title: Doctor Destiny

text: In the previews for future issues of "Justice Society of America" (vol. 3), Starman mentioned ""It's the doctor. The one with no face!"", which would allude to future appearances by Doctor Destiny (i.e., his skeletal face). He finally appeared in "Justice Society of America" (vol. 3) #4, back in his old costume, with the captured Legionnaire Dream Girl chained in his cell in Arkham Asylum. He uses Dream Girl's nightmares to deal with the asylum guards. When Batman, Sandman, Starman, and Geo-Force arrive at the asylum, Starman goes up against Destiny by himself, but is subdued when Destiny uses Dream Girl's powers to create a zombified version of Kenz Nuhor, the man Starman killed. Starman begs Destiny to let Dream Girl go, and awakens her from her trance by using the "wake-up" word. When she awakens, Dream Girl tells Destiny that she foresaw his death, being killed in his sleep by the owner of the Dreamstone, before she knocks him out.


title: Doctor Destiny

text: In the Superman/Batman storyline '"Mash-Up", Doctor Destiny created a dream world consisting of combinations of people from the real world, hoping to replace the waking world with his fabricated realm. Superman and Batman, who had managed to escape being fused together, stopped Destiny by freeing the combined form of Raven and Zatanna. The backlash from the broken illusion put Destiny into a comatose state, mumbling the name "Bruce Kent"—the only combined being he was unable to create. He appears again capable of massive reality warping without direct control of the Materioptikon in the waking world, or at least enough magical power to fuel the creation of a new world using only dreams as his base.


title: Doctor Destiny

text: In "The New 52" (a 2011 reboot of the DC Comics universe), Doctor Destiny/John Dee first appears at the end of "Justice League Dark" #19. A.R.G.U.S. is in possession of his Dream Stone, which John Constantine recognizes, as Dee was a student of magic and Constantine back in the 1500s. It is revealed that Madame Xanadu is Dr. Destiny's mother.


title: Doctor Destiny

text: During the "Forever Evil" storyline, Doctor Destiny is among the villains recruited by the Crime Syndicate of America to join the Secret Society of Super Villains.


title: Doctor Destiny

text: While tracking various threats from his original timeline, the displaced pre-"Flashpoint" Superman joined forces with Dick Grayson to track the New 52 Doctor Destiny, eventually trapping the powerful foe after confronting him in Superman's dream-recreation of this timeline's Bludhaven.


title: Doctor Destiny

text: Doctor Destiny has the ability to manipulate anyone's dreams. Basically, Doctor Destiny can use twisted versions of dreams to commit crimes. He can, for example, make people become murderers by exploiting their secret dreams, since minds are uninhibited in the confines of dreams. He can also explore a particular person's dream to create a kind of dream world, where everything happens based on a misrepresented version of that dream, and send people there. Doctor Destiny also has an extensive medical knowledge.


title: Doctor Destiny

text: In Grant Morrison's 1989 "Batman" graphic novel, "", Dr. Destiny makes a brief appearance in the graphic novel. In the annotated script for "Arkham Asylum", Morrison explains that he was not a fan of the popular depiction of the Doctor as a tall, musclebound man with a skull for a head. Rather he believed that Destiny's body would have "withered horribly" after having been robbed of the ability to dream. Thus Dave McKean (the artist) portrays him as being atrophied and feeble, restricted to a wheelchair, but still wielding a latent amount of power which could not be ignored (though he was mentioned as needing eye contact with a victim to disable them). He is easily defeated by Batman, who kicks the villain's wheelchair down a set of steps before he has a chance to display his powers, though it is left ambiguous if his latent powers triggered a temporal time loop, bringing the events of the story into motion.


title: Doctor Destiny

text: Doctor Destiny has appeared in the "Justice League Unlimited" spin-off comic book released by Johnny DC. He appears in issue #25 where he battles the Justice League alongside Dr. Fate and Blue Devil.


title: Doctor Destiny

text: Doctor Destiny appears in "All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold" #12 based on the . The Doctor is summoned by Klarion the Witch Boy alongside Blockbuster, the vampiric Dala Vadium, Hugo Strange's Monster Men, Man-Bat, Professor Milo's werewolves, and Solomon Grundy to help fight Batman and Zatanna.


title: Anthony Bowens

text: Anthony Bowens (born December 18, 1990) is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where he teams with Max Caster as The Acclaimed. They are the current AEW World Tag Team Champions in their first reign.


title: Anthony Bowens

text: Bowens was born in Nutley, New Jersey. He attended Nutley High School and Montclair State University. He played baseball "for eleven years", including at Montclair State and Seton Hall University, playing two seasons each for the Pirates and Red Hawks. He was discovered by professional wrestler Santino Marella, who asked him whether he had ever thought about professional wrestling. He went on to train under Pat Buck.


title: Anthony Bowens

text: Bowens started training in 2012 and made his professional wrestling debut in 2013. In November 2016, he suffered a concussion during a match on "WWE NXT".


title: Anthony Bowens

text: Once back from injury, Bowens would work prolifically for tristate and New England independent wrestling promotions like Combat Zone Wrestling and Beyond Wrestling while also making appearances for Global Force Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He captured the WrestlePro Heavyweight Championship twice between 2016 and 2017. On January 21, 2017, Bowens challenged Drew Galloway unsuccessfully for the WCPW World Heavyweight Championship at Battle Club Pro's Fight Forever event, which marked the first time the title had been defended outside of the UK.


title: Anthony Bowens

text: In November 2020, All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan announced that Bowens, alongside Max Caster, had been signed to a five-year contract with the promotion. The announcement also stated that Bowens and Caster would compete as a tag team named The Acclaimed. At AEW Grand Slam 2022, The Acclaimed would win their first AEW tag team championship. This made Bowens the first openly gay wrestler to become an AEW champion.


title: Anthony Bowens

text: Bowens is openly gay. He is a fan of the San Francisco Giants, and previously worked in the production department of the MLB Network studio.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: A squadron in air force, army aviation, or naval aviation is a unit comprising a number of military aircraft and their aircrews, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force. Land-based squadrons equipped with heavier type aircraft such as long-range bombers, cargo aircraft, or air refueling tankers have around 12 aircraft as a typical authorization, while most land-based fighter equipped units have an authorized number of 18 to 24 aircraft.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: In naval aviation, sea-based and land-based squadrons will typically have smaller numbers of aircraft, ranging from as low as four for early warning to as high as 12 for fighter/attack.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: In most armed forces, two or more squadrons will form a group or a wing. Some military forces (including the United States Air Force, United States Space Force, Royal Air Force, Royal Netherlands Air Force, Belgian Air Component, German Air Force, Republic of Singapore Air Force) also use the term "squadron" for non-flying ground units (e.g., radar squadrons, missile squadrons, aircraft maintenance squadrons, security forces squadrons, civil engineering squadrons, range operations squadrons, range management squadrons, weather squadrons, medical squadrons, etc.).


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: In World War I, the Imperial German Army used the term Squadron ("staffel"), whereas the Austro-Hungarian armed forces and the Swiss Army used the term company. In the modern German Air Force, a flying "staffel" is a battalion-equivalent, while a ground based support "staffel" is a company-equivalent. One such example are the air base defence units, which are squadrons (German, plural: "Staffeln") formed into battalions. The ground based missile air defence units are also company- (in this case battery-)equivalent squadrons ("staffeln").


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: The Swedish Air Force adopted naval-like traditions in its formative years and for that historical reason calls its squadrons divisions (plural: "divisioner"). They are grouped into air flotillas (plural: "flygflottiljer"). During the Cold War the Swedish Army, Navy and Air Force each had their own integral helicopter arms. After the end of it in line with the mid-90s force reduction and reforms they were fused into the Swedish Armed Forces Helicopter Wing as a service, independent from the three main armed forces branches. The Helicopter Wing adopted the term "skvadron" from the former Swedish Army Aviation for its units, which is squadron in its army company-equivalent meaning. In the early 2000s, the Swedish Air Force absorbed the Helicopter Wing as its fourth combat air wing. Unlike the US Air Force, where the name of the base and the units stationed at that base are not related to each other, the name of the wing (flotilla) is in general considered synonymous with the air base where the unit is stationed. For example, the air base where the F 10 wing is stationed (in Ängelholm) is commonly referred to as F 10 even though it is the name of the tactical unit. In general, this only applies as long as a wing is stationed at the base. Case in point is Uppsala-Ärna air base, an active military airport but since the tactical unit located there has been disbanded it is no longer referred to as F 16. These naming conventions have been inherited from the navy where Swedish military aviation has its roots.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: During the infant years of combat aviation in World War I and specifically with the trench stalemate at the front military aircraft partially took over the reconnaissance role from the cavalry. With that in mind the British Royal Flying Corps adopted the "squadron" nomenclature. After the fusion of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service into an independent Royal Air Force, the new armed forces branch introduced its own system of ranks, with the commanders of squadrons becoming squadron leaders.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: The rapid sophistication in technology and combat tactics has led to increased requirements and qualifications of the officers in command positions and the commanders of RAF flying squadrons were upgraded in the post-World War II period from squadron leaders to wing commanders. Today RAF flying squadrons are battalion-equivalents, while combat and combat service support ground squadrons such as communications or administrative squadrons are company-equivalents and still usually commanded by squadron leaders.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: In the Air Training Corps of the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth nations, a squadron is a group of cadets who parade regularly.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: In the United States Air Force, the squadron is the principal organizational unit. An aggregation of two or more USAF squadrons will be designated as a group and two or more groups will be designated as a wing.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: USAF squadrons may be flying units composed of pilots and flight crews, with designations such as fighter squadron, bomb squadron, or airlift squadron. Fighter squadrons may support between 18 and 24 aircraft, while larger aircraft flying squadrons (e.g., bomber, cargo, reconnaissance) may support fewer aircraft. However, non-flying units also exist at the squadron level, such as missile squadrons, aircraft maintenance squadrons, intelligence squadrons, aerospace medicine squadrons, security forces squadrons, civil engineering squadrons and force support squadrons, as well as numerous other examples.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: USAF flying squadrons are typically commanded by an aeronautically rated officer in the rank of lieutenant colonel, although some particularly large squadrons, such as the 414th Combat Training Squadron that manages RED FLAG training at Nellis AFB, Nevada will be commanded by an aeronautically rated officer in the rank of full colonel. Non-flying squadrons are also usually commanded by an officer in the rank of lieutenant colonel, but some may also be commanded by officers in the rank of major.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: In contrast to the organizational structure of United States Air Force units, where flying squadrons are separate from non-flying squadrons tasked with administrative, aircraft maintenance, or other support functions, flying squadrons in naval aviation in the United States (e.g., United States Navy and United States Marine Corps) typically contain both embedded administrative support functions and organizational level aircraft maintenance functions, plus all their associated personnel, as part of the total squadron manning. With few exceptions, oversight of the majority of these non-flying functions is assigned to the squadron's naval aviators and naval flight officers as their "ground job" in addition to their regular flying duties.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: With few exceptions, most U.S. Navy flying squadrons are commanded by aeronautically designated officers in the rank of commander. Exceptions are primarily the Fleet Replacement Squadrons (FRS), which are often, though not always, commanded by aeronautically designated captains. Commanding officers (COs) of U.S. Navy flying squadrons other than FRS units will be assisted by an Executive Officer (XO) of the same rank who functions as a second-in-command and who will eventually "fleet up" and relieve the CO as the next CO.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: In United States Marine Corps Aviation, in addition to flying units that are patterned in similar fashion to their U.S. Navy counterparts, the nomenclature "squadron" in the Marine Corps is also used to designate all battalion-equivalent, aviation support organizations. These squadrons include: wing headquarters, tactical air command, air control, air support, aviation logistics, wing support, and wing communications squadrons. In contrast to their USN counterparts, USMC flying squadrons and aviation support squadrons, while having a commanding officer (CO) at the lieutenant colonel level, may not have an equivalent rank executive officer (XO), but are moving more toward the USN model. USMC aviation (Flying) squadron XO's are aeronautically designated officers in the rank of Lt.Col or Major.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: Also in contrast to USAF flying squadrons, most tactical sea-based and land-based U.S. Naval Aviation squadrons (USN and USMC), vice training squadrons and test and evaluation squadrons, usually do not have more than 12 aircraft authorized/assigned at any one time. Exceptions are USN helicopter mine countermeasures squadrons (17 MH-53), USMC "composite" medium tilt-rotor squadrons assigned afloat as the Aviation Combat Element (ACE) of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), (12 MV-22s, 6 AH-1s, 4 CH-53s, 3 UH-1s, and 6 AV-8s). Other squadrons with a large number of Primary Aircraft Assigned (PAA) include Marine heavy helicopter squadrons (16 CH-53s), Marine light/attack helicopter squadrons (18 AH-1s and 9 UH-1s), and Marine attack squadrons (16 AV-8s).


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: Although part of U.S. naval aviation, United States Coast Guard aviation units are centered on an air station or air facility versus a squadron or group/wing organizational structure. The one exception to this is the Coast Guard's Helicopter Interdiction Squadron (HITRON), which is engaged primarily in counter-narcotics (CN) interdiction operations.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: In the United States Army Aviation Branch, flying units may be organized in battalions or squadrons (the latter for air cavalry only) reporting to an aviation brigade. Aircraft maintenance activities are typically assigned to an aviation maintenance company or element in the battalion or brigade.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: In the U.S. Civil Air Patrol (CAP), a squadron is the basic administrative unit. As the official civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, CAP follows the USAF organizational model.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: An "escadron" is the equivalent unit in France's French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'air et de l'espace). It is normally subdivided into "escadrilles" of eight aircraft. The Spanish Air and Space Force and some air forces of other Spanish-speaking countries follow that tradition (with a squadron called an "escuadron" and a flight called an "escuadrilla"), as does the Brazilian Air Force with "esquadrão" and "esquadrilha" respectively.


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: The Royal Canadian Air Force and the Belgian Air Component on the other hand use "escadrille" as the equivalent of a squadron. The Italian Air Force uses "gruppo" (group) to denominate its squadrons, as does the Chilean Air Force ("grupo de aviación"). The Portuguese Air Force ("esquadra") and the Polish Air Force ("eskadra taktyczna", Polish for "tactical squadron") use the term squadron with its etimology originating from the naval and not the army meaning. The Czech Air Force and the Slovak Air Force use the generic term "Letka" as the squadron equivalent. The Turkish Air Force ("filo") and the Hellenic Air Force ("μοιρα αεροπορικής" ("mira aeroporikis") - aviation squadron) use the squadron denomination originating from the army term. The Royal Norwegian Air Force use the "skvadron" term also originating from the army term. So does the Hungarian Air Force with "repülőszázad" (Hungarian for "aircraft squadron" or "flying squadron"; the cavalry company-equivalent term is "század").


title: Squadron (aviation)

text: Many Eastern European countries use the term originating from the French word "escadrille": Russian Air Force - "Эскадрилья" ("eskadril'ya"), Ukrainian Air Force - "Ескадрилья" ("eskadril'ya"), Belarusian Air Force - "Эскадрыльля" ("eskadryil'ya"), Romanian Air Force - "escadrila", Bulgarian Air Force - "Ескадрила" ("eskadrila"), Serbian Air Force - "Ескадрила" ("eskadrila"), Croatian Air Force - "eskadrila". The Royal Danish Air Force uses "eskadrille", also originating from the French "escadrille".


title: India national under-19 cricket team

text: The Indian Under-19 cricket team represents the nation of India in cricket at Under-19 level. The team has won five Under-19 World Cups and has the best win percentage in ODIs (77%) among all Under-19 national teams.


title: India national under-19 cricket team

text: The team has won the Under-19 World Cup five times and finished runners-up thrice. In 2000, they won it under the captaincy of Mohammad Kaif, in 2008, they won it under Virat Kohli's leadership, in 2012 under Unmukt Chand, in 2018 under Prithvi Shaw, and in 2022 under Yash Dhull.


title: India national under-19 cricket team

text: The team is currently captained by Yash Dhull and coached by former India cricketer Hrishikesh Kanitkar.


title: Seeds of Yesterday

text: Seeds of Yesterday is a novel written by V. C. Andrews. It is the fourth book in the Dollanganger Series. The story continues from the point of view of the protagonist, Cathy, following her from the age of 52 until her death a few years later. Cathy was born in April 1945, meaning the events in the book occur between 1997–2001, which was thirteen years into the future at the time the book was originally published in 1984. The film adaptation aired April 12, 2015 on Lifetime.


title: Seeds of Yesterday

text: The story begins fifteen years after the events in "If There Be Thorns". Cathy and Chris arrive at the home of their son, Bart, which is oddly an exact replica of Foxworth Hall (which burned down in "Petals on the Wind") to celebrate Bart's twenty-fifth birthday. They meet a man named Joel, who is their uncle, Corrine's brother, who was long thought killed in an avalanche. Joel explains that he was taken to a monastery to recover. He contacted Bart after learning of Corrine's death and now works as the head butler at Bart's request. Joel gives Bart bad information about God and punishment. Bart looks at Joel as a father figure; a fact that troubles Cathy greatly. Bart is still bitter towards his mother and father for their incestuous relationship, so their stay is not pleasant. He has grown into a handsome young man, but is extremely jealous, power hungry and bitter that Chris is the guardian of his money until his thirty-fifth birthday.


title: Seeds of Yesterday

text: Bart's brother Jory visits and eventually moves in with his wife. Jory, who is almost thirty, has been married to Melodie, his childhood sweetheart and ballet partner, for nine years. Soon after their arrival, they announce that Melodie is pregnant. Bart is jealous of Jory and shows an unhealthy interest in Melodie. Bart and Jory's sister Cindy, who is now sixteen, arrives and it becomes clear that Bart does not like her either. Cathy tries to make the best out of the situation, but any happiness ends when Jory is in an accident, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down and unable to dance. Melodie does not deal well with Jory's disability and withdraws from him. Cathy tries to help Melodie reconnect with Jory, but discovers later that Melodie has turned to Bart for comfort and passion – the two have been having an affair. Cathy is enraged, but when she confronts Bart he says he loves Melodie, and Cathy is unsure what to do. Bart believes Melodie loves him too, but soon realizes it is an empty relationship and he is just a replacement for Jory. Jory finds out about the affair, and although hurt, tries to reconcile with Melodie, but she rejects him. Melodie goes into labor on Christmas Day, and gives birth to twins, Darren and Deirdre, who Cathy says resemble her deceased twin brother and sister. Melodie has little interest in the babies, and Cathy cares for them, hoping Melodie has postpartum "blues" and will come around. But Melodie, not wanting to deal with two children and a disabled husband, abandons Jory and the children and moves to New York.


title: Seeds of Yesterday

text: Cathy tries to console both her sons and to keep a firm hand on the pretty and free-spirited Cindy. Bart, under Joel's influence, bans Cindy from premarital sexual acts under his roof. He physically assaults two boys he catches Cindy with. When confronted about his hypocrisy a number of times throughout the story, Bart never attempts to justify his actions but instead responds with anger and resentment towards Cathy and Chris, always blaming them for his problems. After a long period of torment from Bart and Joel, Cindy leaves to go to a school in New York.


title: Seeds of Yesterday

text: Cathy and Chris hire a beautiful nurse, named Antonia "Toni" Winters, to help Jory recuperate. They hope Toni and Jory will end up together, but Bart begins spending time with Toni and they become lovers. Bart seems happy with Toni and tells Cathy that Toni told him she loves him. Cathy notices changes in Bart as a result of this relationship, including Bart withdrawing from Joel and being pleasant to Cindy when she comes to visit. Eventually Joel manages to influence Bart again and it sours the relationship. Toni sees the dark side of Bart after he begins to criticize and become possessive of her, and the relationship ends. Soon after, Toni falls in love with Jory and they begin a relationship, which brings Jory out of the depression that followed his divorce.


title: Seeds of Yesterday

text: Cindy returns for another visit and tells Cathy that she ran into Melodie in New York. Melodie had remarried immediately after her divorce from Jory was final and resumed her dancing career. Bart builds a chapel, in which he commands the family to attend Sunday sermons, presided over by Joel. Cathy and Chris eventually become disgusted by the "fire and brimstone" sermons and tell Bart that they will no longer attend. Bart secretly starts bringing the twins to the chapel, which Cathy overhears. She confronts Bart, and tells him to leave the twins alone, also telling Toni never to let them out of her sight, unless she knows they are with Jory. After again catching Bart bringing the twins to the chapel, Cathy decides it is time to leave, after two years in Bart's home. Chris agrees it is time to leave and to take Jory, Cindy, and the twins with them. Cathy tells Bart of her plans, and that while she loves him, she cannot be around the kind of person he has become.


title: Seeds of Yesterday

text: Cathy waits for Chris to come home from work so they can leave, but he never shows up. Chris has died in a hit and run accident and Cathy realizes how similar Chris' death is to that of their father. Bart gives a moving eulogy at Chris' funeral, is remorseful and admits that he really loved Chris and that he was a good father. Cathy is heartsick at the loss of Chris, becoming distant from her family. Cathy does come back for Bart's sake, and she and Bart become close. Bart finds his place as a televangelist who does much good and travels the world spreading his positive ministry. Bart and Cindy also make peace and Cathy sees them together singing. Joel has gone back to the Italian monastery to live out his remaining days. Jory and Toni wed, and Toni becomes pregnant. Despite all these good things and the family becoming closer than before, Cathy is still depressed and does not want to live without Chris.


title: Seeds of Yesterday

text: Cathy goes up to the attic and sits by one of the windows and, after decorating the room with paper flowers, dies. As she passes away, she remembers Chris, her mother, grandmother, and siblings, and how their innocence was stolen. It is determined that Cathy died of natural causes, but implied by the author that she died of a broken heart.


title: Tom Prior

text: Christopher Thomas Prior (born December 1990) is an English actor, known for his lead role as Sergey in the British-Estonian historical romantic drama "Firebird". He has also appeared in supporting roles in "" and in "The Theory of Everything" as Stephen Hawking's son Robert.


title: Tom Prior

text: Prior was educated at The Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester. In 2002 he appeared in "Fire from Heaven", produced by the Dorchester Community Plays Association. He studied Performing Arts at Weymouth College, graduating with distinction, before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). He graduated from RADA in 2012.


title: Tom Prior

text: Prior's West End debut was in 2013 in a trio of plays produced by the National Youth Theatre: "Tory Boyz" by James Graham; "Romeo and Juliet"; and "Prince of Denmark", a "Hamlet" prequel by Michael Lesslie.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is a 2001 action role-playing/hack and slash video game developed by Snowblind Studios for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox consoles. It was ported to GameCube by High Voltage Software, and to the Game Boy Advance by Magic Pockets. The game was published by Black Isle Studios, a division of Interplay Entertainment, and distributed by Vivendi Universal Games. The Game Boy Advance version was published by DSI Games. CD Projekt was developing a version for Microsoft Windows, but it was ultimately cancelled. In 2021, a 4K port of the game was released for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch. In December of the same year, a port for the PC was released.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: The game is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of "Dungeons & Dragons", and the gameplay is based on the rules of "Dungeons & Dragons" 3rd Edition, which were released in 2000. It is the first video game to implement the real time application of the new rules. It is also the first game in the "Baldur's Gate" series released on consoles as opposed to a PC and/or Mac.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: "Dark Alliance" was well received on all four platforms, with the PlayStation 2 version going on to win the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences award for "Role-Playing Game of the Year" (2001). A sequel, "", was released in 2004 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. A third game was planned, but was cancelled early in development due to legal problems, and the closure of Black Isle Studios after Interplay went bankrupt.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance" is a real-time hack and slash/action role-playing game presented in a 3D perspective, with a rotatable isometric three-quarter top-down view.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: At the beginning of the game, character stats are preset, with the player able to choose from three race/class combinations; a dwarven fighter (Kromlech), a human archer (Vahn) or an elven sorceress (Adrianna). The player can customize their character's stats through gaining experience points from defeating enemies. Every time the character increases in level, points are awarded corresponding to that level; i.e. if a character increases to level twelve, the player will gain twelve experience points to spend on the character's spells and feats. For every four levels which the character increases, the player is given one ability point to spend on one of the six core attributes (strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution, charisma).


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: Each of the three characters have their own unique fighting style and their own specific set of spells and feats. Gameplay strategy is thus different for each character. As Kromlech is a fighter, his spells and feats tend to focus on increasing his brute strength and ability to resist damage, as well as granting him powerful abilities to aid in melee combat, such as the ability to swing his weapon in a circle or slam it into the ground to damage groups of nearby enemies. As Vahn relies on ranged attacks, his spells and feats tend to focus on increasing the power of his bow and granting him the ability to fire special types of arrows, such as exploding arrows, ice arrows or multiple arrows. As Adrianna is a sorceress, her spells and feats tend to focus on increasing the power of her magic and granting her numerous new spells, such as the ability to shoot ice or fire from her fingers, shoot a ball of lightning or call down meteors on her enemies.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: Gameplay is linear, and each main quest must be completed in sequence before the story can proceed, although there are some optional side-quests, which do not have to be completed immediately. However, all side-quests must be completed within the act in which they are assigned. There are relatively few NPCs in the game, with whom only those who are part of a quest or side-quest may be interacted. Weapons, armor and items are only available for purchase from one location at a time, and become increasingly expensive and more powerful as the game progresses. The HUD features the option to use either a transparent map that covers most of the screen, or a mini-map, with the player also given the option to turn the map off entirely.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: The game also features cooperative gameplay with another player. Both players share the same screen, and are thus limited in how far they can move away from one another. In co-op mode, the player who makes the kill gets 60% of the experience, and the other player gets 40%. Whichever player collects any gold drops gets 100% of the value, with the other player getting nothing.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: The game contains four difficulty levels; "Easy", "Normal", "Hard" and "Extreme". Extreme can only be unlocked after the player has beaten "The Gauntlet", a special mini-dungeon unlocked once the player completes the game on any difficulty level. The Gauntlet can only be played with Drizzt Do'Urden. Extreme mode takes the form of a New Game Plus, and can only be played by importing a saved character from another game. Once the player has completed Extreme mode, Drizzt Do'Urden becomes available to use in the main game.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: The Game Boy Advance version of "Dark Alliance" features some noticeable gameplay differences from the console versions.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: The game takes place in the Sword Coast and the Western Heartlands, areas in the Faerûn continent of the Forgotten Realms. Each act of the game takes place in a different region: Act I takes place in the city of Baldur's Gate itself; Act II in the Sunset Mountains; and Act III in the Marsh of Chelimber.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: The game begins with Vahn, Adrianna and Kromlech arriving in Baldur's Gate, whereupon they are attacked by a group of thieves led by Karne (Michael Bell). The city watch save the trio and take them to the Elfsong Tavern to recover. There, the bartender, Alyth Elendara (Jennifer Hale), tasks them to clear the tavern's cellar of rats. In the cellar, they discover the thieves are using the tavern's sewer entrance to infiltrate the city. When Elfsong Tavern employee Ethon follows them into the sewers and disappears, they rescue him from thieves, and he directs them to the nearby crypts, where one of the thieves was headed. There, they encounter Fayed (Cam Clarke), a priest of Illmater, who requests their help in stopping the "Orb of the Undead", which has filled the crypts with zombies and skeletons. They destroy the orb and discover the thieves, collectively known as Xantam's Guild, placed it there. Ethon introduces them to Jherek (John Rhys-Davies), a member of the Harpers, a group dedicated to protecting the realms from evil. Impressed with the trio, he invites them to join the Harpers and destroy Xantham's Guild. They agree, and Jherek shows them the guild's entrance in the sewers.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: After navigating a gauntlet of traps they face and kill Karne, and then find the guild master, the beholder Xantam (Tony Jay). They fight and kill him, and Jherek asks them to enter a portal which Xantam was guarding. The portal transports them to the Sunset Mountains, whereupon they head to a dwarf mining village, which is oppressed by drow elves. They light a signal fire atop a nearby mountain, calling for aid from neighboring dwarven clans, and enter the mines to rout the drow. After killing the drow priestess, they rescue a dwarven Harper, who tells them of another portal in the mountains. He also tells them that troops and monsters are planning to use the portals to move from the mountains into Baldur's Gate, attacking the city from within. The adventurers head to the portal, which is guarded by the ice dragon Ciraxis. They slay him and pass through the portal into the Marsh of Chelimber.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: There they meet Sleyvas (Kevin Michael Richardson), one of the native lizardfolk. He tells them of the nearby "Onyx Tower", and of its inhabitant, Eldrith the Betrayer (Vanessa Marshall), who has sworn vengeance against Baldur's Gate. He reveals that his kin, led by the lizard Sess'sth, are serving Eldrith. The trio fight through hordes of lizardfolk, kill Sess'sth, and cripple the lizard army. Sleyvas leads them to the Onyx Tower, which they enter by taking a detour through the Elemental Plane of Water. Inside the tower, they witness Eldrith's preparations for war and fight their way upwards, through legions of Eldrith's soldiers.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: At the penultimate level of the tower they meet the ghost of Keledon (Dwight Schultz), first captain of the company of the Westering Sun. He explains that Eldrith once served Baldur's Gate as its greatest general, fighting a crusade against the Black Horde. After defending the city, she defied orders and led her army in pursuit of the retreating Horde. Trapping them in a ravine, they proved stronger than she had anticipated, and she asked the city for re-enforcements, which never came. Eldrith survived, but her army was defeated, and, furious, she rallied her remaining soldiers to attack Baldur's Gate, but was again defeated. The city's soldiers pursued her and her men to the Marshes of Chelimber, and killed them all. However, Eldrith's rage was such that she returned to life, creating the Onyx Tower, which gave her access to the portals. Seeking revenge, she orchestrated the attacks against Baldur's Gate, and created a dark alliance between Xantam's guild, the drow, and Sess'sth's tribes.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: Keledon explains that if the trio defeat Eldrith, the Tower will be destroyed, and the ghosts within will be freed. However, as they cannot leave the tower, it will likely lead to their own deaths. They find Eldrith on the roof of the Tower guarding another portal. She reiterates her plans for the destruction of Baldur's Gate. They fight and defeat her, and as she dies, she repents her actions. With the tower crumbling, the heroes enter the portal, not knowing where it leads.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: It is revealed that Sleyvas manipulated the heroes to defeat Eldrith for his unidentified master. He tells his master that the heroes have died within the tower and Eldrith is no longer an obstacle. As such, they can now proceed with their plans. Meanwhile, the trio emerge in an unknown forest, and are surrounded by dark creatures.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: "Dark Alliance" was first revealed on November 7, 2000, when Interplay confirmed to IGN that a PlayStation 2 game based on "" had entered production, following the cancellation of the Sega Dreamcast port of the original "Baldur's Gate". Little was known at this time other than the fact that Interplay would publish, and BioWare, developers of the original "Baldur's Gate", would not develop the game. Instead, the game was to be developed by Snowblind Studios. The game was officially confirmed on February 15, 2001. Black Isle Studios' division director Feargus Urquhart stated:


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: On April 17, Interplay confirmed that if the game was successful, a sequel would enter development immediately.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: The game was first shown at E3 in May 2001, where it gained critical acclaim, with IGN writing "it almost instantly became one of the most wanted games for PlayStation 2 owners across the country. The game's graphics are as good as anything else on the system. It's as simple as that. The lighting, shadows, textures, models, water effects, and reflections are all amazing to look at and are a testament to the power of PlayStation 2 and the skills of the developers over at Snowblind Studios".


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: The game utilized a new game engine; the Dark Alliance Engine, which was built specifically for "Dark Alliance", and would go on to become the foundation for other games on the PlayStation 2, such as "" and "The Bard's Tale". Graphically, the Dark Alliance engine is a major improvement over the engine used by the original PC "Baldur's Gate" games, the Infinity Engine. Infinity was only able to render 2D sprite characters and static environments. The Dark Alliance engine, on the other hand, made use of the PlayStation 2's advanced GPU, allowing for such improvements as dynamic lighting, real-time shadowing and 3D models of characters and environments. IGN wrote of the E3 presentation, that "none of the problems that are commonly associated with PlayStation 2 games, such as low-res textures, flickering, or aliasing problems, are to be found here. It's hard to think of a game that pulls off the much-fabled anti-aliasing as well as this game does. "Dark Alliance" uses a technique similar to what a large number of Dreamcast games did to pull off their clean look: they simply render the scene at a much higher resolution, anti-alias it, then drop it down to a more acceptable resolution for TVs. The result is a beautifully anti-aliased game".


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: On November 2, Interplay announced the game had been finalized and was ready for manufacture, with a release date set for November 12. The game entered the manufacturing stage on November 5. On November 8, IGN gave a full preview, again praising the graphics, and writing: "This game is running on a rock-solid 3D engine with completely rotatable dungeons, brilliant animation for nearly every interactive element (of which there are many), and first-rate lighting effects of all different kinds [...] In the beginning, simple refined touches are impressive, amid the generally sharp atmosphere of the game (while there is no visible aliasing, the graphics aren't heavily filtered, either). Even when all you have to fight are rats, and all you have to fight with is a dagger, you can admire how barrels come apart when you smash them, in realistically shaded pieces and a puff of dust, or all the different limbs you can bloodily excise from your foes". The game was shipped by Black Isle Studios on December 3.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: With the success of the PlayStation version, the Xbox port, also developed by Snowblind, was announced by Interplay on May 17, 2002, with a demo released on May 31. The game was finalized on September 25. The GameCube version was officially announced on September 19, 2002, to be ported by High Voltage Software. The game was finalized on October 28. The Game Boy Advance port was announced by DSI Games on November 8, 2001. However, little more was heard of the title until January 15, 2004, when a rumor circulated that the game was finished, and was set to be published by Ubisoft. This proved inaccurate, with Destination Software ultimately publishing the title, which had been ported by Magic Pockets.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: Believing the game could also be a success on the PC, Interplay's Feargus Urquhart and David Perry contacted Polish developers CD Projekt. As Poland was known for only developing PC games, Urquhart and Perry believed Projekt would be the perfect team to port "Dark Alliance" to PC. Sebastian Zieliński, developer of "Mortyr 2093-1944", which Interplay had published, was placed in charge of the project, with Adam Badowski, a film storyboard artist, hired as designer. A PlayStation 2 development kit was smuggled from Interplay's offices in London to Poland, and work on the port began. But almost immediately, Interplay cancelled development.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: A reissue of "Dark Alliance" for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S was released on May 7, 2021, with a Nintendo Switch version followed on May 20, 2021, as well as future plans for a personal computer and mobile version later that year. The reissue supports some addition updates such as 4k resolution support on the newer consoles, but is otherwise not a remaster or remake of the original game.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: Ports of the game for Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux were eventually published on Steam and GOG.com on December 17, 2021.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance" was well received on all four platforms. Metacritic records all versions as receiving "generally favorable reviews", with the PlayStation 2 version holding an aggregate score of 87 out of 100, based on twenty-nine reviews; the Xbox version 83 out of 100, based on twenty-five reviews, the GameCube version 79 out of 100, based on ten reviews, and the Game Boy Advance version 76 out of 100, based on seventeen reviews.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: IGN reviewed all four versions of the game. David Smith scored the PlayStation 2 version 9.4 out of 10, giving it an "Editor's Award" and calling the Dark Alliance engine "one of the best 3D engines yet devised". He dismissed criticisms of the game as a ""Diablo" clone", arguing the gameplay is much deeper than such a comparison suggests. His only criticisms were some anticlimactic boss fights and repetitive music. He concluded: "There is honestly not a great deal to complain about here [...] Snowblind has put together one of the best engines on PS2 and one of the best hacks in the business, certainly the best a console has ever seen". Kaiser Hwang scored the Xbox version 8.5 out of 10. He praised the graphics, but wrote: "What hurts this game's score is the fact that it is almost exactly the same game that was released last year, not that that's a bad thing. The game is a fine example of exceptional game-making. But an extra level or character, or really any added extras would've been great". Fran Mirabella III scored the GameCube version 7.5 out of 10, calling it "a downgrade from the PS2 version". He criticized the "bafflingly destroyed frame rate" and commented: "When it was released on the PS2 a year ago, few could believe what Snowblind had pulled off on Sony's stubborn console. A year later, and quite magically, High Voltage couldn't get the engine running smoothly on GameCube". Craig Harris scored the Game Boy Advance version 8 out of 10, arguing that "even though it's missing a few key elements from the original design it's based upon, "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance" works out very well in portable form".


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: GameSpot also reviewed all four versions. Gerald Villoria scored the PlayStation 2 version 8.8 out of 10, praising the differences between the fighting styles of the three characters, the controls, the range of enemies and weaponry, and the lip syncing. He concluded: "You can really appreciate all the work that went into making sure that all of the little things came together so nicely". Greg Kasavin scored the Xbox version 8.5 out of 10, calling it "one of the finest action RPGs ever made" and lauding it as "a perfect port". Kasavin scored the GameCube version 7.6 out of 10, finding similar faults to IGN's Mirabella. He called it "technically deficient" and argued "the visuals [...] just don't measure up, mostly because it suffers from frame rate issues that are nonexistent in the PS2 version (or the new Xbox version)". He concluded "the game just wasn't optimized for the system". Frank Provo scored the Game Boy Advance version 8 out of 10, praising the enemy AI, the sound and the graphics. He concluded: "If you're looking for a hack-and-slash game on the go, this is the one to get".


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: GameSpy reviewed the Xbox and GameCube versions. Raymond Padilla scored the Xbox version 4 out of 5: "With the Xbox, the developers had a significantly more powerful tool to retell the story of "Dark Alliance". Unfortunately, they didn't take advantage of it. There are minor visual and aural enhancements in this version. They're very slight and I'm sure many gamers wouldn't notice the differences". He criticized the lack of Xbox Live compatibility or any kind of downloadable content, arguing "the only improvements are superficial". However, he also wrote: "Compared to competing titles, this is one of the best games available for the Xbox [...] I wholeheartedly recommend "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance" for the Xbox. It's not serving up anything new, but it's still a grand adventure". Christian Nutt scored the GameCube version 3.5 out of 5, calling it "a wonderfully entertaining game that doesn't quite live up to the technical quality of the PS2 original or its Xbox incarnation". He wrote "the graphics have taken a subtle but damaging hit" and criticized "the game's frame rate, which is passable if slightly sluggish most of the time, but chunks up quite perceptibly when you rotate the dungeon". He praised the gameplay, but wrote "for a gamer with a choice between platforms, the GameCube version is the one to avoid".


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: In the mainstream press, Victor Godinez of "The Dallas Morning News" called the game "a blast to play". Billy O'Keefe, of the "Knight Ridder Tribune" wrote "Dark Alliance" is "all about action", opining that a pure RPG would not work on a console, and the additional action elements in "Dark Alliance" improved playability. John Breeden II of "The Washington Post" praised "the smaller number of more straightforward quests". Bob Low of the "Daily Record" called the graphics "flawless". Godinez also lauded the graphics, calling them "breathtaking". Breeden agreed, saying that "the graphics on the PS2 version are eons ahead of the PC series". Low's one complaint was that the game was too short. Breeden echoed this sentiment, arguing that players used to the longer PC games in the series might find "Dark Alliance" too brief.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: IGN ranked "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance" No. 7 on their list of "The Top 11 Dungeons & Dragons Games of All Time" in 2014.


title: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

text: The game was a commercial success, selling over one million units across PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube. It won the 2001 Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences award for "Role-Playing Game of the Year", defeating the hot-favorite, "Final Fantasy X". It was nominated for "GameSpot"s annual "Best In-Game Water" and "Best Role-Playing Game" prizes among console games, which went respectively to "" and "Final Fantasy X". The 2002 GameCube version was a runner-up for "GameSpot"s annual "Best Music on GameCube" and "Best Role-Playing Game on GameCube" awards, while the Xbox port claimed nominations for "Best Music on Xbox", "Best Sound on Xbox" and "Best Role-Playing Game on Xbox". It was later listed at No. 66 in IGN's "Top 100 PlayStation 2 Games".


title: Nate Silver

text: Nathaniel Read Silver (born January 13, 1978) is an American statistician, writer, and poker player who analyzes baseball (see sabermetrics), basketball, and elections (see psephology). He is the founder and editor-in-chief of "FiveThirtyEight" and a Special Correspondent for ABC News.


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver first gained public recognition for developing PECOTA, a system for forecasting the performance and career development of Major League Baseball players, which he sold to and then managed for Baseball Prospectus from 2003 to 2009.


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver was named one of The World's 100 Most Influential People by "Time" in 2009 after an election forecasting system he developed successfully predicted the outcomes in 49 of the 50 states in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. In the 2012 United States presidential election, the forecasting system correctly predicted the winner of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. "FiveThirtyEight", like many outlets, said Donald Trump had a lower probability of victory in the 2016 presidential election than Hillary Clinton. However, the 28% chance of victory they gave Trump going into election day was significantly higher than that of most other analysts, and FiveThirtyEight discussed a Trump win as a distinct possibility, while most media treated it as a remote, if not near-impossible, outcome. In 2020, FiveThirtyEight correctly predicted Joe Biden's victory in the election, forecasting 48 out of 50 states correctly. However, while FiveThirtyEight viewed the actual results as a plausible scenario, it significantly overestimated Biden's margins in battleground states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.


title: Nate Silver

text: In 2010, the "FiveThirtyEight" blog was licensed for publication by "The New York Times". In 2012 and 2013, "FiveThirtyEight" won Webby Awards as the "Best Political Blog" from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.


title: Nate Silver

text: In July 2013, Silver sold "FiveThirtyEight" to ESPN, and became the blog's Editor in Chief. The ESPN-owned "FiveThirtyEight" launched on March 17, 2014. The site focused on a broad range of subjects under the rubric of "data journalism".


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver's book, "The Signal and the Noise", was published in September 2012. It subsequently reached "The New York Times" best seller list for nonfiction, and was named by Amazon.com as the No. 1 best nonfiction book of 2012. "The Signal and the Noise" won the 2013 Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science. The book has been translated into eleven languages: Chinese (separate editions in traditional and simplified characters), Czech, Finnish, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, and Spanish.


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver was born in East Lansing, Michigan, the son of Sally (née Thrun), a community activist, and Brian David Silver, a former chair of the political science department at Michigan State University. Silver's mother's family, of English and German descent, includes several distinguished men and women, including his maternal great-grandfather, Harmon Lewis, who was president of the Alcoa Steamship Company, Inc. Silver's father's family includes two uncles—Leon Silver and Caswell Silver—who were distinguished geologists. Silver has described himself as "half-Jewish".


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver showed a proficiency in math from a young age. According to journalist William Hageman, "Silver caught the baseball bug when he was 6... It was 1984, the year the Detroit Tigers won the World Series. The Tigers became his team and baseball his sport. And if there's anything that goes hand in glove with baseball, it's numbers, another of Silver's childhood interests ("It's always more interesting to apply it to batting averages than algebra class")".


title: Nate Silver

text: As a student at East Lansing High School, in 1996 Silver won first place in the State of Michigan in the 49th annual John S. Knight Scholarship Contest for senior high school debaters.


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver first showed his journalism skills as a writer and opinion page editor for "The Portrait", East Lansing High School's student newspaper, from 1993–1996.


title: Nate Silver

text: In 2000, Silver graduated with Honors with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Chicago. He also wrote for the "Chicago Weekly News" and the "Chicago Maroon". He spent his third year at the London School of Economics.


title: Nate Silver

text: After college graduation in 2000, Silver worked for three and a half years as a transfer pricing consultant with KPMG in Chicago. When asked in 2009, "What is your biggest regret in life?" Silver responded, "Spending four years of my life at a job I didn't like". While employed at KPMG, Silver continued to nurture his lifelong interest in baseball and statistics, and on the side he began to work on his PECOTA system for projecting player performance and careers. He quit his job at KPMG in April 2004 and for a time earned his living mainly by playing online poker. According to "Sports Illustrated" writer Alexander Wolff, over a three-year period Silver earned $400,000 from online poker.


title: Nate Silver

text: In 2003, Silver became a writer for "Baseball Prospectus" (BP), after having sold PECOTA to BP in return for a partnership interest. After resigning from KPMG in 2004, he took the position of Executive Vice-President, later renamed Managing Partner of BP. Silver further developed PECOTA and wrote a weekly column under the heading "Lies, Damned Lies". He applied sabermetric techniques to a broad range of topics including forecasting the performance of individual players, the economics of baseball, metrics for the valuation of players, and developing an Elo rating system for Major League baseball.


title: Nate Silver

text: Between 2003 and 2009, Silver co-authored the "Baseball Prospectus" annual book of Major League Baseball forecasts, as well as other books, including "Mind Game: How the Boston Red Sox Got Smart, Won a World Series, and Created a New Blueprint for Winning", "Baseball Between the Numbers", and "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over: The Baseball Prospectus Pennant Race Book".


title: Nate Silver

text: He contributed articles about baseball to ESPN.com, "Sports Illustrated", "Slate", the "New York Sun", and "The New York Times".


title: Nate Silver

text: PECOTA (Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm) is a statistical system that projects the future performance of hitters and pitchers. It is designed primarily for two users: fans interested in fantasy baseball, and professionals in the baseball business trying to predict the performance and valuation of major league players. Unlike most other baseball projection systems, PECOTA relies on matching a given current player to a set of "comparable" players whose past performance can serve as a guide to how the given current player is likely to perform in the future. Unlike most other such systems, PECOTA also calculates a range of probable performance levels rather than a single predicted value on a given measure such as earned run average or batting average.


title: Nate Silver

text: PECOTA projections were first published by Baseball Prospectus in the 2003 edition of its annual book as well as online by "BaseballProspectus.com." Silver produced the PECOTA forecasts for each Major League Baseball season from 2003 through 2009.


title: Nate Silver

text: On November 1, 2007, while still employed by Baseball Prospectus, Silver began publishing a diary under the pseudonym "Poblano" on the progressive political blog "Daily Kos." Silver set out to analyze quantitative aspects of the political game to enlighten a broader audience. Silver reports that "he was stranded in a New Orleans airport when the idea of "FiveThirtyEight.com" came to him. 'I was just frustrated with the analysis. ... I saw a lot of discussion about strategy that was not all that sophisticated, especially when it came to quantitative things like polls and demographics'". His forecasts of the 2008 United States presidential primary elections drew a lot of attention, including being cited by "The New York Times" op-ed columnist William Kristol.


title: Nate Silver

text: On March 7, 2008, while still writing as "Poblano", Silver established his own blog, "FiveThirtyEight.com". Often colloquially referred to as just 538, the website takes its name from the number of electors in the United States electoral college.


title: Nate Silver

text: On May 30, 2008, Poblano revealed his identity to "FiveThirtyEight.com" readers. On June 1, 2008, Silver published a two-page op-ed in the "New York Post" outlining the rationale underlying his focus on the statistical aspects of politics. He first appeared on national television on CNN's "American Morning" on June 13, 2008.


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver described his partisan orientation as follows in the FAQ on his website: "My state [Illinois] has non-partisan registration, so I am not registered as anything. I vote for Democratic candidates the majority of the time (though by no means always). This year, I have been a supporter of Barack Obama". With respect to the impartiality of his electoral projections, Silver stated, "Are [my] results biased toward [my] preferred candidates? I hope not, but that is for you to decide. I have tried to disclose as much about my methodology as possible".


title: Nate Silver

text: Shortly after the November 4 election, ESPN writer Jim Caple observed, "Forget Cole Hamels and the Phillies. No one in baseball had a more impressive fall than Nate Silver... [R]ight now Silver is exhausted. He barely slept the last couple weeks of the campaign—'By the end, it was full-time plus'—and for that matter, he says he couldn't have kept it up had the campaign lasted two days longer. Plus, he has his Baseball Prospectus duties. 'We write our ["Baseball Prospectus 2009"] book from now through the first of the year,' [Silver] said. 'I have a week to relax and then it gets just as busy again. In February 2009 I will just have to find an island in the Caribbean and throw my BlackBerry in the ocean'".


title: Nate Silver

text: Later in November 2008, Silver signed a contract with Penguin Group USA to write two books, reportedly for a $700,000 advance.


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver was invited to be a speaker at TED 2009 in February 2009, and keynote speaker at the 2009 South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference (March 2009).


title: Nate Silver

text: While maintaining his "FiveThirtyEight.com" website, in January 2009 Silver began a monthly feature column, "The Data", in "Esquire" as well as contributed occasional articles to other media such as "The New York Times" and "The Wall Street Journal". He also tried his luck in the 2009 World Series of Poker.


title: Nate Silver

text: The success of his "FiveThirtyEight.com" blog marked the effective end of Silver's career as baseball analyst, though he continued to devote some attention to sports statistics and sports economics in his blog. In March 2009, he stepped down as Managing Partner of Baseball Prospectus and handed over responsibility for producing future PECOTA projections to other Baseball Prospectus staff members. In April 2009, he appeared as an analyst on ESPN's "Baseball Tonight". After March 2009, he published only two "Lies, Damned Lies" columns on "BaseballProspectus.com."


title: Nate Silver

text: In November 2009, ESPN introduced a new Soccer Power Index (SPi), designed by Nate Silver, for predicting the outcome of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He published a post-mortem after the tournament, comparing his predictions to those of alternative rating systems.


title: Nate Silver

text: In April 2010, in an assignment for "New York" magazine, Silver created a quantitative index of "The Most Livable Neighborhoods in New York".


title: Nate Silver

text: In the near future, the blog will "re-launch" under a NYTimes.com domain. It will retain its own identity (akin to other Times blogs like DealBook), but will be organized under the News:Politics section. Once this occurs, content will no longer be posted at "FiveThirtyEight.com" on an ongoing basis, and the blog will re-direct to the new URL. In addition, I will be contributing content to the print edition of "The New York Times", and to the "Sunday Magazine". The partnership agreement, which is structured as a license, has a term of three years.


title: Nate Silver

text: "The New York Times" "FiveThirtyEight: Nate Silver's Political Calculus" commenced on August 25, 2010, with the publication of "New Forecast Shows Democrats Losing 6 to 7 Senate Seats". From that date the blog focused almost exclusively on forecasting the outcomes of the 2010 U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives elections as well as state gubernatorial contests. Silver's "Times Sunday Magazine" feature first appeared on November 19, 2010, under the heading "Go Figure". It was later titled "Acts of Mild Subversion".


title: Nate Silver

text: While blogging for "The Times," Silver also worked on his book about prediction, which was published in September 2012. At that time, Silver began to drop hints that after 2012 he would turn his attention to matters other than detailed statistical forecasting of elections. As reported in "New York" magazine: " 'I view my role now as providing more of a macro-level skepticism, rather than saying this poll is good or this poll is evil,' he says. And in four [years], he might be even more macro, as he turns his forecasting talents to other fields. 'I'm 97 percent sure that the FiveThirtyEight model will exist in 2016,' he says, 'but it could be someone else who's running it or licensing it.'"


title: Nate Silver

text: During the last year of "FiveThirtyEight"s license to "The New York Times," it drew a very large volume of online traffic to the paper:


title: Nate Silver

text: The Times does not release traffic figures, but a spokesperson said yesterday that Silver's blog provided a significant—and significantly growing, over the past year—percentage of Times pageviews. This fall, visits to the Times' political coverage (including FiveThirtyEight) have increased, both absolutely and as a percentage of site visits. But FiveThirtyEight's growth is staggering: where earlier this year, somewhere between 10 and 20 percent of politics visits included a stop at FiveThirtyEight, last week that figure was 71 percent.


title: Nate Silver

text: But Silver's blog has buoyed more than just the politics coverage, becoming a significant traffic-driver for the site as a whole. Earlier this year, approximately 1 percent of visits to the New York Times included "FiveThirtyEight." Last week, that number was 13 percent. Yesterday, it was 20 percent. That is, one in five visitors to the sixth-most-trafficked U.S. news site took a look at Silver's blog.


title: Nate Silver

text: In an online chat session a week after the 2012 election Silver commented: "As tempting as it might be to pull a Jim Brown/Sandy Koufax and just mic-drop/retire from elections forecasting, I expect that we'll be making forecasts in 2014 and 2016. Midterm elections can be dreadfully boring, unfortunately. But the 2016 G.O.P. primary seems almost certain to be epic." In late November 2012, "Times" executive editor Jill Abramson declared her wish to keep Silver and his blog: "We would love to have Nate continue to be part of the New York Times family, and to expand on what he does", she said. "We know he began in sports anyway, so it is not an exclusively political product. I am excited to talk to Nate when he finishes his book tour about ways to expand that kind of reporting."


title: Nate Silver

text: On July 22, 2013, ESPN announced that it had acquired ownership of the "FiveThirtyEight" website and brand, and that "Silver will serve as editor-in-chief of the site and will build a team of journalists, editors, analysts and contributors in the coming months."


title: Nate Silver

text: I don't think Nate Silver ever really fit into the Times culture and I think he was aware of that. He was, in a word, disruptive. Much like the Brad Pitt character in the movie "Moneyball" disrupted the old model of how to scout baseball players, Nate disrupted the traditional model of how to cover politics.


title: Nate Silver

text: She added, "A number of traditional and well-respected Times journalists disliked his work." Later, Sullivan wrote in "The Times" that "I don't feel so good about not being able to investigate every complaint from every individual reader fully, or about making some misjudgments in individual posts — my Nate Silver commentary, among others, has probably been off-base...".


title: Nate Silver

text: "New York" magazine reported that executive editor Jill Abramson "put on a full-court press" to keep Silver at "The Times" and that "for Abramson, Silver was a tentpole attraction for her favorite subject, national politics, and brought the kind of buzz she thought valuable", but the company's CEO and President Mark Thompson "confirmed that keeping Silver was not at the top of his agenda." The article stated that "the major reason Silver left was because he felt it was Thompson who had not committed to building his franchise. The mixed signals from Thompson and Abramson—his lack of enthusiasm for committing resources to Silver, her desire to keep a major star—frustrated Silver and his lawyer."


title: Nate Silver

text: When "FiveThirtyEight" was relaunched under ESPN's ownership on March 17, 2014, Silver outlined the scope of topics that would be covered under the rubric of "data journalism":


title: Nate Silver

text: In March 2008, Silver established his blog "FiveThirtyEight.com," in which he developed a system for tracking polls and forecasting the outcome of the 2008 general election. At the same time, he continued making forecasts of the 2008 Democratic primary elections. That several of his forecasts based on demographic analysis proved to be substantially more accurate than those of the professional pollsters gained visibility and professional credibility for "Poblano", the pseudonym that Silver was then using.


title: Nate Silver

text: After the North Carolina and Indiana primaries on May 6, the popularity of "FiveThirtyEight.com" surged. Silver recalls the scenario: "I know the polls show it's really tight in NC, but we think Obama is going to win by thirteen, fourteen points, and he did. ... Any time you make a prediction like that people give you probably too much credit for it... But after that [Silver's and the website's popularity] started to really take off. It's pretty nonlinear, once you get one mention in the mainstream media, other people [quickly follow suit]".


title: Nate Silver

text: As a CNET reporter wrote on election eve, "Even though Silver launched the site as recently as March, its straightforward approach, daring predictions, and short but impressive track record has put it on the map of political sites to follow. "The Washington Post" featured Silver in its 14th annual election prediction contest this year, and he'll be reporting on Tuesday night's results with Dan Rather on HDNet".


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver's final 2008 presidential election forecast accurately predicted the winner of 49 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, missing only the prediction for Indiana. As his model predicted, the races in Missouri and North Carolina were particularly close. He also correctly predicted the winners of every U.S. Senate race. The accuracy of his predictions won him further acclaim, including abroad, and added to his reputation as a leading political prognosticator.


title: Nate Silver

text: Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign signed off on a proposal to share all of its private polling with Silver. After signing a confidentiality agreement, Silver was granted access to hundreds of polls the campaign had conducted.


title: Nate Silver

text: Shortly after "FiveThirtyEight" relocated to "The New York Times", Silver introduced his prediction models for the 2010 elections to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and state governorships. Each of these models relied initially on a combination of electoral history, demographics, and polling. Silver eventually published detailed forecasts and analyses of the results for all three sets of elections. He correctly predicted the winner in 34 of the 37 contested Senate races. His 2010 congressional mid-term predictions were not as accurate as those made in 2008, but were still within the reported confidence interval. Silver predicted a Republican pickup of 54 seats in the House of Representatives; the GOP won 63 seats. Of the 37 gubernatorial races, "FiveThirtyEight" correctly predicted the winner of 36.


title: Nate Silver

text: Although throughout 2011 Silver devoted a lot of attention on his blog to the 2012 Republican party primaries, his first effort to handicap the 2012 Presidential general election appeared as the cover story in "The New York Times Magazine" a year prior to the election: "Is Obama Toast? Handicapping the 2012 Election". Accompanying the online release of this article, Silver also published "Choose Obama's Re-Election Adventure", an interactive toy that allowed readers to predict the outcome of the election based on their assumptions about three variables: President Obama's favorability ratings, the rate of GDP growth, and how conservative the Republican opponent would be. This analysis stimulated a lot of critical discussion.


title: Nate Silver

text: While publishing numerous stories on the Republican primary elections, in mid-February 2012 Silver reprised and updated his previous "Magazine" story with another one, "What Obama Should Do Next". This story painted a more optimistic picture of President Obama's re-election chances. A companion article on his "FiveThirtyEight" blog, "The Fundamentals Now Favor Obama", explained how the model and the facts on the ground had changed between November and February.


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver published the first iteration of his 2012 general election forecasts on June 7, 2012. According to the model, at that time Barack Obama was projected to win 291 electoral votes—21 more than the 270 required for a majority. Obama then had an estimated 61.8% chance of winning a majority.


title: Nate Silver

text: On the morning of the November 6, 2012, presidential election, the final update of Silver's model at 10:10 A.M. gave President Barack Obama a 90.9% chance of winning a majority of the 538 electoral votes. Both in summary tables and in an electoral map, Silver forecast the winner of each state. At the conclusion of that day, when Mitt Romney had conceded to Barack Obama, Silver's model had correctly predicted the winner of every one of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Silver, along with at least three academic-based analysts—Drew Linzer, Simon Jackman, and Josh Putnam—who also aggregated polls from multiple pollsters—thus was not only broadly correct about the election outcome, but also specifically predicted the outcomes for the nine "swing states". In contrast, individual pollsters were less successful. For example, Rasmussen Reports "missed on six of its nine swing-state polls".


title: Nate Silver

text: In the week leading up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the "FiveThirtyEight" team predicted that Hillary Clinton had a 64.5% chance of winning the election. Their final prediction on November 8, 2016, gave Clinton a 71% chance to win the 2016 United States presidential election, while other major forecasters had predicted Clinton to win with at least an 85% to 99% probability. Donald Trump won the election. "FiveThirtyEight" argued it projected a much higher chance (29%) of Donald Trump winning the presidency than other modelers, a projection which was criticized days before the election by Ryan Grim of "The Huffington Post" as "unskewing" too much in favor of Trump.


title: Nate Silver

text: On their final prediction election day of the 2020 United States presidential election, "FiveThirtyEight" predicted that Joe Biden had an 89% chance of winning the election; he did. Out of all presidential predictions, they only missed Florida, North Carolina, and Maine's 2nd congressional district. Donald Trump prevailed in each of these states, although "FiveThirtyEight" had predicted a Biden victory.


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver has been criticized for inaccurate predictions. In January 2010, journalist and blogger Colby Cosh criticized Silver's performance during the Massachusetts special Senate election, saying he was "still arguing as late as Thursday afternoon that [Martha] Coakley was the clear favourite; he changed his mind at midnight that evening and acknowledged that Scott Brown had a puncher's chance." (Brown won the election.)


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver's quantitative focus on polling data, without insight from experience in political organizing or journalism, has been a recurring critique from experienced commentators. "Huffington Post" columnist Geoffrey Dunn described Silver as someone who "has never organized a precinct in his life, much less walked one, pontificating about the dynamics in the electoral processes as if he actually understood them."


title: Nate Silver

text: Considerable criticism during the 2012 elections came from political conservatives, who argued that Silver's election projections were politically biased against Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for president. For example, Silver was accused of applying a double standard to his treatment of Rasmussen Reports polls, such as a 2010 analysis asserting a statistical bias in its methodology. Josh Jordan wrote in "National Review" that Silver clearly favored Obama and adjusted the weight he gave polls "based on what [he] think[s] of the pollster and the results and not based on what is actually inside the poll".


title: Nate Silver

text: On MSNBC's "Morning Joe", host Joe Scarborough stated that Silver's prediction that day of a 73.6% chance of a win for Obama greatly exceeded the confidence of the Obama campaign itself, which Scarborough equated to that of the Romney campaign, both believing "they have a 50.1 percent chance of winning", and calling Silver an "ideologue" and a "joke". Silver responded with the offer of a $1,000 wager (for charity) over the outcome of the election. "The New York Times" public editor Margaret Sullivan, while defending Silver's analysis, characterized the wager as "a bad idea" as it gave the appearance of a partisan motive for Silver, and "inappropriate" for someone perceived as a "Times" journalist (although Silver was not a member of the newspaper's staff).


title: Nate Silver

text: After a post-election appearance by Silver on Joe Scarborough's "Morning Joe", Scarborough published what he called a "(semi) apology", in which he concluded:


title: Nate Silver

text: "I won't apologize to Mr. Silver for predicting an outcome that I had also been predicting for a year. But I do need to tell Nate I'm sorry for leaning in too hard and lumping him with pollsters whose methodology is as rigorous as the Simpsons' strip mall physician, Dr. Nick. For those sins (and a multitude of others that I'm sure I don't even know about), I am sorry.


title: Nate Silver

text: Politics is a messy sport. And just as ball players who drink beer and eat fried chicken in dugouts across America can screw up the smartest sabermetrician's forecast, Nate Silver's formula is sure to let his fervent admirers down from time to time. But judging from what I saw of him this morning, Nate is a grounded guy who admits as much in his book. I was too tough on him and there's a 84.398264% chance I will be less dismissive of his good work in the future."


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver's nondisclosure of the details of his analytical model has resulted in some skepticism. "Washington Post" journalist Ezra Klein wrote: "There are good criticisms to make of Silver's model, not the least of which is that, while Silver is almost tediously detailed about what's going on in the model, he won't give out the code, and without the code, we can't say with certainty how the model works." Colby Cosh wrote that the model "is proprietary and irreproducible. That last feature makes it unwise to use Silver's model as a straw stand-in for "science", as if the model had been fully specified in a peer-reviewed journal".


title: Nate Silver

text: "The Signal and The Noise" was published in the United States on September 27, 2012. It reached the New York Times Best Sellers List as #12 for non-fiction hardback books after its first week in print. It dropped to #20 in the second week, before rising to #13 in the third, and remaining on the non-fiction hardback top 15 list for the following 13 weeks, with a highest weekly ranking of #4. Sales increased after the election on November 6, jumping 800% and becoming the second best seller on Amazon.com.


title: Nate Silver

text: The book describes methods of mathematical model-building using probability and statistics. Silver takes a big-picture approach to using statistical tools, combining sources of unique data (e.g., timing a minor league ball player's fastball using a radar gun), with historical data and principles of sound statistical analysis; Silver argues that many of these are violated by many pollsters and pundits who nonetheless have important media roles. Case studies in the book include baseball, elections, climate change, the financial crash, poker, and weather forecasting. These different topics illustrate different statistical principles. As a reviewer in "The New York Times" notes: "It's largely about evaluating predictions in a variety of fields, from finance to weather to epidemiology. We learn about a handful of successes: when, for instance, meteorologists predict a hurricane's landfall 72 hours in advance... But mostly we learn about failures. It turns out we're not even close to predicting the next catastrophic earthquake or the spread of the next killer bird flu, despite the enormous amounts of brainpower trained on these questions in the past few decades".


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver's self-unmasking at the end of May 2008 brought him a lot of publicity focused on his combined skill as both baseball statistician-forecaster and political statistician-forecaster, including articles about him in "The Wall Street Journal", "Newsweek", "Science News", and his hometown "Lansing State Journal".


title: Nate Silver

text: In early June he began to cross-post his daily "Today's Polls" updates on "The Plank" in "The New Republic". Also, "Rasmussen Reports" began to use the "FiveThirtyEight.com" poll averages for its own tracking of the 2008 state-by-state races.


title: Nate Silver

text: In 2009 through 2012, Silver appeared as a political analyst on MSNBC, CNN and Bloomberg Television, PBS, NPR, "Democracy Now!", "The Charlie Rose Show", ABC News, and Current TV.


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver also appeared on "The Colbert Report" (October 7, 2008 and November 5, 2012), "The Daily Show" (October 17, 2012 and November 7, 2012), and "Real Time with Bill Maher" (October 26, 2012).


title: Nate Silver

text: That Silver accurately predicted the outcome of the 2012 presidential race, in the face of numerous public attacks on his forecasts by critics, inspired many articles in the press, ranging from Gizmodo, to online and mainstream newspapers, news and commentary magazines, business media, trade journals, media about media, and "Scientific American", as well as a feature interview on "The Today Show", a return appearance on "The Daily Show", and an appearance on "Morning Joe"


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver's first appearance on ABC News as Editor-in-Chief of the new "FiveThirtyEight.com" was on George Stephanopoulos's "This Week" on November 3, 2013.


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver is referenced in the Syfy channel show "The Magicians" as an earth wizard who uses polling spells.


title: Nate Silver

text: In 2015, Silver appeared on the podcast "Employee of the Month", where he criticized Vox Media for "recycling Wikipedia entries" in their content.


title: Nate Silver

text: In a 2012 interview with Charlie Rose he said, "I'd say I’m somewhere in between being a libertarian and a liberal. So if I were to vote, it would be kind of a Gary Johnson versus Mitt Romney decision, I suppose."


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver is a great-nephew of geologists Caswell Silver and Leon Silver. He is a great-grandson of Harmon Lewis, the President of Alcoa Steamship Company, as well as a great-great-nephew of the embryologist Warren Harmon Lewis and his wife, biologist Margaret Reed Lewis.


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver is openly gay. "I've always felt like something of an outsider. I've always had friends but I've always come from an outside point of view. I think that's important. If you grow up gay, or in a household that's agnostic, when most people are religious, then from the get-go, you are saying there are things that the majority of society believes that I don't believe", he told an interviewer in 2012. When asked "what made you feel more of a misfit, being gay or being a geek", he replied, "Probably the numbers stuff since I had that from when I was six." When asked in 2008 if he had noticed people looking at him as a "gay icon", he responded, "I've started to notice it a little bit, although so far it seems like I'm more a subject of geek affection than gay affection".


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver discussed his sexuality in the context of growing up in East Lansing, in an article about the Supreme Court ruling "Obergefell v. Hodges" in favor of recognizing same-sex marriage on the date of its announcement. He analyzed the speed of the change of public sentiment, pointing out that the change over only several decades has been palpable to the current generations.


title: Nate Silver

text: Silver has long been interested in fantasy baseball, especially Scoresheet Baseball. While in college he served as an expert on Scoresheet Baseball for BaseballHQ. When he took up political writing, Silver abandoned his blog, "The Burrito Bracket", in which he ran a one-and-done competition among the taquerias in his Wicker Park neighborhood in Chicago.


title: Theophany

text: Theophany (from Ancient Greek , meaning "appearance of a deity") is a personal encounter with a deity, that is an event where the manifestation of a deity occurs in an observable way. Specifically, it "refers to the temporal and spatial manifestation of God in some tangible form."


title: Theophany

text: Where the deity does not take tangible form (outward manifestation), the broader term used for inward manifestation is divine revelation or divine inspiration. Where the spirit of god is manifest in a person the term used is divine incarnation, avatar or personification of the deity.


title: Theophany

text: Traditionally the term "theophany" was used to refer to appearances of the gods in ancient Greek and in Near Eastern religions. While the "Iliad" is the earliest source for descriptions of theophanies in classical antiquity (which occur throughout Greek mythology), probably the earliest description appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh.


title: Theophany

text: In the specific usage for Christians and Jews, with respect to the Bible, "theophany" refers to an event where the Abrahamic God reveals his presence to a person.


title: Theophany

text: The appearance of Zeus to Semele is more than a mortal can stand and she is burned to death by the flames of his power. However, most Greek theophanies were less deadly. Unusual for Greek mythology is the story of Prometheus, not an Olympian but a Titan, who brought knowledge of fire to humanity. Divine or heroic epiphanies were sometimes experienced in historical times, either in dreams or as a waking vision, and frequently led to the foundation of a cult, or at least an act of worship and the dedication of a commemorative offering.


title: Theophany

text: Theophanies were reenacted at a number of Greek sites and festivals. At Delphi the "Theophania" (Θεοφάνια) was an annual festival in spring celebrating the return of Apollo from his winter quarters in Hyperborea. The culmination of the festival was a display of an image of the gods, usually hidden in the sanctuary, to worshippers. Later Roman mystery religions often included similar brief displays of images to excited worshippers.


title: Theophany

text: Hinduism uses darśana, the Sanskrit for "sighting", for the sighting of a god. Gods taking form on earth are referred to as avatars. The most popular avatars of Vishnu in Hinduism are Krishna and Rama. The most well-known theophany is contained within the Bhagavad-Gita, itself one chapter of the larger epic the Mahabharata. On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Krishna gives the famed warrior Arjuna a series of teachings, and Arjuna begs for Krishna to reveal his "universal form." Krishna complies and gives Arjuna the spiritual vision which enables him to see Krishna in that form, a magnificent and awe-inspiring manifestation, containing everything in the universe. A description of this theophany forms the main part of Chapter XI.


title: Theophany

text: A number of theophanies are described in the Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata. Among the first is the god Indra's appearance to Kunti, with the subsequent birth of the hero Arjuna. Near the end of the epic, the god Yama, referred to as Dharma in the text, is portrayed as taking the form of a dog to test the compassion of Yudhishthira, who is told he may not enter paradise with such an animal, but refuses to abandon his companion, for which decision he is then praised by Dharma.


title: Theophany

text: The Hebrew Bible states that God revealed himself to mankind. God speaks with Adam and Eve in Eden (); with Cain (); with Noah (, , ) and his sons (); and with Abraham and his wife Sarah (). He also appears twice to Hagar, the slave-girl who has Abraham's first child, Ishmael ().


title: Theophany

text: The first revelation that Moses had of Yahweh at the burning bush was "a great sight"; "he was afraid to look" at him (Ex. 3:3, 6); also the first revelation Samuel had in a dream is called "the vision"; afterward God was frequently "seen" at Shiloh (I Sam. 3:15, 21, Hebr.). Isaiah's first revelation was also a sight of God (Isa. 6:1–5); Amos had visions (Amos 7:1, 4; 8:1; 9:1); and so with Jeremiah (Jer. 1:11, 13), Ezekiel (Ezek. 1-3; 8:1–3; 10), and Zechariah (Zech. 1-14,2:13), and, in fact, with all "seers," as they called themselves.


title: Theophany

text: In Job, Eliphaz describes a vision: “Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on mortals, dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh bristled. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:..." (Job 4:13-16).


title: Theophany

text: The Torah lays stress on the fact that, while to other prophets God made himself known in a vision, speaking to them in a dream, he spoke with Moses "mouth to mouth", "as a man would speak with his neighbor", in clear sight and not in riddles (Num. 12:6–8; comp. Ex. 33:11; Deut. 34:10).


title: Theophany

text: In Midian, while Moses was keeping the flock of his father in law Jethro, the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a bush that burned but was not consumed (). Yahweh called to Moses out of the midst of the bush, and told him that he had heard the affliction of his people in Egypt, and gave Moses orders to speak to Pharaoh and to lead the Israelites out of Egypt ().


title: Theophany

text: God reveals his divine presence and protection to the Israelites by leading them out of Egypt and through the Sinai desert by appearing as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.


title: Theophany

text: According to Rabbi Eliezer, each person among the Israelites, including even the least intelligent bond-woman, saw God's glory at the Red Sea in clearer form than did, afterward, prophets of the stamp of Ezekiel; wherefore they burst forth into the song, "This is my God" (Mek.(Mekiita), l.c., with reference to Exodus xv. 2).


title: Theophany

text: The theophany at biblical Mount Sinai is related in . YHWH's manifestation is accompanied by thunder and lightning; there is a fiery flame, reaching to the sky; the loud notes of a trumpet are heard; and the whole mountain smokes and quakes. Out of the midst of the flame and the cloud a voice reveals the Ten Commandments. The account in , and is practically the same. Moses in his blessing () points to this revelation as to the source of the election of Israel, but with this difference: with him the point of departure for the theophany is Mount Sinai and not heaven. God appears on Sinai like a shining sun and comes "accompanied by holy myriads" (comp. Sifre, Deut. 243).


title: Theophany

text: Likewise, in the Song of Deborah () the manifestation is described as a storm: the earth quakes, Sinai trembles, and the clouds drop water. It is poetically elaborated in the prayer of Habakkuk (Hab. iii.); here past and future are confused. As in Deut. xxxiii. 2 and Judges v. 4, God appears from Teman and Paran. His majesty is described as a glory of light and brightness; pestilence precedes Him. The mountains tremble violently; the earth quakes; the people are sore afraid. God rides in a chariot of war, with horses – a conception found also in Isa. xix. 1 where God appears on a cloud, and in Ps. xviii. 10 where He appears on a cherub.


title: Theophany

text: The biblical prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel receive their commissions as prophets amid glorious manifestations of God. Isaiah sees God on a high and lofty throne. More precisely, however, he sees not him but only his glorious robe, the hem and train of which fill the whole temple of heaven. Before the throne stand the seraphim, the six-winged angels. With two wings they cover their faces so as not to gaze on God; with two they cover their feet, through modesty; and with the remaining two they fly. Their occupation is the everlasting praise of God, which at the time of the revelation took the form of the thrice-repeated cry "Holy!" (Isa. vi.).


title: Theophany

text: Ezekiel in his description is not so reserved as Isaiah. The divine throne appears to him as a wonderful chariot. Storm, a great cloud, ceaseless fire, and on all sides a wonderful brightness accompany the manifestation. Out of the fire four creatures become visible. They have the faces of men; each one has four wings; and the shape of their feet enables them to go to all four-quarters of the earth with equal rapidity and without having to turn. These living creatures are recognized by the prophet as cherubim (Ezek. "x" 20 ). The heavenly fire, the coals of which burn like torches, moves between them. The movement of the creatures is harmonious: wherever the spirit of God leads them they go.


title: Theophany

text: Beneath the living creatures are wheels ("ofannim") full of eyes. On their heads rests a firmament upon which is the throne of God. When the divine chariot moves, their wings rustle with a noise like thunder. On the throne the prophet sees the divine being, having the likeness of a man. His body from the loins upward is shining ("ḥashmal"); downward it is fire (in Ezek. viii. 2 the reverse is stated). In the Sinaitic revelation God descends and appears upon earth. In the prophetic vision, on the other hand, he appears in heaven, which is in keeping with the nature of the case, because the Sinaitic revelation was meant for a whole people, on the part of which an ecstatic condition cannot be thought of.


title: Theophany

text: The theophany described in is very different. David is in great need and at his earnest solicitation God appears to save him. Before God the earth trembles and fire glows. God rides on a cherub on the wind. God is surrounded by clouds which are outshone by God's brightness. With thunder and lightning God destroys the enemies of the singer and rescues him.


title: Theophany

text: Christians generally recognize the same Old Testament theophanies as the Jews. In addition there are at least two theophanies mentioned in the New Testament. While some usages refer to the baptisms of Jesus and John the Baptist as "theophanies, scholars eschew such usage.


title: Theophany

text: The 4th-century bishop Eusebius of Caesarea, b. 263 AD, wrote a treatise "On Divine Manifestation" ("Peri theophaneias"), referring to the incarnation of Jesus, but generally divine incarnation is not regarded as theophantic, as it lacks the "temporariness and suddenness of the appearance of God".


title: Theophany

text: Traditional analysis of the Biblical passages led Christian scholars to understand "theophany" as an unambiguous manifestation of God to man. Otherwise, the more general term hierophany is used.


title: Theophany

text: The "New Catholic Encyclopedia" cites examples of theophanies such as and then quotes . In this case, initially it is an angel which appears to Hagar, however it then says that God spoke directly to her, and that she saw God and lived ().


title: Theophany

text: The next example the "New Catholic Encyclopedia" cites is , which states explicitly that it was the angel of the Lord speaking to Abraham (). However, the angel addressing Abraham speaks the words of God in the first person (). In both of the last two examples, although it is an angel speaking, the voice is of God spoken through the angel, since it says "withhold from me". A similar case would be Moses and the burning bush. Initially Moses saw an angel in the bush, but then goes on to have a direct conversation with God himself (Exodus 3).


title: Theophany

text: The "New Catholic Encyclopedia", however, makes few references to a theophany from the gospels. Mark 1:9-11, where only Jesus hears the voice from heaven, and Luke 9:28–36 the transfiguration where the Father speaks are cited.


title: Theophany

text: Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrate the theophany of Jesus Christ on 6 January according to a liturgical calendar as one of the Great Feasts. In Western Orthodox Christian Churches, 6 January is kept as the holy day Epiphany, while the feast of Theophany is celebrated separately, on the following Sunday.


title: Theophany

text: Some modern Evangelical Christian Bible commentators, such as Ron Rhodes, interpret "the angel of the Lord", who appears in several places throughout the Old Testament, to be the pre-incarnate Christ, which is Jesus before his manifestation into human form, as described in the New Testament. The term Christophany has also been coined to identify pre-incarnate appearances of Christ in the Old Testament. This also has been the traditional interpretation of the earliest Church Fathers as well as the apostle Paul himself, who identifies the rock that was with Moses in the desert as being Christ.


title: Theophany

text: For a more thorough list of "God sightings", or theophanies, see the examples below under "Judaism, Hebrew Bible."


title: Theophany

text: Joseph Smith, the prophet and founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, said that when he was 14 years old he was visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ in a grove of trees near his house, a theophany in answer to his spoken prayer. This "First Vision" is considered to be the founding event of the Latter Day Saint movement. The Book of Mormon describes other hierophanies and theophanies that occurred in the New World.


title: Theophany

text: For example, Blake Ostler analysed the Throne-Theophany of Lehi in the First Book of Nephi and concluded that the theophanies in the Bible and the Book of Mormon have much in common.


title: Theophany

text: Those groups which have Arian Christology such as Jehovah's Witnesses may identify some appearances of angels, particularly the archangel Michael, as Christophanies, but not theophanies.


title: Theophany

text: Those groups with early Unitarian or Socinian Christology such as Christadelphians and the Church of God General Conference identify the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament much as Jews do, simply as angels. Early Christadelphians, notably John Thomas (1870) and C. C. Walker (1929), integrated angelic theophanies and God as revealed in his various divine names into a doctrine of God Manifestation which carries on into a Unitarian understanding of God's theophany in Christ and God being manifested in resurrected believers.


title: Theophany

text: The most important theophany in Islam is the Mi'raj, the Prophet's ascent into heaven where he speaks to God (Allah), sometimes called "a night journey from Mecca through Jerusalem."