title: Chelicerata

text: The position of scorpions is particularly controversial. Some early fossils such as the Late Silurian "Proscorpius" have been classified by paleontologists as scorpions, but described as wholly aquatic as they had gills rather than book lungs or tracheae. Their mouths are also completely under their heads and almost between the first pair of legs, as in the extinct eurypterids and living horseshoe crabs. This presents a difficult choice: classify "Proscorpius" and other aquatic fossils as something other than scorpions, despite the similarities; accept that "scorpions" are not monophyletic but consist of separate aquatic and terrestrial groups; or treat scorpions as more closely related to eurypterids and possibly horseshoe crabs than to spiders and other arachnids, so that either scorpions are not arachnids or "arachnids" are not monophyletic. Cladistic analyses have recovered "Proscorpius" within the scorpions, based on reinterpretation of the species' breathing apparatus. This is reflected also in the reinterpretation of "Palaeoscorpius" as a terrestrial animal.


title: Chelicerata

text: A 2013 phylogenetic analysis (the results presented in a cladogram below) on the relationships within the Xiphosura and the relations to other closely related groups (including the eurypterids, which were represented in the analysis by genera "Eurypterus", "Parastylonurus", "Rhenopterus" and "Stoermeropterus") concluded that the Xiphosura, as presently understood, was paraphyletic (a group sharing a last common ancestor but not including all descendants of this ancestor) and thus not a valid phylogenetic group. Eurypterids were recovered as closely related to arachnids instead of xiphosurans, forming the group Sclerophorata within the clade Dekatriata (composed of sclerophorates and chasmataspidids). This work suggested it is possible that Dekatriata is synonymous with Sclerophorata as the reproductive system, the primary defining feature of sclerophorates, has not been thoroughly studied in chasmataspidids. Dekatriata is in turn part of the Prosomapoda, a group including the Xiphosurida (the only monophyletic xiphosuran group) and other stem-genera. A recent phylogenetic analysis of the chelicerates places the Xiphosura within the Arachnida as the sister group of Ricinulei., but others still retrieve a monophyletic arachnida.


title: Chelicerata

text: Although well behind the insects, chelicerates are one of the most diverse groups of animals, with over 77,000 living species that have been described in scientific publications. Some estimates suggest that there may be 130,000 undescribed species of spider and nearly 500,000 undescribed species of mites and ticks. While the earliest chelicerates and the living Pycnogonida (if they are chelicerates) and Xiphosura are marine animals that breathe dissolved oxygen, the vast majority of living species are air-breathers, although a few spider species build "diving bell" webs that enable them to live under water. Like their ancestors, most living chelicerates are carnivores, mainly on small invertebrates. However, many species feed as parasites, herbivores, scavengers and detritivores.


title: Chelicerata

text: In the past, Native Americans ate the flesh of horseshoe crabs, and used the tail spines as spear tips and the shells to bail water out of their canoes. More recent attempts to use horseshoe crabs as food for livestock were abandoned when it was found that this gave the meat a bad taste. Horseshoe crab blood contains a clotting agent, "limulus amebocyte lysate", which is used to test antibiotics and kidney machines to ensure that they are free of dangerous bacteria, and to detect spinal meningitis and some cancers.


title: Chelicerata

text: Cooked tarantula spiders are considered a delicacy in Cambodia, and by the Piaroa Indians of southern Venezuela. Spider venoms may be a less polluting alternative to conventional pesticides as they are deadly to insects but the great majority are harmless to vertebrates. Possible medical uses for spider venoms are being investigated, for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmia, Alzheimer's disease, strokes, and erectile dysfunction.


title: Chelicerata

text: Because spider silk is both light and very strong, but large-scale harvesting from spiders is impractical, work is being done to produce it in other organisms by means of genetic engineering. Spider silk proteins have been successfully produced in transgenic goats' milk,


title: Chelicerata

text: and bacteria, and recombinant spider silk is now available as a commercial product from some biotechnology companies.


title: Chelicerata

text: In the 20th century, there were about 100 reliably reported deaths from spider bites, compared with 1,500 from jellyfish stings. Scorpion stings are thought to be a significant danger in less-developed countries; for example, they cause about 1,000 deaths per year in Mexico, but only one every few years in the USA. Most of these incidents are caused by accidental human "invasions" of scorpions' nests. On the other hand, medical uses of scorpion venom are being investigated for treatment of brain cancers and bone diseases.


title: Chelicerata

text: Ticks are parasitic, and some transmit micro-organisms and parasites that can cause diseases in humans, while the saliva of a few species can directly cause tick paralysis if they are not removed within a day or two.


title: Chelicerata

text: A few of the closely related mites also infest humans, some causing intense itching by their bites, and others by burrowing into the skin. Species that normally infest other animals such as rodents may infest humans if their normal hosts are eliminated. Three species of mite are a threat to honey bees and one of these, "Varroa destructor", has become the largest single problem faced by beekeepers worldwide. Mites cause several forms of allergic diseases, including hay fever, asthma and eczema, and they aggravate atopic dermatitis. Mites are also significant crop pests, although predatory mites may be useful in controlling some of these.


title: Longinus

text: Longinus () is the name given to the unnamed Roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus with a lance and who in medieval and some modern Christian traditions is described as a convert to Christianity. His name first appeared in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. The lance is called in Christianity the "Holy Lance" ("lancea") and the story is related in the Gospel of John during the Crucifixion. This act is said to have created the last of the Five Holy Wounds of Christ.


title: Longinus

text: This person, unnamed in the Gospels, is further identified in some versions of the legend as the centurion present at the Crucifixion, who said that Jesus was the son of God, so he is considered as one of the first Christians and Roman converts. Longinus' legend grew over the years to the point that he was said to have converted to Christianity after the Crucifixion, and he is traditionally venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and several other Christian communions.


title: Longinus

text: No name for this soldier is given in the canonical Gospels; the name "Longinus" is instead found in the apocryphal "Gospel of Nicodemus". Longinus did not start out as a saint. An early tradition, found in a sixth or seventh century pseudepigraphal "Letter of Herod to Pilate", claims that Longinus suffered for having pierced Jesus, and that he was condemned to a cave where every night a lion came and mauled him until dawn, after which his body healed back to normal, in a pattern that would repeat until the end of time. Later traditions turned him into a Christian convert, but as Sabine Baring-Gould observed: "The name of Longinus was not known to the Greeks previous to the patriarch Germanus, in 715. It was introduced amongst the Westerns from the Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. There is no reliable authority for the Acts and martyrdom of this saint."


title: Longinus

text: The name is probably Latinized from the Greek "lonche" (λόγχη), the word used for the lance mentioned in John . It first appears lettered on an illumination of the Crucifixion beside the figure of the soldier holding a spear, written, perhaps contemporaneously, in horizontal Greek letters, , in the Syriac gospel manuscript illuminated by a certain Rabulas in the year 586, in the Laurentian Library, Florence. The spear used is known as the Holy Lance, and more recently, especially in occult circles, as the "Spear of Destiny", which was revered at Jerusalem by the sixth century, although neither the centurion nor the name "Longinus" were invoked in any surviving report. As the "Lance of Longinus", the spear figures in the legends of the Holy Grail.


title: Longinus

text: Blindness or other eye problems are not mentioned until after the tenth century. Petrus Comestor was one of the first to add an eyesight problem to the legend and his text can be translated as "blind", "dim-sighted" or "weak-sighted". The Golden Legend says that he saw celestial signs before conversion and that his eye problems might have been caused by illness or age. The touch of Jesus's blood cures his eye problem:


title: Longinus

text: Christian legend has it that Longinus was a blind Roman centurion who thrust the spear into Christ's side at the crucifixion. Some of Jesus's blood fell upon his eyes and he was healed. Upon this miracle Longinus believed in Jesus.


title: Longinus

text: The body of Longinus is said to have been lost twice, and that its second recovery was at Mantua in 1304, together with the Holy Sponge stained with Christ's blood, wherewith it was told—extending Longinus' role—that Longinus had assisted in cleansing Christ's body when it was taken down from the cross. The relic, corpules of alleged blood taken from the Holy Lance, enjoyed a revived cult in late 13th century Bologna under the combined impetus of the Grail romances, the local tradition of eucharistic miracles, the chapel consecrated to Longinus, the Holy Blood in the Benedictine monastery church of Sant'Andrea, and the patronage of the Bonacolsi.


title: Longinus

text: The relics are said to have been divided and then distributed to Prague and elsewhere, with the body taken to the Basilica of Sant'Agostino in Rome. However, official guides of the Basilica do not mention the presence of any tomb associated with Saint Longinus. It is also said that the body of Longinus was found in Sardinia; Greek sources assert that he suffered martyrdom in Gabala, Cappadocia.


title: Longinus

text: Longinus is venerated, generally as a martyr, in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Armenian Apostolic Church. His feast day is kept on 16 October in the Roman Martyrology, which mentions him, without any indication of martyrdom, in the following terms: "At Jerusalem, commemoration of Saint Longinus, who is venerated as the soldier opening the side of the crucified Lord with a lance". The pre-1969 feast day in the Roman Rite is 15 March. The Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates him on 16 October. In the Armenian Apostolic Church, his feast is commemorated on 22 October.


title: Longinus

text: The statue of "Saint Longinus", sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, is one of four in the niches beneath the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. A spearpoint fragment said to be from the Holy Lance is also conserved in the Basilica.


title: Longinus

text: Longinus and his legend are the subject of the Moriones Festival held during Holy Week on the island of Marinduque, the Philippines.


title: Longinus

text: Under the folk name "São Longuinho", Saint Longinus is attributed the power of finding missing objects. The saint's aid is summoned by the chant:


title: Longinus

text: Folk tradition explains the association with missing objects with a tale from the saint's days in Rome. It is said he was of short stature and, as such, had unimpeded view of the underside of tables in crowded parties. Due to this, he would find and return objects dropped on the ground by the other attendants.


title: Longinus

text: Accounts vary regarding the promised offering of three hops, citing either deference to an alleged limping of the saint or a plea to the Holy Trinity.


title: Longinus

text: Brazilian medium Chico Xavier wrote "Brasil, Coração do Mundo, Pátria do Evangelho", a psychographic book of authorship attributed to the spirit of Humberto de Campos. In the book, Saint Longinus is claimed to have been reincarnated as Pedro II, the last Brazilian emperor.


title: The Mirage

text: The Mirage is a casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by Hard Rock International. The 65-acre property includes a casino and 3,044 rooms.


title: The Mirage

text: Golden Nugget, Inc., led by developer Steve Wynn, purchased the future land of the Mirage in 1986. A hotel-casino, the Castaways, occupied a portion of the property and was demolished to make way for the Mirage. The resort opened on November 22, 1989, after two years of construction. It was the world's most expensive resort, completed at a cost of $630 million. It was also among the world's largest hotels. The Mirage was the first megaresort to open on the Las Vegas Strip, and its success prompted a building boom in the 1990s for other large resorts along the Strip.


title: The Mirage

text: The Mirage opened with several non-traditional attractions for a Las Vegas casino. Features include animal habitats for dolphins and tigers, and an indoor tropical forest display. Its primary attraction is an artificial volcano that erupts nightly, providing free entertainment in front of the resort. In 1990, the Mirage debuted a magic show by Siegfried & Roy, who performed there for nearly 14 years. The resort also hosted Cirque du Soleil's first Las Vegas show, "Nouvelle Expérience", which opened in 1992. Cirque du Soleil would return to the property in 2006, with the debut of "Love", a show featuring music by the Beatles.


title: The Mirage

text: Wynn departed the property in 2000, when his company was acquired by MGM Grand. In 2021, Hard Rock International announced that it would purchase the Mirage and convert it into the Hard Rock Las Vegas. The property will receive a complete renovation and expansion which will include a new guitar-shaped hotel tower, taking the place of the volcano attraction. The purchase was finalized in December 2022, and the rebranding project is expected to begin in 2024. MGM will license the "Mirage" name to Hard Rock until the project is complete. Hard Rock Las Vegas is expected to open in 2025 or 2026.


title: The Mirage

text: A portion of the Mirage property was once occupied by a nightclub known as the Red Rooster. It opened in 1930, on what would become the Las Vegas Strip. The following year, it became the first Strip business to receive a gaming license. It was later purchased by actress Grace Hayes in 1947, and became the Grace Hayes Lodge. It was demolished in 1959, although Hayes continued living in a house located on the property. Another portion of the land was occupied by a hotel-casino known as the Castaways.


title: The Mirage

text: Casino owner Steve Wynn had considered building a resort on the Strip to be known as Victoria Bay, but the project was canceled in 1981, due to high costs. Three years later, he thought about building a resort in downtown Las Vegas, on 50 acres of railroad land that would later become the site of the Clark County Government Center. Wynn's plan to build in downtown were scrapped after the railroad declined his $50 million offer for the land, asking twice that amount.


title: The Mirage

text: Wynn eventually purchased the Castaways and nearby acreage in October 1986. Wynn's purchase included Hayes' house, which was vacated and demolished along with the Castaways to make way for a new casino resort. Wynn sold his Golden Nugget Atlantic City resort, and used the profits to fund his new project.


title: The Mirage

text: Numerous names were considered for Wynn's project, including Bombay and Bombay Club, which had been rejected by the end of 1986. "Wynn" was considered as a name, and would later be used for the Wynn Las Vegas resort.


title: The Mirage

text: Wynn unveiled plans for the tropical-themed resort, temporarily known then as the Golden Nugget, in June 1987. He said the project would be renamed at a later point to match its South Seas theme. The project's working title came from Wynn's Golden Nugget hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas. Wynn did not intend to have two Golden Nuggets in Las Vegas, believing they would become known as "the old one" and "the new one", the former of which he found undesirable for the downtown property.


title: The Mirage

text: The final name was announced in December 1988: The Mirage. The name emphasized the resort as an oasis in the Nevada desert. To avoid confusion, Wynn purchased the rights to the Mirage name from two local businesses, the La Mirage Casino and the Mirage Motel. Both received $250,000 to change their names.


title: The Mirage

text: Construction began in November 1987. General contractors included MarCor Development Company and Sierra Construction Corporation, the latter of which worked on the hotel tower. The project had an early cost of $550 million, although it went over budget. With an ultimate cost of $630 million, the Mirage was the world's most expensive hotel-casino ever built, until the opening of Trump Taj Mahal a few months later in Atlantic City. Much of the Mirage project was financed by Drexel Burnham Lambert. Financier Michael Milken, an executive of the company, helped fund the project by selling $525 million worth of mortgage bonds. The Mirage was the first resort that was built with the money of Wall Street through the use of junk bonds.


title: The Mirage

text: Bobby Baldwin oversaw major aspects of the project with Wynn, and would later serve as the Mirage's president, after previously serving in the same position at the Las Vegas Golden Nugget. To prepare for the opening, Baldwin and others spent nearly a year visiting 250 companies – in fields such as hospitality and dining – to gather information and advice. Dissatisfied with the current public relations firm, Wynn hired Hill & Knowlton eight weeks before the opening. Despite the company's objections, Wynn refused to allow media tours and the release of early images, wanting to keep the resort a surprise for the opening. The Mirage hired nearly 6,400 employees. Wynn emphasized customer service to the workers, who underwent a month of job training before the opening.


title: The Mirage

text: The Mirage opened at 12:00 p.m. on November 22, 1989. Wynn previously scheduled a December 26 opening, but changed these plans after securing the Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Durán III boxing match at the resort for December 7. He intended for the Mirage to become a popular venue for boxing matches, competing with other Las Vegas resorts. Within hours of the opening, a casino customer hit a $4.6 million jackpot on a $1 slot machine.


title: The Mirage

text: The resort had non-traditional features for a Las Vegas gaming property, and Wynn considered them to be the primary attractions, saying the Mirage would not be dependent on its casino like other properties. Its signature attraction was an erupting artificial volcano, providing free entertainment to pedestrians in front of the resort. Other attractions included a dolphin habitat and a lush jungle display located beneath a domed atrium. In addition, the resort featured a magic show by Siegfried & Roy, and the duo's white tigers were on display in the resort while not performing. Financial analysts and gaming executives were skeptical of the Mirage, which needed to make an unprecedented $1 million per day to cover its expenses. The property would end up exceeding expectations.


title: The Mirage

text: The Mirage was the first new resort to be built on the Las Vegas Strip in 16 years, after the completion of the MGM Grand (now Bally's) in 1973. The Mirage was also the first megaresort to open on the Strip, and was the second in the Las Vegas Valley after the opening of the International Hotel in 1969. The Mirage's success prompted a building boom for other large Strip resorts during the 1990s. Prior to the Mirage's opening, the city was experiencing a decline in tourism, especially following New Jersey's legalization of gambling in Atlantic City. Due to its success, Wynn borrowed an additional $100 million in 1990, to add more features. These included a parking garage, more high-roller villas, and an expansion of the pool area. Wynn also partnered with singer Michael Jackson to design a mountain and water attraction at the Mirage. It would resemble Diamond Head, Hawaii, and would include pools, a water slide, and high-roller villas. It would cost up to $15 million, and would be built behind the resort. It was scheduled to open later in 1990, but ultimately went unbuilt.


title: The Mirage

text: Wynn owned the resort through his company, Golden Nugget Inc., which he renamed Mirage Resorts in 1991. A $55 million renovation took place in 1995. As of 1997, it was the most profitable resort on the Strip. Wynn left the property and Mirage Resorts in 2000, when the company was acquired by MGM Grand Inc., later renamed to MGM Mirage. The hotel rooms were renovated in 2002, and a major renovation took place from 2005 to 2006, to help the Mirage compete with newer resorts. The project included several new restaurants and a nightclub, among other changes. It was the largest renovation since the resort's opening.


title: The Mirage

text: A $100 million renovation took place in 2008, updating the casino floor and hotel rooms, while adding several restaurants. In 2009, Phil Ruffin bought the adjacent Treasure Island Hotel and Casino from MGM Mirage. He subsequently made offers to buy the 65-acre Mirage, but was rejected. MGM Mirage was renamed MGM Resorts International in 2010. Twenty years after its opening, the Mirage remained popular despite being overshadowed by newer and more-luxurious resorts.


title: The Mirage

text: Ownership of the Mirage, along with many other MGM properties, was transferred in 2016 to MGM Growth Properties, while MGM Resorts continued to operate it under a lease agreement. Vici Properties would later acquire MGM Growth, including the Mirage, in 2022.


title: The Mirage

text: In 2019, Hard Rock International expressed an interest in buying property on the Las Vegas Strip for a new Hard Rock resort, following the 2018 sale and proposed rebranding of the original Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. In August 2021, Vici Properties agreed to purchase MGM Growth Properties, a deal which includes the real estate beneath the Mirage. Three months later, MGM announced that it was in the early process of selling the Mirage's casino operations. MGM Resorts already operated nine other resorts, and was in the process of adding a tenth. CEO William Hornbuckle, who helped oversee the Mirage's opening, said the resort "just fell pretty far down in the spectrum of how much in capital we'd allocate to it in any given period of time in the near future. And so we just took a strategic decision to sell it".


title: The Mirage

text: In December 2021, Hard Rock agreed to purchase the Mirage's operations from MGM Resorts for $1.075 billion. Under the deal, Hard Rock would enter a long-term lease agreement with Vici and would rebrand the Mirage as the Hard Rock Las Vegas. MGM will keep the "Mirage" name and will license it to Hard Rock for up to three years, until the rebranding takes effect. Hard Rock International would become the first tribal gaming operator on the Las Vegas Strip. The Mirage will receive a full renovation as part of the rebranding, with rooms being completely gutted and remodeled.


title: The Mirage

text: Hard Rock also intends to construct a guitar-shaped hotel tower on the property, like the Seminole Hard Rock in Florida. The new tower will replace the Mirage's volcano, prompting a Change.org petition to save the attraction from demolition. This effort was unsuccessful, and the volcano will be demolished once construction begins on the Hard Rock transition. The guitar tower is expected to range from 500 to 660 feet in height. Hard Rock's previous proposal for a 998-foot tower was rejected by the county. The redesigned tower would add 596 rooms for a new total of 3,640. The casino and convention facilities will also be expanded.


title: The Mirage

text: Hard Rock's purchase was finalized on December 19, 2022, making it the first tribal gaming operator on the Las Vegas Strip. The Mirage will continue operating throughout the renovation and expansion project, which is expected to begin in 2024. Hard Rock Las Vegas is expected to open in 2025 or 2026.


title: The Mirage

text: In 1992, guest Joseph Canterino said he was beaten and robbed by two men on the hotel's 16th floor. The men, who were never found, took more than $70,000 according to Canterino, who said the incident made him nervous to leave home. He sued the Mirage, alleging inadequate security. After a decade of litigation, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled in the resort's favor.


title: The Mirage

text: In 1997, Mirage executive Laura Choi traveled to South Korea to collect gambling debts for the resort. However, she was arrested for violating the country's law on debt collection, which prohibited citizens from allowing money to go overseas if the amount exceeded $10,000. According to the Mirage, the money was supposed to be collected in other countries through a number of legal avenues. An investigation into Choi and the Mirage was launched by multiple agencies. Choi said Mirage Resorts was aware of her actions and encouraged them, while the company called Choi a rogue employee and declined to provide legal assistance. After 79 days in prison, she returned to the U.S. and was fired. State gaming regulators alleged that Choi's actions were supported by Mirage Resorts, which eventually paid a $350,000 fine. The company later alleged that Choi embezzled money, and that she conspired with Wynn's casino rival, Donald Trump, to obtain guest lists and divert customers from the Mirage to Trump's properties instead. Choi, meanwhile, filed wrongful termination lawsuits against the company. The two settled in 2001.


title: The Mirage

text: In 1997, the Mirage was sued by 11 cocktail waitresses alleging weight discrimination from Wynn and the resort. The suit referenced a 1995 meeting that some of the women had with Wynn, who allegedly told them, "You're too fat, and I'm embarrassed to have you working here". The incident would later become known as the "Fat Meeting", and the women became the subject of weight-related jokes among co-workers. Two women agreed to $5,000 settlements in 1998, and another withdrew from the case. It ended in May 2003, after the remaining women agreed to settlements with MGM Mirage.


title: The Mirage

text: In 2003, several resort employees were fired after failure to file months' worth of currency transaction reports. One former employee in particular would become the primary focus of a state investigation, which found that he had lied to his supervisors about mailing the reports, concealing the fact that he was actually months behind on the work. Nearly 15,000 reports had gone unfiled, and the Nevada Gaming Commission issued a record $5 million fine against MGM Mirage. CEO Terry Lanni considered it the most embarrassing incident in the gaming industry during his 26-year career. Two other ex-employees sued the company, alleging wrongful termination in the case.


title: The Mirage

text: The Mirage was designed by Joel Bergman, who led Wynn's design firm Atlandia. The firm also included interior designers Henry Conversano and Roger Thomas, and architect DeRuyter Butler. Don Brinkerhoff and his landscape company, Lifescapes International, also worked on the resort. In addition to his team, Wynn also took design suggestions from his wife Elaine. The team was heavily involved in every design aspect of the project, which underwent numerous revisions, particularly in relation to its hotel tower. Wynn's team did extensive studies of several local resorts – Bally's, the Las Vegas Hilton, the Flamingo, and the adjacent Caesars Palace – and sought to combine their best features into one property.


title: The Mirage

text: Unlike other casinos at the time, the Mirage's pedestrian entrances were built back away from the Las Vegas Strip, with the volcano serving as an attraction to pique the interest of pedestrians and lure them inside. This was done at the suggestion of Elaine Wynn: "Steve wanted to build the Mirage right off the sidewalk, and I said that we had to push it back, that people wouldn't get the benefit of the architectural design if they didn't have a frame of reference". Wynn had the property layout designed for convenience to guests, allowing them to quickly access amenities.


title: The Mirage

text: The Mirage has a South Seas/Polynesian theme. Wynn said, "There had been a terrible sameness to the properties of Las Vegas. The public couldn't differentiate between the Sands, the Dunes, the Aladdin, the Sahara. I wanted to take it to a new level". Describing his vision, Wynn said, "Think of the harsh Southern Nevada desert, and then you see a waterfall, something out of the South Pacific or the island of Kauai. It's not supposed to be there, and that was the intention". He was partly inspired by the 1958 film "South Pacific". The volcano and waterfall features were added as a contrast to the city's usual neon lights. Wynn said, "I'm burned out on neon. I think it's cheap. To me, neon is yesterday Las Vegas".


title: The Mirage

text: Upon its opening, the exterior included 10 acres of landscaped lawns and pools, featuring 1,000 palm trees and 40,000 scrubs. Other plant life included pine trees and ferns. The Mirage had a staff of 60 gardeners to oversee the various plant life around the property. The resort includes a nine-story domed atrium which covers an indoor tropical rainforest display. It has a combination of fake and real plant life, including orchids and 70-foot palm trees. A 40-foot Washington palm was injected with formaldehyde to preserve it, and a steel rod was inserted up its trunk to angle it over a stream in the atrium. Brinkerhoff handled the design and landscaping for the atrium, which was inspired by a project that Wynn planned in Atlantic City, before cancelling it in 1985.


title: The Mirage

text: With 3,049 rooms, the Mirage was among the world's largest hotels when it opened, surpassed by the Las Vegas Hilton (3,174) and the Rossiya Hotel in Moscow (3,200). The hotel tower, standing 29 stories, was built out in a Y-shape layout, copying the design used at the Las Vegas Hilton. The Mirage popularized the Y-shape design, which was later copied by Las Vegas' Treasure Island, Monte Carlo, and Mandalay Bay resorts. The hotel's top five floors are used for high roller rooms and penthouse suites. The exterior windows are made of 18-karat gold, and the suite floors are distinguished with uninterrupted glass panes, whereas the lower floors have white streaks between them. The white-and-gold color scheme had previously been used at the Golden Nugget.


title: The Mirage

text: Since its opening, the hotel has featured a $1.2 million aquarium tank, built behind the check-in stand. The aquarium was conceived by Conversano to distract guests and relax them while waiting to check in. It contains hundreds of fish, and is a popular attraction.


title: The Mirage

text: The Mirage's casino measures . It opened with 2,300 slot machines and 115 table games. A high-limit area was added at the last minute, having been overlooked prior to that point. The Mirage was the first Las Vegas casino to use security cameras full-time on all table games. In 1997, Mirage Resorts spent $150 million on artwork which was displayed in the resort's high-stakes gaming area. The casino added a new high-limit gaming area in 2004, featuring design work by artist Dale Chihuly.


title: The Mirage

text: The Mirage also has of convention space. Other resort features have included a tattoo parlor, and a clothing store by the Kardashian family. The Mirage-Treasure Island Tram travels between the two resorts.


title: The Mirage

text: The Jet nightclub was added in 2005, operated by The Light Group. The club was divided across three rooms. It featured projection imagery and 120 LED ceiling tiles. The club operated until 2011, when it was renamed 1 OAK, standing for "one of a kind". The club featured artwork by Roy Nachum. It closed in early 2020.


title: The Mirage

text: Revolution, an $11 million nightclub themed after the Beatles, was added in 2006, to accompany the resort's opening of the Beatles-themed show "Love" by Cirque du Soleil. It was a joint venture between Apple Corps and Cirque du Soleil, marking the latter's first Las Vegas nightclub. The club fit up to 400 people. The entrance was marked by 10-foot-tall capitalized letters spelling out the club's name, with "EVOL" spelled backwards to form the word "LOVE". The club closed in 2015.


title: The Mirage

text: The resort includes a topless pool area known as Bare Pool Lounge, opened in 2007. It is also operated by The Light Group. It features DJ music, and is popular among local residents, as well as celebrities.


title: The Mirage

text: The Mirage opened with an artificial volcano attraction, located in front of the resort. It became a signature attraction for Las Vegas. The volcano, free to the public and visible to pedestrians, erupts regularly each night. Gas jets provide the flames for the volcano, which has water flowing down its sides into a lagoon, covering . Natural gas pipes, eight inches in width, are used in conjunction with a recirculating system to give the appearance that the lagoon is on fire. In addition, whitewater from the volcano is covered in red lighting to simulate lava.


title: The Mirage

text: Originally, the lagoon area was to include a dormant volcano. Lighting designer David Hersey, who was hired to light the resort, suggested making the volcano erupt. Wynn had been satisfied with the lagoon feature as-is, and he was concerned that an erupting volcano would look underwhelming. However, he approved the idea after seeing a scale model. Hersey designed the attraction with Brinkerhoff. They added a texture to the rock formations to produce micro bubbles in the water, fulfilling Wynn's desire to have whitewater in the attraction, as it allowed for adequate lighting. Wynn disliked the sulfuric odor given off by the volcanic eruptions, so a piña colada scent was added.


title: The Mirage

text: In 2005, the design firm WET was hired to begin planning an upgrade of the volcano. The company spent two years developing a fire-shooting device for the revamped volcano. It closed in February 2008, to allow for the $25 million upgrade to take place. The volcanic structure, made of steel, was stripped down to receive a new exterior. It reopened at the end of the year. The improved volcano shoots water 12 feet high, while 120 flamethrower devices spout out flames on the lagoon. The attraction is choreographed to music by Mickey Hart and Zakir Hussain. WET's redesign was inspired by the Fountains of Bellagio, another choreographed attraction by the company.


title: The Mirage

text: A $14 million dolphin habitat opened at the Mirage on October 19, 1990, serving as an educational and research center. The habitat consists of four pools providing a total of 2.5 million gallons, exceeding government regulations. The facility includes tours, and visitors can interact with the dolphins and become trainers for a day. It is a popular educational attraction among schoolchildren. It originally featured five bottlenose dolphins, including four from Marathon, Florida and one from Texas. As of 2008, three dolphin generations had been born at the attraction, and a fourth began in 2019. The attraction does not feature wild dolphins.


title: The Mirage

text: On November 13, 1996, the Mirage opened the Secret Garden of Siegfried & Roy, an outdoor attraction showcasing six types of animals which were featured in the magicians' show at the resort. These included Bengal tigers, white tigers, white lions, a snow leopard, a panther, and an Asian elephant. Siegfried & Roy also ran a breeding program for big cats, particularly white lions and tigers, which resided at the Secret Garden. The $15 million attraction, covering , was built next to the property's dolphin habitat. By 2002, the dolphin area had become part of Siegfried & Roy's attraction, now known as Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. The attraction covers 10 acres, and received 500,000 annual visitors as of 2017.


title: The Mirage

text: In addition, the white tigers from Siegfried & Roy's magic show were on display for free while not performing. A first-floor hallway near the resort's southern entrance featured a glass wall, allowing guests to watch the tigers in an enclosure. The tiger habitat was designed in all-white by Brinkerhoff, and was built for approximately $5 million. It opened with the resort in 1989, and was closed in November 2007, replaced by the BLT Burger restaurant. The tigers were moved to Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden to encourage more visitors there.


title: The Mirage

text: Several animal-rights groups have criticized the habitats. In 2009, Born Free USA and the World Society for the Protection of Animals accused the Mirage of using its dolphin habitat for entertainment and profit rather than education. Fourteen dolphins had died at the habitat since its opening, five of them stillbirths or young deaths. Others died from respiratory problems. Later in 2009, the Mirage imported two new dolphins, despite criticism from the groups. After extensive inspections, American Humane certified the Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat in 2017, stating that it represents "the gold standard for animal welfare". It was one of 14 animal attractions worldwide to receive the certification, and the first in the western U.S. MGM closed the Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat in September 2022, following three more dolphin deaths that year. Hard Rock International subsequently determined that the attraction would not be part of its future plans for the resort.


title: The Mirage

text: The Mirage opened with five fine-dining restaurants, including the Italian-themed Ristorante Riva. It also had middle-class eateries such as the Bermuda Buffet and the 24-hour Caribe Cafe. To keep costs down, a single kitchen was built in the center of the property to service the restaurants. In 1998, the Mirage revamped its restaurants and added several new ones. Among them was Onda, an Italian restaurant by chef Todd English that replaced Ristorante Riva.


title: The Mirage

text: Chef Alex Stratta oversaw Renoir, a restaurant featuring paintings by the French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It opened in 1999. A year later, Renoir became one of the first Las Vegas restaurants to win a Five-Star rating from the Mobil Travel Guide. It also won the AAA Five Diamond Award in 2001 and 2002. Renoir closed in November 2004, after Stratta declined to renew his contract.


title: The Mirage

text: Several restaurant changes were made in the mid-2000s. A new buffet, designed by Adam Tihany, was added in 2004. Carnegie Deli, a popular Manhattan establishment, opened another location at the Mirage in 2005, also with a design by Tihany. Like its predecessor, the Mirage location was also popular. It eventually closed in 2020, to make way for a new eatery.


title: The Mirage

text: B.B. King's Blues Club opened a location at the Mirage in November 2009, replacing the Caribe Cafe. The club operated through a lease agreement with the Mirage, although the two had a strained relationship. In particular, the club accused the resort of overcharging for cleaning services such as dishwashing. The Blues Club filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011, and fought in court to avoid being evicted. It eventually closed in November 2012.


title: The Mirage

text: Chef Tom Colicchio opened a 220-seat steakhouse, Tom Colicchio's Heritage Steak, in 2013. Meanwhile, chef Michael LaPlaca took over Onda and renamed it Portofino the following year. It also served Italian food, and briefly offered a $100 lasagna topped with 23-karat gold flakes and shaved white diamond truffles. The restaurant closed in 2017, and LaPlaca opened a larger Italian restaurant, Osteria Costa, elsewhere in the resort.


title: The Mirage

text: BLT Burger operated for eight years before being replaced in 2016 by a resort-run restaurant, LVB Burgers & Bar. An sports bar – known as The Still Crafts, Drafts and Eats – was also opened in 2016.


title: The Mirage

text: The Mirage showcased boxing matches in its early years, competing against the Las Vegas Hilton and the adjacent Caesars Palace. Matches at the resort included:


title: The Mirage

text: Cirque du Soleil performed its first Las Vegas show at the Mirage starting in 1992. The show, "Nouvelle Expérience", was performed in a 1,300-seat big-top tent, built behind the resort. The temporary $5 million tent was air-conditioned, fire-proof, and had a cement foundation to withstand strong winds. Wynn and Cirque du Soleil would partner again for "Mystère", which opened at Wynn's Treasure Island resort in 1993.


title: The Mirage

text: Two additional theater venues were being added in 1999, at a cost of $100 million. One theater was to be used for the show "Miss Spectacular", which ultimately went unproduced. Another stage was built for impressionist Danny Gans, who began entertaining at the Mirage in 2000. A ballroom was converted into the 1,265-seat Danny Gans Theatre, at a cost of approximately $15 million. Gans' contract ended in early 2009, when he moved to Wynn's new Encore Las Vegas property. Ventriloquist Terry Fator replaced Gans and took over his former theater space, operating a popular puppet show for more than 10 years. Amid declining ticket sales, Fator closed his show in 2020 and sought a smaller venue.


title: The Mirage

text: Other entertainers at the Mirage have included Paul Anka, Dennis Miller, Lewis Black, George Lopez, Bill Burr, and Matt Goss. Several individuals have performed one-man shows at the resort, including Larry King (2011), Terry Bradshaw (2013), and Al Pacino (2014). Magician Shin Lim has performed at the Mirage since 2019.


title: The Mirage

text: Illusionists Siegfried & Roy signed a $58 million contract with the Mirage, and began performing there on February 1, 1990. Their magic show included several white tigers, and it took place in a 1,500-seat theater, known as Theatre Mirage. The show was produced by Feld Entertainment. The duo would become a top attraction for Las Vegas and the Mirage, which added a statue of them on the property grounds. In 1995, because of their success, Theatre Mirage was renamed after Siegfried & Roy.


title: The Mirage

text: On October 3, 2003, Roy Horn was injured during a performance when one of the tigers, Mantacore, bit him by the neck and dragged him offstage. Horn reportedly suffered a stroke during surgery for his injury. Horn later said that he suffered a dizzy spell during the show, thinking it may have been the start of the stroke, and stated that Mantacore was attempting to save him: "I fell over. Mantacore saw that I was falling down. So he actually took me and brought me to the other exit where everybody could get me and help me". MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said, "If that animal intended to harm Roy, it would have lasted two seconds, and there would have been no need for a hospital".


title: The Mirage

text: Horn was left partially paralyzed from the stroke. Several days after the attack, the Mirage announced that the show would not resume. The duo had given 5,750 performances at the Mirage, and the closure affected 267 workers. For six months, the resort's roadside sign on the Las Vegas Strip continued to advertise Siegfried & Roy's show as a tribute. Mantacore became a permanent resident in the resort's Secret Garden attraction, after Horn insisted that the animal be spared.


title: The Mirage

text: The entry road leading onto the property was named Siegfried and Roy Drive in 2020, honoring the duo and their impact on the resort's success.


title: The Mirage

text: Overall resort profits were hurt following the cancellation of Siegfried & Roy's show. In August 2004, their former theater was gutted to make way for a $100 million venue, which would accommodate a Cirque du Soleil show based on the Beatles, in partnership with Apple Corps. The show had been in development for years. The revamped theater includes 2,000 seats, the largest of any Cirque du Soleil stage in Las Vegas. It has 6,000 speakers.


title: The Mirage

text: The show, titled "Love", opened in June 2006 and features music by the Beatles. Giant banners advertising the show were added onto the hotel tower. The show has been successful, receiving eight million visitors as of 2016.


title: The Mirage

text: Cher's 1991 CBS special "" was taped during stops of the singer's 1990 Heart of Stone Tour. The Mirage's theater was used for a scene in the 1992 film "Pure Country". The resort is also featured in the 1996 film "Sgt. Bilko". Wynn allowed portions of the Mirage to be closed for production of the 1997 film "Vegas Vacation", which features the resort prominently, including its pool area, and its Siegfried & Roy show.


title: The Mirage

text: In 2000, filming took place there for the season-five finale of "Nash Bridges". The Mirage is also one of three Las Vegas casinos robbed in the 2001 film "Ocean's Eleven", and is featured in the 2004 video game "", under the name "The Visage". In 2009, the "Love" theater was featured in the finale episode of "The Amazing Race 15". Various areas of the resort, including its roadside sign, were also featured in the finale episode of "The Amazing Race 24", aired in 2014.


title: Fortuna

text: Fortuna (, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at least the Renaissance. The blindfolded depiction of her is still an important figure in many aspects of today's Italian culture, where the dichotomy "fortuna / sfortuna" (luck / unluck) plays a prominent role in everyday social life, also represented by the very common refrain "La [dea] fortuna è cieca" (latin "Fortuna caeca est"; "Luck [goddess] is blind").


title: Fortuna

text: Fortuna is often depicted with a gubernaculum (ship's rudder), a ball or Rota Fortunae (wheel of fortune, first mentioned by Cicero) and a cornucopia (horn of plenty). She might bring good or bad luck: she could be represented as veiled and blind, as in modern depictions of Lady Justice, except that Fortuna does not hold a balance. Fortuna came to represent life's capriciousness. She was also a goddess of fate: as "Atrox Fortuna", she claimed the young lives of the princeps Augustus' grandsons Gaius and Lucius, prospective heirs to the Empire. (In antiquity she was also known as "Automatia".)


title: Fortuna

text: Fortuna's father was said to be Jupiter and like him, she could also be bountiful ("Copia"). As "Annonaria" she protected grain supplies. June 11 was consecrated to her: on June 24 she was given cult at the festival of "Fors Fortuna". Fortuna's name seems to derive from "Vortumna" (she who revolves the year).


title: Fortuna

text: Roman writers disagreed whether her cult was introduced to Rome by Servius Tullius or Ancus Marcius. The two earliest temples mentioned in Roman Calendars were outside the city, on the right bank of the Tiber (in Italian Trastevere). The first temple dedicated to Fortuna was attributed to the Etruscan Servius Tullius, while the second is known to have been built in 293 BC as the fulfilment of a Roman promise made during later Etruscan wars. The date of dedication of her temples was 24 June, or Midsummer's Day, when celebrants from Rome annually floated to the temples downstream from the city. After undisclosed rituals they then rowed back, garlanded and inebriated. Also Fortuna had a temple at the Forum Boarium. Here Fortuna was twinned with the cult of Mater Matuta (the goddesses shared a festival on 11 June), and the paired temples have been revealed in the excavation beside the church of Sant'Omobono: the cults are indeed archaic in date. Fortuna Primigenia of Praeneste was adopted by Romans at the end of 3rd century BC in an important cult of "Fortuna Publica Populi Romani" (the "Official Good Luck of the Roman People") on the Quirinalis outside the Porta Collina. No temple at Rome, however, rivalled the magnificence of the Praenestine sanctuary.


title: Fortuna

text: Fortuna's identity as personification of chance events was closely tied to "virtus" (strength of character). Public officials who lacked virtues invited ill-fortune on themselves and Rome: Sallust uses the infamous Catiline as illustration – "Truly, when in the place of work, idleness, in place of the spirit of measure and equity, caprice and pride invade, fortune is changed just as with morality".


title: Fortuna

text: An oracle at the Temple of Fortuna Primigena in Praeneste used a form of divination in which a small boy picked out one of various futures that were written on oak rods. Cults to Fortuna in her many forms are attested throughout the Roman world. Dedications have been found to "Fortuna Dubia" (doubtful fortune), "Fortuna Brevis" (fickle or wayward fortune) and "Fortuna Mala" (bad fortune).


title: Fortuna

text: Fortuna is found in a variety of domestic and personal contexts. During the early Empire, an amulet from the House of Menander in Pompeii links her to the Egyptian goddess Isis, as Isis-Fortuna. She is functionally related to the god Bonus Eventus, who is often represented as her counterpart: both appear on amulets and intaglio engraved gems across the Roman world. In the context of the early republican period account of Coriolanus, in around 488 BC the Roman senate dedicated a temple to Fortuna on account of the services of the matrons of Rome in saving the city from destruction. Evidence of Fortuna worship has been found as far north as Castlecary, Scotland and an altar and statue can now be viewed at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow.


title: Fortuna

text: The earliest reference to the Wheel of Fortune, emblematic of the endless changes in life between prosperity and disaster, is from 55 BC. In Seneca's tragedy "Agamemnon", a chorus addresses Fortuna in terms that would remain almost proverbial, and in a high heroic ranting mode that Renaissance writers would emulate:


title: Fortuna

text: Ovid's description is typical of Roman representations: in a letter from exile he reflects ruefully on the “goddess who admits by her unsteady wheel her own fickleness; she always has its apex beneath her swaying foot.”


title: Fortuna

text: Fortuna did not disappear from the popular imagination with the ascendancy of Christianity. Saint Augustine took a stand against her continuing presence, in the "City of God": "How, therefore, is she good, who without discernment comes to both the good and to the bad?...It profits one nothing to worship her if she is truly "fortune"... let the bad worship her...this supposed deity". In the 6th century, the "Consolation of Philosophy", by statesman and philosopher Boethius, written while he faced execution, reflected the Christian theology of "casus", that the apparently random and often ruinous turns of Fortune's Wheel are in fact both inevitable and providential, that even the most coincidental events are part of God's hidden plan which one should not resist or try to change. Fortuna, then, was a servant of God, and events, individual decisions, the influence of the stars were all merely vehicles of Divine Will. In succeeding generations Boethius' "Consolation" was required reading for scholars and students. Fortune crept back into popular acceptance, with a new iconographic trait, "two-faced Fortune", "Fortuna bifrons"; such depictions continue into the 15th century.


title: Fortuna

text: The ubiquitous image of the Wheel of Fortune found throughout the Middle Ages and beyond was a direct legacy of the second book of Boethius's "Consolation". The Wheel appears in many renditions from tiny miniatures in manuscripts to huge stained glass windows in cathedrals, such as at Amiens. Lady Fortune is usually represented as larger than life to underscore her importance. The wheel characteristically has four shelves, or stages of life, with four human figures, usually labeled on the left "regnabo" (I shall reign), on the top "regno" (I reign) and is usually crowned, descending on the right "regnavi" (I have reigned) and the lowly figure on the bottom is marked "sum sine regno" (I have no kingdom). Medieval representations of Fortune emphasize her duality and instability, such as two faces side by side like Janus; one face smiling the other frowning; half the face white the other black; she may be blindfolded but without scales, blind to justice. She was associated with the cornucopia, ship's rudder, the ball and the wheel. The cornucopia is where plenty flows from, the Helmsman's rudder steers fate, the globe symbolizes chance (who gets good or bad luck), and the wheel symbolizes that luck, good or bad, never lasts.


title: Fortuna

text: Fortune would have many influences in cultural works throughout the Middle Ages. In "Le Roman de la Rose", Fortune frustrates the hopes of a lover who has been helped by a personified character "Reason". In Dante's "Inferno" (vii.67-96), Virgil explains the nature of Fortune, both a devil and a ministering angel, subservient to God. Boccaccio's "De Casibus Virorum Illustrium" ("The Fortunes of Famous Men"), used by John Lydgate to compose his "Fall of Princes", tells of many where the turn of Fortune's wheel brought those most high to disaster, and Boccaccio essay "De remedii dell'una e dell'altra Fortuna", depends upon Boethius for the double nature of Fortuna. Fortune makes her appearance in "Carmina Burana" (see image). The Christianized Lady Fortune is not autonomous: illustrations for Boccaccio's "Remedii" show Fortuna enthroned in a triumphal car with reins that lead to heaven.


title: Fortuna

text: Fortuna also appears in chapter 25 of Machiavelli's "The Prince", in which he says Fortune only rules one half of men's fate, the other half being of their own will. Machiavelli reminds the reader that Fortune is a woman, that she favours a strong, ambitious hand, and that she favours the more aggressive and bold young man than a timid elder. Monteverdi's opera "L'incoronazione di Poppea" features Fortuna, contrasted with the goddess Virtue. Even Shakespeare was no stranger to Lady Fortune:


title: Fortuna

text: Ignatius J Reilly, the protagonist in the famous John Kennedy Toole novel "A Confederacy of Dunces", identifies Fortuna as the agent of change in his life. A verbose, preposterous medievalist, Ignatius is of the mindset that he does not belong in the world and that his numerous failings are the work of some higher power. He continually refers to Fortuna as having spun him downwards on her wheel of luck, as in “Oh, Fortuna, you degenerate wanton!”


title: Fortuna

text: In astrology the term "Pars Fortuna" represents a mathematical point in the zodiac derived by the longitudinal positions of the Sun, Moon and Ascendant (Rising sign) in the birth chart of an individual. It represents an especially beneficial point in the horoscopic chart. In Arabic astrology, this and similar points are called Arabian Parts.


title: Fortuna

text: Al-Biruni (973 – 1048), an 11th-century mathematician, astronomer, and scholar, who was the greatest proponent of this system of prediction, listed a total of 97 Arabic Parts, which were widely used for astrological consultations.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: Shanghai Knights is a 2003 American martial arts action comedy film. It is the sequel to "Shanghai Noon", and the second installment of the "Shanghai" film series. Directed by David Dobkin and written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, it stars Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Fann Wong, Donnie Yen and Aidan Gillen.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: It was released on February 7, 2003. The film received mixed reviews but it performed well at the box office.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: In 1887, Lord Nelson Rathbone leads a band of Boxers into the Forbidden City, killing the Keeper of the Imperial Seal of China and stealing the seal. With his dying breath, the Keeper gives his daughter, Chon Lin, a puzzle box for her brother, Sheriff Chon Wang.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: In Carson City, Nevada, Wang has captured an impressive array of fugitives. Wang receives the box and a letter from Lin telling him of their father's death and that she has tracked the murderer to London.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: Wang travels to New York City to find his old partner Roy O'Bannon and collect his share of their gold so that he can buy passage to London. Roy has left law enforcement, broken off his marriage, invested all their gold in the Zeppelin, and is now a waiter and part-time gigolo. After an aborted attempt at prostitution to pay for tickets, the pair ship themselves to London in a crate.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: In London, Roy's pocket is picked by a youth named Charlie. After a struggle between Roy, Wang, Charlie, and a gang angered by Charlie stealing on their turf, they are arrested. In Scotland Yard, Inspector Artie Doyle thanks the two for defeating the Fleet Street gang. When they ask about Lin, Artie shows them she is in custody, having attempted to kill Lord Rathbone. Roy is instantly smitten with Lin and gives her a deck of playing cards as a good luck charm. Wang and Roy encounter Charlie. Breaking into an estate for shelter, they find an invitation to a gala at Buckingham Palace.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: Roy and Wang infiltrate the gala in disguise: Roy as Major General "Sherlock Holmes" (a name he derives from the face of a clock) and Wang as the "Maharaja of Nevada". Wang and Roy follow Rathbone to a private library, where he slips through a secret passage. Wang finds the seal box, but the seal itself is gone and they are attacked by guards. Lin, having used Roy's playing cards to pick the lock on her cell, arrives and saves Roy. The three see Rathbone give the Imperial Seal to Wu Chow, the illegitimate brother of the Emperor of China. After a brief struggle, Charlie steals the seal. Rathbone and Wu Chow escape after the former sets the barn that they were in on fire. Lin manages to escape, with Roy and Wang stealing Rathbone's car, later crashing it into Stonehenge. Rathbone fires Artie after suggesting that his "incompetence knows no bounds". Wang and Roy are picked up by Lin the next morning who takes them to Whitechapel.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: At a brothel, Roy overhears Wang try to convince Lin that Roy is an unsuitable husband, even telling her of his gigolo history and suspected infertility. Wang soothes Roy's feelings of betrayal by treating him to a pillow fight with the brothel staff. Wang, Roy, and Lin are found and captured by Rathbone, who reveals his plan: In exchange for the seal, Wu Chow will kill the British royal family and frame Lin. As tenth in line for the throne, Rathbone will then become king. Awaiting death, Roy confesses he spent most of the fortune publishing novels such as "Roy O'Bannon Vs. The Mummy", in which he portrayed himself as a hero and Wang as a cowardly sidekick. The two are reconciled and Wang says he will not stand between him and Lin. He frees himself and saves Roy.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: Wong and Roy consult Artie about Charlie's location. Artie deduces from a hat he dropped that Charlie is at Madame Tussauds. They save him from the Boxers but lose the seal after the three are forced to hand it over to the Boxers, in exchange for Charlie's life. The three are then captured by police. Charlie rescues them and reveals his full name is Charlie Chaplin. They save the royal family from being assassinated by Wu Chow, whom Lin kills with a rocket. The three pursue Rathbone to the top of Big Ben. Roy is thrown off but hangs onto the clock face, while Wang is hopelessly outmatched at swordplay by Rathbone, who repeatedly spares his life so as to prolong their duel. Wang gives up on trying to outright defeat Rathbone, instead severing the support ropes for their platform. Roy catches Wang as Rathbone falls to his death. Both soon jump after grabbing a portion of the Union Jack landing safely inside the Queen's coach.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: Roy, Wang, and Artie are knighted. Artie decides to write stories, and asks Roy for use of the "Sherlock Holmes" name. Wang opens the box his father sent him to find a message reminding him of the importance of family. Roy proposes that he and Wang go to Hollywood to join the new motion picture industry. Charlie stows away as they drive off.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: Director David Dobkin was personally chosen by Jackie Chan. Dobkin had a difficult time choosing a suitable Asian actress who could do movement work, emote well and speak excellent English. He then saw clips of Fann Wong's videos "Wo lai ye" (2001) and "Qing she yu bai she" (2001) and asked to audition her in London, which she did. She got the role and the number of scenes with her in was increased by thirty percent. On Jackie Chan's memoir Never Grow Up, Faye Wong from his native city Hong Kong was his first choice but Fann Wong was incorrectly hired.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: Aside from establishing shots of iconic English landmarks, including The House of Lords, Buckingham Palace and Madame Tussaud's, the scenes in London were largely filmed in Prague, Czech Republic from February 4 to June 21, 2002.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the chemistry between Chan and Wilson, the action sequences, and the fun nature of the film, but strong criticism for the plot.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 66% based on 151 reviews. The site's consensus states: "A silly, anachronistic mess, but the pairing of Chan and Wilson makes the movie fun."


title: Shanghai Knights

text: On Metacritic the film has a score of 58 out of 100, based on reviews from 33 critics. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun Times" gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, calling it "fun in a broad, genial way", but disapproved of the "entirely arbitrary" plot.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: Joe Leydon of "Variety" found it better than its predecessor: "A hugely entertaining and more lavishly mounted follow-up to 2000's "Shanghai Noon", the high-concept East-meets-Western that first teamed [the] top-billed duo pic rides even taller in the saddle as a fleet and funny crowd-pleaser." Elvis Mitchell of "The New York Times" gave a positive review, singling out Chan's fight sequences and Wilson's performance, noting how "Wilson gets to steal a part of the movie that Chan is smart enough not to want." Mitchell also praised the "bluntly gorgeous" cinematography, and said Chan's reputation is "resuscitated in the rousing, cheerful sequel", calling it "one of his best." Nathan Rabin of "The A.V. Club" also praised the chemistry between the two leads, writing, "Chan [...] found the perfect screen buddy in Wilson." Rabin criticized the "thin" plot, but found "there's a greatest-hits element" to Chan's fight scenes.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: A third film was meant to be produced under the title "Shanghai Dawn". Plans for the film were posted on Jackie Chan's website, but after some news of casting and production plans, no film has been produced. While unconfirmed, it is speculated that the project has been halted indefinitely as there is no news nor a release date. In a February 7, 2003, interview, Owen Wilson said: "We're talking about it maybe starting in Hollywood and then going from there to Africa or the Pyramids ... I feel like we have the freedom to take them anywhere in time we want."


title: Shanghai Knights

text: MGM announced in May 2015 that they were moving forward with "Shanghai Dawn". Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson and Fann Wong are expected to reprise their roles as Chon Wang, Roy O'Bannon and Chon Lin respectively. In September 2016, Jared Hess signed on as director for the film while both Millar and Gough would develop a screen story with Theodore Riley and Aaron Buchsbaum writing the script for the film.


title: Shanghai Knights

text: Gough said the third film will be set in China because Chan "wants to showcase China in the way that the first film showcased the old West". Gough added that Chan and Wilson also have a hand in the creative process: "With those films, the collaboration of Jackie and Owen comes out on screen as they get along very well. With that in mind, you want to get their input in the story phase, so that when we got to script, it's based into the DNA of the story." As of 2022, there is no further information or release date for the film.


title: Detransition

text: Detransition is the cessation or reversal of a transgender identification or gender transition, whether by social, legal, or medical means. Some individuals detransition on a temporary basis.


title: Detransition

text: Estimates of the rate at which detransitioning occurs vary. Reasons for detransitioning also vary, and may include health-related concerns, finding that transition did not alleviate gender dysphoria, an unaffirming social environment, financial concerns, the realization that the individual's gender dysphoria was a manifestation of another condition, or political, religious, or philosophical disagreements with the transgender movement.


title: Detransition

text: Academic research into detransition is underdeveloped. Professional interest in the phenomenon has been met with contention, and some scholars have argued there is censorship around the topic. In politics and popular culture, detransitioning is a contentious topic. Some who detransition report feeling a loss of support by their LGBT friends and family. Various sides in the debate over detransitioning have reported harassment from other individuals.


title: Detransition

text: "Transition" is the process of a transgender person changing their gender presentation and/or sex characteristics to accord with their internal sense of gender identity. Transition commonly involves social changes (such as clothing, personal name, and pronouns), legal changes (such as changes in legal name and legal gender), and medical/physical changes (such as hormone replacement therapy and sex reassignment surgery).


title: Detransition

text: "Detransition" (sometimes called "retransition") is the process of halting or reverting a transgender identification or gender transition. Like transition, detransition is not a single event. Methods of detransitioning can vary greatly among individuals, and can involve changes to one's gender expression, social identity, identity documents, and/or anatomy. "Desistance" is a general term for any cessation, and it is commonly applied specifically to the cessation of transgender identity or gender dysphoria. Those who undertake detransition are known as "detransitioners". Detransition is sometimes associated with "transition regret", but regret and detransition do not always coincide.


title: Detransition

text: The term "detransition" is controversial within the transgender community. According to Turban et al., this is because, as with the word "transition", it carries an "incorrect implication that gender identity is contingent upon gender affirmation processes". The term has also been conflated with transition regret, and thereby become associated with a politically motivated push to restrict the access of transgender people to transition-related healthcare.


title: Detransition

text: Formal studies of detransition have been few in number, of disputed quality, and politically controversial. Frequency estimates for detransition and desistance vary greatly, with notable differences in terminology and methodology. Detransition is more common in the earlier stages of transition, particularly before surgeries. The number of detransitioners is unknown, with estimates ranging from less than 1% to as many as 8%.


title: Detransition

text: Studies have reported higher rates of desistance among prepubertal children. A 2016 review of 10 prospective follow-up studies from childhood to adolescence found desistance rates ranging from 61% to 98%, with evidence suggesting that they might be less than 85% more generally. These studies have been criticized on the grounds that they include cases as 'desistance' where the child met the criteria for gender identity disorder as defined in the DSM-III or DSM-IV, although some would likely not have met the updated criteria for gender dysphoria in the DSM-5 (2013). Initial diagnostic criteria for gender dysphoria were only introduced in the DSM-III (1980), so earlier research on desistance rates might report inflated numbers of desistance due to the inclusion of gender-nonconforming children without gender dysphoria. Additionally, two studies of childhood desistance were based on data from a Canadian clinic which closed in 2015 after allegations that they engaged in conversion therapy by discouraging social transition; such clinical practices may also lead to inflated rates of reported desistance. Most childhood desisters go on to identify as cisgender and gay or lesbian.


title: Detransition

text: A 2019 poster presentation examined the records of 3398 patients who attended a UK gender identity clinic between August 2016 and August 2017. Davies and colleagues searched for assessment reports with keywords related to regret or detransition. They identified 16 individuals (0.47%) who expressed regret or had detransitioned. Of those 16, 3 (0.09%) had detransitioned permanently. 10 (0.29%) had detransitioned temporarily, to later retransition. A 2019 clinical assessment found that 9.4% of patients with adolescent-emerging gender dysphoria either ceased wishing to pursue medical interventions or no longer felt that their gender identity was incongruent with their assigned sex at birth within an eighteen-month period. A 2021 study examining the case notes of 175 adults discharged from a UK gender identity clinic between September 2017 and August 2018 found that 12 (6.9%) met the researchers' criteria for detransitioningthat is, they returned to living as their assigned gender. Six individuals were found to have experiences that "overlap" with detransitioners, but were not counted as such for this study due to displaying "gender identity confusion" during treatment.


title: Detransition

text: Those who undergo sex reassignment surgery have very low rates of detransition or transition regret. A 2005 Dutch study included 162 adults who received sex reassignment surgery, 126 of whom participated in follow-up assessments one to four years after surgery. Two individuals expressed regret at follow-up, only one of whom said that they would not transition again if given the opportunity. The remaining 124 out of 126 (98%) expressed no regrets about transitioning. A 2021 meta-analysis of 27 studies concluded that "there is an extremely low prevalence of regret in transgender patients after [gender-affirmation surgery]".


title: Detransition

text: Studies of transition regret or detransition in different populations have found different (average or median) elapsed times before these occurred: a 2018 study found 10 years and 10 months on average to regret (but not necessarily detransition) from start of hormonal therapy, and a 2014 study of those who had surgery found a median lag of 8 years before requesting a reversal of legal gender status. A 2021 UK study found evidence that supports detransitioning occurring on average 4–8 years after transitioning.


title: Detransition

text: Informed consent and affirmation of self-diagnosis (both newer but increasingly employed models for transgender healthcare) have been criticized for failing to meet the needs of those who eventually detransition.


title: Detransition

text: Criticisms have been made regarding the "persistence-desistance" dichotomy as ignoring reasons why a person's gender identity may desist outside of simply being cisgender in the first place. For example, an assertion of a cisgender identity may be treated with validity and as an invalidation of a previously stated transgender identity; however, an assertion of a transgender identity may only be treated with the same validity if it is held throughout one's life. An individual may repress or realize their identity at any point in their life for a variety of reasons; some individuals' gender identities are fluid and/or may change throughout their lifetime, and some individuals whose identities are non-binary are effectively excluded due to a study's assumption of a gender binary.


title: Detransition

text: The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey collected responses from individuals who identified as transgender at the time of the survey. 8% of respondents reported having ever detransitioned; 62% of that group were living as a gender other than the one assigned to them at birth at the time of the survey. About 36% reported having detransitioned due to pressure from parent, 33% because it was too difficult, 31% due to discrimination, 29% due to difficulty getting a job, 26% pressure from family members, 18% pressure from a spouse, and 17% due to pressure from an employer.


title: Detransition

text: In a 2021 study of 237 detransitioners (92% of whom were assigned female at birth), recruited via online detransitioner communities and who no longer identify as transgender, the most prevalent reasons to detransition were the realization that gender dysphoria was related to other issues (70%), health concerns (for 62%), and that transitioning didn’t help their gender dysphoria (50%). In a 2021 study of 2,242 individuals recruited via community outreach organizations who detransitioned and who continue to identify as transgender or gender diverse, the vast majority said detransition was in part due to external factors, such as pressure from family, sexual assault, and nonaffirming school environments; another highly cited factor was "it was just too hard for me." Motives for detransitioning commonly include financial barriers to transition, social rejection in transition, depression or suicidality due to transition, and discomfort with sexual characteristics developed during transition. Additional motives include concern for lack of data on long-term effects of hormone replacement therapy, concern for loss of fertility, complications from surgery, and changes in gender identity. Some people detransition on a temporary basis, in order to accomplish a particular aim, such as having biologically related children, or until barriers to transition have been resolved or removed. Transgender elders may also detransition out of concern for whether they can receive adequate or respectful care in later life. A qualitative study comparing child desisters to persisters (those with persisting gender dysphoria) found that while persisters related their dysphoria primarily to a mismatch between their bodies and their identity, desisters' dysphoria was more likely to be, at least retroactively, related to a desire to fulfill the other gender role. An October 2021 study of 100 detransitioners found that detransitioning was related to them becoming more comfortable identifying as their natal sex (60%), having concerns about potential medical complications from transitioning (49%), coming to the view that their gender dysphoria was caused by something specific such as trauma, abuse, or a mental health condition (38%), experiencing discrimination (23%), homophobia or difficulty accepting themselves as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (23%) and feeling pressured to transition by social sources that included friends, partners, and society (20%).


title: Detransition

text: As of April 2022, 14 states in the U.S. were considering bills that criminalize transgender medical treatment for minors, forcibly detransitioning minors who couldn't leave the state.


title: Detransition

text: The majority of medical associations agree that gender-affirming healthcare is necessary. In a letter to the National Governors Association, the American Medical Association warned that anti-trans healthcare bans will lead to greater rates of depression and suicide for transgender youth.


title: Detransition

text: In 2021, the Arkansas legislature passed House Bill 1570 prohibiting transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming health care of any kind. The ACLU challenged the bill, leading a federal judge to issue a temporary injunction, protecting transgender youth in the state being detransitioned against their will.


title: Detransition

text: On August 5, 2022, the Florida Board of Medicine voted to consider guidelines proposed by the state's surgeon general, starting the process of denying transgender youth in Florida gender-affirming care. On June 2, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced a plan to end medicaid coverage for transgender adults, making them the first U.S state to target hormones and transition coverage for adults and removing care for approximately 9000 adults.


title: Detransition

text: Senate Bill 184 in Alabama prohibits doctors from prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy for transgender youth under a threat of up to 10 years in prison, forcibly detransitioning youth in the state.


title: Detransition

text: House Bill 454 in Ohio, introduced by Gary Click without consulting any transgender people beforehand, would forcibly detransition all transgender minors in the state. Click stated he believes children are being "groomed" into thinking they're trans.


title: Detransition

text: Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia plans to introduce federal legislation to ban gender-affirming care for transgender children, which would medically detransition all transgender youth in the U.S.


title: Detransition

text: On October 28, 2022, Florida's Board of Medicine passed a motion to ban all gender-affirming healthcare for minors, including puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries. The motion mandates all transgender youth to detransition until they turn 18. At one point during the hearing, in response to one protester yelling that trans children would be harmed as a result, board member Dr. Zachariah P. Zachariah answered "That's okay", before forcing a vote ahead. Some who'd been at the meeting were reported as saying that the board had put all the speakers in favor of the ban, many of whom where from outside of the state or outside of the country, first in line to speak, before cutting off public comment once they ran out and pro-trans Floridians began to take the podium.


title: Detransition

text: There are no legal, medical, and psychological guidelines on the topic of detransition. The Standards of Care by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) do not mention detransition, though 37 WPATH surgeons have expressed a desire for detransition guidelines to be included, and former WPATH president and longtime chair of WPATH's Standards of Care revision team, Eli Coleman, has listed detransition among the topics that he would like to see included in the eighth edition.


title: Detransition

text: Some researchers perceive there to be an atmosphere of censorship around studying the phenomenon. Various sides involved in the dispute over detransitioning say they have been harassed and have described each other as threats to transgender rights. A study in 2021 involving detransitioners found that many of them felt they lost support from the LGBT+ community and friends.


title: Detransition

text: Controversy surrounding detransition within trans activism primarily arises from how the subject is framed as a subject of moral panic in mainstream media and right-wing politics. Detransition has attracted interest from both social conservatives on the political right and radical feminists on the political left. Activists on the right have been accused of using detransitioners' stories to further their work against trans rights. On the left, some radical feminists see detransitioners' experiences as further proof of patriarchal enforcement of gender roles and medicalized erasure of gays and lesbians. Other feminists have expressed disagreement with this opinion, referring to those who hold these beliefs as trans-exclusionary radical feminists. This attention has elicited in detransitioners mixed feelings of both exploitation and support.


title: Detransition

text: In August 2017, the Mazzoni Center's Philadelphia Trans Health Conference, which is an annual meeting of transgender people, advocates, and healthcare providers, canceled two panel discussions on detransition and alternate methods of working with gender dysphoria. The conference organizers said, "When a topic becomes controversial, such as this one has turned on social media, there is a duty to make sure that the debate does not get out of control at the conference itself. After several days of considerations and reviewing feedback, the planning committee voted that the workshops, while valid, cannot be presented at the conference as planned."


title: Detransition

text: In September 2017, Bath Spa University revoked permission for James Caspian, a Jungian psychotherapist who works with transgender people and is a trustee of the Beaumont Trust, to research regret of gender-reassignment procedures and pursuit of detransition. Caspian alleged the reason for the university's refusal was that it was "a potentially politically incorrect piece of research, [which] carries a risk to the university. Attacks on social media may not be confined to the researcher, but may involve the university. The posting of unpleasant material on blogs or social media may be detrimental to the reputation of the university." The university stated that Caspian's proposal "was not refused because of the subject matter, but rather because of his proposed methodological approach. The university was not satisfied this approach would guarantee the anonymity of his participants or the confidentiality of the data." In May 2017, he took the matter to the High Court, which concluded his application for a judicial review was "totally without merit". The outcome was also considered by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, who determined the university's conclusion was reasonable. Caspian appealed to the High Court for judicial review again in 2019; the judge ruled against him, saying, "I entirely accept that there are important issues of freedom of expression. I just do not accept that, on the facts of this particular case, there is an arguable case made out," and adding that the application was too late. Caspian claimed that he was "refused permission for a Judicial Review on points of procedure" and that the judge "was clearly sympathetic to the case but felt that his hands were tied by legal procedure;" in February 2021, he appealed to the European Court of Human Rights.


title: Detransition

text: Many ex-gay and Christian Right affiliated organizations also offer services to transgender people, either through themselves or partner organizations. A key characteristic of these organizations are the construction of "transgenderism" as a sin against God or the natural order. In the 1970's, Exodus International platformed Perry Desmond, an "ex-transsexual" who evangelized throughout the US and supported Anita Bryant's Save Our Children campaign. Another prominent characteristic is ex-transgender testimonials, which depict "the transgender lifestyle" as destructive as opposed to contemplation of God and encourage other transgender people to join them. These organizations portray "gender ideology" and "transgender ideology" as a social contagion threatening to the natural order.


title: Detransition

text: Ky Schevers, an "ex-detransitioner" whose detransition was prominently profiled by Katie Herzog and The Outline, spoke about her experiences in a community of radical feminist detransitioned women, drawing parallels to the ex-gay movement and conversion therapy. Parallels drawn include suppressing rather than addressing or removing the underlying dysphoria, stating that not only their gender dysphoria but everyone's dysphoria was a result of internalized sexism and trauma, and language from the twelve-step program being used to describe the desire to transition.


title: Detransition

text: Schevers noted that during the Bell v Tavistock ruling, her lawyer had connections to the right-wing and anti-LGBT-rights organization the Alliance Defending Freedom, which she described as pushing most of the anti-trans bills in the United States. Schevers later created Health Liberation Now! alongside Lee Leveille, who'd also previously been involved in detransition communities that were transphobic, to "give voice to folks who have complicated experiences with transition or detransition, retransition and shifting senses of self that goes beyond a lot of the TERFy areas that people are inevitably getting funnelled into". The group has reported on conversion therapy practices and maintains resources to help identify relationships between clinical conversion therapists and astroturfed campaigns led by anti-trans groups.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: In chemistry, orbital hybridisation (or hybridization) is the concept of mixing atomic orbitals to form new "hybrid orbitals" (with different energies, shapes, etc., than the component atomic orbitals) suitable for the pairing of electrons to form chemical bonds in valence bond theory. For example, in a carbon atom which forms four single bonds the valence-shell s orbital combines with three valence-shell p orbitals to form four equivalent sp mixtures in a tetrahedral arrangement around the carbon to bond to four different atoms. Hybrid orbitals are useful in the explanation of molecular geometry and atomic bonding properties and are symmetrically disposed in space. Usually hybrid orbitals are formed by mixing atomic orbitals of comparable energies.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: Chemist Linus Pauling first developed the hybridisation theory in 1931 to explain the structure of simple molecules such as methane (CH) using atomic orbitals. Pauling pointed out that a carbon atom forms four bonds by using one s and three p orbitals, so that "it might be inferred" that a carbon atom would form three bonds at right angles (using p orbitals) and a fourth weaker bond using the s orbital in some arbitrary direction. In reality, methane has four C-H bonds of equivalent strength. The angle between any two bonds is the tetrahedral bond angle of 109°28' (around 109.5°). Pauling supposed that in the presence of four hydrogen atoms, the s and p orbitals form four equivalent combinations which he called "hybrid" orbitals. Each hybrid is denoted sp to indicate its composition, and is directed along one of the four C-H bonds. This concept was developed for such simple chemical systems, but the approach was later applied more widely, and today it is considered an effective heuristic for rationalizing the structures of organic compounds. It gives a simple orbital picture equivalent to Lewis structures.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: Hybridisation theory is an integral part of organic chemistry, one of the most compelling examples being Baldwin's rules. For drawing reaction mechanisms sometimes a classical bonding picture is needed with two atoms sharing two electrons. Hybridisation theory explains bonding in alkenes and methane. The amount of p character or s character, which is decided mainly by orbital hybridisation, can be used to reliably predict molecular properties such as acidity or basicity.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: Orbitals are a model representation of the behavior of electrons within molecules. In the case of simple hybridization, this approximation is based on atomic orbitals, similar to those obtained for the hydrogen atom, the only neutral atom for which the Schrödinger equation can be solved exactly. In heavier atoms, such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, the atomic orbitals used are the 2s and 2p orbitals, similar to excited state orbitals for hydrogen.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: Hybrid orbitals are assumed to be mixtures of atomic orbitals, superimposed on each other in various proportions. For example, in methane, the C hybrid orbital which forms each carbon–hydrogen bond consists of 25% s character and 75% p character and is thus described as sp (read as "s-p-three") hybridised. Quantum mechanics describes this hybrid as an sp wavefunction of the form formula_1, where N is a normalisation constant (here 1/2) and pσ is a p orbital directed along the C-H axis to form a sigma bond. The ratio of coefficients (denoted λ in general) is formula_2 in this example. Since the electron density associated with an orbital is proportional to the square of the wavefunction, the ratio of p-character to s-character is λ = 3. The p character or the weight of the p component is Nλ = 3/4.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: Hybridisation describes the bonding of atoms from an atom's point of view. For a tetrahedrally coordinated carbon (e.g., methane CH), the carbon should have 4 orbitals with the correct symmetry to bond to the 4 hydrogen atoms.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: The carbon atom can use its two singly occupied p-type orbitals to form two covalent bonds with two hydrogen atoms, yielding the singlet methylene CH, the simplest carbene. The carbon atom can also bond to four hydrogen atoms by an excitation (or promotion) of an electron from the doubly occupied 2s orbital to the empty 2p orbital, producing four singly occupied orbitals.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: The energy released by the formation of two additional bonds more than compensates for the excitation energy required, energetically favoring the formation of four C-H bonds.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: Quantum mechanically, the lowest energy is obtained if the four bonds are equivalent, which requires that they are formed from equivalent orbitals on the carbon. A set of four equivalent orbitals can be obtained that are linear combinations of the valence-shell (core orbitals are almost never involved in bonding) s and p wave functions, which are the four sp hybrids.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: In CH, four sp hybrid orbitals are overlapped by hydrogen 1s orbitals, yielding four σ (sigma) bonds (that is, four single covalent bonds) of equal length and strength.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: Other carbon compounds and other molecules may be explained in a similar way. For example, ethene (CH) has a double bond between the carbons.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: For this molecule, carbon sp hybridises, because one π (pi) bond is required for the double bond between the carbons and only three σ bonds are formed per carbon atom. In sp hybridisation the 2s orbital is mixed with only two of the three available 2p orbitals, usually denoted 2p and 2p. The third 2p orbital (2p) remains unhybridised.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: forming a total of three sp orbitals with one remaining p orbital. In ethylene (ethene) the two carbon atoms form a σ bond by overlapping one sp orbital from each carbon atom. The π bond between the carbon atoms perpendicular to the molecular plane is formed by 2p–2p overlap. Each carbon atom forms covalent C–H bonds with two hydrogens by s–sp overlap, all with 120° bond angles. The hydrogen–carbon bonds are all of equal strength and length, in agreement with experimental data.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: The chemical bonding in compounds such as alkynes with triple bonds is explained by sp hybridization. In this model, the 2s orbital is mixed with only one of the three p orbitals,


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: resulting in two sp orbitals and two remaining p orbitals. The chemical bonding in acetylene (ethyne) (CH) consists of sp–sp overlap between the two carbon atoms forming a σ bond and two additional π bonds formed by p–p overlap. Each carbon also bonds to hydrogen in a σ s–sp overlap at 180° angles.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: Hybridisation helps to explain molecule shape, since the angles between bonds are approximately equal to the angles between hybrid orbitals. This is in contrast to valence shell electron-pair repulsion (VSEPR) theory, which can be used to predict molecular geometry based on empirical rules rather than on valence-bond or orbital theories.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: As the valence orbitals of main group elements are the one s and three p orbitals with the corresponding octet rule, sp hybridization is used to model the shape of these molecules.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: As the valence orbitals of transition metals are the five d, one s and three p orbitals with the corresponding 18-electron rule, spd hybridisation is used to model the shape of these molecules. These molecules tend to have multiple shapes corresponding to the same hybridization due to the different d-orbitals involved. A square planar complex has one unoccupied p-orbital and hence has 16 valence electrons.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: In certain transition metal complexes with a low d electron count, the p-orbitals are unoccupied and sd hybridisation is used to model the shape of these molecules.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: In some general chemistry textbooks, hybridization is presented for main group coordination number 5 and above using an "expanded octet" scheme with d-orbitals first proposed by Pauling. However, such a scheme is now considered to be incorrect in light of computational chemistry calculations.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: In 1990, Eric Alfred Magnusson of the University of New South Wales published a paper definitively excluding the role of d-orbital hybridisation in bonding in hypervalent compounds of second-row (period 3) elements, ending a point of contention and confusion. Part of the confusion originates from the fact that d-functions are essential in the basis sets used to describe these compounds (or else unreasonably high energies and distorted geometries result). Also, the contribution of the d-function to the molecular wavefunction is large. These facts were incorrectly interpreted to mean that d-orbitals must be involved in bonding.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: In light of computational chemistry, a better treatment would be to invoke sigma bond resonance in addition to hybridisation, which implies that each resonance structure has its own hybridisation scheme. All resonance structures must obey the octet rule.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: Although ideal hybrid orbitals can be useful, in reality, most bonds require orbitals of intermediate character. This requires an extension to include flexible weightings of atomic orbitals of each type (s, p, d) and allows for a quantitative depiction of the bond formation when the molecular geometry deviates from ideal bond angles. The amount of p-character is not restricted to integer values; i.e., hybridizations like sp are also readily described.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: The hybridization of bond orbitals is determined by Bent's rule: "Atomic character concentrates in orbitals directed towards electropositive substituents".


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: For molecules with lone pairs, the bonding orbitals are isovalent sp hybrids. For example, the two bond-forming hybrid orbitals of oxygen in water can be described as sp to give the interorbital angle of 104.5°. This means that they have 20% s character and 80% p character and does "not" imply that a hybrid orbital is formed from one s and four p orbitals on oxygen since the 2p subshell of oxygen only contains three p orbitals. The shapes of molecules with lone pairs are:


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: In such cases, there are two mathematically equivalent ways of representing lone pairs. They can be represented by orbitals of sigma and pi symmetry similar to molecular orbital theory or by equivalent orbitals similar to VSEPR theory.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: For hypervalent molecules with lone pairs, the bonding scheme can be split into a hypervalent component and a component consisting of isovalent sp bond hybrids. The hypervalent component consists of resonant bonds using p orbitals. The table below shows how each shape is related to the two components and their respective descriptions.


title: Orbital hybridisation

text: Hybridisation of s and p orbitals to form effective sp hybrids requires that they have comparable radial extent. While 2p orbitals are on average less than 10% larger than 2s, in part attributable to the lack of a radial node in 2p orbitals, 3p orbitals which have one radial node, exceed the 3s orbitals by 20–33%. The difference in extent of s and p orbitals increases further down a group. The hybridisation of atoms in chemical bonds can be analysed by considering localised molecular orbitals, for example using natural localised molecular orbitals in a natural bond orbital (NBO) scheme. In methane, CH, the calculated p/s ratio is approximately 3 consistent with "ideal" sp hybridisation, whereas for silane, SiH, the p/s ratio is closer to 2. A similar trend is seen for the other 2p elements. Substitution of fluorine for hydrogen further decreases the p/s ratio. The 2p elements exhibit near ideal hybridisation with orthogonal hybrid orbitals. For heavier p block elements this assumption of orthogonality cannot be justified. These deviations from the ideal hybridisation were termed hybridisation defects by Kutzelnigg.