title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: She returned to Chester for two weeks during this period when her grandfather died. It was the last time her family saw her in person.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: Coriam returned to the "Wonder" and her duties as a youth worker, maintaining contact with her family via Facebook and Skype. Six weeks later, on 21 March 2011, the day the ship left Los Angeles, she sent what would be her last message to her parents via Facebook, saying she would call the next day.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: At 9 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time that morning on the "Wonder", off the coast of Mexico bound for Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas, Coriam had missed the start of her shift. She was not in her room or anywhere else on the ship, and did not respond to pages over the ship's public address system. A review of CCTV footage found one appearance of her, timestamped 5:45 a.m. An early, unverified account, purportedly from another crew member, claimed she had gone overboard at 3 a.m., nearly three hours earlier.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: In the video, Coriam is talking on one of the ship's internal phones in a crew area. She appears distraught. A young man walks up to her and appears to ask if everything is all right. Her mouth can clearly be read to be saying "Yeah, fine", after which she hangs up. She then walks away, pushing her hair back and putting her hands in her back pockets, mannerisms her parents say were common for her. There has been no record of her presence anywhere since then.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: The crew searched the ship for her. Ships of the U.S. Coast Guard and Mexican Navy searched the international waters through which the "Wonder" had been sailing during the hours in which Coriam could have gone overboard, if that was what had occurred. They likewise found nothing.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: Since the "Wonder" is registered in the Bahamas, a detective from the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) flew to the ship to investigate once it had returned to Los Angeles, three days after the disappearance. He was reported to have undertaken "several days of onboard investigations".


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: Mike and Annmaria Coriam, Rebecca's parents, were flown out from England to meet the ship when it returned. They met the Bahamian detective and said he told them he had spent only one day on board investigating before flying back home. The detective also told them that he had interviewed only a few crew members, and none of the passengers. The Coriams claimed Disney kept them in a car with blacked-out windows and brought them on board via a little-used side entrance after all the passengers had disembarked. The "Wonder"'s captain gave his condolences and expressed his theory that Rebecca had been washed overboard by a wave while at the crew pool, a theory the Coriams doubted due to the high walls around it. After that, they were taken to a meeting with Disney executives and the woman Rebecca had been speaking to on the phone.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: On the day before the first anniversary of her disappearance, her father received an email from a woman who claimed she had seen Rebecca with a dark-haired man on the street in Venice the previous August. The woman said she was "85% sure" it was Rebecca, and seeing the family's website had roused her memory. "It was just an email but it seemed legitimate," said her uncle. "It was very upsetting for everyone to think she could be out there somewhere after all this time." He wondered how she could have got there without her passport, which had been among the belongings her parents had recovered from her quarters.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: In October 2011, journalist Jon Ronson took the "Wonder" along the same route and made discreet inquiries while aboard. With the Coriams' permission, he wrote about it in "The Guardian". Several crew members, none of whom wanted their names used, who had been on the ship at the time of Rebecca's disappearance, spoke to him. They suggested that more was known about her fate than Disney or the Bahamanian police had publicly admitted.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: Many were circumspect. "It didn't happen," a bartender told Ronson. "You know that's the answer I have to give." After touring the areas of the ship open to passengers, he decided that Coriam had probably slipped and fallen while jogging on the Deck 4 jogging track. The railings there were low enough for that accident to happen, and she regularly kept herself in shape that way. However, the track was well covered by disguised security cameras.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: He shared this theory with a deck worker, who told him he was mistaken. Coriam had, according to him, actually gone overboard from the crew pool on Deck 5. "I was on the ship that day." the man said. "Everyone knows". He cited a flip flop found in the area as proof. After the reporter returned, "Melissa", a woman whom the Coriams had told to contact him, told him that the day after the disappearance, flowers were placed on the wall near the pool, apparently by the company. "It really stirred things up," the woman recalled. "Why [we]re they putting them there? Nothing was clear."


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: When he took a look at the crew pool, visible from the fore of Deck 10, he doubted these claims. Around the railings on the pool is a steel wall high enough to completely block any view (another crew member had told him it was a popular place to go when not working as their cabins were very small and it was a place crew members could be themselves, away from guests). There were conspicuously mounted security cameras as well. Although he allowed that they could have been placed since the incident, Ronson did not see how anyone could have jumped or fallen from there.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: But all crew members who spoke with him insisted that Coriam had gone overboard from the crew pool. "Disney knows exactly what happened", one said. "Everything here is taped. There's CCTV everywhere. Disney has the tape." Near the end of a voyage, another crew member who sought him out explained in further detail that even though the walls around the pool are high, the seas were rough at the time and she could have been tossed off the ship, especially if the deck and walls were slippery. He said a friend of his had to get someone inside in similar conditions, and the offence of being outside on the pool deck in such conditions was serious enough that Disney sent that person home from the cruise.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: Since Rebecca was not found on the ship despite a thorough search, investigators concluded that she went overboard, possibly as a result of a rogue wave. The Coriams and their lawyer say they never received a copy of the final report as they were promised by the Bahamanian police; British detectives who did receive it have refused repeated Freedom of Information Act requests for a copy on the grounds that it contains restricted personal information.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: A crew member told Ronson that the call was taped. Several others believed it was with a romantic partner. "She was in a relationship, and there were problems, and it was upsetting her," "Melissa" told Ronson. "It was a very, very intense relationship. It was great and then it was awful ... I can't think of any other reason why she'd have been upset and wandering around by herself at 6 am." However, she says Coriam was on the phone not with the partner but a mutual friend. On the anniversary of Rebecca's disappearance, her parents told the "Liverpool Echo" that they heard the names of a young woman and older man on the ship mentioned as possibly being involved in a love triangle with her, and called for them to come forward. They also disclosed that they had heard Disney had sent some additional footage to the FBI for enhancement, but could not say what that footage might contain.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: They recall her personality as constantly cheerful and upbeat, traits that got her the Disney job in the first place. When her parents visited her quarters after the disappearance, they found passes she had obtained for them and her sister to visit Disneyland Paris, a gift trip she was apparently planning to surprise them with on her next break at home. These plans, as well as her continuing Facebook exchanges with her mother, argue for them against suicide.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: "Melissa", who had last seen Coriam at 11 p.m. the previous night, told Ronson that she believed Coriam went out to the crew pool, one of her favourite places on the ship, to be alone and relax for a while. While there, she might have climbed up and sat on the wall, and then fallen. "Bex was a bit of a risk taker," she said.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: However, "Melissa" was dismissive of the suggestion that the slippers allegedly found near the pool, which were included among the belongings returned to Coriam's parents, had been hers. "Mike and Ann showed them to me," she told Ronson. "They were too big. They weren't her style. They were pink and flowery and Hawaiian. I'd never seen her wear them. Why didn't Disney come to me or her girlfriend and say, 'Can you identify these as Bex's?'"


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: While the Coriams later claimed the flip flops were too small, they were unable to find anyone on the ship who had seen her wearing them and learned that no forensics had been done on them. In 2016, private investigators working for the family said that they had conclusively established that the footwear did not belong to the couple's daughter. Not only were they not in a style she would wear, they noted, the flip-flops had another crewmember's name and cabin number written on them. The Coriams said this led them to strongly doubt Disney's claim that they had been found in the pool area, as well as its theory that Rebecca was swept or fell overboard from there.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: It was also noted that in the video of the phone call, Rebecca's clothes appear very large; her friends and fellow crew have speculated that they may have been someone else's.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: Labour MP Chris Matheson, who has represented the City of Chester constituency since the 2015 election, believes Coriam was a crime victim, possibly murdered or sexually assaulted. "The more you look into this the more it smells rotten; the more it smells like a crime has taken place", he told the "Echo" the year of his election. He claims to have a copy of the original police report with "compelling" evidence to that effect. John Anderson, a private investigator who has worked with both the Coriams and Matheson, says records show the seas around the "Wonder" were normal that night, casting doubt on Disney's "rogue wave" claim. He also says that any wave capable of taking her off the ship would have caused visible damage to it as well.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: Baron John Prescott, former Deputy Prime Minister under Tony Blair and now a life peer in the House of Lords, has also taken an interest in the case. He believes Rebecca was thrown overboard rather than having fallen. He has also called for laws that would allow British authorities to investigate their own citizens' deaths on cruise ships in international waters.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: Ronson reported that at the time his article was published, the Coriams had received no further updates from Disney or the RBPF on the progress of the investigation. "[W]henever we call anyone, all they say is, 'The investigation is ongoing,'" Mike Coriam said. "We've tried emailing, telling them how we feel, how it's getting harder ... But nothing. Just, 'It's ongoing.'" The Bahaman police officer assigned to the case never returned Ronson's calls.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: The Coriams have been joined in their criticism of the investigation by British government officials, Rebecca's friends among the crew, and advocates for victims of other incidents on cruise ships and their families. The latter, especially, note that 170 passengers and crew have disappeared from cruise ships since 2000, many without being seriously investigated or widely reported. All critics contend that Disney, like other cruise operators, is more interested in avoiding adverse publicity related to these incidents than anything else.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: In November 2011, Stephen Mosley, then the Coriams' MP, brought the case up in the House of Commons. "The investigation into Rebecca's disappearance was appalling," he told Mike Penning, the Minister for Shipping.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: "[T]he Bahamian authorities made virtually no attempt at investigating Rebecca's disappearance," he continued, saying the RBPF was "internationally recognised as almost toothless ... Very few people know that when they board a cruise ship that they are so poorly protected." Countries such as the Bahamas, often criticized for the lax standards of such "flag of convenience" ship registrations, did not have the investigative capabilities to deal with such incidents.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: Penning responded by announcing that the Marine Accident Investigation Branch would investigate all deaths or disappearances of British citizens from vessels anywhere in the world, paralleling similar legislation signed by U.S. President Barack Obama that gives the Federal Bureau of Investigation that authority in the event of the death or disappearance of any American citizen. The Government would also work through the International Maritime Organization to increase international cooperation on such investigations. Penning, too, was critical of Disney, saying the company was "more interested in getting the ship back to sea than in investigating the case of the missing member of their crew".


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: "In other corporations, police get involved," said Kendall Carver, an American who founded the lobbying group International Cruise Victims after his own daughter's 2004 disappearance from the "Celebrity Mercury". "On cruise ships they have, quote, "security officers", but they work for the cruise lines. They aren't going to do anything when the lines get sued." Miami lawyer Jim Walker, publisher of the blog "Cruise Law News", which is highly critical of the industry, concurs. "The Coriam family does not deserve Mickey Mouse games," he commented in Ronson's article. Walker later represented the Coriams in a suit against Disney in American courts; they settled with the company in 2015 for an undisclosed sum and an agreement not to discuss the case publicly.


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: Carver and Walker both believe Disney has more evidence than it has shown, particularly security footage of the area by the pool, and is covering up knowledge of what happened out of fear of adverse publicity. "If there's a video that shows your daughter going overboard," Carver told Ronson, "that's the end of the story. There's no way someone can go off a ship and it not be recorded." Melissa told Ronson it was implausible that there was no footage since the pool is close to a number of other important offices, such as human resources and the payroll department, where money and sensitive documents were kept. She believed any coverup by Disney may have been as much about protecting themselves from charges of negligence, since the pool is just below the ship's bridge and would thus be the portion of the ship where a fall would most likely be seen by someone in a position to start a rescue. "If it was 6 a.m. and they were doing their job and watching the front, someone must have seen her go over," she told Ronson. "Or if they didn't, they're covering up why they didn't."


title: Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam

text: Disney told Ronson that they are deferring to the RBPF. "[They have told] us the investigation is still ongoing. They have not shared a timeline with us, either." Their spokesperson refused to comment on specifics about whether a tape of the phone call or additional security-camera video exists. "[W]e wish we knew what happened as much as anyone ... Rebecca's disappearance has been difficult and heartbreaking for everyone."


title: Arthur Laffer

text: Arthur Betz Laffer (; born August 14, 1940) is an American economist and author who first gained prominence during the Reagan administration as a member of Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board (1981–1989). Laffer is best known for the Laffer curve, an illustration of the theory that there exists some tax rate between 0% and 100% that will result in maximum tax revenue for government. In certain circumstances, this would allow governments to cut taxes, and simultaneously increase revenue and economic growth.


title: Arthur Laffer

text: Laffer was an economic advisor to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. On June 19, 2019, President Trump awarded Laffer with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contributions in the field of economics.


title: Arthur Laffer

text: Laffer was born in Youngstown, Ohio, the son of Marian Amelia "Molly" (née Betz), a homemaker and politician, and William Gillespie Laffer, president of the Clevite Corporation. He was raised in the Cleveland, Ohio area. He is a Presbyterian, and graduated from Cleveland's University School high school in 1958. Laffer earned a B.A. in economics from Yale University (1963) and an M.B.A. (1965) and a Ph.D. in economics (1972) from Stanford University.


title: Arthur Laffer

text: Laffer was an Associate Professor of Business Economics at the University of Chicago from 1970 to 1976 and a member of the Chicago faculty from 1967 through 1976. From 1976 to 1984 Laffer held the status as the Charles B. Thornton Professor of Business Economics at the University of Southern California School of Business. During this time Laffer helped pass Proposition 13, the California initiative that drastically cut property taxes in the state in 1978. In the mid-1980s, Laffer was the Distinguished University Professor at Pepperdine University in Malibu, and a member of the Pepperdine Board of Directors.


title: Arthur Laffer

text: Laffer was the first to hold the title of Chief Economist at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under George Shultz from October 1970 to July 1972. During the years 1972 to 1977, Laffer was a consultant to Secretary of the Treasury William Simon, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of the Treasury George Shultz.


title: Arthur Laffer

text: Laffer was a member of President Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board for both of his terms (1981–1989) and was a founding member of the Reagan Executive Advisory Committee for the presidential race of 1980. Laffer served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Reagan/Bush Finance Committee in 1984.


title: Arthur Laffer

text: In 1986, Laffer was a candidate for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate—which he lost in the California primary to U.S. Congressman Ed Zschau, who lost in the general election to the incumbent, Democrat Alan Cranston. Laffer identifies himself as a staunch fiscal conservative. However, he has stated publicly that he voted for President Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. Laffer references President Clinton's conservative fiscal and unregulated market policies as cornerstones of his support.


title: Arthur Laffer

text: In 2018, Laffer wrote the book "Trumponomics" with conservative economic commentator Stephen Moore, wherein they lauded the Trump administration's economic policies. In the book, Moore and Laffer argue that the Trump administration's 2017 tax plan would raise growth rates to as much as 6% and not increase budget deficits. In a 2019 review of the book, Greg Mankiw, a conservative economics professor at Harvard University, characterized Laffer and Moore as "rah-rah


title: Arthur Laffer

text: partisans" who "do not build their analysis on the foundation of professional consensus or serious studies from peer-reviewed journals...The Laffer curve is undeniable as a matter of economic theory. There is certainly some level of taxation at which cutting tax rates would be win-win. But few economists believe that tax rates in the United States have reached such heights in recent years; to the contrary, they are likely below the revenue-maximizing level." The one issue where Moore and Laffer disagree with Trump is on the issue of free trade, which the duo supports. Previously, in 2016, Laffer said that he believed that then-candidate Trump was "going to be okay on trade" and lauded Trump's understanding of trade.


title: Arthur Laffer

text: On April 15, 2019, Laffer blamed the Great Recession on Barack Obama, "who I believe was the reason why we had the Great Recession. As he got closer and closer to winning the markets collapsed."


title: Arthur Laffer

text: In 2020, Laffer advised the Trump administration on how to re-open the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Laffer argued for halting stimulus, calling instead for payroll tax cuts. He advocated for taxes on non-profit organizations in education and the arts, as well as for salary reductions for professors and government officials. He argued against expansion of unemployment aid, arguing it discouraged people from working.


title: Arthur Laffer

text: In 2019, President Trump awarded Laffer the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. The Trump White House said Laffer was receiving the award for "public service and contributions to economic policy that have helped spur prosperity for our Nation" and that Laffer was "one of the most influential economists in American history" due to popularizing the "Laffer Curve." Trump praised Laffer for policies that he said brought "greater opportunity for all Americans."


title: Arthur Laffer

text: Although he does not claim to have invented the Laffer curve concept (Laffer, 2004), it was popularized with policy-makers following an afternoon meeting with Nixon/Ford Administration officials Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld in 1974 in which he reportedly sketched the curve on a napkin to illustrate his argument. The term "Laffer curve" was coined by Jude Wanniski, who was also present. The basic concept was not new; Laffer himself says he learned it from Ibn Khaldun and John Maynard Keynes.


title: Arthur Laffer

text: The Laffer curve is an economic theory that shows the relationship between tax rates and the amount of tax revenue collected by governments. The Laffer Curve shows that there is a certain point between 0% and 100% where tax revenues are maximized. The curve suggests that starting from zero, an increase in tax rates will increase the government's tax revenue; after a certain point, however, continuing to increase tax rates will cause a decrease in tax revenue. This decrease in tax revenue can be explained by decreased incentives for work, production, etc. Laffer's postulate was that the tax rate that maximizes revenue was at a much lower level than previously believed: so low that current tax rates were above the level where revenue is maximized. While many economists believe that government spending to stimulate demand for products should be the solution for a poorly performing economy, Laffer argues that heavy taxes and regulation impede production, and therefore, government revenue.


title: Arthur Laffer

text: Numerous leading economists have rejected the view that a tax rate cut of current federal U.S. income taxes can lead to increased tax revenue. When asked in a 2012 University of Chicago business school survey whether a "cut in federal income tax rates in the US right now would raise taxable income enough so that the annual total tax revenue would be higher within five years than without the tax cut", none of the economists surveyed agreed and 71% disagreed. According to Greg Mankiw, most economists have been very skeptical of Laffer's contention that decreases in tax rates could increase tax revenue, at least in the United States. In his textbook, Mankiw states, "there was little evidence for Laffer's view that U.S. tax rates had in fact reached such extreme levels." Under the direction of conservative economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the Congressional Budget Office conducted a 2005 study on the fiscal effects of a 10% cut in federal income tax rates, finding that it resulted in a significant net revenue loss. Economist John Quiggin distinguishes between the Laffer curve and Laffer's analysis of tax rates, writing that the Laffer curve was "correct but unoriginal" and that Laffer's analysis that the United States was on the wrong side of the Laffer curve "was original but incorrect."


title: Arthur Laffer

text: Laffer was an economic adviser to Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, who in 2012 zeroed out state tax liability for approximately 330,000 of the top wage earners in the state, called the Kansas experiment, contending it would be a "shot of adrenaline into the heart of the Kansas economy." Laffer was paid $75,000 to advise in the creation of Brownback's tax cut plan, and gave Brownback his full endorsement, stating that what Brownback was doing was "truly revolutionary" and would bring "enormous prosperity" to Kansas. The state, which had previously had a budget surplus, experienced a budget deficit of about $200 million in 2012. Drastic cuts to state funding for education and infrastructure were implemented to close budget deficits and the Kansas economy underperformed relative to neighboring states. Brownback's tax overhaul was described in a June 2017 article in "The Atlantic" as the United States' "most aggressive experiment in conservative economic policy". The drastic tax cuts had "threatened the viability of schools and infrastructure" in Kansas. A supermajority of lawmakers in the Kansas legislature, both Democrats and Republicans, repealed the tax cut in June 2017, overriding Brownback's veto.


title: Arthur Laffer

text: The following is a partial list of publications written primarily by Laffer, with co-authors indicated, in order by date:


title: Arthur Laffer

text: Laffer has written two children's books with Michelle A. Balconi: "Let’s Chat About Economics" (2014) and "Let’s Chat About Democracy" (2017).


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Squamish (; Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, ; 2016 census population 19,512) is a community and a district municipality in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located at the north end of Howe Sound on the Sea to Sky Highway. The population of the Squamish census agglomeration, which includes First Nation reserves of the Squamish Nation although they are not governed by the municipality, is 19,893.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Indigenous Squamish people have lived in the area for thousands of years. The town of Squamish had its beginning during the construction of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway in the 1910s. It was the first southern terminus of that railway (now a part of CN). The town remains important in the operations of the line and also the port. Forestry has traditionally been the main industry in the area, and the town's largest employer was the pulp mill operated by Western Forest Products. However, Western's operations in Squamish permanently ceased on January 26, 2006. Before the pulp mill, the town's largest employer had been International Forest Products (Interfor) with its sawmill and logging operation, but it closed a few years prior to the pulp mill's closing. In recent years, Squamish has become popular with Vancouver and Whistler residents escaping the increased cost of living in those places, both less than one hour away by highway. Tourism is increasingly important in the town's economy, with an emphasis on outdoor recreation.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: The Squamish people are an indigenous people whose homeland includes the present day area of Squamish, British Columbia. Oral stories and archaeological evidence show that they have lived there for thousands of years. They have inhabited an area of southwestern British Columbia that includes North and West Vancouver, Howe Sound, Whistler, the areas surrounding the tributaries entering Howe Sound, Burrard Inlet, and English Bay. The word "Squamish" derives from the name of the people which in their language is "Sḵwx̱wúʔmesh". The people reside primarily on a number of Indian Reserves owned and managed by the Squamish Nation in the Squamish Valley area. A few places and names in the Squamish area derive from Squamish language words and names. "Ch’iyáḵmesh" is the name of an old village that was located on the Cheakamus River. "St’á7mes" is a community located near the south entrance to the town of Squamish, which lies below the Stawamus Chief, which gets its name from that village. "Mámx̱wem" is where the Mamquam River name comes from as well.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Squamish territory comprises 6,732 km², though lands controlled by the Squamish Nation band government are relatively scarce, and on Indian reserves only, though the Squamish Nation must be, like other native governments, consulted on developments within their people's territory. Residents of Indian Reserves are not governed by the District of Squamish but by the Squamish Nation. The Squamish Nation's population and Indian Reserves also include villages in North Vancouver and a number of other reserves at Gibsons and elsewhere in the general region.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Attractions include the Stawamus Chief, a huge cliff-faced granite massif favoured by rock climbers. As well as over 300 climbing routes on the Chief proper, a majority of which require traditional climbing protection, there are steep hiking trails around the back to access the three peaks that make up the massif, all giving views of Howe Sound and the surrounding Coast Mountains. In all, between Shannon Falls, Murrin Park, The Malamute, and the Smoke Bluffs, there are over 1500 rock-climbing routes in the Squamish area (and another 300 or so climbs north of Squamish on the road to Whistler). In recent years, Squamish has also become a major destination for bouldering, with over 2500 problems described in the local guidebook.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Kiteboarding and windsurfing are popular water sports in Squamish during the summer. Predictable wind on warm sunny days makes the Squamish Spit a top kiteboarding location in western Canada.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Squamish's extensive quality trail system is a key feature of an annual 50-mile ultra trail run, the Squamish 50. Solo runners and relay teams run on many of the same trails as the Test of Metal, and pass through Alice Lake Provincial Park and the campus of Quest University. "The Double" is an award offered annually to the participant with the fastest combined time for both the Test of Metal and Arc'teryx Squamish 50.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Other tourist attractions in Squamish include Shannon Falls waterfall; river-rafting on the Elaho and Squamish rivers; snowmobiling on nearby Brohm Ridge; and bald eagle viewing in the community of Brackendale, which has one of North America's largest populations of bald eagles. Squamish is also a popular destination among Greater Vancouver hikers, mountaineers and backcountry skiers, who visit the large provincial parks in the surrounding Coast Mountains.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: The current mayor of Squamish is Armand Hurford, who won the 2022 election, after having served as a council member. Previous mayors have included Karen Elliot (2018-2022) Patricia Heintzman (2014-2018); Rob Kirkham (2011-2014); Greg Gardner (2008-2011); Ian Sutherland (2002–2008) among others. Current council members are Karen Elliot, Eric Andersen, John French, Doug Race, Chris Pettingill, and Jenna Stoner. The municipality is part of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: On the provincial level, Squamish is in the West Vancouver-Sea to Sky electoral district. The MLA is Jordan Sturdy (BC Liberal). He was elected in the 2013 provincial election after his predecessor, Joan McIntyre, also of the British Columbia Liberal Party, retired from politics. Sturdy was the sitting mayor of the town of Pemberton at the time of his election to the British Columbia Legislature. He was re-elected in the 2017 provincial election and appointed the critic for Transportation and Infrastructure.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Federally, Squamish is a part of the West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country electoral district. It is represented by Patrick Weiler of the Liberal Party of Canada, who took office after the 2019 Canadian federal election.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Squamish has five English language public elementary schools: Brackendale Elementary, Garibaldi Highlands Elementary, Mamquam Elementary, Squamish Elementary, and Valleycliffe Elementary.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Under the Sea to Sky Learning Connections, the public schools district also manages Sea to Sky Online, Sea to Sky Alternative, Cultural Journeys, and Learning Expeditions. The "Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique" operates one Francophone primary school in that city: the "école Les Aiglons". There are two public secondary schools – Howe Sound Secondary School and Don Ross Middle School – as well as the board office for School District 48 Howe Sound.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Squamish hosts three private schools: Squamish Montessori Elementary School, Cedar Valley Waldorf School, and Coast Mountain Academy for grades 7 through 12. Coast Mountain Academy is located in the campus of Quest University.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Capilano University offers post-secondary education through its Squamish campus, including diploma programs and university transfer courses. Quest University, which opened in September 2007, is Canada's first private, non-profit, secular university, though only has an enrolment of less than 5000 students.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Squamish is home to a variety of faiths. There are eleven churches and religious organizations, including several Christian denominations, as well as the Baháʼí Faith, and a Sikh temple.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: The Squamish Public Library is located in the downtown area on Second Avenue. The library houses a collection of books, CDs, DVDs, and magazines. It has an Art for Loan collection and an online historical archive of various photographs, periodicals, and other items. Nearby museums include the Britannia Mine Museum and the West Coast Railway Association.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: In 1998, Squamish was briefly the home of the world's first unionized McDonald's franchise, although the union was decertified by the summer of 1999.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Every year, Squamish hosts the popular Squamish Valley Music Festival, though they did not proceed with the festival in 2016. Usually taking place in August, the festival has hosted artists such as Eminem, Bruno Mars, Macklemore and Arcade Fire.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Squamish has been a filming location for a number of media works and is a very popular place to film movies and TV shows. Examples include the films "" (1997), "Insomnia" (2002), "Walking Tall" (2004), "Chaos Theory" (2008), "" (2011), "The 12 Disasters of Christmas" (2012), "Star Trek Beyond" (2016), "Woody Woodpecker" (2018), the television series "Men in Trees", "The Guard", A&E's U.S. adaptation of "The Returned", the Hallmark Channel's "Aurora Teagarden" mysteries, and Netflix's "Lost in Space" reboot. Sneaky Sasquatch, an Apple Arcade game, is also based there.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Squamish had a population of 23,819 living in 9,191 of its 9,906 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 19,497. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Squamish has an oceanic climate (Cfb) with warm summers and moderately cold winters. Squamish is one of the wettest inhabited locations in Canada, with over of rainfall per year, often falling in long stretches through the winter.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Carbon Engineering, a company focusing on the commercialization of direct air capture technology, is headquartered in Squamish.


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Public transportation is provided by the Squamish Transit System; this service is free over the summer to students at school age (elementary and secondary).


title: Squamish, British Columbia

text: Daily bus service to Vancouver and YVR Vancouver Airport is provided by YVR Skylynx with multiple departures every day.


title: Roky Erickson

text: Roger Kynard "Roky" Erickson (July 15, 1947 – May 31, 2019) was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was a founding member and the leader of the 13th Floor Elevators and a pioneer of the psychedelic rock genre.


title: Roky Erickson

text: Erickson was born in Dallas, Texas, to Roger and Evelyn Erickson, and had four younger brothers. The nickname "Roky", a contraction of his first and middle names, was given to him by his parents. His father, an architect and civil engineer, was stern and disapproving of Erickson's countercultural attitudes, once forcibly cutting his son's hair rather than allow him to grow it out Beatles-style. His mother was an amateur artist and opera singer, and encouraged Erickson's musical talent by taking guitar lessons herself so she could teach him.


title: Roky Erickson

text: Erickson was interested in music from his youth, playing piano from age five and taking up guitar at 10. He attended school in Austin and dropped out of Travis High School in 1965, one month before graduating, rather than cut his hair to conform to the school dress code.


title: Roky Erickson

text: Erickson wrote his first songs, "You're Gonna Miss Me" and "We Sell Soul", at age 15, and started a band with neighborhood friends which would evolve into his first notable group, the Spades. The Spades scored a regional hit with "We Sell Soul"; the song is included as an unlisted bonus track on Erickson's 1995 album "All That May Do My Rhyme" and was adapted as "Don't Fall Down" by the 13th Floor Elevators for their debut album. The Spades' original version of "You're Gonna Miss Me", later a hit for the 13th Floor Elevators, was featured on the compilation album "The Best of Pebbles Volume 1".


title: Roky Erickson

text: In late 1965, at age 18, Erickson co-founded the 13th Floor Elevators. He and bandmate Tommy Hall were the main songwriters. Early in her career, singer Janis Joplin considered joining the Elevators, but Family Dog's Chet Helms persuaded her to go to San Francisco instead, where she found major fame.


title: Roky Erickson

text: The band released their debut album "The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators" in 1966. It contained the band's only charting single, Erickson's "You're Gonna Miss Me". A stinging breakup song, the single was a major hit on local charts in the U.S. southwest and appeared at lower positions on national singles charts as well. Critic Mark Deming writes that "If Roky Erickson had vanished from the face of the earth after The 13th Floor Elevators released their epochal debut single, "You're Gonna Miss Me", in early 1966, in all likelihood he'd still be regarded as a legend among garage rock fanatics for his primal vocal wailing and feral harmonica work."


title: Roky Erickson

text: In 1967, the band followed up with "Easter Everywhere", perhaps the band's most focused effort, featuring "Slip Inside This House", and a noted cover of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". The album "Live" was released in 1968 by the band's record label, International Artists, with little to no input from the band. It featured audience applause dubbed over studio recordings of cover versions, alternate takes, and older material.


title: Roky Erickson

text: "Bull of the Woods" (1969) was the 13th Floor Elevators' final album on which they worked as a group and was largely the work of Stacy Sutherland. Erickson—due to health and legal problems—and Tommy Hall were only involved with a few tracks, including "Livin' On" and "May the Circle Remain Unbroken".


title: Roky Erickson

text: In 1968, while performing at HemisFair, Erickson began speaking gibberish. He was soon diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and sent to a Houston psychiatric hospital, where he involuntarily received electroconvulsive therapy.


title: Roky Erickson

text: The Elevators were vocal proponents of marijuana and psychedelic drug use, and were subject to extra attention from law enforcement agencies. In 1969, Erickson was arrested for possession of a single marijuana joint in Austin. Facing a potential ten-year incarceration, Erickson pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to avoid prison. He was first sent to the Austin State Hospital. After several escapes, he was sent to the Rusk State Hospital in Rusk, Texas, where he was subjected to more electroconvulsive therapy and Thorazine treatments, ultimately remaining in custody until 1972. During his time at Rusk, he continued writing songs and poetry. Family and friends managed to smuggle out some of these poems and, in 1972, self published the book "Openers", intending to use the proceeds to hire a lawyer. (Various sources claim approximately 1,000 copies of "Openers" were printed; how many copies were actually sold remains unknown.) Six tracks from the 1999 Erickson collection "Never Say Goodbye" were also recorded during his time at Rusk.


title: Roky Erickson

text: In 1974, after having been released from the state hospital, Erickson formed a new band which he called "Bleib Alien", "Bleib" being an anagram of Bible and/or German for "remain", and "Alien" being a pun on the German word "allein" ("alone") – the phrase in German, therefore, being "remain alone". His new band exchanged the psychedelic sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators for a more hard rock sound that featured lyrics on old horror film and science fiction themes. "Two Headed Dog (Red Temple Prayer)" (produced by The Sir Douglas Quintet's Doug Sahm and inspired by Vladimir Demikhov's 1950s head transplant experiments) was released as a single.


title: Roky Erickson

text: The new band was renamed Roky Erickson and the Aliens. In 1979, after playing with the Reversible Cords on May Day at Raul's, Erickson recorded 15 new songs with producer Stu Cook, former bass player of Creedence Clearwater Revival. These efforts were released in two "overlapping" LPs – "Roky Erickson and the Aliens" (CBS UK, 1980) and "The Evil One" (415 Records, 1981). Cook played bass on two tracks, "Sputnik" and "Bloody Hammer". Roky performed with The Nervebreakers as his backup band at The Palladium in Dallas in July 1979. A recording was issued on the French label New Rose and was recently re-issued elsewhere.


title: Roky Erickson

text: The Austin-based band the Explosives served as Roky's most frequent back-up band during the early Raul's era, between 1978 and the early 1980s. Billed as Roky Erickson and the Explosives, they were regulars at Raul's, the Continental Club, and other Austin venues. It was this incarnation that contributed two live tracks to the first "Live at Raul's" LP, released in 1980, with other Raul's top bands: The Skunks, Terminal Mind, The Next, Standing Waves, and The Explosives (without Roky Erickson). The Roky Erickson tracks ("Red Temple Prayer" and "Don't Shake Me Lucifer") were not included on the initial release for contractual reasons, but were included on a later release.


title: Roky Erickson

text: In 1982, Erickson asserted that a Martian had inhabited his body. He came to feel that, due to his being alien, human beings were attacking him psychically. A concerned friend enlisted a Notary Public to witness an official statement by Erickson that he was an alien; he hoped by declaring so publicly he would be in line with any "international laws" he might have been breaking. Erickson claimed the attacks then indeed stopped.


title: Roky Erickson

text: Beginning in the 1980s, Erickson developed a years-long obsession with the mail, often spending hours poring over random junk mail he received and writing to solicitors and celebrities (dead or living). He was arrested in 1989 on charges of mail theft for gathering up mail from the mailboxes of neighbors who had moved; Erickson collected the mail and taped it to the walls of his bedroom. The charges were dropped when Erickson insisted that he had never opened any of the mail.


title: Roky Erickson

text: In 1984 an observational documentary was produced in Austin for Swedish television, entitled "Demon Angel: A Day and Night with Roky Erickson". It featured Erickson in plugged and unplugged performances, solo and with local musician/producer Mike Alvarez on additional guitar, in an underground creek beneath the Congress Street Bridge on Halloween. Alvarez later released the film on VHS, updating it with interviews of some of Erickson's friends and relatives; it was toured to several cities including Pittsburgh, where the screening was followed by a set of Erickson covers by Alvarez and others, as well as a performance by the Mount McKinleys with guest vocalist Sumner Erickson (Roky's brother). A soundtrack of the film also was issued on CD, receiving positive reviews.


title: Roky Erickson

text: Several live albums of his older material have been released since the mid-1980s, and in 1990 Sire Records/Warner Bros. Records released a tribute album, "", produced by WB executive Bill Bentley. It featured versions of Erickson's songs performed by The Jesus and Mary Chain, R.E.M., ZZ Top, Poi Dog Pondering, Julian Cope, Butthole Surfers, Bongwater, John Wesley Harding, Doug Sahm, and Primal Scream, among others. According to the liner notes, the title of the album came from a remark Erickson made to a friend who asked him to define psychedelic music, to which Erickson reportedly replied "It's where the pyramid meets the eye, man", an apparent reference to the Eye of Providence and the Great Seal of the United States.


title: Roky Erickson

text: In 1995, Erickson released "All That May Do My Rhyme" on Butthole Surfers drummer King Coffey's label Trance Syndicate Records. Produced by Texas Tornados bassist Speedy Sparks, Austin recording legend Stuart Sullivan, and Texas Music Office director Casey Monahan, the release coincided with the publication of "Openers II", a complete collection of Erickson's lyrics. Published by Henry Rollins's 2.13.61 Publications, it was compiled and edited by Monahan with assistance from Rollins and Erickson's youngest brother Sumner Erickson, a classical tuba player.


title: Roky Erickson

text: Sumner was granted legal custody of Roky in 2001, and established a legal trust to aid his brother. As a result, Roky received some of the most effective medical and legal aid of his life, the latter useful in helping sort out the complicated tangle of contracts that had reduced royalty payments to all but nothing for his recorded works. He also started taking medication to better manage his schizophrenia.


title: Roky Erickson

text: A documentary film on the life of Roky Erickson titled "You're Gonna Miss Me" was made by director Keven McAlester and screened at the 2005 SXSW film festival. In September of the same year, Erickson performed his first full-length concert in 20 years at the annual Austin City Limits Music Festival with The Explosives with special guest and longtime associate Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.


title: Roky Erickson

text: In the December 30, 2005, issue of the "Austin Chronicle", an alternative weekly newspaper in Austin, Texas, Margaret Moser chronicled Erickson's recovery, saying Erickson had weaned himself off his medication, played at 11 gigs in Austin that year, obtained a driver's license, bought a car (a Volvo), and voted.


title: Roky Erickson

text: In 2007, Erickson played his first ever gigs in New York City at Southpaw in Brooklyn, NY, as well as California's Coachella Festival and made a debut performance in England to a capacity audience at the Royal Festival Hall, London. Roky continued to play in Europe, performing for the first time in Finland at Ruisrock festival. The performance was widely considered the highlight of the festival day.


title: Roky Erickson

text: On September 8, 2008, Scottish post-rock band Mogwai released the "Batcat" EP. Erickson is featured on one of the tracks, "Devil Rides". Erickson performed alongside Austin-based indie rock band Okkervil River at the Austin Music Awards in 2008 and then again at the 2009 South by Southwest music festival.


title: Roky Erickson

text: Erickson returned to the stage in 2008 to perform songs from the 13th Floor Elevators catalog that had not been performed in decades with fellow Austinites The Black Angels as his backing band. After months of practices and time recording in an Austin studio, they performed a show in Dallas followed by a West Coast tour. The Black Angels played a regular set and then backed Erickson as his rhythm section, playing 13th Floor Elevators songs as well as songs from Erickson's solo albums.


title: Roky Erickson

text: On April 20, 2010, Erickson released "True Love Cast Out All Evil", his first album of new material in 14 years. Okkervil River serves as Erickson's backing band on the album.


title: Roky Erickson

text: In March 2012 Erickson toured New Zealand and Australia for the first time headlining Golden Plains Festival in Meredith as well as playing sold-out side shows in Sydney and Melbourne.


title: Roky Erickson

text: On May 10, 2015, he performed with the reunited 13th Floor Elevators at Levitation (formerly Austin Psych Fest, the event was renamed "Levitation" after the song of the same title). The band consisted of original band members Erickson, Tommy Hall, John Ike Walton, and Ronnie Leatherman, joined by Roky's son Jegar Erickson on harmonica, Roky's lead guitarist Eli Southard, and rhythm guitarist Fred Mitchim.


title: Roky Erickson

text: Erickson died in Austin on May 31, 2019. His death was made public through a Facebook post by his brother Mikel, who wrote, "My brother Roky passed away peaceably today. Please allow us time." To date, no cause of death has been announced.


title: Roky Erickson

text: Author Jonathan Lethem titled his 2007 novel "You Don't Love Me Yet" in honor of two (otherwise unconnected) songs of the same title by Erickson and The Vulgar Boatmen. Lethem called Erickson's song "irresistible" and "one of those incredibly versatile songs."


title: Roky Erickson

text: "The X-Files" episode "Jose Chung's "From Outer Space"" features a character named "Roky Crikenson", in homage to Erickson. Crikenson, like the original Roky, believes himself to be an alien abductee.


title: Roky Erickson

text: A plotline in an episode of 1990s sitcom "The John Larroquette Show" revolved around a sighting of reclusive novelist Thomas Pynchon. Pynchon himself did not appear, but agreed to allow his name to be used on the condition that it was specifically mentioned that Pynchon was seen wearing a T-shirt showing a picture of Erickson. This spurred an increase in sales of Erickson's albums.


title: Roky Erickson

text: The album "It's Spooky" by Daniel Johnston and Jad Fair features the song "I Met Roky Erickson", named after an encounter Johnston had with the artist.


title: Roky Erickson

text: The song "White Faces" was covered by the Dutch occult rock band The Devil's Blood on their 2008 EP album Come Reap


title: Roky Erickson

text: The song "If You Have Ghosts" was covered by the Swedish heavy metal band Ghost on their EP album "If You Have Ghost", leading to the title track becoming a common catchphrase and meme among Ghost fans.


title: Xbox network

text: The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox system on November 15, 2002. An updated version of the service became available for the Xbox 360 console at the system's launch in November 2005, and a further enhanced version was released in 2013 with the Xbox One. This same version is also used with Xbox Series X and Series S. This service, in addition to a Microsoft account, is the account for Xbox consoles; accounts can store games and other content.


title: Xbox network

text: The service was extended in 2007 on the Windows platform, named Games for Windows – Live, which makes most aspects of the system available on Windows computers. Microsoft has announced plans to extend Live to other platforms such as handhelds and mobile phones as part of the Live Anywhere initiative. With Microsoft's mobile operating system, Windows Phone, full Xbox Live functionality is integrated into new Windows Phones that launched since late 2010. The service shut down for the original Xbox on April 15, 2010, and original Xbox Games are now only playable online through local area network (LAN) tunneling applications such as XLink Kai.


title: Xbox network

text: Xbox network service is available as both a free service and a subscription-based service known as "Xbox Live Gold". Microsoft rebranded Xbox Live as "Xbox network" in March 2021 to cover all of its services related to Xbox and distinguish the Xbox Live Gold subscription service from these other services.


title: Xbox network

text: As Microsoft developed the original Xbox console, online gaming was designated as one of the key pillars for the greater Xbox strategy. Sega had made an attempt to capitalize on the ever-growing online gaming scene when it launched the Dreamcast video game console in 1999, including online support as standard, with the SegaNet service in North America and Dreamarena in Europe. Nevertheless, due to lack of widespread broadband adoption at the time, the Dreamcast shipped with only a dial-up modem while a later-released broadband adapter was neither widely supported nor widely available. Downloadable content was available, though limited in size due to the narrowband connection and the size limitations of a memory card. The PlayStation 2 did not initially ship with built-in networking capabilities.


title: Xbox network

text: Microsoft, however, hoped that the Xbox would succeed where the Dreamcast had failed. The company determined that intense online gaming required the throughput of a broadband connection and the storage space of a hard disk drive, and thus these features would be vital to the new platform. This would allow not only for significant downloadable content, such as new levels, maps, weapons, challenges and characters, to be downloaded quickly and stored, but also would make it possible to standardize bandwidth intensive features such as voice communication. Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates both had a vision of making premium download content and add-ons that would attract many new customers. Based on this reasoning, the console included a standard Ethernet port (10/100) in order to provide connectivity to common broadband networks, but did not include a modem or any dial-up support, and its online service was designed to support broadband users only. Critics scoffed at it, citing poor broadband adoption at the turn of the century.


title: Xbox network

text: When the Xbox launched on November 15, 2001, the as-yet unnamed online service was destined for a Summer 2002 deployment. Xbox Live was finally given a name at E3 2002 when the service was unveiled in its entirety. Sound-dampened booths and broadband-connected Xbox consoles—featuring an early version of "Unreal Championship"—demonstrated the service on the show floor. The Epic title was one of the flagship titles for the service, which was slated for a debut on November 15, 2002, marking the anniversary of the Xbox launch. Microsoft announced that 50 Xbox Live titles would be available by the end of 2003. Utilizing the required broadband bandwidth, Xbox Live featured a unified gaming "Friends List", as well as a single identity across all titles (regardless of the publisher), and standardized voice chat with a headset and communication, a feature that was still in its infancy.


title: Xbox network

text: Leading up to the launch, Microsoft enlisted several waves of beta testers to improve the service and receive feature feedback. The first wave of beta testers were given "Re-Volt!" (which was never released officially) and "NFL Fever 2003" to beta test. Once beta testing concluded, Microsoft sent these beta testers a translucent orange memory card, a headset carrying case, and a beta tester t-shirt with the slogan "I've got great hands". When the service debuted, it lacked much of the functionality that later titles included, but Xbox Live grew and evolved on the Xbox and many aspects of the service were included with the Xbox 360 console out of the box, rather than through a later update. Microsoft granted Live-related patent that gives Xbox 360 users access to watch other gamers compete against each other over Xbox Live.


title: Xbox network

text: The packaging for playable Xbox Live titles on the original Xbox console featured a trademark luminescent orange-gold bar underneath the Xbox header. "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" and "Brute Force" sported a Live "bubble" design, as they only featured downloadable content. It was changed later, wherein all Xbox Live titles included the universal orange-gold Live bar. By the time of the Xbox 360, all titles were required to provide at least a limited form of Xbox Live "awareness". In July 2004, Xbox Live had reached 1 million online users. In July 2005, Xbox Live had reached 2 million online users.


title: Xbox network

text: On November 15, 2007, Microsoft celebrated Xbox Live's 5th anniversary by offering its then over 8 million subscribers the title "Carcassonne" free of charge and awarding gamers who had subscribed to Live since its inception 500 free Microsoft Points. Due to intermittent service interruptions during late December 2007 and early January 2008, Microsoft promised to offer a free Xbox Live Arcade game to all Xbox Live users as compensation, in an open letter to all Xbox Live members from Mark Whitten, Xbox LIVE General Manager. Increased demand from Xbox 360 purchasers (the largest number of new user sign-ups in the history of Xbox Live) was given as the reason for the downtime. On January 18, 2008, Microsoft announced "Undertow" would be offered free to both Gold and Free members for the week starting January 23 through January 27 as compensation.


title: Xbox network

text: On November 12, 2009, Dennis Durkin, COO of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, announced that November 10, 2009, the release of "" marked the busiest day ever on Xbox Live, with over two million active users simultaneously.


title: Xbox network

text: On February 5, 2010, Marc Whitten announced that Xbox Live had reached 23 million members. On the same day, Larry Hyrb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson, announced on his blog that Xbox Live support for the original Xbox would be discontinued on April 15, 2010, including online play through backwards compatibility on the Xbox 360 and all downloadable content for original Xbox games.


title: Xbox network

text: In August 2010, Microsoft announced an increase to the cost of Xbox Live Gold in several countries by 20%, for the first time since its inception. The basic service was also renamed. Prior to October 2010, the free service was known as "Xbox Live Silver".


title: Xbox network

text: It was announced on June 10, 2011, that the service is going to be fully integrated into Microsoft's Windows 8.


title: Xbox network

text: In February 2013, Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, shared that Xbox Live members now number 46 million, up 15 percent from a year ago, during the Dive into Media conference in Southern California.


title: Xbox network

text: In June 2014, Microsoft retracted the Xbox Live Gold requirements to access streaming media apps (including Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Internet Explorer, Skype, and others), though various rental or subscription fees may still apply.


title: Xbox network

text: On December 25, 2014, both PlayStation Network and Xbox Live suffered network disruption after a denial-of-service attack. Functionality was restored on December 28, with some users experiencing difficulties in the days that followed. A group called, "The Phantom Squad" has threatened to disrupt the Xbox Live network through a denial-of-service attack on December 25, 2015.


title: Xbox network

text: In 2019, the Official Xbox Magazine revealed that Xbox Live would be made cross platform, and will serve Android, iOS and Nintendo Switch.


title: Xbox network

text: Microsoft added Xbox Live Gold to its Xbox Game Pass program as part of a new Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription tier in April 2019.


title: Xbox network

text: On January 22, 2021, Microsoft planned to increase the prices for the Xbox Live Gold subscriptions, as follows: by $1 for the monthly subscription ($10.99 from $9.99), by $5 for the 3-month subscription ($29.99 from $24.99), by $20 for the 6-month subscription ($59.99 from $39.99), and by $60 (double the price) for the 12-month subscription ($119.99 from $59.99). However, the 6-month and 12-month subscription price increases would not affect existing subscribers when they resubscribed at the same level, nor those already subscribed through the Xbox Games Pass Ultimate program. However, after complaints from the Xbox community, Microsoft made an announcement on the same day that they revoked their decision, and that they would not increase the prices of any of the subscriptions, thus they would remain the same as they were.


title: Xbox network

text: Microsoft officially announced that they would be branding Xbox Live as "Xbox network" in March 2021 as to cover all the services related to Xbox and not just Xbox Live. Xbox Live Gold would remain the same name and to distinguish the subscription program from the set of services. Microsoft also stated that with this, it will eliminate the requirement to have Xbox Live Gold to play free-to-play games on Xbox consoles.


title: Xbox network

text: By January 2021, Microsoft reported that there were more than 100 million Xbox network subscribers (including those through the Xbox Game Pass subscription).


title: Xbox network

text: A Gamertag is the universal name for a player's username on Xbox Live. A Gamertag is a unique identifier that can include numbers, letters, and spaces. Gamertags can be changed using an Xbox One or Xbox 360 console (first time is free, all other changes afterwards are charged), while the Xbox 360 supports eight Xbox Live-enabled profiles per memory unit and thirty-two profiles on the hard drive.


title: Xbox network

text: A player's Gamertag account status can be checked using a variety of online tools, which is useful especially when looking for a new Gamertag, or confirming that a Gamertag exists. Using a valid Gamertag, any player can be located and messaged from within Live. There are also several websites which allow users of Gamertags to upload photos and information about themselves.


title: Xbox network

text: Gamertags can be used in a variety of places, including Games for Windows – Live, Zune, XNA Creators Club, and of course on Xbox One and Xbox 360.


title: Xbox network

text: Gamertags also contain avatar images (or "gamer pictures"), sometimes associated with certain games or game characters. On Xbox 360 individual gamerpics are available, but they are usually bundled into packs. It is also possible to take "Public" pictures (which are shown to all that view a profile, unless the user has a different "personal" picture set) which can be taken of avatars while using the avatar editor.


title: Xbox network

text: Users were formerly forbidden to use strings such as gay or refer to homosexuality in any way in their Gamertag or profile due to it being considered "content of a sexual nature", even if the string occurs in a legitimate surname. Incidents where a woman was suspended from the service for identifying herself as a lesbian, and an incident where a male user was suspended for using his surname "Gaywood" in his username attracted controversy. In February 2009, Xbox Live Lead Program Manager for Enforcement Stephen Toulouse clarified the service's policy on sexual identification, stating that "Expression of any sexual orientation [...] is not allowed in Gamertags" but that the company is "examining how we can provide it in a way that won't get misused." Changes announced in March 2010 permit Xbox Live members to express sexual orientation in their gamertags and profiles.


title: Xbox network

text: The Gamerscore (G) is an achievements point accumulation system that reflects the number of achievements accumulated by a user on Xbox Live through the displaying of the number of points accumulated. These Achievement points are awarded for the completion of game-specific challenges, such as beating a level or amassing a specified number of wins against other players in online matches and other various in game challenges.


title: Xbox network

text: Initially, retail Xbox 360 games offered up to 1,000G spread over a variable number of Achievements, while each Xbox Live Arcade title contained 12 Achievements totaling 200G. On February 1, 2007, Microsoft announced on their Gamerscore Blog some new policies that developers must follow related to Gamerscore and Achievements in future releases. All regular disc-based games must have 1,000 Gamerscore points in the base game; the title can ship with fewer than 1,000 points, but anything added later must be free. Game developers also now have the option of adding up to 250 points via downloadable content every quarter after the first year of release (for a total of 1,750 points). Xbox Live Arcade titles also allow players to obtain Gamerscore, initially up to 200 Gamerscore with additional points up to 50 Gamerscore via downloadable content (for a total of 250 points), but some XBLA games now contain up to 400 Gamerscore without DLC.


title: Xbox network

text: On May 26, 2007, "Halo 2" was the first Games for Windows title to feature Achievements, which counted towards a player's Gamerscore.


title: Xbox network

text: On March 25, 2008, Microsoft cracked down on "Gamerscore cheaters" (those who used external tools to artificially inflate their Gamerscore), and reduced their Gamerscores to zero without the option to recover the scores that had been "earned", and branded the player by denoting on their Gamertag that they were a "Cheater".


title: Xbox network

text: The development of the Gamerscore system has created a new niche in the internet economy. Many websites have been created to provide gamers with tips and tricks for getting achievement points. Some sites are solely devoted to these achievement guides, and some blogs provide gaming guides in addition to their other content.


title: Xbox network

text: On March 13, 2014, Ray Cox IV or "Stallion83" became the first player in history to reach 1 million Gamerscore.


title: Xbox network

text: The Gamercard is an information panel used to summarize one's user profile on Microsoft's Xbox Live. The pieces of information on a Gamercard include:


title: Xbox network

text: A player's Gamercard can be viewed via the Xbox 360 Dashboard, or online through Xbox.com. The top bar that displays the Gamertag is shown in front of either a silver or gold bar which designates if the gamer has an Xbox Live Free or Gold subscription (respectively). If the gamer is part of the Xbox 360 Launch Team, the top bar will also have additional text stating "Launch Team" in the background. Third-party sites allow users to post a rendered version of their Gamercard as a small Flash applet or JPEG image on any website or Internet forum.


title: Xbox network

text: Similarly, Mac OS X users can download widgets that display their Xbox Live Gamercard within Mac OS X's Dashboard. These can be downloaded onto any Mac with OS X 10.4 or higher via Apple's widget download page.


title: Xbox network

text: There are four Gamer Zones; "Recreation" is for casual gamers, "Family" is for family-friendly gamers (without profanity, etc.), "Pro" is for competitive gamers who enjoy a challenge, and "Underground" is for no-holds-barred gaming where anything goes (as long as it does not violate the Xbox Live Terms of Use). However, in practice these gamer zones are displayed only on the Gamercard of the player, and do not tend to affect the gameplay experience or the matching of players in online games.


title: Xbox network

text: TrueSkill is a ranking and matchmaking system which was first implemented as part of the Xbox 360's "Live" services. Developed at Microsoft Research Cambridge (United Kingdom), the TrueSkill ranking system is now used in over 150 titles for the Xbox 360 and in the Games for Windows – Live game "". It uses a mathematical model of uncertainty to address weaknesses in existing ranking systems such as Elo. For example, a new player joining million-player leagues can be ranked correctly in fewer than 20 games. It can predict the probability of each game outcome, which enhances competitive matchmaking, making it possible to assemble skill-balanced teams from a group of players with different abilities.


title: Xbox network

text: When matchmaking, the system attempts to match individuals based on their estimated skill level. If two individuals are competing head-to-head and have the same estimated skill level with low estimate uncertainty, they should each have roughly a 50% chance of winning a match. In this way, the system attempts to make every match as competitive as possible.


title: Xbox network

text: In order to prevent abuse of the system, the majority of ranked games have relatively limited options for matchmaking. By design, players cannot easily play with their friends in ranked games. However, these countermeasures have failed due to techniques such as alternate account(s) and system flaws where each system has its own individual TrueSkill rating. To provide less competitive games, the system supports unranked "Player Matches", which allow individuals of any skill level to be paired (often including "guests" on an account). Such matches do not contribute to the TrueSkill rating.


title: Xbox network

text: Xbox Games Store (formerly Xbox Live Marketplace) is a unified storefront which offers both free and premium content for download including Xbox Live Arcade titles, Xbox indie games, original Xbox games, Xbox 360 game demos, game expansion material (e.g. extra maps, vehicles, songs), trailers, gamer pictures and themes, television shows, music videos, movie rentals, Apps and games and more.


title: Xbox network

text: On November 17, 2009, Microsoft released a downloadable Zune application for the Xbox 360. This application turns the Xbox 360 into a Zune device. Once one downloads the Zune application, it takes over the Marketplace menus and sections of the console. With the addition of the Zune Marketplace to an Xbox 360 console, one is able to purchase movies instead of only being able to rent them. The Zune Marketplace has a much more extensive content offering compared to the classic Xbox Live Marketplace.


title: Xbox network

text: Xbox Play Anywhere is a cross-buy program announced at E3 2016 and launched September 13, 2016. Under the scheme, supported games purchased digitally on Microsoft Store for Xbox One can also be downloaded on a Windows 10 PC (running Windows 10 Anniversary Update or later) through Microsoft Store using the same Microsoft account at no additional charge, and vice versa. The scheme also promotes the ability to synchronize save data, achievements, and downloadable content between Windows 10 and Xbox One versions of a game.


title: Xbox network

text: Xbox Live Gold is a paid subscription service for the Xbox community. Signing up to Xbox Live is free, but a recurring subscription fee is required to access for Gold. Features that require a Gold subscription include online multiplayer in non-multiplayer games, game recording and media sharing. Similarly, ordinary Xbox Live members can download and access the Twitch live streaming application, but in order to broadcast gameplay of one's own, a Gold subscription is necessary. While initially requiring Gold, free-to-play titles, as well as the party chat feature on Xbox consoles, no longer need a subscription to play as of April 2021. Subscribers are allocated storage space on Xbox servers for storing files, and are granted early or exclusive access to betas, special offers, Games with Gold, and Video Kinect.


title: Xbox network

text: Games with Gold is a program in which digital downloads of games are offered at no charge to Gold subscribers. Games with Gold launched for Xbox 360 in July 2013, while Xbox One games were added in June 2014. After October 2022, Games with Gold will no longer offer Xbox 360 games, with Microsoft stating that they "have reached the limit of our ability to bring Xbox 360 games to the catalogue". Games downloaded through the program on Xbox 360 are free to own with no further restrictions. Xbox One Games with Gold titles require an active Gold subscription in order to use, and become locked and unplayable if the subscription lapses. As of November 2015, all Games with Gold titles for Xbox 360 are backwards compatible on Xbox One.


title: Xbox network

text: At E3 2008, Microsoft announced that all Xbox 360 owners would receive a new dashboard update, titled New Xbox Experience (NXE), on November 19, 2008 that added several new features. Though the new interface is generally downloaded when a new Xbox is connected to Xbox Live, some games, including "Fight Night Round 4", "Portal 2" and "", will also update it.


title: Xbox network

text: One feature is the ability to watch standard quality and 720p streaming movies and TV shows from Netflix through the Xbox 360. This feature is only available in the U.S. and Canada, and requires an Xbox Live Gold subscription and Netflix Unlimited. Users are also able to watch Netflix titles with their friends in a party of up to 8 players. Xbox Live members have the ability to view over 12,000 movies and episodes. Users can browse for titles based on their interests and Netflix ratings with the Xbox interface. Users no longer need to visit the website to choose the content to watch. When a player parties up with a group, they also have the ability to join games together, chat together or view a slideshow of photos.


title: Xbox network

text: Another feature gives players the ability to create Avatars. Players are able to customize avatars by changing body shape, facial features, hair and clothes, as well as new clothing being released from time to time. Xbox Live requires that users select an avatar. Another feature is the ability to install an entire game disc onto the Xbox 360's hard drive, which decreases loading times, and significantly reduces noise due to the game being read from the hard drive and not the louder disc drive (similar to the PS2 HD LOADER Feature). For most games this feature also reduces the amount of time spent reading the disc, thereby helping to extend the life-span of the optical drive mechanism.


title: Xbox network

text: During the Press Conference at E3, Microsoft announced Xbox Live Primetime, a series of scheduled programs where Xbox Live members can play against each other. The first announced game is an adaptation of the Endemol game show "1 vs. 100" in which one Xbox Live member will play against 100 other members with a live host and prizes awarded. On July 15, 2010, Microsoft confirmed that 1 vs. 100 would be cancelled.


title: Xbox network

text: The Xbox Guide has also been redesigned. Players are not only able to view their friends and messages, but are able to access their game library. If a user has installed any game onto their Xbox 360 Hard drive, they are able to immediately start the game from the guide, whether they are in a game or in the dashboard. Microsoft also confirmed that every new 360 comes with 3 free Xbox Live Gold trial accounts, upon creating a new account the player is allowed to claim a trial period upon refusing to pay for Gold subscription; therefore allowing the user to try online gameplay for that 1-month trial period, after which the player is required to pay subscription fees to continue matchmaking online. Major Nelson also announced that the update supports 16:10 on VGA or HDMI, expanding the choice of resolutions.


title: Xbox network

text: While previous system updates have been stored on internal memory, this is the first update to require a storage device. The update requires at least 128 MB free space on either a memory card or a hard drive. Microsoft has stated that many Core or Arcade users will not have sufficient space on their limited memory cards for the new update and thus provided them with a free 512 MB memory card or a discounted 20 GB hard drive for a limited time. This promotion has since ended and all new arcade units now come with 512 MB of internal memory.


title: Xbox network

text: The NXE was leaked onto Torrent sites and could be installed via a USB drive. Microsoft's Major Nelson stated that unauthorized installation of NXE would result in the user's console being banned from Xbox Live until its official release which was on November 19, 2008.


title: Xbox network

text: On September 22, 2010, Major Nelson announced that the Xbox Live dashboard would be updated again. The new design would incorporate the Metro interface used in other Microsoft products, such as Zune HD and Windows Phone. As well as a new color scheme and other minor tweaks to the overall layout, the update would also include a "Kinect hub", designed specifically for the Kinect sensor for easier dashboard navigation. Xbox Live members were able to sign up for a preview program, which opened on September 29, 2010. The update was released on November 1, 2010.


title: Xbox network

text: On June 6, 2011 at E3, it was announced that the dashboard would be updated once again to include the Bing search engine, allowing users to search for games, trailers, movies etc. Kinect would also be updated allowing users to navigate the dashboard and Bing using their voice. Other updates would include cloud storage, YouTube access and live television streaming. The new dashboard officially went live on December 6, 2011.


title: Xbox network

text: On May 13, 2014, Microsoft announced changes to the Xbox Live Gold membership that would allow subscribers to access available apps such as Netflix, Twitch, MLB.tv, etc. without a Gold membership on both Xbox One and Xbox 360 consoles, though various rental or subscription fees still apply. Microsoft would be offering pro-rated refunds for the service for requests up until August 31, 2014. The company also announced "Games with Gold" that would give subscribers free games on both Xbox 360 and Xbox One with one single membership, and "Deals with Gold" for exclusive discounts for Xbox One games at the Xbox store.


title: Xbox network

text: On November 6, 2006, Microsoft announced Microsoft Movies & TV (Microsoft Films & TV in other supported countries) (formerly Xbox Video Marketplace, Xbox Video and Zune Video), an exclusive video store accessible through the console. Launched in the United States on November 22, 2006, the first anniversary of the Xbox 360's launch, the service allows users in the United States to download high-definition and standard-definition television shows for purchase and movies for rental onto an Xbox 360 console for viewing. With the exception of short clips, content is not currently available for streaming, and must be downloaded. Movies are available for rental from the Video Marketplace. They expire in 14 days after download or at the end of the first 24 hours after the movie has begun playing, whichever comes first. Television episodes can be purchased to own, and are transferable to an unlimited number of consoles. Downloaded files use 5.1 surround audio and are encoded using VC-1 for video at 720p, with a bitrate of 6.8 Mbit/s. Television content is offered from MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Turner Broadcasting and CBS; and movie content is Warner Bros., Paramount and Disney, along with other publishers.


title: Xbox network

text: The "Game with Fame" initiative has been Microsoft's way to connect Xbox Live members with celebrities and game developers. Notable participants of "Game with Fame" include Shia LaBeouf, Jack Black, Rihanna, Velvet Revolver, Victoria Justice, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Scissor Sisters, Paramore, Korn, OK Go, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Dream Theater, Linkin Park, Green Day and Insane Clown Posse.


title: Xbox network

text: "Xbox Ambassadors" are Xbox Live members selected by Microsoft who have proven themselves to be helpful towards others, and are willing to assist new Xbox Live users and answer their questions. As of March 2009, there are ambassadors representing 18 countries in more than 30 languages.


title: Xbox network

text: "Xbox Rewards" was a promotion designed to provide gamers incentives to play on Xbox Live by subsidizing achievement points earned with actual rewards. Gamers were required to register for specific challenges which, if successfully completed, would yield a challenge-specific reward.


title: Xbox network

text: "Xbox Live Rewards" is a current promotion providing Xbox Live members with Reward Points (not to be confused with the defunct Microsoft Points) when they renew their Gold Membership, buy something on the Marketplace, etc.


title: Xbox network

text: "Xbox Live Labs" was a program found in the community section and was available from March 10 to 27, 2011 for members in the United States. If a player chose to participate, they were rewarded with avatar items and 3 zero-point achievements.


title: Xbox network

text: "SentUAMessage" was a show which aimed to answer questions sent in by viewers on anything related to the world of Xbox. The show ran for four series and was released every other Saturday. The show was driven entirely by user-generated questions. To ensure the volume of questions remained high, fans could contact the show in a variety of ways, including sending questions to the "SentUAMessage" Gamertag over Xbox LIVE, writing an email, or using social network websites.


title: Xbox network

text: Microsoft implements a number of different security measures on its Xbox Live service. One of these takes the form of a proactive security check that assures that only unmodified machines may access their service. On May 17, 2007, Microsoft banned consoles with modified firmware from Xbox Live. According to Microsoft, consoles with firmware of unknown origin, quality or intent were banned permanently from Xbox Live. A Microsoft representative indicated that the action was taken to assure "the integrity of the service and protect our partners and users."


title: Xbox network

text: It has been discovered that pretexting has been used to impersonate an Xbox Live user for sabotage. Microsoft has implemented greater security to decrease the service's susceptibility to social engineering.


title: Xbox network

text: In early November 2009 Microsoft banned approximately 1 million consoles with modified firmware from Xbox Live.


title: Xbox network

text: In October 2011, users of Xbox Live reported having unauthorized access to their Xbox Live accounts, with Microsoft points subsequently being used and/or bought to purchase various in-game items for "FIFA 12". Microsoft is responding to such incidents by restricting access to the account for 25 days whilst the fraud team investigates. Both EA and Microsoft have denied that there is a problem with security.


title: Xbox network

text: On December 25, 2014, both PlayStation Network and Xbox Live suffered network disruption after a denial-of-service attack. Functionality was restored on December 28, with some users experiencing difficulties in the days that followed.


title: Xbox network

text: Users from other countries are not officially supported, although it is possible for them to access Xbox network if they provide an address located in a country where Xbox network is officially available. The country selected during account creation affects the payment options, content, and services available to the user. Previously, users were unable to change their account region, but in October 2012, Microsoft introduced an account migration tool as a pilot project, which allows the user to change their region and maintain their Xbox network profile. Subscriptions, such as that for Xbox Music, cannot be transferred with this method.


title: Xbox network

text: On May 18, 2011, Microsoft announced that it planned to launch Xbox network in the Middle East within the next twelve months, but it never occurred during that time period. However, on October 20, 2012, Microsoft officially announced the service will be launching in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in three days time.


title: Xbox network

text: On November 4, Microsoft announced that the service would be launched on November 29 in Argentina and Israel. The service also appeared in the following month in Slovakia and Turkey. The service was launched in China in late 2014.


title: Xbox network

text: Xbox Live for the original Xbox was discontinued by Microsoft on April 15, 2010, encouraging gamers to upgrade to the Xbox 360. Through loopholes and flaws, however, users were still able to play after the provided time and date Microsoft announced the shutdown. Users could continue interacting in the network, however new users could not enter the system. Notably, 14 users played "Halo 2" until May 11, 2010. Though official Xbox Live service has been discontinued for the original Xbox, tunneling software such as Xlink Kai exists, allowing original Xbox users to play system link games such as "Halo 2" with other people from around the world, much like Xbox Live.


title: Xbox network

text: The Noble 14 were a band of users who continued to play "Halo 2" until May 11, 2010, days after the service was officially discontinued by Microsoft. The users would play custom games together, with all attempting to stay on for as long as possible. An Xbox spokesperson made a statement regarding the Noble 14, "A small band of a committed few, engaged in a battle against insurmountable odds. It's not Noble team from "", it's the final, passionate few who are still playing "Halo 2". We wish them the best in their battle against time." The last 12 users were offered "Halo: Reach" Beta Codes by GamesRadar.com, as well as having their Xbox Live memberships extended by Microsoft. Eventually "Agent Windex" and "Apache N4SIR" were the final two users on the service, however two days after the third user "Lord Odysseus11" was disconnected by an internet drop, user Agent Windex was booted on May 10, stating "Good job Apache, you're the last one." The next day, May 11, Apache N4SIR was booted offline after many hours since Agent Windex was disconnected. He stated that he wanted to play 15 hours, 14 for each member, then one final hour for the community.


title: Xbox network

text: "Live Anywhere" is an initiative by Microsoft to bring the "Live" online gaming and entertainment network to a wide variety of platforms and devices, including Xbox, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows (XP SP2/SP3, Vista and 7), Windows Phone, Java-based phones and Zune. The concept service for mobile devices has been demonstrated at E3 and CES on a Motorola Q mobile phone.


title: Xbox network

text: Microsoft's Chris Early clarified that "Live Anywhere" is a long-term project expected to be rolled out over several years.


title: Xbox network

text: On February 15, 2010, Microsoft announced its new mobile operating system, Windows Phone. With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft has integrated full Xbox Live functionality into Windows Phone.


title: Xbox network

text: Microsoft announced in March 2019 that it would be providing Xbox Live SDKs for iOS and Android mobile devices, allowing developers on those platforms to integrate most services of Xbox Live into their applications and games. Microsoft also stated that they are looking to bring this functionality to the Nintendo Switch, anticipating this to be a post-launch feature for the Switch port of "Cuphead".


title: Xbox network

text: Bloomberg estimates that Xbox network likely generated over $1 billion in revenue in the 2010 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, 2010.


title: Rana Daggubati filmography

text: Rana Daggubati is an Indian actor, producer, television personality, visual effects co-ordinator, and an entrepreneur known primarily for his work in Telugu-language films, in addition to Hindi and Tamil language films. He is best known for his roles Bhallaladeva in "" (2015) and "" (2017), Radha Jogendra in "Nene Raju Nene Mantri" (2017) and Arjun Verma in "Ghazi" (2017). His other successful films include "Leader" (2010)", Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum" (2012) and "Bangalore Naatkal" (2016).


title: Rana Daggubati filmography

text: Beside being an actor, Rana is also a successful producer and an visual effects coordinator. His visual effects company Spirit Media P. Limited, that specialised in animation and VFX, produced special effects for over 70 films. He is one of the key individuals of the Suresh Productions. Rana has produced the children's film, "Bommalata" in 2004. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu. Rana has recorded the Telugu version of the song "Lights Camera Action" along with Hiphop Tamizha and Roll Rida, for the 2019 Tamil film "Action". He has also appeared in the web series "Social", that premiered on Viu.


title: Trish Van Devere

text: Trish Van Devere (born Patricia Louise Dressel; March 9, 1941) is a retired American actress. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the film "One Is a Lonely Number" (1972), and won a Genie Award for the film "The Changeling" (1980). She is the widow of actor George C. Scott, with whom she appeared in multiple films.


title: Trish Van Devere

text: Van Devere was born March 9, 1941 as Patricia Louise Dressel in Tenafly, New Jersey. Her father owned a Pontiac dealership and real estate business, which was inherited by her mother after her father's death when Van Devere was 9 years old. After attending Tenafly High School, she graduated in 1958 from Northern Valley High School before attending Ohio Wesleyan University, where she met and married fellow student Grant Van Devere. The marriage lasted only 8 months, though she retained Van Devere as her stage name.


title: Trish Van Devere

text: In 1966, Van Devere moved to New York City and began pursuing a career in acting, studying at the Actors Studio. She co-founded the Free Southern Theater with Scott Cunningham, an African American fellow actor, staging plays in fields and at churches in the Southern United States for indigent African Americans who had never seen live theater before. Two years later, Van Devere and Cunningham founded an offshoot theater company, the Poor People's Theater in New York City, headquartered in the basement of Manhattan's Riverside Church, which held similar theatrical productions in churches, schools, and streets.


title: Trish Van Devere

text: Van Devere had her breakthrough portraying the original Meredith Lord in the soap opera "One Life to Live" in 1968 — the income from which she largely used to help maintain the Poor People's Theater Company. In 1970, she co-starred with George Segal and Ruth Gordon in the comedy "Where's Poppa?". She subsequently garnered significant notice for her lead role in the film "One Is a Lonely Number" (1972), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe award.


title: Trish Van Devere

text: Van Devere married actor George C. Scott in September 1972 in Santa Monica, California, after they appeared together in the film "The Last Run" (1971). The couple subsequently appeared in a number of films together, including "The Day of the Dolphin", and "The Savage Is Loose" (both 1973, the latter film directed by Scott); the television film "Beauty and the Beast" (1976), "Movie Movie" (1978), and the supernatural horror film "The Changeling" (1980). Also in 1980, Van Devere had a lead role in the horror film "The Hearse".


title: Trish Van Devere

text: Van Devere performed frequently in both television and film until 1994, and appeared in television programs such as "Love Story", "The Fall Guy", "Hardcastle and McCormick", "Highway to Heaven" and "Love Boat". She also starred alongside Peter Falk in a 1978 episode of the detective series "Columbo" entitled "Make Me a Perfect Murder", in which she portrayed a TV producer who murders her ex-lover. She remained married to Scott until his death in 1999.


title: Β-Carotene

text: β-Carotene ("beta"-carotene) is an organic, strongly coloured red-orange pigment abundant in fungi, plants, and fruits. It is a member of the carotenes, which are terpenoids (isoprenoids), synthesized biochemically from eight isoprene units and thus having 40 carbons. Among the carotenes, β-carotene is distinguished by having beta-rings at both ends of the molecule. β-Carotene is biosynthesized from geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate.


title: Β-Carotene

text: β-carotene is the most common form of carotene in plants. When used as a food coloring, it has the E number E160a. The structure was deduced by Karrer et al. in 1930. In nature, β-carotene is a precursor (inactive form) to vitamin A via the action of beta-carotene 15,15'-monooxygenase.


title: Β-Carotene

text: Isolation of β-carotene from fruits abundant in carotenoids is commonly done using column chromatography. It can also be extracted from the beta-carotene rich algae, "Dunaliella salina". The separation of β-carotene from the mixture of other carotenoids is based on the polarity of a compound. β-Carotene is a non-polar compound, so it is separated with a non-polar solvent such as hexane. Being highly conjugated, it is deeply colored, and as a hydrocarbon lacking functional groups, it is very lipophilic.


title: Β-Carotene

text: Plant carotenoids are the primary dietary source of provitamin A worldwide, with β-carotene as the best-known provitamin A carotenoid. Others include α-carotene and β-cryptoxanthin. Carotenoid absorption is restricted to the duodenum of the small intestine. One molecule of β-carotene can be cleaved by the intestinal enzyme "β,β-carotene 15,15'-monooxygenase" into two molecules of vitamin A.


title: Β-Carotene

text: As part of the digestive process, food-sourced carotenoids must be separated from plant cells and incorporated into lipid-containing micelles to be bioaccessible to intestinal enterocytes. If already extracted (or synthetic) and then presented in an oil-filled dietary supplement capsule, there is greater bioavailability compared to that from foods. At the enterocyte cell wall, β-carotene is taken up by the membrane transporter protein scavenger receptor class B, type 1 (SCARB1). Absorbed β-carotene is then either incorporated as such into chylomicrons or first converted to retinal and then retinol, bound to retinol binding protein 2, before being incorporated into chylomicrons. The conversion process consists of one molecule of β-carotene cleaved by the enzyme beta-carotene 15,15'-dioxygenase, which is encoded by the BC01 gene, into two molecules of retinal. When plasma retinol is in the normal range the gene expression for SCARB1 and BC01 are suppressed, creating a feedback loop that suppresses β-carotene absorption and conversion. The majority of chylomicrons are taken up by the liver, then secreted into the blood repackaged into low density lipoproteins (LDLs). From these circulating lipoproteins and the chylomicrons that bypassed the liver, β-carotene is taken into cells via receptor SCARB1. Human tissues differ in expression of SCARB1, and hence β-carotene content. Examples expressed as ng/g, wet weight: liver=479, lung=226, prostate=163 and skin=26.


title: Β-Carotene

text: Once taken up by peripheral tissue cells, the major usage of absorbed β-carotene is as a precursor to retinal via symmetric cleavage by the enzyme beta-carotene 15,15'-dioxygenase, which is encoded by the BC01 gene. A lesser amount is metabolized by the mitochondrial enzyme beta-carotene 9',10'-dioxygenase, which is encoded by the BC02 gene. The products of this asymmetric cleavage are two beta-ionone molecules and rosafluene. BC02 appears to be involved in preventing excessive accumulation of carotenoids; a BC02 defect in chickens results in yellow skin color due to accumulation in subcutaneous fat.


title: Β-Carotene

text: Since 2001, the US Institute of Medicine uses retinol activity equivalents (RAE) for their Dietary Reference Intakes, defined as follows:


title: Β-Carotene

text: RAE takes into account carotenoids' variable absorption and conversion to vitamin A by humans better than and replaces the older retinol equivalent (RE) (1 µg RE = 1 µg retinol, 6 µg β-carotene, or 12 µg α-carotene or β-cryptoxanthin). RE was developed 1967 by the United Nations/World Health Organization Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO/WHO).


title: Β-Carotene

text: Another older unit of vitamin A activity is the international unit (IU). Like retinol equivalent, the international unit does not take into account carotenoids' variable absorption and conversion to vitamin A by humans, as well as the more modern retinol activity equivalent. Unfortunately, food and supplement labels still generally use IU, but IU can be converted to the more useful retinol activity equivalent as follows: