title: Mount Roraima

text: Mount Roraima is a flat-topped mountain, typical of the Guyana Shield, with an elevation of about 1,200 meters in the southeast and only about 600 meters in the northwest. The south, southeast, east, northeast and northwest faces are all formed by straight cliffs up to about 1,000 meters high. At the southern end of the mountain, part of the cliff has collapsed, forming a spectacular natural boulder. The base of the cliff is surrounded by steep slopes to the south and east, and the north and west sides form river valleys leading to the summit.


title: Mount Roraima

text: The top of Mount Roraima has a length of more than 10 kilometers, a maximum width of 5 kilometers, an area of about 33 to 50 square kilometers, an altitude of more than 2200 meters, and an average altitude of 2600–2700 meters. The plateau is a pseudo-karst surface etched by heavy rainfall. The highest point is 2810 meters above sea level, located at the southern end of the plateau and the highest point in the state of Bolivar, 8.25 kilometers north of the summit is another high point with an altitude of 2,772 meters, which is the highest point in Guyana. In the northern part of the plateau is the landmark of the border between Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana, with an altitude of 2734 meters.


title: Mount Roraima

text: Due to its high altitude and proximity to the equator, Mount Roraima has a constant average annual temperature between 20 and 22 °C and annual rainfall of more than 1,500 mm, with 1,800 to 3,000 mm in parts of the rainy season from April to November. The climatic conditions at the top of the mountain differ significantly from its base, the high cloudiness in the region is associated with the prevailing northeasterly and southeasterly winds, and the relative humidity of the air remains between 75% and 85%.


title: Mount Roraima

text: Mount Roraima is composed of Proterozoic age sandstone formed about 1.7 to 2 billion years ago, and hence amongst the oldest rocks on Earth and contains a large amount of quartz deposits, 98% are silica particles, forming white or pink crystals several centimeters long. These rocks sit on a granite and gneiss base and were originally covered by layers of Mesozoic clay, conglomerate, and diorite, but have been exposed by erosion and by orogeny over the past 180 million years, eroded by precipitation to form strange shapes. The soil of the sandstone matrix is highly acidic, poor in nutrients, and very fine. Intense rainfall prevents the fixation of nutrients and particles, thereby preventing the formation of hilltop vegetation and soil.


title: Mount Roraima

text: The numerous caves and rifts in the interior of the plateau make Mount Roraima exhibit a pseudokarst structure, and these caves form a network over 15 kilometers long with a total height difference of 73.21 meters, It is the largest quartz cave in the world. These caves are formed by the infiltration of surface water, so the water level inside them depends largely on the precipitation on the surface of the plateau: prolonged drought can dry up waterways, and dry caves can also become underground rivers. The water that poured into it rushed into the crevices of the rock and flowed out in the form of waterfalls on the mountainside, creating many streams at the foot of the mountain.


title: Mount Roraima

text: Due to the late exploration of this part of South America and the discovery of new species every year, the flora and fauna here are largely unknown. The currently identified species are strongly endemic, especially the fauna, which also puts them at a high risk of extinction. The bottom of the cliff at the foot of the mountain is an evergreen rainforest composed of trees 25 to 45 meters high, and some can reach 60 meters. Vegetation is dominated by Arecaceae and Astragalus. The soils on the cliffs are more sandy, the climate is cooler, and the vegetation consists of bromeliads very similar to the Andes. The vegetation on the plateau is still largely unknown and consists mainly of bare rocks, forests of trees and epiphytes , and wet and dry savannas in the form of swamps. It is marked by numerous endemic species, especially carnivorous plants that capture insects and find them there in sandstone and leaching soils without the nitrates necessary for their development. There are fewer species in the vicinity of streams and ravines, and the trees are 8 to 15 meters tall and have hard leaves that can adapt to harsh environmental conditions. The exposed rocks are occupied by lichens, algae and cyanobacteria.


title: Mount Roraima

text: The fauna at the foot of the mountain is composed of a variety of mammals, and this huge diversity is particularly prominent in the Amazon rainforest, such as sloths, anteaters, tapirs, armadillos, capybaras, possums, agouti, prairie fox, weasels, raccoons, deer, cougars, and primates such as howler monkeys and capuchins. There are hundreds of species of birds, the most common of which are falcons, parrots, owls, etc. Some hummingbirds are endemic to the region. Due to low mobility relative to other species, reptiles and amphibians show large differences between individuals found at the bottom and top of Mount Roraima. While species inhabiting forests at the foot of the plateau are common, such as green iguanas, pit vipers, coral snakes and pythons, those found at the top are even rarer. Cave fauna consists of many species of bats, grasshoppers, spiders and centipedes, but this fragile subterranean ecosystem is being disturbed by surface hikers, organic matter produced by tourists and explorers over the years. Pollutants such as fuel are washed into the ground by rainwater, which leads to the proliferation of microorganisms and causes ecological imbalance.


title: Mount Roraima

text: European discovery was in 1595, during a Spanish and British race to colonize this part of South America, although Mount Roraima had been inhabited by Amerindians for at least 10,000 years. The English poet, army officer and explorer Walter Raleigh described it as an immeasurable "Crystal Mountain" gushing out of countless waterfalls. The first expedition to Mount Roraima took place in 1838, when German scientist and explorer Robert Hermann Schomburgk observed it during a Royal Geographical Society-funded expedition to explore British Guiana (1835-39). In 1840, the British government commissioned him to establish the boundaries between British Guiana and Venezuela. When he returned to the area in 1844 to study the local flora, he reported that the peak seemed inaccessible due to its towering cliffs. In 1864, German naturalist and botanist Carl Ferdinand Appun and British geologist Charles Barrington Brown arrived at the southeastern tip of Mount Roraima for observation and proposed to go up the mountain by hot air balloon.


title: Mount Roraima

text: Although its vertical cliffs make access very difficult, Mount Roraima was the first large mesa to be climbed in the Guyana Plateau. Henry Whiteley, who studied the birds of the area, observed that the summit could be reached from the south with the help of ropes and ladders. Everard im Thurn and Harry Perkins led an expedition sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society that culminated on December 18, 1884, when the team found even a local Aboriginal Pemon. Passages unknown to man, they indicate that the top of the cliff has been unknown since the dawn of man. Soon, many expeditions made up of botanists, zoologists and geologists made multiple expeditions to Mount Roraima to study the mostly unknown flora and fauna and special geological conditions of the area.


title: Mount Roraima

text: Mount Roraima and Mount Aoyan are the only flat-topped mountains in the Canaima National Park that can be climbed by hikers, with a monthly quota of 200 people. Its ascent takes three to five days in total, the summit route is on a natural slope on the southwestern cliffs of Mount Roraima, it does not require any special equipment or training, so it is chosen by almost all hikers, the only difficulty is that some streams and small waterfalls may become difficult to pass under heavy rain. However, the length of the trail requires climbers to spend one night at the base camp at the foot of the cliff at an altitude of about 2,000 meters, and another night at the summit, taking several days to explore the plateau and two days to descend. The best time to climb Mount Roraima is in the dry season, however, when the sun is very strong and the temperature is high, it can make the road to the mountain difficult.


title: Jeremiah Brent

text: Jeremiah Brent (born Jeremy Clevenger Johnson; November 24, 1984) is an American interior designer and television personality. He founded his design firm Jeremiah Brent Design (JBD) in 2011, a full service interior design firm based in Los Angeles and New York City. He stars in the 2017 TLC series "Nate & Jeremiah by Design" (2017) and as the event designer in the Netflix reality series "Say I Do" (2020).


title: Jeremiah Brent

text: The son of Gwen A. Johnson and Terry Johnson, Brent was born and raised in Modesto, California. Growing up, his father was a deputy sheriff in Modesto and his mother was a paralegal in San Francisco. Brent graduated from Modesto High School in 2002, where he went by the name Jeremy Johnson. While at Modesto High, Brent was active in drama, speech and debate. In 2004 at the age of 19, he moved to Los Angeles. Brent spent his first year living on friends' couches and in his Jeep. His first apartment was across the street from Covenant House, a shelter for homeless teens, which he later helped redesign.


title: Jeremiah Brent

text: Jeremiah Brent is an actor and producer, known for "The Ode" (2008), "Nate & Jeremiah by Design" (2017), "The Nate & Jeremiah Home Project" (2021), "The Rachel Zoe Project" (2011), "Say I Do" (2020) and "Home Made Simple" (2015). In early 2014, Brent and Nate Berkus were featured in clothier Banana Republic's "True Outfitters" ads in "InStyle" and "Rolling Stone", among other magazines. "The New York Times" noted they were the first same-sex couple to be featured in ads for the magazines. Their Manhattan apartment was featured in the September 2015 issue of "Architectural Digest" magazine, where Jeremiah Brent and Nate Berkus appeared on the cover with their daughter Poppy.


title: Jeremiah Brent

text: Brent was featured in many television shows with a big break in 2011 when he became a styling associate to Rachel Zoe on her syndicated show "The Rachel Zoe Project" in the fourth season of the show. He has also appeared in covers of various publications such as "Domino" magazine, "Architectural Digest", "Harper's Bazaar" and "People" magazine. He was host of the Emmy Award-winning show "Home Made Simple", broadcast for two seasons on Oprah Winfrey's OWN network. Alongside his husband, fellow interior designer Nate Berkus, he launched in 2017 the TV show "Nate & Jeremiah by Design" broadcast on TLC network. In 2017, he also became part of Living Spaces particularly "Living Spaces presents Behind the Design".


title: Jeremiah Brent

text: In 2020, Brent began starring as the design expert on Netflix's reality show "Say I Do" - a wedding version of hit show "Queer Eye".


title: Jeremiah Brent

text: After one year of dating, he became engaged to fellow interior designer and television personality Nate Berkus in April 2013. They were married on May 4, 2014 in Manhattan. The couple's Jewish–Buddhist ceremony was officiated by the then-president of the Oprah Winfrey Network, Sheri Salata. Brent legally changed his name from Jeremy Clevenger Johnson to Jeremiah Brent Berkus on August 25, 2014.


title: Jeremiah Brent

text: Brent's daughter, Poppy Brent-Berkus, was born on March 23, 2015 and their son, Oskar Michael Brent-Berkus, followed on March 26, 2018. Both children were born by different egg donors and surrogates contracted through Growing Generations, and neither Brent nor Berkus have publicly disclosed who the biological parents of their children are.


title: Jeremiah Brent

text: In December 2018, Brent and Berkus listed their 8,500-square-foot Los Angeles home where they had planned to “put down roots” for $13.8 million. The 1920s Mediterranean-style home that the couple remodeled over a two-year period sold for $11.35 million. In 2019, they moved back to Manhattan.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: Francis Alick Howard (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992), better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: Howerd was born the son of soldier Francis Alfred William (1887–1934) and Edith Florence Howard (née Morrison, 1888–1962), at the City Hospital in York, England, in 1917 (not 1922 as he later claimed). His mother worked at the Rowntree's chocolate factory. For his first two and a half years, Howerd lived in a terraced house at 53, Hartoft Street. He described it as "a poorish area of the city near the River Ouse". He later said he had only one memory of living in York and that was of falling down the stairs, an experience which left him with a life-long dread of heights. He returned to York on many occasions for family holidays, however, and later in life spoke of his fondness for the city.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: His family moved to Eltham, London when he was a young child, and he was educated at Shooter's Hill Grammar School in Shooter's Hill.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: His first stage appearance was at age 13 but his early hopes of becoming a serious actor were dashed when he failed an audition for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He began to entertain during World War II service in the British Army. It was at this time that he adapted his surname to Howerd "to be different". In 1944 he became a bombardier in Plymouth, was promoted to sergeant, and on 6 June 1944 was part of the D-Day effort but was stuck on a boat off Normandy. Despite suffering from stage fright, he continued to work after the war, beginning his professional career in the summer of 1946 in a touring show called "For the Fun of It".


title: Frankie Howerd

text: His act was soon heard on radio, when he made his debut, in early December 1946, on the BBC's "Variety Bandbox" programme with a number of other ex-servicemen. His profile rose in the immediate postwar period (aided with material written by Eric Sykes, Galton and Simpson and Johnny Speight). He then toured the Music Hall circuit with an act including what became his standard catch-phrases such as "titter ye not". He also became a regular in the 1950s editions of the weekly hard-copy comic "Film Fun".


title: Frankie Howerd

text: In 1954 he made his screen debut opposite Petula Clark in "The Runaway Bus", which had been written for his specific comic talent. Filming took five weeks, with a budget of £45,000.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: He then experimented with different formats and contexts, including stage farces, Shakespearean comedy roles, and television sitcoms. At the start of the 1960s, he began to recover his old popularity, initially with a season at Peter Cook's satirical Establishment Club in Soho in London. He was boosted further by success on "That Was the Week That Was" (TW3) in 1963 and on stage with "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (1963–1965), which led into regular television work. In 1966 and 1967, he co-hosted a 90-minute Christmas show called "The Frankie and Bruce Christmas Show" with Bruce Forsyth, featuring many top acts of the day.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: During the 1960s and 1970s, he was involved in shows for the BBC and Thames Television (as well as "Frankie Howerd Reveals All" for Yorkshire Television in 1980). Ray Galton and Alan Simpson wrote for him from 1964 to 1966 when he worked for the BBC and also for a one-off show for Thames, "Frankie Howerd meets the Bee Gees", shown on 20 August 1968. He was known for his seemingly off-the-cuff remarks to the audience, especially in the show "Up Pompeii!" (1969–70), which was a direct follow-up from "Forum". His television work was characterised by direct addresses to camera and by his littering monologues with verbal tics such as "Oooh, no missus" and "Titter ye not". A later sale of his scripts, however, showed that the seemingly off-the-cuff remarks had all been meticulously planned. Barry Cryer said of his technique: "What he could do with a script was amazing, like all the great performers. He transformed something you'd just written – what you hoped was in a Frankie Howerd idiom – but when you heard him do it, my God, it was something else; – it was gossiping over the garden wall, the "apparent" waffle – he was like a tightrope walker, you thought he's going to fall off in a minute, you thought , 'Come on, Frank' , we're waiting for a laugh, and then, suddenly, "Bang". He knew exactly what he was doing." Another feature of his humour was to feign innocence about his obvious and risqué double entendres, while mockingly censuring the audience for finding them funny.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: Howerd appeared as Francis Bigger, one of the lead characters in 1967's "Carry On Doctor", of which "Variety" noted, "Added zest is given by the inclusion of Frankie Howerd as a quack 'mind-over-matter' doctor who becomes a reluctant patient. Howerd's brilliantly droll sense of comedy is given plenty of scope."


title: Frankie Howerd

text: The success of the film version of "Up Pompeii" in 1971 saw British exhibitors vote him the ninth most popular star at the British box office that year. He would play versions of the character Lurkio in "Up the Chastity Belt" (Lurkalot), also in 1971, and "Up the Front" (Boot Boy Lurk) in 1972.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: In 1971 Howerd recorded, with June Whitfield, a comedy version of the song "Je t'aime", previously recorded by Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, in which she featured as "Mavis" alongside Howerd's "Frank", and a third unexplained sleeping partner named "Arthur". The song was included in the 2004 CD re-issue of "Oh! What a Carry On!".


title: Frankie Howerd

text: In 1976, Howerd appeared in "The Frankie Howerd Show" on CBC Television in Canada. It received good ratings but was not renewed.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: In 1978, Howerd appeared in the big-budget Hollywood musical "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" playing Mean Mr Mustard, acting alongside musical and film talent such as Peter Frampton, the Bee Gees, George Burns, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith and Steve Martin. He was cast by producer Robert Stigwood as he was on Stigwood's record label at the time. The film was a critical and commercial flop. Since Howerd was not well known to American audiences, this may have been his biggest exposure in the US.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: There was a cabaret tour of New Zealand in 1979. In 1982, Howerd appeared in the televised versions of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Trial by Jury" (as the Learned Judge) and "H.M.S. Pinafore" (as Sir Joseph Porter, KCB). He performed a comedy-duet with Cilla Black on "Cilla Black's Christmas" (1983).


title: Frankie Howerd

text: After six years without a regular television show in the United Kingdom (though he had hosted a one-off UK version of "The Gong Show" for Channel 4, which was critically panned and was not commissioned for a full series), Howerd returned to TV screens in 1987 in the Channel 4 show "Superfrank!", scripted by Miles Tredinnick and Vince Powell. In the last years of his career, Howerd developed a following with student audiences and performed a one-man show at universities and in small theatrical venues. He was also a regular guest on the late night BBC Radio 1 programme "Into the Night", hosted by Nicky Campbell.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: In 1990, he contributed to the last recording studio collaboration between Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, on the album "Freudiana", performing "Sects Therapy".


title: Frankie Howerd

text: Howerd often worked with Sunny Rogers, who was his accompanying pianist from 1960 onwards. She appeared in his TV and live theatre shows including his last major West End appearance — his one-man show — at the Garrick Theatre in 1990.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: Throughout his career, Howerd hid his potentially career-destroying homosexuality (acts between consenting males being illegal in England and Wales until 1967) from both his audience and his mother, Edith. In 1958, he met Sommelier Dennis Heymer at the Dorchester Hotel while dining with Sir John Mills; Howerd was 40 and Heymer was 28. Heymer became his lover as well as manager, and stayed with him for more than thirty years, until Howerd's death, with Heymer helping to revive Howerd's flagging career in the 1960s. However, the two had to remain discreet as Howerd feared being blackmailed if anyone beyond his immediate circle found out. The relationship was explored in 2008 in a drama for BBC Four, "Rather You Than Me", starring David Walliams and Rafe Spall.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: Backstage, Howerd was notoriously bold in his advances, and was known for his promiscuity. One of Howerd's former boyfriends was comic actor Lee Young who created the TV sitcom "Whoops Baghdad" (1973) for him. Howerd's uncomfortable relationship with his sexuality he once said to Cilla Black, "I wish to God I wasn't gay" as well as his depressive mental state, led him to seek resolution through a series of different methods. Heymer would often drop Howerd off on Friday at his psychiatrist, who would ply him with LSD over the weekend. This experience was later the subject of the March 2015 BBC Radio 4 drama "Frankie Takes a Trip".


title: Frankie Howerd

text: In his early career, Howerd suffered from a stutter, which caused him some distress, but which he turned to advantage in developing his delivery style as a comic.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: For the last 20 years of Howerd's life, he and Heymer lived in Wavering Down, a house in the village of Cross, Somerset, under the Mendip Hills. After Howerd's death, Heymer curated Howerd's collection of memorabilia until his own death in 2009.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: Having contracted a virus during a Christmas trip to the Amazon in 1991, Howerd suffered respiratory problems at the beginning of April 1992 and was taken to a clinic in London's Harley Street, but was discharged at Easter. He collapsed and died of heart failure two weeks later, on the morning of 19 April 1992, aged 75. Two hours before he died, he was speaking on the telephone to his TV producer about new ideas for his next show.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: Howerd died the day before fellow comedian Benny Hill. News of the two deaths broke almost simultaneously and some newspapers ran an obituary of Howerd in which Hill was quoted as regretting Howerd's death, saying "We were great, great friends". The quote was released by Hill's unofficial press agent and friend, who was not aware that Hill had died.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: Howerd's grave is at St. Gregory's Church in Weare, Somerset. In May 2009, when Heymer died, he was buried near him.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: A BBC TV biography about Frankie Howerd, "Rather You Than Me", was broadcast by BBC Four on 9 April 2008, and repeated on 10 February 2013. The script was written by Peter Harness, after extensive interviews with Howerd's partner, Dennis Heymer. The comedian David Walliams was cast as Howerd.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: Howerd's home, Wavering Down, is a tourist attraction and, in the summer, hosts concerts and opens regularly as a museum of Howerd's collection of memorabilia and personal effects such as his false teeth and ill-fitting toupee, to raise funds for charity.


title: Frankie Howerd

text: Howerd also lived at 27 Edwardes Square, Kensington, London W8. The house bears a blue plaque installed by the Dead Comics' Society in 1993. In March 1999 former colleagues and friends and Howerd's sister Betty attended a fund-raising weekend in York and a blue plaque was placed on the Cumberland Street entrance to the Grand Opera House where it was thought that the general public was more likely to see it, with the inscription: "Frankie Howerd OBE 1917-1992. Son of York". On 26 July 2016, a York Civic Trust plaque was unveiled at 53, Hartoft Street, Howerd's childhood home, by York-born actor Mark Addy and the Lord Mayor of York Councillor Dave Taylor.


title: Scavenger hunt

text: A scavenger hunt is a game in which the organizers prepare a list defining specific items, which the participants seek to gather or complete all items on the list, usually without purchasing them. Usually participants work in small teams, although the rules may allow individuals to participate. The goal is to be the first to complete the list or to complete the most items on that list.


title: Scavenger hunt

text: In variations of the game, players take photographs of listed items or be challenged to complete the tasks on the list in the most creative manner. A treasure hunt is another name for the game, but it may involve following a series of clues to find objects or a single prize in a particular order.


title: Scavenger hunt

text: According to game scholar Markus Montola, scavenger hunts evolved from ancient folk games. Gossip columnist Elsa Maxwell popularized scavenger hunts in the United States with a series of exclusive New York parties starting in the early 1930s. The scavenger-hunt craze among New York's elite was satirized in the 1936 film "My Man Godfrey", where one of the items socialite players are trying to collect is a "Forgotten Man", a homeless person.


title: Scavenger hunt

text: Scavenger hunts are regularly held at American universities, a notable modern example being the University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt, founded in 1987. The town of Provo in Utah currently holds the Guinness World Record for organizing the world's largest scavenger hunt with 2,079 participants.


title: Scavenger hunt

text: A common game at Easter is the egg hunt, where players search for concealed eggs. Halloween scavenger hunts have been moderately replacing trick-or-treating.


title: Scavenger hunt

text: Letterboxing is an outdoor treasure hunt activity that combines elements of orienteering, art and problem-solving, and dates back to the 1850s. Letterboxers hide small, weatherproof boxes in publicly accessible places (such as parks or open moorland) and distribute clues to finding the box in printed catalogs, on one of several web sites, or by word of mouth. Individual letterboxes usually contain a logbook and a rubber stamp.


title: Scavenger hunt

text: Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a global positioning system (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches").


title: Scavenger hunt

text: The treasure hunt as a party game is attributed to socialite Elsa Maxwell. In 1944, she said that "In the Treasure Hunt . . . intellectual men were paired off with great beauties, glamor with talent. In the course of the night's escapades anything could happen."


title: Scavenger hunt

text: An "armchair treasure hunt" is an activity that requires solving puzzles or riddles in some easily portable and widely reproduced format (often an illustrated book), and then using clues hidden either in the story or in the graphics of the book to find a real treasure somewhere in the physical world. This type of treasure hunt may take months to solve and often has large prizes to be won. An early example of the genre is Kit Williams' 1979 book "Masquerade" while games still in play include The Secret and On The Trail of the Golden Owl. An unusual example of the armchair treasure hunt is the book "" by Christopher Mason, with the publishers awarding a prize of $10,000 USD to the reader who deciphered and solved a riddle using clues in the book's illustrations. Ultimately the prize was split among the twelve readers who came closest to the solution. The contest is now void, though "MAZE" remains in publication.


title: Scavenger hunt

text: In 1956, comedian Jan Murray created and hosted a variation for television, also known as "Treasure Hunt". This US game show featured a pair of contestants answering questions to qualify to go on a treasure hunt that involved choosing from among thirty treasure chests that included anything from gag prizes to valuable merchandise and/or cash. The show also offered home viewers a chance of a treasure hunt, when a postcard was chosen from a large drum by a young guest who revolved the drum several times to randomise the entries. The show aired daily in the morning and once a week in the evening until 1959, when the networks began canceling game shows in the wake of the quiz show scandal.


title: Scavenger hunt

text: In 2012, the Guinness World Records title for 'most participants in a treasure hunt game' was set by Team London Ambassadors, who broke the previous record (of 308 participants) in London. 466 Participants, all London Ambassadors for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, worked in 93 teams of five, each completing a set of twelve clues hidden on either side of the River Thames, starting and finishing at City Hall, London. The treasure hunt in the form of a spy mission game formed part of World Record London for 2012. A separate points competition was held with one team emerging the winner of the 'treasure'.


title: Scavenger hunt

text: Internet scavenger hunts invite participants to visit different websites to find clues and solve puzzles, sometimes for a prize. Participants can win prizes for correctly solving puzzles to win treasure hunts. The first internet hunt was developed in 1992 by Rick Gates to encourage people to explore the resources available online. Several feature films and television series have used online scavenger hunts as viral marketing, including "The Da Vinci Code" and the Sci-Fi Channel's series "The Lost Room". Actor Misha Collins currently holds the Guinness World Record for organizing GISHWHES, the world's largest media scavenger hunt which included 14,580 participants in 972 teams from 90 countries as participants. A 2012 hunt organized by eBay had prizes totaling $200,000. Many online hunts are subject to internet gaming laws that vary between jurisdictions. You can also play scavenger hunts with multiple people.


title: Scavenger hunt

text: Simulated treasure hunting might also be considered a minor video game genre; for example "Colossal Cave Adventure", "Zork" and "Pimania" involve treasure hunts.


title: Scavenger hunt

text: With the explosion of mobile apps, there has also been an explosion of how Scavenger Hunts can be used within an app. Beyond the typical find and return method of a scavenger hunt, apps now allow for participants to snap photos, take videos, answer questions, GPS check-ins, scan QR codes and more directly in an app. Vastly expanding the concept of what a scavenger hunt can consist of. Some companies, such as thesecret.city, have started to run scavenger hunts through popular messaging apps, like WhatsApp and Telegram.


title: Scavenger hunt

text: On top of this, a new genre of game (Alternate Reality Games or ARGs for short) has popularized a real-life/internet hybrid form of scavenger hunts. In these, users all over the world collaborate to solve puzzles based both on websites and in real world locations. The games unfold in real time and can run for multiple weeks or even months.


title: Stick (comics)

text: Stick is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, depicted as a blind sensei and leader of the Chaste who trained Matt Murdock and Elektra Natchios.


title: Stick (comics)

text: Stick appeared in the 2005 film "Elektra" portrayed by Terence Stamp, and in the first two seasons of the streaming television series "Daredevil" and the miniseries "The Defenders" (2017), set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), portrayed by Scott Glenn.


title: Stick (comics)

text: Stick has made it his mission to keep the Chaste pure and clean from any evil infection. He forbade another of his prominent students, Elektra Natchios, from remaining in their ranks because of her vengeful personality, in spite of her formidable progress.


title: Stick (comics)

text: Stick is quite punishing and arrogant with his charges. He encountered Wolverine in his feral state and brought him back to reasoning, in part because of continued battering from his bō and hard-nosed advising.


title: Stick (comics)

text: Eventually, the Hand sought to wipe out Stick and the good warriors of the Chaste altogether. Stick thwarted an assassination attempt by four Hand operatives; he then summoned the other members of his order to New York City. With the assistance of his clan, Stick defeated Kirigi, the Hand's most lethal ninja at the time. The Hand regrouped and attacked Stick and his band of warriors (Shaft, Stone, and Claw) that now included Daredevil and Daredevil's former lover, the Black Widow. The Hand had almost overpowered the small band of warriors, when Stick and Shaft resorted to an ancient technique that drained the life force from all ninja present. Unfortunately, the technique resulted in the explosion and deaths of Stick and his comrade as a result of the excess energy they had absorbed. Despite their losses and the escape of the superheroes, the Hand considered the destruction of their nemesis and leader of their enemy a victory and turned their attention to other schemes.


title: Stick (comics)

text: Years later, the Hand turned its attention to the leaderless Chaste, once again attempting to destroy them. This time they sought to prevent the Chaste's members from locating the newborn child that would bear Stick's reincarnated soul. The Hand severely harmed Stick's soldiers, reducing their number to a handful of warriors. The few Chaste remaining traveled to New York, seeking the assistance of Daredevil who reluctantly aided his former mentor's disciples. In Japan, the Hand attacked the Chaste and Daredevil relentlessly. Fighting alongside Daredevil, the Chaste barely managed to escape and safeguard their master's reincarnated spirit.


title: Stick (comics)

text: As part of "All-New, All-Different Marvel", the Collector resurrects Stick to compete for him in the third iteration of the Contest of Champions. During the fourth on-panel battle, Stick secretly allies with the Sentry of Earth-1611, a reluctant member of the opposing team assembled by the Grandmaster. When their alliance is revealed, the two are vaporized by Punisher 2099's Molecular Disintegrator. While experimenting with the Iso-Sphere, the Maestro unintentionally brings Stick back in the form of an elderly Rick Jones. In the final battle, Stick sheds his disguise, distracts the Maestro by resurrecting the Sentry and instructs Outlaw on how to use the Iso-Sphere to end the Contest of Champions. Stick is afterwards shown back on Earth, where he forms a new superhero team with Outlaw, Ares, Guillotine, and White Fox.


title: Stick (comics)

text: The Ultimate Marvel version of Stick is introduced in the third volume of Mark Millar's "Ultimate Avengers" as someone who trained along with Matt Murdock, Blade, Shaft, and Stone by their mentor Anthony. Stick is later seen training a 13-year-old blind boy (Ray Connor) to be a new Daredevil after Murdock's death in the NY Ultimatum wave. Stick has been training Ray for weeks and is about to graduate, but is later bitten and turned into a vampire. He later appears to be in the possession of the vampire Nerd-Hulk (an intelligent clone of the Hulk) under orders of their leader Vampire X. After Anthony is killed by Nerd Hulk, Stick led Nerd Hulk's uprising at the Triskelion. He and most vampires are later killed in Iran after being teleported there by Captain America using Perun's hammer and then Blade impaling him in the chest with his sword.


title: Stick (comics)

text: In "Spider-Gwen", Stick is depicted a vigilante who saves a young Matt Murdock after his father is killed in front of him, recruiting him to his war on crime before he himself is killed in battle by ninja; Matt subsequently kills the ninja who killed Stick, before he is recruited to the Hand, ultimately setting on the path towards becoming the Kingpin.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: The TPz Fuchs from Transportpanzer Fuchs is a German armoured personnel carrier originally developed by Daimler-Benz but manufactured and further developed by the now Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV). Fuchs was the second wheeled armoured vehicle to enter service with the Bundeswehr (West German Military) and it can be used for tasks including troop transport, engineer transport, bomb disposal, Nuclear, Biological and Chemical reconnaissance and electronic warfare. RMMV and its predecessors manufactured 1,236 Fuchs 1, mostly for the German Army.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: Further development of the design resulted in the Fuchs 2, first shown in 2001. The enhanced Fuchs 2 is currently in production, known customers include Algerian Army, Kuwait Army and the United Arab Emirates Army (UAE).


title: TPz Fuchs

text: In 1977, Rheinstahl Wehrtechnik (which in 1996 became Henschel Wehrtechnik (subsequently Rheinmetall Landsysteme and now Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV), under licence from Daimler-Benz, was awarded a contract by the German Army for 996 Transportpanzer Fuchs 1. The first production vehicle was handed over in December 1979 with deliveries running at 160 per year and concluding in late 1986.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: For use in the former Yugoslavia, by early 1998 the German Army had upgraded 55 Fuchs 1 with additional protection.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: As a further development of the Fuchs 1, two pre-production Fuchs KRK ("Krisenreaktionskräfte" - German: "Crisis Reaction Forces") were built in 1997, with production vehicle options for 50 units expected in 1999. The type never entered quantity production.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: In 2002, the German announced that it had awarded a €45 million contract to upgrade 123 Fuchs 1 APCs. The work was carried out between 2004 and 2007 at Kassel, where the vehicles were originally built. Vehicles upgraded under this contract were given the TPz A7 designation.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: The latest upgraded Fuchs 1 are given the TPz A8 designation, deliveries of these first made to the German Army in March 2008. It introduced improved protection against mines and IEDs, specially for German units stationed in Afghanistan. The most recent TPz A8 upgrade award brought totals to 168 vehicles. Late in 2013, it was stated that, in the long term, the German Army planned to retain a fleet of up to 728 Fuchs 1 upgraded to TPz A8 standard.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: Continued development of the Fuchs 1 resulted in the Fuchs 2, the first example of which was shown in public for the first time at the 2001 MSPO in Poland. The first order for Fuchs 2 was for Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) reconnaissance variants for the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The order was placed in 2005.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: In 2014, the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy confirmed that it had approved the transfer of production equipment to Algeria to enable this country to undertake production of the Fuchs 2.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: The hull of the Fuchs is constructed of all-welded armoured steel. The driver sits at the front on the left, with the vehicle commander to his right. There are doors for both driver and commander. The door windows and windscreen have metal shutters that can be closed up. When closed up, the periscopes fitted in the roof of the vehicle to the front of the driver's hatch allow visibility out of the cabin. The commander has a circular roof hatch.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: The troop/cargo compartment, which is at the rear of the vehicle, is long, high and wide at its widest point. On the Fuchs 2, the roof height has been raised by for greater internal volume. Two assisted doors are fitted at the rear, although on Fuchs 2 a ramp is an option.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: There are three or four hatches in the roof of the troop compartment. In APC configuration, the ten infantrymen carried by Fuchs 1 are seated on individual bucket-type seats, five on each side. These seats can be folded up when not required. Fuchs 2 seats up to nine on much-improved blast-resistant seating.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: Normal amphibious payload for Fuchs 1 is but, depending on configuration and protection options, up to 5,000 kg of cargo can be carried on land. Fuchs 2 has a maximum payload of 6000 kg.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: Motive power for the Fuchs 1 is provided by a Mercedes-Benz Model OM 402A V8 12.8-litre water-cooled diesel engine developing , this coupled in a powerpack set-up to a six-speed planetary gear torque converter transmission. For the Fuchs 2 the powerpack is upgraded to a MTU 6V 199 TE20 V6 11.9-litre water-cooled EURO 3 emissions compliant diesel developing , this coupled to a ZF 6HP 602 fully automatic six-speed transmission with integrated retarder. For test purposes the power pack of the Fuchs can be run outside the vehicle.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: The rigid Mercedes-Benz drive axles are of the hub-reduction type, fitted with differential locks and are sprung by progressively acting coil springs and shock-absorbers. Power-steering is on the front four wheels, the Fuchs 2 offering the option of a central tyre inflation system (CTIS). The 1400 R20 tyres are of the run-flat type. On land maximum speed is and operational range is 800 km.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: The Fuchs was designed as an amphibious vehicle, water propulsion provided by two four-bladed propellers mounted one either side of the hull at the rear. Maximum water speed is approx. 8 km/hr. For steering, the propellers can be swivelled through 360°. Before entering the water, a trim vane, which is stowed on the glacis plate when travelling, is hydraulically erected. Bilge pumps are fitted. As part of the TPz A8 upgrade, the amphibious capability is removed, but the vehicles can wade up to 1.3 m.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: The welded steel hull of the Fuchs was designed to protect the crew from armor-piercing small arms fire and shell splinters. For service with the United Nations Implementation Force (IFOR) operating in Bosnia, a higher level of protection was required and a batch of Fuchs 1 were upgraded with passive fibre compound add-on armour package developed by IBD-Deisenroth. This armour package includes an add-on armour mounted externally on the sides of the hull; internal spall liners fitted to the hull sides, rear and roof to reduce the secondary effects of particles having penetrated the main armour; additional elements in the floor area of the front and rear compartments to provide increased protection against mines; new windows with increased protection and modification of the window protective shields.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: The TPz A7 upgrade included protection enhancements, as does the current TPz A8 upgrade. For the TPz A7 and A8 upgrades, additional elements protect the underside and lower part of the hull against blast and IED threats.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: The baseline Fuchs 2 provides protection against small arms armour-piercing attack through a full 360°. To meet different threat levels the Fuchs 2 has been designed to be fitted with enhanced passive armour packages developed by IBD.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: To enhance survivability while conducting Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT), Rheinmetall has developed a modular upgrade package for installation on tracked and wheeled armoured vehicles. A MOUT demonstrator vehicle was completed in 2008, this based on the Fuchs 1.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: Armament varies according to mission requirements but for Fuchs 1 can consist of a 7.62 mm Rheinmetall MG3 general-purpose machine gun mounted over the commander's position. Vehicles of the Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion, Panzergrenadiers mechanized infantry, the Franco-German Brigade, the mountain infantry and the Jägers of the German Army have previously been fitted with the MILAN anti-tank guided missile, but these are no longer in service. All vehicles have six 76 mm grenade dischargers mounted to fire forwards. Vehicles deployed to Afghanistan were equipped with a GMG grenade launcher or an M2 Browning heavy machine gun instead of an MG3.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: The Fuchs 2 can be fitted with a wide range of weapon systems up to and including a 30 mm cannon and 7.62 mm MG as well as various missile installations, such as anti-tank missiles.


title: TPz Fuchs

text: Standard equipment for the Fuchs 2 includes an NBC system and an air conditioning system. Numerous options available include an automatic fire detection and suppression system, winch, global positioning system and an auxiliary power unit (APU).


title: Michael V. Gazzo

text: Michael Vincenzo Gazzo (April 5, 1923 – February 14, 1995) was an American playwright who later in life became a film and television actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in "The Godfather Part II" (1974).


title: Michael V. Gazzo

text: Gazzo was born on April 5, 1923. He was of Italian-American descent. Gazzo served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He was a member of the Actors Studio and later trained actors such as Debra Winger, Henry Silva and Tony Sirico. He wrote "A Hatful of Rain", a Broadway play about drug addiction, which ran for 389 performances in 1955 and 1956. It starred Ben Gazzara and Shelley Winters in the two lead roles, and was adapted into a film by Oscar-winning director Fred Zinnemann in 1957. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Anthony Franciosa). A 1968 made-for-television version (as a filmed play) starred Peter Falk, Sandy Dennis and Michael Parks. Gazzo's other screen writing credits include the Elvis Presley American musical drama "King Creole" in 1958. Gazzo authored the Broadway play "The Night Circus", also starring Ben Gazzara.


title: Michael V. Gazzo

text: Gazzo was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Frank Pentangeli in "The Godfather Part II".


title: Michael V. Gazzo

text: Gazzo died on February 14, 1995, at age 71 due to complications from a stroke. He was buried in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.


title: Accountability

text: Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the public sector, nonprofit and private (corporate) and individual contexts. In leadership roles, accountability is the acknowledgment and assumption of responsibility for actions, products, decisions, and policies including the administration, governance, and implementation within the scope of the role or employment position and encompassing the obligation to report, explain and be answerable for resulting consequences.


title: Accountability

text: In governance, accountability has expanded beyond the basic definition of "being called to account for one's actions". It is frequently described as an account giving relationship between individuals, e.g. "A is accountable to B when A is obliged to inform B about A's (past or future) actions and decisions, to justify them, and to suffer punishment in the case of eventual misconduct" and more. Accountability cannot exist without proper accounting practices; in other words, an absence of accounting means an absence of accountability. Another key area that contributes to accountability is good records management.


title: Accountability

text: "Accountability" stems from late Latin "accomptare" (to account), a prefixed form of "computare" (to calculate), which in turn derived from "putare" (to reckon).


title: Accountability

text: While the word itself does not appear in English until its use in 13th century Norman England, the concept of account-giving has ancient roots in record keeping activities related to governance and money-lending systems that first developed in Ancient Egypt, Israel, Babylon, Greece, and later, Rome.


title: Accountability

text: Political accountability is when a politician makes choices on behalf of the people and the people have the ability to reward or sanction the politician. In representative democracies citizens delegate power to elected officials through periodic elections in order to represent or act in their interest. The challenge then becomes why would rulers with such power, who presumably have divergent interests from the people, act in the best interest of the people? Citizens can rely on rewards or sanctions to threaten or reward politicians who might otherwise act in a manner that is antithetical to the people's interest. Accountability occurs when citizens only vote to re-elect representatives who act in their interests, and if representatives then select policies that will help them be re-elected. "Governments are 'accountable' if voters can discern whether governments are acting in their interest and sanction them appropriately, so that those incumbents who act in the best interest of the citizens win reelection and those who do not lose them."


title: Accountability

text: Representatives can be held accountable through two mechanisms: electoral replacement and rational anticipation. In electoral replacement citizens vote to replace representatives who are out of step with their interests. Rational anticipation requires that representatives anticipate the consequences of being out of step with their constituency and then govern in accordance with citizens' wishes to avoid negative consequences. Accountability can still be achieved even if citizens are not perfectly knowledgeable about representative's actions as long as representatives believe that they will be held accountable by citizens they will still act in accordance with the citizens' interests.


title: Accountability

text: Electoral accountability refers to citizens using the vote to sanction or reward politicians, but other forms of political accountability do exist.


title: Accountability

text: Some researchers have considered the accountability using formal theory, which makes assumptions about the state of the world to draw larger conclusions. Voters can hold representatives accountable through the process of sanctioning, voters voting the incumbent out of office in response to poor performance. While politicians face a decrease in vote share as a result of poor performance, they are less likely to see an increase in vote share for good performance. Selection, voters choosing candidates based on who will best represent their interests, is another method by which voters hold their representative accountable. These methods of accountability can occur simultaneously with voters holding representatives accountable using sanctioning and selection. These conclusions rely on the assumption that voters do not observe the policy implemented by the incumbent, but do know their own welfare.


title: Accountability

text: Some factors make it harder for voters to sanction incumbents. When politicians do not have control over the outcomes, then accountability breaks down because it is harder to hold them accountable. Further, when organizations are unable to monitor elections and provide information to voters, then voters struggle to sanction the incumbent. Thus, when voters have more information about the incumbent's performance, the incumbent is more likely to voter sanctioning. Further, when incumbents face sanctioning, challengers are more like to enter the race.


title: Accountability

text: While elections are believed to generally increase government accountability to citizens, it may lead to less egalitarian policy outcomes, since those that hold government accountable tend to be from wealthier segments of society. For example, a study of elected versus appointed property assessors in the state of New York shows that when property assessors are elected, it leads to policies that severely undertax wealthier homes relative to poorer homes.


title: Accountability

text: Refer to the liability of government servants to give a satisfactory account of the use of their power and resources. It is often that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Therefore, checking the accountability is the basis of the success of Public Administration.


title: Accountability

text: Politicians may be incentivized to provide public goods as a means of accountability. The ability of voters to attribute credit and blame of outcomes also determines the extent of public goods provision. Research suggests that public goods provision is conditional on being able to attribute outcomes to politicians as opposed to civil servants. This can be enhanced by more short-run and visible inputs and outcomes such as famine relief or drinking water, whereas low-visibility issues such as sanitation and education may be more difficult to attribute credit and thus less likely to provided.


title: Accountability

text: Another condition determining how voters use the provision of public goods to hold leaders accountable is whether the prioritization of public goods is determined either directly via vote or delegated to a governing body. An experiment in New Mexico regarding proposed spending during the state's 2008 special summer legislative session provides evidence that legislators update their positions when learning about voters' policy preferences, indicating representative democracy can increase accountability when politicians learn about voters' preferences. A 2016 experiment in Afghanistan regarding rural development projects, however, finds that when voters directly prioritize their preferences at the ballot box, they perceive the quality of local government to be higher than when a governing committee prioritizes development projects. These contrasting outcomes highlight the trustee-vs-delegate debate, though the lack of objective superior outcomes in projects decided by vote as opposed to committee in the Afghanistan experiment indicate neither is superior to the other in determining which public good should be given priority.


title: Accountability

text: Other research indicates voters use elections to hold politicians accountable for the provision of public goods. In India, rural areas are charged a flat rate for electricity, but in the province of Uttar Pradesh, line loss - electricity that is consumed but not billed bill - is significantly higher in election years relative to non-election years and increases in line loss reliably predict electoral gains. To put this in context, voters rewarded incumbent politicians with a 12% increase in party seats in response to a 10% increase of unbilled electricity in 2007 elections. In Ghana, the improvement of road conditions is linked to increasing vote share for incumbent parties. Both of these research outcomes hinge on the context of voters being able to attribute the service of public goods to politicians, however.


title: Accountability

text: Politicians may also have incentives to respond to pressure for public goods provision in electoral autocracies. There is evidence that as autocratic governments lose seats in their party legislatures, they respond by increasing spending on public goods such as education, healthcare, and pensions. There is further evidence suggesting higher quality of life, civil liberties, and human development in electoral autocracies, lending credence to the theory that autocratic rulers use elections as a bellwether against popular discontent and citizen opposition and in turn increase public goods provision to dampen grievances of disgruntled citizens, even in non-democracies.


title: Accountability

text: While the introduction of elections is generally thought to improve public goods provision, in some cases researchers have shown that it may reduce its quality. For example, the introduction of direct elections for local district office in Indonesia resulted in political interference in the hiring process for bureaucrats in the public education sector, reducing the quality of education provision: politicians were incentivized to dole out patronage positions in the education sector, especially in election years, and where such positions were added, student test scores were lower.


title: Accountability

text: Governments are held accountable if citizens can punish and/or reward the government to influence it to pursue the best interests of citizens. While scholars who study democratic theory emphasize the role of elections in ensuring accountability, another strand of scholars investigates non-electoral forms of accountability in democracies and non-democracies and the conditions that make unelected leaders represent the interests of the general public.


title: Accountability

text: Political changes after protests can be the result of the protests "per se" or symptoms of shifts in political preferences underneath the observable phenomena of the protests. One study of the Tea Party movement in the United States has shown that protests "per se" have an impact on political change. Other scholars have studied the effect of protests on political changes in developing countries. Mass protests instigated by economic hardship and political repression occurred in 16 sub-Saharan African countries, and 21 governments in the region implemented significant political reforms such as adoption of multiparty elections. Authoritarian regimes in Africa distorted the market and reduced the cost of farm produce in favor of urban workers at the cost of rural farmers in the 1980s to prevent urban unrest, which is more visible and easier to mobilize than rural protests.


title: Accountability

text: Belsky et al. point out, whereas, under more democratic governance accountability is built into the institution of the state by a habit of regular elections, accountability in autocratic regimes relies on a selectorate; a group that legitimizes or delegitimizes the autocrats powers according to selectorate theory. The primary mechanism at a selectorate's disposal is deposition, which is a form of exit. Beyond that institutions can act as credible restraints on autocracy as well.


title: Accountability

text: In democracies, voluntary associations, interest groups, and associational activity can improve the performance of the government. One study has also shown that civil society organizations such as NGOs can increase the performance of local government according to the central government's standards by monitoring and disclosing information about local government performance in authoritarian regimes like China. Solidary groups – groups based on shared moral obligations and interests – in rural China, where members of the group share moral obligations and interests, can hold local officials accountable as well.


title: Accountability

text: At the local level, various accountability measures exist that impact the job performance of elected officials. In Uganda, civil society organizations (CSOs) that divulge to the public how well an incumbent is performing their job duties, in a district with an upcoming competitive election, increases the performance of the politician for the rest of their term. In contrast to these works, meta-analysis released in 2019 uncover no effects from CSO voter information campaigns on political accountability after examining the results from seven trials across six countries. In Ghana, election-day monitoring of polling centers for district-level positions, as well as gaining awareness of monitoring in an upcoming election, increases job performance among incumbents as these officials spent more of their annual Constituency Development Fund allocations from the central government on public goods for the electorate. In locales with weaker institutions, when citizens elect leaders with higher levels of competency, these officials have a greater ability to overcome the barriers of bad informal institutions and deliver more goods anShared d long-term investment projects for the constituency without needing to raise their taxes. Additionally, many local elections are for positions that involve performing jobs with a single function, such as school board member or sheriff. These elected officials are held accountable to their positions mainly through the information provided to the public through the media. When the media focuses attention on data trends associated with these positions, constituents are then able to use this information to retrospectively vote for or against the incumbent based on the performance shown while in office.


title: Accountability

text: Approval ratings generated through public opinion polling create a measure of job performance during an incumbent's term that has implications for whether the official will retain their seat, or if reelection will even be sought. These approval ratings are predictors of election outcomes when combined with other factors included in Bayesian Model Averaging forecasts. In the United States, senator job approval ratings affect whether a senator will retire, the quality of candidates that seek to challenge the incumbent, the amount of money the senator can raise to seek reelection if they decide to run, and the outcome of the election itself. Thus, strategic incumbent senators will seek reelection less when their approval ratings are low during their time in office.


title: Accountability

text: Selectorates are those on whom a leader depends in order to hold onto power and those who have the ability to depose a leader. When selectorates' hold on power is not overly dependent on the leader in office, selectorates can remove poorly performing leaders, and this accountability by selectorates render it possible for autocracies to perform better for the benefit of all.


title: Accountability

text: The solidary groups in rural China can hold local officials accountable when 1) the solidary group "encompasses" everyone under the local government's jurisdiction, and 2) local officials are "embedded" in the group as members; the recognition from these groups encourages local officials to carry out their official tasks as they value high moral standing in the group.


title: Accountability

text: Traditional leaders in Zambia provide local public goods despite the fact that they lack an electoral incentive to provide public goods. Many customary chiefs never leave the communities they lead permanently and depend on local sources for a significant portion of their income, thus, traditional leaders may facilitate bringing local public goods in the present and benefit from the community's development over time just like stationary bandits in Olson's argument.


title: Accountability

text: Political corruption refers to "the misuse or the abuse of public office for private gains", where corrupt practices include fraud, appropriation of public funds, or accepting bribes are some examples of corrupt practices. Corruption can be negative for politicians' evaluations, since citizens' may perceive corruption as a signal of poor performance, motivating them to sanction the incumbent. In fact, the model of retrospective voting that suggests that voters incentivize good politicians' behavior by rewarding good and punishing bad performance, citizens are expected to sanction corrupt politicians. However, recent studies suggest that, though voters have a general distaste for corruption, they often fail to punish corrupt incumbents; and that some of them also receive benefits from their representatives' corrupt practices, and prefer to retain this type of politicians. Moreover, in high-corrupt contexts, voters may become more tolerant or even prefer corrupt politicians because others are also perceived as corrupt, leading to a "corrupt equilibrium" "where voters are generally willing to retain corrupt politicians", which is referred to as a "political corruption trap". The high corruption equilibrium is difficult to break due to the interaction between corrupt politicians, voters who tolerate and retain corrupt politicians, and potential entrants or challengers who are also apt to engage in corrupt practices, leading to the maintenance of corruption.


title: Accountability

text: Democracy as a whole seems to have a null effect on reducing corruption, while economic development is associated with a decrease in corruption. Freedom of the press contributes to the reduction of corruption, by exposing these actions. In fact, documentation on how a corrupt government (Fujimori's government from 1998 to 2000, in Peru) strategically undermined check and balance institutions, suggests that the media —e.g. newspapers and, mainly, television— is crucial, due to its broad scope to disseminate information to the public. Additionally, there is also evidence about the importance of local media —such as local radio stations— in holding accountable corrupt incumbents and promoting non-corrupt politicians. Nevertheless, information about corruption may not only lead to vote losses for the incumbent parties, but also for the challenger parties, as well to the erosion of partisan attachments, which implies that information about corruption also provokes citizens' disengagement from the political process.


title: Accountability

text: Scholarly literature about corruption finds mixed results about the role of political institutions on the level of a country's corruption. For example, some scholarly research suggests that more horizontal accountability, or oversight across branches of government, would generally decrease corruption. However, other research shows that increased oversight could increase corruption when actors in one branch can pressure actors in another to collude: in Ghana bureaucrats are more likely to engage in corruption on behalf of politicians when politicians have higher levels of discretion to oversee the bureaucracy (e.g., by threatening to transfer noncompliant bureaucrats).


title: Accountability

text: Low accountability for corruption is difficult to combat, and some anticorruption activities may also lead to perverse consequences. For example, in places where private sector work pays better than public sector work (e.g., China), highly qualified individuals engaging in public sector work may only find such work attractive because they allow for further compensation through corrupt activities; government anticorruption activities can therefore decrease the quality and overall representativeness of the bureaucracy as a result. On the other hand, there is evidence that points out to the fact that, despite strategic evasion and unintentional consequences, anti-corruption initiatives are beneficial, as they allow to lower malfeasance and increases social welfare, even where strategic evasion is relatively large.


title: Accountability

text: Within an organization, the principles and practices of ethical accountability aim to improve both the internal standard of individual and group conduct as well as external factors, such as sustainable economic and ecologic strategies. Also, ethical accountability plays a progressively important role in academic fields, such as laboratory experiments and field research. Debates around the practice of ethical accountability on the part of researchers in the social field – whether professional or others – have been thoroughly explored by Norma R.A. Romm in her work on Accountability in Social Research, including her book on New Racism: Revisiting Researcher Accountabilities, reviewed by Carole Truman in the journal Sociological Research Online. Here it is suggested that researcher accountability implies that researchers are cognizant of, and take some responsibility for, the potential impact of their ways of doing research – and of writing it up – on the social fields of which the research is part. That is, accountability is linked to considering carefully, and being open to challenge in relation to, one's choices concerning how research agendas are framed and the styles in which write-ups of research "results" are created.


title: Accountability

text: The traceability of actions performed on a system to a specific system entity (user, process, device). For example, the use of unique user identification and authentication supports accountability; the use of shared user IDs and passwords destroys accountability.


title: Accountability

text: Because many different individuals in large organizations contribute in many ways to the decisions and policies, it is difficult even in principle to identify who should be accountable for the results. This is what is known, following Thompson, as the problem of many hands. It creates a dilemma for accountability. If individuals are held accountable or responsible, individuals who could not have prevented the results are either unfairly punished, or they "take responsibility" in a symbolic ritual without suffering any consequences. If only organizations are held accountable, then all individuals in the organization are equally blameworthy or all are excused. Various solutions have been proposed. One is to broaden the criteria for individual responsibility so that individuals are held accountable for not anticipating failures in the organization. Another solution, recently proposed by Thompson, is to hold individuals accountable for the design of the organization, both retrospectively and prospectively.


title: Accountability

text: Accountability is an element of a RACI to indicate who is ultimately answerable for the correct and thorough completion of the deliverable or task, and the one who delegates the work to those responsible.


title: Accountability

text: With the increase over the last several decades in public service provided by private entities, especially in Britain and the United States, some have called for increased political accountability mechanisms for otherwise non-political entities. Legal scholar Anne Davies, for instance, argues that the line between public institutions and private entities like corporations is becoming blurred in certain areas of public service in the United Kingdom, and that this can compromise political accountability in those areas. She and others argue that some administrative law reform is necessary to address this accountability gap.


title: Accountability

text: With respect to the public/private overlap in the United States, public concern over the contracting of government services (including military) and the resulting accountability gap has been highlighted recently following the shooting incident involving the Blackwater security firm in Iraq.


title: Accountability

text: Student accountability is traditionally based on hang school and classroom rules, combined with sanctions for infringement. As defined by National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), accountability is "A program, often legislated, that attributes the responsibility for student learning to teachers, school administrators, and/or students. Test results typically are used to judge accountability, and often consequences are imposed for shortcomings."


title: Accountability

text: In contrast, some educational establishments such as Sudbury schools believe that students are personally responsible for their acts, and that traditional schools do not permit students to choose their course of action fully; they do not permit students to embark on the course, once chosen; and they do not permit students to suffer the consequences of the course, once taken. Freedom of choice, freedom of action, freedom to bear the results of action are considered the three great freedoms that constitute personal responsibility. Sudbury schools claim that Ethics' is a course taught by life experience". They adduce that the essential ingredient for acquiring values—and for moral action is personal responsibility, that schools will become involved in the teaching of morals when they become communities of people who fully respect each other's right to make choices, and that the only way the schools can become meaningful purveyors of ethical values is if they provide students and adults with real-life experiences that are bearers of moral import. Students are given complete responsibility for their own education and the school is run by a direct democracy in which students and staff are equals.


title: Accountability

text: Greater political accountability and lower corruption were more likely where newspaper consumption was higher in data from roughly 100 countries and from different states in the US. Congressmen who receive less press coverage are less likely to produce a positive impact for their constituencies, they are less likely to stand witness before congressional hearings, and federal spending for the district is lower. One explanation for the positive impact of media on accountability stems from Besley and Burgess' work. They argue that media resolves the information asymmetries between citizens and government and provides a way of overcoming obstacles preventing political action. When elected officials and the public gain information, the public is better equipped to hold politicians accountable and politicians are more responsive. Ferraz & Finan demonstrate this in the Brazilian context. In their work, they find releasing audit reports prior to elections creates a more informed electorate which holds incumbent officials accountable.


title: Accountability

text: While large evidence supports the positive impact of press freedom on political accountability, other work has highlighted the significance of factors such as media concentration and ownership as government tools for influencing or controlling news content. Non-democratic regimes use media for a variety of purposes such as – (i) to enhance regime resilience, (ii) censor or (iii) strategically distract the public. Control of the media may also be especially beneficial to incumbents in new or developing democracies, who consider media control a spoil of office.


title: Accountability

text: An analysis of the evolution of mass media in the US and Europe since World War II noted mixed results from the growth of the Internet: "The digital revolution has been good for freedom of expression [and] information [but] has had mixed effects on freedom of the press": It has disrupted traditional sources of funding, and new forms of Internet journalism have replaced only a tiny fraction of what's been lost. Various systems have been proposed for increasing the funds available for investigative journalism that allow individual citizens to direct small amounts of government funds to news outlets or investigative journalism projects of their choice.


title: Accountability

text: Studies on political accountability have emphasized the key role of elections in promoting accountability in democratic settings. It is through elections that citizens hold governments accountable for past performance. However, the role of elections in fostering accountability is often undermined by electoral manipulation and fraud. By preventing citizens from removing leaders through elections based on their performance in office, electoral manipulation breaks down accountability and may even undercut the consolidation of democratic institutions.


title: Accountability

text: Electoral manipulation is not rare: some estimates point out that in the last two decades up to one fourth of elections suffered some form of substantial manipulation. This includes a large array of pre-election and election-day tactics, such as outlawing rival parties and candidates, employing violence and intimidation, and manipulating voter registration and vote count. Some efforts at improving accountability by preventing electoral manipulation and fraud have obtained a certain measure of success, such as using cell-phone applications for monitoring and disseminating polling station results and employing domestic or international election observers. However, governments sometimes simply shift the type or the place of manipulation in order to deceive observers and monitoring agencies.


title: Accountability

text: Governments, politicians and political parties are more likely to resort to electoral manipulation and fraud when they believe they might be removed from office and face few institutional constraints to their power. Alternatively, low political competition has also been linked to some forms manipulation, such as abolishing presidential term limits. Further, well-connected candidates are more likely to resort to vote count fraud. However, governments may engage in electoral manipulation not only to obtain victory at a given election or to remain longer in office, but also for post-election reasons such as reducing the strength of the opposition and increasing their own bargaining power in the subsequent period.


title: Accountability

text: Accountability standards have been set up, and organizations can voluntarily commit to them. Standards apply in particular to the non-profit world and to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Accountability standards include:


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: E4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. The "E" stands for "entertainment" and the channel is primarily aimed at the 16/18–34 age group (similar to BBC Three, ITV2, 5Star, Sky Max, Sky Comedy, Comedy Central and Dave). Programmes currently shown on the channel include "Hollyoaks", "Made in Chelsea", "Coach Trip" (and its Halloween spin-off "Celebrity Ghost Trip"), "Celebs Go Dating" and various versions of "Married At First Sight". The most successful broadcast of the channel to date was on 11 October 2010 when an episode of "The Inbetweeners" received over 3.7 million viewers.


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: E4 launched as a pay television companion to Channel 4 on 18 January 2001. On 16 December 2004, Channel 4 announced that the subscription channel would become a free-to-air television channel by launching on the digital terrestrial television system. E4 launched an Ireland service in June 2002, which has become the second most popular non-terrestrial channel in Ireland with 1.1% of the audience; Sky Max is the most popular. On 14 July 2003, E4 launched a timeshift service, E4 +1. E4 +1 is a 1-hour timeshift.


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: In August 2005, following the close of that year's "Big Brother", E4 introduced the "E4 Music" programming block. The slot initially ran through much of the morning/daytime schedule, though was later reduced to mornings only, with the amount of scripted comedy and drama screened in daytime increased. Prior to the launch of "E4 Music", E4 was off-air during daytime for much of the year, only going on air in daytime for rolling coverage of reality series such as "Big Brother". In 2008, the launch of 4Music as a channel led to questions being asked about the future of "E4 Music". However, E4 retained its commitment to music content, stating that "E4 Music" had been commissioned to run until at least the start of "Big Brother" in 2009. At 10am on Thursday 4 June 2009, the day before the launch of the 2009 "Big Brother" series, "E4 Music" ceased broadcasting.


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: In July 2007, it was announced Channel 4 would be launching E4 Radio, the first of a network of channels to be broadcast on DAB radio. The station was planned for launch in July 2008 and aimed at a similar demographic to its television channel, however this launch date was later delayed. In October 2008, Channel 4 announced it was abandoning its plans for digital radio, and thus scrapping the E4 Radio proposal.


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: On 14 December 2009, a high-definition simulcast of E4 launched on Sky+ HD channel 215, it was later added to Virgin Media on 1 April 2010. On 31 October 2013, E4 premiered a refreshed look as part of the channel's rebranding. This coincided with the debut of the seventh series of "The Big Bang Theory", as well as the debut of original comedy "Drifters".


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: On 27 September 2018, E4 was rebranded with a logo and identity, marking the first major rebrand since its launch in 2001. On 14 January 2019, it was announced that Channel 4 had partnered up with the American programming block Adult Swim, to air Adult Swim shows.


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: On 25 September 2021, transmission of channels operated by Channel 4 was impacted by the activation of a fire suppressant system at the premises of Red Bee Media. This resulted in music channel The Box being simulcast on Freeview in the place of 4Music (a channel known for repeating comedy and reality shows previously shown on E4) and E4+1 remaining off air for a number of days. E4+1 came back on air on 30 September 2021, in time for the series 6 finale of "Married At First Sight" to be broadcast. However the ongoing technical problems prevented this episode being shown, with a repeat of the previous episode being broadcast instead. The final episode was rescheduled for 1 October 2021 at 9pm on E4, taking over the Friday night film slot, with "Married at First Sight: Afters" scheduled for 10pm.


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: On 13 June 2022, it was announced that a new sister network – E4 Extra, would launch on 29 June in the slot accompanied by 4Music. E4 Extra is dedicated to comedy programming, with already existing comedy programmes such as "The Big Bang Theory" moving to the new channel, alongside the entertainment programming that airs on 4Music, which will move to the slot accompanied by Box Hits and transition back to a full-time music channel.


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: As part of Sky's major EPG reshuffle on 1 May 2018, E4 HD moved from 136 to 135 on Sky, E4 +1 moved from 137 to 235 on Sky, E4 moved from 202 to 829.


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: As of 2022, the channel has moved many of its acquired US shows such as "Harley Quinn", "Batwoman", "The Goldbergs", "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist" and "Duncanville" out of peak and put them in a daytime or a late night slot to continue their seasons. In their place, the channel has decided to strip a number of reality and dating series such as "Married At First Sight UK", which has brought in audiences of around 2 million people each night to the channel. "Married At First Sight UK" is part of a franchise which also includes the imported "Married at First Sight Australia" and spin-off "Married at First Sight UK: Afters" with AJ Odudu.


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: In November 2021, Channel Four Television Corp. revived GamesMaster after 23 years, with Sir Trevor McDonald taking on the title role from the original "Games Master", Sir Patrick Moore. It also revealed that another one of its former primetime imports, "The 100", will end its run by having the final season put out by E4 each night around 3:25am from Saturday 27 November 2021. This came about after the initial plan to play the final season on 4Music – as had been promoted in on-air trails in the weeks prior – was scrapped when the Red Bee incident disrupted transmission of programming on 4Music for over a month.


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: Even though E4 has decided to move a lot of its acquired US programmes to overnight slots, the channel is still broadcasting repeats of "The Big Bang Theory" alongside new episodes of "Rick and Morty" and "Young Sheldon" in primetime slots, while repeats of "Mike and Molly" and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" fill up the daytime schedule.


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: After hosting repeats of the weekly Channel 4 satire panel show "8 Out of 10 Cats" with Jimmy Carr, Sean Lock and Jon Richardson for many years, the production was adapted to become a title which debuted new episodes on E4 in 2017 (as the parent channel focused on its spin-off "...Cats Does Countdown"). The version on E4 dispensed with the topical news questioning of later Channel 4 series and went back to being a show about random statistics and opinion polls, with Jimmy Carr continuing as host, alongside Rob Beckett and Aisling Bea as the team captains (replacing Lock and Richardson, who continued with the spin-off). As of 2022, titles such as "The Inbetweeners" still get repeated in a regular peaktime slot, alongside repeats of Channel 4's "Taskmaster".


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: As of 2022 most comedy and drama had been moved (or, in the case of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine", had come to an end) with weekday evening slots given over to reality programming – a mixture of original series (such as "Teen Mum Academy" and the 2022 revival of "Embarrassing Bodies"), first-run imports such as the "Below Deck" franchise, and repeated Channel 4 series such as "Naked Attraction" and "Gogglebox". Sitcom reruns (and some first-run imports, such as "The Neighborhood") by now chiefly aired on E4 in daytime and on 4Music in the evening.


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: The following is a list of the ten most watched shows on E4, based on Live +7 data supplied by "BARB" up to 11 November 2018. The number of viewers does not include repeats or airings on E4+1.


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: Between 2001 and 2010 when the reality series "Big Brother" (and "Celebrity Big Brother") were being transmitted on Channel 4, E4 devoted much of its schedule to live coverage from inside the "Big Brother" house; interactive features that gave access to additional camera angles have also been transmitted. The channel also had "Big Brother" voting options, "Big Brother" spin-off shows such as "Big Brother Live", "Big Brother's Little Brother", "Big Brother's Big Mouth", "Diary Room Uncut" and "Big Brother" highlights repeats. In June 2020, to mark the 20th anniversary of "Big Brother"'s inception, E4 aired select episodes from both the civilian and celebrity programmes, in a series titled "". Hosted by Davina McCall and Rylan Clark-Neal, the first episode of the series received one million viewers.


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: In 2022, as part of its season of Australian reality shows, E4 showed the 2021 series of "Big Brother VIP" on the channel under the name "Celebrity Big Brother Australia". Launching on Sunday 6 February 2022 at 8pm and then scheduled every weekday at 7:30pm, the programme lasted for four episodes on the channel, before it was taken off mid-series and replaced by a number of 'best of' compilations taken from "Junior Bake Off".


title: E4 (TV channel)

text: In June 2022, Channel 4 announced that their music and entertainment channel 4Music's current channel slots would be replaced by a spinoff channel called E4 Extra on 29 June 2022, with 4Music taking Box Hits' slots on Freesat and Sky. With the change, E4 Extra will take entertainment shows like "The Big Bang Theory", "The Inbetweeners" and "Derry Girls" and will add unscripted reality shows like "Legendary", "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares", "Ninja Warrior Japan" and "Undercover Boss USA", while 4Music will go back to being a music channel.


title: The Culture

text: The Culture is a fictional interstellar post-scarcity civilisation or society created by the Scottish writer Iain M. Banks and features in a number of his space opera novels and works of short fiction, collectively called the Culture series.


title: The Culture

text: In the series, the Culture is composed primarily of sentient beings of the humanoid alien variety, artificially intelligent sentient machines, and a small number of other sentient "alien" life forms. Machine intelligences range from human-equivalent drones to hyper-intelligent Minds. Artificial intelligences with capabilities measured as a fraction of human intelligence also perform a variety of tasks, e.g. controlling spacesuits. Without scarcity, the Culture has no need for money; instead, minds voluntarily indulge humanoid and drone citizens' pleasures, leading to a largely hedonistic society. Many of the series' protagonists are humanoids who choose to work for the Culture's elite diplomatic or espionage organisations, and interact with other civilisations whose citizens hold wildly different ideologies, morals, and technologies.


title: The Culture

text: The Culture has a grasp of technology that is advanced relative to most other civilisations that share the galaxy. Most of the Culture's citizens do not live on planets but in artificial habitats such as orbitals and ships, the largest of which are home to billions of individuals. The Culture's citizens have been genetically enhanced to live for centuries and have modified mental control over their physiology, including the ability to introduce a variety of psychoactive drugs into their systems, change biological sex, or switch off pain at will. Culture technology can transform individuals into vastly different body forms, although the Culture standard form remains fairly close to human.


title: The Culture

text: The Culture holds peace and individual freedom as core values, and a central theme of the series is ethical struggle it faces when interacting with other societies – some of which brutalise their own members, pose threats to other civilisations, or threaten the Culture itself. It tends to make major decisions based on the consensus formed by its Minds and, if appropriate, its citizens. In one instance, a direct democratic vote of trillions – the entire population – decided The Culture would go to war with a rival civilisation. Those who objected to the Culture's subsequent militarisation broke off from the meta-civilisation, forming their own separate civilisation; a hallmark of the Culture is its ambiguity. In contrast to the many interstellar societies and empires which share its fictional universe, the Culture is difficult to define, geographically or sociologically, and "fades out at the edges".


title: The Culture

text: The Culture is characterized as being a post-scarcity society, having overcome most physical constraints on life and being an egalitarian, stable society without the use of any form of force or compulsion, except where necessary to protect others. That being said, some citizens and especially crafty Minds tend to enjoy manipulating others, in particular by controlling the course of alien societies, through the group known as Contact.


title: The Culture

text: Minds, extremely powerful artificial intelligences, have an important role. They administer this abundance for the benefit of all. As one commentator has said:


title: The Culture

text: The novels of the Culture cycle, therefore, mostly deal with people at the fringes of the Culture: diplomats, spies, or mercenaries; those who interact with other civilisations, and who do the Culture's dirty work in moving those societies closer to the Culture ideal, sometimes by force.


title: The Culture

text: In this fictional universe, the Culture exists concurrently with human society on Earth. The time frame for the published Culture stories is from 1267 to roughly 2970, with Earth being contacted around 2100, though the Culture had covertly visited the planet in the 1970s in "The State of the Art".


title: The Culture

text: The Culture itself is described as having been created when several humanoid species and machine sentiences reached a certain social level, and took not only their physical, but also their civilisational evolution into their own hands. In "The Player of Games", the Culture is described as having existed as a space-faring society for eleven thousand years. In "The Hydrogen Sonata", one of these founding civilisations was named as the Buhdren Federality.


title: The Culture

text: The Culture is a symbiotic society of artificial intelligences (AIs) (Minds and drones), humanoids and other alien species who all share equal status. All essential work is performed (as far as possible) by non-sentient devices, freeing sentients to do only things that they enjoy (administrative work requiring sentience is undertaken by the AIs using a bare fraction of their mental power, or by people who take on the work out of free choice). As such, the Culture is a post-scarcity society, where technological advances ensure that no one lacks any material goods or services. Energy is farmed from a fictitious "energy grid", and matter to build orbitals is collected mostly from asteroids. As a consequence, the Culture has no need of economic constructs such as money (as is apparent when it deals with civilisations in which money is still important). The Culture rejects all forms of economics based on anything other than voluntary activity. "Money implies poverty" is a common saying in the Culture.


title: The Culture

text: Marain is the Culture's shared constructed language. The Culture believes the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis that language influences thought, and Marain was designed by early Minds to exploit this effect, while also "appealing to poets, pedants, engineers and programmers". Designed to be represented either in binary or symbol-written form, Marain is also regarded as an aesthetically pleasing language by the Culture. The symbols of the Marain alphabet can be displayed in three-by-three grids of binary (yes/no, black/white) dots and thus correspond to nine-bit wide binary numbers.


title: The Culture

text: Related comments are made by the narrator in "The Player of Games" regarding gender-specific pronouns, which Marain speakers do not use in typical conversation unless specifying one's gender is necessary, and by general reflection on the fact that Marain places much less structural emphasis on (or even lacks) concepts like possession and ownership, dominance and submission, and especially aggression. Many of these concepts would in fact be somewhat theoretical to the average Culture citizen. Indeed, the presence of these concepts in other civilisations signify the brutality and hierarchy associated with forms of empire that the Culture strives to avoid.


title: The Culture

text: Marain itself is also open to encryption and dialect-specific implementations for different parts of the Culture. M1 is basic Nonary Marain, the three-by-three grid. All Culture citizens can communicate in this variant. Other variants include M8 through M16, which are encrypted by various degrees, and are typically used by the Contact Section. Higher level encryptions exist, the highest of these being M32. M32 and lower level encrypted signals are the province of Special Circumstances (SC). Use of M32 is reserved for extremely secret and reserved information and communication within Special Circumstances. That said, M32 has an air of notoriety in the Culture, and in the thoughts of most may best be articulated as "the Unbreakable, Inviolable, Holy of Holies Special Circumstances M32" as described by prospective SC agent Ulver Seich. Ships and Minds also have a slightly distasteful view of SC procedure associated with M32, one Ship Mind going so far as to object to the standard SC attitude of "Full scale, stark raving M32 don't-talk-about-this-or-we'll-pull-your-plugs-out-baby paranoia" on the use of the encryption.


title: The Culture

text: There are no laws as such in the Culture. Social norms are enforced by convention (personal reputation, "good manners", and by, as described in "The Player of Games", possible ostracism and involuntary supervision for more serious crimes). Minds generally refrain from using their all-seeing capabilities to influence people's reputations, though they are not necessarily themselves above judging people based on such observations, as described in "Excession". Minds also judge each other, with one of the more relevant criteria being the quality of their treatment of sentients in their care. Hub Minds for example are generally nominated from well-regarded GSV (the largest class of ships) Minds, and then upgraded to care for the billions living on the artificial habitats.


title: The Culture

text: The only serious prohibitions that seem to exist are against harming sentient beings, or forcing them into undertaking any act (another concept that seems unnatural to and is, in fact, almost unheard of by almost all Culture citizens). As mentioned in "The Player of Games", the Culture does have the occasional "crime of passion" (as described by an Azadian) and the punishment was to be "slap-droned", or to have a drone assigned to follow the offender and "make sure [they] don't do it again".


title: The Culture

text: While the enforcement in theory could lead to a Big Brother-style surveillance society, in practice social convention among the Minds prohibits them from watching, or interfering in, citizens' lives unless requested, or unless they perceive severe risk. The practice of reading a sentient's mind without permission (something the Culture is technologically easily capable of) is also strictly taboo. The whole plot of "Look to Windward" relies on a Hub Mind not reading an agent's mind (with certain precautions in case this rule gets violated). Minds that do so anyway are considered deviant and shunned by other Minds (see GCU "Grey Area"). At one point it is said that if the Culture actually had written laws, the sanctity of one's own thoughts against the intrusion of others would be the first on the books.


title: The Culture

text: This gives some measure of privacy and protection; though the very nature of Culture society would, strictly speaking, make keeping secrets irrelevant: most of them would be considered neither shameful nor criminal. It does allow the Minds in particular to scheme amongst themselves in a very efficient manner, and occasionally withhold information.


title: The Culture

text: The Culture has no flag, symbol or logo. According to "Consider Phlebas", people can recognize items made by the Culture implicitly, by the way they are simple, efficient and aesthetic. The main outright symbol of the Culture, the one by which it is most explicitly and proudly recognized, is not a visual symbol, but its language, Marain, which is used far beyond the Culture itself. It is often employed in the galaxy as a de facto lingua franca among people who don't share a language. Even the main character of "Consider Phlebas", an enemy of the Culture, ready to die to help in its downfall, is fluent in Marain and uses it with other non-Culture characters out of sheer convenience.


title: The Culture

text: It would have helped if the Culture had used some sort of emblem or logo; but, pointlessly unhelpful and unrealistic to the last, the Culture refused to place its trust in symbols. It maintained that it was what it was and had no need for such outward representation. The Culture was every single individual human and machine in it, not one thing. Just as it could not imprison itself with laws, impoverish itself with money or misguide itself with leaders, so it would not misrepresent itself with signs.