title: Terraforming of Mars

text: Mars's atmosphere has about 1% the pressure of the Earth's at sea level. It is estimated that there is sufficient ice in the regolith and the south polar cap to form a atmosphere if it is released by planetary warming. The reappearance of liquid water on the Martian surface would add to the warming effects and atmospheric density, but the lower gravity of Mars requires 2.6 times Earth's column airmass to obtain the optimum pressure at the surface. Additional volatiles to increase the atmosphere's density must be supplied from an external source, such as redirecting several massive asteroids (40-400 billion tonnes total) containing ammonia () as a source of nitrogen.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: Current conditions in the Martian atmosphere, at less than of atmospheric pressure, are significantly below the Armstrong limit of where very low pressure causes exposed bodily liquids such as saliva, tears, and the liquids wetting the alveoli within the lungs to boil away. Without a pressure suit, no amount of breathable oxygen delivered by any means will sustain oxygen-breathing life for more than a few minutes. In the NASA technical report "Rapid (Explosive) Decompression Emergencies in Pressure-Suited Subjects", after exposure to pressure below the Armstrong limit, a survivor reported that his "last conscious memory was of the water on his tongue beginning to boil". In these conditions humans die within minutes unless a pressure suit provides life support.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: If Mars' atmospheric pressure could rise above , then a pressure suit would not be required. Visitors would only need to wear a mask that supplied 100% oxygen under positive pressure. A further increase to of atmospheric pressure would allow a simple mask supplying pure oxygen. This might look similar to mountain climbers who venture into pressures below , also called the death zone, where an insufficient amount of bottled oxygen has often resulted in hypoxia with fatalities. However, if the increase in atmospheric pressure was achieved by increasing CO (or other toxic gas) the mask would have to ensure the external atmosphere did not enter the breathing apparatus. CO concentrations as low as 1% cause drowsiness in humans. Concentrations of 7% to 10% may cause suffocation, even in the presence of sufficient oxygen. (See Carbon dioxide toxicity.)


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: In 2021, the NASA Mars rover Perseverance was able to make oxygen on Mars. However, the process is complex and takes a lot of time to produce a small amount of oxygen.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: According to scientists, Mars exists on the outer edge of the habitable zone, a region of the Solar System where liquid water on the surface may be supported if concentrated greenhouse gases could increase the atmospheric pressure. The lack of both a magnetic field and geologic activity on Mars may be a result of its relatively small size, which allowed the interior to cool more quickly than Earth's, although the details of such a process are still not well understood.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: There are strong indications that Mars once had an atmosphere as thick as Earth's during an earlier stage in its development, and that its pressure supported abundant liquid water at the surface. Although water appears to have once been present on the Martian surface, ground ice currently exists from mid-latitudes to the poles. The soil and atmosphere of Mars contain many of the main elements crucial to life, including sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: Any climate change induced in the near term is likely to be driven by greenhouse warming produced by an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide () and a consequent increase in atmospheric water vapor. These two gases are the only likely sources of greenhouse warming that are available in large quantities in Mars' environment. Large amounts of water ice exist below the Martian surface, as well as on the surface at the poles, where it is mixed with dry ice, frozen . Significant amounts of water are located at the south pole of Mars, which, if melted, would correspond to a planetwide ocean 5–11 meters deep. Frozen carbon dioxide () at the poles sublimes into the atmosphere during the Martian summers, and small amounts of water residue are left behind, which fast winds sweep off the poles at speeds approaching . This seasonal occurrence transports large amounts of dust and water ice into the atmosphere, forming Earth-like ice clouds.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: Most of the oxygen in the Martian atmosphere is present as carbon dioxide (), the main atmospheric component. Molecular oxygen (O) only exists in trace amounts. Large amounts of oxygen can be also found in metal oxides on the Martian surface, and in the soil, in the form of per-nitrates. An analysis of soil samples taken by the Phoenix lander indicated the presence of perchlorate, which has been used to liberate oxygen in chemical oxygen generators. Electrolysis could be employed to separate water on Mars into oxygen and hydrogen if sufficient liquid water and electricity were available. However, if vented into the atmosphere it would escape into space.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: Terraforming Mars would entail three major interlaced changes: building up the magnetosphere, building up the atmosphere, and raising the temperature. The atmosphere of Mars is relatively thin and has a very low surface pressure. Because its atmosphere consists mainly of , a known greenhouse gas, once Mars begins to heat, the may help to keep thermal energy near the surface. Moreover, as it heats, more should enter the atmosphere from the frozen reserves on the poles, enhancing the greenhouse effect. This means that the two processes of building the atmosphere and heating it would augment each other, favoring terraforming. However, it would be difficult to keep the atmosphere together because of the lack of a protective global magnetic field against erosion by the solar wind.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: One method of augmenting the Martian atmosphere is to introduce ammonia (NH). Large amounts of ammonia are likely to exist in frozen form on minor planets orbiting in the outer Solar System. It might be possible to redirect the orbits of these or smaller ammonia-rich objects so that they collide with Mars, thereby transferring the ammonia into the Martian atmosphere. Ammonia is not stable in the Martian atmosphere, however. It breaks down into (diatomic) nitrogen and hydrogen after a few hours. Thus, though ammonia is a powerful greenhouse gas, it is unlikely to generate much planetary warming. Presumably, the nitrogen gas would eventually be depleted by the same processes that stripped Mars of much of its original atmosphere, but these processes are thought to have required hundreds of millions of years. Being much lighter, the hydrogen would be removed much more quickly. Carbon dioxide is 2.5 times the density of ammonia, and nitrogen gas, which Mars barely holds on to, is more than 1.5 times the density, so any imported ammonia that did not break down would also be lost quickly into space.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: Another way to create a Martian atmosphere would be to import methane (CH) or other hydrocarbons, which are common in Titan's atmosphere and on its surface; the methane could be vented into the atmosphere where it would act to compound the greenhouse effect. However, like ammonia (NH), methane (CH) is a relatively light gas. It is in fact even less dense than ammonia and so would similarly be lost into space if it was introduced, and at a faster rate than ammonia. Even if a method could be found to prevent it escaping into space, methane can exist in the Martian atmosphere for only a limited period before it is destroyed. Estimates of its lifetime range from 0.6–4 years.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: Especially powerful greenhouse gases, such as sulfur hexafluoride, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), or perfluorocarbons (PFCs), have been suggested both as a means of initially warming Mars and of maintaining long-term climate stability. These gases are proposed for introduction because they generate a greenhouse effect thousands of times stronger than that of . Fluorine-based compounds such as sulphur hexafluoride and perfluorocarbons are preferable to chlorine-based ones as the latter destroys ozone. It has been estimated that approximately 0.3 microbars of CFCs would need to be introduced into Mars' atmosphere in order to sublimate the south polar glaciers. This is equivalent to a mass of approximately 39 million tonnes, that is, about three times the amount of CFCs manufactured on Earth from 1972 to 1992 (when CFC production was banned by international treaty). Maintaining the temperature would require continual production of such compounds as they are destroyed due to photolysis. It has been estimated that introducing 170 kilotons of optimal greenhouse compounds (CFCFCF, CFSCFCF, SF, SFCF, SF(CF)) annually would be sufficient to maintain a 70-K greenhouse effect given a terraformed atmosphere with earth-like pressure and composition.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: Typical proposals envision producing the gases on Mars using locally extracted materials, nuclear power, and a significant industrial effort. The potential for mining fluorine-containing minerals to obtain the raw material necessary for the production of CFCs and PFCs is supported by mineralogical surveys of Mars that estimate the elemental presence of fluorine in the bulk composition of Mars at 32 ppm by mass (as compared to 19.4 ppm for the Earth).


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: Alternatively, CFCs might be introduced by sending rockets with payloads of compressed CFCs on collision courses with Mars. When the rockets crashed into the surface they would release their payloads into the atmosphere. A steady barrage of these "CFC rockets" would need to be sustained for a little over a decade while Mars changed chemically and became warmer.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: Mirrors made of thin aluminized PET film could be placed in orbit around Mars to increase the total insolation it receives. This would direct the sunlight onto the surface and could increase Mars's surface temperature directly. The 125 km radius mirror could be positioned as a statite, using its effectiveness as a solar sail to orbit in a stationary position relative to Mars, near the poles, to sublimate the ice sheet and contribute to the warming greenhouse effect. However, certain problems have been found with this. The main concern is the difficulty of launching large mirrors from earth.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: Reducing the albedo of the Martian surface would also make more efficient use of incoming sunlight in terms of heat absorption. This could be done by spreading dark dust from Mars's moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are among the blackest bodies in the Solar System; or by introducing dark extremophile microbial life forms such as lichens, algae and bacteria. The ground would then absorb more sunlight, warming the atmosphere. However, Mars is already the second darkest planet in the solar system, absorbing over 70% of incoming sunlight so the scope for darkening it further is small.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: If algae or other green life were established, it would also contribute a small amount of oxygen to the atmosphere, though not enough to allow humans to breathe. The conversion process to produce oxygen is highly reliant upon water, without which the is mostly converted to carbohydrates. In addition, because on Mars atmospheric oxygen is lost into space (unlike Earth where there is an Oxygen cycle), this would represent a permanent loss from the planet. For both of these reasons it would be necessary to cultivate such life inside a closed system. This would decrease the albedo of the closed system (assuming the growth had a lower albedo than the Martian soil), but would not affect the albedo of the planet as a whole.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: On April 26, 2012, scientists reported that lichen survived and showed remarkable results on the adaptation capacity of photosynthetic activity within the simulation time of 34 days under Martian conditions in the Mars Simulation Laboratory (MSL) maintained by the German Aerospace Center (DLR).


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: One final issue with albedo reduction is the common Martian dust storms. These cover the entire planet for weeks, and not only increase the albedo, but block sunlight from reaching the surface. This has been observed to cause a surface temperature drop which the planet takes months to recover from. Once the dust settles it then covers whatever it lands on, effectively erasing the albedo reduction material from the view of the Sun.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: Since 2014, the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program and Techshot Inc have been working together to develop sealed biodomes that would employ colonies of oxygen-producing cyanobacteria and algae for the production of molecular oxygen (O) on Martian soil. But first they need to test if it works on a small scale on Mars. The proposal is called Mars Ecopoiesis Test Bed. Eugene Boland is the Chief Scientist at Techshot, a company located in Greenville, Indiana. They intend to send small canisters of extremophile photosynthetic algae and cyanobacteria aboard a future rover mission. The rover would cork-screw the canisters into selected sites likely to experience transients of liquid water, drawing some Martian soil and then release oxygen-producing microorganisms to grow within the sealed soil. The hardware would use Martian subsurface ice as its phase changes into liquid water. The system would then look for oxygen given off as metabolic byproduct and report results to a Mars-orbiting relay satellite.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: If this experiment works on Mars, they will propose to build several large and sealed structures called biodomes, to produce and harvest oxygen for a future human mission to Mars life support systems. Being able to create oxygen there would provide considerable cost-savings to NASA and allow for longer human visits to Mars than would be possible if astronauts have to transport their own heavy oxygen tanks. This biological process, called "ecopoiesis", would be isolated, in contained areas, and is not meant as a type of global planetary engineering for terraforming of Mars's atmosphere, but NASA states that "This will be the first major leap from laboratory studies into the implementation of experimental (as opposed to analytical) planetary "in situ" research of greatest interest to planetary biology, ecopoiesis, and terraforming."


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: Research at the University of Arkansas presented in June 2015 suggested that some methanogens could survive in Mars's low pressure. Rebecca Mickol found that in her laboratory, four species of methanogens survived low-pressure conditions that were similar to a subsurface liquid aquifer on Mars. The four species that she tested were "Methanothermobacter wolfeii", "Methanosarcina barkeri", "Methanobacterium formicicum", and "Methanococcus maripaludis". Methanogens do not require oxygen or organic nutrients, are non-photosynthetic, use hydrogen as their energy source and carbon dioxide (CO) as their carbon source, so they could exist in subsurface environments on Mars.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: One key aspect of terraforming Mars is to protect the atmosphere (both present and future-built) from being lost into space. Some scientists hypothesize that creating a planet-wide artificial magnetosphere would be helpful in resolving this issue. According to two NIFS Japanese scientists, it is feasible to do that with current technology by building a system of refrigerated latitudinal superconducting rings, each carrying a sufficient amount of direct current.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: In the same report, it is claimed that the economic impact of the system can be minimized by using it also as a planetary energy transfer and storage system (SMES).


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: During the Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop in late February 2017, NASA scientist Jim Green proposed a concept of placing a magnetic dipole field between the planet and the Sun to protect it from high-energy solar particles. It would be located at the Mars Lagrange orbit L at about 320 R, creating a partial and distant artificial magnetosphere. The field would need to be "Earth comparable" and sustain as measured at 1 Earth-radius. The paper abstract cites that this could be achieved by a magnet with a strength of . If constructed, the shield may allow the planet to partially restore its atmosphere.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: A plasma torus along the orbit of Phobos by ionizing and accelerating particles from the moon may be sufficient to create a magnetic field strong enough to protect a terraformed Mars.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: The overall energy required to sublimate the from the south polar ice cap was modeled by Zubrin and McKay in 1993. If using orbital mirrors, an estimated 120 MW-years of electrical energy would be required in order to produce mirrors large enough to vaporize the ice caps. This is considered the most effective method, though the least practical. If using powerful halocarbon greenhouse gases, an order of 1,000 MW-years of electrical energy would be required to accomplish this heating. However, if all of this were put into the atmosphere,


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: it would only double the current atmospheric pressure from 6 mbar to 12 mbar, amounting to about 1.2% of Earth's mean sea level pressure. The amount of warming that could be produced today by putting even 100 mbar of into the atmosphere is small, roughly of order . Additionally, once in the atmosphere, it likely would be removed quickly, either by diffusion into the subsurface and adsorption or by re-condensing onto the polar caps.


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: The surface or atmospheric temperature required to allow liquid water to exist has not been determined, and liquid water


title: Terraforming of Mars

text: conceivably could exist when atmospheric temperatures are as low as . However, a warming of is much less than thought necessary in order to produce liquid water.


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: "The Vampire Diaries", an American supernatural drama, was officially renewed by The CW for a full 22-episode season on February 16, 2010. The first episode premiered on September 9, 2010, at 8 p.m. ET. The season picks up immediately after the events of the season one finale. All the series regulars returned. The second season focuses on the return of Elena Gilbert's (Nina Dobrev) doppelgänger, Katherine Pierce, the introduction of werewolves, the sun and moon curse, and the arrival of the original vampires. Tyler Lockwood's (Michael Trevino) uncle, Mason Lockwood (Taylor Kinney), arrives in town searching for the moonstone, a family heirloom. Tyler later learns of his family's werewolf curse. Meanwhile, Caroline Forbes (Candice Accola) is killed by Katherine while having Damon Salvatore's (Ian Somerhalder) blood in her system, turning her into a vampire. The arrival of the original vampires, Elijah (Daniel Gillies) and Klaus Mikaelson (Joseph Morgan), also bring about complications. Klaus is a vampire-werewolf hybrid, but his werewolf side had been forced into dormancy by witches, as nature would not stand for such an imbalance in power. Therefore, Klaus arrives in town with plans to break the curse and unleash his werewolf side by channelling the power of the full moon into the moonstone, sacrificing a vampire and a werewolf, and drinking the blood of the doppelgänger. It became available on DVD and Blu-ray on August 30, 2011.


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: On February 16, 2010, The CW officially renewed "The Vampire Diaries" for a full 22-episode second season. It premiered on Thursday September 9, 2010, at 8 pm ET. The season finale aired on May 12, 2011.


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: On July 9, 2010, Entertainment Weekly announced Taylor Kinney would join the cast in a recurring role as Tyler's uncle Mason, a werewolf who comes to town after his brother dies. Katherine sends Mason to Mystic Falls to get the moonstone for her. He succeeds, but Damon and Stefan find out that he works with Katherine, and Damon kills him. Mason has been described as a "cool" uncle, sexy and athletic. Lauren Cohan joined the cast as Rose, a 500-year-old vampire and possible love interest for Damon. She kidnaps Elena to hand her over to Elijah, but Elena is saved by Stefan and Damon. She then becomes their ally and even starts a small romantic relationship with Damon. She dies after being bitten by werewolf Jules. Sarah Michelle Gellar was offered the role of Rose but turned it down.


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: Michaela McManus joined the cast in a guest role as a werewolf who comes to town looking for answers about Mason's death. She helps Tyler deal with the discovery that he is a werewolf, but is later killed during the sacrifice. Bryton James portrays warlock Luka Martin in season two. He befriends Bonnie, but it is later revealed that he and his father work for Elijah. When he tries to save Elijah invisibly, Damon burns him to death. His father Jonas Martin, played by Randy J. Goodwin in season two, is introduced as a friend of Elijah. He is a warlock who, in order to save his daughter Greta, is willing and able to help defeat Klaus. He is later killed by Katherine, who is protecting the Salvatore brothers.


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: Gino Anthony Pesi portrays Maddox at the end of season two, a warlock who works for Klaus. Matt shoots him to death when he tries to overcome Damon. On February 18, 2011, it was announced that British actor Joseph Morgan had signed on to play original vampire Klaus.


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: The second season focuses mainly on the arrival of Elena's doppelgänger Katherine Pierce and on her reasons for returning to Mystic Falls. It also introduces werewolves. Tyler's werewolf uncle, Mason Lockwood, arrives after the death of Tyler's father and tells Tyler about the so-called "Lockwood curse" in their family. To activate the werewolf gene, the person must kill someone. Katherine turns Caroline into a vampire, so as to have a spy against Stefan and Elena. Katherine's main reason for returning to Mystic Falls is to find the moonstone, with the help of Mason, who is killed by Damon. Katherine calls in a favor from a witch named Lucy to get the stone. Lucy casts a spell so that when Katherine is hurt, it also affects Elena.


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: When Lucy finds out that another Bennett is at the party and that Katherine had deceived her, she puts a spell on the moonstone, injuring Katherine. Damon then leaves her in the original tomb where she is trapped until the spell has been removed from the tomb. She tells him that her reason for not killing Elena is that she is in danger. Elena is later kidnapped by a masked individual and held hostage by vampires Rose and Trevor, who have been on the run from the Originals (the first generation of vampires). Rose reveals to Elena that she is the Petrova doppelgänger and needs to be sacrificed to break the sun and moon curse. Katherine was also a Petrova doppelgänger, who used Trevor to help her escape from the Originals and Rose to turn her into a vampire to save herself. Elena is rescued by Stefan and Damon by stabbing Elijah with a sharp wooden pole and they escape.


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: Klaus, one of the original vampires, arrives and is now hunting Elena. His brother Elijah has made a deal with Elena to protect her loved ones, because he wants to use her as bait to lure Klaus and kill him. Jules, a friend of Mason, tells the Lockwoods that Mason never came back to Florida and is missing. Alaric is suspicious of Jules and calls Damon to the Grill (local town hangout). Jules reveals that she is a werewolf. Damon tells Jules she won't find Mason and to leave town. Jules breaks into the Salvatore mansion in wolf form and attacks Damon, but Rose pushes him out of the way, getting bitten on the shoulder instead (werewolf bites are lethal to vampires). As Rose succumbs to the effects of the bite, Damon stakes her in a glorious dream they share, giving her a peaceful death.


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: Uncle John returns to Mystic Falls and comes as an unpleasant surprise to Elena, Damon, Jenna, and Alaric. John reveals to Damon that the only way to kill an Original is with a dagger dipped in white ash wood. A boy named Luka settle in the town with his father (they are both warlocks) and reveals that they are working for Elijah because Klaus has his sister Greta and they want him (Luka) dead as well. Luka becomes friends with Bonnie and tells her that Klaus will be weakened by the sacrificial ritual, meaning that Elena has to die so that Elijah can kill him and free his sister. John gives Damon the special dagger to kill Elijah.


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: Elena finds out that if a vampire uses the dagger, that vampire will die. Stefan warns Damon and Alaric stabs Elijah, but he pulls the dagger out and tells Elena their deal is off. Elena stabs herself in the stomach, and Elijah begs her to let him heal her. She stabs him with the dagger and leaves it in him. Elijah's death means that Katherine is no longer compelled to stay in the tomb. She helps kill the Martin witches. When Isobel returns to town, Katherine double-crosses the Salvatores by kidnapping Elena and stealing the moonstone for Klaus in exchange for her freedom. But it is revealed that Klaus wanted Katherine and compelled Isobel to get her and the moonstone.


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: Klaus enters Alaric's body and compels Katherine to stay in Alaric's house. Bonnie and Jeremy find the site of the a witch massacre and Bonnie channels all the power. Alaric/Klaus blends with Stefan, Damon, and Elena and finds out that Bonnie has her powers. Damon tells Bonnie to put on a protection spell and make Alaric/Klaus believe that she is dead. Elena does not want Bonnie to die, so she pulls the dagger out of Elijah's heart. After Elijah comes to life, Elena learns the full history of Klaus. The Aztec curse is fake and there is a curse on Klaus, as he is a vampire born in a werewolf bloodline. There is a ritual that involves killing a vampire and a werewolf and a Petrova doppelganger, that will unearth the werewolf side of Klaus making him a hybrid.


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: Elena realizes that the real curse is on Klaus, who therefore wants to kill her. But Elijah says he has an elixir that can save Elena from dying. Elena believes Elijah, but Damon says that there is another way to save her life and feeds her his blood. Stefan tries to stop him, but he stabs in the chest with the wooden dagger. Elena then cries that she will be a vampire against her will. Maddox kidnaps Tyler and Caroline. Damon frees them and is bitten. Then he goes to Klaus to tell him that he does not have a werewolf and witch, as he killed Maddox. Klaus says that he has backups. Klaus takes Elena from Stefan. Elena sees Jenna, who thinks she is dead, but Greta tells her she is transitioning. Damon asks Katherine about the vampire, and she says that Jenna is the backup vampire. He then checks his arm and sees that Tyler has bitten him.


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: In the season's finale, Klaus is working on the ritual out in the woods and is near completion when he is about to kill Elena, but Stefan tries to work a deal with him. Klaus agrees to have Stefan work for him in exchange for Damon's protection. Elena is "killed" in the ritual but is shown to have survived. Regardless, Klaus's werewolf side is unleashed and he becomes the first hybrid, half vampire half werewolf. Bonnie arrives and subdues Klaus with her powers, giving Elijah the opportunity to strike, but Klaus talks him down offering to help find their siblings. Elena's survival is revealed as John had Bonnie cast a spell that had him die in Elena's place. The next morning John succumbs and dies. At his funeral, Elena reads a note from John saying he will always love her and she will always be his daughter, even if she becomes a vampire. Damon also shows where he was bitten and walks away.


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: Based on 12 reviews, the second season currently holds a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 8.07 out of 10. The site's critics consensus reads, "The sophomore season of "Vampire Diaries" is top shelf guilty pleasure, balancing wild twists and cliffhangers without going off the rails."


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: Ken Tucker of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote, "The throbbing red heart of "The Vampire Diaries" remains the tension between Damon and Paul Wesley's Stefan, and their mutual attraction to whomever Dobrev is embodying at the time." Mark A. Perigard of the "Boston Herald" said, "The triangle – quadrangle? – becomes more twisted by episode's end. It leads to shocking violence against outsiders that deepens the tragedy and the mythology at the core of the show. "Game on" just might be the two most chilling words uttered this season." Matt Roush of "TV Guide" commented, ""The Vampire Diaries" is the sort of show where 'never say die' is written into the mythology – a good thing for several of the opening hour's apparent victims. I don't know how much longer "The Vampire Diaries" can keep churning stories at this feverish rate, but if this is your sort of guilty pleasure, you'd be crazy not to bite."


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: For its second season "The Vampire Diaries" won five Teen Choice Awards, one People's Choice Award, and a nomination in Saturn Awards.


title: The Vampire Diaries (season 2)

text: "The Vampire Diaries Season 2" was made available on DVD and Blu-ray on August 30, 2011. In region B, it was released on August 22, 2011.


title: Bart Starr

text: Bryan Bartlett Starr (January 9, 1934 – May 26, 2019) was an American professional football quarterback and head coach for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at the University of Alabama, and was selected by the Packers in the 17th round of the 1956 NFL Draft, where he played for them until 1971. Starr is the only quarterback in NFL history to lead a team to three consecutive league championships (1965–1967). He led his team to victories in the first two Super Bowls: I and II. As the Packers' head coach, he was less successful, compiling a 52–76–3 () record from 1975 through 1983.


title: Bart Starr

text: Starr was named the Most Valuable Player of the first two Super Bowls and during his career earned four Pro Bowl selections. He won the league MVP award in 1966. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Packers Hall of Fame in 1977. Starr has the highest postseason passer rating (104.8) of any quarterback in NFL history and a postseason record of 9–1. His career completion percentage of 57.4 was an NFL best when he retired in 1972. For 32 years (through the 2003 season), Starr also held the Packers' franchise record for games played (196).


title: Bart Starr

text: Starr was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama to parents Benjamin Bryan Starr (1910–1985), a labor foreman with the state highway department, and Lula (Tucker) Starr (1916–1995). Starr's early life was marked by hardships. Shortly after the start of World War II, his father's reserve unit was activated and in 1942 he was deployed to the Pacific Theater. He was first in the U.S. Army but transferred to the U.S. Air Force for his military career.


title: Bart Starr

text: Starr had a younger brother, Hilton E. "Bubba" Starr. In 1946, Bubba stepped on a dog bone while playing in the yard and three days later died of tetanus. Starr's relationship with his father deteriorated after Hilton's death. He was an introverted child who rarely showed his emotions and his father pushed Starr to develop more of a mean streak.


title: Bart Starr

text: Starr attended Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, and tried out for the football team in his sophomore year, but decided to quit after two weeks. His father gave him the option of playing football or working in the family garden; Starr chose to return to the football field.


title: Bart Starr

text: In his junior year, the starting quarterback broke his leg and Starr became the starter. He led Lanier to an undefeated season. In his senior season, Starr was named all-state and All-American, and received college scholarship offers from universities across the country. He seriously considered the University of Kentucky, coached by Bear Bryant. Starr's high school sweetheart, Cherry Louise Morton, was planning to attend Auburn and Starr wished to attend a college close to her. Starr changed his mind and committed to the University of Alabama.


title: Bart Starr

text: During Starr’s freshman year at Alabama, the Southeastern Conference allowed freshmen to play varsity football. Starr did not start for Alabama as a freshman, but he did play enough minutes to earn a varsity letter. His high point of the season came in quarterback relief in the Orange Bowl, when he completed 8 of 12 passes for 93 yards and a touchdown against Syracuse.


title: Bart Starr

text: Starr entered his sophomore year as Alabama's starting quarterback, safety and punter. His punting average of 41.4 yards per kick ranked second in the nation in 1953, behind Zeke Bratkowski. Alabama recorded a 6–2–3 record and lost in the Cotton Bowl to Rice by a score of 28–6. Starr completed 59 of 119 passes for 870 yards, with eight touchdowns that season.


title: Bart Starr

text: In May 1954, Starr eloped with Cherry Morton. The couple chose to keep their marriage a secret. Colleges often revoked the scholarships of married athletes in the 1950s, believing their focus should remain on sports. Cherry remained in Jackson, Alabama, while Starr returned to the University of Alabama.


title: Bart Starr

text: That summer, Starr suffered a severe back injury during a hazing incident for his initiation into the A Club. He covered up the cause by fabricating a story about being hurt while punting a football. He rarely played during his junior year due to the injury. The back injury disqualified him later from military service, and would occasionally bother him the rest of his football career. After a disappointing season of 4–5–2, Harold Drew was replaced by Jennings B. Whitworth as coach of Alabama.


title: Bart Starr

text: Whitworth conducted a youth movement at Alabama for the 1955 season and only two seniors started for the team. Supposedly healed from the back injury, Starr rarely played in his senior season. Starr's decision to play football for Alabama rather than for Bear Bryant at the University of Kentucky did not sit well with Bryant, and four years later as head coach of the Blue–Gray Football Classic in 1955, Bryant hardly let Bart play at all.


title: Bart Starr

text: Johnny Dee, the basketball coach at Alabama, was a friend of Jack Vainisi, the personnel director of the Green Bay Packers. Dee recommended Starr as a prospect to Vainisi. The Packers were convinced that Starr had the ability to succeed in the NFL and would learn quickly. In the 17th round of the 1956 NFL Draft, Starr was selected by the Packers, with the 200th overall pick.


title: Bart Starr

text: Starr spent the summer of 1956 living with his in-laws and throwing footballs through a tire in their backyard in order to prepare for his rookie season. The Packers offered $6,500 (equal to $ today) to sign Starr and he accepted, with the added condition, requested by Starr, that he receive $1,000 up front.


title: Bart Starr

text: Starr began as a backup to Tobin Rote in 1956 and split time with Babe Parilli until 1959, Vince Lombardi's first year as Packers coach. In that season, Lombardi pulled starter Lamar McHan in favor of Starr, and he held the starting job henceforth. The following season, the Packers advanced to the 1960 NFL Championship Game, but lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Lombardi's only post-season loss as a head coach.


title: Bart Starr

text: 1961 was Starr's first season as a full-time starting quarterback for the Packers, throwing for over 2,400 yards and 16 touchdown passes, leading the Packers to an 11-3 record and a return to the NFL Championship Game, this time against the New York Giants. Starr threw for 164 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 37-0 Packers victory. Starr and the Packers continued their success in 1962, going 13-1. Even though Starr was not the focal point of the Packers' offense, with the running duo of Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung, he still provided a solid passing attack, throwing for a career-high 2,438 yards and 14 touchdowns, leading the league with a completion percentage of 62.5. The Packers repeated as NFL champions, beating the Giants again in the 1962 NFL Championship game, 16-7. While not as impressive with his passing in the early years of his career, Starr was responsible for calling plays on the Packers' offense (which was then the norm), proving to be an effective strategist on offense.


title: Bart Starr

text: In 1963, the Packers fell short of qualifying for their fourth consecutive NFL Championship Game appearance, with injuries to Starr keeping him from finishing a few games. Even so, Starr still threw for 1,855 yards and 15 touchdowns. In 1964, with Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung struggling to continue their strong running game, Starr started to become more of the focus of the Packers' offensive attack. Vince Lombardi would help this shift by acquiring more capable pass catchers to the offense, trading for receiver Carroll Dale to join with Boyd Dowler and Max McGee, replacing tight end Ron Kramer with Marv Fleming, and drafting more pass-catching running backs in Elijah Pitts and Donny Anderson. With these new offensive weapons, Starr would put up his best passing seasons from 1964 to 1969. In 1964, despite the Packers only going 8-5-1, Starr threw for 2,144 yards, 15 touchdown passes, and only 4 interceptions. He led the league with a 97.1 passer rating.


title: Bart Starr

text: In 1965, the Packers went 10-3-1, led by Starr's 2,055 passing yards and 16 touchdown passes, a career-high. The Packers and their Western division foe, the Baltimore Colts, finished the season with identical records, so the two teams met in a playoff game to determine the division winner. Starr was knocked out of the game after the first play when he suffered a rib injury from a hard hit, but the Packers managed to win in overtime, 13-10, led by Starr's backup, Zeke Bratkowski. Starr came back and started the 1965 NFL Championship Game against the Cleveland Browns. On a sloppy Lambeau field, the Packers went back to their classic backfield tandem of Taylor and Hornung, with the pair running for over 200 yards. Starr threw for only 147 yards, but that included a 47-yard touchdown pass to Carroll Dale.


title: Bart Starr

text: In 1966, Starr had arguably the best season of his career, throwing for 2,257 yards, 14 touchdown passes, and only 3 interceptions. He led the NFL with a completion percentage of 62.2 and a 105 passer rating, while leading the Packers to a dominating 12-2 record. Starr would be named the NFL's Most Valuable Player by the Associated Press (AP), the Sporting News, the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), and the UPI In the NFL Championship Game against the Dallas Cowboys, Starr had his best postseason performance, throwing for 304 yards and 4 touchdown passes, leading the Packers to a 34-27 victory, and the right to represent the NFL in the first ever Super Bowl, against the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs. Starr had another solid game against the Chiefs, throwing for 250 yards and two touchdowns, both to Max McGee, in a decisive 35-10 Packers win. Starr was named the first-ever Super Bowl MVP for his performance.


title: Bart Starr

text: 1967 was a down year for Starr, especially when compared to his previous three seasons. Bothered by a hand injury for much of the season, Starr threw for only 1,823 yards and 9 touchdowns, with a career-high 17 interceptions thrown. Helped in large part by their defense, the Packers still finished 9-4-1, which was good enough for the Packers to reach the postseason. In the divisional playoff against the Los Angeles Rams, Starr was back in form, throwing for 222 yards and a touchdown pass in a 28-7 Packers triumph. This victory would set the stage for the infamous Ice Bowl against the Dallas Cowboys in the 1967 NFL Championship Game. Consulting with Lombardi on the sideline, Starr suggested a basic wedge play ― with a twist. Instead of handing off to Chuck Mercein as the play dictated (and unbeknownst to his teammates), Starr suggested running it in himself. Having enough of the bitterly cold weather, Lombardi said, “Then do it, and let's get the hell out of here!" Starr almost broke down in laughter as he ran back to the huddle, but held his composure. The quarterback sneak play worked and the Packers went on to beat the Cowboys 21-17. Even in the cold conditions, Starr was still able to throw for 191 yards in the Ice Bowl, with two touchdown passes to Boyd Dowler.


title: Bart Starr

text: At the Orange Bowl in Miami, the Packers defeated the AFL champion Oakland Raiders 33–14 in Super Bowl II, Lombardi's final game as head coach of the Packers. Starr won his second consecutive Super Bowl MVP award for his performance, where he threw for 202 yards and a touchdown pass, a 62-yard strike to Boyd Dowler. The 1967 Packers remain the only team to win a third consecutive NFL title since the playoff system was instituted in 1933.


title: Bart Starr

text: Starr had originally planned to retire after the second Super Bowl win in January 1968, but without a clear successor and a new head coach, he stayed on. After Lombardi's departure, Starr continued to be a productive quarterback under new Packers coach Phil Bengston, though injuries hampered him. Starr threw for 15 touchdown passes in 1968, leading the NFL once again in completion percentage (63.7) and passer rating (104.3). Starr struggled to stay healthy again in 1969, but still once again led the league with a 62.2 completion percentage and an 89.9 passer rating, but only threw for 9 touchdowns and 1,161 yards. Starr was able to stay healthy for most of the entire 1970 season, but his age was showing, throwing for only 1,645 yards and 8 touchdowns, the last touchdown passes of his career. In an attempt to prolong his career, Starr had surgeries on his long-ailing throwing arm in July and August 1971. This nearly ended Starr's life, as the initial surgery was botched, nearly causing Starr to bleed to death. The surgeries ended up damaging the nerves in Starr's right arm, causing him to struggle to even grip a football, and while he stayed on the Packers' roster for the entire 1971 season, he only played in three games, usually with a glove on his throwing hand to try to regain his grip on the ball. In February 1972 Starr was set for one last year. He participated in the team's spring camp in Arizona in April, but his throwing shoulder and arm were no longer effective. Starr announced his retirement in July 1972 at age 38.


title: Bart Starr

text: Starr's playing career ended with the 1971 season, having posted the second-best career passer rating of 80.5 (First at the time was Otto Graham with 86.6).


title: Bart Starr

text: Immediately following his retirement as a player, Starr served as the Packers' quarterbacks coach and called plays in 1972 under head coach Dan Devine, when the Packers won the NFC Central division title at 10–4 with Scott Hunter under center. He pursued business interests and was then a broadcaster for CBS for two seasons. When Devine left for Notre Dame after the 1974 season, Starr was hired as head coach of the Packers on Christmas Eve. Upon taking the job, he recognized the long odds of a Hall of Fame player becoming a successful head coach. Initially given a three-year contract, he led the Packers for nine years, the first five as his own general manager.


title: Bart Starr

text: His regular season record was a disappointing 52–76–2 (), with a playoff record of 1–1. Posting a 5–3–1 record in the strike-shortened season of 1982, Starr's Packers made their first playoff appearance in ten years (and their last for another 11 years). They defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 41–16 in the expanded wild card round of 16 teams on January 8, 1983–their first home playoff game since 1967. However, they then lost to the Dallas Cowboys 37–26 in the divisional round the following week. He tallied only three other non-losing seasons as Packers coach. After a disappointing 8–8 finish the following year, Starr was dismissed in favor of his former teammate Forrest Gregg, who previously led the Cincinnati Bengals to Super Bowl XVI in the 1981 season and had coached the Cleveland Browns prior to that.


title: Bart Starr

text: On January 13, 1984, Starr was named the head coach of the Arizona Firebirds, a proposed expansion team for the NFL in Phoenix. The NFL never granted the would-be ownership group of the Firebirds a team (Phoenix would get the Cardinals in 1988).


title: Bart Starr

text: Starr was voted to the NFL Pro Bowl four times. He was voted NFL Most Valuable Player by both AP and UPI in 1966, and was chosen Super Bowl MVP in 1966 and 1967. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.


title: Bart Starr

text: He is one of six Green Bay Packers to have had his number "(15)" retired by the team. The others are Tony Canadeo "(3)", Don Hutson "(14)", Ray Nitschke "(66)", Reggie White "(92)", and Brett Favre "(4)".


title: Bart Starr

text: On October 17, 1970, President Richard Nixon spoke at a testimonial reception honoring Bart Starr in the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena in Green Bay, Wisconsin. "We honor him as a very great practitioner of his profession, the proud profession of professional football," Nixon said. "And as we honor him for that, we honor him not only for his technical skill but, as I've indicated, also for something that is just as important: his leadership qualities, his character, his moral fiber ... But I think the best way that I can present Bart Starr to his friends is to say very simply that the sixties will be described as the decade in which football became the number one sport in America, in which the Packers were the number one team, and Bart Starr was proudly the number one Packer."


title: Bart Starr

text: Starr has an NFL award named after him. The Athletes in Action/Bart Starr Award is given annually, by a panel of judges, to an NFL player who best exemplifies outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field, and in the community.


title: Bart Starr

text: Starr and his wife Cherry were married for more than 60 years. They had two sons, of whom the younger, Bret, is deceased (1988, age 24, drug overdose), and three granddaughters. He was a Christian.


title: Bart Starr

text: In 1965, Starr and his wife Cherry helped co-found Rawhide Boys Ranch in New London, Wisconsin, a facility designed to help at-risk and troubled boys throughout the state of Wisconsin. Starr even donated the Corvette he received as MVP of Super Bowl II to help Rawhide during their early years. He was affiliated with Rawhide Boys Ranch until his death. As of 2019, Cherry and Bart Jr. are still spokespersons for Rawhide and are in communication with Rawhide on a frequent basis.


title: Bart Starr

text: In 1971, Starr and his wife Cherry helped start the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation raising funds for cancer research and care in honor of his late coach, Vince Lombardi. They were active at all their events throughout the years. He and Cherry launched the Starr Children's Fund within the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation to continue their legacy of work supporting pediatric cancer research and care.


title: Bart Starr

text: During his latter years, Starr suffered a number of physical ailments, including ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, a mild heart attack, seizures, and a broken hip. In June 2015, Starr's family reported that he was undergoing stem-cell therapy in a clinical trial. He managed to attend a ceremony at Lambeau Field on November 26, 2015 retiring QB Brett Favre's jersey number, and a fall 2017 reunion of the Ice Bowl Packers. At Super Bowl 50 in February 2016, the NFL held a pregame ceremony honoring the MVPs of all 49 Super Bowls. Although he wished to attend, Starr was not well enough to travel to the game and instead sent a videotaped greeting from home.


title: Bart Starr

text: Starr died at the age of 85 on Sunday, May 26, 2019, in Birmingham, Alabama after a period of failing health caused by a serious stroke he suffered in 2014.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: The Italian Social Movement (, MSI) was a neo-fascist political party in Italy. A far-right party, it presented itself until the 1990s as the defender of Italian fascism's legacy, and later moved towards national conservatism. In 1972, the Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity was merged into the MSI and the party's official name was changed to Italian Social Movement – National Right (, MSI–DN).


title: Italian Social Movement

text: Formed in 1946 by supporters of the former dictator Benito Mussolini, most of whom took part in the experience of the Italian Social Republic and the Republican Fascist Party, the MSI became the fourth largest party in Italy by the early 1960s. The party gave informal local and eventually national support to the Christian Democracy party from the late 1940s and through the 1950s, sharing anti-communism. In the early 1960s, the party was pushed to the sidelines of Italian politics, and only gradually started to gain some political recognition in the 1980s. There was internal competition between the party's moderate and radical factions. The radicals led the party in its formative years under Giorgio Almirante, while the moderates gained control in the 1950s and 1960s. Almirante's return as leader in 1969 was characterised by a big tent strategy. In 1987, the reins of the party were taken by Gianfranco Fini, under whom it was transformed in 1995 into National Alliance (AN), a post-fascist party. On that occasion a small minority, led by Pino Rauti, disagreed with the new course and formed Tricolour Flame instead. In 2009, AN merged with the then centre-right main party, The People of Freedom (PdL), while Brothers of Italy was founded in 2012 as a right-wing split of the PdL, and ten years later it became the largest party in the country.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: The MSI derived its name and ideals from the Italian Social Republic (RSI), a "violent, socialising, and revolutionary republican" variant of fascism established as a Nazi puppet state by Benito Mussolini in 1943 in the northern part of the Italian Peninsula behind Nazi German frontlines. The dominating party of the republic, Mussolini's Republican Fascist Party (PFR), inspired the creation of the MSI. The party was formed by former fascist leaders and veterans of the republic's fascist army, and it has been regarded as the successor to both the PFR as well as the original National Fascist Party (PNF). The MSI nevertheless tried to modernise and revise fascist doctrine into a more moderate and sophisticated direction. It also drew from elements of the anti-communist and anti-establishment stance of the short-lived postwar populist Common Man's Front protest party, and many of its original backers would find a home in the MSI after its dissolution in 1949.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: On 12 November 1946 was created the Italian Movement of Social Unity ("Movimento Italiano di Unità Sociale", MIUS) by Giorgio Almirante and former fascist veterans of the Italian Social Republic (RSI) in order to provide a formal role to its representatives, who were supposed to attend a meeting on December 26 in Arturo Michelini's office.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: The Italian Social Movement was officially founded on 26 December 1946 in Rome via the merging of small political groups: the MIUS, the Front of the Italian ("Fronte dell'Italiano"), the Front of Work ("Fronte del Lavoro"), the Trade Union of Italian Railwaymen ("Unione Sindacale dei Ferrovieri Italiani"), and the Independent Veterans Group ("Gruppo Reduci Indipendenti"). Former RSI official Giorgio Almirante became the party's first leader. The three initial main goals of the party were to revive Mussolini's fascism, attack the Italian democracy and fight communism. Due to the anti-fascist consensus embodied by the post-war Constitution of Italy and agreements with the Allied forces, advocating a return to fascism had to be done discreetly. Although the MSI adapted itself into the constraints of the democratic environment, its manifest ideology was clearly antagonistic and antithetical to liberal democracy, and it was consequently excluded from the "Constitutional Arch," the circles of parties that had taken part in the drafting and approval of the Italian Constitution and which persisted as a loose coalition on certain policymaking issues, and from the parties deemed legitimate to govern.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: The MSI won financial support from wealthy businessmen and landowners who feared a possible communist regime seizing power in Italy, either coming from a domestic revolution or a takeover by Soviet forces. In the 1948 Italian general election, the neo-fascist party won seven deputies and one senator. But the MSI soon witnessed growing internal conflicts between conservatives, who sought involvement in NATO and political alliances with Monarchists and Christian Democrats, and hardliners who wanted the party to turn into anti-American and anti-establishment platform. Almirante was replaced as the leader of the party in 1950 due to his uncompromising anti-NATO position. His position taken by conservative Augusto De Marsanich, under whose leadership the party won some strong electoral gains.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: Four years later in 1954, De Marsanich was replaced by Arturo Michelini. The conservative elements dominated the party in the 1950s and 1960s, and it maintained a rather moderate course. By the late 1950s, the MSI had become Italy's fourth largest party, and the Italian party system was unique in Europe in terms of having a continual and significant neo-fascist presence since the end of World War II. Michelini established the strategy of "inserimento" (insertion) during his leadership of the party, which consisted in gaining acceptance through cooperation with other parties within the framework of liberal democracy. Disgruntled by the MSI's focus on parliamentarism and their attempts to establish an image of democratic respectability, the radicals broke out to create several splinter groups. Pino Rauti and others left in 1956 to found Ordine Nuovo, while Stefano Delle Chiaie established the National Vanguard in 1960.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: In the wider context of the Cold War, anti-communism had replaced anti-fascism as the abiding principle of the Italian Republic, and Christian Democrats started to accept political backing from the party (along with Monarchists and Liberals) to prop up their minority governments after the 1958 Italian general election. Already in the late 1940s, the Christian Democrats, somewhat reluctantly, had discreetly accepted support from the MSI to keep the Italian Communist Party (PCI) out of the Roman city council.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: In March 1960, the MSI even became the sole backer of the Christian Democratic minority Tambroni Cabinet, which had enormous political implications. As concerns grew over the party's expanding role in Italian politics, riots became commonplace between neo-fascist supporters and radical leftists. Learning that the National Congress of the MSI was about to be held in Genoa in July 1960 to celebrate the accomplishment of the "inserimento" strategy, militant anti-fascist protests erupted on June 30 in the city. Those rallies spread to other Italian cities over the next fortnight, resulting in violent and sometimes lethal clashes with the police. The government consequently banned the congress from taking place, and eventually resigned on July 27. This event marked the failed end of the "inserimento" strategy, and the beginning of the long party's decline. Following the victory of a centre-left government in 1963, the Christian Democrats no longer needed the parliamentary support of the MSI, and the party was definitively forced back into "political ghetto". Its main objective in the following decades thus became to get back into the political game. The demise of the strategy is also deemed conducive to the radicalization of the violent splinter groups like Ordine Nuovo.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: Michelini remained the leader of the MSI until his death in 1969, when the party's first leader Almirante regained control. The latter attempted to revitalise the party by pursuing an aggressive policy against left-wing student uprisings, since the 1968 student movement had been devastating for the party's youth organisation.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: Learning from Michelini's failed approach of "inserimento", Almirante declared in his report to the party's central committee in 1969: "We stand before two different paths: an alternative to the system or an alternative within the system". He introduced a double strategy of hard anti-systemic discourse combined with the creation of a broader "National Right" ("Destra Nazionale") coalition in 1972. He broadened the party in both conservative and radical directions, initiated a cooperation that eventually led to a merging with the Monarchist National Party, reintegrated Rauti and other radicals into the MSI, and attempted to attract conservative figures from the Christian Democrats and the Liberals. The party grew strongly in the early 1970s, claiming 420,000 members in 1973. Contesting the 1972 Italian general election in a joint list with Monarchists, the MSI almost doubled its support up to 8.7% of the votes, its highest score ever until 1994. It successfully capitalized on southern protests and an agenda of "law and order".


title: Italian Social Movement

text: However, the MSI supported acts of political violence committed by young activists and the revolts in the Mezzogiorno; the party was also in contact with some sectors of "terrorismo nero" ("black terrorism"), involved in right-wing domestic terrorist attacks during the Years of Lead. Those connections, in apparent contraction to the respectability sought by the party, damaged its public reputation. Support for the MSI consequently receded in the 1976 Italian general election, and many conservatives pulled out from the party, leaving it with 279,000 members that year. Frustrated in their aspiration to turn the MSI in a mainstream conservative party, moderates formed the short-lived National Democracy in 1976, accusing Almirate of maintaining contacts with right-wing terrorism and of being unable to follow a concrete parliamentary strategy. The new party, which took with it half the MSI parliamentary representation and nearly all of its public finance, was dissolved in the aftermath of the 1979 Italian general election.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: During the late 1970s and early 1980s, a second wave of right-wing terrorism in Italy led to political radicalisation among some MSI members, and a part of them left the party to form new splinter groups. A new wave of studies and "historicisation" of fascism, widely debated in the public media, participated in pacifying the political climate. The MSI's insistent denunciations of violence began to gain in credibility, and the party became less stigmatised in mainstream politics. After he became prime minister in 1983, Bettino Craxi of the Italian Socialist Party met with MSI leaders, and his office later issued a statement that expressed regrets for the "ghettoisation" of the party. In 1984, high-level representatives of the Christian Democrats, the Liberals and the Democratic Socialists attended the party congress of the MSI for the first time. The next year, the party was granted a position on the board of directors of the RAI, the state radio and television network.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: Gianfranco Fini took over the party leadership from Almirante in 1987, as his anointed successor and favoured candidate by the party's old guard. However, following Almirante's death the next year, Fini was left without his protector and gradually viewed as a weak leader, unable to turn around the decline and isolation of the party. Fini also adopted provocative initiatives against the internal opposition.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: In 1990 Pino Rauti briefly gained the leadership of the party from Fini, but his revolutionary, anti-capitalist and leftist (yet loyal fascist) approach further alienated the party's supporters. As a result, Fini regained the leadership in 1991. Fini then sought to downplay the fascist origins of the MSI, further dividing the party into several factions. He transformed the MSI into the more moderate National Alliance (AN), going farther than Almirante's 1970s "National Right" strategy. Fini came to be viewed as a skilful political operator and he gained the support of the party majority.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: In the "Tangentopoli" scandals of the early 1990s, a pool of judges discovered a widespread system of corruption in all of the mainstream Italian parties, and many key politicians were brought on trial. The scandals were devastating for the involved parties and resulted in their dissolutions, and the so-called "First Republic" collapsed. The MSI was not affected by the scandals, for it had not been taken part in the Italian political life. Nevertheless, a radical transformation was required to break away from its fascist heritage. At the same time, the end of the Cold War helped de-radicalising Italian politics. The corruption scandals also led the Italian political competition to become very personalised. In 1993, Fini and Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of Benito Mussolini, surprisingly won unprecedented large support when running for mayor in Rome and Naples, respectively. Although they lost the elections, they each won about 45% of the vote.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: The AN project was launched in 1993, contested the 1994 Italian general election, and the MSI was finally dissolved in and replaced by AN in January 1995 . Rauti and other radicals attempted to reconstitute the MSI as Tricolour Flame, but with only modest success. Fini in turn went on to lead AN to huge electoral gains, into the Pole of Good Government coalition with political newcomer Silvio Berlusconi and his Forza Italia party, and eventually into part of his governments. The party's partication in the 1994 government met strong criticism from several European politicians, but did not manifest itself in any diplomatic implications. In just a few years, Fini had turned the MSI from a position of stagnation to one of the members of the ruling coalition. Although long-term and other short-term factors were part of the new fortunes for the party, it could arguably hardly have happened without the effects of the "Tangentopoli" scandals.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: The MSI's political program stressed traditional values, law and order, and hostility towards revolution and revolutionary movements. It particularly advocated a centralised state with a presidential system of government, and no devolution of powers to regions. The party pursued a dualistic policy, in which it combined anti-establishment discourse with a practical policy of electoral cooperation with the mainstream right.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: Although it was for a long time preoccupied with the debate of fascism and anti-fascism, the party started to distance itself from this in the early 1970s to rather focus on contemporary Italian issues. While both wings of the party agreed after the 1950s that fascism was dead, they nevertheless saw some good things in fascism that they wanted to reinstitute. When the party transformed itself into the AN, it outspokenly rejected fascism, as well as "any kind of totalitarianism and racism". In contrast to other far-right parties in Europe which increased their power in the late 1980s, the MSI chose not to campaign against immigration, because Italy was less concerned about the topic at the time versus other European countries.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: The MSI included a large variety of currents, which ranged from republicans to monarchists, Catholics to anti-clericals, conservative capitalists to radical anticapitalists, and revolutionaries to corporatists. The party was mainly divided between the adherents of what Renzo De Felice called the "fascism-movement" and the "fascism-regime", roughly also corresponding to the party's "northern" and "southern" factions. The former "leftist"-tendency was more militant and radical, and claimed heritage from the socialistic and anti-bourgeois "republican" fascism of the Italian Social Republic and pre-1922 fascism. The latter drew more from the mainstream clerical, conservative, authoritarian, and bourgeois fascist tendency that prevailed after the stabilisation of the fascist regime.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: Most of the party's initial leaders were northern radicals, but most of its support was from voters in the South. In the North, the party elite to a large extent consisted of highly ideological veterans from the civil war. As the Italian Social Republic (RSI) had not existed in the South, and there thus had been no civil war, the southern MSI-supporters and notables were by contrast largely moderate-conservatives, less interested in ideology. When the conservatives gained power of the party in the 1950s, they steered it more towards the traditional clerical and monarchist right-wing.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: The MSI took a strongly nationalistic approach in foreign policy, but was initially divided between "third force" and pro-NATO groups. It abstained when the parliament voted on Italy's admission into NATO in 1949, but later expressed support for NATO and the European Community, based on a "European nationalism" idea. The party supported Italy's inclusion in the European Monetary System in 1979, as well as the installation of American cruise missiles in Sicily in 1983.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: Unlike other post-fascist or far-right parties in Europe during its time, the MSI supported the State of Israel.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: From the end of the war to the late 1980s, the MSI was the chief reference point for the European far-right. By the initiative of the MSI, the European Social Movement was established after conferences in Rome in 1950 and Malmö, Sweden, in 1951. The conference in Malmö was attended by around one hundred delegates from French, British, German, Austrian, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, and Swedish neo-fascist groups, with some notable figures including Maurice Bardèche, Karl-Heinz Priester, Oswald Mosley, and Per Engdahl. The MSI was also part of the New European Order, together with, among others, the Falange and the Socialist Reich Party. Due to the MSI's support for continued Italian control of South Tyrol, German-speaking delegates eventually left the NEO. Growing divisions and external competition left both groups largely moribund by 1957. At a conference in Venice in 1962, the National Party of Europe was formed by the MSI, the Union Movement, the Deutsche Reichspartei, Jeune Europe, and the Mouvement d'Action Civique. The group was effectively defunct by 1966.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: In response to the development of "eurocommunism" in the mid-1970s, Almirante initiated the first conference of a "Euro-Right" in Rome in 1978. The meeting included the Francoist New Force, France's Party of New Forces (PFN), and parties from Belgium, Portugal, and Greece. The parties were unable to gather enough support to establish a group in the European Parliament following the 1979 European election. After the 1984 European election, the MSI was finally able to establish a European Right group, together with the French National Front (which had emerged victorious from its rivalry with the PFN) and the Greek National Political Union. However, following the 1989 European election, the MSI refused to join the new European Right group over the territorial dispute of South Tyrol, due to the arrival of The Republicans, a German party which supported South Tyrol claims made by the Freedom Party of South Tyrol. Neither The Republicans, nor the Belgian Vlaams Blok party, wanted to form a group with the MSI over this issue. As the MSI transformed itself into AN, it distanced itself from increasingly powerful European far-right parties such as France's Front National and Austria's Freedom Party.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: The electoral support for the MSI fluctuated around 5 percent, with its supporting peaking in 1972 at almost 9 percent. The party's popular support came mostly from the southern underclass and the rural oligarchy until the 1960s, and later from the urban middle classes, especially in Rome, Naples, Bari, and the other cities of the Centre-South. Its supporters consisted demographically of old fascists, lower-middle-class shopkeepers, and artisans, as well as a number of bureaucrats, police, and military. Reasons to vote for the MSI included protest votes, nostalgia, and support for traditional values, as well as southern resentment of the North. As the old fascist veterans started to fade away, the party in turn gained support from alienated youth groups.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: Although most of the party's initial leaders were radicals from the North, the party's electoral base was in the South. In its first election, almost 70 percent of the party's votes came from regions south of Rome, and all of its elected parliamentary representatives came from southern constituencies. In the 1952 local elections, the MSI–Monarchist alliance won 11.8% of the votes in the South. In 1972, when the MSI was at its peak, it won 14.8% in Lazio (17.4% in Rome and 21.0% in Latina), 16.7% in Campania (26.3% in Naples and 22.2% in Salerno), 12.5% in Apulia (21.0% in Lecce, 18.8% in Bari, and 18.4% in Foggia), 12.2% in Calabria (36.3% in Reggio Calabria), 15.9% in Sicily (30.6% in Catania, 24.4% in Messina, and 20.7% in Siracusa) and 11.3% in Sardinia (16.0% in Cagliari).


title: Italian Social Movement

text: By the beginning of the 1990s the MSI had strengthened its position, especially in Lazio, and, when the Christian Democrats disbanded in 1993–94, the MSI was able to attract many Christian Democratic voters in Central and Southern Italy, as well as many formerly Italian Socialist Party votes, especially in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. In some places, such as Lazio, the MSI became the new dominant political force. At a time when Lega Nord was booming in the North, several voters south of the Po River liked the MSI's appeals to Italian identity and unity. In the 1996 Italian general election, the first after the transformation of the MSI into AN, the Italian right-wing won its best result ever: 15.7% nationally, 28.9% in Lazio (where, with 31.3%, AN was the largest party in Rome), 19.8% in Umbria, 21.1% in Abruzzo, 20.0% in Campania, 23.5% in Basilicata, 22.1% in Apulia, 20.9% in Calabria, and 20.3% in Sardinia.


title: Italian Social Movement

text: The electoral results of MSI in general (Chamber of Deputies) and European Parliament elections since 1948 are shown in the chart below.


title: Death in Venice

text: Death in Venice (German: "Der Tod in Venedig") is a novella by German author Thomas Mann, published in 1912. It presents an ennobled writer who visits Venice and is liberated, uplifted, and then increasingly obsessed by the sight of a Polish tourist, Tadzio, so nicknamed for Tadeusz. Tadzio was based on a real person named Władzio whom Mann had observed during his 1911 visit to the city, but the story itself was fictional.


title: Death in Venice

text: The main character is Gustav von Aschenbach, a famous author in his early 50s who recently has been ennobled in honor of his artistic achievement (thus acquiring the aristocratic "von" in his name). He is a man dedicated to his art, disciplined and ascetic to the point of severity, who was widowed at a young age.


title: Death in Venice

text: As the story opens, he is strolling outside a cemetery and sees a coarse-looking, red-haired foreigner who stares back at him belligerently. Aschenbach walks away, embarrassed but curiously stimulated. He has a vision of a primordial swamp-wilderness, fertile, exotic and full of lurking danger. Soon afterward, he resolves to take a holiday.


title: Death in Venice

text: After a false start in traveling to Pula on the Austro-Hungarian coast (now in Croatia), Aschenbach realizes he was "meant" to go to Venice and takes a suite in the Grand Hôtel des Bains on the Lido island. While shipbound and en route to the island, he sees an elderly man in company with a group of high-spirited youths, who has tried hard to create the illusion of his own youth with a wig, false teeth, make-up, and foppish attire. Aschenbach turns away in disgust. Later, he has a disturbing encounter with an unlicensed gondolier—another red-haired, skull-faced foreigner—who repeats "I can row you well" when Aschenbach orders him to return to the wharf.


title: Death in Venice

text: Aschenbach checks into his hotel, where at dinner he sees an aristocratic Polish family at a nearby table. Among them is an adolescent boy of about 14 in a sailor suit. Aschenbach, startled, realizes that the boy is supremely beautiful, like a Greek sculpture. His elder sisters, by contrast, are so severely dressed that they look like nuns.


title: Death in Venice

text: Later, after spying the boy and his family at a beach, Aschenbach overhears Tadzio, the boy's name, and conceives what he first interprets as an uplifting, artistic interest.


title: Death in Venice

text: Soon the hot, humid weather begins to affect Aschenbach's health, and he decides to leave early and move to a cooler location. On the morning of his planned departure, he sees Tadzio again, and a powerful feeling of regret sweeps over him. When he reaches the railway station and discovers his trunk has been misplaced, he pretends to be angry, but is really overjoyed; he decides to remain in Venice and wait for his lost luggage. He happily returns to the hotel and thinks no more of leaving.


title: Death in Venice

text: Over the next days and weeks, Aschenbach's interest in the beautiful boy develops into an obsession. He watches him constantly and secretly follows him around Venice. One evening, the boy directs a charming smile at him, looking, Aschenbach thinks, like Narcissus smiling at his own reflection. Disconcerted, Aschenbach rushes outside, and in the empty garden whispers aloud "I love you!"


title: Death in Venice

text: Aschenbach next takes a trip into the city of Venice, where he sees a few discreetly worded notices from the Health Department warning of an unspecified contagion and advising people to avoid eating shellfish. He smells an unfamiliar strong odor everywhere, later realising it is disinfectant. However, the authorities adamantly deny that the contagion is serious, and tourists continue to wander obliviously round the city.


title: Death in Venice

text: Aschenbach at first ignores the danger because it somehow pleases him to think that the city's disease is akin to his own hidden, corrupting passion for the boy. During this period, a third red-haired and disreputable-looking man crosses Aschenbach's path; this one belongs to a troupe of street singers who entertain at the hotel one night. Aschenbach listens entranced to songs that, in his former life, he would have despised – all the while stealing glances at Tadzio, who is leaning on a nearby parapet in a classically beautiful pose. The boy eventually returns Aschenbach's glances, and although the moment is brief, it instills in the writer a sense that the attraction may be mutual.


title: Death in Venice

text: Next, Aschenbach rallies his self-respect and decides to discover the reason for the health notices posted in the city. After being repeatedly assured that the sirocco is the only health risk, he finds a British travel agent who reluctantly admits that there is a serious cholera epidemic in Venice.


title: Death in Venice

text: Aschenbach considers warning Tadzio's mother of the danger; however, he decides not to, knowing that if he does, Tadzio will leave the hotel and be lost to him.


title: Death in Venice

text: One night, a dream filled with orgiastic Dionysian imagery reveals to him the sexual nature of his feelings for Tadzio. Afterward, he begins staring at the boy so openly and following him so persistently that Aschenbach feels the boy's guardians have finally noticed, and they take to warning Tadzio whenever he approaches too near the strange, solitary man. However, Aschenbach's feelings, although passionately intense, remain unvoiced; he never touches Tadzio or speaks to him, and while there is some indication that Tadzio is aware of his admiration, the two exchange nothing more than occasionally surreptitious glances.


title: Death in Venice

text: Aschenbach begins to fret about his aging face and body. In an attempt to look more attractive, he visits the hotel's barber shop almost daily, where the barber persuades him to have his hair dyed and his face painted to look more youthful. The result is a fairly close approximation to the old man on the ship who had so appalled Aschenbach.


title: Death in Venice

text: Freshly dyed and rouged, he again shadows Tadzio through Venice in the oppressive heat. He loses sight of the boy in the heart of the city; then, exhausted and thirsty, he buys and eats some over-ripe strawberries and rests in an abandoned square, contemplating the Platonic ideal of beauty amid the ruins of his own once-formidable dignity.


title: Death in Venice

text: A few days later, Aschenbach goes to the lobby in his hotel, feeling ill and weak, and discovers that the Polish family plan to leave after lunch. He goes to the beach to his usual deck chair. Tadzio is there, unsupervised for once, and accompanied by Jasiu, an older boy. A fight starts between the two boys, and Tadzio is quickly bested; afterward, he angrily leaves his companion and wades over to Aschenbach's part of the beach, where he stands for a moment looking out to sea, then turns halfway around to look at his admirer. To Aschenbach, it is as if the boy is beckoning to him: He tries to rise and follow, only to collapse sideways into his chair.


title: Death in Venice

text: Mann's original intention was to write about "passion as confusion and degradation" after having been fascinated by the true story of Goethe's love for 18-year-old Baroness Ulrike von Levetzow, which had led Goethe to write his "Marienbad Elegy". The May 1911 death of composer Gustav Mahler in Vienna and Mann's interest in the boy Władzio during summer 1911 vacation in Venice were additional experiences occupying his thoughts. He used the story to illuminate certain convictions about the relationship between life and mind, with Aschenbach representing the intellect. Mann also was influenced by Sigmund Freud and his views on dreams, as well as by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who had visited Venice several times.


title: Death in Venice

text: The novella is rife with allusions from antiquity forward, especially to Greek antiquity and to German works (literary, art-historical, musical, visual) from the 18th century.


title: Death in Venice

text: The novella is intertextual, with the chief sources being first the connection of erotic love to philosophical wisdom traced in Plato's "Symposium" and "Phaedrus", and second the Nietzschean contrast between Apollo, the god of restraint and shaping form, and Dionysus, the god of excess and passion. The trope of placing classical deities in contemporary settings was popular at the time when Mann was writing "Death in Venice".


title: Death in Venice

text: Aschenbach's name and character may be inspired by the homosexual German poet August von Platen-Hallermünde. There are allusions to his poems about Venice in the novella, and like Aschenbach, he died of cholera on an Italian island. Aschenbach's first name is almost an anagram of August, and the character's last name may be derived from Ansbach, Platen's birthplace. However, the name has another clear significance: Aschenbach literally means "ash brook." The novella's physical description of Aschenbach was based on a photograph of the composer Gustav Mahler. Mahler had made a strong personal impression on Mann when they met in Munich, and Mann was shocked by the news of Mahler's death in Vienna. Mann gave Mahler's first name and facial appearance to Aschenbach, but did not talk about it in public. (The soundtrack of the 1971 film based on the novella made use of Mahler's compositions, particularly the "Adagietto" 4th movement from the Symphony No. 5.) Alternately, Aschenbach's name may be an allusion to Wolfram von Eschenbach, the author of the Middle High German medieval romance "Parzival", whose reimagining and continuation of the Grail Quest romance of Chrétien de Troyes contained themes similar to those found in Mann's novella, such as the author's fascination with and idealization of the purity of youthful innocence and beauty, as well as the eponymous protagonist's quest to restore healing and youthfulness to Anfortas, the wounded, old Fisher King. Given Mann's obsession with the works of Richard Wagner, who famously adapted and transformed von Eschenbach's epic into his opera "Parsifal", it is possible that Mann was crediting Wagner's opera by referencing the author of the work that had inspired the composer.


title: Death in Venice

text: Modris Eksteins notes the similarities between Aschenbach and the Russian choreographer Sergei Diaghilev, writing that, although the two never met, "Diaghilev knew Mann's story well. He gave copies of it to his intimates." Diaghilev often stayed at the same hotel as Aschenbach, the Grand Hotel des Bains, and took his young male lovers there. Eventually, like Aschenbach, Diaghilev died in Venice.


title: Death in Venice

text: Mann's wife Katia (in a 1974 book) recalls that the idea for the story came during an actual vacation in Venice (staying at the Grand Hôtel des Bains on the Lido), which she and Thomas took in the summer of 1911:


title: Death in Venice

text: The boy who inspired "Tadzio" was Baron Władysław Moes, whose first name was usually shortened as Władzio or just Adzio. This story was uncovered by Andrzej Dołęgowski, Thomas Mann's translator, around 1964, and was published in the German press in 1965. Some sources report that Moes did not learn of the connection until he saw the 1971 film of the novel.


title: Death in Venice

text: Moes was born on 17 November 1900 in Wierbka, the second son and fourth child of Baron Aleksander Juliusz Moes. He was aged 10 when he was in Venice, significantly younger than Tadzio in the novella. Baron Moes died on 17 December 1986 in Warsaw and is interred at the graveyard of Pilica, Silesian Voivodeship. He was the subject of the biography "The Real Tadzio" (Short Books, 2001) by Gilbert Adair.


title: Death in Venice

text: An English translation by Kenneth Burke was published in periodical form in "The Dial" in 1924 over three issues (vol. LXXVI, March to May, issues # 3–5, Camden, NJ, USA). This translation was published in book form the following year as "Death in Venice and Other Stories". W. H. Auden called it the definitive translation.


title: Death in Venice

text: H. T. Lowe-Porter's authorized translation, which appeared in 1928, has been less well received by critics due to her reducing Mann's treatment of sexuality and homoeroticism.


title: Death in Venice

text: A translation published in 2005 by Michael Henry Heim won the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize.


title: Death in Venice

text: Other translations include those by David Luke (1988), Clayton Koelb (1994), Joachim Neugroschel (1998), and Martin C. Doege (2010).


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Vulcans, sometimes referred to as Vulcanians, are a fictional extraterrestrial humanoid species in the "Star Trek" universe and media franchise. In the various "Star Trek" television series and films, they are noted for their attempt to live by logic and reason with as little interference from emotion as possible. Known for their pronounced eyebrows and pointed ears, they originate from the fictional planet Vulcan. In the "Star Trek" universe, they were the first extraterrestrial species to make contact with humans.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: The most notable portrayal of a Vulcan is by actor Leonard Nimoy, who first played the character Mr. Spock (picture shown at right) in "" (1966–1969). "Pointy ears", the "Vulcan salute" (hand gesture) and the "Vulcan nerve pinch" are aspects of this fictional race that have entered popular culture.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: The Vulcan, Spock, first appeared in the original 1965 "Star Trek" pilot, "", shown to studio executives. Show creator Gene Roddenberry revealed in 1964 that he wanted an alien as part of the ship's crew, but knew that budget restraints would limit make-up choices. He chose actor Leonard Nimoy because of his "high Slavic cheekbones and interesting face" and "with those cheekbones some sort of pointed ear might go well." Nimoy later commented that Roddenberry felt the presence of an alien would "establish that we were in the 23rd century and that interplanetary travel was an established fact."


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: The Vulcan salutation is that of the Jewish priestly blessing: a hand gesture consisting of a raised hand with the palm forward and the thumb extended, while the fingers are parted between the middle and ring finger. Typically, the phrase "live long and prosper" is uttered when making the salute, adapting the priestly blessing "may the LORD bless you and keep you." An appropriate reply would be to return the gesture and utter either, "live long and prosper" or "peace and long life".


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Vulcans are depicted as similar in appearance to humans, as budget constraints in "The Original Series" did not allow for elaborate make-up. All Vulcans have arched and upswept eyebrows and pointy ears. White actors portraying Vulcans are given a greenish hue to their skin. A Vulcan's on-screen blood is green due to copper-based hemocyanin. Vulcans are said to possess an inner eyelid, or nictitating membrane, which protects their vision from bright light. In addition, their heart is located on the right side of the torso, between the ribs and pelvis; as Dr. McCoy once says about Spock after the Vulcan has been shot through the chest: "Lucky his heart's where his liver should be, or he'd be dead now."


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Vulcans are vegetarians by choice and were omnivores in ages past. It is a Vulcan custom for guests in the home to prepare meals for their hosts.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Every seven years, Vulcan males and females experience an overpowering hormone imbalance known as pon farr. Once triggered, a Vulcan must have sexual intercourse with someone or the chemical imbalance may cause insanity, loss of self-control, and death.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Despite popular opinion, "TOS" writer and story editor, D. C. Fontana, insists that pon farr is not the only time that Vulcans feel sexual desire or engage in sexual activity:


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Vulcans mate normally any time they want to. However, every seven years you do the ritual, the ceremony, the whole thing. The biological urge. You must, but any other time is any other emotion—humanoid emotion—when you're in love. When you want to, you know when the urge is there, you do it. This every-seven-years business was taken too literally by too many people who don't stop and understand. We didn't mean it only every seven years. I mean, every seven years would be a little bad, and it would not explain the Vulcans of many different ages that are not seven years apart.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: If a mate is not available, there are other ways to relieve the effects of the pon farr, including meditation, violence, "shock", and simulation.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Vulcans are typically depicted as stronger, faster, and longer-lived than humans, however Vulcans are less cold-tolerant than humans. There are instances of them living over 220 years. Having evolved on a desert planet, Vulcans can survive without water for longer periods than humans. Vulcans can also go without sleep for as long as two weeks.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Vulcans are known as logical beings who have removed emotions from their daily lives. The Vulcan character, Spock, struggles with this throughout the original series as he is half-human. T'Pol states that paranoia and homicidal rage were common on Vulcan before the adoption of Surak's code of emotional control.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Not all Vulcan characters follow the path of pure logic; some instead choose to embrace emotions. A group of renegade Vulcans who believed in this was encountered in the "" episode "", while Spock's half-brother Sybok, seen in the film "", was also fully emotional. An episode of "Enterprise" titled "E²" featured an elderly T'Pol in an alternative timeline who had embraced emotion and allowed her half-human son, Lorian, to do likewise.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: While most Vulcans do not express emotions, they still have them. Only those who follow the discipline of "kolinahr" have completely purged all emotions from their minds; most Vulcans still have emotions, yet do not express or release them. Spock, in "", attempts to achieve "kolinahr", but ultimately fails to do so.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: In the 1st pilot episode, "", Spock showed much more emotion. For the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", Number OneSpock's superior officer, who showed little emotionwas removed, and it was decided that Spock would take on those traits.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Vulcan emotions are seemingly more intense than those of humans. In the TNG episode "", Ambassador Sarek warns Captain Picard that "Vulcan emotions are extremely intense; we have learned to suppress them", and that Picard would be overwhelmed by Sarek's unrestrained emotions while the two are linked during a Vulcan mind-meld. Picard does, in fact, have tremendous difficulty controlling himself while experiencing Sarek's emotions during the meld, including the ambassador's suppressed loves and hidden regrets.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Vulcans are telepaths. Beginning in the original series, the character Spock was able to "mind meld" (see below) by touching another being and share thoughts. Vulcans have also displayed telepathy at great distance and through walls.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: A mind meld is a technique for sharing thoughts, experiences, memories, and knowledge with another individual, essentially a limited form of telepathy. It usually requires physical contact with a subject, though instances of mind melds without contact have been seen. When first depicted in the "TOS" episode "Dagger of the Mind", the procedure was said to require several moments of intense concentration and preparation. However, subsequent episodes show contact between minds occurring almost immediately. Although most often seen done with humanoids, mind melds can be performed with members of other species. Spock even once successfully mind melded with a machine and was able to establish telepathic contact with the mechanical probe V'ger.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Mind melds can be used both to erase and restore memories; Spock performs each of these on Captain Kirk during "TOS"s third season. A mind meld was even used to rejoin Spock's "katra" (see below) with his physical body in "". Mind melds can also allow more than one mind to experience memories and sensations, and sometimes even interact with the memories. Some species are able to resist mind melds.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: The quad-lobed brain structure of Ferengi make them unable to be telepathically read by other species, and with sufficient training and mental discipline, high-level Cardassian military personnel and/or agents of the Obsidian Order are able to resist mind melds used to extract information. For example, when Gul Dukat was captured by the Maquis, he successfully resisted a prolonged mind meld attempt from a female Vulcan Maquis member, much to the latter's frustration


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Vulcans are able to implant their "katra" into another person via a mind meld just before death. Sarek explained to Kirk that Spock's katra was "his essence, everything that was not of the body, his katra, his living spirit...everything that he was, everything that he knew". He further explained that this transference was "the Vulcan way, when the body's end is near." Dr Julian Bashir in the "" episode "" referred to this phenomenon as "synaptic pattern displacement". The "" Season 4 trilogy of episodes ("", "", and "Kir'Shara") reveal some of the history of mind-melding and the journey of the katra of Surak to modern times.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Katra can also be used to transfer a Vulcan's healing ability to another to aid in regeneration for serious injury. Sarek transferred some of his katra to Michael Burnham ( Season 1, Episode 6, "Lethe") in order to save her life as a child, which connected Michael to Sarek, and she refers to it as a "soul graft".


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Katras can be returned to the body. Such was the case with Spock, who, near the end of "", implanted his katra into the mind of Dr. McCoy before sacrificing his life. In "", a mind meld ritual, the "fal tor pan" ("re-fusion"), removed the katra from McCoy and implanted it into Spock's regenerated body.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Vulcans have their own language in the "Star Trek" universe. Several words are heard throughout the various television series starting with the "Star Trek: The Original Series" episode "Amok Time". Words and dialogue are heard in the feature films "", "", "" and "".


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Linguist Marc Okrand is credited for creating the Vulcan spoken language for "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan". As in most of the films, the actors filmed their lines in English which was later dubbed with the Vulcan translation.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: The treatment of Vulcan names has been erratic throughout "Star Trek"s production history. Early on, female Vulcans were typically given names beginning with "T" followed by an apostrophe then a "p". The earliest reference to Vulcan names following a set pattern dates back to a May 3, 1966 memo from "TOS" producer Robert H. Justman to Gene Roddenberry (later reprinted in the book "The Making of Star Trek") in which Justman recommended that all Vulcan names begin with "SP" and end with "K", and have exactly five letters. (It is clear from the context of the book, however, that the memo was intended as a joke, as the series of memos ends up discussing the pronunciation of such names as "Spook", "Spilk" and "Spork".)


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Only non-canonical sources have provided any Vulcans with family names, which are usually spoken of as defying attempts at both human pronunciation, especially with English-language phonemes, and human typesetting, especially with the characters of the modern Latin alphabet used for the English language. Hence, no canonical source has given any family names to any Vulcan characters, and indeed, every one of the personal names previously mentioned are all officially described as being only Latin-alphabetical and English-phonetic approximations of the real ones. In the "TOS" episode "" Spock is asked if he has another name, to which he replies, "You couldn't pronounce it."


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: Vulcans practice arranged marriage, in which a male and a female are bonded as children, with consummation at a later date. Spock explains that this childhood pairing has no one-for-one human analogue, as it is considered less than a full "marriage", but more than simply a "betrothal". This is why Spock first described T'Pring as his "wife", before later explaining that this was an incorrect approximation. Following adult union, it is customary for the couple to remain on Vulcan for at least one Vulcan year before conducting off-world travel, though it is possible to defer this requirement until a later date, upon negotiation with the male's family. The state of pon farr is not required for marriage to occur.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: A Vulcan female can challenge the proposed bonding by calling for "koon-ut-kal-if-fee", meaning "marriage or challenge", in which a challenger for marriage engages the bonded male in a fight to the death. Alternatively, the bonded male has the option of rejecting his intended bride and choosing another. It is acceptable for a male to "release" his mate from marriage (effectively the same as a divorce). It is not established whether females have the same option, and T'Pring stated in "Amok Time" that a koon-ut-kal-if-fee challenge was the only way she could legally divorce Spock.


title: Vulcan (Star Trek)

text: While most Vulcan marriages are arranged in childhood, adult Vulcans who have no mates may also declare the "koon-ut-so-lik", the ritual Vulcan marriage proposal. As with arranged marriages, the Vulcan being proposed to, may accept or challenge the union.