The Sims 3" was threaded throughout the storyline of an episode of "One Tree Hill".


title: The Sims 3

text: On April 19, 2009, Target released a promotional disc of "The Sims 3" that features a Ladytron band poster, "The Sims 3" theme song music download, and a $5 off coupon. The main menu includes screensaver downloads, videos, Create-a-Sim, Create-A-House, and much more. There is no actual gameplay involved, but it describes what playing feels like.


title: The Sims 3

text: On July 14, 2010, Ford began a promotion at "The Sims 3 Store" by allowing players to download their newest car at the time, the Ford Fiesta Mark VII. The car also came with a collection of street signs. On October 27, 2010, the download was updated to include the Fiesta Hatchback. The 2012 Ford Focus was made available to download on June 8, 2011. The car included one male Ford T-shirt, one female Ford T-shirt, a stereo, and a set of neon lights, all for use in-game. The Focus pack was available to download on Mac, PC, Xbox, and PlayStation platforms.


title: The Sims 3

text: In 2012, EA partnered with American singer Katy Perry to promote "The Sims 3". As part of the promotion, a special "Katy Perry Collector's Edition" of the "" expansion pack was released, as well as a "Katy Perry's Sweet Treats" stuff pack. Both packs incorporate concept elements from Perry's third studio album "Teenage Dream" (2010), with the latter including a Simlish rendition of the album's fifth single, "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)", in the in-game radio.


title: The Sims 3

text: Music for "The Sims 3" was composed by Steve Jablonsky. Scores were recorded with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox. Music for the game's stereo and guitar objects was produced by others, including Ladytron, Darrell Brown, Rebeca Mauleon, and Peppino D'Agostino. Additional music was produced by APM Music. Two soundtracks have been released for "The Sims 3" base game, "The Sims 3 Soundtrack" and "The Sims 3 – Stereo Jams". The soundtrack includes theme music and the "Stereo Jams" album includes music from stereos in game. All songs on "Stereo Jams" are in Simlish.


title: The Sims 3

text: Several musical artists partnered with EA to perform some of their songs in the language of Sims, Simlish. Artists have ranged from Katy Perry, Lady Antebellum, Flaming Lips, Damien Marley, Depeche Mode, Nelly Furtado, and Flo Rida.


title: The Sims 3

text: On February 3, 2009, it was announced that the release date of "The Sims 3" would be delayed from February 20, 2009, to June 2, 2009, in the US, and June 5, 2009, in the UK.


title: The Sims 3

text: EA Singapore launched "The Sims 3" with a large launch party which was held on June 2, 2009, at the Bugis+ shopping mall in Singapore. At the event, "The Sims 3" T-shirts were available for purchase. In Sydney, Australia on June 4, 2009, a fashion event to show off the freedom and self-expression in "The Sims 3" was held by Electronic Arts Australia, and included a performance by Jessica Mauboy.


title: The Sims 3

text: The game was released as both a standard edition and a Collector's Edition. Both the Collector's Edition and the standard edition of the game comes with a coupon for 1000 Sim Points to spend at "The Sims 3 Store". The standard edition contains the first release of the core game, while the Collector's Edition includes the "Sims 3" core game, a 2GB The Sims Plumbob USB flash drive (preloaded with wallpapers and screensavers of the game, and the main theme as an MP3 file) with matching Green Carabiner, an exclusive European-styled Sports Car download, a Prima Tips and Hints Guide (not the actual "Sims 3" Prima Guide), and Plumbob stickers. Those that pre-ordered the game also got a Vintage Sports Car download, "The Sims 3" Neighborhood Poster, and a quick start reference guide. A preview CD with more information about "The Sims 3", such as music samples, family descriptions, and career information, was also released.


title: The Sims 3

text: When the game was released on June 2, 2009, it featured both versions for Microsoft Windows and macOS on the same disc, unlike the previous games in "The Sims" series, which were ported to Mac by Aspyr and released several months later after the initial release date. The Mac version was created with the help of Transgaming, Inc., who licensed Cider to developers in order to make their games Mac compatible by emulating Windows APIs. However, playing the game on Mac often results in poorer performance than in Windows, especially on higher-end systems. As it is a 32-bit application, it is not compatible with macOS Catalina or later. On October 2, 2019, Maxis announced that they would release an updated 64-bit version of the game, titled "The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal)", with compatibility for macOS Catalina or later. Players who register the game on Origin would get the new version for free. "The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal)" was released on October 28, 2020.


title: The Sims 3

text: A now discontinued version of "The Sims 3" was released on iOS, Android, Bada, Symbian, BlackBerry OS and Windows Phone on June 2, 2009. The iPhone game works similar to that of the PC version. In Create-a-Sim, instead of Lifetime Wishes, there are personas. Personas decide which lifetime wishes your sim will have, as a persona is the largest factor in a Sim's personality. Sims start out with a small house. The house can be expanded every five sim days if the player can afford it. There are four careers in the town: biology, politics, business, and culinary. As in the PC version, Sims can also learn skills. There are nearly 75 wishes in the game. When all of them are fulfilled, Sims unlock the criminal career and have the ability to purchase a car. In some events, such as appliances breaking down, the player must play a minigame to solve or do the action. The game was updated on November 30, 2010, to add support for the Retina display of newer devices.


title: The Sims 3

text: A standalone expansion pack for the iOS version, "World Adventures", was released on April 2, 2010. "World Adventures" adds tombs, new challenges, personas, and careers, new places to explore (Egypt, China and France), clothes and new furniture. A second standalone expansion pack, "Ambitions", was released on September 16, 2010. "Ambitions" added new skills (firefighting, painting, parenting and sports), new community buildings, and the ability to have children. On November 6, 2009, EA announced the release of a vampire theme pack for the iPhone. The pack included Live it or Wear it Sets with Vampires and Werewolves, Castle and Campus Life themes. "Live it" sets contain car, furniture, decoration, wallpaper, and flooring. "Wear it" sets contain clothing, new CAS options, and hair styles.


title: The Sims 3

text: "The Sims 3" was released to game consoles on October 26, 2010, for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo DS. It was later released for Wii on November 15, 2010 and Nintendo 3DS on March 25, 2011.


title: The Sims 3

text: The game allows the player to take on up to three friends in the Life Moments Game on the Wii, upload and download content on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, including furnishings, houses, and player creations or experience a full life simulation on a handheld with Nintendo DS. Reviews for the game ranged from average to moderately positive. Sims can age and die, but life cycles can be disabled optionally as well. "The Sims 3" features a new Karma system (similar to the influence system in "The Sims 2"). Sims can interact with child Sims around the neighborhood, or have children of their own. Unlike the PC version of the game, the console versions have loading times when moving from one area to another, and when accessing build/buy modes.


title: The Sims 3

text: The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions received mostly positive reviews. On Metacritic, it holds an average score of 77 and 76 out of 100 on the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, respectively. Game Informer gave the 360 and PS3 versions a 9/10, praising the new Karma system and The Exchange. GameSpot gave the game a 7/10, noting that "the game lacks fluidity, but is fun in its own right." In a positive review, IGN praised the game for its controls on consoles, but said they were disappointed by the fact that there is only one town in the game, as well as bugs, including a glitch where the game will not save once a certain week has been reached. The Wii version received mixed reviews and was criticized by reviewers and players for poor performance and glitches, due to the weaker Wii hardware.


title: The Sims 3

text: Stuff packs only include new items e.g. furniture, clothing, hairstyles. They do not add any new functionality to the game. Stuff packs are compatible with both Windows and macOS as with the main game and expansion packs.


title: The Sims 3

text: EA reported that in its first week, "The Sims 3" sold 1.4 million copies. According to EA, this was the most successful PC game launch the company had had to date. According to retail data trackers Gfk Australia, "The Sims 3" has been the top selling game in Australia from release until June 30, 2009. Response from critics and gamers alike were generally favorable, with Metacritic calculating a score of 86/100 based on 75 reviews. "PC Gamer" awarded "The Sims 3" a 92% and an Editor's Choice badge, calling it "The best "Sims" game yet". IGN PC awarded "The Sims 3" an 8.9/10, stating: