title: Kate Kane

text: Batwoman also begins hunting down a crazed serial killer known as the Cutter, who has been abducting young women and cutting off parts of their faces to create the perfect woman. He eventually kidnaps Bette, but Kate tracks the killer to his lair and attacks him. During the fight, Batwoman reveals her identity to Bette when she mentions her tennis career, and in the aftermath Bette is seen in her Flamebird outfit, saying that she wants to be Kate's new partner.


title: Kate Kane

text: In "Batman Inc." Batwoman hunts a gangster named Johnny Valentine, who is wanted for his connection to the murders of three U.S. Marines. She tracks him to a local circus, the same one once owned by her predecessor, Kathy Kane. While chasing Valentine through a haunted house, Batwoman is attacked by what appears to be Kathy Kane's ghost. Batwoman struggles with and eventually defeats the "ghost", who is revealed to be nothing more than a blonde-haired female assassin clad in a wig and a replica of Kathy's costume. Kate realizes that she recognizes the assassin, and asks her father to run a facial-recognition scan. While Kate restrains her attacker, her father reveals that Valentine is connected to a supervillain operating out of South America, and tells Kate that she needs to get down there to find out what is going on.


title: Kate Kane

text: Batwoman appears as a member of an all-female team of heroes created by Wonder Woman to repel a faux-alien invasion of Washington DC masterminded by Professor Ivo. After the battle is over, Kate asks Wonder Woman if she wants to accompany Kate and the other heroines to a bar to celebrate, but Wonder Woman politely turns them down to attend the college graduation ceremony of her old friend, Vanessa Kapatelis.


title: Kate Kane

text: In 2010, the character began appearing in the self-titled series "Batwoman". After an introductory "zero" issue in 2010, the series launched fully in 2011 with "Batwoman" #1 along with DC's company-wide renumbering of its titles that year. Writers J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman chose to expand Kate's supporting cast both in terms of her family (the Kanes, including Elizabeth, Bette and other relatives), and the "Batman Family" she is more loosely connected to. Issue seventeen was also a milestone as it featured Kate proposing to her girlfriend, Maggie Sawyer.


title: Kate Kane

text: In the "Detective Comics" title, Batman recruits Batwoman to help run a "boot camp" for young heroes, consisting of Red Robin, Orphan, Spoiler, and Clayface. Batwoman is essentially Batman's co-lead in the first arc (#934-#940), which depicts the team fighting the Colony, a top-secret military organization that mimics Batman's methods. The next two issues are part of the crossover event "Night of the Monster Men". Issues 943-947 cover a group of "collateral damage" individuals called the Victim Syndicate, attempting to put an end to Batman's vigilantism. Issues 948 and 949 are collectively called "Batwoman Begins". These two issues are a prologue for Batwoman getting her own title again.


title: Kate Kane

text: Batwoman plays a minor role in the first arc of the Young Animal series "Mother Panic", where she tracks down and briefly interacts with the title character, who is a new vigilante in Gotham. The comic implies that Kate Kane has a romantic past with Violet Paige, the protagonist, which Kate is "still mad" about.


title: Kate Kane

text: February 2017's "Batwoman: Rebirth" #1 lead into March 2017's "Batwoman" vol. 2 #1. The new series follows Batwoman as she, accompanied by Julia Pennyworth, works to dismantle a global terrorist group known as The Many Arms of Death while dealing with resurfacing issues from her past. In the final issue of this series, Kate rekindles her relationship with Renee Montoya.


title: Kate Kane

text: In the "Fall of the Batmen" arc of "Detective Comics" and its aftermath, Clayface is tortured by the Victim Syndicate into becoming aggressive and violent. During his rampage, he absorbs excess clay matter from the training simulation room used by the team, which makes him grow to a giant size. When all nonlethal attempts to stop his attack fail, Batwoman fatally shoots him with a special rifle that destabilizes his matter. This action causes a schism in the team, leading Batwoman (along with Batwing and Azrael) to join the Colony. The Colony is disbanded in the final issue of the initial Rebirth run, along with Kate and Bruce making amends.


title: Kate Kane

text: Kate is displaced from her Gotham residence during the storylines "The Fall and the Fallen" and "City of Bane" in the main "Batman" series, being out of the city on a mission when Bane takes it over. She takes up temporary residence in an apartment in Atlanta. In "Black Mask: Year of the Villain" #1, she assists Renee Montoya in tracking down Black Mask, who coincidentally fled to Atlanta to begin a new criminal enterprise after escaping a deadly police shootout just before Bane's takeover. They manage to track him down, but he escapes after shooting Renee in the shoulder, which thus distracts Kate while she attempts to render first aid.


title: Kate Kane

text: In the "Batman/Superman" story "Planet Braniac," Batwoman and Steel team up to save Batman and Superman, who were captured on the dark side of the Moon while investigating a Braniac signal.


title: Kate Kane

text: During the "Joker War" crossover storyline, Batwoman assisted Batman in recapturing Wayne Tower, which had been taken over by the Joker's henchmen, who were using the building's fabrication facilities for manufacturing weapons and vehicles to aid their side of the conflict. Additionally, she helped rescue Lucius Fox, who had been dosed with Joker Toxin and forced to help this production process.


title: Kate Kane

text: Batwoman meets with Renee in the "Batman: Urban Legends" story "Survivor's Guilt," during which the two discuss Renee's decision to accept the GCPD Commissionership. Despite her initial willingness to accept the offer, Renee becomes conflicted about the decision due to a run-in earlier in the evening with a man she had arrested years prior, which reminded her of the abuses of police power she witnessed as an officer and a detective (and which, to a lesser degree, she had even participated in at times). After talking things over with Kate, Renee eventually concludes that she has the opportunity to help atone for past wrongs using the power of the office.


title: Kate Kane

text: In the story "Disinformation Campaign," part of the "Fear State" crossover storyline, Batwoman seeks out information regarding Seer, an "Anti-Oracle" who is flooding Gotham City with misinformation during the larger crisis orchestrated by Scarecrow and contributing to the city's panic. Her sister Beth, still dealing with her lingering Alice persona, helps her on this mission, disguising herself as Alice to infiltrate a gathering of the Religion of Crime and convince them to find Seer. Despite failing to recruit the RoC members, the twins still discover Seer's whereabouts and relay the information to Nightwing and Oracle. The story also reveals that Kate and Renee had broken up sometime before the events of "Fear State". Later the same night, working solo, Kate frees City Hall from the Red Crown terrorist group, who had taken it over after posing as the mayor's security detail.


title: Kate Kane

text: In the "Shadows of the Bat" storyline, Kate infiltrates Arkham Tower, a new replacement for Arkham Asylum, by using the alias Dr. Lisa Frow and getting hired as a psychiatrist to investigate both the building and Dr. Tobias Wear, the head of the facility.


title: Kate Kane

text: In The "Aquamen" miniseries, Kate assists Jackson Hyde in taking down Atlantean sleeper agents activated by Peter Mortimer in Gotham, as well as locating Mortimer himself. Dialogue between Kate and Jackson indicates they're on a first-name basis, and implies Kate is on a first-name basis with Arthur Curry as well.


title: Kate Kane

text: In the "Verdict" arc of "Harley Quinn", Kate breaks Harley out of Blackgate Prison after suspecting she has been framed for a series of murders. The two work together to find Verdict, the real killer, and clear Harley's name, culminating in Kate defusing multiple bombs inside City Hall as Harley fights Verdict.


title: Kate Kane

text: Similar to her cousin Bruce, Kate uses her status as a rich socialite to disguise her vigilante activities; however, unlike Bruce, whose playboy persona is usually depicted as a facade, Kate enjoys her public lifestyle, a trait which Bruce himself admires. Naturally confident and flirtatious, Kate adapted such characteristics for intel-gathering purposes as a vigilante.


title: Kate Kane

text: Kate lives in a penthouse atop the R.H. Kane building that also contains her crimefighting headquarters, and holds an office job of some sort. She is an occasional gig musician at various bars around Gotham, performing as a guitarist.


title: Kate Kane

text: Though never outright stated, the Kanes are implied to be of the Reform Judaism denomination, as Kate and Beth were not preparing for a bat mitzvah on their 12th birthday. Kate displays a menorah and Shabbat candles in her penthouse and celebrates Jewish holidays, but does not follow kosher dietary restrictions.


title: Kate Kane

text: Greg Rucka mentions Kate as being shaped by her parents, who demonstrated "the best of what [military] culture can offer", including personal responsibility, integrity, service, and dimunitization of personal gratification. In particular, Kate takes after her father Jacob, as she specifically emulated his levelheaded demeanor in the wake their family tragedy to counteract her grief and inherent hotheadedness. This personality shift is something she maintained into adulthood. In James Tynion IV's short story "The Wrong Side of the Looking Glass", this emulation of Jacob is expanded upon as including feelings of gender variance that Kate experienced as a child even before the kidnappings; though Kate is cisgender, from a young age she was more interested in masculine pastimes like her father was, something she found confusing and troubling at the time in light of her much more feminine sister.


title: Kate Kane

text: Rucka notes that Kate considers her vigilantism no different than military service and likens her adoption of the Batsymbol to fighting under a flag; following an ideal instead of an individual. Sara Century of "Syfy Wire" describes Kate as a "loyal but not unquestioning" ally to Batman despite their disagreements.


title: Kate Kane

text: Unlike most members of the Batfamily, Kate has no ethical qualms about using lethal force if necessary, but also dislikes euthanasia.


title: Kate Kane

text: In high school, Kate Kane was a Senior Elite-level gymnast, and later graduated at the top of her class. Along with her required military training at West Point (which included instruction in Modern Army Combatives), she completed Air Assault School and the US Army Airborne School, and earned the Recondo Badge, all while maintaining a 95th percentile or better class rank and an above-average Cadet Performance Score. As a cadet, she also competed in boxing (having been taught by her father as a teenager), and is implied to have won an academy boxing championship against Sophie Moore sometime before their senior year. Larry Hama's short story "Honor Code" establishes that Kate, early in her senior year as a cadet, was skilled enough in both psychological warfare and the Pashto language to be sent on a mission to Afghanistan to capture a terrorist leader. Additionally, the story mentions Kate is an expert-level marksman on the M4 Carbine and M92 pistol and "maxed her PT requirements", indicating she earned the maximum score on the Army Physical Fitness Test and the Indoor Obstacle Course Test.


title: Kate Kane

text: While traveling the world during her post-West Point debauchery, Kate fractured her skull in a diving mishap off the coast of Coryana, a so-called "pirate nation" located in the Mediterranean Sea. After washing up on the island, her head wound was crudely stitched together with gold thread, which left Kate with a limited ability to detect electromagnetic fields, similar to the notion of dental fillings picking up radio waves.


title: Kate Kane

text: During her Batwoman training, Kate was taught by members of various special operations units, such as the Green Berets, Navy SEALs, SAS, and others. There is a strong implication that one of her non-military trainers was Green Arrow antagonist Shado. Kate learned a much wider variety of martial arts during this time, including karate, Krav Maga, Muay Thai, taekwondo, and Wing Chun; she has mentioned knowing a total of at least 14 styles. Additionally, she received training in military strategy, weaponry, parkour, wingsuiting, survival skills, and specialized skills such as bomb disposal; this included instruction at the FBI Academy. She also underwent resistance training for torture and incapacitating agents like tear gas.


title: Kate Kane

text: Batwoman's suit was designed and built by Jacob Kane in a red-and-black color scheme and incorporates features similar to Batman's own batsuit. The main bodysuit uses dilatant-based armor and contains encrypted radio, GPS, and biotelemetry transmitters. The cape is made from a composite nanotube material and has weighted, sharpened edges that allow it to be used as a weapon in addition to its gliding function. The suit's gloves are heat-resistant to at least .


title: Kate Kane

text: Batwoman's primary mode of transportation is a customized motorcycle called Red Knight One. It is usually depicted as a black Ducati 1098 with a large red stylized bat-shaped fairing on the front fork. Red Knight One is voice-activated and contains a simple AI and radar system.


title: Kate Kane

text: Batwoman uses folding, S-shaped throwing weapons that are stored along the outer forearm of her gauntlets in a fin-like orientation; while stored, they can be used as fixed blades, removed and thrown by hand, or remotely launched.


title: Kate Kane

text: Kate Kane / Batwoman made her live-action debut in The CW's Arrowverse, portrayed by Ruby Rose; who was cast in the role in August 2018.


title: Divinity

text: Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity. What is or is not divine may be loosely defined, as it is used by different belief systems.


title: Divinity

text: The root of the word "divine" is literally "godly", but the use varies significantly depending on which deity is being discussed.


title: Divinity

text: Overlap occurs between these usages because deities or godly entities are often identical with or identified by the powers and forces that are credited to them — in many cases, a deity is merely a power or force personified — and these powers and forces may then be extended or granted to mortal individuals. For instance, Jehovah is closely associated with storms and thunder throughout much of the Old Testament. He is said to speak in thunder, and thunder is seen as a token of his anger. This power was then extended to prophets like Moses and Samuel, who caused thunderous storms to rain down on their enemies. Divinity always carries connotations of goodness, beauty, beneficence, justice, and other positive, pro-social attributes. In monotheistic faiths there is an equivalent cohort of malefic supernatural beings and powers, such as demons, devils, afreet, etc., which are not conventionally referred to as divine; "demonic" is often used instead. Pantheistic and polytheistic faiths make no such distinction; gods and other beings of transcendent power often have complex, ignoble, or even irrational motivations for their acts. Note that while the terms "demon" and "demonic" are used in monotheistic faiths as antonyms to "divine", they are in fact derived from the Greek word "daimón" (δαίμων), which itself translates as "divinity".


title: Divinity

text: In monotheistic faiths, the word "divinity" is often used to refer to the singular God central to that faith. Often the word takes the definite article and is capitalized — ""the Divinity"" — as though it were a proper name or definitive honorific.


title: Divinity

text: "Divine" — capitalized — may be used as an adjective to refer to the manifestations of such a Divinity or its powers: e.g. "basking in the Divine presence..."


title: Divinity

text: The terms "divinity" and "divine" — uncapitalized, and lacking the definite article — are sometimes used to denote 'god(s) or certain other beings and entities which fall short of absolute Godhood but lie outside the human realm.


title: Divinity

text: As previously noted, divinities are closely related to the transcendent force(s) or power(s) credited to them, so much so that in some cases the powers or forces may themselves be invoked independently. This leads to the second usage of the word "divine" (and less common usage of "divinity"): to refer to the operation of transcendent power in the world.


title: Divinity

text: In its most direct form, the operation of transcendent power implies some form of divine intervention. For pan- and polytheistic faiths this usually implies the direct action of one god or another on the course of human events. In Greek legend, for instance, it was Poseidon (god of the sea) who raised the storms that blew Odysseus's craft off course on his return journey, and Japanese tradition holds that a god-sent wind saved them from Mongol invasion. Prayers or propitiations are often offered to specific gods of pantheisms to garner favorable interventions in particular enterprises: e.g. safe journeys, success in war, or a season of bountiful crops. Many faiths around the world — from Japanese Shinto and Chinese traditional religion, to certain African practices and the faiths derived from those in the Caribbean, to Native American beliefs — hold that ancestral or household deities offer daily protection and blessings. In monotheistic religions, divine intervention may take very direct forms: miracles, visions, or intercessions by blessed figures.


title: Divinity

text: Transcendent force or power may also operate through more subtle and indirect paths. Monotheistic faiths generally support some version of divine providence, which acknowledges that the divinity of the faith has a profound but unknowable plan always unfolding in the world. Unforeseeable, overwhelming, or seemingly unjust events are often thrown on 'the will of the Divine', in deferences like the Muslim "inshallah" ('as God wills it') and Christian 'God works in mysterious ways'. Often such faiths hold out the possibility of divine retribution as well, where the divinity will unexpectedly bring evil-doers to justice through the conventional workings of the world; from the subtle redressing of minor personal wrongs to such large-scale havoc as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah or the biblical Great Flood. Other faiths are even more subtle: the doctrine of "karma" shared by Buddhism and Hinduism is a divine law similar to divine retribution but without the connotation of punishment: our acts, good or bad, intentional or unintentional, reflect back on us as part of the natural working of the universe. Philosophical Taoism also proposes a transcendent operant principle — transliterated in English as "tao" or "dao", meaning 'the way' — which is neither an entity nor a being per se, but reflects the natural ongoing process of the world. Modern western mysticism and new age philosophy often use the term 'the Divine' as a noun in this latter sense: a non-specific principle or being that gives rise to the world, and acts as the source or wellspring of life. In these latter cases, the faiths do not promote deference, as happens in monotheisms; rather each suggests a path of action that will bring the practitioner into conformance with the divine law: "ahimsa" — 'no harm' — for Buddhist and Hindu faiths; "de" or "te" — 'virtuous action' — in Taoism; and any of numerous practices of peace and love in new age thinking.


title: Divinity

text: In the third usage, extensions of divinity and divine power are credited to living, mortal individuals. Political leaders are known to have claimed actual divinity in certain early societies — the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs being the premier case — taking a role as objects of worship and being credited with superhuman status and powers. More commonly, and more pertinent to recent history, leaders merely claim some form of divine mandate, suggesting that their rule is in accordance with the will of God. The doctrine of the divine right of kings was introduced as late as the 17th century, proposing that kings rule by divine decree; Japanese Emperors ruled by divine mandate until the inception of the Japanese constitution after World War II.


title: Divinity

text: Less politically, most faiths have any number of people that are believed to have been touched by divine forces: saints, prophets, heroes, oracles, martyrs, and enlightened beings, among others. Saint Francis of Assisi, in Catholicism, is said to have received instruction directly from God and it is believed that he grants plenary indulgence to all who confess their sins and visit his chapel on the appropriate day. In Greek mythology, Achilles' mother bathed him in the river Styx to give him immortality, and Hercules — as the son of Zeus — inherited near-godly powers. In religious Taoism, Lao Tsu is venerated as a saint with his own powers. Various individuals in the Buddhist faith, beginning with Siddhartha, are considered to be enlightened, and in religious forms of Buddhism they are credited with divine powers. Christ in the Bible is said to be God's Son and is said to have performed divine miracles.


title: Divinity

text: In general, mortals with divine qualities are carefully distinguished from the deity or deities in their religion's main pantheon. Even the Christian faith, which generally holds Christ to be identical to God, distinguishes between God the Father and Christ the begotten Son. There are, however, certain esoteric and mystical schools of thought, present in many faiths — Sufis in Islam, Gnostics in Christianity, Advaitan Hindus, Zen Buddhists, as well as several non-specific perspectives developed in new age philosophy — which hold that all humans are in essence divine, or unified with the Divine in a non-trivial way. Such divinity, in these faiths, would express itself naturally if it were not obscured by the social and physical worlds we live in; it needs to be brought to the fore through appropriate spiritual practices.


title: Divinity

text: In the New Testament the Greek word θεῖον ("theion") in the Douay Version, is translated as "divinity". Examples are below:


title: Divinity

text: The word translated as either "deity", "Godhead", or "divinity" in the Greek New Testament is also the Greek word θεότητος ("theotētos"), and the one verse that contains it is this:


title: Divinity

text: The word "divine" in the New Testament is the Greek word θείας ("theias"), and is the adjective form of "divinity". Biblical examples from the King James Bible are below:


title: Divinity

text: The most prominent conception of divine entities in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is the Godhead, a divine council of three distinct beings: Elohim (the Father), Jehovah (the Son, or Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. Joseph Smith described a nontrinitarian Godhead, with God the Father and Jesus Christ each having individual physical bodies, and the Holy Spirit as a distinct personage with a spirit body. Smith also introduced the existence of a Heavenly Mother in the King Follett Discourse, but very little is acknowledged or known beyond her existence.


title: Divinity

text: Mormons hold a belief in the divine potential of humanity; Smith taught a form of divinization where mortal men and women can become like god through salvation and exaltation. Lorenzo Snow succinctly summarized this using a couplet, which is often repeated within the LDS Church: "As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be."


title: Divinity

text: Epicurean philosophy admits the existence of gods, but since it does not accept the supernatural and teaches that all things are material, posits a theology where the Epicurean gods are physical beings whose bodies are made of atoms and who live in the region between the words (intermundia). Needless to say, these gods do not need our worship, are not creators or maintainers of the cosmos, nor do they answer prayers. Therefore, Epicurean theology belongs properly in the realm of speculation about super-evolved, intelligent extraterrestrial life.


title: Divinity

text: However, Epicurus of Samos (the founder of the School) recognized the utility of religiosity and its central, unifying symbols. He was adamant in his requirement that his disciples be pious, and established two taboos concerning their conception of the gods: they had to believe that their gods were immortal (that is, indestructible and fully self-sufficient) and blessed (happy, or blissful). Outside of that, Epicureans are free to speculate concerning the nature of the highest life forms in the cosmos.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: "Mull of Kintyre" is a song by the British-American rock band Wings written by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine. The song was written in tribute to the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland and its headland, the Mull of Kintyre, where McCartney has owned High Park Farm since 1966.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: The single was Wings' biggest hit in Britain and is one of the best selling singles of all time in the United Kingdom, where it became the 1977 Christmas number one and was the first single to sell over two million copies nationwide.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: The song dates as far back as at least 1974, appearing on the extended home demo recording known amongst bootleggers as "The Piano Tape". Written on piano originally, at that early stage the lyric only had the completed chorus and a few bits of the lyrics that eventually made the finished version.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: The lyrics of the first verse, also used as the repeating chorus, are an ode to the area's natural beauty and sense of home:


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: "Mull of Kintyre" was recorded on 9 August 1977 at Spirit of Ranachan Studio at High Park Farm in Scotland, during a break in recording the "London Town" album caused by Linda McCartney's advanced pregnancy. The song featured bagpipes played by the Campbeltown Pipe Band from nearby Campbeltown. Paul's vocals and acoustic guitar were recorded outdoors. "Mull of Kintyre" and "Girls' School" (which had been previously recorded for "London Town") were released as a double A-sided single on 11 November 1977, independently of the album. It was included on the Wings compilation "Wings Greatest" in 1978, the UK/Canada version of McCartney's 1987 compilation album "All the Best!", the 2001 compilation "" and the 2016 compilation "Pure McCartney".


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: The official music video was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and filmed at Saddell Bay on the eastern side of the Kintyre peninsula about seven miles (11km) from High Park Farm and two months after recording the song. Paul, Linda and Denny perform the song as they overlook the bay and walk down to the beach where the Campbeltown Pipe Band are marching and playing. It culminates in a bonfire singalong with extras from Campbeltown.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: The song's broad appeal was maximised by its pre-Christmas release, and it became a Christmas number one single in the UK, spending nine weeks at the top of the charts. It also became an international hit, charting high in Australia and many other countries over the holiday period. It went on to become the first single to sell over two million copies in the UK and became the UK's best-selling single of all-time (eclipsing the Beatles' own "She Loves You") until overtaken by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in 1984 (which also featured McCartney on the B-side). The song remains the UK's best-selling completely non-charity single, having sold 2.09 million copies. (Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" has sold more in its two releases, but the profits of the 1991 release were donated to charity.)


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: The millionth copy of the disc sold in the UK included a special certificate. It was sold to David Ackroyd, who was presented with a gold disc of the single by Laine.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: Despite its international appeal, the song was not a major hit in North America, where the flipside "Girls' School" received more airplay and reached #33 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and #34 on the Canadian RPM charts. "Mull of Kintyre" was not a pop hit at all in the US, but did manage to reach #45 on the Easy Listening chart.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: Meanwhile, in Canada, "Girls' School"/"Mull of Kintyre" was initially tracked as a double A-side, and reached #44 on the pop charts before "Mull of Kintyre" was dropped from the chart listings as of 21 January 1978. "Girls' School" continued its chart climb for a few more weeks, reaching #34 in Canada. After the single fell out of the top 40, it was once again tracked as a double A-side (with "Mull of Kintyre" getting first billing) for one week in April, but it did not better its previous #44 chart peak. "Mull of Kintyre" alone (without "Girls' School") did reach #30 on Canada's Adult Contemporary chart.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: The song also found popularity in the UK as a terrace chant. Notably, a version with altered lyrics has been sung by fans of English football side Nottingham Forest since their 1978 title victory, and today is sung by supporters at the start of every home match. In 2015, McCartney said that he would be willing to perform the song live at the City Ground if Forest were promoted.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: McCartney has played "Mull of Kintyre" only occasionally in concert since the Wings' 1979 British tour, and has never played it in the United States, Asia, or South America. Performances include 23 June 1990 in Glasgow, Scotland. He played it in Australia and New Zealand and also Canada in 1993, 2002, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017. He began playing the song again in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. On 11 July 2009, at a concert at the Halifax Common, he played the song accompanied by the 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel) Pipe Band. He played the song at the O2 Arena in London on 22 December 2009, accompanied by the 18-piece Balmoral Highlanders Pipe Band.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: The following year, on 20 June 2010 McCartney performed "Mull of Kintyre" at Hampden Park in Glasgow accompanied by the Pipes and Drums of Loretto School. He played the song at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, on 8 and 9 August 2010 with the Paris Port Dover Pipe Band. On 20 December 2011, Loretto School played with him again in the final concert of his On The Run tour at the Echo Arena in Liverpool. On 25 November 2012, McCartney performed "Mull of Kintyre" at the On The Run Tour in Vancouver, British Columbia with the Delta Police Pipe Band, and in Edmonton, Alberta with the Edmonton Police Service Pipes and Drums on 28–29 November. On 7 July 2013, McCartney performed "Mull of Kintyre" on his "Out There" tour to a sell-out crowd at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Canada accompanied by the Ottawa Police Service Pipe Band.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: On 19 and 20 April 2016, McCartney performed "Mull of Kintyre" during the One on One tour in the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, again, with the Delta Police Pipe Band. As part of that same tour, on 2 December 2017 he played the song in Perth, Western Australia with the Western Australian Police Force Pipe Band, in Melbourne, Victoria 5–6 December 2017 with the Scotch College pipe band, in Brisbane Queensland on 9 December 2017 with the Brisbane Combined Pipe Band, in Sydney on 11 and 12 December with the Governor Macquarie Memorial Pipe Band and in Auckland New Zealand on 16 December 2017 with the Auckland and Districts Pipe Band.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: Glen Campbell covered the song on his 1981 album "Glen Campbell Live" and in 1982 on "Old Home Town". In concert Campbell would play the bagpipes himself.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: Co-writer Denny Laine re-recorded "Mull of Kintyre" for his 1996 album "Wings at the Sound of Denny Laine".


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: Irish singing group and stage show Celtic Thunder performed the song in their first concert DVD "Celtic Thunder: The Show." The DVD and companion CD "Act Two" were released in 2008.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: Cheyenne Kimball covered the song on the album ""Let Us In" Nashville – A Tribute to Linda McCartney", consisting of country-themed covers of Paul McCartney songs by various artists, released in 2011, a benefit album for the Women and Cancer Fund.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: Charlie Gracie and the group Clutch Cargo covered the song as a benefit single in 2012 to help raise funds for the Philadelphia Police and Fire, Pipes & Drums Band. Their version of the single also featured the R&B vocal group the Orlons on backing vocals.


title: Mull of Kintyre (song)

text: Henry McMaster, Governor of South Carolina sang the song at a high school graduation in Florence, South Carolina.


title: Raptors 905

text: The Raptors 905 are a Canadian professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Mississauga, Ontario, and are affiliated with the Toronto Raptors. Raptors 905 began play in the 2015–16 season and play their home games at Paramount Fine Foods Centre, replacing the Centre's former basketball tenant, the Mississauga Power of the National Basketball League of Canada. The team regularly plays approximately 2-4 home games at the Scotiabank Arena, the home of their parent club, the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors 905 is the eighth NBA G League team to be owned by an NBA team and the first NBA G League team to be located outside of the United States.


title: Raptors 905

text: The name "905" refers to the local area code of the suburban Greater Toronto Area, and is a common shorthand referring to the suburbs surrounding Toronto.


title: Raptors 905

text: In 2008, Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo said that Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE) was considering launching an NBA Development League franchise in the Toronto area within a couple of years to serve as a developmental team for the Raptors. Hamilton's Copps Coliseum and Oshawa were reportedly under consideration to host the franchise. However, a Canadian-based franchise posed difficulties due to tax and visa issues, and Rochester, New York, which is just across the United States border, was considered as an alternative.


title: Raptors 905

text: In April 2015, Colangelo's replacement Masai Ujiri announced that MLSE's board had approved purchasing a franchise, and that they were in negotiations with the NBA over where the team would play and whether it could be launched in time for the 2015-16 season. In June 2015 it was announced that MLSE had purchased a D-League franchise, which would be named the Raptors 905 and would begin play that fall at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto. The team is named after the area code used by much of suburban Greater Toronto Area. The franchise reportedly cost $6 million. An agreement was negotiated with the Mississauga Power of the National Basketball League of Canada, which held the basketball lease at the Hershey Centre, with the Power folding. The team planned to play some games at Toronto's Air Canada Centre, home of their NBA affiliate the Toronto Raptors.


title: Raptors 905

text: On July 7, 2015, Jesse Mermuys was hired as head coach and Dan Tolzman as general manager. Mermuys left his position as an assistant coach under Toronto Raptors head coach, Dwane Casey. On July 28, 2015, veteran coach Tim Lewis was named lead assistant coach. On November 4, 2015, Raptors 905 unveiled their new uniforms and an alternate logo.


title: Raptors 905

text: On June 13, 2016, it was reported that Mermuys would leave the 905 for the LA Lakers, joining them as an assistant coach. In September, the Raptors announced that Jerry Stackhouse would be the head coach of the Raptors 905 team.


title: Raptors 905

text: In 2016–17, the 905 finished with a 39–11 record (the second best record in G-League history) clinching their first division title and with a record of 21–4 on the road (a D-League record). Stackhouse was awarded the Coach of the Year, while Center Edy Tavares was awarded Defensive Player of the Year. Making their way to the playoffs as the top seed, they swept the Canton Charge in the first round and then swept the Maine Red Claws in the second, clinching their first conference title. In the finals, they met the Western Conference champion Rio Grande Valley Vipers whom they beat in three games and claimed their first title in franchise history. Pascal Siakam was named the Finals MVP after recording 32 and 17 points in Games 2 and 3 respectively.


title: Clint Mansell

text: Clinton Darryl Mansell (; born 7 January 1963) is an English musician, singer, and composer, born in Coventry. He served as the lead singer and multi-instrumentalist of alt-rock band Pop Will Eat Itself before embarking on a career as a film score composer. Mansell moved to the United States after the dissolution of the group and started working with filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. He has subsequently become an award-winning, Golden Globe and Grammy-nominated film composer, collaborating extensively with Aronofsky and writing scores for dozens of other films (both shorts and features), TV series, and video games.


title: Clint Mansell

text: Mansell resides in Los Angeles, composing and occasionally touring live versions of his work. A pioneer of sampling in his own work, Mansell's work is now a favourite with sampling musicians.


title: Clint Mansell

text: Mansell was raised in Coventry. For a decade from their foundation in 1986, Mansell was a member of Pop Will Eat Itself, as a lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, producer and writer or co-writer of many of the band's songs. The band were pioneers of sampling and electronic music in the UK alternative rock scene, bringing influences from hip hop, industrial music, house, and other dance genres into their music. In the United States, PWEI were signed in 1994 to Nothing Records the label owned by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Mansell and Reznor, a long time fan of PWEI, became friends after Mansell moved to New York, and Mansell subsequently performed backing vocals on Nine Inch Nails' 1999 album "The Fragile".


title: Clint Mansell

text: Mansell started composing film soundtracks when director Darren Aronofsky hired him to score his debut film, "Pi", in 1996. He also wrote the score for Aronofsky's next film, "Requiem for a Dream", which became a cult hit. The film's primary composition "Lux Aeterna" was popular, appearing in adverts, film trailers, and YouTube videos labelled as Epic Music. Mansell composed the music to every subsequent Aronofsky film until "mother!".


title: Clint Mansell

text: The trailer for "" used an orchestral and choral arrangement of "Lux Aeterna", called "Requiem for a Tower". This orchestration was arranged by Simone Benyacar, Dan Nielsen and Veigar Margeirsson.


title: Clint Mansell

text: The original "Lux Aeterna" and "Requiem for a Tower" arrangements have been used in "", "The Da Vinci Code", "Sunshine", "Babylon A.D.", "Lost", "Top Gear", "Soccer Saturday", EuroSport LIVE and "America's Got Talent".


title: Clint Mansell

text: Mansell's theme from the film "Moon" appears on the trailer for "The Iron Lady" and the computer game "".


title: Clint Mansell

text: In February 2019, Mansell signed a publishing deal with Decca Publishing, a division in Decca Music. This deal brought his catalogue of more than 650 original pieces, including his Pop Will Eat Itself work, under a single umbrella for the first time.


title: Clint Mansell

text: Other work includes creating the music for Coventry UK City of Culture's manifesto film which was released in July 2020.


title: Shabba Ranks

text: Shabba Ranks (born Rexton Rawlston Fernando Gordon; 17 January 1966) is a Jamaican dancehall musician. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was one of the most popular Jamaican musicians in the world. Throughout his prominence in his home country as a dancehall artist, he gained popularity in North America with his studio album, "Just Reality", in 1990. He released two studio albums, "As Raw as Ever" and "X-tra Naked", which both won a Grammy Award as Best Reggae Album in 1992 and 1993, respectively. He is notoriously popular for "Mr. Loverman" and "Ting-A-Ling", which were globally acclaimed and deemed his signature songs.


title: Shabba Ranks

text: Shabba Ranks was born in Sturge Town, Saint Ann, Jamaica, and raised in Seaview Gardens, Kingston. He and his wife, Michelle, have two sons Rexton Jr and Jahwon. He currently resides in the New York City area.


title: Shabba Ranks

text: His father, Ivan Gordon, was a mason who died in 1990. His mother, Constance "Mama Christie" Christie, remained in Seaview after Shabba's success, feeding the community with money sent from her son after his emigration. She was the subject of the 2015 hit song "Shabba Madda Pot" from dancehall artist Dexta Daps.


title: Shabba Ranks

text: He gained his fame mainly by toasting (or rapping) rather than singing, like some of his dancehall contemporaries in Jamaica. He was a protégé of DJ Josey Wales. His original stage name was Co-Pilot. His international career started in the late 1980s, along with a number of fellow Jamaicans including reggae singers Cocoa Tea and Crystal. Ranks also worked with Chuck Berry and American rappers KRS-One and Chubb Rock.


title: Shabba Ranks

text: The stylistic origins of the genre reggaeton can be traced back to the 1990 song "Dem Bow", from Ranks' album "Just Reality". Produced by Bobby "Digital" Dixon, the Dem Bow riddim became so popular in Puerto Rican freestyle sessions that early Puerto Rican reggaeton was simply known as "Dembow". The Dem Bow riddim is an integral and inseparable part of reggaeton, so much so that it has become its defining characteristic.


title: Shabba Ranks

text: His biggest hit single outside of Jamaica was the reggae fusion smash "Mr. Loverman". Other big tracks include "Housecall" with Maxi Priest, "Slow and Sexy" with Johnny Gill, "Respect", "Pirates Anthem", "Trailer Load a Girls", "Wicked inna Bed", "Caan Dun", and "Ting A Ling". He won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 1992 for "As Raw as Ever" and in 1993 for "X-tra Naked".


title: Shabba Ranks

text: In 1993, Ranks scored another hit in the "Addams Family Values" soundtrack to which he contributed a rap/reggae version of the Sly and the Family Stone hit "Family Affair". His third album for Epic, "A Mi Shabba", was released in 1995. He was dropped by the label in 1996. Epic went on to release a greatest hits album, entitled "Shabba Ranks and Friends" in 1999.


title: Shabba Ranks

text: Ranks made a partial comeback in 2007 when he appeared on a song called "Clear the Air" by Busta Rhymes, which also featured Akon. Shabba released a single on Big Ship's Pepper Riddim called "None A Dem", in April 2011. In 2012, Shabba was featured on Tech N9ne's EP "E.B.A.H." on the track "Boy Toy". In 2013, Shabba was also mentioned in A$AP Ferg's song "Shabba," and has a cameo near the end of the music video. He was featured in the remix alongside Migos and Busta Rhymes on 23 November 2013. In August 2013, he was reportedly working on a new album.


title: Shabba Ranks

text: Ranks has been controversial for homophobia, particularly violent attitudes towards homosexuals. The 1990 song "Wicked in Bed" includes lyrics about shooting gay men.


title: Shabba Ranks

text: In 1992, during an appearance on Channel 4 music show "The Word", he was asked to give his thoughts on the subject of the hit song, "Boom Bye Bye", by Buju Banton. Shabba held a copy of a Bible which he carried with him and stated that the "word of God" advocated the "crucifixion of homosexuals". He also alluded that he advocates the progression of the Jamaican people and freedom of speech but did not conclude that being against homosexuality would be in question of exclusion, according to bible laws. He was condemned for his comments by presenter Mark Lamarr, who said, "That's absolute crap and you know it." Following these comments, Ranks was dropped from a Bobby Brown concert as a performer and faced altercations with his label, Sony Music. Ranks subsequently apologized, after realizing that his comments might advocate "the killing of gays and lesbians and any human being in retrospect".


title: Cheat (game)

text: Cheat (also known as Bluff, Bullshit, Liar or I Doubt It) is a card game where the players aim to get rid of all of their cards. It is a game of deception, with cards being played face-down and players being permitted to lie about the cards they have played. A challenge is usually made by players calling out the name of the game, and the loser of a challenge has to pick up every card played so far. Cheat is classed as a party game. As with many card games, cheat has an oral tradition and so people are taught the game under different names.


title: Cheat (game)

text: One pack of 52 cards is used for four or fewer players; five or more players should combine two 52-card packs. Shuffle the cards and deal them as evenly as possible among the players. No cards should be left. Some players may end up with one card more or less than other players. Players may look at their hands.


title: Cheat (game)

text: The player who sits to the left of the dealer (clockwise) takes the first turn, and must call aces. The second player does the same, and must call twos. Play continues like this, increasing rank each time, with aces following kings. As players call the rank, they discard one or more cards face down, and declare the number of cards discarded. Players may lie by including cards which are not of the rank required for that turn.


title: Cheat (game)

text: If any player thinks another player is lying, they can call the player out by shouting "Cheat" (or "Bluff", "I doubt it", etc.). This stops the play, and the cards in question are revealed to all players. If the accused player was indeed lying, they have to take the whole pile of cards into their hand. If that player was right about the cards they played, the caller must take the pile into their hand. Once the next player has placed cards, however, it is too late to call out any previous players.


title: Cheat (game)

text: The game is commonly known as "Cheat" in Britain and "Bullshit" in the United States. In Italy it is referred to as “Dubito”


title: Cheat (game)

text: The German and Austrian variant is for four or more players and is variously known as Mogeln ("cheat"), Schwindeln ("swindle"), Lügen ("lie") or Zweifeln ("doubting"). In Austrian Vorarlberg it is also Lüga. A 52-card pack is used (two packs with more players) and each player is dealt the same number of cards, any surplus being dealt face down to the table. The player who has the Ace of Hearts leads by placing it face down on the table (on the surplus cards if any). The player to the left follows and names their discard as the Two of Hearts and so on up to the King. Then the next suit is started. Any player may play a card other than the correct one in the sequence, but if their opponents suspect the player of cheating, they call "gemogelt!" ("cheated!"). The card is checked and if it is the wrong card, the offending player has to pick up the entire stack. If it is the right card, the challenger has to pick up the stack. The winner is the first to shed all their cards; the loser is the last one left holding any cards.


title: Cheat (game)

text: The Russian game Verish' Ne Verish' ("Trust, don't trust")—described by David Parlett as "an ingenious cross between Cheat and Old Maid"—is also known as Russian Bluff, Chinese Bluff or simply as Cheat.


title: Cheat (game)

text: The game is played with 36 cards (two or three players) or 52 (four or more). One card is removed at random before the game and set aside face-down, and the remainder are dealt between players (even if this results in players having differently sized hands of cards).


title: Cheat (game)

text: The core of the game is played in the same manner as Cheat, except that the rank does not change as play proceeds around the table: every player must call the same rank.


title: Cheat (game)

text: Whenever players pick up cards due to a bluff being called, they may – if they wish – reveal four of the same rank from their hand, and discard them.


title: Cheat (game)

text: In some variants, if the player does not have any of the rank in their hand, they may call "skip" or "pass" and the next player takes their turn. If every player passes, the cards on the table are removed from the game, and the last player begins the next round.


title: Cheat (game)

text: Similar to Russian Bluff, it is a version used by at least some in Canada and known in Spain. The rules are rather strict and, while is a variation, is not open to much variation itself. It is also known in English as Fourshit (single deck) and Eightshit (double deck), the game involves a few important changes to the standard rules. Usually two decks are used instead of one so that there are 8 of every card as well as four jokers (Jokers are optional), though one deck may be used if desired. Not all ranks are used; the players can arbitrarily choose which ranks to use in the deck and, if using two decks, should use one card for each player plus two or three more. Four players may choose to use 6,8,10,J,Q,K,A or may just as easily choose 2,4,5,6,7,9,J,K, or any other cards. This can be a useful way to make use of decks with missing cards as those ranks can be removed. The four jokers are considered wild and may represent any card in the game.


title: Cheat (game)

text: The first player can be chosen by any means. The Spanish variation calls for a bidding war to see who has the most of the highest card. The winner of the challenge is the first player. In Canada, a version is the first player to be dealt a Jack face up, and then the cards are re-dealt face down.


title: Cheat (game)

text: The first player will make a "claim" of any rank of cards and an amount of their choice. In this version each player in turn must play as many cards as they wish of the same rank. The rank played never goes up, down nor changes in any way. If the first player plays kings, all subsequent players must also play kings for that round (it is non-incremental). Jokers represent the card of the rank being played in each round, and allow a legal claim of up to 11 of one card (seven naturals and four jokers). A player may play more cards than they claim to play though hiding cards under the table or up the sleeve is not allowed. After any challenge, the winner begins a new round by making a claim of any amount of any card rank.


title: Cheat (game)

text: If at any point a player picks up cards and has all eight natural cards of a certain rank, they declare this out loud and remove them from the game. If a player fails to do this and later leads a round with this rank, they automatically lose the game.


title: Cheat (game)

text: Once a player has played all their cards, they are out of that particular hand. Play continues until there are only two players (at which point some cards have probably been removed from the game). The players continue playing until there is a loser. The object of the game is usually not so much to win, but not be the loser. The loser is usually penalised by the winners either in having the dishonour of losing, or having to perform a forfeit.


title: Cheat (game)

text: In the Fujian province, a version of the game known as 吹牛 ("bragging") or 说谎 ("lying") is played with no restriction on the rank that may be called each turn, and simply requiring that each set is claimed to be of the same number.


title: Cheat (game)

text: On any given turn, a player may "pass" instead of playing. If all players pass consecutively, then the face-down stack of played cards is taken out of the game until the next bluff is called. The player who previously called a rank then begins play again.


title: Cheat (game)

text: This version, also sometimes called Iranian Bullshit, is often played with several decks shuffled together, allowing players to play (or claim to play) large numbers of cards of the same rank.


title: Cheat (game)

text: In Sweden the game is known as "bluffstopp", a portmanteau of "bluff" ("bluff") and "stoppspel" ("shedding game"). Players are given six (or seven) cards at the start of the game, and the remainder make a pile. Players are restricted to follow suit, and play a higher rank, but are allowed to bluff. If a player is revealed to be bluffing, or a player fails to call or a bluff, the player draws three cards from the pile.


title: Cheat (game)

text: Additional rules and players to play more than one card in secret, and drop cards in their lap. But if this is discovered, the player must draw three or even six cards.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Alysa Liu (born August 8, 2005) is a retired American competitive figure skater. Liu is the youngest-ever U.S. women's national champion, having won her first title at age 13. She is also the youngest to win two senior national titles at age 14. Liu is the first to win two consecutive titles since Ashley Wagner in 2012 and 2013. She is also the first woman to win the junior and senior titles back-to-back since Mirai Nagasu in 2008. She is the 2022 World bronze medalist, the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy champion, the 2021 CS Lombardia Trophy champion, and a two-time U.S. national champion (2019, 2020). She competed in the 2022 Winter Olympics placing seventh.


title: Alysa Liu

text: On the junior level, Liu is the 2020 World Junior bronze medalist, the 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalist, a two-time Junior Grand Prix champion, and the 2018 U.S. junior national champion. An accomplished jumper, she was the first junior American women's singles skater to successfully complete a triple Axel in international competition, the first American woman to land a quadruple jump, and the first woman to compete both a quad and triple Axel in the same program.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu was born on August 8, 2005, in Clovis, California, the oldest child of Arthur Liu, an attorney who immigrated to the U.S. from a small mountain village in Sichuan, China in the 1990s at the age of 25, after earning degrees in China. He was further educated in California, earning M.B.A. and J.D. degrees. Liu is the oldest of five children; like her siblings (a sister, Selina, and triplets Joshua, Justin, and Julia), she was conceived through an anonymous egg donor and a surrogate mother. At the time of Liu's birth, her father was still married to Yan "Mary" Qingxin, whom Liu and her siblings refer to as their mom and who acts as their legal guardian, even after her divorce from Arthur. Liu and her father once stated that her younger sister, Selina, used to skate, but quit after she lost her first competition.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu attended Chinese school for three years, then attended the Oakland School for the Arts which, at the time, offered an emphasis in figure skating. When she started missing too much school due to traveling to competitions, she began homeschooling at her father's law office in between practices. She uses the same online program that other skaters, including fellow Bay Area skaters Karen Chen and Vincent Zhou, have used. Liu graduated high school in June 2021 at age 16. Liu also limited her social media use after an abundance of very negative comments on her posts, causing her to find it “not worth it” and "exhausting."


title: Alysa Liu

text: In 2019, Liu was named to the inaugural "Time" 100 Next list. Michelle Kwan authored the recognition article. Liu has previously cited Alina Zagitova, Alena Kostornaia, and Anna Shcherbakova as inspirations to her and has been seen supporting Zagitova at the 2019-20 Junior Grand Prix Final in Turin with former coach, Laura Lipetsky, by Liu's side in the stands. Liu was also seen gushing over Kostornaia and Shcherbakova in interviews around the same timeframe.


title: Alysa Liu

text: On January 7, 2022, Liu stated, via an Instagram story, that she had contracted Covid-19 and had withdrawn from the free skate later that day at the 2022 U.S. Championships; however, Liu sent her support to the other skaters and said that she would be petitioning for her spot on the Beijing 2022 Olympic team along with pairs team Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, who also had to withdraw from the event due to Covid.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu was considered the frontrunner female recruitment prospect for China as a part of its "naturalization project" to recruit overseas athletes in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Her father, however, would not be persuaded. In March 2022, it was reported that Liu and her father (who had left China as a political refugee following his participation in the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in 1989) had been targeted in November 2021 by spies allegedly under direction of the Chinese government, in an operation to collect private information on Chinese political dissidents living in the United States. One spy posed as a U.S. Olympic Committee official and requested copies of their passports. Her father stated that the scheme was likely designed to "intimidate" him and to "silence" him from "say[ing] anything political or related to human rights violations in China"; he added that he was concerned for his daughter's safety while she was in Beijing but he agreed to let her compete after receiving assurances that the U.S. State Department would take additional precautions to protect her.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu uses both she/her and they/them personal pronouns according to her Instagram and official U.S. Figure Skating profiles.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu began skating at the age of five when her father, a fan of Michelle Kwan, brought her to the Oakland Ice Center. She began taking group lessons with her first and childhood coach, Laura Lipetsky, a former figure skater who had trained under Frank Carroll, and quickly moved to individual sessions. Laura Lipetsky began teaching Liu at the age of 5½ years old, and Liu's first choreographer, Cindy Stuart, also started working with Liu when she was young.


title: Alysa Liu

text: As a juvenile in 2015, Liu came in seventh place at the Central Pacific Regionals. At the 2016 U.S. Championships, she became the youngest female skater to earn the intermediate gold medal, winning by less than a point. She was first after the short program; her free skate included two triple Salchows, the first completed in combination with a double toe loop and earning her a "program-high 7.00 points".


title: Alysa Liu

text: Competing in the novice category, Liu placed fourth at the 2017 U.S. Championships. She was in first place after her short program with a 1.22 point lead. Her short program included a split jump into a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, which was ruled under-rotated, and a triple flip. Liu fell to fourth place after the long program in which she landed two triple-triple combinations but did not earn sufficient program component scores to retain her narrow lead.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu opened her season with a silver medal at the 2017 Asian Open Trophy in which she finished second to Japan's Mana Kawabe. She was the youngest skater to compete in the junior division at the 2018 U.S. Championships in San Jose, California. She won the competition despite suffering from a cold and sore throat. She scored a season's best in the short program with an almost seven-point lead going into the free skate. Her short program included three level-4 spins, a triple flip-triple toe loop combination, and a triple Lutz, earning her 63.83 points. She earned 120.33 points during her long program after landing two double Axels and seven triple jumps which were all backloaded in the second half of the program. Liu was given extra points on all her jumps except for the triple flip-single loop-triple Salchow combination. She earned an overall score of 184.16 points, almost 18 more than silver medalist Pooja Kalyan, and the second highest-ever score on the junior level. Despite winning the gold, Liu was ineligible to compete at the 2018 World Junior Championships because she was not old enough. She was sent to the 2018 International Challenge Cup instead where she won the advanced novice silver medal behind Hanna Yoshida of Japan.


title: Alysa Liu

text: In August 2018, Liu competed as a novice at the 2018 Asian Open Trophy in Bangkok, Thailand. She won the gold, outscoring the silver medalist, Japan's Sara Honda, by over ten points. She landed a ratified triple Axel in the free skate, becoming the youngest skater in history to perform a clean triple Axel in competition and the fourth American female skater to do so following Tonya Harding, Kimmie Meisner, and Mirai Nagasu.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Although Liu was too young to compete internationally at the senior or junior level, she qualified to compete in the senior ranks at the 2019 U.S. Championships in Detroit, Michigan. On January 25, 2019, she broke Tara Lipinski's previous record and became the youngest skater to win the U.S. senior women's title after placing second in the short to defending U.S. champion Bradie Tennell with a record score (which was broken minutes later by Tennell) and first in the free skate. She became the youngest female skater to land a triple Axel at the U.S. Nationals, as well as the third female skater to do so (after Harding and Meissner), and the first female skater to do so during a short program at Nationals. She was also the first female skater to complete three triple Axels in U.S. competition. Liu scored 73.89 points in her short program, 2.71 points behind Tennell, the leader after the short program. In the long program, Tennell and Mariah Bell, who took third place in the short program, both made errors, ""opening the door for Liu". Her program component score "fell well short of Tennell's and Bell's", but her technical scores made up the difference, and she posted an overall score of 217.51. She completed two consecutive triple Axels, including the first one in combination, during her long program and, out of the other six triples she completed (one of which was also in combination), only the flip was downgraded.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Since Liu was too young to compete at both the junior and senior level World Championships, her season ended in January, after U.S. Nationals, which gave her time to work on her skating skills and choreography with Italian skater Carolina Kostner in Rome, an arrangement made by her coach, Laura Lipetsky. She also began working with Italian choreographer and Olympic ice dancing competitor Massimo Scali, who is now based in Oakland, on her skating skills and choreography the end of 2019.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu's first competition for the 2019–2020 season was at the inaugural Aurora Games, an international all-female competition held in August 2019. She earned perfect scores, led the U.S. team to first place overall, and was the first American female skater to successfully complete a quadruple Lutz in competition, although not at a ISU recognized event.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu made her international competition debut at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Lake Placid in August 2019. Skating to "Don't Rain on My Parade" by Barbra Streisand in her short program, she scored 69.30 points, breaking her own personal best short program record by almost 20 points. She completed all her jumps, including three triples, completed three level-4 spins, and earned positive grades of execution for all seven elements. During her long program, Liu became the first American female skater to complete a quadruple Lutz in a competition. She also became the first female skater to complete a quadruple jump and a triple Axel in the same program in a competition. Skating to pianist Jennifer Thomas’ version of “New World Symphony," which was choreographed by Lori Nichol, Liu started her long program with a triple Axel-double toe loop combination, followed by her quadruple Lutz, which she earned 13.80 points for. She fell on her second triple Axel, but was able to successfully execute her following six triple jumps. She also earned level-4 scores for her three spins and top marks for her step sequence, earning a 59.66 program component score. She won the event by 21.52 points over the silver medalist, South Korean Park Yeon-jeong. It was the first in 20 Junior Grand Prix events that a non-Russian skater won and the first time an American won a Junior Grand Prix event since Polina Edmunds in 2013.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu's second slot in the Junior Grand Prix was in Poland. She came in fourth after the short program, but came from behind to win the event. In her short program, she completed, at the start of her program, a triple Axel-triple toeloop, the first in Junior Grand Prix history. She doubled a planned triple loop, trailing by a little over four points going into the free skate. In her free skate, Liu "just about held onto" her first jump, a triple Axel, but improved as she went along, completing a combination that included a double toeloop. She then completed a quadruple Lutz, a "much better" triple Axel, a triple loop, and "two excellent combinations—triple Lutz-triple toeloop and triple Lutz-Euler-triple Salchow". She ended her program with a triple flip, and earned three level-4 spins. She earned a season's best score of 138.99 in the free skate and 203.10 overall. She qualified for the Junior Grand Prix Final in second place, the first American female skater to do so since Karen Chen and Polina Edmunds in 2013, with 30 points.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu won the silver medal at the Junior Grand Prix Final behind Russia's Kamila Valieva and ahead of Daria Usacheva, also of Russia. A little over two points separated the first and fourth place skaters in the short program. Liu placed first in the short program, with a triple Axel-triple toe combination and 71.09 points, a little over one-point lead. Although her jumps were the most difficult in her long program and she successfully completed six triple jumps, both her quadruple Lutzes and a triple Axel were judged underrotated, and she fell on her opening triple Axel, placing her second in the free skate and second overall. She told reporters afterwards, "I think I should have only done one quad but I really wanted to go for it just for the fun of it".


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu entered the 2020 U.S. Championships as the favorite to defend her title. She placed second in the short program after turning out of her triple Axel attempt, but successfully landed a triple flip and a triple Lutz-triple toe combination, as well executing level-4 spins and footwork. She earned 75.40 points, a little over 3.50 points behind Bradie Tennell; she also had a technical base value advantage of more than 16 points over both Tennell and Bell. Skating last and immediately after Mariah Bell's "elegant, near flawless performance" to k.d. lang's version of the Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah", Liu won the free skate by over eight points, with a score of 160.12, which was her career-best, and 235.52 points overall. Her final score was over 10 points higher than Bell's, who came in second place, and just under 15 points over Tennell's, who came in third. Although she failed to be the first woman at U.S. Nationals to successfully complete a quadruple Lutz, which was called under-rotated and received negative grade of execution scores, her "triple Axels were solid, and her final two spins were of surpassing quality". She landed two triple Axels in the first 65 seconds of her program, and then completed six more triple jumps. Liu told reporters afterwards, "This year I’m thinking, it’s a new decade, like, wow, what a good start!" At the age of 14, Liu's win made her the youngest two-time women's U.S. champion and the first woman in seven years to win back-to-back U.S. championships, since Ashley Wagner in 2012 and 2013 and since Michelle Kwan won 8 consequence titles. Bell and Tennell assisted Liu to the top tier of the podium during the awards ceremony, recreating what they did the previous year. Liu was age-ineligible to compete in international senior-level competitions, but was named to the 2020 World Junior Championships team, alongside Starr Andrews and Lindsay Thorngren.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu came into her first World Junior Championships ranked third in the world among juniors; ultimately, she placed third, behind Valieva and Usacheva. She came in fourth after her short program; according to ESPN, she did not "skate nearly as well at the past two national championships", and lost points for an under-rotation and negative grade of execution, but she successfully completed a triple Axel-triple toe loop combination jump, earning 67.52 points. In her solid long program, Liu earned the second-highest technical score, with 137.31 points, came in third place in the long program, and earned a cumulative score of 204.83 points. She under-rotated her opening triple Axel and fell on her quadruple Lutz, but successfully landed a triple Axel and six more triple jumps, and earned level-four spins and footwork.


title: Alysa Liu

text: On June 22, 2020, Liu announced that she was leaving longtime coach Laura Lipetsky and that she had hired coaches Lori Nichol and Massimo Scali, who she started working with in 2019, as well as Lee Barkell. Liu plans to remain based in Oakland, California in the Bay Area, where Scali primarily works, while communicating with Nichol and Barkell via online video conferencing and occasionally traveling to their base in Toronto, Canada.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu had limited international competition opportunities after the 2020–21 ISU Junior Grand Prix was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and she was age-ineligible for senior Grand Prix competitions. While struggling with her jumps due to a growth spurt, she placed fourth in the domestic ISP Points Challenge behind Mariah Bell, Bradie Tennell, and Amber Glenn. In October, Liu was invited to the 2020 Las Vegas Invitational, a domestic competition sponsored by U.S. Figure Skating, as part of Team Johnny. She finished sixth individually and the team finished second behind Team Tara. Liu was unable to compete at full strength during the event after a fall on her triple Axel in practice led to a right hip injury. She was able to recover after forgoing triple jumps for about a month.


title: Alysa Liu

text: On December 11, 2020, Liu announced the addition of former four-time US men's champion Jeremy Abbott to her coaching team.


title: Alysa Liu

text: In January, Liu competed at the 2021 U.S. Championships in Las Vegas. Her difficulties at earlier competitions had raised doubts as to how she would perform at the event, particularly as she would not attempt a triple Axel or a quad in the competition. To the surprise of many, she placed second in the short program with a clean skate. In the free skate she doubled one jump and underrotated two others, placing fourth in that segment and dropping to fourth overall, winning the pewter medal. Liu said afterward that she has already resumed training one of her more difficult ultra-c elements, the triple axel, as of December 2020, and will try to resume training the other difficult elements in preparation for the next season.


title: Alysa Liu

text: In an Instagram story on June 19, 2021, Liu posted a combined, side-by-side video of her doing a triple axel and a quad lutz attempt in training, in the lead up to the 2021-22 season.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu competed in the fourth annual Peggy Fleming Trophy, an event for senior-level US figure skaters where skating elements are evaluated "from an artistic point of view". She came in second with a score of 118.61, behind Karen Chen.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu spent the month of June training with Italian coach Lorenzo Magri in Egna, Italy, aiming to improve her jump technique with the help of the ISU technical specialist. She also cited the presence in the camp of elite Italian skaters Matteo Rizzo, Daniel Grassl and Gabriele Frangipani, in contrast with her Oakland training facility that lacked skaters who performed more difficult elements. Magri subsequently was added as a permanent member of her coaching team.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu made her senior international debut at the Cranberry Cup, a Senior B competition at the Skating Club of Boston in Norwood, MA on August 14 and 15, 2021. Liu won the competition after coming in first in both the short and the free programs. Liu attempted a triple axel in the free, but fell. Liu won the competition with a total score of 205.74, ahead of You Young of South Korea and US teammate, Mariah Bell.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Making her debut on the ISU Challenger series, Liu won the 2021 CS Lombardia Trophy by over 32 points, successfully landing a triple Axel, and receiving new personal bests.


title: Alysa Liu

text: On August 30, 2021, US Figure Skating announced that Liu had been selected to compete at the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, with the goal of qualifying a secured third berth for American women at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Team USA teammate, Karen Chen unofficially earned the third spot at the 2021 World Figure Skating Championships in Stockholm, and Liu was sent to secure that earned spot. Liu placed first in both segments of the competition to take the gold medal, and the first of six available Olympic places. She said afterward that she was "kind of mad" to have singled her free skate attempt at a triple Axel, but that "overall I'm happy with how I skated." Liu was the overall women's winner on the 2021-22 ISU Challenger Series, beating Georgia's Anastasia Gubanova by nearly 40 points.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Liu made her senior Grand Prix debut at the 2021 Skate Canada International, where she placed fourth in the short program segment. In the free skate she fell on an underrotated opening triple Axel attempt, and underrotated three other jumps, as a result of which she placed seventh in that segment and dropped to fifth place overall. At her second assignment, the 2021 NHK Trophy, she finished in fourth place.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Two days after her fourth-place finish at the 2021 NHK Trophy, she switched her coaching team to Christy Krall, Drew Meekins, and Viktor Pfeifer.


title: Alysa Liu

text: At the 2022 U.S. Championships in Nashville, Liu placed third in the short program, scoring 71.42 points despite falling on her triple Axel attempt. However, she was forced to withdraw from the event after testing positive for COVID-19. Despite this, she successfully petitioned to be included on the 2022 U.S. Winter Olympic team, alongside Mariah Bell and Karen Chen. Liu was the youngest athlete named to the American Olympic team.


title: Alysa Liu

text: In the women's event at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Liu placed eighth in the short program after receiving an edge call on her flip and slightly underrotating the second part of her jump combination. She did not attempt a triple Axel in the segment. Notwithstanding those errors, she said that she was happy as "all my training paid off, because I'm here competing. And the goal of my whole life and my skating career was to compete at the Olympics." She moved up to seventh place in the free skate despite underrotating her triple Axel attempt. She said she was "still in shock at how well I did. I worked a lot on this and I'm glad I did two clean programs. I'm making a lot of memories here, and they're all really good ones." Liu was subsequently invited to skate at the exhibition gala, but had not prepared an exhibition program as she had not anticipated this. A program to "Loco" by K-pop group Itzy was choreographed for her on site by American ice dancer Jean-Luc Baker, with a dress borrowed from Spanish ice dancer Olivia Smart.


title: Alysa Liu

text: Days after the Olympics concluded, Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine, as a result of which the International Skating Union banned all Russian and Belarusian skaters from competing at the 2022 World Championships. This had a major impact on the women's field, dominated by Russians for most of the preceding eight years. Liu was considered a podium contender in the much more open contest. She placed fifth in the short program with a clean skate. In the free skate, Liu attempted a triple Axel, landing it with an under rotation. She also underrotated the second part of a jump combination but landed six clean triple jumps and rose to third place, winning the bronze medal. She became the first American woman to medal at the World Championships since Ashley Wagner in 2016, and only the second since 2006.


title: Alysa Liu

text: On April 9, 2022, Liu announced on Instagram that she was retiring from figure skating, stating that she felt satisfied with her career, had completed her goals, and was "moving on with [her] life". Her early retirement marked her as the first American women’s singles skater to not bid for a second Olympics since 2002 gold medalist Sarah Hughes.


title: Alysa Liu

text: "GP: Grand Prix; JGP: Junior Grand Prix. Pewter medals (4th place) awarded only at U.S. national, sectional, and regional events."


The Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan (, , ) is the unified armed forces of Kazakhstan. It consists of three branches (Ground Forces, Air Defense Forces, Naval Forces) as well as four independent formations (Air Assault Forces, Special Forces, Rocket and Artillery Forces, Territorial Troops). The National Guard, Civil Defense, Border Service and the State Security Service serve as militarized affiliates of the armed forces. The national defence policy aims are based on the Constitution of Kazakhstan. They guarantee the preservation of the independence and sovereignty of the state and the integrity of its land area, territorial waters and airspace and its constitutional order. The armed forces of Kazakhstan act under the authority of the Kazakhstan Ministry of Defence.


title: Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan

text: The "Military Balance 2013" reported the armed forces' strength as; Army, 20,000, Navy, 3,000, Air Force, 12,000, and MoD, 4,000. It also reported 31,000 paramilitary personnel.


text: The General Staff is the main body for the management of the armed forces of the state in peacetime and wartime, coordinates the development of plans for the construction and development of the Armed Forces, other troops and military formations, their operational, combat and mobilization training, organizes and carries out strategic planning application and interaction of the Armed Forces, other troops and military formations, and also develops a plan for the operational equipment of the country's territory in defense.


text: On May 7, 1992, the president of Kazakhstan took a number of actions regarding defence. He signed a decree on the 'establishment of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan', the transformation of the State Committee of Defence of the Republic of Kazakhstan into the Ministry of Defence, on the attribution of Sagadat Nurmagambetov the military rank of Colonel General, and the appointment of General-Colonel Sagadat Nurmagambetov as Defence Minister of Kazakhstan. Mukhtar Altynbayev served as the Minister of Defence twice, most recently from December 2001 to 10 January 2007.


text: On June 30, 1992, the Soviet Armed Forces' Turkestan Military District disbanded, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The most powerful grouping of forces from the Turkestan Military District then became the core of Kazakhstan's new military. Kazakhstan acquired all the units of the 40th Army (the former 32nd Army) and part of the 17th Army Corps, including 6 land force divisions, storage bases, the 14th and 35th air-landing brigades, 2 rocket brigades, 2 artillery regiments and a large amount of equipment which had been withdrawn from over the Urals after the signing of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.


text: On July 6, 2000, a presidential decree returned the armed forces returned to a dual structure (general-purpose forces and air defense forces). The Airmobile Forces were also created, and it transitioned to a new military-territorial structure of established military districts. In February 2001, a decree divided the functions of the Ministry of Defence and General Staff. From 2000 to 2003, the transition of the Armed Forces to the brigade structure of troops was fully implemented.


text: Kazakhstan had its first military parade in its history at Otar Military Base on May 7, 2013, celebrating the Defender of the Fatherland Day as the national holiday for the first time ever. During the ceremony, the first woman was promoted to the rank of General. Kazakhstan is a founding member of CSTO and SCO. Kazakhstan also has an Individual Partnership Action Plan with NATO & strategic cooperation with the Turkish Armed Forces.


text: During the civil war in Tajikistan, in accordance with the decision of the CIS countries, peacekeepers were sent to Tajikistan. The participants were Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. At the initial stage, on September 10, 1992, one 300 man airborne assault battalion from the 35th Guards Air Assault Brigade was sent to Tajikistan. Later, in the spring of 1993, a consolidated battalion of three rifle companies was formed from three agencies: the Ministry of Defense, the Interior Ministry, and the Border Troops of the KNB. The combat task of the Kazakh military during the civil war in Tajikistan was to strengthen the checkpoints and outposts of the Russian border detachment in Kalai-Khumb. On April 7, 1995, in the Pshikhavr Gorge of the Pamirs, a company was ambushed, during which 17 people were killed, 33 were injured. Over the entire period of peacekeeping missions in Tajikistan, during the hostilities, the combined Kazakh battalion lost 54 soldiers killed and missing. The mission formally ended in 2000, and the peacekeepers left in 2001.


text: Kazakhstan has one of the most extensive peacekeeping operations in the Commonwealth of Independent States. The KAZBAT is the main Kazakh peacekeeping military unit, falling under the 38th Air Assault Brigade (KAZBRIG) of the Airmobile Forces. It was formed on 31 January 2000 by decree of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. They are trained in accordance with NATO and United Nations standards and are therefore authorized to wear blue helmets while on duty and during parades.


text: Since the COVID-19 pandemic in Kazakhstan broke out, volunteer military personnel have been called to serve to combat the virus. The volunteers are stationed at checkpoints and city facilities as well as patrolled the streets to enforce lockdowns.


text: In 2012, a quarter of the budget allocated for the MoD was allocated for modernization, restoration, overhaul and the acquisition of weapons. From 2012 to 2014, defense spending amounted to 12 billion tenge.


text: The 32nd Army had been serving in Kazakhstan for many years. The 32nd Army had been redesignated initially the 1st Army Corps (1988), then the 40th Army (June 1991). It came under Kazakh control in May 1992. On November 1, 1992, on the basis of units of the former Soviet 40th Army of the Turkestan Military District, the First Army Corps was created, with its headquarters in Semipalatinsk. Later, at its base was established the Eastern Military District, retitled on 13 November 2003 as Regional Command East.


text: There are also the Airmobile Forces with four brigades, and the Artillery and Missile Forces (formed as a separate branch on 7 May 2003).


text: At the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the 24th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division with three aviation regiments and three separate regiments was stationed in Kazakhstan. By late 1993 the Kazakhstan Air Force comprised a total of six regiments, with a further air defence fighter regiment. The 11th Division included the 129th Fighter-Bomber Regiment based at Taldy Kurgan, with MiG-27 'Flogger' aircraft and the 134th Fighter-Bomber Regiment at Zhangiz-tobe with MiG-27s. There was also the 149th Bomber Regiment at Zhetigen/Nikolayevka, with Sukhoi Su-24 'Fencers'. Independent elements comprised the 715th Fighter Regiment at Lugovaya, with MiG-29s and MiG-23 'Floggers'; the 39th Reconnaissance Regiment at Balkhash, with MiG-25RBs and Su-24MR "Fencer" aircraft, and the 486th Helicopter Regiment based at Ucharal with Mi-24 'Hind'. The sole air defence fighter aviation regiment was the 356th Fighter Aviation Regiment at Semipalatinsk with Mikoyan MiG-31 "Foxhound" air defence fighters, which had been part of the 56th Air Defence Corps of the 14th Independent Air Defence Army. The Air Force was under the command of Major General Aliy Petrovich Volkov.


text: On 28 October 2010, two strategic agreements signed today establish the framework for Eurocopter's creation of a 50/50 joint venture with Kazakhstan Engineering Kazakhstan to assemble EC145 helicopters, along with the sale of 45 of these locally assembled aircraft for government missions in the country. On 28 November 2011, Eurocopter delivered the first of six EC145s ordered to date by the Kazakh Ministries of Defence and Emergencies. Deliveries are to continue through 2017.


text: On 3 January 2012, Airbus Military signed a firm contract with Kazspetsexport, a state company belonging to the Ministry of Defence of Kazakhstan, to supply two EADS CASA C-295 military transport aircraft plus the related service support package for spare parts and ground support equipment. Additionally, a memorandum of understanding has been signed for a further six C295 aircraft, for which separate firm contracts will be signed progressively over the next few years. The first two aircraft will be delivered by April 2013 and for the remaining six aircraft a delivery schedule will be defined over the following years. This purchase likely represents a quid pro quo. In 2008, EADS made titanium sourcing agreements with Kazakh suppliers.


text: In May 2012, Kazakhstan signed a letter of intent to acquire 20 Eurocopter EC725 helicopters. They were to be assembled in Astana by Kazakhstan Engineering. These Eurocoptors will be fitted with modern systems made by the Turkish firm Aselsan.


text: Kazakhstan's Naval Forces were established by presidential decree on 7 May 2003 in spite of being the largest landlocked country on earth. They operate on the Caspian Sea, based at Aktau. The Kazakh Naval Force has a strength of 3,000 personnel and is equipped with fourteen inshore patrol craft.


text: There are approximately 8,000-8,500 women serving in the Kazakh army. Of those women, 750 are officers. The Ministry of Defence has been working to promote women in the military through educational programs and career advancement opportunities. Only 2.1% of leadership positions within the Ministry of Defence are held by women. The Ministry of Defence also hosts "Batyr Arular", which is a nationwide competition for service men and women, showcasing their combat skills, combat readiness and overall physical ability. "Batyr Arular" gives awards for the best service women.


text: Every year, all men aged 18 to 27 are called up for military service in Kazakhstan. There are a number of circumstances due to which one can be released from military service both on a temporary and permanent basis.


title: Elephant (album)

text: Elephant is the fourth studio album by the American rock duo the White Stripes. It was released on April 1, 2003, through V2, XL, and Third Man. The album garnered critical acclaim and commercial success, earning a nomination for Album of the Year and a win for Best Alternative Music Album at the 46th Grammy Awards in 2004, peaking at number six in the US "Billboard" charts and topping the UK album charts.


title: Elephant (album)

text: In later years, the album has often been cited as the White Stripes' best work and one of the best albums of the 2000s; "Rolling Stone" magazine ranked it 390th on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", and later the fifth-best of the decade. Third Man Records released a limited edition red, black and white vinyl reissue of "Elephant" on April 20, 2013, in celebration of the album's 10-year anniversary, as a Record Store Day exclusive. The special edition 2013 Record Store Day, and August 2013 180-gram black vinyl reissues were pressed at United Record Pressing in Nashville, TN.


title: Elephant (album)

text: "Elephant" is the White Stripes' fourth full album and the second to be released by V2 Records. According to a review in "The New York Times", the White Stripes attempted to achieve the idea of "Back to Basics" as well as encouraging other rockers to try the same way.


title: Elephant (album)

text: Including the song "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself" (a Dusty Springfield/Burt Bacharach cover) in their repertoire was Meg's idea, and the band had begun to cover the song live. "You've Got Her in Your Pocket" was a song that had been written by Jack soon after the band's debut album was released in 1999. He had planned on eventually giving it to a local band to cover, but ultimately felt it was too personal to give away and decided to include it in the album. "Girl, You've Got No Faith in Medicine" was originally written for the band's previous album, "White Blood Cells", but Meg had disliked the song and it was removed. After debating it, the song was rerecorded and included in "Elephant", but only after a line from the song was removed after it was deemed too harsh.


title: Elephant (album)

text: It was recorded over two weeks in April 2002 in London's modest Toe Rag Studios except for the songs "Well It's True That We Love One Another," which was recorded at Toe Rag in November 2001, and "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself", which was recorded at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios. Jack White produced the album with antiquated equipment, including an eight-track tape machine and pre-1960s recording gear. As stated in the liner notes, White did not use computers during "Elephant's" writing, recording, or production. and none of the recording equipment was more recent than 1963.


title: Elephant (album)

text: "Elephant" has been described musically as garage rock revival, blues rock, and punk blues. The album's lyrical themes revolve around the idea of the "death of the sweetheart" in American culture. In this album, the White Stripes expanded their style with a bass line alongside lead and rhythm guitar. Jack played guitar or keyboard to fill out the sound. Like other White Stripes records, the cover art and liner notes are exclusively in red, white, and black.


title: Elephant (album)

text: The album has been released with at least six different versions of the front cover—different covers for the CD and LP editions in the US, the UK and elsewhere. To give an example, on the US CD edition Meg White is sitting on the left of a circus travel trunk and Jack is sitting on the right holding a cricket bat over the ground, while on the UK CD edition the cricket bat touches the ground and the image is mirrored so that their positions on the amplifier are reversed. The UK vinyl album cover is the same as the US CD but differs in that the color hues are much darker. The cryptic symbolism of the album art includes a skull sitting on the floor in the background, as well as peanuts and peanut shells in the foreground, and on the circus travel trunk appears the mark "III," Jack White's signature. Jack White is also displaying a mano cornuta and looking at a light bulb intensely, while Meg White is barefoot and appears to be crying, with a rope tied around her ankle and leading out of frame. Both have small white ribbons tied to their fingers. On the reverse side of the U.S. edition, all of the number "3"s are in red (disregarding the authorization notes at the bottom).


title: Elephant (album)

text: The Record Store Day 2013 vinyl and August 2013 180-gram black vinyl reissues have Meg wearing a black dress instead of the usual white dress; the only other release with Meg wearing the black dress was on the V2 advanced copy back in 2003. The advanced copy was on red and white vinyl, while the RSD copy has red, black and white colored vinyl in 2013.


title: Elephant (album)

text: In an interview with "Q Magazine" in 2007, Jack White said, "If you study the picture carefully, Meg and I are elephant ears in a head-on elephant. But it's a side view of an elephant, too, with the tusks leading off either side." He went on to say, "I wanted people to be staring at this album cover and then maybe two years later, having stared at it for the 500th time, to say, 'Hey, it's an elephant!'"


title: Elephant (album)

text: Upon its release, "Elephant" received widespread acclaim from music critics. The album enjoys a Metacritic rating of 92. The White Stripes were gaining momentum with their previous three albums and were generally lauded in critical circles, and many critics hailed "Elephant" as one of the defining events of the 2000s garage rock revival. "Uncut" magazine remarked that ""Elephant" is where the tabloid phenomenon of summer 2001 prove they are no flash in the pan by making a truly phenomenal record." David Fricke (with "Rolling Stone") called it "a work of pulverizing perfection," adding, "It will be one of the best things you hear all year" and Allmusic said the album "overflows with quality". Critics also commented on the development of the band. "NME" noted that "The eloquence, barbarism, tenderness and sweat-drenched vitality of "Elephant" make it the most realised White Stripes album yet." PopMatters said the album cemented "their evolution from Blind Willie McTell cover band with a pop sensibility to full-fledged, honest-to-goodness rock 'n' roll gods." Negative critique, though rare, was centered around the "gimmicks" that surround the music, most notably, the White Stripes' insistence on being called siblings. "So maybe it's time to drop the enigmatic charade," Lorraine Ali (with "Newsweek") pleaded, although she concluded, ""Elephant" still sounds great." Robert Christgau initially gave the album a three-star honorable mention () upon release, but later admitted that he had underrated it, and gave it a new grade of A−.


title: Elephant (album)

text: The album garnered three MTV Video Music Awards. The White Stripes played two summer concerts with the Rolling Stones, and a sold-out gig at the venerable Radio City Music Awards. According to "Rolling Stone" magazine, White matches the energy from his earlier albums and is even thought to "[exceed] the plantation holler of 2000's "De Stijl" and 2001's "White Blood Cells" with blues that both pop and bleed". In 2012, the album was ranked number 390 on "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and number 449 in the 2020 edition.


title: Elephant (album)

text: The album debuted at number one in the United Kingdom and reached number six on the "Billboard" 200 in the US. The album won Grammys for Best Alternative Album and Best Rock Song ("Seven Nation Army"). It was also placed thirty-ninth in Channel 4's list of the 100 Greatest Albums of all time. In December 2003, "NME" made it their Album of the Year. In 2011, Rolling Stone called "Elephant" the 5th best album of the decade, and Seven Nation Army the 6th best song of the decade. The album was also included in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".


title: Arthur Smith (American football, born 1982)

text: Arthur William Smith (born May 27, 1982) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). Smith previously served as an assistant coach for the Tennessee Titans, most recently as an offensive coordinator, prior to becoming head coach of the Falcons in 2021.


text: Smith was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 27, 1982. He attended Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Maryland, where he played on the offensive line and was team captain. He also saw some action at defensive tackle. Smith also participated in track, lacrosse, and basketball. In his high school career, Smith was a first-team all-state selection at offensive line, two-time all-conference, and first-team All-Metro by "The Washington Post".


text: Smith was a guard for North Carolina from 2001 to 2005. He was a redshirt freshman in 2001. Smith only played in a single game for the 2002 season as he was diagnosed with a foot problem and did not play the remainder of the season. Smith had foot surgery in January 2003 and missed the entire 2003 season. Smith saw little action in 2004 and in 2005. After graduating in 2006, Smith became a graduate assistant for North Carolina.


text: Smith began his NFL coaching career in 2007, when he became the defensive quality control coach for the Washington Redskins. He would stay at that position through 2008. In 2010, Smith was hired as a defensive intern and administrative assistant for Ole Miss.


text: Smith was hired to become the defensive quality control coach for the Tennessee Titans in 2011 under new head coach Mike Munchak. Smith then became the offensive quality coach for the 2012 season. He was promoted to the assistant offensive line and assistant tight ends coach in 2013. Munchak was fired after the 2013 season and new head coach Ken Whisenhunt retained Smith as the assistant tight ends coach. Mid-way through the 2015 season, Whisenhunt was fired and replaced by tight ends coach Mike Mularkey. Mularkey was kept as head coach for the 2016 season and so was Smith as the new tight ends coach. When Mularkey was fired after the 2017 season, new head coach Mike Vrabel kept Smith as the tight ends coach for 2018.


text: On January 21, 2019, Smith was promoted to offensive coordinator, replacing Matt LaFleur, who departed to become head coach of the Green Bay Packers two weeks prior. In his first year as offensive coordinator, Smith oversaw the highest-scoring Titans team in 16 years, with Derrick Henry, Ryan Tannehill, and Jonnu Smith having career years. Smith was praised for his play-calling in the Titans' 28-12 win over the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Divisional Round.