title: Derrick Williams (basketball)

text: Williams participated in the 2012 Rising Stars Challenge, as well as the 2012 NBA All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk Contest. Williams scored a season-high 27 points on February 28, 2012, in a win over the Los Angeles Clippers. He made 9 of 10 shots from the field and 4 of 4 from three-point range. He led the Timberwolves to victory over the New Orleans Hornets with what was then a career-high 28 points on March 17, 2013.


title: Derrick Williams (basketball)

text: On November 26, 2013, Williams was traded to the Sacramento Kings for forward Luc Mbah a Moute. He made his debut on November 29, 2013, finishing with 12 points (on 6-for-13 shooting), six rebounds and four assists in a 104–96 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. On December 9, 2013, Williams scored a career-high 31 points in a victory over the Dallas Mavericks.


title: Derrick Williams (basketball)

text: In the Kings' 2014–15 season finale on April 15, Williams scored a season-high 22 points in a 122–109 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.


title: Derrick Williams (basketball)

text: On July 9, 2015, Williams signed with the New York Knicks. He made his debut for the Knicks in the team's season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks on October 28, scoring a game-high 24 points in a 122–97 win. On January 12, 2016, he recorded his first double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds in a 120–114 win over the Boston Celtics. The next day, he tied his career-high of 31 points in a loss to the Brooklyn Nets.


title: Derrick Williams (basketball)

text: On July 10, 2016, Williams signed with the Miami Heat. On February 6, 2017, he was waived by the Heat after appearing in 25 games.


title: Derrick Williams (basketball)

text: On February 9, 2017, Williams signed a 10-day contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers. That night, Williams played 22 minutes in his debut in Cleveland's 118–109 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder and scored 12 points, going 3-for-3 from the field and 6-for-8 from the free throw line. He went on to sign a second 10-day contract on February 22, and then a rest-of-season contract on March 4. The Cavaliers reached the 2017 NBA Finals, where they were beaten in five games by the Golden State Warriors.


title: Derrick Williams (basketball)

text: On December 28, 2017, Williams signed with the Tianjin Gold Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association. In 15 games for Tianjin between early January and early February, Williams averaged 20.0 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game.


title: Derrick Williams (basketball)

text: On March 9, 2018, Williams signed a 10-day contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. After the contract expired, the Lakers decided to part ways with him.


title: Derrick Williams (basketball)

text: On October 3, 2018, Williams signed with Bayern Munich of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) and the EuroLeague for the 2018–19 season. In the EuroLeague, Williams averaged 13.4 points (9th in the EuroLeague) and 4.2 rebounds over 29 games, and was 9th in the EuroLeague with a .794 free throw percentage. In the BBL, Williams won the championship with Bayern after defeating Alba Berlin in the BBL Finals.


title: Derrick Williams (basketball)

text: On July 18, 2019, Fenerbahçe announced that Williams had signed a one-year contract with the Turkish club.


title: Derrick Williams (basketball)

text: On June 30, 2021, Williams signed a one-year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Premier League and the EuroLeague. He averaged 9.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. On June 28, 2022, Williams officially parted ways with the Israeli club.


title: Derrick Williams (basketball)

text: On July 15, 2022, Williams signed a one-year contract with Panathinaikos of the Greek Basket League and the EuroLeague.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Calgary 1988 (; or ; /; ; ; ), was a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to be held for 15 days, like the counterpart Summer Olympic Games. The majority of the contested events took place in Calgary itself. However, the skiing events were held west of the city at the Nakiska ski resort in Kananaskis Country and the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park in the town of Canmore.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: In 1988, a record 57 National Olympic Committees (NOC) sent a total of 1,423 athletes to these Games. These Winter Olympics would be the last attended one for both the Soviet Union and East Germany NOCs. Just like the 1976 Summer Olympics, Canada failed again to win a gold medal in an official medal event on home soil. The Finnish ski jumper, Matti Nykänen, and the Dutch speed skater, Yvonne van Gennip, won three individual gold medals each. The 1988 Winter Olympics were also remembered for the "heroic failure" of both the British ski jumper, Michael Edwards, and the debut of the Jamaica national bobsleigh team. Both of them became subjects of major feature films about their participation in these Games: "Cool Runnings" by Disney in 1993 and "Eddie the Eagle" by 20th Century Studios in 2016.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: At approximately C$829 million, the Calgary Games were one of the most expensive Olympics ever held at the time. The facilities that were built for these Winter Olympics helped the Calgary region turn into the heart of Canada's elite winter sports program, under the tutelage of WinSport. The five purpose-built venues for those Games continued to be used mostly for training and hosting various winter sporting events every year. These experiences helped Canada develop into one of the top nations in Winter Olympics competition. The climax of this effort was the overall first-place finish at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: Calgary's bid for the 1988 Winter Olympic Games was Canada's seventh and Calgary's fourth attempt at hosting the Winter Games. The first Canadian bid for Winter Games belonged to Montreal in 1956, while Vancouver bid for both the 1976 and 1980 Games, while Calgary (and neighbouring Banff) under the Calgary Olympic Development Association (CODA) submitted bids for the 1964, 1968, and 1972 Winter Games. CODA was laid dormant in 1966, after losing three consecutive bids in a row. However, CODA was later revived in 1978, when Frank King and Bob Niven of Calgary's Booster Club took over the organization's leadership. King and Niven brought some members from previous bids back including former Olympic Sprinter and CODA founder Ernie McCullough, and politician Arthur Ryan Smith to consult on the project.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: In October 1979, CODA was able to secure the Canadian Olympic Association's (COA) support as Canada's official bid for the 1988 Winter Olympics over a competing bid by Vancouver by a vote of 27–9. Calgary's bid was bold because no one infrastructure existed there and everything would have to be built from scratch. CODA proposed constructing all new venues to overcome the city's lack of winter sports facilities with the argument that Canada's inventory of training facilities would grow significantly if Calgary was awarded the Games. The defeated Vancouver organizing group lamented that they lost to Calgary's "Big-ticket Games" idea, which was estimated to cost nearly three times what Vancouver was expected to pay to host the Winter Olympics. Vancouver's bid was based on already developed infrastructure, including the Pacific Coliseum and Whistler Blackcomb that would again serve as the basis for bids for the successful 2010 Winter Olympics bid and later the 2030 Winter Olympics Next, CODA spent two years building local support for the megaproject, selling memberships to approximately 80,000 of Calgary's 600,000 residents. Calgary had further secured million in funding from the federal ( million) and Alberta's governments while some civic leaders, including then-mayor Ralph Klein, crisscrossed the world to favour IOC delegates. Driven by the arrival of the National Hockey League's (NHL) newly renamed Calgary Flames from Atlanta in 1980, the city had already begun constructing a new NHL arena that would be later named the Olympic Saddledome. That course of action demonstrated to the IOC Calgary's determination in wanting to host the Winter Olympics.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The Olympic bid itself emphasized the cultural and natural beauty of Calgary, Alberta and surrounding areas, as a perfect asset for hosting the Winter Olympics. The city was marketed as a capitalist, oil-driven, and modern economy that also had mountain playgrounds, extensive wilderness, and rodeo culture. The two seemingly contradictory images were brought together, as part of an extensive and diverse lobbying program.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: Calgary was one of three cities and towns that bid officially for the 1988 Winter Olympics. The other two were Falun, Sweden, and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The Italian town (comune) had before hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics. The vote was held on September 30, 1981, in Baden-Baden, West Germany, during the 84th IOC Session and 11th Olympic Congress. After Cortina d'Ampezzo was eliminated in the first round of balloting, Calgary won in the second and final round of balloting over Falun, by a margin of 17 votes. The announcement of CODA's victory sent the delegates in Baden-Baden and Calgary residents into singing and dancing. It also made then Alberta premier, Peter Lougheed, burst openly into tears in front of the cameras. Later, Ralph Klein sang a rendition of Mac Davis' "It's Hard to Be Humble". It was the first Winter Olympics awarded to Canada and the second Olympic Games overall, following the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Cortina d'Ampezzo, along with Milan, would get to host the 2026 Winter Olympics. The town will be the fourth to host the Winter Olympics twice, along with St. Moritz (1928 and 1948), Lake Placid (1932 and 1980), and Innsbruck (1964 and 1976).


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: Olympic historians, John E. Findling and Kimberly D. Pelle noted that once the Games were awarded to Calgary, the cultural and community aspects of the bid were pushed aside by the newly formed Calgary Olympic organizing committee called the "Olympiques Calgary Olympics '88" (OCO'88). It then proceeded to take on a "vigorous, resilient, and impersonal corporate business strategy" toward the planning and operation of the Games.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: Bill Pratt was a former general contractor who took over as OCO'88 president in 1983. He was the main manager that oversaw the construction of the Olympic megaproject. Donald Jacques, a former general manager of the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, once said, "Because of him, everything was built on time and on budget." However, Bill Pratt was controversial by rubbing many of his colleagues the wrong way. One former co-worker once predicted back in 1983: "He will get everything built. There may not be many (of us) left around to enjoy it, but he'll get it done." His relations with the news media were also strained at times. He had barely settled into his new position when the Calgary press media began criticizing OCO'88 for excessive secrecy and for awarding Olympic contracts to Calgary's PR firm Francis Williams and Johnson Ltd. Pratt was a director of that firm, before accepting the organizing committee job. OCO'88 had insisted that there was no conflict of interest involved in the whole process. Therefore, Pratt declared: "I have been nailed for a lot, but that does not bother me. The record stands". After the 1988 Winter Olympics bid was won in 1981, OCO'88 made a new technical assessment and had to re-plan all the originally proposed competition venues except for the few that already existed and were within the campus of the University of Calgary.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: McMahon Stadium, the primary outdoor facility used mainly by the Canadian Football League's (CFL) Calgary Stampeders and inside of the University of Calgary and had originally been chosen to host only the opening ceremonies and the Saddledome was chosen to be the place of the closing ceremonies. But due to the huge demand for tickets, the Organizing Committee decided to move the closing ceremony to the Stadium which held twice the capacity of the Saddledome. The last time that the two Winter Olympic ceremonies were held at the same venue was at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The 1988 Winter Olympics' five main all-purpose venues were created at a significant cost at that time. Three of them are located within Calgary and the other two are located west of the city. First, the Olympic Saddledome was the venue for the men's ice hockey final and the figure skating finals. It is located at Stampede Park and this facility was expected to cost C$83 million, but a cost overrun pushed it to nearly C$100 million. Second, the Olympic Oval was built on the campus of the University of Calgary for C$40 million. It was the first fully enclosed 400-metre long track speed skating in the world, to protect the athletes from bitterly cold weather and the Chinook winds. Third, Canada Olympic Park (formerly called the "Paskapoo Ski Hill") was renovated for C$200 million and is located on the western outskirts of Calgary. This most expensive venue of these Winter Olympics hosted the men's bobsleigh, luge, and men's ski jumping and its portion of the Nordic combined events. Also, it hosted some events of the demonstration sport of freestyle skiing.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: From the west of Calgary, the other two main all-purpose venues were built at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. First, the Canmore Nordic Centre was 90% funded by the province of Alberta, for C$17.3 million. It is located beside the town of Canmore and it hosted cross-country skiing, plus its men's portion of the Nordic combined, and the men's biathlon events. After the Games were over, there was the intention that it would become a year-round destination for Albertans, by facilitating Canmore's economic transition away from coal mining to tourist attractions. However, the Nakiska ("Cree" meaning "to meet") ski resort was the most controversial venue built for these Winter Olympics. It is located on Mount Allan (inside Kananaskis Country) and it hosted the alpine skiing events for C$25 million by the Alberta government. The venue site drew criticism because of the various environmental concerns, the building of adequate ski slopes, and the need to use artificial snow, a result of the lower snow quantity that fell that season. Also, the International Ski Federation (FIS) officials noted the venue's lack of technical difficulties needed for the Olympic competition. Therefore, these FIS officials proposed some major changes in the paths and that caused great and greater difficulties. These modifications were met with praise from Olympic alpine skiing competitors. Like at Canada Olympic Park, this venue also hosted some freestyle skiing events as a demonstration sport.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: Three other existing facilities served as secondary competition venues for the Games. The first one, was the Max Bell Centre hosted the demonstration sports of curling and short track speed skating. The Father David Bauer Olympic Arena and the Stampede Corral shared the functions of secondary venues for the ice hockey tournament and the figure skating preliminaries. Though the Stampede Corral did not support the International Ice Hockey Federation's (IIHF) standard-sized Olympic ice surface, OCO'88 was able to convince the IIHF to sanction the ice rink for Olympic competition, in exchange for a C$1.2 million payment.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: A record 57 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) entered athletes at the 1988 Winter Olympics, with eight more NOCs than any other previous Olympic Winter Games. 1,122 men and 301 women, for a total of 1,423 athletes, participated in these Games. Fiji, Guam, Guatemala, Jamaica, the Netherlands Antilles and the Virgin Islands had their Winter Olympics debut in 1988.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: There were 46 events contested in 6 sports (10 disciplines). In addition, there were 4 demonstration disciplines that have no official status in the overall medal tally.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The weather conditions were a problem facing OCO'88 during the Games, with temperatures ranging from -28° to +22° Celsius. After an unexpectedly freezing opening ceremony, the outdoor competitions scheduled to start the next day had to be postponed. This ended up affecting the men's downhill skiing event at Nakiska which was postponed for one day, due to Chinook winds blowing up to 160 km/h. The women's downhill event also experienced the same scenario. With the ski jumping venue facing north at Canada Olympic Park (COP), the same winds also disrupted those events, with the large hill event being postponed four times. It also disrupted the Nordic combined events, in which the ski jumping part had to be postponed as well. This situation ended up causing something unprecedented in the history of the Winter Olympics, as for the first time both the ski jumping and Nordic combined cross-country skiing events were contested in a single day. Despite using artificial cooling, the bobsleigh and luge events did not need to be rescheduled; however, several races had to be postponed because of the high temperatures recorded and also because of the dirt that was carried away by these winds.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The Calgary Olympic Development Association (CODA) Board of Directors had originally 25 members. It was chaired by Frank King, followed by former Mayors Ralph Klein and Ross Alger, and other prominent Calgarians. The executive committee president was Robert Niven. The Olympic Organizing Committee (OOC) was formed by utilizing many of the original board of directors members. It was initially started with 11 members and was grown to 25 members by October 1983. It grew further to 29 members by 1985, when former Alberta premier, Peter Lougheed, was added to the list. An Olympic biographer, Kevin Wamsley, noted that the CEO Frank King, President Bill Pratt, Ralph Klein, and former COA President Roger Jackson had collectively the most influence on all aspects of these Winter Olympics. This organizing committee took a hierarchical form for planning these Olympics, which caused consternation from some staff, volunteers, and people in executive roles. The original staff, who were at odds with the current management structure, were either fired or willingly resigned. Also, there were claims that some of the volunteers were verbally abused. As a result, David Leighton resigned as OOC President in 1982, after only five months on the job. Therefore, Bill Pratt, a former general manager of the Calgary Stampede, became the new OCOG's president shortly afterwards. The City of Calgary and the Canadian Olympic Association (COA) delegated officially all Olympic responsibilities, including staging the Winter Olympics under the Olympic Charter, to the newly formed OCO'88 in February and September 1983 respectively.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: However, conflicts within OCO'88 grew in the public eye and a review of the entire management structure was conducted after Ralph Klein threatened it with a public inquiry in 1986. Thus, Frank King remained as CEO, but with the addition of more full-time staff. Also, more than 9,000 volunteers were registered who were allocated to the most diverse areas. Despite these changes, there was still some animosity within OCO'88. Kevin Walmsley noted that Bill Pratt and Frank King continued to have a very tense relationship and that any movement caused sparks with each other. Some members of the media commented that the changes made further alienated the general public, with a host broadcaster producer, Ralph Mellanby, describing it as "an oilman's and cattleman's Calgary thing." Long-time IOC member Dick Pound, on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), went on record to say that the IOC grew increasingly frustrated, as it saw the actions of OCO'88 as a refusal to collaborate with them.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The 1988 Winter Olympic Games coincided with a shift in television policy by the International Olympic Committee and growing enthusiasm by broadcasters in the United States. Amendments to the "Olympic Charter" in 1977 established a policy mandating joint television rights involving the IOC and the local organizing committee and was enshrined in the 1981 bid agreement for the Calgary games.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The joint negotiating committee convened in 1984 late-January, some weeks before the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Games at the IOC's president residency at the Lausanne Palace were held to negotiate the Calgary television contracts with American broadcasters. The negotiating committee was represented by Dick Pound for the IOC, Bill Wardle for OCO'88 and consultant Barry Frank. The co-negotiating committee designed a new tender process for the television rights bid with an emphasis on creating a level playing field for all broadcasters. For the first time, the negotiations were based on a series of sealed bids and representatives from ABC, CBS and NBC vied for the opportunity to broadcast the Games.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: After six rounds of sealed bids, the ABC delegation led by producer Roone Arledge was successful with an agreement paying a record million ( million Canadian at the time) in exchange for exclusive rights for the games. CBS exited the bidding process after the second round with a final offer of $257 million, while ABC and NBC both reached the fifth round with an offer of $300 million. In the sixth and final stage, the IOC and OCO'88 decided a coin flip would determine which of ABC or NBC had the right to submit the first bid or defer, a decision neither network supported. NBC's president of sports Arthur A. Watson elected to call the coin-flip, although he remained silent on the first flip, so a second coinflip was required, and NBC won with a choice of "heads", and after 30 minutes of deliberation submitted a $304 million bid. ABC's representative Arledge made a quick phone call to executive Fred Pierce, and ABC submitted a $309 million bid, exceeding NBC's bid by $5 million. ABC's record-setting bid was immediately controversial, first Arledge had exceeded the maximum allowable bid set by ABC's executives by $34 million, and in the coming weeks ABC's coverage of the 1984 Winter Olympics which cost $91.5 million returned poor Nielsen ratings. Early estimates speculated the network would lose $50-$60 million televising the games. The "Wall Street Journal" described the NBC agreement as the "biggest prize of the Winter Olympics". The deal which was at the time the highest amount ever paid for a sporting event, allowed OCO'88 to announce the Games would be debt-free.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The negotiations with American television broadcasters were in sharp contrast to negotiations for Western European rights with the European Broadcasting Union quickly closing an exclusive deal with the IOC for million led by Juan Antonio Samaranch and Marc Hodler on behalf of the IOC. The "Calgary Herald" headline after the announcement negatively reflected on the "bargain" the European network received, and OCO'88 chairman Frank King publicly expressed his disappointment with the IOC. Samaranch's argument for providing for a privileged negotiation with EBU was ensuring European viewers had equal access and coverage of the games, something he did not believe would occur if private networks from each nation were provided with the opportunity to bid. Dick Pound was also critical of the decision and argued more revenue could be brought in from BBC and RAI alone and the privileged status suppressed the willingness of the EBU to make a market-value bid on the games.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The CTV Television Network won the bid to broadcast the Games in Canada in December 1983, paying million for the exclusive rights. CTV also won the $23.5 million contract to serve as the host broadcaster, responsible for the manpower and equipment to televise the games. In 1978, while the bid was strengthened, CBC and CTV signed an agreement that if Calgary were the eventual winner, the two broadcasters would create a consortium in which the purchase of television rights would take place jointly. The previous arrangement had CBC provide full coverage for Summer Games with CTV broadcasting a nightly summary, while CTV had the rights to Winter Games with CBC broadcasting a nightly summary. The nightly summary of the Games was also televised on CBC.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: OCO'88 made several alterations to the Olympic program as part of efforts to ensure value for its broadcast partners. Now, the premier and main events, including ice hockey and figure skating, were scheduled for prime time and the Games were lengthened to 15 days from the previous 12 to ensure three weekends of coverage. However, a significant downturn in advertising revenue for sporting events resulted in ABC forecasting significant financial losses on the Games. Calgary organizers appreciated their fortunate timing in signing the deal. King described the timing of the contract with ABC as "the passing of the sun and the moon at the right time for Calgary". The revenue growth from broadcasting was significant for the Calgary Games, the 1980 Lake Placid Games generated million, while OCO'88 generated $324.9 million in broadcast rights. ABC had net losses of more than $60 million, and broadcast rights to the 1992 Winter Olympics were later sold to the CBS network for $243 million, a 20 per cent reduction compared to Calgary.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: A series of ticket-related scandals plagued the organizing committee as the Games approached, resulting in widespread public anger. Demand for tickets was high, particularly for the main events which had sold out a year in advance. Residents had been promised that only 10 per cent of tickets would go to "Olympic insiders", IOC officials and sponsors, but OCO'88 was later forced to admit that up to 50 percent of seats to top events had gone to insiders. The organizing committee, which was subsequently chastised by mayor Klein for running a "closed shop", admitted that it had failed to properly communicate the obligations it had to supply IOC officials and sponsors with priority tickets.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: These events were preceded by the ticketing manager for OCO'88 being charged with theft and fraud after he sent modified ticket request forms to Americans that asked them to pay in United States funds rather than Canadian and to return them to his company's post office box rather than the office of the organizing committee. At that time, the American dollar was trading 40 cents higher than the Canadian dollar, resulting in significantly higher than anticipated revenue through currency conversion. The ticket manager maintained his innocence claiming he was used as a scapegoat and sponsor credit card Visa was responsible for the error, despite his claims, the ticketing manager was convicted of fraud, theft, and forgery, and sentenced to 5 years in prison.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: Organizers attempted to respond to public concern by asking sponsors to consider reducing their orders and by paying $1.5 million to add 2,600 seats to the Saddledome, as well as increase capacity for ski jumping, alpine skiing and the opening ceremonies. This led to a change of the venue of the closing ceremonies from Saddledome to McMahon Stadium, as the stadium capacity was about two times bigger than the indoor venue. King also noted that the Calgary Games offered a then-record 1.9 million tickets for sale, three times the amount available at Sarajevo or Lake Placid and that 79 percent of them were to be allocated to Calgarians. By the start of the 1988 Winter Games, a record of over 1.4 million tickets had been sold, a figure that eclipsed the previous three Winter Games combined. In the OCO'88's final report, the Committee admits the culmination of fraud charges, a large portion of premier tickets requested by Olympic insiders, and poor communications led to a negative public reaction to the ticketing process.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: For the first time in the history of the Olympics, both summer and winter, the Organizing Committee worked with a refund policy for returned or unused tickets. When an event was postponed by at least 24 hours, the ticketholder was eligible for a refund. Due to weather issues, the 8 events that were scheduled for the first 24 hours had to be rescheduled, resulting in 130,000 ticket refunds totalling million, with transactions handled by the Royal Bank of Canada.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The city of Calgary is world-renowned for the enthusiasm of its population for volunteer work which is reflected in the annual Calgary Stampede, which also relied heavily on volunteers to run the Olympics. Over 22,000 people signed up for more than 9,400 positions, no matter how inglorious: doctors, lawyers and executives even offered to collect the waste generated during the opening ceremony. Also, for the first time, a "Homestay" program was created and several local families opened their homes to visitors from around the world, and others were renting their rooms or houses to those who could not stay in pay a reserve in a hotel.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: Klein was among those who felt it necessary that the event be community driven, a decision which allowed the city's welcoming spirit to manifest. The Games' mascots, Hidy and Howdy, were designed to evoke images of "western hospitality". The smiling, cowboy-themed polar bears were popular across Canada. Played by a team of 150 students from Bishop Carroll High School, the sister-brother pair made up to 300 appearances per month in the lead-up to the Games. From their introduction at the closing ceremonies of the Sarajevo Games in 1984 until their retirement at the conclusion of the Calgary Games, the pair made about 50,000 appearances. The iconic mascots graced signs welcoming travellers to Calgary for nearly two decades until they were replaced in 2007. The mascot's names "Hidy" and "Howdy" were chosen by a public contest.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The 1988 Winter Olympic Games were the most expensive Games, summer or winter, to be held at that time, with total expenses exceeding million. The high cost was anticipated, as organizers were aware at the outset of their bid that most facilities would have to be constructed. The venues, constructed primarily with public money, were designed to have lasting use beyond the Games and were planned to become the home of several of Canada's national winter sports teams. The record-breaking cost of the Calgary Olympics came in stark contrast to the original projections during the 1981 bid, which estimated a total cost of million, split between million in capital costs and million in operating costs. The significant growth in capital expenditures came despite the three levels of government taking over projects which constituted nearly half of the original budgeted capital projects.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The primary source of revenue for OCO'88 was the lucrative television contracts, bringing in million (58.3 per cent of revenue), followed by corporate sponsorships at million (15.8 per cent of revenue), and ticket sales of million (7.5 per cent of revenue). Of the total expenses for the Games ( million), the Government of Canada contributed million (22.7 per cent), the Government of Alberta contributed million (14.8 per cent), and the City of Calgary contributed million (4.9 per cent). The million of government capital contributions not directly included in OCO'88's revenue statements included the Government of Canada constructing the million Canada Olympic Park, and million for the Olympic Oval. Provincial expenses included million to build the Canmore Nordic Centre, and million to build Nakiska. All three governments contributed to the million Olympic Saddledome. Of OCO'88's reported revenue of million, million was paid to the IOC as a share of television and market rights, and an additional million was paid to the United States Olympic Committee for rights to broadcast the Games in the United States, and million was reimbursed to NOC's for accommodation fees at the Games.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The Games were a major economic boom for the city, which had fallen into its worst recession in 40 years following the collapse of both oil and grain prices three years before the games. A report prepared for the city in January 1985 estimated the games would create 11,100 man-years of employment and generate million in salaries and wages. In its post-Games report, OCO'88 estimated the Olympics created billion in economic benefits across Canada during the 1980s, 70 percent within Alberta, as a result of capital spending, increased tourism and new sporting opportunities created by the facilities.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The 1988 Olympic torch relay began on November 15, 1987, when the torch was lit at Olympia and Greek runner Stelios Bisbas began what was called "the longest torch run in history". The flame arrived in St. John's, Newfoundland on the Atlantic Ocean two days later and over 88 days, travelled west across the then 10 Canadian provinces and two territories. It passed through most major cities, north to the Arctic Ocean at Inuvik, Northwest Territories, then west to the Pacific Ocean at Victoria, British Columbia before returning east to Alberta, and finally Calgary. The torch covered a distance of , the greatest distance for a torch relay in Olympic history until the 2000 Sydney Games, and a sharp contrast to the 1976 Montreal Games when the relay covered only .


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The identity of the final torchbearer who would light the Olympic cauldron was one of the Organizing Committee's most closely guarded secrets. The relay began at St. John's with Barbara Ann Scott and Ferd Hayward representing Canada's past Olympians and ended with Ken Read and Cathy Priestner carrying the torch into McMahon Stadium representing the nation's current Olympians. They then stopped to acknowledge the contribution of parathlete Rick Hansen and his "Man in Motion" tour before handing the torch to 12-year-old Robyn Perry, an aspiring figure skater who was selected to represent the future of the Olympic Movement three years before the IOC's changed the year of the Winter Games, to light the cauldron.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The design of the Olympic Torch for the Calgary games was a reproduction of the main landmark building of the Calgary skyline, the Calgary Tower. The National Research Council Canada developed the design for the Torch, the base of the torch is made of maple wood, the national tree of Canada, aluminum, and hardened steel, all 100% collected in Canadian territory. The torch was designed to remain lit despite the extreme conditions of Canadian winters. The Torch had to be light enough for relay runners to carry comfortably, and the final design came in at 60 centimetres in length and 1.7 kilograms in weight. The maple handle portion included laser-incised pictograms of the 10 official Olympic Winter sports, and lettering was engraved on the steel caldron portion. The torch used a mixed type of three fuels (gasoline, kerosene and alcohol) to allow a continuous burn during the unpredictable Canadian winter. Approximately 100 torches were manufactured for the Games.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The 1988 Winter Games began on afternoon of February 13 with a $10 million opening ceremony in front of 60,000 spectators at McMahon Stadium that featured 5,500 performers, an aerial flyover by the Royal Canadian Air Force's Snowbirds, the parade of nations and the release of 1,000 homing pigeons. Canadian composer David Foster performed the instrumental theme song ("Winter Games") and its vocal version ("Can't You Feel It?"), while internationally recognized Canadian folk/country musicians Gordon Lightfoot singing "Four Strong Winds" and Ian Tyson performing "Alberta Bound" were among the featured performers. Governor General Jeanne Sauvé opened the Games on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II as an estimated 1.5 billion people watched the ceremony.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The weather was a dominant story throughout much of the Games, as strong chinook winds that brought daily temperatures as high as wreaked havoc on the schedules for outdoor events. Events were delayed when winds were deemed unsafe for competitors and organizers used artificial snow making equipment to ensure skiing venues were properly prepared. It was the first time in Olympic history that alpine events were held on artificial snow. The Games were also marred by the death of the Austrian ski team's doctor, Joerg Oberhammer, on February 25 after a collision with another skier threw him underneath a working snow grooming machine at Nakiska, crushing and killing him instantly. The incident was ruled an accident.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The top individual competitors at the Olympics were Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen and Dutch speed skater Yvonne van Gennip as they each won three gold medals. Italy's Alberto Tomba won gold in two skiing events, his first of five career Olympic medals en route to becoming the first alpine skier to win medals at three Winter Games. East Germany's Katarina Witt defended her 1984 gold medal in women's figure skating, capturing a second gold in Calgary. Her compatriot Christa Rothenburger won the gold medal in the 1000 metre race in speed skating, then went on to win a silver medal in the team sprint cycling event at the 1988 Summer Games to become the only person in Olympic history to win medals at both Olympic Games in the same year. The Soviet Union won gold in hockey as Scandinavian neighbours Finland and Sweden took silver and bronze, respectively.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: As it had in 1976, Canada again failed to win an official gold medal as the host of an Olympic Games. Canadians won two gold medals in demonstration events, including by Sylvie Daigle as one of her five medals in short-track speed skating. Canada's top official performances came in figure skating where Brian Orser and Elizabeth Manley each won silver medals. Promoted by the media as the "Battle of the Brians"—the competition between Orser and American rival Brian Boitano—and the "Battle of the Carmens"—between Witt and American rival Debi Thomas, who had both elected to skate to Bizet's "Carmen" in their long programs—were the marquee events of the Games. Boitano won the gold medal over Orser by only one-tenth of a point. Witt won the gold while Thomas won the bronze medal. Manley was not viewed as a medal contender, but skated the greatest performance of her career to come within a fraction of Witt's gold medal-winning score.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: American speed skater Dan Jansen's personal tragedy was one of the more poignant events of the Games as he skated the 500 metre race mere hours after his sister Jane died of leukemia. A gold medal favourite, Jansen chose to compete as he felt it is what his sister would have wanted. Viewers around the world witnessed his heartbreak as he fell and crashed into the outer wall in the first quarter of his heat. In the 1000 metre race four days later, Jansen was on a world record pace when he again fell. After failing again in Albertville, Jansen finally won a gold medal at the 1994 Lillehamer Games.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: One of the most popular athletes from the games was British ski jumper Michael Edwards, who gained infamy by placing last in both the 70 and 90 metre events finishing 70 and 53 points behind his next closest competitor, respectively. Edwards' "heroic failure" made him an instant celebrity; he went from earning £6,000 per year as a plasterer before the Games to making £10,000 per hour per appearance afterward. Left embarrassed by the spectacle he created, the IOC altered the rules following Calgary to eliminate each nation's right to send at least one athlete and set minimum competition standards for future events. Regardless, the President of the Organizing Committee, Frank King, playfully saluted Edwards' unorthodox sporting legacy, which would also be commemorated with a 2016 feature film, "Eddie the Eagle".


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The Jamaican bobsleigh team, making their nation's Winter Olympic debut, was also popular in Calgary. The team was the brainchild of a pair of Americans who recruited individuals with strong sprinting ability from the Jamaican military to form the team. Dudley Stokes and Michael White finished the two-man event in 30th place out of 41 competitors and launched the Jamaican team into worldwide fame. The pair, along with Devon Harris and Chris Stokes, crashed in the four-man event, but were met with cheers from the crowd as they pushed their sled across the finish line. Their odyssey was made into the 1993 movie "Cool Runnings", a largely fictionalized comedy by Walt Disney Pictures.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: All of the long track world (WR) and Olympic records (OR) that occurred during these Games were later broken at succeeding Winter Olympics and other world events.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: Prior to 1988, the Winter Olympics were viewed as a second-rate event, in comparison to the Summer Olympics. The IOC had, at one point, considered eliminating it altogether. First, there are only a few mountainous areas in the world that would be able to host the Winter Olympics. Second, there were major challenges in generating revenues for the host city and the IOC from such Games. However, CODA convinced the IOC that it could not only generate enough revenues to make a profit but have enough money left over to ensure a lasting legacy of winter sports development. OCO'88 followed mainly the example of LAOOC which organized the 1984 Summer Olympics. Under LAOOC's president, Peter Ueberroth, he was able to attract a large United States television contract and Los Angeles became the first Olympic host city to benefit from a change in the IOC's strategy on corporate sponsorship. For the 1988 Winter Olympics, OCO'88 attracted financial support from over two dozen major Canadian and multinational corporations, in order to generate millions of dollars in revenues.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: For OCO'88, it foresaw some winter sports, like the debut of the Super-G and other new winter sports events, as a way to increase the audience's appeal of the Winter Olympics. Thus, for the sponsors, the Games' length of time to 15 days provided an extra weekend of Olympic media coverage to the world. This additional programming time was filled mainly by TV-friendly demonstration events that are popular in Canada. The 1988 Winter Olympics' exposure to curling, freestyle skiing, and short track speed skating events in Calgary influenced the worldwide popularity of all of them. So much so that all these events became the new and official Olympic finals in the period between the 1992 Winter Olympics to the 2002 Winter Olympics.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: Hosting the Winter Olympics helped fuel a significant increase in Calgary's reputation on the world stage. Crosbie Cotton, a reporter for the "Calgary Herald" who covered the city's Olympic odyssey from its 1979 initiative to the closing ceremonies, noted an increased positive outlook of the city's population over time. He believed that the populace began to outgrow its "giant inferiority complex" that is "typically Canadian", by replacing it with a new level of confidence as the Games approached. This outcome helped the city grow from a regional oil and gas centre, best known for the Calgary Stampede, to a destination for international political, economic, and sporting events. A study prepared for the organizing committee of the 2010 Winter Olympics, (VANOC), claimed that Calgary hosted over 200 national and international sporting competitions between 1987 and 2007, due to the facilities it had constructed for these Olympic Games.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The Games' enduring popularity within Calgary has been attributed to efforts in making them "everybody's Games." Aside from the sense of community fostered by the high level of volunteer support, OCO'88 included the general public in other ways. For example, the citizens were given an opportunity to purchase a brick with their names engraved on it. Those bricks were used to build the Olympic Plaza, where the medal ceremonies were held in 1988. It remains a popular public park and event site in the city's downtown core today.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: After the success of these Olympic Games, Calgary was wanting to bring back the Olympic experience again. It offered, to the IOC, in becoming a possible alternate host city of the 2002 Winter Olympics, after a bidding scandal resulted in speculation that Salt Lake City would not be able to remain the host city. Next, the city was attempting to be Canada's bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics, but the COC decided to give it to Vancouver and Whistler. Later, a 2013 "Calgary Sun" online poll found that 81% of respondents said they would support the idea of hosting another Winter Olympics. On November 13, 2018, Calgary held a public non-binding plebiscite on whether it should bid to host the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. On November 19, 2018, the results of the plebiscite showed that 56.4% (171,750) of eligible voters said "No", while 43.6% (132,832) of them said "Yes." Therefore, the city council concluded that the bid would be withdrawn.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: In light of the 1976 Summer Olympics' disastrous financial legacy, the Calgary Olympic organizing committee, OCO'88, parlayed its ability to generate television and sponsorship revenues, along with the three levels of government support, into what was ultimately a C$170 million surplus. While OCO'88 reported officially a surplus after the Games were over, the accounting practices of the final report did not include federal, provincial, and municipal capital and operations funding infrastructures.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: The overall surplus was turned into endowment funds that were split between Canada Olympic Park (C$110 million) and CODA. They were subsequently reformed later, in order to manage the Olympic facilities with a trust fund that had grown steadily to be worth over C$200 million by 2013. Consequently, all five primary facilities built for the 1988 Winter Olympics remained operational for their intended purposes, 25 years after the Games concluded. Calgary and Canmore became the heart of winter sports in Canada, as CODA (now known as WinSport) established itself as the nation's leader in developing elite winter athletes. For the 2006 Winter Olympics, a quarter of Canada's Olympic winter athletes were from the Calgary region and three-quarters of its medalists were from or trained in Alberta.


title: 1988 Winter Olympics

text: Before 1988, Canada was not a winter sports power. The nation's five overall medals won in Calgary was its second-best total at a Winter Olympics, behind the seven overall medals it won at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. After 1988, Canada won an increasing number of gold and overall medals at each successive Winter Olympics. It culminated in an overall performance of 26 medals won at the 2010 Winter Olympics, which included the previous Olympic record of 14 gold medals. Until 2010, Norway won the most Olympic gold medals on home soil at the 1952 Winter Olympics. However, Norway recaptured the record of winning the most Olympic gold medals at a single Winter Olympics, at 16. At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Canada earned its highest overall medal count in the Winter Olympics to date, with a total of 29 medals.


title: Metro Station (band)

text: Metro Station was an American pop rock band that was formed in Los Angeles, California by singer Mason Musso and bassist/guitarist Trace Cyrus. In late 2006, the band signed a recording contract with Columbia Records and RED Ink Records. The band is best known for the top 10 "Billboard" hit single "Shake It" from the group's self-titled debut album. In 2010, tension between Cyrus and Musso caused the band to go on hiatus. In 2011, the band returned, however, it was announced that Cyrus was no longer a part of the group and Musso had purchased the rights to the name. An EP entitled "Middle of the Night" was released in 2013, which was led by the single "Every Time I Touch You". In 2014, Cyrus and a new drummer, Spencer Steffan, came to the band, and a new single entitled "Love & War" was released. In 2015, the band released a second full-length album, titled "Savior". After this, the band went on a U.S and European tour, announcing an EP called "Bury Me My Love" along with a U.S. 10-year anniversary tour. Just before the tour started, the band announced it would be their final tour and that they were breaking up. They reunited once again in 2019 and released the single "I Hate Society" in 2020.


title: Metro Station (band)

text: The band is often described as a scene pop band due to the members' sense of fashion and the band's unique blend of various pop styles.


title: Metro Station (band)

text: In 2005, Mason Musso and Trace Cyrus agreed to meet on the set of "Hannah Montana", which starred Mason's brother, Mitchel, and Trace's sister, Miley. Sharing musical interests, they decided to form a band. Shortly thereafter, Cyrus recruited Blake Healy from Synthetic Joy and the Bum Out Eternal as a keyboardist, synthesist, and bassist. Cyrus remained the singer and the lead guitarist. Musso became the group's main singer and rhythm guitarist.


title: Metro Station (band)

text: Metro Station soon gained the attention of drummer Anthony Improgo, who was added as the band's drummer after the group released the song "Seventeen Forever" on its Myspace Music website. Musso sang lead on the track. The group's popularity on MySpace Music grew, and the band eventually topped the MySpace Music Unsigned Band's charts.


title: Metro Station (band)

text: Metro Station was discovered by an intern working for Columbia Records' Walking Eye program, while looking through the MySpace Music charts, and the group was signed shortly thereafter.


title: Metro Station (band)

text: In the July 2007 issue of music magazine "Alternative Press", Metro Station was listed as one of the "22 Best Underground Bands (That Likely Won't Stay Underground for Long)."


title: Metro Station (band)

text: The band released its "self-titled debut album" in September 2007. The album initially spawned two singles, "Kelsey" and "Control". Neither single saw a great deal of success, although "Kelsey" performed decently in the New Zealand market, peaking at number 25 and number 1 on the "Billboard" Dance Singles Sales chart. In April 2008, after the release of the single "Shake It", the band received a significant amount of commercial exposure, with the song peaking at number ten on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and also peaking within the top ten of the charts in several international markets, including Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. This led to the song going Double Platinum in the US. In the United Kingdom, "Shake It" was featured in a TV commercial for Schwarzkopf's Live Colour XXL Shake It Up Foam in late-2011. The success of the song also affected album sales, the album charting nine months later in 2008 at number 39 in the "Billboard" 200, number 1 in the Top Electronic Albums and number 2 in the Top Heatseekers album chart. The album went on to sell over 87,000 copies in the US and is certified gold in Canada.


title: Metro Station (band)

text: In 2009 Metro Station toured in the Believers Never Die Tour Part Deux with Hey Monday, All Time Low, Cobra Starship and Fall Out Boy.


title: Metro Station (band)

text: The band also contributed a song to the "Alice in Wonderland" soundtrack, "Almost Alice", titled "Where's My Angel".


title: Metro Station (band)

text: In November 2009, keyboardist Blake Healy departed from the group. A month later, drummer Anthony Improgo also left the band. In March 2010, after a number of personal disputes between band members Mason Musso and Trace Cyrus in the studio, Metro Station went into indefinite hiatus as Musso and Cyrus split to pursue solo projects, putting Metro Station on a back-burner until they felt they could record together again. Musso retained his connections to the Metro Station name, while Cyrus began a solo project he named Ashland High.


title: Metro Station (band)

text: On May 31, 2011, Musso released a new song, "Ain't So High", on his YouTube page, metrostation2011. Musso regained rights to the Metro Station name and used the band's name without Cyrus. On July 20, Musso announced on Twitter that he was working on the new Metro Station record with help from Anthony Improgo and Blake Healy. On September 25, Musso released a new song "Closer and Closer", produced by Blake Healy. On November 20, Mason Musso, Anthony Improgo, and Ryan Daly performed at the American Music Awards Red Carpet. In May 2013, Musso released the five-track EP "Middle of the Night" through an Indiegogo campaign. Their single "Every Time I Touch You" was written by Musso and Healy.


title: Metro Station (band)

text: On August 13, 2014, Cyrus returned to the band, four years after previously leaving. Shortly after Cyrus' return, the band released a new single titled "Love & War" and announced the band's inclusion on The Outsiders Tour, which consisted of The Ready Set, The Downtown Fiction, and Against the Current. On October 28, 2014, the band released the music video for a single "She Likes Girls". On October 14, 2014, the group released an EP titled "Gold".


title: Metro Station (band)

text: The band performed on every date of the 2015 Warped Tour. On June 30, 2015, the band released a new album, "Savior". The album features 18 tracks, including the single "Getting Over You" featuring Ronnie Radke. The group toured with Falling in Reverse, Atilla, and Assuming We Survive from October 2015 to December 2015. Metro Station toured with Never Shout Never, Jule Vera, and Waterparks from January 2016 to February 2016.


title: Metro Station (band)

text: On September 2, 2016, the band announced that they were set to tour again in October and November alongside Palaye Royale. In 2017, the band announced they were breaking up. They eventually reunited in 2019 and released the single "I Hate Society" in 2020.


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: What the Bleep Do We Know!? (stylized as What tнē #$*! D̄ө ωΣ (k)πow!? and What the #$*! Do We Know!?) is a 2004 American pseudo-scientific film that posits a spiritual connection between quantum physics and consciousness. The plot follows the fictional story of a photographer, using documentary-style interviews and computer-animated graphics, as she encounters emotional and existential obstacles in her life and begins to consider the idea that individual and group consciousness can influence the material world. Her experiences are offered by the filmmakers to illustrate the film's scientifically-unsupported thesis about quantum physics and consciousness.


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: "Bleep" was conceived and its production funded by William Arntz, who co-directed the film along with Betsy Chasse and Mark Vicente; all three were students of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment. A moderately low-budget independent film, it was promoted using viral marketing methods and opened in art-house theaters in the western United States, winning several independent film awards before being picked up by a major distributor and eventually grossing over $10 million. The 2004 theatrical release was succeeded by a substantially changed, extended home media version in 2006.


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: The film has been described as an example of quantum mysticism, and has been criticized for both misrepresenting science and containing pseudoscience. While many of its interviewees and subjects are professional scientists in the fields of physics, chemistry, and biology, one of them has noted that the film quotes him out of context.


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: The film’s co-director, Mark Vicente, would go on to co-found The Knife Media, a pro-Trump “digital news outlet” linked to NXIVM.


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: Filmed in Portland, Oregon, "What the Bleep Do We Know!?" presents a viewpoint of the physical universe and human life within it, with connections to neuroscience and quantum physics. Some ideas discussed in the film are:


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: In the narrative segments of the film, Marlee Matlin portrays Amanda, a photographer who plays the role of everywoman as she experiences her life from startlingly new and different perspectives.


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: In the documentary segments of the film, interviewees discuss the roots and meaning of Amanda's experiences. The comments focus primarily on a single theme: "We create our own reality." The director, William Arntz, has described "What the Bleep" as a film for the "metaphysical left".


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: Work was split between Toronto-based Mr. X Inc., Lost Boys Studios in Vancouver, and Atomic Visual Effects in Cape Town, South Africa. The visual-effects team, led by Evan Jacobs, worked closely with the other film-makers to create visual metaphors that would capture the essence of the film's technical subjects with attention to aesthetic detail.


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: Lacking the funding and resources of the typical Hollywood film, the filmmakers relied on "guerrilla marketing" first to get the film into theaters, and then to attract audiences. This has led to accusations, both formal and informal, directed towards the film's proponents, of spamming online message boards and forums with many thinly veiled promotional posts. Initially, the film was released in only two theaters: one in Yelm, Washington (the home of the producers, which is also the home of Ramtha), and the other the Bagdad Theater in Portland, Oregon, where it was filmed. Within several weeks, the film had appeared in a dozen or more theaters (mostly in the western United States), and within six months it had made its way into 200 theaters across the US.


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: According to the makers of the film, "Bleep" is an expurgation of "fuck". William Arntz has referred to the film as "WTFDWK" in a message to the film's street team.


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: The Institute of Noetic Sciences, a New Age research organization that "explores phenomena that do not necessarily fit conventional scientific models", has supported "What the Bleep Do We Know!?" and published a study guide.


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: According to "Publishers Weekly", the film was one of the sleeper hits of 2004, as "word-of-mouth and strategic marketing kept it in theaters for an entire year." The article states that the domestic gross exceeded $10 million, described as not bad for a low-budget documentary, and that the DVD release attained even more significant success with over a million units shipped in the first six months following its release in March 2005. Foreign gross added another $5 million for a worldwide gross of nearly $16 million.


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: In the "Publishers Weekly" article, publicist Linda Rienecker of "New Page Books" says that she sees the success as part of a wider phenomenon, stating "A large part of the population is seeking spiritual connections, and they have the whole world to choose from now". Author Barrie Dolnick adds that "people don't want to learn how to do one thing. They'll take a little bit of Buddhism, a little bit of veganism, a little bit of astrology... They're coming into the marketplace hungry for direction, but they don't want some person who claims to have all the answers. They want suggestions, not formulas." The same article quotes Bill Pfau, Advertising Manager of Inner Traditions, as saying "More and more ideas from the New Age community have become accepted into the mainstream."


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: Critics offered mixed reviews as seen on the film review website Rotten Tomatoes, where it scored a "Rotten" 34% score with an average score of 4.6/10, based on 77 reviews. In his review, Dave Kehr of "The New York Times" described the "transition from quantum mechanics to cognitive therapy" as "plausible", but stated also that "the subsequent leap—from cognitive therapy into large, hazy spiritual beliefs—isn't as effectively executed. Suddenly people who were talking about subatomic particles are alluding to alternate universes and cosmic forces, all of which can be harnessed in the interest of making Ms. Matlin's character feel better about her thighs."


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: "What the Bleep Do We Know!?" has been described as "a kind of New Age answer to "The Passion of the Christ" and other films that adhere to traditional religious teachings." It offers alternative spirituality views characteristic of New Age philosophy, including critiques of the competing claims of stewardship among traditional religions [viz., institutional Judaism, Christianity, and Islam] of universally recognized and accepted moral values.


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: Scientists who have reviewed "What the Bleep Do We Know!?" have described distinct assertions made as pseudoscience. Lisa Randall refers to the film as "the bane of scientists". Amongst the assertions in the film that have been challenged are that water molecules can be influenced by thought (as popularized by Masaru Emoto), that meditation can reduce violent crime rates of a city, and that quantum physics implies that "consciousness is the ground of all being." The film was also discussed in a letter published in "Physics Today" that challenges how physics is taught, saying teaching fails to "expose the mysteries physics has encountered [and] reveal the limits of our understanding". In the letter, the authors write: "the movie illustrates the uncertainty principle with a bouncing basketball being in several places at once. There's nothing wrong with that. It's recognized as pedagogical exaggeration. But the movie gradually moves to quantum 'insights' that lead a woman to toss away her antidepressant medication, to the quantum channeling of Ramtha, the 35,000-year-old Lemurian warrior, and on to even greater nonsense." It went on to say that "Most laypeople cannot tell where the quantum physics ends and the quantum nonsense begins, and many are susceptible to being misguided," and that "a physics student may be unable to convincingly confront unjustified extrapolations of quantum mechanics," a shortcoming which the authors attribute to the current teaching of quantum mechanics, in which "we tacitly deny the mysteries physics has encountered".


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: Richard Dawkins stated that "the authors seem undecided whether their theme is quantum theory or consciousness. Both are indeed mysterious, and their genuine mystery needs none of the hype with which this film relentlessly and noisily belabours us", concluding that the film is "tosh". Professor Clive Greated wrote that "thinking on neurology and addiction are covered in some detail but, unfortunately, early references in the film to quantum physics are not followed through, leading to a confused message". Despite his caveats, he recommends that people see the film, stating: "I hope it develops into a cult movie in the UK as it has in the US. Science and engineering are important for our future, and anything that engages the public can only be a good thing." Simon Singh called it pseudoscience and said the suggestion "that if observing water changes its molecular structure, and if we are 90% water, then by observing ourselves we can change at a fundamental level via the laws of quantum physics" was "ridiculous balderdash". According to João Magueijo, professor in theoretical physics at Imperial College, the film deliberately misquotes science. The American Chemical Society's review criticizes the film as a "pseudoscientific docudrama", saying "Among the more outlandish assertions are that people can travel backward in time, and that matter is actually thought."


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: Bernie Hobbs, a science writer with ABC Science Online, explains why the film is incorrect about quantum physics and reality: "The observer effect of quantum physics isn't about people or reality. It comes from the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and it's about the limitations of trying to measure the position and momentum of subatomic particles... this only applies to sub-atomic particles—a rock doesn't need you to bump into it to exist. It's there. The sub-atomic particles that make up the atoms that make up the rock are there too." Hobbs also discusses Hagelin's experiment with Transcendental Meditation and the Washington DC rate of violent crime, saying that "the number of murders actually went up". Hobbs further disputed the film's use of the ten percent of the brain myth.


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: David Albert, a philosopher of physics who appears in the film, has accused the filmmakers of selectively editing his interview to make it appear that he endorses the film's thesis that quantum mechanics is linked with consciousness. He says he is "profoundly unsympathetic to attempts at linking quantum mechanics with consciousness".


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: In the film, during a discussion of the influence of experience on perception, Candace Pert notes a story, which she says she believes is true, of Native Americans being unable to see Columbus's ships because they were outside their experience. According to an article in "Fortean Times" by David Hambling, the origins of this story likely involved the voyages of Captain James Cook, not Columbus, and an account related by Robert Hughes which said Cook's ships were "...complex and unfamiliar as to defy the natives' understanding". Hambling says it is likely that both the Hughes account and the story told by Pert were exaggerations of the records left by Captain Cook and the botanist Joseph Banks.


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: Skeptic James Randi described the film as "a fantasy docudrama" and "[a] rampant example of abuse by charlatans and cults". Eric Scerri in a review for Committee for Skeptical Inquiry dismisses it as "a hodgepodge of all kinds of crackpot nonsense," where "science [is] distorted and sensationalized". A BBC reviewer described it as "a documentary aimed at the totally gullible".


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: According to Margaret Wertheim, "History abounds with religious enthusiasts who have read spiritual portent into the arrangement of the planets, the vacuum of space, electromagnetic waves and the big bang. But no scientific discovery has proved so ripe for spiritual projection as the theories of quantum physics, replete with their quixotic qualities of uncertainty, simultaneity and parallelism." Wertheim continues that the film "abandons itself entirely to the ecstasies of quantum mysticism, finding in this aleatory description of nature the key to spiritual transformation. As one of the film's characters gushes early in the proceedings, 'The moment we acknowledge the quantum self, we say that somebody has become enlightened'. A moment in which 'the mathematical formalisms of quantum mechanics [...] are stripped of all empirical content and reduced to a set of syrupy nostrums'."


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: Journalist John Gorenfeld, writing in "Salon", notes that the film's three directors are students of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment, which he says has been described as a cult.


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: In mid-2005, the filmmakers worked with HCI Books to expand on the film's themes in a book titled "What the Bleep Do We Know!?—Discovering the Endless Possibilities of Your Everyday Reality". HCI president Peter Vegso stated that in regard to this book, "What the Bleep is the quantum leap in the New Age world," and "by marrying science and spirituality, it is the foundation of future thought."


title: What the Bleep Do We Know!?

text: On August 1, 2006 "What the Bleep! Down the Rabbit Hole - Quantum Edition" multi-disc DVD set was released, containing two extended versions of "What the Bleep Do We Know!?," with over 15 hours of material on three double-sided DVDs.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Stress, either physiological, biological or psychological, is an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition. Stress is the body's method of reacting to a condition such as a threat, challenge or physical and psychological barrier. There are two hormones that an individual produces during a stressful situation, these are well known as adrenaline and cortisol. There are two kinds of stress hormone levels. Resting (basal) cortisol levels are normal everyday quantities that are essential for standard functioning. Reactive cortisol levels are increases in cortisol in response to stressors. Stimuli that alter an organism's environment are responded to by multiple systems in the body. In humans and most mammals, the autonomic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are the two major systems that respond to stress.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The sympathoadrenal medullary (SAM) axis may activate the fight-or-flight response through the sympathetic nervous system, which dedicates energy to more relevant bodily systems to acute adaptation to stress, while the parasympathetic nervous system returadrenaliney to homeostasis.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The second major physiological stress-response center, the HPA axis, regulates the release of cortisol, which influences many bodily functions such as metabolic, psychological and immunological functions. The SAM and HPA axes are regulated by several brain regions, including the limbic system, prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hypothalamus, and stria terminalis. Through these mechanisms, stress can alter memory functions, reward, immune function, metabolism and susceptibility to diseases.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Disease risk is particularly pertinent to mental illnesses, whereby chronic or severe stress remains a common risk factor for several mental illnesses.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Acute stressful situations where the stress experienced is severe is a cause of change psychologically to the detriment of the well-being of the individual, such that symptomatic derealization and depersonalization, and anxiety and hyperarousal, are experienced. The International Classification of Diseases includes a group of mental and behavioral disorders which have their aetiology in reaction to severe stress and the consequent adaptive response. Chronic stress, and a lack of coping resources available, or used by an individual, can often lead to the development of psychological issues such as delusions, depression and anxiety (see below for further information). Chronic stress also causes brain atrophy, which is the loss of neurons and the connections between them. It affects the part of the brain that is important for learning, responding to the stressors and cognitive flexibility.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Chronic stressors may not be as intense as acute stressors such as natural disaster or a major accident, but persist over longer periods of time, tend to have a more negative effect on health because they are sustained and thus require the body's physiological response to occur daily. This depletes the body's energy more quickly and usually occurs over long periods of time, especially when these microstressors cannot be avoided (i.e. stress of living in a dangerous neighborhood). See allostatic load for further discussion of the biological process by which chronic stress may affect the body. For example, studies have found that caregivers, particularly those of dementia patients, have higher levels of depression and slightly worse physical health than non-caregivers.


title: Stress (biology)

text: When humans are under chronic stress, permanent changes in their physiological, emotional, and behavioral responses may occur. Chronic stress can include events such as caring for a spouse with dementia, or may result from brief focal events that have long term effects, such as experiencing a sexual assault. Studies have also shown that psychological stress may directly contribute to the disproportionately high rates of coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality and its etiologic risk factors. Specifically, acute and chronic stress have been shown to raise serum lipids and are associated with clinical coronary events.


title: Stress (biology)

text: However, it is possible for individuals to exhibit hardiness—a term referring to the ability to be both chronically stressed and healthy. Even though psychological stress is often connected with illness or disease, most healthy individuals can still remain disease-free after being confronted with chronic stressful events. This suggests that there are individual differences in vulnerability to the potential pathogenic effects of stress; individual differences in vulnerability arise due to both genetic and psychological factors. In addition, the age at which the stress is experienced can dictate its effect on health. Research suggests chronic stress at a young age can have lifelong effects on the biological, psychological, and behavioral responses to stress later in life.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The term "stress" had none of its contemporary connotations before the 1920s. It is a form of the Middle English "destresse", derived via Old French from the Latin "stringere", "to draw tight". The word had long been in use in physics to refer to the internal distribution of a force exerted on a material body, resulting in strain. In the 1920s and '30s, biological and psychological circles occasionally used the term to refer to a mental strain or to a harmful environmental agent that could cause illness.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Walter Cannon used it in 1926 to refer to external factors that disrupted what he called homeostasis. But "...stress as an explanation of lived experience is absent from both lay and expert life narratives before the 1930s". Physiological stress represents a wide range of physical responses that occur as a direct effect of a stressor causing an upset in the homeostasis of the body. Upon immediate disruption of either psychological or physical equilibrium the body responds by stimulating the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. The reaction of these systems causes a number of physical changes that have both short- and long-term effects on the body.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The Holmes and Rahe stress scale was developed as a method of assessing the risk of disease from life changes. The scale lists both positive and negative changes that elicit stress. These include things such as a major holiday or marriage, or death of a spouse and firing from a job.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Homeostasis is a concept central to the idea of stress. In biology, most biochemical processes strive to maintain equilibrium (homeostasis), a steady state that exists more as an ideal and less as an achievable condition. Environmental factors, internal or external stimuli, continually disrupt homeostasis; an organism's present condition is a state of constant flux moving about a homeostatic point that is that organism's optimal condition for living. Factors causing an organism's condition to diverge too far from homeostasis can be experienced as stress. A life-threatening situation such as a major physical trauma or prolonged starvation can greatly disrupt homeostasis. On the other hand, an organism's attempt at restoring conditions back to or near homeostasis, often consuming energy and natural resources, can also be interpreted as stress. The brain cannot sustain a concentrated equilibrium under chronic stress, overtime if you constantly struggle in a simmering sea of stress, and you body budget accrued an ever-deepening deficit, that's called chronic stress and it does more than just make you miserable in that moment, It can and will gradually eat away at your brain and cause illness in your body.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The ambiguity in defining this phenomenon was first recognized by Hans Selye (1907–1982) in 1926. In 1951 a commentator loosely summarized Selye's view of stress as something that "...in addition to being itself, was also the cause of itself, and the result of itself".


title: Stress (biology)

text: First to use the term in a biological context, Selye continued to define stress as "the non-specific response of the body to any demand placed upon it". Neuroscientists such as Bruce McEwen and Jaap Koolhaas believe that stress, based on years of empirical research, "should be restricted to conditions where an environmental demand exceeds the natural regulatory capacity of an organism". The brain cannot live in an harsh family environment, it needs some sort of stability between another brain. People who have reported being raised in harsh environments such as verbal and physical aggression have showed a more immune dysfunction and more metabolic dysfunction. Indeed, in 1995 Toates already defined stress as a "chronic state that arises only when defense mechanisms are either being chronically stretched or are actually failing," while according to Ursin (1988) stress results from an inconsistency between expected events ("set value") and perceived events ("actual value") that cannot be resolved satisfactorily, which also puts stress into the broader context of cognitive-consistency theory.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Stress can have many profound effects on the human biological systems. Biology primarily attempts to explain major concepts of stress using a stimulus-response paradigm, broadly comparable to how a psychobiological sensory system operates. The central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) plays a crucial role in the body's stress-related mechanisms. Whether one should interpret these mechanisms as the body's response to a stressor or embody the act of stress itself is part of the ambiguity in defining what exactly stress is.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The central nervous system works closely with the body's endocrine system to regulate these mechanisms. The sympathetic nervous system becomes primarily active during a stress response, regulating many of the body's physiological functions in ways that ought to make an organism more adaptive to its environment. Below there follows a brief biological background of neuroanatomy and neurochemistry and how they relate to stress.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Stress, either severe, acute stress or chronic low-grade stress may induce abnormalities in three principal regulatory systems in the body: serotonin systems, catecholamine systems, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis. Aggressive behavior has also been associated with abnormalities in these systems.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The brain endocrine interactions are relevant in the translation of stress into physiological and psychological changes. The autonomic nervous system (ANS), as mentioned above, plays an important role in translating stress into a response. The ANS responds reflexively to both physical stressors (for example baroreception), and to higher level inputs from the brain.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The ANS is composed of the parasympathetic nervous system and sympathetic nervous system, two branches that are both tonically active with opposing activities. The ANS directly innervates tissue through the postganglionic nerves, which is controlled by preganglionic neurons originating in the intermediolateral cell column. The ANS receives inputs from the medulla, hypothalamus, limbic system, prefrontal cortex, midbrain and monoamine nuclei.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The activity of the sympathetic nervous system drives what is called the "fight or flight" response. The fight or flight response to emergency or stress involves mydriasis, increased heart rate and force contraction, vasoconstriction, bronchodilation, glycogenolysis, gluconeogenesis, lipolysis, sweating, decreased motility of the digestive system, secretion of the epinephrine and cortisol from the adrenal medulla, and relaxation of the bladder wall. The parasympathetic nervous response, "rest and digest", involves return to maintaining homeostasis, and involves miosis, bronchoconstriction, increased activity of the digestive system, and contraction of the bladder walls. Complex relationships between protective and vulnerability factors on the effect of childhood home stress on psychological illness, cardiovascular illness and adaption have been observed. ANS related mechanisms are thought to contribute to increased risk of cardiovascular disease after major stressful events.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The HPA axis is a neuroendocrine system that mediates a stress response. Neurons in the hypothalamus, particularly the paraventricular nucleus, release vasopressin and corticotropin releasing hormone, which travel through the hypophysial portal vessel where they travel to and bind to the corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor on the anterior pituitary gland. Multiple CRH peptides have been identified, and receptors have been identified on multiple areas of the brain, including the amygdala. CRH is the main regulatory molecule of the release of ACTH.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The secretion of ACTH into systemic circulation allows it to bind to and activate Melanocortin receptor, where it stimulates the release of steroid hormones. Steroid hormones bind to glucocorticoid receptors in the brain, providing negative feedback by reducing ACTH release. Some evidence supports a second long term feedback that is non-sensitive to cortisol secretion. The PVN of the hypothalamus receives inputs from the nucleus of the solitary tract, and lamina terminalis. Through these inputs, it receives and can respond to changes in blood.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The PVN innervation from the brain stem nuclei, particularly the noradrenergic nuclei stimulate CRH release. Other regions of the hypothalamus both directly and indirectly inhibit HPA axis activity. Hypothalamic neurons involved in regulating energy balance also influence HPA axis activity through the release of neurotransmitters such as neuropeptide Y, which stimulates HPA axis activity. Generally, the amygdala stimulates, and the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus attenuate, HPA axis activity; however, complex relationships do exist between the regions.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The immune system may be heavily influenced by stress. The sympathetic nervous system innervates various immunological structures, such as bone marrow and the spleen, allowing for it to regulate immune function. The adrenergic substances released by the sympathetic nervous system can also bind to and influence various immunological cells, further providing a connection between the systems. The HPA axis ultimately results in the release of cortisol, which generally has immunosuppressive effects. However, the effect of stress on the immune system is disputed, and various models have been proposed in an attempt to account for both the supposedly "immunodeficiency" linked diseases and diseases involving hyper activation of the immune system. One model proposed to account for this suggests a push towards an imbalance of cellular immunity(Th1) and humoral immunity(Th2). The proposed imbalance involved hyperactivity of the Th2 system leading to some forms of immune hypersensitivity, while also increasing risk of some illnesses associated with decreased immune system function, such as infection and cancer.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Chronic stress is a term sometimes used to differentiate it from acute stress. Definitions differ, and may be along the lines of continual activation of the stress response, stress that causes an allostatic shift in bodily functions, or just as "prolonged stress". For example, results of one study demonstrated that individuals who reported relationship conflict lasting one month or longer have a greater risk of developing illness and show slower wound healing. It can also reduce the benefits of receiving common vaccines. Similarly, the effects that acute stressors have on the immune system may be increased when there is perceived stress and/or anxiety due to other events. For example, students who are taking exams show weaker immune responses if they also report stress due to daily hassles. While responses to acute stressors typically do not impose a health burden on young, healthy individuals, chronic stress in older or unhealthy individuals may have long-term effects that are detrimental to health.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Acute time-limited stressors, or stressors that lasted less than two hours, results in an up regulation of natural immunity and down regulation of specific immunity. This type of stress saw in increase in granulocytes, natural killer cells, IgA, Interleukin 6, and an increase in cell cytotoxicity. Brief naturalistic stressors elicit a shift from Th1(cellular) to Th2(humoral) immunity, while decreased T-cell proliferation, and natural killer cell cytotoxicity. Stressful event sequences did not elicit a consistent immune response; however, some observations such as decreased T-Cell proliferation and cytotoxicity, increase or decrease in natural killer cell cytotoxicity, and an increase in mitogen PHA. Chronic stress elicited a shift toward Th2 immunity, as well as decreased interleukin 2, T cell proliferation, and antibody response to the influenza vaccine. Distant stressors did not consistently elicit a change in immune function. Another response to high impacts of chronic stress that lasts for a long period of time, is more immune dysfunction and more metabolic dysfunction. It is proven in studies that when continuously being in stressful situations, it is more likely to get sick. Also when being exposed to stress, your body metabolizes the food in a certain way that adds extra calories to your meal, regardless of the nutritional values of the food.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Some studies have observed increased risk of upper respiratory tract infection during chronic life stress. In patients with HIV, increased life stress and cortisol was associated with poorer progression of HIV. Also with an increased level of stress, studies have proven evidence that it can reactivate latent herpes viruses.


title: Stress (biology)

text: A link has been suggested between chronic stress and cardiovascular disease. Stress appears to play a role in hypertension, and may further predispose people to other conditions associated with hypertension. Stress may precipitate abuse of drugs and/or alcohol. Stress may also contribute to aging and chronic diseases in aging, such as depression and metabolic disorders.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The immune system also plays a role in stress and the early stages of wound healing. It is responsible for preparing the tissue for repair and promoting recruitment of certain cells to the wound area. Consistent with the fact that stress alters the production of cytokines, Graham et al. found that chronic stress associated with care giving for a person with Alzheimer's disease leads to delayed wound healing. Results indicated that biopsy wounds healed 25% more slowly in the chronically stressed group, or those caring for a person with Alzheimer's disease.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Chronic stress has also been shown to impair developmental growth in children by lowering the pituitary gland's production of growth hormone, as in children associated with a home environment involving serious marital discord, alcoholism, or child abuse. Chronic stress also has a lot of illnesses and health care problems other then mental that comes with it. Severe chronic stress for long periods of time can lead to an increased chance of catching illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, depression, heart disease and Alzheimer's disease. More generally, prenatal life, infancy, childhood, and adolescence are critical periods in which the vulnerability to stressors is particularly high. This can lead to psychiatric and physical diseases which have long term impacts on an individual.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Chronic stress is seen to affect the parts of the brain where memories are processed through and stored. When people feel stressed, stress hormones get over-secreted, which affects the brain. This secretion is made up of glucocorticoids, including cortisol, which are steroid hormones that the adrenal gland releases, although this can increase storage of flashbulb memories it decreases long-term potentiation (LTP). The hippocampus is important in the brain for storing certain kinds of memories and damage to the hippocampus can cause trouble in storing new memories but old memories, memories stored before the damage, are not lost. Also high cortisol levels can be tied to the deterioration of the hippocampus and decline of memory that many older adults start to experience with age. These mechanisms and processes may therefore contribute to age-related disease, or originate risk for earlier-onset disorders. For instance, extreme stress (e.g. trauma) is a requisite factor to produce stress-related disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Chronic stress also shifts learning, forming a preference for habit based learning, and decreased task flexibility and spatial working memory, probably through alterations of the dopaminergic systems. Stress may also increase reward associated with food, leading to weight gain and further changes in eating habits. Stress may contribute to various disorders, such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, as well as other mental illnesses and functional somatic syndromes.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Selye published in year 1975 a model dividing stress into eustress and distress. Where stress enhances function (physical or mental, such as through strength training or challenging work), it may be considered eustress. Persistent stress that is not resolved through coping or adaptation, deemed distress, may lead to anxiety or withdrawal (depression) behavior.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The difference between experiences that result in "eustress" and those that result in "distress" is determined by the disparity between an experience (real or imagined) and personal expectations, and resources to cope with the stress. Alarming experiences, either real or imagined, can trigger a stress response.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Responses to stress include adaptation, psychological coping such as stress management, anxiety, and depression. Over the long term, distress can lead to diminished health and/or increased propensity to illness; to avoid this, stress must be managed.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Stress management encompasses techniques intended to equip a person with effective coping mechanisms for dealing with psychological stress, with stress defined as a person's physiological response to an internal or external stimulus that triggers the fight-or-flight response. Stress management is effective when a person uses strategies to cope with or alter stressful situations.


title: Stress (biology)

text: There are several ways of coping with stress, such as controlling the source of stress or learning to set limits and to say "no" to some of the demands that bosses or family members may make.


title: Stress (biology)

text: A person's capacity to tolerate the source of stress may be increased by thinking about another topic such as a hobby, listening to music, or spending time in a wilderness.


title: Stress (biology)

text: A way to control stress is first dealing with what is causing the stress if it is something the individual has control over. Other methods to control stress and reduce it can be: to not procrastinate and leave tasks for the last minute, do things you like, exercise, do breathing routines, go out with friends, and take a break. Having support from a loved one also helps a lot in reducing stress.


title: Stress (biology)

text: One study showed that the power of having support from a loved one, or just having social support, lowered stress in individual subjects. Painful shocks were applied to married women's ankles. In some trials women were able to hold their husband's hand, in other trials they held a stranger's hand, and then held no one's hand. When the women were holding their husband's hand, the response was reduced in many brain areas. When holding the stranger's hand the response was reduced a little, but not as much as when they were holding their husband's hand. Social support helps reduce stress and even more so if the support is from a loved one.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Lazarus argued that, in order for a psychosocial situation to be stressful, it must be appraised as such. He argued that cognitive processes of appraisal are central in determining whether a situation is potentially threatening, constitutes a harm/loss or a challenge, or is benign.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Both personal and environmental factors influence this primary appraisal, which then triggers the selection of coping processes. Problem-focused coping is directed at managing the problem, whereas emotion-focused coping processes are directed at managing the negative emotions. Secondary appraisal refers to the evaluation of the resources available to cope with the problem, and may alter the primary appraisal.


title: Stress (biology)

text: In other words, primary appraisal includes the perception of how stressful the problem is and the secondary appraisal of estimating whether one has more than or less than adequate resources to deal with the problem that affects the overall appraisal of stressfulness. Further, coping is flexible in that, in general, the individual examines the effectiveness of the coping on the situation; if it is not having the desired effect, s/he will, in general, try different strategies.


title: Stress (biology)

text: Both negative and positive stressors can lead to stress. The intensity and duration of stress changes depending on the circumstances and emotional condition of the person with it (Arnold. E and Boggs. K. 2007). Some common categories and examples of stressors include:


title: Stress (biology)

text: Physiologists define stress as how the body reacts to a stressor - a stimulus, real or imagined. Acute stressors affect an organism in the short term; chronic stressors over the longer term. The general adaptation syndrome (GAS), developed by Hans Selye, is a profile of how organisms respond to stress; GAS is characterized by three phases: a nonspecific mobilization phase, which promotes sympathetic nervous system activity; a resistance phase, during which the organism makes efforts to cope with the threat; and an exhaustion phase, which occurs if the organism fails to overcome the threat and depletes its physiological resources.


title: Stress (biology)

text: "Alarm" is the first stage, which is divided into two phases: the "shock" phase and the "antishock" phase.


title: Stress (biology)

text: "Resistance" is the second stage. During this stage, increased secretion of glucocorticoids intensifies the body's systemic response. Glucocorticoids can increase the concentration of glucose, fat, and amino acid in blood. In high doses, one glucocorticoid, cortisol, begins to act similarly to a mineralocorticoid (aldosterone) and brings the body to a state similar to hyperaldosteronism. If the stressor persists, it becomes necessary to attempt some means of coping with the stress. The body attempts to respond to stressful stimuli, but after prolonged activation, the body's chemical resources will be gradually depleted, leading to the final stage.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The result can manifest itself in obvious illnesses, such as general trouble with the digestive system (e.g. occult bleeding, melena, constipation/obstipation), diabetes, or even cardiovascular problems (angina pectoris), along with clinical depression and other mental illnesses.


title: Stress (biology)

text: A person can stop stress from being overwhelming by exercising when symptoms of stress become apparent, reflecting on their day (thinking about what they accomplished, not what they have not), and speaking to a therapist about their concerns.


title: Stress (biology)

text: The current usage of the word "stress" arose out of Hans Selye's 1930s experiments. He started to use the term to refer not just to the agent but to the state of the organism as it responded and adapted to the environment. His theories of a universal non-specific stress response attracted great interest and contention in academic physiology and he undertook extensive research programs and publication efforts.


title: Stress (biology)

text: While the work attracted continued support from advocates of psychosomatic medicine, many in experimental physiology concluded that his concepts were too vague and unmeasurable. During the 1950s, Selye turned away from the laboratory to promote his concept through popular books and lecture tours. He wrote for both non-academic physicians and, in an international bestseller entitled "Stress of Life", for the general public.


title: Stress (biology)

text: A broad biopsychosocial concept of stress and adaptation offered the promise of helping everyone achieve health and happiness by successfully responding to changing global challenges and the problems of modern civilization. Selye coined the term "eustress" for positive stress, by contrast to distress. He argued that all people have a natural urge and need to work for their own benefit, a message that found favor with industrialists and governments. He also coined the term "stressor" to refer to the causative event or stimulus, as opposed to the resulting state of stress.