title: Jamie (singer)

text: In October 2012, Park donated 50 million won (~$45,000 USD) to Hanbit Performing Arts Company for blind musicians. She became interested in the program after meeting with fellow "K-pop Star" contestant Kim Soo-hwan, who currently attends the Hanbit Performing Arts Company. Park shared, “The Hanbit Performing Arts Company hosts young, elementary school students as well as professional performers. Although they are blind, they are musicians who are performing with amazing talent. I want to be at least a small help to those who have the same love for music that I have.” She also donated 50 million won (~$45,000 USD) to World Vision.


title: Jamie (singer)

text: On May 28, 2015, Park collaborated with singer Eric Nam for their song, "Dream", produced by Sweetune. They revealed all profit made from the song would be donated to charity.


title: Jamie (singer)

text: On November 21, 2022, Jamie's agency confirmed that she is in a relationship with ex-military Koo Min-cheol.


title: Lark

text: Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark occurs in Australia. Habitats vary widely, but many species live in dry regions. When the word "lark" is used without specification, it often refers to the Eurasian skylark "(Alauda arvensis)".


title: Lark

text: The family Alaudidae was introduced in 1825 by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors as a subfamily Alaudina of the finch family Fringillidae. Larks are a well-defined family, partly because of the shape of their . They have multiple scutes on the hind side of their tarsi, rather than the single plate found in most songbirds. They also lack a pessulus, the bony central structure in the syrinx of songbirds. They were long placed at or near the beginning of the songbirds or oscines (now often called Passeri), just after the suboscines and before the swallows, for example in the American Ornithologists' Union's first check-list. Some authorities, such as the British Ornithologists' Union and the "Handbook of the Birds of the World", adhere to that placement. However, many other classifications follow the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy in placing the larks in a large oscine subgroup Passerida (which excludes crows, shrikes and their allies, vireos, and many groups characteristic of Australia and southeastern Asia). For instance, the American Ornithologists' Union places larks just after the crows, shrikes, and vireos. At a finer level of detail, some now place the larks at the beginning of a superfamily Sylvioidea with the swallows, various "Old World warbler" and "babbler" groups, and others. Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that within the Sylvioidea the larks form a sister clade to the family Panuridae which contains a single species, the bearded reedling ("Panurus biarmicus"). The phylogeny of larks (Alaudidae) was reviewed in 2013, leading to the recognition of the arrangement below.


title: Lark

text: The family Alaudidae contains 100 extant species which are divided into 21 genera: For more detail, see list of lark species.


title: Lark

text: Larks, or the family Alaudidae, are small- to medium-sized birds, in length and in mass. The smallest larks are likely the "Spizocorys" species, which can weigh only around in species like the pink-billed lark and the Obbia lark, while the largest lark is the Tibetan lark.


title: Lark

text: Like many ground birds, most lark species have long hind claws, which are thought to provide stability while standing. Most have streaked brown plumage, some boldly marked with black or white. Their dull appearance camouflages them on the ground, especially when on the nest. They feed on insects and seeds; though adults of most species eat seeds primarily, all species feed their young insects for at least the first week after hatching. Many species dig with their bills to uncover food. Some larks have heavy bills (reaching an extreme in the thick-billed lark) for cracking seeds open, while others have long, down-curved bills, which are especially suitable for digging.


title: Lark

text: Larks are the only passerines that lose all their feathers in their first moult (in all species whose first moult is known). This may result from the poor quality of the chicks' feathers, which in turn may result from the benefits to the parents of switching the young to a lower-quality diet (seeds), which requires less work from the parents.


title: Lark

text: In many respects, including long tertial feathers, larks resemble other ground birds such as pipits. However, in larks the tarsus (the lowest leg bone, connected to the toes) has only one set of scales on the rear surface, which is rounded. Pipits and all other songbirds have two plates of scales on the rear surface, which meet at a protruding rear edge.


title: Lark

text: Larks have more elaborate calls than most birds, and often extravagant songs given in display flight. These melodious sounds (to human ears), combined with a willingness to expand into anthropogenic habitats — as long as these are not too intensively managed — have ensured larks a prominent place in literature and music, especially the Eurasian skylark in northern Europe and the crested lark and calandra lark in southern Europe.


title: Lark

text: Male larks use song flights to defend their breeding territory and attract a mate. Most species build nests on the ground, usually cups of dead grass, but in some species the nests are more complicated and partly domed. A few desert species nest very low in bushes, perhaps so circulating air can cool the nest. Larks' eggs are usually speckled. The size of the clutch is very variable and ranges from the single egg laid by Sclater's lark up to 6-8 eggs laid by the calandra lark and the black lark. Larks incubate for 11 to 16 days.


title: Lark

text: Larks, commonly consumed with bones intact, have historically been considered wholesome, delicate, and light game. They can be used in a number of dishes; for example, they can be stewed, broiled, or used as filling in a meat pie. Lark's tongues are reputed to have been particularly highly valued as a delicacy. In modern times, shrinking habitats made lark meat rare and hard to come by, though it can still be found in restaurants in Italy and elsewhere in southern Europe.


title: Lark

text: The lark in mythology and literature stands for daybreak, as in Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale", "the bisy larke, messager of day", and Shakespeare's Sonnet 29, "the lark at break of day arising / From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate" (11–12). The lark is also (often simultaneously) associated with "lovers and lovers' observance" (as in Bernart de Ventadorn's Can vei la lauzeta mover) and with "church services", and often those the meanings of daybreak and religious reference are combined (in Blake's "Visions of the Daughters of Albion", into a "spiritual daybreak" to signify "passage from Earth to Heaven and from Heaven to Earth". In Renaissance painters such as Domenico Ghirlandaio the lark symbolizes Christ, in reference to John 16:16.


title: Lark

text: Percy Bysshe Shelley's famed 1820 poem To a Skylark was inspired by the melodious song of a skylark during an evening walk.


title: Lark

text: English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote a musical setting of George Meredith's poem, completed in 1914. It was composed for violin and piano, and entitled "The Lark Ascending - A Romance". The work received its first performance in December 1920. Soon afterwards the composer arranged it for violin and orchestra, in which version it was first performed in June 1921, and this is how the work remains best-known today.


title: Lark

text: Traditionally larks are kept as pets in China. In Beijing, larks are taught to mimic the voice of other songbirds and animals. It is an old-fashioned habit of the Beijingers to teach their larks 13 kinds of sounds in a strict order (called "the 13 songs of a lark", Chinese: 百灵十三套). The larks that can sing the full 13 sounds in the correct order are highly valued, while any disruption in the songs will decrease its value significantly.


title: Lark

text: In english, the term "on a lark" describes something that is done on the spur of the moment, something that is done spontaneously and for fun. The word lark in the term on a lark is used to mean frolicking or playing. The use of the word lark to mean frolicking first appeared in the early 1800s. It may stem from the word skylark, slang used by sailors to mean roughhousing in the rigging. It may date back to the Old Norse word leika which means to play. A third possibility is an Old English dialect word lake, which means to leap and play.


title: Lark

text: Larks sing early in the day, often before dawn, leading to the expression "up with the lark" for a person who is awake early in the day, and the term "lark" being applied to someone who habitually rises early in the morning.


title: Atari 5200

text: The Atari 5200 SuperSystem or simply Atari 5200 is a home video game console introduced in 1982 by Atari, Inc. as a higher-end complement for the popular Atari Video Computer System. The VCS was renamed to the Atari 2600 at the time of the 5200's launch. Created to compete with Mattel's Intellivision, the 5200 wound up a direct competitor of ColecoVision shortly after its release. While the Coleco system shipped with the first home version of Nintendo's "Donkey Kong", the 5200 included the 1978 arcade game "Super Breakout" which had already appeared on the Atari 8-bit family and Atari VCS in 1979 and 1981 respectively.


title: Atari 5200

text: The CPU and the graphics and sound hardware are almost identical to that of the Atari 8-bit computers, although software is not directly compatible between the two systems. The 5200's controllers have an analog joystick and a numeric keypad along with start, pause, and reset buttons. The 360-degree non-centering joystick was touted as offering more control than the eight-way Atari CX40 joystick of the 2600, but was a focal point for criticism.


title: Atari 5200

text: On May 21, 1984, during a press conference at which the Atari 7800 was introduced, company executives revealed that the 5200 had been discontinued after just two years on the market. Total sales of the 5200 were reportedly in excess of 1 million units, far short of its predecessor's sales of over 30 million.


title: Atari 5200

text: Much of the technology in the Atari 8-bit family of home computer systems was originally developed as a second-generation games console intended to replace the 2600. However, as the system was reaching completion, the personal computer revolution was starting with the release of machines like the Commodore PET, TRS-80 and Apple II. These machines had less advanced hardware than the new Atari technology, but sold for much higher prices with associated higher profit margins. Atari's management decided to enter this market, and the technology was repackaged into the Atari 400 and 800. The chipset used in these machines was created with the mindset that the 2600 would likely be obsolete by the 1980 time frame.


title: Atari 5200

text: Atari later decided to re-enter the games market with a design that closely matched their original 1978 specifications. In its prototype stage, the Atari 5200 was originally called the "Atari Video System X – Advanced Video Computer System", and was codenamed "Pam" after a female employee at Atari, Inc. It is also rumored that PAM actually stood for "Personal Arcade Machine", as the majority of games for the system ended up being arcade conversions. Actual working "Atari Video System X" machines, whose hardware is 100% identical to the Atari 5200 do exist, but are extremely rare.


title: Atari 5200

text: The initial 1982 release of the system featured four controller ports, where nearly all other systems of the day had only one or two ports. The 5200 also featured a new style of controller with an analog joystick, numeric keypad, two fire buttons on each side of the controller and game function keys for Start, Pause, and Reset. The 5200 also featured the innovation of the first automatic TV switchbox, allowing it to automatically switch from regular TV viewing to the game system signal when the system was activated. Previous RF adapters required the user to slide a switch on the adapter by hand. The RF box was also where the power supply connected in a unique dual power/television signal setup similar to the RCA Studio II's. A single cable coming out of the 5200 plugged into the switch box and carried both electricity and the television signal.


title: Atari 5200

text: The 1983 revision of the Atari 5200 has two controller ports instead of four, and a change back to the more conventional separate power supply and standard non-autoswitching RF switch. It also has changes in the cartridge port address lines to allow for the Atari 2600 adapter released that year. While the adapter was only made to work on the two-port version, modifications can be made to the four-port to make it line-compatible. In fact, towards the end of the four-port model's production run, there were a limited number of consoles produced which included these modifications. These consoles can be identified by an asterisk in their serial numbers.


title: Atari 5200

text: At one point following the 5200's release, Atari planned a smaller, cost-reduced version of the Atari 5200, which removed the controller storage bin. Code-named the "Atari 5100" (a.k.a. "Atari 5200 Jr."), only a few fully working prototype 5100s were made before the project was canceled.


title: Atari 5200

text: The controller prototypes used in the electrical development lab employed a yoke-and-gimbal mechanism that came from an RC airplane controller kit. The design of the analog joystick, which used a weak rubber boot rather than springs to provide centering, proved to be ungainly and unreliable. They quickly became the Achilles' heel of the system due to the combination of an overly complex mechanical design and a very low-cost internal flex circuit system. Another major flaw of the controllers was that the design did not translate into a linear acceleration from the center through the arc of the stick travel. The controllers did, however, include a pause button, a unique feature at the time. Various third-party replacement joysticks were also released, including those made by Wico.


title: Atari 5200

text: Atari Inc. released the Pro-Line Trak-Ball controller for the system, which was used primarily for gaming titles such as "Centipede" and "Missile Command". A paddle controller and an updated self-centering version of the original controller were also in development, but never made it to market.


title: Atari 5200

text: Games were shipped with plastic card overlays that snapped in over the keypad. The card would indicate which game functions, such as changing the view or vehicle speed, were assigned to each key.


title: Atari 5200

text: The primary controller was ranked the 10th worst video game controller by IGN editor Craig Harris. An editor for "Next Generation" said that their non-centering joysticks "rendered many games nearly unplayable".


title: Atari 5200

text: David H. Ahl in 1983 described the Atari 5200 as "a 400 computer in disguise". Its internal design is a tweaked version of the Atari 8-bit family using the ANTIC, POKEY, and GTIA coprocessors. Software designed for one does not run on the other, but source code can be mechanically converted unless it uses computer-specific features. "Antic" magazine reported in 1984 that "the similarities grossly outweigh the differences, so that a 5200 program can be developed and almost entirely debugged [on an Atari 8-bit computer] before testing on a 5200". John J. Anderson of "Creative Computing" alluded to the incompatibility being intentional, caused by Atari's console division removing 8-bit compatibility to not lose control to the rival computer division.


title: Atari 5200

text: In 1987, Atari Corporation released the XE Game System console, which is a repackaged 65XE (from 1985) with a detachable keyboard that can run home computer titles directly, unlike the 5200. Anderson wrote in 1984 that Atari could have released a console compatible with computer software in 1981.


title: Atari 5200

text: The Atari 5200 did not fare well commercially compared to its predecessor, the Atari 2600. While it touted superior graphics to the 2600 and Mattel's Intellivision, the system was initially incompatible with the 2600's expansive library of games, and some market analysts have speculated that this hurt its sales, especially since an Atari 2600 cartridge adapter had been released for the Intellivision II. (A revised two-port model was released in 1983, along with a game adapter that allowed gamers to play all 2600 games.) This lack of new games was due in part to a lack of funding, with Atari continuing to develop most of its games for the saturated 2600 market.


title: Atari 5200

text: Many of the 5200's games appeared simply as updated versions of 2600 titles, which failed to excite consumers. Its pack-in game, "Super Breakout", was criticized for not doing enough to demonstrate the system's capabilities. This gave the ColecoVision a significant advantage as its pack-in, "Donkey Kong", delivered a more authentic arcade experience than any previous game cartridge. In its list of the top 25 game consoles of all time, IGN claimed that the main reason for the 5200's market failure was the technological superiority of its competitor, while other sources maintain that the two consoles are roughly equivalent in power.


title: Atari 5200

text: The 5200 received much criticism for the "sloppy" design of its non-centering analog controllers. Anderson described the controllers as "absolutely atrocious".


title: Atari 5200

text: David H. Ahl of "Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games" said in 1983 that the "Atari 5200 is, dare I say it, Atari's answer to Intellivision, Colecovision, and the Astrocade", describing the console as a "true mass market" version of the Atari 8-bit computers despite the software incompatibility. He criticized the joystick's imprecise control but said that "it is at least as good as many other controllers", and wondered why "Super Breakout" was the pack-in game when it did not use the 5200's improved graphics.


title: Atari 5200

text: Critical to the plot of the 1984 film "Cloak and Dagger" is an Atari 5200 game cartridge called "Cloak & Dagger". The arcade version appears in the movie; in actuality the Atari 5200 version was started but never completed. The game was under development with the title "Agent X" when the movie producers and Atari learned of each other's projects and decided to cooperate. This collaboration was part of a larger phenomenon, of films featuring video games as critical plot elements (as with "Tron" and "The Last Starfighter") and of video game tie-ins to the same films (as with the "Tron" games for the Intellivision and other platforms).


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: The Sea of Okhotsk ( ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a stretch of eastern Siberian coast along the west and north. The northeast corner is the Shelikhov Gulf. The sea is named after the Okhota river, which in turn named after the Even word () meaning "river".


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: The Sea of Okhotsk covers an area of , with a mean depth of and a maximum depth of . It is connected to the Sea of Japan on either side of Sakhalin: on the west through the Sakhalin Gulf and the Gulf of Tartary; on the south through the La Pérouse Strait.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: In winter, navigation on the Sea of Okhotsk is impeded by ice floes. Ice floes form due to the large amount of freshwater from the Amur River, lowering the salinity of upper levels, often raising the freezing point of the sea surface. The distribution and thickness of ice floes depends on many factors: the location, the time of year, water currents, and the sea temperatures.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: Cold air from Siberia forms sea ice in the northwestern Sea of Okhotsk. As the ice forms, it expels salt into the deeper layers. This heavy water flows east toward the Pacific, carrying oxygen and nutrients, supporting abundant sea life. The Sea of Okhotsk has warmed in some places by as much as since preindustrial times, three times faster than the global mean. Warming inhibits the formation of sea ice and also drives fish populations north. The salmon catch on the northern Japanese coast has fallen 70% in the last 15 years, while the Russian chum salmon catch has quadrupled.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: With the exception of Hokkaido, one of the Japanese home islands, the sea is surrounded on all sides by territory administered by the Russian Federation. South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands were administered by Japan until 1945. Japan claims the southern Kuril Islands and refers to them as Northern Territories.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: Some of the Sea of Okhotsk's islands are quite large, including Japan's second-largest island, Hokkaido, as well as Russia's largest island, Sakhalin. Practically all of the sea's islands are either in coastal waters or belong to the various islands making up the Kuril Islands chain. These fall either under undisputed Japanese or Russian ownership or disputed ownership between Japan and Russia. Iony Island is the only island located in open waters and belongs to the Khabarovsk Krai of the Russian Federation. The majority of the sea's islands are uninhabited, making them ideal breeding grounds for seals, sea lions, seabirds, and other sea island fauna. Large colonies, with over a million individuals, of crested auklets use the Sea of Okhotsk as a nesting site.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: The Okhotsk people and the later Ainu culture, a coastal fishing and hunter-gatherer people, were located around the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, as well as in northern Japan.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: Russian explorers Ivan Moskvitin and Vassili Poyarkov were the first Europeans to visit the Sea of Okhotsk (and, probably, the island of Sakhalin) in the 1640s. The Dutch captain Maarten Gerritsz Vries in the "Breskens" entered the Sea of Okhotsk from the south-east in 1643, and charted parts of the Sakhalin coast and Kuril Islands, but failed to realize that either Sakhalin or Hokkaido are islands.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: The first and foremost Russian settlement on the shore was the port of Okhotsk, which relinquished commercial supremacy to Ayan in the 1840s. The Russian-American Company all but monopolized the commercial navigation of the sea in the first half of the 19th century.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: The Second Kamchatka Expedition under Vitus Bering systematically mapped the entire coast of the sea, starting in 1733. Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse and William Robert Broughton were the first non-Russian European navigators known to have passed through these waters other than Vries. Ivan Krusenstern explored the eastern coast of Sakhalin in 1805. Mamiya Rinzō and Gennady Nevelskoy determined that Sakhalin was indeed an island separated from the mainland by a narrow strait. The first detailed summary of the hydrology of the Sea of Okhotsk was prepared and published by Stepan Makarov in 1894.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: The Sea of Okhotsk is one of the world's richest in biological resources, with various kinds of fish, shellfish and crabs.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: The harsh conditions of crab fishing in the Sea of Okhotsk is the subject of the most famous novel of the Japanese writer Takiji Kobayashi, "The Crab Cannery Ship" (1929).


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: The Peanut Hole (named for its shape) was an area of open ocean at the center of the Sea of Okhotsk, about wide and long, that was surrounded by Russia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Since the Peanut Hole was not in the Russian EEZ, any country could fish there, and some began doing so in large numbers in 1991, catching perhaps as much as one million metric tons of pollock in 1992. This was seen by the Russian Federation as presenting a danger to Russian fish stocks, since the fish move in and out of the Peanut Hole from the Russian EEZ.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: The Russian Federation petitioned the United Nations to declare the Peanut Hole to be part of Russia's continental shelf. In November 2013, a United Nations subcommittee accepted the Russian argument, and in March 2014 the full United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf ruled in favor of the Russian Federation.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: Bowhead whales were first caught in 1847, and dominated the catch between 1852 and the late 1860s. Between 1850 and 1853 the majority of the fleet went to the Bering Strait region to hunt bowheads, but intense competition, poor ice conditions, and declining catches forced the fleet back to the Sea of Okhotsk. From 1854 to 1856, an average of over 160 vessels cruised in the sea each year. As catches declined between 1858 and 1860 the fleet shifted back to the Bering Strait region.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: South Sakhalin was administered by Japan as Karafuto Prefecture from 1907 to 1949. The Kuril Islands were Japanese from 1855 and 1875 till the end of World War II in 1945. Afterward, the Soviet Union occupied the territory.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: During the Cold War, the Sea of Okhotsk was the scene of several successful U.S. Navy operations (including Operation Ivy Bells) to tap Soviet Navy undersea communications cables. These operations were documented in the book "". The sea (and surrounding area) were also the scene of the Soviet attack on Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in 1983. The Soviet Pacific Fleet used the sea as a ballistic missile submarine bastion, a strategy that Russia continues.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: In the Japanese language, the sea has no traditional Japanese name despite its close location to the Japanese territories and is called ' ('), which is a transcription of the Russian name. Additionally, Okhotsk Subprefecture, Hokkaidō which faces the sea, also known as , is named after the sea.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: Twenty-nine zones of possible oil and gas accumulation have been identified on the Sea of Okhotsk shelf, which runs along the coast. Total reserves are estimated at 3.5 billion tons of equivalent fuel, including 1.2 billion tons of oil and 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas.


title: Sea of Okhotsk

text: On 18 December 2011, the Russian oil drilling rig "Kolskaya" capsized and sank in a storm in the Sea of Okhotsk, some from Sakhalin island, where it was being towed from Kamchatka. Reportedly, its pumps failed, causing it to take on water and sink. The platform carried 67 people, of which 14 were rescued by the "Magadan" and the tugboat "Natftogaz-55". The platform was subcontracted to a company working for the Russian energy giant Gazprom.


title: Rayman Legends

text: Rayman Legends is a platform video game developed by Ubisoft Montpellier and published by Ubisoft. It is the fifth main title in the "Rayman" series and the direct sequel to the 2011 game "Rayman Origins". The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and PlayStation Vita platforms in August and September 2013. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were released in February 2014, with a Stadia version released in November 2021. A Nintendo Switch port, titled Rayman Legends Definitive Edition, was released in North America, Europe and Australia on September 12, 2017.


title: Rayman Legends

text: "Rayman Legends" was announced at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2012 for Wii U and was planned for release during the console's launch window. However, the game was delayed to February 2013 in order to put the finishing touches to the game, and due to the financial failure of "ZombiU", the release was delayed again by six months and the game was made multi-platform.


title: Rayman Legends

text: "Rayman Legends" received critical acclaim upon release. Critics praised the game's visuals, level design, controls, soundtrack, overall gameplay, and the large amount of content. The game experienced slow sales on release, but sold over a million copies by 2014.


title: Rayman Legends

text: The game carries on the style of gameplay from "Rayman Origins" in which up to four players (depending on the format) simultaneously make their way through various levels. Lums can be collected by touching them, defeating enemies, or freeing captured Teensies. Collecting Teensies unlocks new worlds, which can be played in any order once they are available. Along with Rayman, Globox, and the Teensies returning as playable characters, players can now control the new female character Barbara the Barbarian Princess, her sister and their cousins, once they are rescued from certain stages.


title: Rayman Legends

text: In addition to the main playable characters, Murfy the greenbottle, who first appeared in "", appears as an assist character. Murfy can perform various actions such as cutting through ropes, activating mechanisms, grabbing hold of enemies and assisting in gathering Lums. These offer a range of levels in which co-operation is required to progress. In the Wii U, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation 4 versions of the game, an additional player can control Murfy directly with touch controls, using the Wii U GamePad, the Vita's front touch screen, and the Dual Shock 4 touchpad respectively. In single-player mode, control will switch over to Murfy during certain sections whilst the computer controls the player's character. In the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC versions of the game, Murfy moves automatically and can be prompted to interact with certain objects with button controls. Other new features include sections where players can fire projectile fists at enemies and rhythm based levels set to covers of songs such as "Black Betty", "Eye of the Tiger", and "Woo-Hoo".


title: Rayman Legends

text: The game features over one hundred twenty levels, including forty remastered levels from the original "Rayman Origins", which are unlocked by obtaining Lucky Tickets, which can also win additional Lums and Teensies. Some levels feature remixed 'Invaded' versions, which must be completed as quickly as possible. The game also offers daily and weekly challenge stages, in which players can compete with other players via leaderboards in challenges such as collecting a certain number of Lums in a short time or surviving the longest on a stage. More challenge stages can be accessed by raising the player's 'awesomeness' rating, which increases by collecting trophies earned by rescuing Teensies, collecting a high number of Lums in each level or by having a high leaderboard position at the end of a challenge. A local multiplayer football game, Kung Foot, is also featured, in which players use attacks to knock a football into the opponent's goal.


title: Rayman Legends

text: Its plot takes place one century after the events of "Rayman Origins". Rayman, Globox, and the Teensies have been asleep ever since. During that time, the Bubble Dreamer's nightmares grew in strength and numbers, and so has the Magician (who has survived the explosion in "Rayman Origins"), who has split into five "Dark Teensies". Rayman and friends are awakened by their friend Murfy who tells them about the bad news and tells them that the ten princesses of the land (including Barbara) and the Teensies have been captured by the nightmares and the Dark Teensies. Rayman, Globox, the Teensies, and Murfy set out to defeat these new threats. After defeating four of the Dark Teensies and fighting the worst of the nightmares, including a mechanical dragon built and controlled by the fourth Dark Teensie in his underwater base, Rayman and friends go to Olympus Maximus and confront a giant cloud composed of little ferocious dark creatures of dark energy known as Hades’ Hand. After the creature has been destroyed and the last Dark Teensie is sent to the moon, the credits roll. If four hundred teensies are saved, the player unlocks the last world of the game, Living Dead Party. Once completed, the nightmares are defeated and the player is awarded ten thousand lums and six new invasion paintings. Once the player saves all seven hundred (or eight hundred and twenty-six in the Nintendo Switch version) Teensies, they unlock the Golden Teensie.


title: Rayman Legends

text: The game was first leaked in an online marketing survey, which hinted that the upcoming "Rayman Origins 2" would include dragons, vampires, ghosts, the return of the Land of the Livid Dead and also someone dear to the "Rayman" series, in addition to returning features from its predecessor. Subsequently, Ubisoft registered the domain names "RaymanLegends.com" and "Rayman-Legends.com".


title: Rayman Legends

text: On 27 April 2012, the game's first trailer was leaked, revealing several details about it, including new playable characters, as well as the inclusion of online multiplayer. The end of the trailer also showcased Wii U exclusive features such as the use of NFC to make figures placed on the touchscreen appear on the game, as demonstrated with figures of Rabbids and Ezio from "Assassin's Creed". Ubisoft later released a statement that confirmed its development, though stated it was "intended as a purely internal demonstrative video, and in no way represents the final game, the final console or their features."


title: Rayman Legends

text: The game was officially unveiled for the Wii U and demonstrated by Ubisoft at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012 trade show, Murfy appeared as a playable character in the demo. Though Ubisoft has only confirmed the game's release on the Wii U, Ubisoft senior game manager Michael Micholic stated that Ubisoft is considering PS3, Xbox 360 and PC versions of "Rayman Legends" as "we're looking at a lot of different launch options". A trailer released at Gamescom 2012 revealed it would be exclusive to the Wii U.


title: Rayman Legends

text: It was originally set to be released on 30 November 2012 (as a Wii U launch title). However, on 8 October 2012, it was reported to be delayed. On 13 December 2012, a demo of the game was released on the Wii U eShop. The official release date was revealed to be 26 February 2013, but was delayed further to September 2013 to allow for the title to have a simultaneous release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This delay upset fans since the developer had stated that the Wii U version was already finished. Fans started a petition for the game to be released on the original date on the Wii U, which had over 11,000 people signed onto it. To appease fans, Ubisoft said the Wii U would get another exclusive demo in the future, however this was just as negatively received. Developers that worked on the game have also expressed their distaste for the delay, while creator Michel Ancel was photographed with protesters campaigning for the release of the game.


title: Rayman Legends

text: In response to the delay, the development team announced that they will be releasing the game's Online Challenges mode for free via the Nintendo eShop, which released on 25 April 2013. This mode features daily challenges based on one of five scenarios, one of which is exclusive to Wii U, and features online leaderboards and ghost functionality. They also stated that with the extra development time, they would be adding new levels, enemies and more to the game. On 24 February 2013, it was revealed that Michel Ancel and the Montpellier team might leave Ubisoft over the controversy but Ubisoft denied any rumours. According to Yves Guillemot, Chairman and CEO of Ubisoft, "ZombiU"s poor sales performance led to the decision of making "Rayman Legends" a multiplatform game. Although the team considered using Xbox Smartglass to recreate the game's Wii U GamePad features on Xbox 360, the system was not responsive enough.


title: Rayman Legends

text: On 1 August 2013 it was announced that Wii U owners who downloaded the "Rayman Legends Challenges App" prior to 28 August 2013 receive an exclusive costume for Rayman. Pre-orders of certain versions of the game either come with bonus character Avelina, inspired by Aveline de Grandpré from "", or bonus costumes for Rayman. On 7 August 2013, in a Nintendo Direct presentation, 2 new costumes were announced for the Wii U version: a Mario costume for Rayman, and a Luigi costume for Globox. On 23 August, the "Rayman Legends Musical Beatbox App became" available on the internet, iTunes, and Android devices. This app allows users to create their own songs from scratch, or by using Legendary Mode, which allows them to edit the game songs with 3 choices: Teensies in Trouble, 20000 Lums Under the Sea, and Fiesta de los Muertos. On 28 August 2013, Ubisoft announced on the "Rayman Legends" site that the European PlayStation Vita Version has been delayed to 12 September 2013 to apply the "final level of polish" players expect from a "Rayman" game.


title: Rayman Legends

text: The game features various improvements to the Ubi Art Framework engine used in "Origins". These include a new dynamic lighting system, which lightens or silhouettes characters based on their environment, along with stealth sections that make use of light and shadow, and the seamless integration of 3D elements in 2D environments, made prominent in the game's 3D modelled bosses and monsters.


title: Rayman Legends

text: A smartphone game based on Legends' art style, "Rayman Fiesta Run", was developed by Pastagames and released for iOS and Android devices on 7 November 2013. It is the sequel to the previous title, "Rayman Jungle Run".


title: Rayman Legends

text: On the PS4 and Xbox One, "Rayman Legends" took advantage of the improved specifications. This means the game uses uncompressed textures and features reduced loading times between levels. Rayman's bonus costumes from the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions are also readily available in these versions.


title: Rayman Legends

text: A Nintendo Switch port co-developed by Pastagames (who would later collaborate with Ubisoft on "Rayman Mini"), nicknamed "Definitive Edition", was released in September 2017.


title: Rayman Legends

text: In 2020, Ubisoft announced a "Play Your Part, Play At Home" campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of this campaign, PC users were able to redeem a free digital copy of "Rayman Legends" (among other games) via the Ubisoft website.


title: Rayman Legends

text: "Rayman Legends" received universal critical acclaim according to the review aggregators Metacritic and GameRankings (receiving respectively 92% and 93% of positive reviews and scores). Edge gave the game a 9/10 praising it by saying "One of the most jubilant, vividly imagined and open-hearted platformers to come along in a long time".


title: Rayman Legends

text: GamesRadar gave the game a score of 4.5 out of 5 stars, praising the level variety and presentation, whilst criticizing the sometimes chaotic multiplayer and some of the touchscreen sections during solo play.


title: Rayman Legends

text: Tom McShea of GameSpot rated the game a 9.0/10 praising the game mechanics, the level design and the local co-op.


title: Rayman Legends

text: GameTrailers gave the game a score of 9.1/10, stating that the co-operative play on the Wii U GamePad "only serves to complement the game design".


title: Rayman Legends

text: Jose Otero of IGN rated the game a 9.5/10, praising the gameplay and the design of the levels, saying that "Naturally, Rayman starts out with simple running, jumping, and punching, but before you know it you’re sneaking past dozens of deadly traps, battling huge bosses, or playing through awesome challenge levels that look like '90s music videos. Every time I thought I found a personal favorite stage, the next one came along and replaced it", but criticized the absence of online co-op.


title: Rayman Legends

text: Danielle Riendeau of Polygon rated the game an 8.5/10 saying that it is "a beautifully designed gauntlet".


title: Rayman Legends

text: Thomas Whitehead of Nintendo Life gave the Wii U version an "excellent" 9/10, stating it is "close to perfection", but with "minor missteps". He criticized the game's short length but added that "Clearly aware of this, the developers made those hours utterly glorious".


title: Rayman Legends

text: Although "Legends" outsold "Origins" in its first week from international sales with the Wii U version selling the most copies, the game failed to meet sales expectations. As of November 2013, the game's sales were approaching one million units, according to Ubisoft. In early November 2014, Ubisoft reported that "Rayman Legends" was still selling well and contributing to the company's earnings.


title: Ant McPartlin

text: Anthony David McPartlin (born 18 November 1975) is an English television presenter, singer, rapper, comedian and actor. He is best known for working alongside Dec Donnelly as part of the presenting duo Ant & Dec.


title: Ant McPartlin

text: McPartlin came to prominence, alongside Donnelly, in the children's drama series "Byker Grove", with both of the boys establishing successful careers as television presenters, in which presented "SMTV Live" (between 1998 and 2001), "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!" and "Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway" (since 2002), and "Britain's Got Talent" (since 2007).


title: Ant McPartlin

text: Other notable highlights of McPartlin's career alongside Donnelly include presenting Saturday night takeaway "PokerFace", "Push the Button", "Pop Idol", and "Red or Black?", being hosts of charity appeal "Text Santa" (between 2011 and 2014), and also performing as pop music duo PJ & Duncan.


title: Ant McPartlin

text: McPartlin's first appearance on television was on the children's workshop programme "Why Don't You?", but his big break came when he rose to prominence playing the character of PJ in the CBBC series "Byker Grove". It was during his time on the programme that he first met Declan Donnelly, who was cast in the part of Duncan. The pair formed a close friendship on the programme, both socially and professionally, with the men performing as their characters until their departure from the programme in 1993. During their tenure, the pair created a number of hit records under the label of "PJ & Duncan AKA", including the song "Tonight I'm Free" that had been performed on "Byker Grove".


title: Ant McPartlin

text: From then onwards, McPartlin and Donnelly worked together on television, creating the presenting duo of Ant & Dec. Initially, the pair continued to work in children's television with the Saturday morning hit "SMTV Live", before they eventually branched out into gameshows – "Friends Like These", "PokerFace" and "Push the Button" – along with talent shows – "Pop Idol", and "Britain's Got Talent" – and entertainment programmes – "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!", and "Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway". The pair continued to maintain work in acting, starring in a tribute to "The Likely Lads", in the form of a remake of an episode from the show's sequel "Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?" entitled "No Hiding Place". In 2006, McPartlin and Donnelly starred together in the film "Alien Autopsy".


title: Ant McPartlin

text: In 2007, it was discovered that two shows, "Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon" and "Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway", which he co-presented with Donnelly, had defrauded viewers participating in phone-ins. The latter was produced by the pair's own production company.


title: Ant McPartlin

text: In April 2009, Ant & Dec achieved wide international exposure when, as backstage commentators for "Britain's Got Talent", they interviewed contestant Susan Boyle, whose audition would become the most-viewed YouTube video of the year and whose record album topped sales charts in dozens of countries.


title: Ant McPartlin

text: On 22 July 2006, McPartlin married his longtime girlfriend, make-up artist Lisa Armstrong at Cliveden, a country house hotel in Buckinghamshire. The couple were married for 11 years before eventually announcing on 15 January 2018 that they were divorcing.


title: Ant McPartlin

text: McPartlin was a fervent Labour Party supporter until the 2010 election, when he voted for the Conservative Party. In February 2013, he told "The Guardian" newspaper that he would struggle to justify voting for either political party in the future.


title: Ant McPartlin

text: In 2015, McPartlin went into hospital for an operation to treat his knee and was advised to take prescription drugs to combat pain after the surgery was botched. Over the course of the following two years, he slowly became addicted to taking the drugs (one of which being the opioid OxyContin) along with alcohol, including use before television appearances.


title: Ant McPartlin

text: In June 2017, he sought treatment for his addiction and checked himself in for rehabilitation; he was released two months later.


title: Ant McPartlin

text: On 18 March 2018 McPartlin was involved in a road traffic collision in London, after which he was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving. The following day, on 19 March, he met with Dec and ITV and suspended further presenting duties to return to rehab for further treatment. On 16 April 2018, he was interviewed under caution and subsequently charged with drink-driving. McPartlin pleaded guilty to the offence at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court the following month, and was banned from driving for 20 months and fined £86,000, Britain's highest-ever penalty for drink-driving. He had previously been banned from driving for 30 days and fined £350 for driving at on the A1(M) motorway.


title: Ant McPartlin

text: In August 2018 McPartlin announced he would be taking a break from television presenting duties until 2019, saying: "My recovery is going very well and for that to continue having spoken to Dec and ITV, I have made the decision to take the rest of the year off."


title: Ant McPartlin

text: In January 2019, McPartlin returned to his television duties alongside Donnelly at the "Britain's Got Talent" auditions.


title: Ant McPartlin

text: On 7 August 2021, McPartlin married Anne-Marie Corbett, who was formerly his personal assistant, at St Michael's Church in Heckfield, Hampshire. They had been in a relationship since 2018.


title: Ant McPartlin

text: McPartlin and Donnelly are patrons of the charity Sunshine Fund. When their single "Let's Get Ready to Rhumble" reached No.1, Ant & Dec donated the single's success to the charity ChildLine. They also support the Text Santa appeal.


title: Ant McPartlin

text: In 2007, McPartlin, with his on-screen presenting partner, Donnelly, signed a £30 million two-and-a-half-year contract with ITV.


title: Ant McPartlin

text: McPartlin was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for his services to broadcasting and entertainment.


title: Ant McPartlin

text: The following listed below are the television awards that McPartlin has been nominated for or awarded with, primarily while working alongside Declan Donnelly as Ant & Dec:


title: Biopunk

text: Biopunk (a portmanteau of "biotechnology" or "biology" and "punk") is a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on biotechnology. It is derived from cyberpunk, but focuses on the implications of biotechnology rather than mechanical cyberware and information technology. Biopunk is concerned with synthetic biology. It is derived of cyberpunk involving bio-hackers, biotech megacorporations, and oppressive government agencies that manipulate human DNA. Most often keeping with the dark atmosphere of cyberpunk, biopunk generally examines the dark side of genetic engineering and represents the low side of biotechnology.


title: Biopunk

text: Biopunk is a subgenre of science fiction closely related to cyberpunk that focuses on the near-future (most often unintended) consequences of the biotechnology revolution following the invention of recombinant DNA. Biopunk stories explore the struggles of individuals or groups, often the product of human experimentation, against a typically dystopian backdrop of totalitarian governments and megacorporations which misuse biotechnologies as means of social control and profiteering. Unlike cyberpunk, it builds not on information technology, but on synthetic biology. Like in postcyberpunk fiction, individuals are usually modified and enhanced not with cyberware, but by genetic manipulation. A common feature of biopunk fiction is the "black clinic", which is a laboratory, clinic, or hospital that performs illegal, unregulated, or ethically-dubious biological modification and genetic engineering procedures. Many features of biopunk fiction have their roots in William Gibson's "Neuromancer", one of the first cyberpunk novels.


title: Biopunk

text: One of the prominent writers in this field is Paul Di Filippo, though he called his collection of such stories ribofunk, a blend of "ribosome" and "funk". In "RIBOFUNK: The Manifesto", Di Filippo wrote:


title: Biopunk

text: Di Filippo suggests that precursors of biopunk fiction include H. G. Wells' "The Island of Doctor Moreau"; Julian Huxley's "The Tissue-Culture King"; some of David H. Keller's stories, Damon Knight's "Natural State and Other Stories"; Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth's "Gravy Planet"; novels of T. J. Bass and John Varley; Greg Bear's "Blood Music" and Bruce Sterling's "Schismatrix". The stories of Cordwainer Smith, including his first and most famous "Scanners Live in Vain", also foreshadow biopunk themes. In Brazil, the biopunk movement was popularized in 2020 with the book "O Último Ruivo", written by Clayton De La Vie, which portrays a reality where society has greatly improved medically and is able to eradicate nearly all diseases in the world, at the cost of widespread ethnic cleansing and genocide. The chaotic scenario is replaced by an oppressive and fear-laden environment on the part of a coerced population.


title: Grilling

text: Grilling is a form of cooking that involves dry heat applied to the surface of food, commonly from above, below or from the side. Grilling usually involves a significant amount of direct, radiant heat, and tends to be used for cooking meat and vegetables quickly. Food to be grilled is cooked on a grill (an open wire grid such as a gridiron with a heat source above or below), using a cast iron/frying pan, or a grill pan (similar to a frying pan, but with raised ridges to mimic the wires of an open grill).


title: Grilling

text: Heat transfer to the food when using a grill is primarily through thermal radiation. Heat transfer when using a grill pan or griddle is by direct conduction. In the United States, when the heat source for grilling comes from above, grilling is called broiling. In this case, the pan that holds the food is called a broiler pan, and heat transfer is through thermal radiation.


title: Grilling

text: Direct heat grilling can expose food to temperatures often in excess of . Grilled meat acquires a distinctive roast aroma and flavor from a chemical process called the Maillard reaction. The Maillard reaction only occurs when foods reach temperatures in excess of .


title: Grilling

text: Studies have shown that cooking beef, pork, poultry, and fish at high temperatures can lead to the formation of heterocyclic amines, benzopyrenes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are carcinogens.


title: Grilling

text: Marination may reduce the formation of these compounds. Grilling is often presented as a healthy alternative to cooking with oils, although the fat and juices lost by grilling can contribute to drier food.


title: Grilling

text: In Japanese cities, yakitori carts, restaurants, or shops can be found. These contain charcoal-fired grills and marinated grilled meat on a stick. Yakiniku is a type of food where meat and vegetables are grilled directly over small charcoal or gas grills at high temperatures. This style of cooking has become popular throughout Asia.


title: Grilling

text: In Korean cuisine, "gui" is a grilled dish. Examples of Korean barbecue include bulgogi (thinly sliced or shredded beef marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, sugar, green onions, and black pepper), galbi (pork or beef ribs), dak-galbi (spicy marinated chicken), and samgyeopsal (pork belly). Other examples of grilled dishes include gopchang-gui (small intestines), tteok-galbi (grilled short rib patties), and makchang-gui (beef abomasum).


title: Grilling

text: In the Philippines, pork or chicken inihaw (similar in taste to yakitori), inasal, isaw, and satti are sold commonly as street food or in specialist restaurants.


title: Grilling

text: In Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand, the popular food item from food vendors is satay, which is marinated meat on a bamboo skewer grilled over a charcoal fire and served with peanut (sate) sauce.


title: Grilling

text: In Germany, the most prominent outdoor form of grilling is using the gridiron over a bed of burning charcoal. Care is taken that the charcoal does not produce flames. Often beer is sprinkled over the sausages or meat and used to suppress flames. The meat is usually marinated before grilling. Besides charcoal, sometimes gas and electric heat sources are used. Other methods are used less frequently.


title: Grilling

text: In Sweden, grilling directly over hot coals is the most prominent form of grilling. Usually the meat is Boston butt, pork chops or pork fillet. It is also common to cook meat and vegetables together on a skewer, this is called "grillspett".


title: Grilling

text: In the United Kingdom, Commonwealth countries, and Ireland, grilling generally refers to cooking food directly under a source of direct, dry heat. The "grill" is usually a separate part of an oven where the food is inserted just under the element. This practice is referred to as "broiling" in North America.


title: Grilling

text: In electric ovens, grilling may be accomplished by placing the food near the upper heating element, with the lower heating element off and the oven door partially open. Grilling in an electric oven may create a large amount of smoke and cause splattering in the oven. Both gas and electric ovens often have a separate compartment for grilling, such as a drawer below the flame or one of the stove top heating elements.


title: Grilling

text: In Argentina and Uruguay, both "asado" (beef roasted on a fire) and steak "a la parrilla" (beefsteak cooked on traditional grill) are staple dishes and even hailed as national specialties.


title: Grilling

text: In Canada, the term most often used is barbecuing, but grilling is used as well. Most Canadians use gas or charcoal grills, with a small electric grill market. Barbecuing in Canada is done all year, with many opting to grill only in the warmer months, while storing their grills indoors during the winter. Restaurants that serve barbecue products are plentiful and many stores stock grills and grilling accessories.


title: Grilling

text: In Northern Mexico, "carne asada" (Spanish for "grilled meat") is a staple food. Popular cuts include arrachera, beefsteak and rib eye, as well as chorizo and chicken, among others. Charcoal, mesquite or firewood are used for the grilling.


title: Grilling

text: In the United States, the use of the word grill refers to cooking food directly over a source of dry heat, typically with the food sitting on a metal grate that leaves "grill marks." Grilling is usually done outdoors on charcoal grills or gas grills; a recent trend is the concept of infrared grilling. Grilling may also be performed using stove-top "grill pans" which have raised metal ridges for the food to sit on, or using an indoor electric grill.


title: Grilling

text: A skewer, brochette, or rotisserie may be used to cook small pieces of food. The resulting food product is often called a "kabob" ("US term") or "kebab" which means "to grill" in Persian. Kebab is short for "shish kebab" (shish = skewer).


title: Grilling

text: Mesquite or hickory wood chips (damp) may be added on top of the coals to create a smoldering effect that provides additional flavor to the food. Other hardwoods such as pecan, apple, maple and oak may also be used.


title: Grilling

text: As is true of any high-temperature frying or baking, when meat is grilled at high temperatures, the cooking process can generate carcinogenic chemicals. Two processes are thought to be responsible. Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are formed when amino acids, sugars, and creatine react at high temperatures. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are formed when fat and juices from meat grilled directly over an open fire drip onto the fire, causing flames. These flames contain PAHs that then adhere to the surface of the meat. Avoiding prolonged cooking times or direct exposure to open flames and hot metal surfaces may reduce HCA and PAH formation. Precooking meat in a microwave can help by reducing the length of exposure to high heat required to finish cooking.


title: Grilling

text: Grid ironing is the cooking of meats or other foods using a grill suspended above a heat source. Grilling is often performed outdoors using charcoal (real wood or preformed briquettes), wood, or propane gas. Food is cooked using direct radiant heat. Some outdoor grills include a cover so they can be used as smokers or for grill-roasting/barbecue.The suspended metal grate is often referred to as a gridiron.


title: Grilling

text: Outdoor grilling on a gridiron may be referred to as "barbecue", though in US usage, the term "barbecue" refers to the cooking of meat through indirect heat and smoke. "Barbecue" may refer to the grilled food itself, to a distinct type of cooked meat called Southern barbecue, to the grilling device used to cook the food (a "barbecue grill"), or to the social event of cooking and eating such food (which may also be called a "cook-out" or "braai").


title: Grilling

text: Charcoal kettle-grilling refers to the process of grilling over a charcoal fire in a kettle, to the point that the edges are charred, or charred grill marks are visible. Some restaurants seek to re-create the charcoal-grilled experience via the use of ceramic lava rocks or infrared heat sources, offering meats that are cooked in this manner as "charcoal-cooked" or "charcoal-grilled".


title: Grilling

text: By using a baking sheet pan placed above the grill surface, as well as a drip pan below the surface, it is possible to combine grilling and roasting to cook meats that are stuffed or coated with breadcrumbs or batter, and to bake breads and even casseroles and desserts. When cooking stuffed or coated meats, the foods can be baked first on the sheet pan, and then placed directly on the grilling surface for char marks, effectively cooking twice; the drip pan will be used to capture any crumbs that fall off from the coating or stuffing.


title: Grilling

text: It is possible to braise meats and vegetables in a pot on top of a grill. A gas or electric grill would be the best choices for what is known as "barbecue-braising" or "grill-braising", or combining grilling directly on the surface and braising in a pot. To braise on a grill, put a pot on top of the grill, cover it, and let it simmer for a few hours. There are two advantages to barbecue-braising. The first is that this method allows for browning the meat directly on the grill before the braising, and the second is that it also allows for glazing the meat with sauce and finishing it directly over the fire after the braising, effectively cooking the meat three times, which results in a soft textured product that falls right off the bone. This method of cooking is slower than regular grilling but faster than pit-smoking, starting out fast, slowing down, and then speeding up again to finish. If a pressure cooker is used, the cooking time will be much faster.


title: Grilling

text: Many restaurants incorporate an indoor grill as part of their cooking apparatus. These grills resemble outdoor grills, in that they are made up of a grid suspended over a heat source. However, indoor grills are more likely to use electric or gas-based heating elements. Some manufacturers of residential cooking appliances now offer indoor grills for home use, either incorporated into a stove top or as a standalone electric device.


title: Grilling

text: Sear-grill and gear grilling is a process of searing food items over high temperatures. Sear grilling can be achieve using a gas grill, charcoal grill, hybrid grill, or infrared grill where the below flame heats the grill grates to temperatures over 480 °C (900 °F).


title: Grilling

text: Sear-grilling instantly sears the outside of meat to make the food more flavorful. Commonly, grilling heats the surrounding air to cook food. In this method, the grill directly heats the food, not the air.


title: Grilling

text: Stove-top pan grilling is an indoor cooking process that uses a grill pan — similar to a frying pan but with raised ridges to emulate the function or look of a gridiron. In pan grilling, heat is applied directly to the food by the raised ridges and indirectly through the heat radiating off the lower pan surface by the stove-top flame. Stove-top grill pans can be used to put sear marks on meat before it is finished by overhead radiant heat. When cooking leaner meats, oil is often applied to the pan ridges to aid in food release.


title: Grilling

text: Some griddles designed for stove-top use incorporate raised ridges in addition to a flat cooking area. These are either on half of the cooking surface or, in the case of reversible two-sided griddles, on one side with the flat surface on the other.


title: Grilling

text: Foods termed "grilled" may actually be prepared on a hot griddle or flat pan. The griddle or pan may be prepared with oil (or butter), and the food is cooked quickly over a high heat. Griddle-grilling is best for relatively greasy foods such as sausages. Some griddle-grilled foods may have grill marks applied to them during the cooking process with a "branding plate", to mimic the appearance of charbroil-cooked food.


title: Grilling

text: A flattop grill is a cooking appliance that resembles a griddle but performs differently because the heating element is circular rather than straight (side to side). This heating technology creates an extremely hot and even cooking surface, as heat spreads in a radial fashion over the surface.


title: Grilling

text: The first flattop grills originated in Spain and are known as planchas or la plancha. Food that is cooked a la plancha means grilled on a metal plate. Plancha griddles or flat tops are chrome plated which prevents reaction with the food. Some base metal griddles will impart a subtle flavor to the food being cooked.


title: Grilling

text: The flattop grill is a versatile platform for many cooking techniques such as sautéing, toasting, steaming, stir frying, grilling, baking, braising, and roasting, and can also be used in flambéing. In addition, pots and pans can be placed directly on the cooking surface for even more cooking flexibility. In most cases, the steel cooking surface is seasoned like cast iron cookware, providing a natural non-stick surface.


title: Grilling

text: Charbroiling, or chargrilling outside North America, refers to grilling on a surface with wide raised ridges, to the point of having the food slightly charred in texture.


title: Grilling

text: In the United States, oven pan broiling refers to a method of cooking inside an oven on a broil pan with raised ridges, where the heat can be applied from either above or below. In gas and electric ovens, this is accomplished with a heating element and a broil pan. Sometimes, the food is placed near the upper heating element to intensify the heat. The lower heating element may or may not be left off and the oven door is sometimes opened partially. Gas ovens often have a separate compartment for broiling, sometimes a drawer below the bottom flame.


title: Grilling

text: A salamander (also salamander oven or salamander broiler) is a culinary grill characterized by very high temperature overhead electric or gas heating elements. It is used primarily in professional kitchens for overhead grilling. It is also used for toasting, browning of gratin dishes, melting cheeses onto sandwiches, and caramelizing desserts such as crème brûlée.


title: Grilling

text: Salamanders are generally similar to an oven without a front door; the heating element is at the top. They are also more compact: typically only half the height and depth of a conventional oven. For convenience, they are often wall mounted at eye level, enabling easy access and close control of the cooking process. Many salamanders can be fitted with a cast-iron "branding" plate which is used to make grill marks on the surface of meat. Some grills can also be fitted with a rotisserie accessory for roasting meats.


title: Grilling

text: Overhead heat has the advantage of allowing foods containing fats, such as steaks, chops and other cuts of meat, to be grilled without the risk of flare-ups caused by the rendered fat dripping onto the heat source. The salamander's facility for extremely high temperature also takes less cooking time than other grilling techniques, reducing preparation time, which is a benefit in professional kitchens during a busy meal service.


title: Grilling

text: Modern salamanders take their name from the 18th century "salamander", the tool of choice for toasting the top of a dish. It consisted of a thick plate of iron attached to the end of a long handle, with two feet, or rests, arranged near the iron plate for propping the plate over the food to be browned. Its name in turn was taken from the legendary salamander, a mythical amphibian that was believed to be immune to fire.


title: Grilling

text: The flame-grilling machine at Burger King, Carl's Jr./Hardee's, and other fast food restaurants is called a 'broiler'. It works by moving meat patties along a chain conveyor belt between top and bottom burners, grilling both sides of the meat patty at the same time. This concept was invented in 1898, when the Bridge and Beach Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, started manufacturing a vertical cast iron stove. These stoves were designed to allow the meat to be flame-broiled (flame-grilled) on both sides at the same time. Custom hinged steel wire gridirons were built for use in the vertical broilers. The hinged gridirons were slid in and out of the stoves holding the meat while it cooked evenly on both sides, like modern day oven racks. These stoves took up a small amount of counter space. They were used in lunch spots to feed factory workers.


title: Grilling

text: During the 1990s, double-sided grilling was popular in the USA using consumer electrical grills (e.g., the popular George Foreman Grill). US marketers of electric double-sided grilling appliances opted for the global term 'grill' rather than the geographically isolated term "broiler." Hinged double-sided grills are generically known as contact grills.


title: Grilling

text: Whole grilling involves grilling a whole carcass as opposed to grilling individual portion sized cuts. This method is often used in order to avoid the need for complicated grill equipment during, for example, a hunt or expedition in the wild. It is also the traditional method of cooking in several cultures where they do a pig roast, luau, or barbacoa. There are several primitive methods and modern equipment that copies and automates the primitive version:


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Robot Wars is a robot combat competition that was broadcast on British television from 1998 to 2004 and from 2016 to 2018. Each series involves teams of amateur and professional roboteers operating their own constructed remote controlled robots to fight against each other in an arena formed of steel and bullet proof glass fitted with arena hazards and containing areas occupied by hostile and heavier "House Robots". Earlier series included assault and trial courses for competing robots.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: The original version of the show was broadcast on BBC Two from 20 February 1998 to 23 February 2001, on BBC Choice from 8 October 2001 to 7 February 2003 (later repeated on BBC Two) and on Channel 5 from 2 November 2003 to 28 March 2004. A revival was broadcast on BBC Two from 24 July 2016 to 7 January 2018. To date, the show has been broadcast as 10 main series each centred around a single competition, two "Extreme" series with several unconnected events and several special episodes.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Jeremy Clarkson presented the first series, with Craig Charles taking over for the second to seventh series. Philippa Forrester co-hosted the first three series, the fifth, sixth and Extreme 2. Forrester also hosted the spin-off series "Robot Wars Revealed" from 1998 to 1999. The fourth series and Extreme 1 were co-hosted by Julia Reed and the seventh by Jayne Middlemiss. The revived series were hosted by Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon. Jonathan Pearce provided commentary for all series.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Additional series were filmed at the UK venue for specific sectors of the global market, including two series of "Robot Wars Extreme Warriors" with American competitors for the TNN network (hosted by Mick Foley with Rebecca Grant serving as pit reporter), two of "Dutch Robot Wars" for distribution in the Netherlands and a single series for Germany. The fourth series of the UK "Robot Wars" was shown in the US on TNN as "Robot Wars: Grand Champions" in 2002 and hosted by Joanie Laurer.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Its merchandising was commercially successful, being one of the most popular selling toy ranges in 2002 produced by Logistix Kids. It included a mini arena, pullback, friction and ripcord toys and radio-controlled versions of the House Robots.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: In 2003, the roboteers themselves formed "The Fighting Robot Association" and with their associated event organizers, carry on participating in competitions for new audiences. In 2013, Roaming Robots purchased the rights to the "Robot Wars" brand from Robot Wars LLC and operated their travelling robotic combat show under that name. The use of the name "Robot Wars" for live shows ceased in early 2017, being renamed "Extreme Robots".


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: With a peak audience of six million viewers in the UK during the late 1990s, the format went on to become a worldwide success, showing in 45 countries including the US, Australia, Canada, China, India, Germany and Italy. In March 2003, it was dropped by BBC Two after eight series and Mentorn announced it was making 22 episodes for Channel 5, concluding with The Third World Championships broadcast in March 2004. Channel 5 later axed the show after one series due to low ratings.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: In July 2016, the show returned to BBC Two with a new arena, house robots and presenters. The first episode was well received becoming the top trending topic on Twitter that evening and having two million viewers, more than the last episode of the 23rd series of "Top Gear" in the same 8pm Sunday slot just a few weeks earlier. The revived show ran for three series, before it ended in March 2018.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: "Robot Wars" was the brainchild of Marc Thorpe, a designer working for the LucasToys division of Lucasfilm. In 1992, Thorpe had the initial idea for robot combat sport after unsuccessfully attempting to create a radio-controlled vacuum cleaner. In 1994, Marc Thorpe created "Robot Wars" and held the first competition at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Approximately one month prior to the event, Thorpe formed a partnership with New York-based record company Sm:)e Communications, later Profile Records, who provided additional funding.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Between 1995 and 1997, three further "Robot Wars" events took place in America and in 1995, Profile Records partnered with production company Mentorn to produce and televise a "Robot Wars" event in the UK. Mentorn acquired the worldwide television rights from Profile in 1995 after Tom Gutteridge (the head of Mentorn) had seen an amateur tape of a San Francisco event.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Gutteridge and one of his producers Steve Carsey created a television format based on the "Robot Wars" concept. They produced a live event opposite BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush, London and hired Derek Foxwell to build 3 combat robots, 2 of which were named The Mouse and Grunt who would eventually take part in the first UK series of "Robot Wars", to take on three American robots, Thor, La Machine and The Master, all of which were veterans of the original American competition. The Controller of BBC Two, Michael Jackson, attended the event, which was not filmed and he promised to commission a series. However, it was not until 1998 that a subsequent Controller of BBC Two, Mark Thompson, fulfilled Jackson's promise and actually commissioned 6 episodes. Gutteridge and Carsey were producers and Foxwell was the technical supervisor and senior technical consultant. He drafted the rules and regulations and was in charge of the pit area and the technical team, which scrutinised the robots, got them on and off stage and helped the contestants prepare and repair their robots. Mat Irvine, initially a member of the technical team, served as a member of the judging panel in 2002 and 2003.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: The three person judging panel consisted of Noel Sharkey (head judge on every series: 1998–2003, 2016–), Eric Dickinson (1998), Adam Harper (1998–99), Martin Smith (1999–2003), Myra Wilson (2000–01), Mat Irvine (2001–03), Sethu Vijayakumar (2016–) and Lucy Rogers (2016–).


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Profile sought no input or consent from Thorpe before doing this, which aggravated the already troubled relationship between Thorpe and Profile Records and indirectly spurred legal disagreements surrounding the ownership of the "Robot Wars" concept. The legal proceedings surrounding these would last until 6 February 2002. Mentorn used Thorpe as a Consultant on the series, however and the initial series of "Robot Wars" in the UK was broadcast over six weeks in February and March 1998. It was an immediate hit, with more than two million viewers and a further 18 episodes were commissioned by the BBC that year. 155 episodes were produced in total and the show was seen in 26 countries. Two series were produced in the US for The National Network (now Paramount Network) and a version was also shown on Nickelodeon. TechTV (and later G4techTV/G4) in the US aired the UK series proper. Series were also produced in many European countries. Although the series had various directors and producers, all were produced in the UK by Mentorn and executive produced by Tom Gutteridge and Steve Carsey. The initial series were staged in various film studios around London but the stage and pit area became too large to fit into any of the conventional studios, so filming was later moved to an aircraft hangar at RAF Newton.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Viewing figures dropped significantly in the early 2000s, reaching only 1.2 million in the sixth series - the final to be broadcast on BBC Two. Following its move to Channel 5 in November 2003, the show first began airing in a new Sunday night slot and launched with one million viewers; however ratings fell quickly to 800,000 resulting in the show moving to Saturday nights after just three episodes. After Robot Wars ended, an edited half-hour version of this series aired on Fox Kids (later Jetix) from 2004, on Bravo from after 2004, on Dave from 2010 and on Challenge & Sky History from before 2016.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: On 13 January 2016, the BBC confirmed that it would be rebooting the show for a six-part series. The revived series was hosted by Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon with Jonathan Pearce returning as commentator. The first episode was broadcast on 24 July at 8pm, the same slot as "Top Gear". Some robots from the original series returned, including Behemoth and Storm II, as well as four of the original House Robots, which were upgraded to be heavier, faster, better armed and with new looks. The 2016 series was filmed in a warehouse at Westway Park in Renfrew, Scotland.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: The first episode received about two million viewers and was the top trending topic on Twitter with over 20,000 tweets.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: A second rebooted series was commissioned with a first celebrity special in 16 years, in which celebrities, such as Olympians Kadeena Cox and Alistair Brownlee and Jonny Brownlee, TV presenters Suzi Perry, Neil Oliver and Maggie Aderin-Pocock, singer Jordan Stevens and radio presenters Scott Mills and Robbie Savage had bespoke robots designed for them by eight major roboteers, who mentored them during the specials.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: During its original airing, the first rebooted series was sometimes referred to as 'Series 1', presenting itself as a completely new show. Starting in 2017, however, the BBC began referring to it as Series 8, with the following second series appropriately dubbed Series 9, acknowledging itself as a continuation of the original show. Following the 10th series, it was revealed that the BBC had decided not to renew the show for an 11th, and Robot Wars has been axed for the second time, the complete cancellation was met with backlash from fans.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Although the format changed several times over the years, these rules remained the same across all series and competitions.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: There were also two series made for the UK, "Robot Wars Extreme", which did not focus on a single championship.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: The first series of "Robot Wars" was presented by Jeremy Clarkson and co-hosted by Philippa Forrester. In keeping with his edgy persona established on "Top Gear", Clarkson frequently made tongue-in-cheek jokes about competitors and their robots, such as remarking that a contestant robot called "Skarab" looked like "cheese on toast".


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Clarkson left "Robot Wars" after the first series and was replaced with Craig Charles. Charles, well known as playing the character Dave Lister in the science fiction-themed sitcom "Red Dwarf", was seen as taking the programme and its contestants more seriously than Clarkson and was more enthusiastic while presenting it. Charles would close each episode with a four line poem ending with the words ""Robot Wars"". Charles presented "Robot Wars" until it ceased production in 2004.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: In comparison to Charles' background in science fiction, Philippa Forrester was best known as co-host of the science and technology programme "Tomorrow's World". Her role on "Robot Wars" was as the pit reporter who would speak to contestants about their robots before and after battles. Forrester was pit reporter for six of the show's nine series; Julia Reed took the role for Series 4 and Extreme 1 since Forrester was unable to participate in the programme due to pregnancy, but Forrester returned for Series 5, Series 6 and Extreme 2. When the programme moved to Channel 5 for the seventh series, Forrester did not return for unknown reasons, so Jayne Middlemiss took over the pit reporter duties.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Jonathan Pearce was the show's commentator throughout its entire run, becoming one of only two people (the other being judge Noel Sharkey) to appear in every episode of the programme; he commentated in the same loud and enthusiastic manner as his football commentaries. The programme was well known for phrases such as "Roboteers, stand by", "3. 2. 1. Activate" and "Cease!". These phrases were announced by the director, Stuart McDonald and became a recognisable part of the series for the entire duration of its run.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: In 2016, Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon were announced as the hosts of the eighth series, with Jonathan Pearce returning as commentator. They reprised their roles in the ninth and tenth series.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Throughout the series, house robots acted as obstacles to competing robots in battles and challenges. House robots were permitted to attack robots that were in the Corner Patrol Zones at the corners of the arena or upon the submission of a competing robot. The house robots were an intrinsic part of the programme's success and merchandising of these robots was highly successful. Furthermore, the house robots were not subject to the weight limit or weapon rules that contestant robots had to adhere to, the most notable example of this was Sergeant Bash's flamethrower.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: From the Fourth Wars, a non-competitive "Refbot" was present during fights. This robot conveyed officiating signals (such as counting out immobile competitors) on the arena, gave occasional nudges to help battles along and could deploy a fire extinguisher where necessary.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: For Series 8, new versions of Matilda, Shunt, Dead Metal and Sir Killalot were constructed. They are considerably heavier with improved weaponry. All the house robots are over in weight and Sir Killalot now weighs . Visually, all four look similar to their predecessors, but with significant differences: Dead Metal's head has been enlarged with glowing eyes, Matilda's back-mounted fins have been replaced with smaller crocodilian scales, spikes appear on her frill, her eyes are now red and her whole head section now flips up; Shunt has enlarged wheel protectors and metal chimneys replacing the smokestack; and Sir Killalot's armour and helmet has been entirely redesigned. This was said to be to show the actual shape of Sir Killalot's head, rather than the helmet he is wearing. The other house robots did not return for this series.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: There were numerous arena incarnations used during the original run of "Robot Wars" on the BBC. These arenas were also used by international versions such as "Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors" in the United States. The arena was approximately . For Series 1 to 3 the arena was not enclosed as such, as the audience were raised above the arena. The increasing sophistication of weaponry from contestant robots – most notably demonstrated by Hypno-Disc in Series 3 – as well as arena hazards prompted producers to enclose the arena entirely in a perspex box high from Series 4 onwards, to protect the audience and production team from debris.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: In early 2004, the Robot Wars arena was purchased from the television production firm Mentorn by a company called Robot Arenas Ltd., based in the UK, an organization set up by a past competitor in Robot Wars to continue the sport of robot combat in the UK. The arena – valued originally at £11,000 – was sold for scrap in 2005 for £250 by the new owners of the former RAF Newton air base, where the arena was housed. A suit filed against RAF Newton by Robot Arenas Ltd. found that RAF Newton had acted reasonably in the matter and owed no compensation to Robot Arenas Ltd.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: In 2016, a new arena was constructed in a warehouse in Renfrew, on the outskirts of Glasgow, for use in the rebooted series. This arena is square, with a steel floor and higher bulletproof walls, making it harder for robots to be thrown out of the arena.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Throughout Robot Wars' run, arena hazards were introduced and amended. Generally, hazards which proved ineffective were omitted in later series, however some hazards proved to be a success (such as the Pit of Oblivion, Floor Flipper and the Drop Zone) and were retained. The assorted hazards in the arena that changed from one series the next included:


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Pullback and friction toys were made of all the House Robots, with the exception of Cassius Chrome as the toys from Logistix Kids had stopped production when it was introduced for The Seventh Wars and the toys would have resumed production by Series 8, 9 or 10, but this did not happen until Hexbug did so rather late in 2018. There were also pullback and ripcord toys of the Series 3, 4, 5, 6, Extreme 1 and Extreme 2 Competitors Chaos 2, Dantomkia, Firestorm, Hypno-Disc, Panic Attack, Pussycat, Razer, Stinger, Tornado, Wheely Big Cheese and X-Terminator 2. Each came with an accessory.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: There were remote controlled versions of Shunt, Matilda, Sir Killalot and Growler. There were also smaller remote control battlers, which had "immobilisation spots" on the rear of the toy. Sgt. Bash and the competitor robot Tornado were the only two made. These were smaller than the other remote control robots mentioned above.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: There were customisable kit toys of the House Robot Matilda and competitors Hypno-Disc and Panic Attack. A Sergeant Bash pitstop kit was prototyped but never released.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Minibots were a series of small die-cast replica robots. The range included all of the Series 3, 4, 5 and Extreme 1 House Robots along with competitor robots Chaos 2, Dominator 2, Firestorm III, Gemini, Hypno-Disc, Mega Morg, Panic Attack, Plunderbird 5, Pussycat, Razer, Suicidal Tendencies, Tornado, Wheely Big Cheese, Wild Thing and X-Terminator 2. They had an interactive replica arena and two additional playsets.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: Several VHS videos were released of the show. These included "The First Great War" a look at the making of Series 1, "The First World Championship" which was released exclusively on video and the "Ultimate Warrior Collection" featuring exclusive access to the teams of Chaos 2, Hypno-Disc and Razer, along with footage of their battles. Along the same lines an "Ultimate Archive Collection" was released showing exclusive footage of the House Robots and their operators along with some of their greatest battles and most embarrassing moments.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: The Ultimate Warrior Collection and Ultimate Archive Collection were also released on DVD. The footage and content remained the same as the VHS releases. Series 8 was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 29 August 2016, making it the first full series of "Robot Wars" to be released on home media. It was later released digitally. The Complete Compendium 2017 contained Series 9 and 10, along with the "Battle of the Stars" specials, were released on 11 December 2017 as a 5-disc DVD box set.


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: "" is the first game based on the show, released on Game Boy Color in 2000. It was followed in 2001 by "" on PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows and "" on Game Boy Advance. After the first three titles sold over 250,000 copies, a fourth and final game, released on Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows and Xbox in 2002 was called "".


title: Robot Wars (TV series)

text: A large array of other merchandise was produced due to the success of the show. Items available included mugs, glasses, mobile phone covers, toiletries, stationery, clocks, watches, bedding, curtains and clothing. The show even produced an unsuccessful single, which peaked at number 51 in the UK singles charts in December 2000, called "Sir Killalot Vs. Robo Babe - Robot Wars (Android Love)". A custom made game officially licensed under Robot Wars LLC was started on in October 2013, using the video game as the base engine. It featured many robots from the TV series as well as robots competing in the newer live events. It also included the original Robot Wars arena and various live arenas. It was released to the public in September 2015 and an updated version which included more robots was released in February 2016. A smaller update was released in January 2017, adding two new robots. Another update came in August 2017 which added the new Robot Wars arena from the current series and another new arena as well as some unreleased robots from the beta and robots that were due to be released in a cancelled expansion. It is only available for Microsoft Windows.


title: Fasting and abstinence in the Catholic Church

text: The Catholic Church historically observes the disciplines of fasting and abstinence at various times each year. For Catholics, fasting is the reduction of one's intake of food, while abstinence refers to refraining from something that is good, and not inherently sinful, such as meat. The Catholic Church teaches that all people are obliged by God to perform some penance for their sins, and that these acts of penance are both personal and corporeal. Bodily fasting is meaningless unless it is joined with a spiritual avoidance of sin. Basil of Caesarea gives the following exhortation regarding fasting:


text: Contemporary canonical legislation for Catholics of the Latin Church "sui juris" (who comprise most Catholics) is rooted in the 1966 Apostolic Constitution of Pope Paul VI, "Paenitemini", and codified in the 1983 "Code of Canon Law" (in Canons 1249–1253). According to "Paenitemini", the 1983 Code of Canon Law and the Constitution "Sacrosanctum Concilium", on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and where possible, throughout Holy Saturday, both abstinence and fasting are required of Catholics who are not exempted for various reasons. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority until the beginning of the sixtieth. At that age, a person is automatically excused from the requirement to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, but, if health permits, may participate in the fast should he choose to do so. According to canon 1252 of the Code of Canon Law, all Latin-rite Catholics are required observe the laws of abstinence starting at the age of 14, and according to that, "even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance".


text: Furthermore, all Fridays of the year, except when a Solemnity falls upon the Friday, are bound by the law of abstinence.


text: Both "Paenitemini" and the 1983 Code of Canon Law permitted the Episcopal Conferences to propose adjustments of the laws on fasting and abstinence for their home territories. In some countries, the Bishops' Conferences have obtained from Rome the substitution of pious or charitable acts for abstinence from meat on Fridays except Good Friday. Others abstain from eating meat on Lenten Fridays.


text: The Personal Ordinariates for former Anglicans reconciled to the Catholic Church follow the discipline of the Latin Church (of which they are a part) including the norms established by the Council of Catholic Bishops in whose territories they are erected and of which their Ordinaries are members. Thus, for example, in England, the norm is abstinence on all Fridays of the year. The bishop in the United States has emphasized the statements in the USCCB norms "Friday itself remains a special day of penitential observance throughout the year", and "we give first place to abstinence from flesh meat." The Ember Days have been re-established in the Calendar of the Ordinariates, and as long as a Solemnity does not take precedence, the Ember Fridays in September and Advent are days of obligatory abstinence. Obligatory abstinence on Ember Friday in Lent is included in the universal Lenten discipline, and abstinence on Ember Friday on Whitsuntide is not required, as all days of the Octave of Pentecost are Solemnities.


text: Members of the autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches are obliged to follow the discipline of their own particular church. While some Eastern Catholics try to follow the stricter rules of their Orthodox counterparts, the actual canonical obligations of Eastern Catholics to fast and abstain are usually much more lenient than those of the Orthodox.


text: Eastern Christians view fasting as one part of repentance and supporting a spiritual change of heart. Eastern Christians observe two major times of fasting, the "Great Fast" before Easter, and "Phillip's Fast" before the Nativity. The fast period before Christmas is called Philip's Fast because it begins after the feast day of St. Philip. Specific practices vary, but on some days during the week meat, dairy products and (in some countries) oil are avoided, while on other days there is no restriction. During approximately the last week before the Nativity, typically meat, dairy, eggs and oil are avoided on all days, meals are moderate in quantity, and no food is taken between meals.


text: Rules relating to fasting pertain to the quantity of food allowed on days of fasting, while those regulating abstinence refer to the quality or type of food. The Christian tradition of fasts and abstinence developed from Old Testament practices, and were an integral part of the early church community. Louis Duchesne observed that Monday and Thursday were days of fasting among pious Jews. Early Christians practiced regular weekly fasts on Wednesdays (in remembrance of the betrayal of Christ) and on Fridays (in memory of the crucifixion of Jesus). The early Christian form is known as the Black Fast: "eating only once a day, toward evening; nothing else except a little water was taken all day". This was the normative way of Christian fasting prior to the 8th century A.D. and is still kept by some of the faithful to this day, especially during Lent.


text: There has always been a close connection between fasting and almsgiving; the money saved on food should be given to the poor.


text: The habit of fasting before Easter developed gradually, and with considerable diversity of practice regarding duration. As late as the latter part of the second century there were differing opinions not only regarding the manner of the paschal fast, but also the proper time for keeping Easter. In 331, St. Athanasius enjoined upon his flock a period of forty days of fasting preliminary to, but not inclusive of, the stricter fast of Holy Week, and in 339, after having traveled to Rome and over the greater part of Europe, wrote in the strongest terms to urge this observance upon the people of Alexandria as one that was universally practiced, "to the end that while all the world is fasting, we who are in Egypt should not become a laughing-stock as the only people who do not fast but take our pleasure in those days".


text: In the time of Gregory the Great (590–604), there were apparently at Rome six weeks of six days each, making thirty-six fast days in all, which St. Gregory, who is followed therein by many medieval writers, describes as the spiritual tithing of the year, thirty-six days being approximately the tenth part of three hundred and sixty-five. At a later date the wish to realize the exact number of forty days led to the practice of beginning Lent on Ash Wednesday.


text: Early fasting practices were varied, but by the time of Gregory the Great, the ordinary rule on all fasting days was to take only one meal a day and that only in the evening (after sunset); and to abstain from meat of all sorts, white meats (that is, milk, butter, and cheese, called "lacticinia" in Latin sources), eggs, and, in the early centuries, wine and oil. Consumption of fish and shellfish was usually, but not universally, allowed. Such a strict fast is sometimes called a Black Fast.


text: While early sources place the meal after sunset, by the 10th century or earlier, the custom prevailed of taking the only meal of the day at the ninth hour (Latin "nona hora", about 3 p.m.). By the 14th century, the one meal of the day had become a midday meal; and the liturgical observance of the "nona hora" had become tied to the daily mass and other morning services, always said before noon. In tandem with those developments, the practice of having an evening collation (a small snack) became common. A morning collation was introduced in the early 19th century. Throughout these same centuries, there was wide disagreement over the appropriateness of white meats on fasting days, often resulting in various indulgences allowing the consumption of milk, butter, and cheese and, less commonly, eggs.


text: In the early 20th century, Church law prescribed fasting throughout Lent, with abstinence only on Friday and Saturday. Some countries received dispensations: Rome in 1918 allowed the bishops of Ireland to transfer the Saturday obligation to Wednesday; in the United States, abstinence was not required on Saturday. The other weekdays were simply days of "fasting without abstinence." A similar practice (common in the United States) was called "partial abstinence", which allowed meat only once during the day at the main meal. (There is nothing in current Catholic Canon Law which corresponds to "partial abstinence".) The countries of the former Spanish empire also had their own extensive dispensations from the rules of fasting and abstinence, based on the "Crusader privileges" of the Spanish dominions as codified in the Bull of the Crusade. In some European colonies, the obligation to fast and abstain differed by race, with indigenous persons often having more lenient rules than European colonists and their descedents or mestizos.


text: While the rules of abstinence generally only allow seafood, there are a few exceptions. In parts of South America, especially in Venezuela, capybara meat is popular during Lent and Holy Week; in response to a question posed by French settlers in Quebec in the 17th century, beaver was classified as an exception; and the Archbishop of New Orleans said that "alligator is considered in the fish family" in 2010. The legal basis for the classification of beaver as fish probably rests with the "Summa Theologica" of Thomas Aquinas, which bases animal classification as much on habit as anatomy.


text: Besides Lent, there are other penitential times customarily accompanied by fasting or abstinence. These include Advent, the Ember Days, the Rogation Days, Fridays throughout the year, and vigils of some of the important feast days.


text: Advent is considered a time of special self-examination, humility, and spiritual preparation in anticipation of the birth of Christ. Fridays and Saturdays in Advent were days of abstinence, and until early in the 20th century, the Fridays of Advent were also days of fasting.