title: Agony in the Garden

text: In Roman Catholic tradition, the Agony in the Garden is the first Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary and the of the Scriptural Way of The Cross (second station in the Philippine version). Catholic tradition includes specific prayers and devotions as acts of reparation for the sufferings of Jesus during His Agony and Passion. These Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ do not involve a petition for a living or dead beneficiary, but aim to "repair the sins" against Jesus. Some such prayers are provided in the "Raccolta" Catholic prayer book (approved by a Decree of 1854, and published by the Holy See in 1898) which also includes prayers as Acts of Reparation to the Virgin Mary.


title: Agony in the Garden

text: In his encyclical "Miserentissimus Redemptor" on reparations, Pope Pius XI called Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ a duty for Catholics and referred to them as "some sort of compensation to be rendered for the injury" with respect to the sufferings of Jesus.


title: Agony in the Garden

text: In the Catholic tradition, is the basis of the Holy Hour devotion for Eucharistic adoration. In the Gospel of Matthew: "Then He said to them, 'My soul is very sorrowful even to death; remain here, and watch with Me.'" () Coming to the disciples, He found them sleeping and, in Matthew 26:40, asked Peter:


title: Agony in the Garden

text: The tradition of the Holy Hour devotion dates back to 1673 when Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque stated that she had a vision of Jesus in which she was instructed to spend an hour every Thursday night to meditate on the suffering of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.


title: Agony in the Garden

text: Justus Knecht gives three possible causes for Christ's sadness and agony: 1. He saw before Him the many and inhuman torments which awaited Him. He pictured all these terrible sufferings, enduring them in anticipation. 2. Christ took the sins of men on Himself, so as to offer satisfaction to the divine justice in their stead. Now that He was on the point of completing His work of Redemption, the horrible mass of evil, abomination and guilt came before His holy Soul and filled it with abhorrence and aversion. “Him, that knew no sin, for us God hath made sin, that we might be made the justice of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5, 21). 3. He knew beforehand how many souls would be eternally lost in spite of His bitter Passion and Death, because they would not believe in Him and would not love Him.


title: Agony in the Garden

text: Roger Baxter in his "Meditations" reflects on the angel comforting Christ, writing, "Good God! is it possible that the eternal Son of God should borrow comfort from His creatures? Observe how the Father of lights at last sends comfort to those who persevere in prayer. Imagine what reasons the angel might use in comforting your agonizing Saviour. He probably represented to Him the necessity of His passion for the redemption of mankind, and the glory that would redound to His Father and Himself. All this Christ understood infinitely better than the angel, yet He did not refuse the proffer of consolation, in order to teach you to respect the advice and consolation of your inferiors."


title: Agony in the Garden

text: Some in the medical field have hypothesized that Jesus' great anguish caused him to experience hematidrosis.


title: Agony in the Garden

text: It is believed that only Luke the Evangelist described Jesus as sweating blood because Luke was a physician.


title: Mike Braun

text: Michael Kent Braun (; born March 24, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Indiana since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously represented the 63rd district in the Indiana House of Representatives from 2014 to 2017. Braun was elected to the United States Senate in 2018, defeating Democratic incumbent Joe Donnelly.


title: Mike Braun

text: Braun opposes the Affordable Care Act, same-sex marriage, abortion, and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. He has called on the Republican Party to take climate change more seriously. He supported President Donald Trump's trade and tariff policies, although he was an advocate for free trade previously. Braun voted to acquit Trump in the impeachment trial related to the Trump-Ukraine scandal. After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Trump refused to concede, making false claims of fraud, Braun defended Trump's efforts to overturn the election results.


title: Mike Braun

text: Braun is running for governor of Indiana in 2024, having filed election papers on November 30, 2022, and declared his candidacy on December 12.


title: Mike Braun

text: Braun was born in Jasper, Indiana, on March 24, 1954. He graduated from Jasper High School. Braun was a three-sport star athlete; he married his high school sweetheart, Maureen, who was a cheerleader. He attended the all-male Wabash College, where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity and graduated "summa cum laude" with a bachelor's degree in economics, and Harvard Business School, where he earned an MBA.


title: Mike Braun

text: After graduating from Harvard, Braun moved back to Indiana and joined his father's business manufacturing truck bodies for farmers. When the economy of the mid-1980s hit farmers hard and his father's business nearly went under, Braun steered the business in the more lucrative direction of selling truck accessories. The business subsequently grew from 15 employees to more than 300. In 1986 Braun and Daryl Rauscher acquired Meyer Body Inc., a manufacturer of truck bodies and distributor of truck parts and equipment. In 1995 Braun fully acquired the company. Meyer Body was renamed Meyer Distributing in 1999. Braun is its president and CEO. In 2018 Braun's personal finance disclosure listed assets worth between $35 million and $96 million.


title: Mike Braun

text: He served in the Indiana House of Representatives for Indiana District 63 from 2014 to 2017. Braun resigned from the state House on November 1, 2017, to focus on his U.S. Senate campaign. In 2017, the American Conservative Union gave him a lifetime score of 82%.


title: Mike Braun

text: In July 2018, Braun called for the Indiana attorney general, Republican Curtis Hill, to resign amid allegations that Hill had drunkenly groped a lawmaker and three legislative staffers.


title: Mike Braun

text: Braun won the Republican primary for the United States Senate in the 2018 election, defeating U.S. Representatives Todd Rokita and Luke Messer by over 56,000 votes. He received 208,520 votes, or roughly 41% of the total. Braun ran as an outsider, emphasizing his career in business. He defeated Democratic incumbent Joe Donnelly in the November general election with 51% of the vote to Donnelly's 45%; the Libertarian candidate, Lucy Brenton, tallied less than 4%. In late 2019, the "Indianapolis Star" reported that Braun's 2018 campaign was the beneficiary of $2.8 million in spending by a political action committee with strong connections to indicted money launderer Lev Parnas and one of his shell companies. Parnas supplied photographs of him and Braun embracing at a 2018 campaign event to the House of Representatives as part of his cooperation with the impeachment of President Trump. They were made public in January 2020.


title: Mike Braun

text: On January 3, 2019, Braun was sworn in as the junior United States senator from Indiana by Vice President Mike Pence.


title: Mike Braun

text: In May 2020, Senator Chuck Schumer put forth a resolution to officially release the guidance by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on how to safely lift restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. A leaked version of the guidance showed that it was more detailed and restrictive than the White House recommendations released in April 2020. Braun blocked Schumer's resolution, saying that the CDC's recommendations would hinder the economy.


title: Mike Braun

text: On November 30, 2022, Braun filed papers with the Secretary of State of Indiana to run for the state's governor in the 2024 Indiana gubernatorial election, following speculation since September that he would run for the office. His Senate seat will be an open contest in 2024.


title: Mike Braun

text: According to the paperwork Braun's campaign filed, Braun appointed Kevin Broghamer as campaign treasurer, and his campaign will be headquartered in Carmel.


title: Mike Braun

text: Braun opposes abortion. He supported the 2022 overturning of "Roe v. Wade", saying he was "excited" that states could write their own abortion laws.


title: Mike Braun

text: Braun has said that the Supreme Court of the United States was wrong in its ruling that state interracial marriage bans were unconstitutional. Braun later stated that he was not paying attention to the question and that the Constitution prohibits discrimination of any kind based on race.


title: Mike Braun

text: According to FiveThirtyEight, Braun voted with Donald Trump's position 90.9% of the time between Braun's inauguration and Trump's departure from office two years later.


title: Mike Braun

text: During Trump's first impeachment and impeachment trial, regarding the Trump–Ukraine scandal, Braun became one of Trump's most prominent defenders, defending him in many media appearances. He voted to acquit Trump, and when asked whether it is acceptable for Trump to withhold U.S. foreign aid to coerce a foreign leader to investigate Joe Biden, he said that he did not believe that such behavior was proper but that "it didn't happen." Braun also said that Trump did what he did out of a desire to reduce corruption in Ukraine. After Trump was acquitted, Braun said that Trump "hopefully" learned something from the trial.


title: Mike Braun

text: After Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Trump refused to concede and made baseless claims of election fraud. Braun defended, and joined in, Trump's attempt to overturn the election results and subvert the democratic process. He wrote a "Washington Examiner" editorial criticizing the media for not taking accusations of voter fraud seriously. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud or irregularities in the 2020 election. Along with 10 other Republican senators, Braun initially pledged to object to the counting of the electoral votes in several key states. After the storming of the Capitol by a violent pro-Trump mob, Braun reversed himself and voted against objections to the election results, saying that he "didn't feel comfortable with today's events."


title: Mike Braun

text: In Trump's second impeachment trial, on charges of incitement of insurrection, Braun voted to acquit Trump.


title: Mike Braun

text: On May 28, 2021, Braun abstained from voting on the creation of an independent commission to investigate the January 6 storming of the Capitol.


title: Mike Braun

text: Braun supported the Republican Party's tax legislation in 2017. He said the tax reform bill was "revenue-neutral"; the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill would increase U.S. debt. Braun has called for cuts to the U.S. budget, saying that the U.S. "has a spending problem."


title: Mike Braun

text: Braun is a self-described conservationist. He has called Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg an "inspiration" and advocated that the Republican Party be more aggressive in combating climate change. He opposed the 2015 Paris climate change agreement, but supports using reforestation, carbon pricing, and carbon capture to reduce or mitigate carbon dioxide emissions. He also serves as the chair of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, which was founded in October 2019. Braun sponsored the Growing Climate Solutions Act, a bill that would make it simpler for farmers to sell carbon credits on existing carbon trading markets in California and in the Northeast.


title: Mike Braun

text: In 2018, Braun supported Trump's trade and tariff policies, saying that they have "yielded phenomenal results." Previously, he supported free trade policies.


title: Mike Braun

text: Braun opposes the Affordable Care Act, supports efforts to repeal it, and supports a lawsuit to strike down the entirety of the ACA. Braun has called for "free-market competition" and "market-driven" solutions on health care. During his 2018 Senate campaign, he criticized incumbent Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly as a "defender of Obamacare." Braun expressed support for keeping in place protections for individuals with preexisting conditions (a popular provision of the ACA), although both House repeal efforts supported by Braun and the lawsuit supported by Braun would effectively end protections for individuals with preexisting conditions.


title: Mike Braun

text: Braun has said, "building the wall must be the first step to any solution" on illegal immigration. He opposes a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as minors, known as DREAMers.


title: Mike Braun

text: Asked for his view on the legalization of same-sex marriage, Braun said, "I believe in traditional marriage." He fought to keep marriage defined as "between a man and a woman" in the Indiana Republican Party platform. In the Indiana state legislature, he supported the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act and opposed amendments to the bill that would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.


title: Mike Braun

text: In June 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, Braun introduced legislation to reform qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that shields police officers from lawsuits over constitutional violations if the violated constitutional right has not been clearly established in a previous court decision. His legislation would have made it easier to sue police officers for rights violations. But after an interview with Tucker Carlson and backlash from police unions the next month, Braun dropped his bill. In May 2021, he wrote, "I oppose any reform to the current doctrine of qualified immunity" and opposed federal efforts to reform local police departments.


title: Mike Braun

text: In September 2021, Braun opposed the planned COVID-19 vaccine mandate for companies with more than 100 employees, calling it as the "biggest overreach by federal government I’ve seen." In October 2021, he invited Chicago police officers who were suspended for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 to work in Indiana, saying, "plenty of departments are hiring now."


title: Mike Braun

text: Braun and his wife, Maureen, have four children. He is Roman Catholic. Braun's brother, Steve Braun, was also a politician in Indiana.


title: Loser (film)

text: Loser is a 2000 American teen romantic comedy film written and directed by Amy Heckerling. Starring Jason Biggs, Mena Suvari and Greg Kinnear, it is about a fish-out-of-water college student (Biggs) who falls for a classmate (Suvari), unaware she is in a relationship with their English professor (Kinnear). The film, Heckerling's first after 1995's "Clueless" and a remake of the 1960 film "The Apartment", was a box-office failure and received negative reviews.


title: Loser (film)

text: Paul Tannek, a small-town, intelligent kid from the Midwest, is accepted into New York University on an academic scholarship. Following the advice of his father, he tries to gain friends by being polite and interested in others. However, Paul’s new roommates—Chris, Adam, and Noah, three rich, spoiled, obnoxious city boys—brand Paul a loser because they resent Paul’s polite behavior, working class background, and determination for an education. After Paul is thrown out of the dorm when the trio concocts a false story to the housing administration about Paul’s attitude, Paul is forced to take up residence in a veterinary hospital. Banned from throwing parties in the dorm because of an alcohol poisoning incident, Chris manipulates Paul into letting him, Adam, and Noah use the hospital to throw parties.


title: Loser (film)

text: Paul meets classmate Dora Diamond and develops an attraction to her, unaware that she is having an affair with their decorated but highly pretentious English professor Edward Alcott. Dora is equally as intelligent as Paul, but doesn't have a scholarship and works shifts as a waitress in a strip club to pay for her tuition until she is unceremoniously fired. To avoid a long daily commute which she can no longer afford, Dora asks Alcott if she can temporarily live with him. Alcott selfishly declines her request for fear of losing his tenure at the university if his relationship with Dora is found out. After Paul and Dora bump into each other one night, Paul invites Dora to an Everclear concert when he learns she is a fan. Dora agrees to the date, but first goes to a job interview for a night shift in a convenience store, a position she is ultimately denied because she is a woman. Adam happens to be at the same store buying beer and invites Dora to a party which she accepts, but says she will be there only for a short time so she can meet Paul at the concert. At the party, one of the boys slips a roofie into Dora's drink, causing her to pass out. Paul returns home dejected from the concert to a huge mess and an unresponsive Dora and immediately rushes her to the hospital. At the hospital, Paul pretends to be her boyfriend since neither he nor Dora can afford to keep her there overnight. He also learns that Dora listed Alcott as her case of emergency contact which he tells Chris the next morning without thinking. Alcott tells emergency officials he doesn't really know Dora when they contact him.


title: Loser (film)

text: Paul bonds with Dora as she recovers and they start to develop feelings for one another; he also learns that Dora cannot see past her blind infatuation with Alcott, as she tells Paul that Alcott loves her but does not want a relationship. While Paul continues with his studies, Dora searches for a new job. She pulls Paul out of class and invites him out to celebrate receiving a spot in a medical experiment. They steal a loaf of bread from a bakery, coffee from a dispenser in the park, and sneak into a Broadway show. Paul goes out to grab a pizza and a movie for both of them hoping it may lead to something further between them only to return to find Alcott, who has changed his mind about Dora living with him. Alcott reveals to Dora that Chris, Noah, and Adam are now blackmailing him with the knowledge of their relationship in return for passing grades, and also tells her he believes Paul is in on the scheme. After discovering roofies were involved at the party, Paul steals Noah's supply and replaces them with placebos. Paul then pays a visit to Alcott's office to ask how Dora is doing and is instead given his final exam as a take-home test by Alcott to buy his silence. Paul takes the moral high ground and refuses the test, jeopardizing his scholarship and place in the university.


title: Loser (film)

text: Dora overhears Paul on the phone with his father talking about how much he misses her. Alcott then admits he learned that Paul had nothing to do with the blackmail, but still intends to fail him. Dora then realizes that Paul is the one who really loves her and terminates her affair with Alcott, beginning a relationship with Paul. Afterward, Adam, Noah, and Chris' behavior get the better of them and their lives plummet into failure, while Alcott is found out and sent to prison for having an affair with a different student who is underage, and Paul and Dora remain happy in their relationship.


title: Loser (film)

text: The music was composed by David Kitay. No official soundtrack was ever released. These are the songs contained in the film:


title: Loser (film)

text: Michael Penn's song "No Myth", featured prominently in the final scene and during the credits, was not included in the soundtrack.


title: Loser (film)

text: The film opened at number eight at the North American box office, making $6,008,611 in its opening weekend. The film generated a total of $15.6 million in the US. It failed further when released worldwide, grossing a total of just $2.7 million. The film did not break even on its production costs.


title: Loser (film)

text: In a 2017 interview with "The Ringer", director Amy Heckerling said the reason for the film’s failure was the studio’s insistence on a “watered down” PG-13 rating, even though Heckerling and the studio executives who greenlit the film intended for the movie to be an R-rated comedy.


title: Loser (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 24% based on reviews from 96 critics, with an average rating of 4.2/10. The site's consensus states: "In the grand tradition of teen flicks, "Loser" comes across as another predictable and underwritten movie with nothing new to offer." On Metacritic, it has a 35% score based on reviews from 29 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: Loser (film)

text: Roger Ebert gives the film two stars out of four. He enjoyed the performance of Kinnear as well as the chemistry between the two leads, but found the film otherwise unremarkable.


title: Loser (film)

text: Film critic James Berardinelli gave the film 3 out 4 stars, stating that the film was one of the "pleasant surprises" of the 2000 film season.


title: 88 (number)

text: Number 88 symbolizes fortune and good luck in Chinese culture, since the word 8 sounds similar to the word "fā" (, which implies , or wealth, in Mandarin or Cantonese). The number 8 is considered to be the luckiest number in Chinese culture, and prices in Chinese supermarkets often contain many 8s. The shape of the Chinese character for 8 () implies that a person will have a great, wide future as the character starts narrow and gets wider toward the bottom. The Chinese government has been auctioning auto license plates containing many 8s for tens of thousands of dollars. The 2008 Beijing Olympics opened at 8 p.m., 8 August 2008.


title: 88 (number)

text: In addition, 88 is also used to mean "bye bye ()" in Chinese-language chats, text messages, SMSs and IMs, because its pronunciation in Mandarin is similar to "bye bye".


title: 88 (number)

text: In amateur radio, 88 is used as shorthand for "love and kisses" when signing a message or ending an exchange. It is used in spoken word (radiotelephony), Morse code (radiotelegraphy), and in various digital modes. It is considered rather more intimate than "73", which means "best regards"; therefore 73 is more often used. The two may be used together. Sometimes either expression is pluralized by appending an -s. These number codes originate with the 92 Code adopted by Western Union in 1859.


title: 88 (number)

text: Neo-Nazis use the number 88 as an abbreviation for the Nazi salute "Heil Hitler". The letter H is eighth in the alphabet, whereby 88 becomes HH.


title: 88 (number)

text: Often, this number is associated with the number 14, e.g. 14/88, 14-88, or 1488; this number symbolizes the Fourteen Words coined by David Lane, a prominent white supremacist. Example uses of 88 include the song "88 Rock 'n' Roll Band" by Landser, and the organizations Column 88 and Unit 88.


title: 88 (number)

text: The number is banned on Austrian license plates due to its association with "Heil Hitler [and] where H comes in the alphabet".


title: Maxim (musician)

text: Keith Andrew Palmer (born 21 March 1967), better known by his stage name Maxim (previously Maxim Reality), is an English musician, known for being a vocalist of electronic music band the Prodigy.


title: Maxim (musician)

text: Palmer was born in Peterborough to Jamaican parents. He enjoyed writing poetry and verse and began MCing around the age of 14. He gained inspiration from his ten-years-older MC brother, Hitman, who introduced him into the Peterborough Reggae Soundsystem Scene. At the age of seventeen he had his first gig in Basingstoke. Ian Sherman, a fellow musician from Nottingham teamed up with Maxim and they formed 'Maxim and Sheik YanGroove'. After recording some tracks together without attracting much attention, Maxim left and went on a three-month travel throughout Europe and North Africa. Upon returning to England he moved to London to get involved in the music and reggae scene. His prior stage name, "Maxim Reality", was a reference to his interest in lyrics based on real issues.


title: Maxim (musician)

text: Maxim lived near Keith Flint, a fan of Liam Howlett. After convincing Howlett to start a band, Flint recommended Maxim as a manager on the strength of Maxim's experience in the reggae scene and the music contacts he developed. Maxim did not show up at a scheduled meeting but joined them unexpectedly at their next gig, improvising lyrics. After MCing, Maxim contributed lyrics to studio albums after "Experience" from 1992 (although his vocal contributions were heard in the live track "Death of the Prodigy Dancers" on "Experience"). Maxim provided lyrics in the single "Poison" from "Music for the Jilted Generation" (1994), "Breathe" and the canned single release "Mindfields", both from "The Fat of the Land" (1997). However, Maxim was absent from the Prodigy album "Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned" from 2004; Howlett said he believed the band needed to reinvent itself, without vocals from Flint or Maxim. Despite rumours to the contrary, the band did not break up, though Maxim explored a solo career. On "Invaders Must Die", Maxim returned as a vocalist, as the band reverted to its prior way of working.


title: Maxim (musician)

text: After the Prodigy's intense touring to support "The Fat of the Land", Maxim worked on his solo projects, and in 1998 he released "Dog Day" on the XL Recordings compilation CD "Against the Grain", which also featured Howlett's "Dirtchamber Remix" of "Diesel Power" (from "The Fat of the Land"). Also in 1998, Maxim's cover version of the Rolling Stones' "Factory Girl" was released on the Beggars Banquet compilation CD, "21 Beggars Banquet". On 9 August 1999, Maxim released the EP "My Web", which contained five tracks. In 2000, Maxim collaborated with Skin from Skunk Anansie on the song "Carmen Queasy", which remains his biggest solo success, peaking at number 33 on the UK Singles Chart in June that year. Maxim released a second single, "Scheming", on 11 September 2000, which reached number 53 on the UK Singles Chart, and released his debut album, "Hell's Kitchen", on 2 October 2000. Maxim's second solo album, "Fallen Angel", was released in 2005 and spawned one single, "I Don't Care", which failed to chart. The album was released on multiple formats, including a limited-edition CD.


title: Maxim (musician)

text: Maxim has performed as a DJ and in 2013 had his first United States DJ tour. He's quoted as saying, "DJing for me is a completely fresh challenge—it gives me the opportunity to play music I’m into. I love the spontaneity, its freestyle form." Maxim's DJing was inspired by trap, and in 2014 he collaborated with Cianna Blaze and producer Blaze Billions to create and release original tracks that he could DJ, released under the name 'We Are Noize'. In an interview, Maxim said that the collaboration was a 'collective', not a new band.


title: Maxim (musician)

text: In September 2019, Maxim signed an exclusive global publishing deal with Peermusic that includes their partnership on Maxim's "Red Room Arts" publishing company. In December 2019, Maxim's third solo album "Love More" was released on the Red Room Arts record label.


title: Maxim (musician)

text: Using the pseudonym MM (Double M) for his mixed media artworks made with materials that include items like pills, blades, needles and bullets, Maxim's first exhibition was named "Lepidop Terror" and held in September 2011 at INC Space in London's Covent Garden. Some of his artwork is displayed online at Taylor Barnes Gallery. Maxim has donated pieces of his artwork to fundraising causes including in 2020 the "heART & Soul Auction" for "Arms Around the Child" and the online anti-racism exhibition "United for Change" hosted by Artnet to raise funds for the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust in the UK and "Underground Museum" and "For Freedoms" in the US.


title: Han shot first

text: "Han shot first" refers to a controversial change made to a scene in the film "Star Wars" (1977), in which Han Solo (Harrison Ford) is confronted by the bounty hunter Greedo (Paul Blake) in the Mos Eisley cantina. In the original version of this scene, Han shoots Greedo dead. Later versions are edited so that Greedo attempts to fire at Han first. Director George Lucas altered the scene to give Solo more justification for acting in self-defense. Many fans and commentators oppose the change, feeling it weakens Solo's character arc. The controversy is referenced in the 2018 film "".


title: Han shot first

text: Smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford) is cornered by bounty hunter Greedo (Paul Blake) in a bar and forced at gunpoint to sit. While they talk about money Solo owes, Solo readies his gun under the table. Greedo tells him he has been "looking forward" to killing Solo for a long time. Solo replies, "Yes, I'll bet you have."


title: Han shot first

text: The conclusion varies depending on the version of the film being watched. In the original version, the film cuts to a closeup of Greedo's face, followed quickly by flashes of sparks, a cloud of smoke, and the sound of a blaster firing. This is followed by a shot of Greedo from behind, slumping over the table. In the 1997 Special Edition, Greedo shoots first at Solo and misses from Solo moving his head, and Solo returns fire, killing Greedo.


title: Han shot first

text: For the 2004 DVD release, the shots are fired at nearly the same time and Solo dodges Greedo's shot. For the 2011 Blu-ray release, the scene of Solo and Greedo firing at each other was shortened by several frames. The scene was changed again for the version of the film released on Disney+ on November 12, 2019. In this version, using a close-up of footage already used a few seconds before, Greedo says a line transcribed by fans as "maclunkey" or "ma klounkee" ("This'll be the end of you") before shooting at Han. The line may be a threat spoken in Huttese, as it is used that way by Sebulba in "". Additionally, the reverse shot of Greedo being shot was removed, and new effects were used. The changes were made by Lucas before Disney acquired the franchise in 2012.


title: Han shot first

text: According to Paul Blake, the scene was created as a result of Lucas having to cut a special effects-heavy scene introducing Jabba the Hutt due to budget and schedule concerns. The original version of the Greedo scene has grown to be considered iconic, while the Jabba scene, which was restored for the Special Edition and later releases, is generally regarded as superfluous.


title: Han shot first

text: The change is one of the most controversial of many alterations made in the 1997 Special Edition of "Star Wars". Many fans argued that it alters Han's initially morally ambiguous character, making his later transition from anti-hero to hero less meaningful. According to "Variety," "Fans lost their minds. It was an affront, the neutering of a badass." Fans have created fan edits of the original "Star Wars" films (such as Harmy's Despecialized Edition) to reverse Lucas' changes, especially the scene with Solo and Greedo. In a 2004 interview, Lucas responded to the criticism, saying, "To me, [the original movie] doesn't really exist anymore. ... I'm sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it. But I want it to be the way I want it to be." He acknowledged the controversy by wearing a "Han shot first" T-shirt on the set of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008). In a 2012 interview with "The Hollywood Reporter", Lucas said:


title: Han shot first

text: One draft of the original script makes no mention of Greedo shooting at all, only Solo. In 2015, a replica of an early script for "Star Wars" was discovered in the archives of the University of New Brunswick library. In the script, dated March 15, 1976, Han shoots first. In a 2015 interview, Lucas said:Han Solo was going to marry Leia, and you look back and say, "Should he be a cold-blooded killer?" Because I was thinking mythologically—should he be a cowboy, should he be John Wayne? And I said, "Yeah, he should be John Wayne." And when you're John Wayne, you don't shoot people [first]—you let them have the first shot. It's a mythological reality that we hope our society pays attention to.


title: Han shot first

text: In 2020's "The Star Wars Archives: 1999–2005", Lucas commented, "I never designed Han to be a ruthless killer. All the good guys shoot in self-defense. When I edited the scene in 1977 you couldn't tell who does what."


title: Han shot first

text: Paul Blake said in a 2016 interview: "Of course, it said it all in the original script, we played in the scene in English and at the end of the scene, it reads, 'Han shoots the alien.' It's all it says and that's what happened. It was very painful." Blake felt that Greedo shooting at and missing Solo at very short range made him appear inept, and that Greedo has more glory if he is "just blown away". One legal expert argued that Greedo's behavior constituted a direct threat and would warrant preemptive action in self-defense in the United States. In 2014, when asked in a Reddit AMA, Harrison Ford replied, "I don't know and I don't care."


title: Han shot first

text: In the 2018 film "," Han Solo shoots antagonist Tobias Beckett mid-sentence, killing him. Writers Lawrence and Jonathan Kasdan confirmed that this was a deliberate reference, and that the "Solo" shooting script specifies: "There can be no question that Han shoots first."


title: Han shot first

text: In the trailer for "The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special", which has multiple characters from different times, an older Han asks the younger Han if he wants to shoot first during an encounter with Greedo. He replies, "After you." Both men open fire simultaneously, before Greedo can react.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: ThunderCats is an American science fantasy animated television series that was produced by Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment and Leisure Concepts debuting in 1985, based on the characters created by Ted "Tobin" Wolf. The series, for which Leonard Starr was the head writer, follows the adventures of a group of catlike humanoid aliens. The animation for the episodes was provided by the Japanese studio Pacific Animation Corporation, with Masaki Iizuka as production manager. The studio was acquired in 1989 to form Walt Disney Animation Japan. Season 1 of the show aired in 1985, consisting of 65 episodes, followed by a TV movie entitled "ThunderCats – Ho!" in 1986. Seasons 2, 3, and 4 each contained twenty episodes, starting with a five-part story.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: The series was originally distributed by Rankin/Bass' then-parent company Telepictures Corporation, which would later merge with Lorimar Productions in 1986. In 1989, Lorimar-Telepictures was purchased by and folded into Warner Bros., whose television syndication arm would eventually assume distribution of the show; Warner Bros. had the rights to the series (and all Lorimar-Telepictures programming) from that point on. Leisure Concepts which helped co-develop the show acted as a licensing agent for the series.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: There were also several comic book series produced: Marvel Comics' version (currently owned by Warner Bros. rival Disney), 1985 to 1988; and five series by Wildstorm, an imprint of DC Comics (Warner Bros.' corporate sibling), beginning in 2003. Items of clothing featuring the ThunderCats logo and DVD box sets of the original series have enjoyed a resurgence in recent years as nostalgia for the former children's favorite has grown.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: A film adaptation of the series was announced in June 2007; Aurelio Jaro was making a CGI-animated feature film of "ThunderCats", based on a script written by Paul Sopocy. Jerry O'Flaherty, veteran video game art director, had signed on to direct. The film was planned to be produced by Spring Creek Productions. It was originally set for a summer 2010 release, but the movie has since been put on hold. Concept art for the film has also been leaked online.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: "ThunderCats" follows the adventures of the eponymous team of heroes, cat-like humanoid aliens on a planet called Third Earth. The series plot begins with the dying planet Thundera meeting its end, forcing the ThunderCats (a sort of Thunderean nobility) to flee their homeworld. The fleet is attacked by the Thundereans' enemies, the Mutants of Plun-Darr, who destroy most of the starships in the "ThunderFleet", but spare the flagship hoping to capture the legendary mystic Sword of Omens they believe is on board. The sword holds the Eye of Thundera, the source of the ThunderCats' power, which is embedded in the hilt. Though the Mutants damage the flagship, the power of the Eye drives them back. The damage to the ship means the journey to their original destination is not possible, instead having to journey to "Third Earth", which will take much longer than they had anticipated. The eldest of the ThunderCats, Jaga, volunteers to pilot the ship while the others sleep in capsules; however, he dies of old age in the process, but not before ensuring they will reach their destination safely. The flagship contains the young Lord of the ThunderCats, Lion-O, as well as the ThunderCats Cheetara, Panthro, Tygra, WilyKit and WilyKat, and Snarf.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: When the ThunderCats awaken from their suspended animation on Third Earth after ten "galacto-years", Lion-O discovers that his suspension capsule has slowed, rather than stopped, his aging. He has now become essentially a child in the body of an adult. Together, the ThunderCats and the friendly natives of Third Earth construct the "Cat's Lair", their new home and headquarters, but before long, the Mutants have tracked them down to Third Earth. The intrusion of these two alien races upon the world does not go unnoticed, however, as a demonic, mummified sorcerer calling himself Mumm-Ra recruits the Mutants to aid him in his campaign to acquire the Eye of Thundera and destroy the ThunderCats so that his evil may continue to hold sway over Third Earth.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: The basic plot above holds strong for the first season of the show, and served as the basis for a vast array of stories that freely mixed elements of science fiction and fantasy into a traditional good-versus-evil tale that steadily introduced more and more recurring allies and villains into the world of the "ThunderCats". Futuristic technology is just as central to the series as magic and myth, but even in the midst of all this action, the series never underemphasizes the importance of moral values in solving problems. Each episode would normally include a short dénouement, featuring the characters recuperating after the events of the story and taking the time to single out a personal value or wholesome approach that helped save the day, or could have done so if they had seen it.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: The first half of Season 1 featured a gentle continuity, with early episodes following on from one another and establishing recurring concepts, although this became less common as the season transitioned into its second half, which comprised mostly incidental one-shot adventures. Tying the second half of season one together was the overarching five-part adventure written by series head writer Leonard Starr, "Lion-O's Annointment", in which an unarmed Lion-O faced off against first each of the other ThunderCats, and then Mumm-Ra, so he could truly earn his title as Lord of the ThunderCats. The five parts were:


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: On all four days except the last, the Mutants tried to interfere with Lion-O's trials so that they could force the ThunderCats to remain leaderless. The other ThunderCats were each then forced to involve themselves in the conflict specifically to foil the Mutants's interferences—all while trying to avoid assisting Lion-O in his anointment trials.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: Although intended to be viewed consecutively (as the adventures depicted occurred one day after the other), the five parts of the mini-series were erroneously aired (and released on DVD) with multiple other episodes between each instalment.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: The 1986 TV movie "ThunderCats – Ho!" featured the first major shake-up to the status quo of the series, introducing three new Thundereans (whom Lion-O later anointed as ThunderCats) who had also survived the destruction of Thundera. A massive cast of returning heroes and villains were incorporated into the story and concluded with the apparent destruction of Mumm-Ra. Leonard Starr wrote the story for this TV movie. "ThunderCats – Ho!" was then split into five instalments, becoming the initial episodes of season two.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: When the series returned in 1987, it was revealed that the evil wizard Mumm-Ra had survived. "ThunderCats – Ho!" and its follow-up, "Mumm-Ra Lives!", set the pattern for the following three seasons, each of which began with a five-part mini-series—again written by Leonard Starr—that established the new characters and concepts that would go on to influence the rest of the season. In the case of "Mumm-Ra Lives!", these concepts included the debut of the villainous Lunataks, which became a third faction that existed for the rest of the series, and the new team of ThunderCats from "ThunderCats – Ho!" receiving their own headquarters and vehicles.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: The 1988 season began with the Peter Lawrence-scripted "ThunderCubs" which, though named for its plot about the ThunderCats being transformed into children, was principally about Mumm-Ra reconstructing Thundera in order to retrieve both the weapon that had originally destroyed it (the Sword of Plun-Darr) and the legendary Treasure of Thundera. In the course of the adventure, the treasure—containing the Book of Omens, a tome holding all the secrets of the ThunderCats, and many other mystical items—was scattered across the New Thundera, ushering in a new concept for the series: a season with an actual story arc. Continuity between episodes became tighter as the ThunderCats, Mutants, Lunataks and Mumm-Ra alternated their adventures between Third Earth and New Thundera, searching for the treasure and exploiting its powers. The season also featured the running theme of the Ancient Spirits of Evil having to take a more active hand in pushing Mumm-Ra into action, culminating in another unique feature of the season—an actual finale episode, "The Last Day", in which the Ancient Spirits of Evil give Mumm-Ra one last chance to destroy the ThunderCats by sunset. Besides demonstrating their threat by making Ma-Mutt disappear, the Ancient Spirits of Evil stated that Mumm-Ra's failure will also have the Mutants and the Lunataks removed from Third Earth as well. Ultimately, Mumm-Ra failed and the Ancient Spirits of Evil exiled him to the farthest corner of the Universe.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: In the opening miniseries, Peter Lawrence's "Return to Thundera!", the ThunderCats returned to New Thundera to rebuild their society, but before departing, they destroyed Mumm-Ra's pyramid. This enraged the Ancient Spirits of Evil to the point that they brought Mumm-Ra back and installed him within a new pyramid on New Thundera. The season proved to be quite divorced from what had gone before, with adventures consigned almost entirely to New Thundera, and most villainous opposition coming from either Mumm-Ra or assorted new villains. The Mutants, Lunataks, and Captain Cracker all returned for one episode each. However, in the series finale, several conclusions are reached:


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: Despite its large cast of characters, "ThunderCats" featured a rather small circle of voice actors, with only six actors providing voices for the entire first season. Every actor provided multiple voices, although the distinctive baritone of Earle Hyman (Panthro) left the actor providing only very occasional guest voices in comparison with his fellow performers. In particular, as the first season's only female actor, Lynne Lipton (Cheetara and WilyKit) provided voices for every single female character that appeared in the season. Earl Hammond (Mumm-Ra and Jaga) and Bob McFadden (Snarf and Slythe) would most regularly provide the voices of guest characters.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: 1986's "Thundercats—Ho!" added Gerrianne Raphael to the cast as the voice of Pumyra, while 1987's "Mumm-Ra Lives!" saw the addition of Doug Preis as the voice of Alluro.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: Warner Home Video/Warner Bros. Family Entertainment released the entire original 1980s series of "ThunderCats" in the US over a number of volumes in the following order:


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: In January 2009, IGN named "ThunderCats" as the 49th-best show in the Top 100 Best Animated TV Shows.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: On 16 November 1987, a VHS called 'Thundercats Ho!' was released in the UK by Video Collection International. The film was submitted to the BBFC, who recorded it being 90 m 31s excluding 5 seconds cut for a Universal rating. It was actually the first five episodes of season 2 edited to look like a feature-length film. Season 2 never aired in the UK. This VHS may have been shown on American TV by stations without access to the individual episodes.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: In 2008–2009, Warner Bros. was in the process of creating a CGI animated film based on "ThunderCats". It was rumored to be an original story expanding on the events of the first episode and the film's concept artwork (released in July 2009) contained the main character Lion-O and three locations. A two-minute test scene was filmed and presented to Warner Bros.; however, the movie has been put on indefinite hold, perhaps due to the critical and commercial failure of the 2008 movie "Speed Racer" (another Warner Bros. CGI project).


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: A new "ThunderCats" animated series produced by Warner Bros. Animation began airing on Cartoon Network from July 2011. Animation production was provided by Japanese animation studio Studio 4°C. Sam Register was the executive producer and was joined by Michael Jelenic and Ethan Spaulding as the producers for the series. The show explained Lion-O's ascension to the Thunderean throne with a more original feel and darker style than the 1980s series. The new series made it clear in the very beginning, however, that they are not adhering to the original story line. In the original series the Thunder Cats leave Thundera, as the last of their race, to eventually arrive on the 3rd earth. In the new series the very first line states that the Thundereans are already on the 3rd earth. As the first few episodes progress the new writers seem to use Thundera but it isn't clear if they are referring to a planet or kingdom. Former Lion-O voice actor Larry Kenney returned to play the role Lion-O's father Claudus in the opening two-part episode of the new series.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: In January 2011, a promotional poster featuring re-imagined designs for Lion-O, Cheetara, Panthro, and Tygra as well as design for the Sword of Omens and vehicles were shown at the London Toy Fair. The series began airing on Cartoon Network on July 29, 2011 with an hour-long premiere, while the UK premiere on Cartoon Network began on 10 September the same year.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: Despite an early positive response (with the animation in particular receiving heavy praise from critics), the series failed to make any real impact and viewing figures slowly declined after the first episode, with blame falling on a relatively dark and complicated storyline considering the show was aimed at 6-12 year olds. Merchandise struggled to sell, and as a result the show was cancelled after only one season.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: There were also several comic book series produced. A "ThunderCats" comic book series based on the animated series was originally published by Marvel Comics through its Star Comics imprint in 1985, lasting for 3 years and 24 issues. During this time, a new series was published by Marvel UK consisting of 129 issues and was also published for three years. Beginning in 2002 "ThunderCats" titles were published by Wildstorm Productions, an imprint of DC Comics (Warner Bros.' corporate sibling), and included 5 non-canon mini-series and several one-shots.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: Two video games based on the franchise exist: "ThunderCats: The Lost Eye of Thundera", a 1987 side-scrolling video game; and "ThunderCats", a 2012 Nintendo DS game based on the show's revival.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: LJN produced the ThunderCats action figures from 1984 to 1987. The ThunderCats line was based on the animated series which was actually created in 1983. Due to difficulties, it would not air until 1985. Each figure had an action feature of some sort, and the line also included a unique "laser" light-up feature that interacted between the Cats' Lair playset, some figures, and some accessories. Lion-O's eyes and Mumm-Ra's eyes would illuminate when a special battery-powered key ring that came with the figure was pressed into a slot in their backs. PVC companions were packaged with some figures in 1986, including WilyKat with Tygra, WilyKit with Cheetara, Snarf with Lion-O, and Ma-Mutt with Mumm-Ra. The PVC companion figures were also produced as full size articulated figures.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: LJN did produce a few variant figures including the young Tygra version and the silver rat-eye daggers for Rataro. There are also a few slight color variations of Lion-O, such as red and orange-haired versions. The third series of figures from 1987 are harder to find along with the Tongue-A-Saurus and Astral Moat Monster. Driller and Stinger are the toughest figures to track down; Stinger's wings are very fragile, making it next to impossible to find a loose, complete figure.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: An unproduced final series of figures would have included The Mad Bubbler, Red-Eye of the Lunataks, Ratilla, Cannon-Blaster and Quick-Jaws from the Bezerkers as well as the Feliner, Thunderstrike and Luna Tacker. Photos of these were featured in the 1987 LJN catalog.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: In 1987, Elite Systems released the game "ThunderCats: The Lost Eye of Thundera", for Commodore64/128, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Amiga and Atari ST personal computer systems. Many years later, Cartoon Network's official website featured a game that allowed visitors to play as Lion-O and rescue fellow ThunderCats while venturing into Mumm-Ra's tomb (this game, titled, "ThunderCats: Tomb of Mumm-Raa", can be found on an archived Toonami database).


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: Other ThunderCats merchandise of the 1980s included, among other items, a board game, TV tray table, an electronic racing set, tin lunch box, clothing and apparel. A retro spurt occurred in the mid-1990s and 2000s (decade) that began with the familiar 1980s ThunderCats emblem on T-shirts and has since grown to include new T-shirt designs and various other ThunderCats-themed apparel such as hats and belt buckles, plus a tan backpack with the ThunderCats on it.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: In May 2009, Warner Brothers gave Hard Hero the rights to produce a line of collectible statues based on the ThunderCats characters.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: Icon Heroes, a company specializing in collectible pop memorabilia, released their new line of classic ThunderCats statues and vehicles.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: In February 2011, Mezco Toyz acquired the ThunderCats license to produce large scale rotocast figures based on the 1980s animated series. Lion-O was the first announced figure in their toyline.


title: ThunderCats (1985 TV series)

text: Jerry Macaluso, owner of Pop Culture Shock, collectible statue company, announced in March 2010 that he had acquired his "dream license". The company went on to produce premium format ThunderCats statues (1:4 scale, over 30 inches) of Lion-O and Mumm-Ra. Prototypes of Cheetara and Tygra were developed and displayed online and at San Diego Comic Con respectively, but didn't reach minimum pre-order thresholds. The prototypes were donated to the ThunderCats Museum in 2014.


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: Pierre de Fermat (; between 31 October and 6 December 1607 – 12 January 1665) was a French mathematician who is given credit for early developments that led to infinitesimal calculus, including his technique of adequality. In particular, he is recognized for his discovery of an original method of finding the greatest and the smallest ordinates of curved lines, which is analogous to that of differential calculus, then unknown, and his research into number theory. He made notable contributions to analytic geometry, probability, and optics. He is best known for his Fermat's principle for light propagation and his Fermat's Last Theorem in number theory, which he described in a note at the margin of a copy of Diophantus' "Arithmetica". He was also a lawyer at the "Parlement" of Toulouse, France.


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: Fermat was born in 1607 in Beaumont-de-Lomagne, France—the late 15th-century mansion where Fermat was born is now a museum. He was from Gascony, where his father, Dominique Fermat, was a wealthy leather merchant and served three one-year terms as one of the four consuls of Beaumont-de-Lomagne. His mother was Claire de Long. Pierre had one brother and two sisters and was almost certainly brought up in the town of his birth.


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: He attended the University of Orléans from 1623 and received a bachelor in civil law in 1626, before moving to Bordeaux. In Bordeaux, he began his first serious mathematical researches, and in 1629 he gave a copy of his restoration of Apollonius's "De Locis Planis" to one of the mathematicians there. Certainly, in Bordeaux he was in contact with Beaugrand and during this time he produced important work on maxima and minima which he gave to Étienne d'Espagnet who clearly shared mathematical interests with Fermat. There he became much influenced by the work of François Viète.


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: In 1630, he bought the office of a councilor at the Parlement de Toulouse, one of the High Courts of Judicature in France, and was sworn in by the Grand Chambre in May 1631. He held this office for the rest of his life. Fermat thereby became entitled to change his name from Pierre Fermat to Pierre de Fermat. On 1 June 1631, Fermat married Louise de Long, a fourth cousin of his mother Claire de Fermat (née de Long). The Fermats had eight children, five of whom survived to adulthood: Clément-Samuel, Jean, Claire, Catherine, and Louise.


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: Fluent in six languages (French, Latin, Occitan, classical Greek, Italian and Spanish), Fermat was praised for his written verse in several languages and his advice was eagerly sought regarding the emendation of Greek texts. He communicated most of his work in letters to friends, often with little or no proof of his theorems. In some of these letters to his friends, he explored many of the fundamental ideas of calculus before Newton or Leibniz. Fermat was a trained lawyer making mathematics more of a hobby than a profession. Nevertheless, he made important contributions to analytical geometry, probability, number theory and calculus. Secrecy was common in European mathematical circles at the time. This naturally led to priority disputes with contemporaries such as Descartes and Wallis.


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: Anders Hald writes that, "The basis of Fermat's mathematics was the classical Greek treatises combined with Vieta's new algebraic methods."


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: Fermat's pioneering work in analytic geometry ("Methodus ad disquirendam maximam et minimam et de tangentibus linearum curvarum") was circulated in manuscript form in 1636 (based on results achieved in 1629), predating the publication of Descartes' famous "La géométrie" (1637), which exploited the work. This manuscript was published posthumously in 1679 in "Varia opera mathematica", as "Ad Locos Planos et Solidos Isagoge" ("Introduction to Plane and Solid Loci").


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: In "Methodus ad disquirendam maximam et minimam" and in "De tangentibus linearum curvarum", Fermat developed a method (adequality) for determining maxima, minima, and tangents to various curves that was equivalent to differential calculus. In these works, Fermat obtained a technique for finding the centers of gravity of various plane and solid figures, which led to his further work in quadrature.


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: Fermat was the first person known to have evaluated the integral of general power functions. With his method, he was able to reduce this evaluation to the sum of geometric series. The resulting formula was helpful to Newton, and then Leibniz, when they independently developed the fundamental theorem of calculus.


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: In number theory, Fermat studied Pell's equation, perfect numbers, amicable numbers and what would later become Fermat numbers. It was while researching perfect numbers that he discovered Fermat's little theorem. He invented a factorization method—Fermat's factorization method—and popularized the proof by infinite descent, which he used to prove Fermat's right triangle theorem which includes as a corollary Fermat's Last Theorem for the case "n" = 4. Fermat developed the two-square theorem, and the polygonal number theorem, which states that each number is a sum of three triangular numbers, four square numbers, five pentagonal numbers, and so on.


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: Although Fermat claimed to have proven all his arithmetic theorems, few records of his proofs have survived. Many mathematicians, including Gauss, doubted several of his claims, especially given the difficulty of some of the problems and the limited mathematical methods available to Fermat. His famous Last Theorem was first discovered by his son in the margin in his father's copy of an edition of Diophantus, and included the statement that the margin was too small to include the proof. It seems that he had not written to Marin Mersenne about it. It was first proven in 1994, by Sir Andrew Wiles, using techniques unavailable to Fermat.


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: Through their correspondence in 1654, Fermat and Blaise Pascal helped lay the foundation for the theory of probability. From this brief but productive collaboration on the problem of points, they are now regarded as joint founders of probability theory. Fermat is credited with carrying out the first-ever rigorous probability calculation. In it, he was asked by a professional gambler why if he bet on rolling at least one six in four throws of a die he won in the long term, whereas betting on throwing at least one double-six in 24 throws of two dice resulted in his losing. Fermat showed mathematically why this was the case.


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: The first variational principle in physics was articulated by Euclid in his "Catoptrica". It says that, for the path of light reflecting from a mirror, the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection. Hero of Alexandria later showed that this path gave the shortest length and the least time. Fermat refined and generalized this to "light travels between two given points along the path of shortest "time"" now known as the "principle of least time". For this, Fermat is recognized as a key figure in the historical development of the fundamental principle of least action in physics. The terms Fermat's principle and "Fermat functional" were named in recognition of this role.


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: Pierre de Fermat died on January 12, 1665, at Castres, in the present-day department of Tarn. The oldest and most prestigious high school in Toulouse is named after him: the Lycée Pierre-de-Fermat. French sculptor Théophile Barrau made a marble statue named "Hommage à Pierre Fermat" as a tribute to Fermat, now at the Capitole de Toulouse.


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: Together with René Descartes, Fermat was one of the two leading mathematicians of the first half of the 17th century. According to Peter L. Bernstein, in his 1996 book "Against the Gods", Fermat "was a mathematician of rare power. He was an independent inventor of analytic geometry, he contributed to the early development of calculus, he did research on the weight of the earth, and he worked on light refraction and optics. In the course of what turned out to be an extended correspondence with Blaise Pascal, he made a significant contribution to the theory of probability. But Fermat's crowning achievement was in the theory of numbers."


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: Regarding Fermat's work in analysis, Isaac Newton wrote that his own early ideas about calculus came directly from "Fermat's way of drawing tangents."


title: Pierre de Fermat

text: Of Fermat's number theoretic work, the 20th-century mathematician André Weil wrote that: "what we possess of his methods for dealing with curves of genus 1 is remarkably coherent; it is still the foundation for the modern theory of such curves. It naturally falls into two parts; the first one ... may conveniently be termed a method of ascent, in contrast with the descent which is rightly regarded as Fermat's own." Regarding Fermat's use of ascent, Weil continued: "The novelty consisted in the vastly extended use which Fermat made of it, giving him at least a partial equivalent of what we would obtain by the systematic use of the group theoretical properties of the rational points on a standard cubic." With his gift for number relations and his ability to find proofs for many of his theorems, Fermat essentially created the modern theory of numbers.


title: Flag of convenience

text: Flag of convenience (FOC) is a business practice whereby a ship's owners register a merchant ship in a ship register of a country other than that of the ship's owners, and the ship flies the civil ensign of that country, called the flag state. The term is often used pejoratively, and although common, the practice is sometimes regarded as contentious.


title: Flag of convenience

text: Each merchant ship is required by international law to be registered in a registry created by a country, and a ship is subject to the laws of that country, which are used also if the ship is involved in a case under admiralty law. A ship's owners may elect to register a ship in a foreign country so as to avoid the regulations of the owners' country, which may, for example, have stricter safety standards. They may also select a jurisdiction to reduce operating costs, avoiding higher taxes in the owners' country and bypassing laws that protect the wages and working conditions of mariners. The term "flag of convenience" has been used since the 1950s. A registry which does not have a nationality or residency requirement for ship registration is often described as an open registry. Panama, for example, offers advantages such as easier registration (often online), the ability to employ cheaper foreign labour, and an exemption on income taxes.


title: Flag of convenience

text: The modern practice of ships being registered in a foreign country began in the 1920s in the United States when shipowners seeking to serve alcohol to passengers during Prohibition registered their ships in Panama. Owners soon began to perceive advantages in terms of avoiding increased regulations and rising labor costs and continued to register their ships in Panama even after Prohibition ended. The use of open registries steadily increased, and in 1968, Liberia grew to surpass the United Kingdom with the world's largest ship register.


title: Flag of convenience

text: , more than half the world's merchant ships were registered with open registries, and almost 40% of the entire world fleet, in terms of deadweight tonnage, (DWT) were registered in Panama, Liberia, and the Marshall Islands. It is estimated that nearly two thirds of the world's fleet is registered in states to which they had no connection. According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in January 2021, Panama had 6,653 ships on its registry (16 percent of the global fleet by DWT), followed by Liberia (3,909), Marshall Islands (3,732), Singapore (2,541), and Hong Kong (2,440).


title: Flag of convenience

text: Open registries have been criticised, mainly by trade union organisations based in developed countries, especially those in the European Union, United States, Japan, Canada, or the United Kingdom. One criticism is that shipowners who want to hide their ownership may select a flag-of-convenience jurisdiction which enables them to be legally anonymous. Some ships with flags of convenience have been found engaging in crime, offering substandard working conditions, and negatively impacting the environment, primarily through illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Prior to the implementation of the International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969, shipowners may have selected a jurisdiction with measurement rules that reduced the certified gross register tonnage of a ship, to reduce subsequent port of call dock dues. Such was a consideration when Carnival Cruise Line changed the flag of the RMS "Empress of Canada" in 1972 to that of Panama. In 2011, Cunard Line registered all its ships in Bermuda, which, besides other considerations, enabled its ship captains to marry couples at sea. Weddings at sea are described as a lucrative market.


title: Flag of convenience

text: , thirteen flag states have been found by international shipping organisations to have substandard regulations. On the other hand, maritime industry practitioners and seafarers from other countries contend that this is a natural product of globalisation. Supporters of the practice, however, point to economic and regulatory advantages, and increased freedom in choosing employees from an international labour pool. Publications from as early as 1962 argue that shipowners from developed countries use the practice to be competitive in a global environment.


title: Flag of convenience

text: International law requires that every merchant ship be registered in a country. The country in which a ship is registered is its flag state, and the flag state gives the ship the right to fly its civil ensign. A ship operates under the laws of its flag state, and these laws are used if the ship is involved in an admiralty case. A ship's flag state exercises regulatory control over the vessel and is required to inspect it regularly, certify the ship's equipment and crew, and issue safety and pollution prevention documents. The organization which actually registers the ship is known as its registry. Registries may be governmental or private agencies.


title: Flag of convenience

text: The reasons for choosing an open register are varied and include tax avoidance, the ability to avoid national labor and environmental regulations, and the ability to hire crews from lower-wage countries. National or closed registries typically require a ship be owned and constructed by national interests, and at least partially crewed by its citizens. Conversely, open registries frequently offer on-line registration with few questions asked. The use of flags of convenience lowers registration and maintenance costs, which in turn reduces overall transportation costs. The accumulated advantages can be significant, for example in 1999, 28 of the American company SeaLand's fleet of 63 ships were foreign-flagged, saving the company up to US$3.5 million per ship every year.


title: Flag of convenience

text: The environmental disaster caused by the 1978 sinking of the , which flew the Liberian flag, spurred the creation of a new type of maritime enforcement. Resulting from strong political and public outcry over the "Amoco Cadiz" sinking, fourteen European nations signed the 1982 Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control or Paris MOU. Under port state control, ships in international trade became subject to inspection by the states they visit. In addition to shipboard living and working conditions, these inspections cover items concerning the safety of life at sea and the prevention of pollution by ships. In cases when a port state inspection uncovers problems with a ship, the port state may take actions including detaining the ship. In 2015, member states of the Paris MOU conducted 17,858 inspections with deficiencies, which resulted in 595 detained vessels and 11 banned. Member states of the Tokyo Memorandum of Understanding conducted 17,269 ship inspections in 2015, recording 83,606 deficiencies which resulted in 1,153 detentions.


title: Flag of convenience

text: The principle that there be a genuine link between a ship's owners and its flag state dates back to 1958, when Article 5(1) of the Geneva Convention on the High Seas also required that "the state must effectively exercise its jurisdiction and control in administrative, technical and social matters over ships flying its flag." The principle was repeated in Article 91 of the 1982 treaty called the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and often referred to as UNCLOS. In 1986, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development attempted to solidify the genuine link concept in the United Nations Convention on Conditions for Registration of Ships. The Convention for Registration of Ships would require that a flag state be linked to its ships either by having an economic stake in the ownership of its ships or by providing mariners to crew the ships. To come into force, the 1986 treaty requires 40 signatories whose combined tonnage exceeds 25% of the world total. , only 14 countries have signed the treaty.


title: Flag of convenience

text: Merchant ships have used false flags as a tactic to evade enemy warships since antiquity, and examples can be found from as early as the Roman era through to the Middle Ages. Following the American Revolutionary War, merchantmen flying the flag of the fledgling United States quickly found it offered little protection against attack by Barbary pirates – many responded by seeking to transfer their registry back to Great Britain. The use of false flags was frequently used as a "ruse de guerre" by the British during the Napoleonic Wars and the United States during the War of 1812. During the mid-19th century, slave ships flew various flags to avoid being searched by British anti-slavery fleets. The "Belen Quezada", in August 1919, was the first foreign ship to be re-registered in the Panamanian registry, and was employed in running illegal alcohol between Canada and the United States during Prohibition. The modern practice of registering ships in foreign countries to gain economic advantage originated in the United States in the era of World War I, though the term "flag of convenience" did not come into use until the 1950s.


title: Flag of convenience

text: Between 1915 and 1922, several laws were passed in the United States to strengthen the United States Merchant Marine and provide safeguards for its mariners. During this period, U.S.-flagged ships became subject to regular inspections undertaken by the American Bureau of Shipping. This was also the time of Robert LaFollette's Seamen's Act of 1915, which has been described as the ""Magna Carta" of American sailors' rights". The Seamen's Act regulated mariners' working hours, their payment, and established baseline requirements for shipboard food. It also reduced penalties for disobedience and abolished the practice of imprisoning sailors for the offense of desertion. Another aspect of the Seamen's Act was enforcement of safety standards, with requirements on lifeboats, the number of qualified able seamen on board, and that officers and seamen be able to speak the same language. These laws put U.S.-flagged vessels at an economic disadvantage against countries lacking such safeguards, and ships started to be re-registered in Panama's open registry from 1919. In addition to sidestepping the Seamen's Act, Panamanian-flagged ships in this early period paid sailors on the Japanese wage scale, which was much lower than that of western merchant powers. In the early phase of World War II the transfer of American-owned ships to the Panama registry was sanctioned by the United States government so that they could be used to deliver materials to Britain without dragging the United States, as a neutral, unintentionally into war.


title: Flag of convenience

text: The Liberian open registry, founded in 1948, was the brainchild of Edward Stettinius, who had been Franklin D. Roosevelt's Secretary of State during World War II. Stettinius created a corporate structure that included The Liberia Corporation, a joint-venture with the government of Liberia. The corporation was structured so that 25% of its revenue would go to the Liberian government, another 10% went to fund social programs in Liberia, and the remainder returned to Stettinius' corporation. The Liberian registry was created at a time when Panama's registry was becoming less attractive for several reasons including its unpopularity with the U.S. labor movement and European shipping concerns, political unrest in Panama, and increases in its fees and regulations.


title: Flag of convenience

text: On 11 March 1949, Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos registered the first ship under the Liberian flag, "World Peace". When Stettinius died in 1949, ownership of the registry passed to the International Bank of Washington, led by General George Olmsted. Within 18 years, Liberia grew to surpass the United Kingdom as the world's largest register.


title: Flag of convenience

text: Due to Liberia's 1989 and 1999 civil wars, its registry eventually fell second to Panama's flag of convenience, but maritime funds continued to supply 70% of its total government revenue. After the civil war of 1990, Liberia joined with the Republic of the Marshall Islands to develop a new maritime and corporate program. The resulting company, International Registries, was formed as a parent company, and in 1993 was bought out by its management. After taking over the Liberian government, Americo-Liberian warlord Charles Taylor signed a new registry contract with the Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry, commonly known as LISCR. LISCR was one of the few legal sources of income for Taylor's regime. Liberia's registry is operated from Virginia, United States.


title: Flag of convenience

text: , the open registries of Panama, Liberia, and Marshall Islands accounted for almost 40% of the entire world fleet by deadweight tonnage, maintaining roughly the same proportion for over a decade. In 2009, the top ten flags of convenience registered 55% of the world's deadweight tonnage, including 61% of bulk carriers and 56% of oil tankers; by 2021, they accounted for 38% of the world's vessels and over two-thirds of the global deadweight tonnage.


title: Flag of convenience

text: To counteract "class hopping", in 2009 the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) established a Transfer of Class Agreement (TOCA).


title: Flag of convenience

text: The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) maintains a list of registries it considers to be flags of convenience (FOC) registries. In developing the list, the ITF considers "ability and willingness of the flag state to enforce international minimum social standards on its vessels," the "degree of ratification and enforcement of ILO Conventions and Recommendations," and "safety and environmental record". , the list includes 42 countries.


title: Flag of convenience

text: , Panama, Liberia and the Marshall Islands are the world's three largest registries in terms of deadweight tonnage (DWT). These three organizations registered 11,636 ships of and above, for a total of : more than 39% of the world's shipborne carrying capacity. Panama dominates the scene with over 8,065 ships accounting for almost 23% of the world's DWT. Of the three, the Marshall Islands (with 1,265 registered ships) had the greatest rate of DWT increase in 2009, increasing its tonnage by almost 15%.


title: Flag of convenience

text: The Bahamian flag ranks sixth worldwide, behind the Hong Kong and Greek registries, but is similar in size to the Marshallese flag of convenience, with about 200 more ships but a carrying capacity about lower. Malta, at the ninth position worldwide, had about 100 more ships than the Bahamas, with a capacity of , representing 4% of the world fleet with 12% growth that year.


title: Flag of convenience

text: At the eleventh position, Cyprus registered 1,016 ships in 2009, 2.6% of world tonnage. The remaining top 11 flags of convenience are Antigua and Barbuda (#20), Bermuda (#22), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (#26), and the French International Ship Register (FIS) at number No. 27. Bermuda and the FIS have fewer than 200 ships apiece, but they are large: the average Bermudan ship is and the average FIS ship is at . (By way of reference, the average capacity of ships in the U.S. and U.K. registers is and respectively.) The registries of Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines both have over 1,000 ships with average capacity of and respectively.


title: Flag of convenience

text: The remaining flags of convenience listed by the ITF each account for less than 1% of the world's DWT. , more than half of the world's merchant ships (measured by tonnage) are registered under flags of convenience.


title: Flag of convenience

text: There are a number of common threads found in criticisms of the flag of convenience system. One is that these flag states have insufficient regulations and that those regulations they do have are poorly enforced. Another is that, in many cases, the flag state cannot identify a shipowner, much less hold the owner civilly or criminally responsible for a ship's actions. As a result of this lack of flag state control, flags of convenience are criticized on grounds of enabling tax avoidance, providing an environment for conducting criminal activities, supporting terrorism, providing poor working conditions for seafarers, and having an adverse effect on the environment.


title: Flag of convenience

text: Panama has the largest maritime register, followed by Liberia. Landlocked Bolivia also has a major registry, as does Mongolia. Also, some registers are based in other countries. For example, Panamanian overseas consulates manage the documentation and collect registration fees, Liberia's registry is managed by a company in Virginia and Bahamas' from the City of London.


title: Flag of convenience

text: A ship's beneficial owner is legally and financially responsible for the ship and its activities. For any of a number of reasons, some justifiable and some suspicious, shipowners who wish to conceal their ownership may use a number of strategies to achieve that goal.


title: Flag of convenience

text: In jurisdictions that permit it, actual owners may establish shell corporations to be the legal owners of their ships, making it difficult, if not impossible, to track who is the beneficial owner of the ship. The 2004 Report of the UN Secretary General's Consultative Group on Flag State Implementation reported that "It is very easy, and comparatively inexpensive, to establish a complex web of corporate entities to provide very effective cover to the identities of beneficial owners who do not want to be known."


title: Flag of convenience

text: According to a 2003 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report entitled "Ownership and Control of Ships", these corporate structures are often multi-layered, spread across numerous jurisdictions, and make the beneficial owner "almost impenetrable" to law enforcement officials and taxation. The report concludes that "regardless of the reasons why the cloak of anonymity is made available, if it is provided it will also assist those who may wish to remain hidden because they engage in illegal or criminal activities, including terrorists." The OECD report concludes that the use of bearer shares is "perhaps the single most important (and perhaps the most widely used) mechanism" to protect the anonymity of a ship's beneficial owner. Physically possessing a bearer share accords ownership of the corporation. There is no requirement for reporting the transfer of bearer shares, and not every jurisdiction requires that their serial numbers even be recorded.


title: Flag of convenience

text: Two similar techniques to provide anonymity for a ship's beneficial owner are "nominee shareholders" and "nominee directors". In some jurisdictions that require shareholder identities to be reported, a loophole may exist where the beneficial owner may appoint a nominee to be the shareholder, and that nominee cannot legally be compelled to reveal the identity of the beneficial owner. All corporations are required to have at least one director, however many jurisdictions allow this to be a nominee director. A nominee director's name would appear on all corporate paperwork in place of the beneficial owners, and like nominee shareholders, few jurisdictions can compel a nominee director to divulge the identity of beneficial owners. A further hurdle is that some jurisdictions allow a corporation to be named as a director.


title: Flag of convenience

text: Flag of convenience ships have long been linked to crime on the high seas. For example, in 1982, Honduras shut down its open registry operations because it had enabled "illegal traffic of all kinds and had given Honduras a bad name".


title: Flag of convenience

text: Ships registered by the Cambodia Shipping Corporation (CSC) were found smuggling drugs and cigarettes in Europe, breaking the Iraq oil embargo, and engaging in human trafficking and prostitution in Europe and Asia. In response to these activities, in 2000, Ahamd Yahya of the Cambodian Ministry of Public Works and Transport told industry publication "Fairplay" "We don't know or care who owns the ships or whether they're doing 'white' or 'black' business ... it is not our concern." Less than two years later, French forces seized the Cambodian-flagged, Greek-owned MV "Winner" for cocaine smuggling. Shortly after the seizure, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen closed the registry to foreign ships, and Cambodia canceled its contract with CSC shortly thereafter.


title: Flag of convenience

text: The North Korean flag of convenience has also garnered significant scrutiny. In 2003, the North Korean freighter "Pong Su" reflagged to Tuvalu in the middle of a voyage shortly before being seized by Australian authorities for smuggling heroin into that country. That year, thirteen nations began monitoring vessels under the North Korean flag for "illicit cargos like drugs, missiles or nuclear weapon fuel".


title: Flag of convenience

text: In the accompanying material of the ILO's Maritime Labour Convention of 2006, the International Labour Organization estimated that at that time there were approximately 1,200,000 working seafarers across the world. This document goes on to say that when working aboard ships flagged to states that do not "exercise effective jurisdiction and control" over their ships that "seafarers often have to work under unacceptable conditions, to the detriment of their well-being, health and safety and the safety of the ships on which they work."


title: Flag of convenience

text: The International Transport Workers' Federation goes further, stating that flags of convenience "provide a means of avoiding labor regulation in the country of ownership, and become a vehicle for paying low wages and forcing long hours of work and unsafe working conditions. Since FOC ships have no real nationality, they are beyond the reach of any single national seafarers' trade union." They also say that these ships have low safety standards and no construction requirements, that they "do not enforce safety standards, minimum social standards or trade union rights for seafarers", that they frequently fail to pay their crews, have poor safety records, and engage in practices such as abandoning crewmen in distant ports.


title: Flag of convenience

text: While flag of convenience ships have been involved with some of the highest-profile oil spills in history (such as the Maltese-flagged , the Bahamian-flagged , the Marshallese-flagged "Deepwater Horizon", and the Liberian-flagged , and ), the most common environmental criticism they face regards illegal fishing. These critics of the flag of convenience system argue that many of the FOC flag states lack the resources or the will to properly monitor and control those vessels. The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) contends that illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) vessels use flags of convenience to avoid fisheries regulations and controls. Flags of convenience help reduce the operating costs associated with illegal fishing methods, and help illegal operators avoid prosecution and hide beneficial ownership. As a result, flags of convenience perpetuate IUU fishing which has extensive environmental, social and economic impacts, particularly in developing countries. The EJF is campaigning to end the granting of flags of convenience to fishing vessels as an effective measure to combat IUU fishing.


title: Flag of convenience

text: International regulations for the maritime industry are promulgated by agencies of the United Nations, particularly the International Maritime Organization and International Labour Organization. Flag states adopt these regulations for their ships by ratifying individual treaties. One common criticism against flag of convenience countries is that they allow shipowners to avoid these regulations by not ratifying important treaties or by failing to enforce them.


title: Flag of convenience

text: The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) issues an annual report entitled the "Shipping Industry Flag State Performance Table" identifying the six "core" conventions representing a minimum level of maritime regulation, from the viewpoint of shipowners, as SOLAS, MARPOL, LL 66, STCW, MLC, and CLC/FUND92. Of these, all 42 flag of convenience countries listed by ITF have ratified the STCW Convention, concerning standards of training, certification and watchkeeping for seafarers, and 22 of them have ratified all six. However, at least seventeen listed countries have not ratified all the remaining five conventions. To put this in context, over 50 flag states have not ratified all six conventions, including China and United States of America.


title: Flag of convenience

text: The Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and Load Line (LL 66) conventions focus on shipboard safety issues. Originally developed in response to the sinking of RMS "Titanic", SOLAS sets regulations on lifeboats, emergency equipment and safety procedures, including continuous radio watches. It has been updated to include regulations on ship construction, fire protection systems, life-saving appliances, radio communications, safety of navigation, management for the safe operation of ships, and other safety and security concerns. LL 66 sets standards for minimum buoyancy, hull stress, and ship's fittings, as well as establishing navigational zones where extra precautions must be taken.


title: Flag of convenience

text: The International Labour Organization Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 provides comprehensive rights and protection at work for seafarers, including requirements for minimum age, qualifications, hours of work and rest, medical care, complaint procedures, wage payments, and onboard living arrangements. The MLC replaced a number of earlier ILO Conventions including ILO147.


title: Flag of convenience

text: MARPOL and CLC/FUND92 relate to pollution. The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 (MARPOL), as modified by the Protocol of 1978, including Annexes I–VI" regulates pollution by ships, including oil and air pollution, shipboard sewage and garbage. The Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (CLC) and International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage (FUND92) together provide mechanisms to ensure compensation for victims of oil spills.


title: Flag of convenience

text: In 1978, a number of European countries agreed in The Hague to audit labour conditions on board vessels "vis-a-vis" the rules of the International Labour Organization. To this end, in 1982 the "Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control" (Paris MOU) was established, setting port state control standards for what is now twenty-six European countries and Canada.


title: Flag of convenience

text: Several other regional Memoranda of Understanding have been established based on the Paris model, including the "Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control in the Asia-Pacific Region", typically referred to as the "Tokyo MOU", and organizations for the Black Sea, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean, and Latin America. The Tokyo and Paris organizations generate, based on deficiencies and detentions, black-, white-, and grey-lists of flag states. The US Coast Guard, which handles port state control inspections in the US, maintains a similar target list for underperforming flag states. , at least fifteen of the 42 flags of convenience listed by the ITF are targeted for special enforcement by the countries of the Paris and Tokyo MOUs or U.S. Coast Guard.


title: Flag of convenience

text: The effectiveness of the port state control regime in correcting deficiencies is mitigated in some part by the practice of flag-hopping, in which shipowners and operators will rename their ships and acquire new vessel registrations in other jurisdictions in order to avoid detection and reduce the likelihood of being selected for port state control inspections.


title: Flag of convenience

text: The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, in its 2009 "Report on Maritime Trade", states that shipowners often register their ships under a foreign flag in order to employ "seafarers from developing countries with lower wages". The Philippines and China supply a large percentage of maritime labor in general, and major flags of convenience in particular. In 2009, the flag-states employing the highest number of expatriate-Filipino seafarers were Panama, the Bahamas, Liberia and the Marshall Islands. That year, more than 150,000 Filipino sailors were employed by these four flags of convenience. In a 2006 study by the United States Maritime Administration (MARAD), sailors from the People's Republic of China comprised over 40% of the crews on surveyed ships flying the Panamanian flag, and around 10% of those flying the Liberian flag. The MARAD report referred to both China and the Philippines as "low cost" crewing sources.


title: Flag of convenience

text: The seafaring industry is often divided into two employment groups: licensed mariners including deck officers and marine engineers, and mariners that are not required to have licenses, such as able seamen and cooks, but are required to be certified. The latter group is collectively known as unlicensed mariners or ratings. Differences in wages can be seen in both groups, between "high cost" crewing sources such as the United States, and "low cost" sources such as China and The Philippines. However, salaries on flag of convenience ships are still far higher than median salaries of non-seafarers in these countries, in addition to income tax exemption of some seamen, particularly those from the Philippines.


title: Flag of convenience

text: For unlicensed mariners, 2009 statistics from the American Bureau of Labor Statistics give median earnings for able and ordinary seamen as US$35,810, varying from $21,640 (at the 10th percentile) to $55,360 (at the 90th percentile). This can be compared with 2006 statistics from the International Labour Organization, giving average yearly earnings for Filipino and Chinese able seamen around $2,000 to $3,000 per year (PHP9,900 per month and CNY3,071 per year). Among licensed mariners, American chief engineers earned a median $63,630, varying from $35,030 to $109,310 while their Filipino counterparts averaged $5,500 per year (PHP21,342 per month).


title: Sex (book)

text: Sex is a 1992 coffee table book written by American entertainer Madonna, with photography by Steven Meisel Studio and Fabien Baron. It was edited by Glenn O'Brien and published by Warner Books, Maverick and Callaway. The book features adult content including softcore pornography and simulations of sexual acts including sadomasochism.


title: Sex (book)

text: Madonna developed "Sex" after Judith Regan of Simon & Schuster publishers suggested a book of erotic photographs. She wrote it as a character named "Mistress Dita", inspired by 1930s film actress Dita Parlo. It was influenced by punk rock and fashion figures including Guy Bourdin, Helmut Newton and Robert Mapplethorpe. The photos were shot in early 1992 in New York City and Miami, in locations including hotels, burlesque theaters, and city streets. The book includes cameos by actress Isabella Rossellini, rappers Big Daddy Kane and Vanilla Ice, model Naomi Campbell, gay porn star Joey Stefano, actor Udo Kier, and socialite Tatiana von Fürstenberg. The cover is made of aluminium, spiral bound and wrapped in a Mylar sheet.


title: Sex (book)

text: Madonna's publishers were apprehensive about the release and the book's commercial potential. It was released on October 21, 1992, the day after Madonna's fifth studio album "Erotica". A CD single with the song "Erotic" was also packaged with the book. It sold over 150,000 copies on its first day in the United States, and topped the "New York Times" Best Seller list for three weeks. In matters of days, "Sex" went on to sell more than 1.5 million copies worldwide and remains the best and fastest-selling coffee table book. It also remains as one of the most in-demand out-of-print publications of all time.


title: Sex (book)

text: "Sex" attracted extensive media attention and backlash, but Madonna remains unapologetic. Though it initially received negative reviews from fans and critics, who felt she had "gone too far", later reviews have been more positive, with academics deeming it a defining phase in Madonna's career. "Sex" is noted for its social and cultural impact and is considered a bold post-feminist work.


title: Sex (book)

text: According to Giselle Benatar of "Entertainment Weekly", there are two versions that explain how Madonna came up with the idea for the book. One is that she conceived the idea of an erotic photography book during the shooting of the film "A League of Their Own" in the summer of 1991. The other is that Judith Regan, vice-president and editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster, armed with a proposal for a collection of photo-erotica, flew to Los Angeles in March 1991 to meet with Madonna and her manager Freddy DeMann. She verified Regan had not approached other celebrities with the concept as she was only interested in the project if it was a unique idea. By the end of the meeting Madonna had agreed "in principle" to do a book titled "Madonna's Book of Erotica and Sexual Fantasies". She told Regan that DeMann would call her and work out the book's details. However, Madonna never got back to Regan who assumed she did not want to go ahead with the idea. Madonna's publicist Liz Rosenberg has never confirmed nor denied Regan's claim they had an agreement.


title: Sex (book)

text: According to Benatar Madonna began working on "Sex" before wrapping up shooting "A League of Their Own". At first Warner Bros. Records and the executive directors of Time Warner were reluctant to allow Madonna to publish such a book but finally agreed. Madonna had to sign a contract that forbade the book from including images of child pornography, bestiality, or religious imagery. Not long after signing the agreement Madonna founded Maverick, a multi-media entertainment company in partnership with Time Warner. Since by contract she had total artistic control over any work released by Maverick, who were now the book's publisher, the agreement she signed with Time Warner over the content in "Sex" was null and void.


title: Sex (book)

text: "Sex"s stylized, sado-masochistic look had a range of influences from punk rock, to early fashion iconoclasts like Guy Bourdin and his surrealism, and Helmut Newton. Photographs from Brassaï's 1933 book "Paris de nuit" ("Paris by Night") also inspired several of the book's series of images. The book was also influenced by Robert Mapplethorpe's infamous three-part "XYZ" portfolio, particularly the "X" portfolio. Madonna had considered using "X" as a title during the formative stages of "Sex", but she changed her mind when promotion for Spike Lee's film "Malcolm X" began. (It was released three weeks after the book). She would go on to tell "Vogue" magazine: "We were gonna call it "X" [...] but then the whole thing with the Malcolm X movie started. At first I thought, 'Fuck it, it's a really good symbol and I thought of it first'. But I realized it might be confusing or look like I was copying Spike [Lee]. Besides, Sex is almost as powerful: it's universal, it doesn't need translation – and it's only two letters more than X."


title: Sex (book)

text: Madonna hired top-notch talent for the book's development, and counted on the help of friends from the music, film and fashion industry. She hired Fabien Baron as the art director, fashion photographer Steven Meisel, editor Glenn O'Brien, make-up artist Francois Nars and hairstylist Paul Cavaco. Madonna originally wanted the book to be an oval shape to simulate a condom, but its printing and manufacturing would have been too expensive. Meisel would later comment: "Madonna and I can keep up with each other", noting "I'm doing things to make people think too. It's not really to antagonize or to push people's buttons. It's really to present another way of seeing things."