title: Life on Venus

text: Re-analysis of the "in situ" data gathered by Pioneer Venus Multiprobe in 1978 has also revealed the presence of phosphine and its dissociation products in the atmosphere of Venus. In 2021, a further analysis detected trace amounts of ethane, hydrogen sulfide, nitrite, nitrate, hydrogen cyanide, and possibly ammonia.


title: Life on Venus

text: The phosphine signal was also detected in data collected using the JCMT, though much weaker than that found using ALMA.


title: Life on Venus

text: In October 2020, a reanalysis of archived infrared spectrum measurement in 2015 did not reveal any phosphine in the Venusian atmosphere, placing an upper limit of phosphine volume concentration 5 parts per billion (a quarter of value measured in radio band in 2020). However, the wavelength used in these observations (10 microns) would only have detected phosphine at the very top of the clouds of the atmosphere of Venus.


title: Life on Venus

text: In 2022, no phosphine detection using SOFIA airborne infrared telescope with upper limit of concentration 0.8ppb was announced for Venusian altitudes 75-110 km. Later the apparent non-detection was attributed to calibration error and the ~1ppb concentration of phosphine was detected in the same dataset. Phosphine appears to be more abundant in pre-morning parts of Venusian atmosphere.


title: Life on Venus

text: ALMA is reported to be expected to restart in early 2021 after a year-long shutdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and may enable further observations that could provide insights for the ongoing investigation.


title: Life on Venus

text: Despite controversies, NASA is in the beginning stages of sending a future mission to Venus. The Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy mission (VERITAS) would carry radar to view through the clouds to get new images of the surface, of much higher quality than those last photographed thirty-one years ago. The other, Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging Plus (DAVINCI+) would actually go through the atmosphere, sampling the air as it descends, to hopefully detect the phosphine. In June 2021, NASA announced DAVINCI+ and VERITAS would be selected from four mission concepts picked in February 2020 as part of the NASA's Discovery 2019 competition for launch in the 2028-2030 time frame.


title: Life on Venus

text: "BepiColombo", launched in 2018 to study Mercury, flew by Venus on October 15, 2020, and on August 10, 2021. Johannes Benkhoff, project scientist, believes "BepiColombo"'s MERTIS (Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer) could possibly detect phosphine, but "we do not know if our instrument is sensitive enough".


title: Life on Venus

text: According to new research announced in January 2021, the spectral line at 266.94 GHz attributed to phosphine in the clouds of Venus was more likely to have been produced by sulfur dioxide in the mesosphere. That claim was refuted in April 2021 for being inconsistent with the available data. The detection of PH in the Venusian atmosphere with ALMA was recovered to ~7 ppb. By August 2021 it was found the suspected contamination by sulfur dioxide was contributing only 10% to the tentative signal in phosphine spectral line band in ALMA spectra taken in 2019, and about 50% in ALMA spectra taken in 2017.


title: Life on Venus

text: Conventional, water-based biochemistry, is nearly impossible in Venusian conditions. In June 2021, calculations of water activity levels in Venusian clouds based on data from space probes showed these to be two magnitudes too low at the examined places for any known extremophile bacteria to survive.


title: Life on Venus

text: In August 2021, it was suggested that even the saturated hydrocarbons are unstable in ultra-acid conditions of Venusian clouds, making cell-based Venusian life concepts problematic. Instead, it was proposed that Venusian "life" may be based on self-replicating molecular components of "red oil" – a known class of substances consisting of a mixture of polycyclic carbon compounds dissolved in concentrated sulfuric acid.


title: Life on Venus

text: In December 2021, it was suggested Venusian life – as the chemically most plausible cause – may photochemically produce ammonia from available chemicals, resulting in life-bearing droplets becoming a slurry of ammonium sulfite with less acidic pH of 1. These droplets would deplete sulfur dioxide in upper cloud layers as they settle down, explaining the observed distribution of sulfur dioxide in atmosphere of Venus, and may make the clouds no more acidic than some extreme terrestrial environments that harbor life.


title: Life on Venus

text: The hypothesis paper in 2020 has suggested the microbial life of Venus may have a two-stage life cycle. The metabolically active part of such a cycle would have to happen within cloud droplets to avoid a fatal loss of liquid. After such droplets grow large enough to sink under the force of gravity, organisms would fall with them into hotter lower layers and desiccate, becoming small and light enough to be raised again to the habitable layer by small-scale turbulence.


title: Life on Venus

text: The hypothesis paper in 2021 has criticized the concept above, pointing to the large stagnancy of lower haze layers in Venus making return from the haze layer to relatively habitable clouds problematic even for small particles. Instead, an in-cloud evolution model was proposed where organisms are evolving to become maximally absorptive (dark) for the given amount of biomass and the darker, solar-heated areas of cloud are kept afloat by thermal updrafts initiated by organisms itself.


title: Devils Hole

text: Devils Hole is a geologic formation located in a detached unit of Death Valley National Park and surrounded by the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, in Nye County, Nevada, in the Southwestern United States.


title: Devils Hole

text: Devils Hole is habitat for the only naturally occurring population of the endangered Devils Hole pupfish ("Cyprinodon diabolis"). The unit is part of the Ash Meadows complex, an area of desert uplands and spring-fed oases that was designated as a National Wildlife Refuge in 1984.


title: Devils Hole

text: Devils Hole is a geothermal pool within a limestone cavern in the Amargosa Desert in the Amargosa Valley of Nevada, east over the Amargosa Range and Funeral Mountains from Death Valley. It is at an elevation of above sea level and the water is a constant temperature of . The surface area of Devils Hole is about 22 m long by 3.5 m wide (72 ft long by 11.5 ft wide). Approximately deep on one end of Devils Hole is a small rock shelf of . The dissolved oxygen of the water is 2.5–3.0 ppm up to around in depth, though the shallow shelf can have dissolved oxygen levels as high as 6.0–7.0 ppm in June and July.


title: Devils Hole

text: Devils Hole branches into caverns at least deep, whose bottom has never been mapped. According to geologists, the caves were formed over 500,000 years ago. The pool has frequently experienced activity due to far away earthquakes in Japan, Indonesia, Mexico, and Chile, which have been likened to extremely small scale tsunamis.


title: Devils Hole

text: Below the surface pool, Devils Hole descends approximately through what is termed the "main chamber" before reaching a narrow opening referred to as the 'funnel'. Through this opening lies a much larger chamber of the cavern system known as Acree's Chasm. Acree's Chasm is approximately in length, in width, and has a bottom approximately below the surface.


title: Devils Hole

text: Immediately after passing the funnel into Acree's Chamber, a narrow side tube can be found to a diver's left. This side tube proceeds approximately upward to a chamber with an air pocket, named Brown's Room. The tube leading to Brown's Room has at least 2 offshoots, the higher of which leads to a dead-end filled with a small air pocket, and the lower of which confluences with additional tubes descending from Brown's Room.


title: Devils Hole

text: If the diver instead descends through Acree's Chamber, the first notable landmark is a rocky shelf termed the 'lower ledge,' around below the entrance to the chamber. The bottom of Acree's Chamber lies around below the surface, but is not flat. Instead, a portion of the chamber floor descends below this lower shelf; a gradual funnel leads to a hole in the bottom of the chamber featuring a strong current. The hole, later termed the "ojo de agua", is below the surface and just large enough for a diver with equipment to fit through.


title: Devils Hole

text: In 1965, a teenager who jumped the fence with friends to go SCUBA diving the hole did not come back up. Another went down to find him but did not come back up either. Efforts by five divers to later find their bodies were unsuccessful.


title: Devils Hole

text: On June 20, 1965, during the second dive of a rescue and then body recovery mission, Jim Houtz with his dive partner, dropped a weighted depth line to a depth of from the start of this opening, without hitting the bottom of the chamber below. Due to the strong current, small size of the entrance, and unknown depth of the below cavern Houtz termed the "Infinity Room," Jim and his partner chose not to explore this Infinity Room. This mission did, however, confirm that the depth of the Infinity Room of Devil's Hole, and the cavern system itself, has a depth of at least from the surface.


title: Devils Hole

text: A subsequent USGS exploration into Devils Hole in 1991 by Alan Riggs, Paul DeLoach, and Sheck Exley entered what they found out to be a narrow tube rather than an 'Infinity Room' at , descending to a depth of . The team reported being able to see down to a depth of some , without visualizing the bottom of the cavern.


title: Devils Hole

text: On March 20, 2012, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Oaxaca, Mexico, some away and centered roughly below the surface, caused an undulating rise and fall of the cavern waters, as appreciated by researchers working at Devils Hole at the time. This provided further evidence that Devils Hole cave system was connected to not only the Death Valley Regional Groundwater Flow System, but possibly to even further-reaching underground water systems. The 1991 USGS dive team described the Devils Hole as a "skylight" into the water table.


title: Devils Hole

text: A team of paleoclimatologists from the University of Innsbruck have been collecting and dating calcite mineral deposits here since 2010. In March 2017, underwater cinematographer Jonathan Bird received permission to assist scientists in a four-day expedition to take water and calcite core samples. The IMAX footage was included in the 2020 film Ancient Caves and extra footage was used to create the video documentary .


title: Devils Hole

text: Similar studies had been done in Devils Hole but are no longer permitted due to the endangered status of the Devils Hole pupfish. Cleaning and disinfection of diving equipment, climbing gear, cameras, etc. using hot water and Steramine followed by at least 30 days of air-drying is required by the National Park Service to prevent contamination of the underwater ecosystem.


title: Devils Hole

text: On September 19, 2022, a seiche reaching occurred at Devils Hole after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit western Mexico, about away. Seiches were also observed in the cave after powerful earthquakes in 2012, 2018 and 2019.


title: Devils Hole

text: Located north of Devils Hole is a separate cave system called Devils Hole Cave (#2). It was first explored underwater to a depth of by divers from the Southwestern Speleological Society in February 1961. It had been described as being shaped like a boot with fallen rock restriction at the level leading to a narrow pool of water. Since no sunlight reaches the water, algae cannot grow and no fish species are found.


title: Devils Hole

text: On the surface, the cave openings are connected to Devils Hole by an access road and covered with a locked metal grate. Below ground, a passable deepwater connection to Devils Hole has been theorized but remains undiscovered.


title: Devils Hole

text: Devils Hole is the only natural habitat of the Devils Hole pupfish, which thrives despite the hot, oxygen-poor water. Devils Hole "may be the smallest habitat in the world containing the entire population of a vertebrate species". The pupfish are considered critically endangered by the IUCN. The pupfish has been described as the world's rarest fish, with a population of less than 200 since 2005. Genetic information indicates that the pupfish species is as old as the Hole itself, which opened to the surface about 60,000 years ago.


title: Devils Hole

text: The pupfish have been protected since being declared an endangered species in 1967. Conflicts of the ownership and use of the groundwater around Devils Hole caused litigation in the 1980s. The litigation triggered further protections of the pupfish. However, since the late 1990s, the pupfish population has substantially decreased. The reasons for the decrease are unknown, but is possibly due to a microscopic non-indigenous diving beetle that is consuming pupfish eggs.


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: Multiplicity is a 1996 American science fiction comedy film starring Michael Keaton and Andie MacDowell about a man able to duplicate himself by machine, each duplicate developing a different personality, causing problems. It was based on Chris Miller's short story 'Multiplicity', published in "National Lampoon" magazine, Spring 1993. The film was co-produced and directed by Harold Ramis. The original music score was composed by George Fenton.


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: The film was released July 17, 1996. It received mixed reviews from critics, and grossed a worldwide total of $21 million at the box office, significantly less than its $45 million budget.


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: Doug Kinney works in construction in Los Angeles and his job is constantly getting in the way of his family. Working on a new wing of a scientific facility, Doug meets Dr. Leeds, a friendly scientist who has successfully developed a method for cloning humans. He is introduced to Dr. Leeds' clone as proof. Sympathetic to Doug's troubles, he clones him so the clone can take over for Doug at work, while the original tries to spend quality time with his family. The clone, called "Two" (although he calls himself "Lance"), has all of Doug's memories and knowledge, but personality-wise is an exaggeration of Doug's masculine side.


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: Doug goes to great lengths to keep his clone a secret. While he and his wife Laura are at a restaurant for dinner, he sees Two on his own date (as he cannot be with Laura). Doug begins to worry about his clone being revealed.


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: Despite the complications of having a clone, Lance is extremely busy at work so Doug has another made to help out at home. "Three", who calls himself "Rico", is an exaggeration of Doug's feminine side. He is extremely sensitive and thoughtful and loves to cook and take care of the house, much to Lance's chagrin.


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: Lance and Rico attempt to make another clone, "Four", who is later named Lenny. Unfortunately, since he is a clone-of-a-clone, his intelligence is considerably lower than that of his predecessors, and he refers to Doug as "Steve". (The analogy used refers to how a copy of a copy may not be as 'sharp' as the original). This causes an annoyed Doug to decree that no more clones be created.


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: Doug decides to take some time off, going on a sailing trip. He doesn't want Laura to know, so he has his clones step in for him while he's away. Although he specifically instructs them that Laura is off limits, while he is gone each of the clones, in turn, run into Laura. Despite their best efforts to follow instructions, she persists and eventually has sex with all three of them, thinking they are Doug.


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: The next day, Lance has a cold and is unable to go to work, so he sends Rico. During an inspection on site, Rico's lack of knowledge about the current construction site annoys the inspector, which leads to Doug losing his job.


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: As time passes, Doug's wife becomes increasingly upset with her husband's erratic behavior and how he has no memories of discussions Laura unwittingly had with another clone. Thinking Doug is ignoring her, she reveals her feelings to Lenny, mentioning how Doug has never kept his promise to fix up the house. When she asks him what he wants, an inattentive Lenny replies, "I want pizza". Upset, she takes the children and moves back to her parents' home. When Doug returns, he learns that Laura and the kids have left. He also learns from the clones' confessions that he has lost his job and each one of them has had sex with Laura.


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: While Doug tries to determine how to get Laura back, Lenny tells him that Laura said he never fixed the house. With the help of the clones, Doug remodels their home and wins back the love of his wife. He also tells her he is planning to start his own contracting business. Realizing Doug can take care of himself now, the three clones move away. As they are driving away and stopped at a stoplight, Laura sees the three clones in the car next to her. Believing that she is hallucinating, Laura tells her children that you can tell you really love someone when everyone you see reminds you of them.


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: The clones write to Doug that they have set up a successful pizzeria called "Three Guys from Nowhere" in Miami, Florida and are masquerading as triplets. Lance becomes the businessman of the shop and serves customers, enjoying this opportunity to meet many women. Rico is the head chef and is "cooking up a storm and having a ball", and Lenny is the delivery boy as well as taking a second job as a paperboy. Unfortunately, Lenny confuses the two and is seen delivering pizzas by throwing a box onto a lawn as he rides his bike by.


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: The film was released July 17 and ranked 7th at the box office that weekend. The film was not a success at the box office, earning a total of $21,075,014 less than half of its $45 million budget. The Olympic Games was blamed for the poor opening weekend, and "Independence Day" held on to the number one position. John Krier, head of Exhibitor Relations disagreed that the Olympics were to blame, instead saying competition from other films were the cause since total grosses were the same as the previous year. Multiplicity was competing for the same audience as Eddie Murphy’s "The Nutty Professor".


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: "Multiplicity" received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 45% based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "This high-concept experiment only proves that a comedy actually can have too much Michael Keaton." Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B on scale of A to F.


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun Times" gave the film 2.5 out of 4, and wrote: "Groundhog Day had a certain sweetness and even a sly philosophical depth, but Multiplicity is more of a ground-level comedy, in which we can usually anticipate the problems for Doug and his clones."


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: The film was first released to DVD on April 15, 1998, shortly after the format debuted; the Columbia/Tri-Star release was a single disc release featuring the ability to watch the film either in widescreen or in fullscreen but not featuring any bonus materials. Since then, a new Columbia/Sony release has replaced it, offering only a Pan & Scan (1.33 aspect ratio) format. Widescreen support is available on Region 2 editions of the movie.


title: Multiplicity (film)

text: "Multiplicity" was released in widescreen on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment in May 2012. The DVD is compatible with region code 4 and includes special features such as the theatrical trailer and crew biographies.


title: Alec Newman

text: Alec Newman (born 27 November 1974) is a Scottish actor best known for portraying Paul Atreides in the Sci Fi Channel's 2000 miniseries adaptation of Frank Herbert's "Dune".


title: Alec Newman

text: Newman was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father is Sandy Newman, a member of Scottish band Marmalade. He has a brother, John James Newman, who appeared on "The Voice UK" in 2012. Prior to joining the National Youth Theatre in London at age 17, Newman considered becoming a professional footballer. He trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.


title: Alec Newman

text: After graduating from LAMDA Newman built up a steady list of television and film credits before landing the lead role in the Sci Fi channel's Emmy award winning miniseries "Frank Herbert's Dune". This led to a string of appearances in US TV and film, which culminated in winning the coveted role of Barnabas Collins in a WB reboot of "Dark Shadows". The show was not picked up for series despite promising performances.


title: Alec Newman

text: The 2004 Hallmark Channel version of "Frankenstein" with Newman leading an all star cast including William Hurt and Donald Sutherland, met with favourable reviews and won an Emmy. This period also found Newman consistently working on film - in Penny Woolcock's "The Principles of Lust" and in the Stephen Fry directed "Bright Young Things". Both played at festivals around the world including Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival.


title: Alec Newman

text: Series regular roles in Kurt Sutter's "The Bastard Executioner", Amazon's "Rogue", and HBO's "Strike Back" saw him in edgier and often action oriented territory, yet in Guy Pitt's 2014 film "Greyhawk" Newman's more intimate and emotional performance contributed to a nomination for the Michael Powell award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. He has since worked with directors Tomas Alfredson, Amma Asante and George Clooney.


title: Alec Newman

text: Newman has often played edgy and complex characters. Performances in the BBC's "Showtrial" and World Production's "Karen Pirie" are recent examples of roles with a moral conflict at their core.


title: Alec Newman

text: He regularly returns to work in the theatre. The Donmar Warehouse production of "King Lear" in which he played Edmund, transferred to the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York. The National Theatre's 2015 production of "The Motherfucker with the Hat" featured Newman in the title role and was nominated at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for Best Play. More recently, he played Bruno Bischofberger in the Young Vic production of Anthony McCarten's new play "The Collaboration" opposite Paul Bettany, Jeremy Pope and Sofia Barclay.


title: Alec Newman

text: He is also a prolific voice artist appearing in numerous video games including "Cyberpunk 2077", "Assassin's Creed Valhalla", and "".


title: Alec Newman

text: Newman is a huge football fan and has indulged a love for the outdoors, twice trekking in the Everest region of Nepal.


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: Charlotte (Charlotte Adelgonde Elisabeth Marie Wilhelmine; 23 January 1896 – 9 July 1985) reigned as Grand Duchess of Luxembourg from 14 January 1919 until her abdication on 12 November 1964.


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: She acceded to the throne on 14 January 1919 following the abdication of her sister, Marie-Adélaïde, due to political pressure over Marie-Adélaïde's role during the German occupation of Luxembourg during World War I. A referendum retained the monarchy with Charlotte as grand duchess.


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: She married Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma on 6 November 1919. They had six children. Following the 1940 German invasion of Luxembourg during World War II, Charlotte went into exile: first in France, then Portugal, Great Britain, and North America. While in Britain, she made broadcasts to the people of Luxembourg. She returned to Luxembourg in April 1945.


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: She abdicated in 1964, and was succeeded by her son Jean. Charlotte died from cancer on 9 July 1985. She was the last agnatic member of the House of Nassau. She was the last personal recipient of the Golden Rose and since her death there are no living personal recipients of that honour, which in modern times has been awarded only to churches and shrines.


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: Born in Berg Castle, Charlotte of Nassau-Weilburg, Princess of Luxembourg, was the second daughter of Grand Duke William IV and his wife, Marie Anne of Portugal.


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: Her older sister, Marie-Adélaide, had succeeded their father. However, Marie-Adélaïde's actions had become controversial, and she was seen as friendly to the German occupation of Luxembourg during World War I. There were calls in parliament for her abdication, and she was forced to abdicate on 14 January 1919.


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: Luxembourg adopted a new constitution that year. In a referendum on 28 September 1919, 77.8% of the Luxembourgish people voted for the continuation of the monarchy with Grand Duchess Charlotte as head of state. However, in the new constitution, the powers of the monarch were severely restricted.


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: By 1935, Charlotte had sold her German properties, the former residential palaces of the Dukes of Nassau, Biebrich Palace and Schloss Weilburg, to the State of Prussia. During World War II the grand ducal family left Luxembourg shortly before the arrival of Nazi troops. Luxembourg's neutrality was violated on 9 May 1940, while the Grand Duchess and her family were in residence at Colmar-Berg. That day she called an extraordinary meeting of her leading ministers, and they all decided to place themselves under the protection of France, described by the Grand Duchess as a difficult but necessary decision. Initially the family took up residence at the Château de Montastruc in south-western France, but the rapid advance of the German forces into France followed by French capitulation the next month caused the French government to refuse any guarantee of security to the exiled Luxembourg government. Permission was received to cross Spain provided they did not stop "en route", and the Grand Duchess with her ministers moved on to Portugal.


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: The Germans proposed to restore the Grand Duchess to her functions, but Charlotte refused, mindful of her sister's experiences of remaining in Luxembourg under German occupation during the First World War. By 29 August 1940 Grand Duchess Charlotte was in London where she began to make supportive broadcasts to her homeland using the BBC. Later she travelled to the United States and to Canada. Her children continued their schooling in Montreal while she had several meetings with President Roosevelt who encouraged her itinerant campaigning across the country in support of his own opposition to isolationism which was a powerful political current until the Pearl Harbor attacks. In the meantime Luxembourg, along with the adjacent French Moselle department, found itself integrated into an expanded Germany under the name "Heim ins Reich", which left Luxembourgers required to speak German and liable for conscription into the German army.


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: In 1943 Grand Duchess Charlotte and the Luxembourg government established themselves in London: her broadcasts became a more regular feature of the BBC schedules, establishing her as a focus for the resistance movements in Luxembourg. The Grand Ducal family went to North America in exile, settling first on the Marjorie Merriweather Post estate in Brookville, Long Island and then in Montreal. The Grand Duchess visited Washington DC and made a goodwill tour of the US to keep the profile of Luxembourg high in the eyes of the Allies.


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: Charlotte's younger sister Antonia and brother-in-law Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria, were exiled from Germany in 1939. In 1944, living now in Hungary, Crown Princess Antonia was captured when the Germans invaded Hungary and found herself deported to the concentration camp at Dachau, being later transferred to Flossenbürg where she survived torture but only with her health badly impaired. Meanwhile, from 1942 Grand Duchess Charlotte's eldest son, Jean, served as a volunteer in the British Army's Irish Guards, after the war becoming its Honorary Colonel-in-chief (1984-2000).


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: In the years after the war, Charlotte showed a lot of public activity which contributed to raising Luxembourg's profile on the international stage, by hosting visits from foreign heads of state and other dignitaries, such as Eleanor Roosevelt (1950), Queen Juliana of the Netherlands (1951), René Coty (1957), King Baudouin of Belgium (1959), King Bhumibol of Thailand (1961), and King Olav V of Norway (1964). Likewise, she visited Pope Pius XII (1950), Charles de Gaulle (1961), and John F. Kennedy (1963).


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: In 1951 Charlotte and her prime minister Pierre Dupong by decree admitted into the nobility of Luxembourg three Swedish relatives who were not allowed to use their birth titles in Sweden. They were then named as Sigvard Prince Bernadotte, Carl Johan Prince Bernadotte and Lennart Prince Bernadotte and also, with their legitimate descendants, were given the hereditary titles of Counts and Countesses of Wisborg there.


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: On 12 November 1964, she abdicated in favour of her son Jean, who then reigned until his abdication in 2000.


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: Charlotte died at Schloss Fischbach on 9 July 1985, from cancer. She was interred in the Ducal Crypt of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in the city of Luxembourg.


title: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: On 6 November 1919 in Luxembourg, she married Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma, a first cousin on her mother's side. (Both Charlotte and Felix were grandchildren of King Miguel of Portugal, through his daughters Maria Anna and Maria Antonia, respectively). With the marriage, their lineal descent was raised in style from Grand Ducal Highness to Royal Highness.


The 2022 South Dakota gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, electing the governor of South Dakota. Incumbent Republican governor Kristi Noem defeated Democratic nominee Jamie Smith to win a second term.


title: 2022 South Dakota gubernatorial election

text: Despite speculation about this race potentially being competitive, Noem improved on her 2018 performance by 11% and flipped 17 counties that had been won by Billie Sutton. She also received over 44,000 more raw votes than she did in the previous election, setting a record for the most votes received by a candidate for governor in South Dakota.


title: Excise

text: An excise, or excise tax, is any duty on manufactured goods that is levied at the moment of manufacture rather than at sale. Excises are often associated with customs duties, which are levied on pre-existing goods when they cross a designated border in a specific direction; customs are levied on goods that become taxable items at the "border", while excise is levied on goods that came into existence "inland".


title: Excise

text: An excise is considered an indirect tax, meaning that the producer or seller who pays the levy to the government is expected to try to recover their loss by raising the price paid by the eventual buyer of the goods. Excises are typically imposed in addition to an indirect tax such as a sales tax or value-added tax (VAT). Typically, an excise is distinguished from a sales tax or VAT in three ways:


title: Excise

text: Typical examples of excise duties are taxes on gasoline and other fuels and taxes on tobacco and alcohol (sometimes referred to as sin tax).


title: Excise

text: "Excise" is derived from the Dutch "accijns", which is presumed to come from the Latin "accensare", meaning simply "to tax".


title: Excise

text: Excise was introduced in the mid 17th century under the Puritan regime. In the British Isles, upon the Restoration of the Monarchy, many of the Puritan social restrictions were overturned, but excise was re-introduced, under the Tenures Abolition Act 1660, in lieu of rent, for tenancies of royally-owned land which had not already become socage. Although the affected tenancies were limited in number, the excise was levied more generally; at the time, there was thought to be a rough correspondence between the wealthy manufacturers of affected goods, and the wealthy tenants of royal land.


title: Excise

text: Excise duties or taxes continued to serve political as well as financial ends. Public safety and health, public morals, environmental protection, and national defense are all rationales for the imposition of an excise. In defense of excises on strong drink, Adam Smith wrote: "It has for some time past been the policy of Great Britain to discourage the consumption of spirituous liquors, on account of their supposed tendency to ruin the health and to corrupt the morals of the common people." Samuel Johnson was less flattering in his 1755 dictionary:


title: Excise

text: Monies raised through excise may be earmarked for redress of specific social costs commonly associated with the product or service on which it is levied. Tobacco tax revenues, for example, might be spent on government anti-smoking campaigns, or healthcare for cancer, heart disease, vascular disease, lung disease, and so on.


title: Excise

text: In some countries, excise is also levied on some goods for purely punitive reasons. Many US states impose excise on illegal substances; these places do not consider it to be a revenue source, but instead regard it as a means of imposing a greater level of punishment, by opening up convicted criminals to the charge of tax evasion.


title: Excise

text: The economic analysis of excise taxes has its beginnings with Atkinson and Stiglitz in 1976 stating that if income taxes were optimal there would be no need for specific taxes. But, "if income taxation is not optimal, excise have a role to play, because they are relatively efficient sources of revenue, improve resource allocation


title: Excise

text: by internalizing the external costs associated with the consumption or production of excisable products, discourage the consumption of products considered harmful, serve as a proxy for charging road users for the cost of government-provided services, or promote progressivity in taxation.".


title: Excise

text: 1.Revenue-raising efficiency aspects. This is based on the classic argument of the "Ramsey rule". This means that in certain cases it is optimal to differentiate tax rates on consumption according to the price elasticity of each taxed good or service.


title: Excise

text: 2.Externality-correcting issues. These are surcharges for the cost that consumers or producers of certain goods impose on society as a whole but which is not reflected in the price. In other words, there is a negative externality and, therefore, there must be a special tax that tries to correct it. Economically it means that "the marginal cost of an individual consumer or producer's action is less than the marginal cost of his action to society and, as a result, the individual engages in more of the activity than is socially optimal". It has its basis in Pigou's theory where the imposition of a special tax on activity equal to the marginal cost of the harm caused to others would correct the negative externality.


title: Excise

text: 3. Information failures and internality-correcting arguments. This refers to the fact that the lack of information or education about the consumption of certain harmful products has to be corrected by state intervention through the implementation of specific taxes. This is, for example, the case for alcohol, tobacco or sugary products. Because of the damage they cause to health and the illnesses they generate in people, it is decided to tax them specifically.


title: Excise

text: 4. Benefit-charging features. This refers to specific taxes derived from the use of public infrastructures to cover the costs of their construction and maintenance. The clearest example is that of roads, where we find the consumption of road infrastructure, the environmental costs of its use, congestion costs referring to the cost of the added time imposed on drivers and the costs of accidents. This will be financed by specific taxes such as vehicle licensing, road tax, fuel taxes, etc.


title: Excise

text: 5.Progressivity-enhancing aspects. Excise duties on high-value products, i.e. luxury goods, are included. In this way, the consumption of certain products that are only within the reach of high incomes is taxed, thus reinforcing a progressive tax system based on their consumption


title: Excise

text: These are the three main targets of excise taxation in most countries around the world. They are everyday items of mass usage (even, arguably, "necessity") which bring significant revenue for governments. The first two are considered to be legal drugs, which are a cause of many illnesses (e.g. lung cancer, cirrhosis of the liver), which are used by large swathes of the population, both being widely recognized as addictive. Gasoline (or petrol), as well as diesel and certain other fuels, meanwhile, have excise tax imposed on them mainly because they pollute the environment and to raise funds to support the transportation infrastructure.


title: Excise

text: Following the legalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States, states that have implemented legal markets have imposed new excise taxes on sales of cannabis products. These taxes have been used to build support for legalization initiatives by raising revenue for general spending purposes.


title: Excise

text: Gambling "licences" are subject to excise in many countries today. In 18th-century England, and for a brief time in British North America, gambling "itself" was for a time also subject to taxation, in the form of stamp duty, whereby a revenue stamp had to be placed on the ace of spades in every pack of cards to demonstrate that the duty had been paid (hence the elaborate designs that evolved on this card in many packs as a result). Since stamp duty was originally only meant to be applied to documents (and cards were categorized as such), the fact that dice were also subject to stamp duty (and were in fact the only non-paper item listed under the Stamp Act 1765) suggests that its implementation to cards and dice can be viewed as a type of excise duty on gambling.


title: Excise

text: Prostitution has been proposed to bear excise tax in separate bills in the Canadian Parliament (2005), and in the Nevada Legislature (2009) – proposed wordings:


title: Excise

text: Excise taxes on unhealthy products include specific taxes on calorie-dense and nutrient-poor food products that are harmful to health. As with environmental taxes, they are not intended to raise revenue but to modify consumer behaviour towards the consumption of food products that are healthy for human health. These include the taxation of specific products such as fast food or high-sugar beverages.


title: Excise

text: For example, the World Health Organisation has indicated that the tax on sugary drinks would have to be at least 20% for this measure to have a real impact on obesity and cardiovascular disease. Countries that already have specific taxes on sugary drinks include Norway, Hungary, Finland and France.


title: Excise

text: The introduction of these special taxes on unhealthy products not only has a short-term impact in terms of reducing consumption, but it is considered that in the long term it will also have positive effects on the welfare state of countries with public health. In other words, if society improves its consumption habits, it will be healthier in the future and diseases resulting from the consumption of unhealthy products will be prevented. This will reduce the need for medical services, which are financed by the state and therefore mean lower health care costs for governments.


title: Excise

text: In recent years, the creation or increase of excise taxes on certain existing consumer products whose production leads to environmental damage is being considered. The declaration of a climate emergency by international organisations such as the UN and the OECD warns that the current production model is and will have negative effects on life on the planet due to the current high level of pollution.


title: Excise

text: This is why one way to internalise the negative externality derived from productive activity is the inclusion of special taxes on certain products that are the main cause. These include energy, hydrocarbons and certain means of transport. The aim is to reduce their consumption while at the same time generating revenue to mitigate the negative effects of their consumption. They are therefore excise taxes that serve purposes other than simply to raise revenue.


title: Excise

text: One of the most notorious taxes in the whole of history was France's gabelle of salt. Although that was a sales tax, rather than an excise, salt has been subject to excise in some countries, along with many other substances which would, in today's world, seem rather unusual, such as paper, and coffee. In fact, salt was taxed as early as the second century, and as late as the twentieth.


title: Excise

text: Many different reasons have been given for the taxation of such substances, but have usually – if not explicitly – revolved around the historical scarcity of the substance, and their correspondingly high value at the time; governments clearly felt entitled to a share of the profits that traders made on them.


title: Excise

text: Window tax was introduced as a form of income tax, that technically preserved the financial privacy of the individual, the rationale being that wealthier individuals would have grander homes, and hence would have more windows. Furthermore, unlike income, windows cannot be easily hidden. Taxes on the same principle include hearth tax, brick tax, and wallpaper tax. Excise is levied at the point of manufacture; in the case of hearth tax, and window tax, their status as excise therefore depends on whether the window/hearth can philosophically be said to truly exist before the hearth/window is installed in the property. Though technically excise, these taxes are really just substitutes for direct taxes, rather than being levied for the usual reasons for excise.


title: Excise

text: All of these taxes lead to avoidance behaviour that had a substantial impact on society and architecture. People deliberately bricked up windows to avoid window tax, used much larger bricks to reduce their liability for brick tax, or bought plain paper and had it filled in later to avoid wallpaper tax. Some poor people even forced themselves to live in cold dark rooms in order to avoid paying these taxes. By contrast, extremely wealthy individuals would sometimes parade their ability to pay the tax, as a way of showing off their wealth, by flooding their properties with windows—even to the point of installing fake ones—using fine brickwork, covering their interiors with wallpaper, and having several fireplaces in each room.


title: Excise

text: Newspapers were taxed in the United Kingdom from 1712 until 1853. The original tax was increased with the Stamps Act 1814, when it was stipulated at 4d per copy. Since this made it extremely expensive for working-class families (doubling the price of a newspaper), it was pejoratively referred to as a "tax on knowledge", with people forced to rent newspapers on a per-hour basis, or else pool money together in order to buy and share. This resulted in a situation where even out-of-date newspapers were widely sought-after.


title: Excise

text: Advertisement Duty was also stipulated in the same laws and was also charged on a "per unit" basis, irrespective of the size or nature of the advertisement. Until 1833 the cost was 3s 6d, after which it was reduced to 1s 6d.


title: Excise

text: An excise duty is often applied by the affixation of revenue stamps to the products being sold. In the case of tobacco or alcohol, for example, producers may be given (or required to buy) a certain bulk amount of excise stamps from the government and are then obliged to affix one to every packet of cigarettes or bottle of spirits produced.


title: Excise

text: One of the most noticeable examples of this is the development of the Ace of Spades as a particularly elaborate card, from the time when it was obliged to carry the stamp for playing card duty.


title: Excise

text: A government-owned monopoly - such as an alcohol monopoly - is another method of ensuring the excise is paid.


title: Excise

text: The Australian Taxation Office describes an excise as "a tax levied on certain types of goods produced or manufactured in Australia. These... include alcohol, tobacco and petroleum and alternative fuels".


title: Excise

text: In Australia, the meaning of "excise" is not merely academic, but has been the subject of numerous court cases. The High Court of Australia has repeatedly held that a tax can be an "excise" regardless of whether the taxed goods are of domestic or foreign origin; most recently, in "Ha v New South Wales" (1997), the majority of the Court endorsed the view that an excise is "an inland tax on a step in production, manufacture, sale or distribution of goods", and took a wide view of the kind of "step" which, if subject to a tax, would make the tax an excise.


title: Excise

text: Both the federal and provincial governments impose excise taxes on inelastic goods such as cigarettes, gasoline, alcohol, and for vehicle air conditioners. A great bulk of the retail price of cigarettes and alcohol are excise taxes. The vehicle air conditioner tax is currently set at $100 per air conditioning unit. Canada has some of the highest rates of taxes on cigarettes and alcohol in the world. These are sometimes referred to as sin taxes.


title: Excise

text: In India, almost all products are subject to excise duty, provided the following four conditions are fulfilled:


title: Excise

text: In India, the Government has produced an automatic centralised system for paying excise. With this, manufacturers can easily pay their excise online on every 5th of the following month through GAR-7.


title: Excise

text: Historically, these were collected by the "Board of Excise", which was subsequently combined with the Inland Revenue (responsible for collecting direct taxes). In view of the higher likelihood of organised crime being involved in attempts at evading Excise, and its association with smuggling, compared with evasion attempts concerning direct taxation, the "Board of Excise" was later combined instead with the "Board of Customs", to form HM Customs and Excise. In this combined form, "Customs and Excise" was responsible for managing the import and export of goods and services into the UK, and its officers wielded greater powers of access, arrest, and seizure, than the Police.


title: Excise

text: On 18 April 2005, "Customs and Excise" was merged once more with the Inland Revenue to form a new department, HM Revenue and Customs ("HMRC"). The enormous contrast between the powers of officers of the Inland Revenue, and those of "Customs and Excise", initially caused several difficulties in the early life of the new organisation. Many of the monitoring and inspection functions, and corresponding powers, were later split off to form a new UK Border Agency, while the residual organisation is now merely responsible for the financial aspects of collection.


title: Excise

text: In the United States, the term "excise" has at least two meanings: (A) any tax other than a property tax or capitation (i.e., an excise is an indirect tax in the constitutional law sense), or (B) a tax that is simply called an excise in the language of the statute imposing that tax (an excise in the statutory law sense, sometimes called a "miscellaneous excise"). An excise under definition (A) is not necessarily the same as an excise under definition (B).


title: Excise

text: An excise (under definition B) has been defined as '"a tax upon manufacture, sale or for a business license or charter, as distinguished from a tax on real property, income or estates."


title: Excise

text: Both the federal and state governments levy excise taxes on goods such as alcohol, motor fuel, and tobacco products. The laws of the federal government and of some state governments impose excises known as the income tax. Even though federal excise taxes are geographically uniform, state excise taxes vary considerably. Taxation constitutes a substantial proportion of the retail prices on alcohol and tobacco products.


title: Excise

text: Local governments may also impose an excise tax. For example, the city of Anchorage, Alaska charges a cigarette tax of $1.30 per pack, which is on top of the federal excise tax and the state excise tax. In 2011, the United States federal excise tax on gasoline was 18.4 cents per gallon (4.86 ¢/L) and 24.4 cents per gallon (6.45 ¢/L) for diesel fuel.


title: Excise

text: In the European Union, harmonisation of excise duties has been considered from the outset. However, the first obstacle was the great heterogeneity of these taxes in the different Member States.


title: Excise

text: Thus, in 1972, excise duties on mineral fuels and oils, alcohol and alcohol derivatives, fermented beverages and manufactured tobacco were harmonised. Due to the differences between countries and the impossibility of reaching an agreement whereby the tax would be fixed and the same for all member countries, it was decided to intervene in excise duties in two ways. The first by establishing a minimum tax rate equal for all member countries and, secondly, by establishing a long-term objective to which all member countries should converge.


title: Excise

text: According to Eurostat data from 2014, it is known that energy taxes represent on average 16% of the implicit rate on consumption and up to 50% of excise tax revenue. Alcohol and tobacco account for only 8% of the implicit rate on consumption. As a whole, excise duties account for around 3% of GDP as a weighted average for the countries that make up the European Union.


title: Excise

text: Critics of excise have interpreted and described it as simply being a way for government to levy further and unnecessary taxation on the population. The presence of "refunds of duty" under the UK's list of "excisable activities" has been used to support this argument, as it results in taxation being implemented on persons even when they would normally be exempt from paying other types of taxes (the reason they qualify for the refund in the first place).


title: Excise

text: Furthermore, excise sometimes doubles up with other taxes, and in particular with customs duties (except, for duty-free items). If a good is purchased in one country and later exported to another, excise must be paid when it was manufactured, and customs then paid when it enters the second country; in a sense, the "creation" of the good has been taxed twice, although from the second country's point of view, it only came into existence as a taxable good at the border.


title: Excise

text: In some countries, such as the UK, excise has generally been limited to goods which are luxuries or a risk to health or morals, but this is not the case everywhere. Taxation on medicines, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment has been an issue of contention, especially in developing countries, due to the fact that this can cause the prices of medicines, and medical procedures, to become inflated, even when potentially lifesaving; this has sometimes forced healthcare providers to limit the number of operations performed.


title: Excise

text: In some countries, goods which are illegal are nevertheless also subject to excise, and the ground of "tax evasion" has subsequently been used to prosecute criminal gang leaders, when it has not been possible to prosecute the criminal activity more directly. It has also been argued that, by taxing banned substances, some US states are able to gain additional revenues. In some cases, legislation creates an incentive for the state to turn a blind eye to certain criminal activity, by allowing dealers to preserve their anonymity, and thus enabling revenue to be collected without leading to the arrest of the perpetrator:


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty or ABMT) (1972–2002) was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the limitation of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas against ballistic missile-delivered nuclear weapons. It was intended to reduce pressures to build more nuclear weapons to maintain deterrence. Under the terms of the treaty, each party was limited to two ABM complexes, each of which was to be limited to 100 anti-ballistic missiles.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: Signed in 1972, it was in force for the next 30 years. In 1997, five years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, four former Soviet republics agreed with the United States to succeed the USSR's role in the treaty. In June 2002 the United States withdrew from the treaty, leading to its termination, citing risks of nuclear blackmail.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: Throughout the late 1950s and into the 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union had been developing missile systems with the ability to shoot down incoming Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) warheads. During this period, the US considered the defense of the US as part of reducing the overall damage inflicted in a full nuclear exchange. As part of this defense, Canada and the US established the North American Air Defense Command (now called North American Aerospace Defense Command).


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: By the early 1950s, US research on the Nike Zeus missile system had developed to the point where small improvements would allow it to be used as the basis of an operational ABM system. Work started on a short-range, high-speed counterpart known as Sprint to provide defense for the ABM sites themselves. By the mid-1960s, both systems showed enough promise to start development of base selection for a limited ABM system dubbed Sentinel. In 1967, the US announced that Sentinel itself would be scaled down to the smaller and less expensive Safeguard. Soviet doctrine called for development of its own ABM system and return to strategic parity with the US. This was achieved with the operational deployment of the A-35 ABM system and its successors, which remain operational to this day.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: The development of multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) systems allowed a single ICBM to deliver as many as ten separate warheads at a time. An ABM defense system could be overwhelmed with the sheer number of warheads. Upgrading it to counter the additional warheads would be economically unfeasible: The defenders required one rocket per incoming warhead, whereas the attackers could place 10 warheads on a single missile at a reasonable cost. To further protect against ABM systems, the Soviet MIRV missiles were equipped with decoys; R-36M heavy missiles carried as many as 40. These decoys would appear as warheads to an ABM, effectively requiring engagement of five times as many targets and rendering defense even less effective.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: The United States first proposed an anti-ballistic missile treaty at the 1967 Glassboro Summit Conference during discussions between U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union Alexei Kosygin. McNamara argued both that ballistic missile defense could provoke an arms race, and that it might provoke a first-strike against the nation fielding the defense. Kosygin rejected this reasoning. They were trying to minimize the number of nuclear missiles in the world. Following the proposal of the Sentinel and Safeguard decisions on American ABM systems, the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks began in November 1969 (SALT I). By 1972 an agreement had been reached to limit strategic defensive systems. Each country was allowed two sites at which it could base a defensive system, one for the capital and one for ICBM silos.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: The treaty was signed during the 1972 Moscow Summit on 26 May by the President of the United States, Richard Nixon and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev; and ratified by the US Senate on 3 August 1972.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: The 1974 Protocol reduced the number of sites to one per party, largely because neither country had developed a second site. The sites were Moscow for the USSR and the North Dakota Safeguard Complex for the US, which was already under construction.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: The Treaty limited only ABMs capable of defending against "strategic ballistic missiles", without attempting to define "strategic". It was understood that both ICBMs and SLBMs are obviously "strategic". Neither country intended to stop the development of counter-tactical ABMs. The topic became disputable as soon as most potent counter-tactical ABMs started to be capable of shooting down SLBMs (SLBMs naturally tend to be much slower than ICBMs), nevertheless both sides continued counter-tactical ABM development.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: On 23 March 1983, Ronald Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative, a research program into ballistic missile defense which would be "consistent with our obligations under the ABM Treaty". Reagan was wary of mutual deterrence with what he had recently called an "Evil Empire", and wanted to escape the traditional confines of mutual assured destruction. The project was a blow to Yuri Andropov's so-called "peace offensive". Andropov said that "It is time [Washington] stopped thinking up one option after another in search of the best way of unleashing nuclear war in the hope of winning it. To do this is not just irresponsible. It is madness".


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: Regardless of the opposition, Reagan gave every indication that SDI would not be used as a bargaining chip and that the United States would do all in its power to build the system. The Soviets were threatened because the Americans might have been able to make a nuclear first strike possible. In "The Nuclear Predicament," Beckman claims that one of the central goals of Soviet diplomacy was to terminate SDI. A surprise attack from the Americans would destroy much of the Soviet ICBM fleet, allowing SDI to defeat a "ragged" Soviet retaliatory response. Furthermore, if the Soviets chose to enter this new arms race, they would further cripple their economy. The Soviets could not afford to ignore Reagan's new endeavor, therefore their policy at the time was to enter negotiations with the Americans. By 1987, however, the USSR withdrew its opposition, concluding the SDI posed no threat and scientifically "would never work".


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: SDI research went ahead, although it did not achieve the hoped-for result. SDI research was cut back following the end of Reagan's presidency, and in 1995 it was reiterated in a presidential joint statement that "missile defense systems may be deployed... [that] will not pose a realistic threat to the strategic nuclear force of the other side and will not be tested to... [create] that capability." This was reaffirmed in 1997.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: The ABM Treaty prohibited "National Missile Defense" (NMD), but some interpreted it to allow more limited systems called "Theater Missile Defense" (TMD). This is because Article II of the treaty defined "ABM Systems" as those that "counter strategic missiles", which are typically defined as those with "intercontinental capability". Thus, TMD supporters argued, the treaty did not prohibit systems that defended against the countering of theatre ballistic missiles. The US had already developed and used such systems, including the Patriot Missile during the Gulf War.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: The problem arose as TMD systems could also potentially be capable of countering strategic ballistic missiles, not just theatre ballistic missiles. The Clinton administration began negotiations with the Russians in 1993 to make amendments to the treaty. After much discussion, Presidents Clinton and Boris Yeltsin signed addendum to the treaty on September 9, 1997. According to these new agreements, the treaty permitted missile defense systems to have a velocity up to 5 km/s as long as it had not been tested against targets traveling faster than 5 km/s.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: The 1997 agreement were eventually ratified by the Russian parliament on May 4, 2000 (along with START II treaty). However, it was opposed in the US Senate by some Republican senators led by Jesse Helms. As a result, Clinton never submitted the agreement to Congress, fearing that Helms would stall their ratification or defeat it outright.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: Although the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, in the view of the U.S. Department of State, the treaty continued in force. For the purposes of the treaty, Russia was confirmed USSR's successor state in January 1992. Belarus and Ukraine were treated as successors at the ABM review conference in October 1993 and Kazakhstan was added as a successor shortly after. Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan became regular participants at ABM treaty meetings known as Standing Consultative Commissions. An additional memorandum of understanding was prepared in 1997, establishing Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine as successor states to the Soviet Union, for the purposes of the treaty. The US considered only extending the obligations to these countries, and not all, as only these ones had significant ABM assets. As the ABM treaty allowed for only a single ABM deployment, the State Department deemed that only a single ABM system would be collectively permitted among Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: In the United States, there was a debate on whether after the dissolution of the USSR, the ABM Treaty was still in effect. A month after the USSR's dissolution, President George H. W. Bush affirmed the ABM Treaty and regarded Russia as USSR's successor. Russia also accepted the ABM Treaty. Later on, President Clinton would affirm the validity of the treaty, as would President George W. Bush (before he terminated it). However, some Americans (mostly conservative Republicans) argued that the treaty was not in effect because the USSR had no successor state. This was deemed inconsistent, as Russia did indeed inherit the USSR's obligations (including its UNSC seat, its debts, its agreements on nonproliferation etc.). Former CIA director James Woolsey argued that in order for the treaty to remain in force, both the US and Russia had to accept it, and that President Clinton could not accept it without Congressional approval. According to Michael J. Glennon, Congress acknowledged the treaty in 1996, when it passed a law restricting President Clinton's ability to modify the treaty.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: On 13 December 2001, George W. Bush gave Russia notice of the United States' withdrawal from the treaty, in accordance with the clause that required six months' notice before terminating the pact—the first time in recent history that the United States has withdrawn from a major international arms treaty. This led to the eventual creation of the American Missile Defense Agency.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: Supporters of the withdrawal argued that it was a necessity in order to test and build a limited National Missile Defense to protect the United States from nuclear blackmail by a rogue state. But, the withdrawal had many foreign and domestic critics, who said the construction of a missile defense system would lead to fears of a U.S. nuclear first strike, as the missile defense could blunt the retaliatory strike that would otherwise deter such a preemptive attack. John Rhinelander, a negotiator of the ABM treaty, predicted that the withdrawal would be a "fatal blow" to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and would lead to a "world without effective legal constraints on nuclear proliferation". Former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry also criticized the U.S. withdrawal as a very bad decision.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: In 2001, recently elected Russian president Vladimir Putin stated that American withdrawal from ABM was a mistake, but added that Russia did not feel threatened by it. China expressed displeasure at America's withdrawal.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: Russia and the United States signed the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty in Moscow on 24 May 2002. This treaty mandates cuts in deployed strategic nuclear warheads, but without actually mandating cuts to total stockpiled warheads, and without any mechanism for enforcement.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: On June 13, 2002, the US withdrew from ABM (having given notice 6 months earlier). The next day, Russia declared it would no longer abide by the START II treaty, which had not entered into force.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: In interviews with Oliver Stone in 2017, Russian president Vladimir Putin said that in trying to persuade Russia to accept US withdrawal from the treaty, both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had tried, without evidence, to convince him of an emerging nuclear threat from Iran.


title: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

text: On 1 March 2018, Russian president Vladimir Putin at the time, in an address to the Federal Assembly, announced the development of a series of technologically new missile systems in response to U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty. His statements were referred to by an anonymous US official under the Trump administration as largely boastful untruths. In 2018 he claimed that this decision triggered him to order an increase in Russia's nuclear capabilities, designed to counterbalance U.S. ones. As recently as 2021, Putin cited U.S. withdrawal among his grievances agains the West: “We tried to partner with the West for many years, but the partnership was not accepted, it didn’t work,” often citing it as one of America’s great post-Cold War sins.


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: Anthony Wong Chau-sang (born Anthony William Perry; 2 September 1961) is a Hong Kong film actor and singer. He has worked with many significant directors of Hong Kong cinema since his debut in 1985, including John Woo, Andrew Lau, Ringo Lam and Johnnie To, and is known for his intense portrayals of often-amoral characters. He has won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor three times: for "The Untold Story" (1993), "Beast Cops" (1998) and "Still Human" (2018).


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: He is best known to international audiences for his roles as Triad gangster Johnny Wong in "Hard Boiled" (1992), police Superintendent Wong Chi-shing "Infernal Affairs" trilogy (2002-03) and General Yang in the Hollywood film "" (2008).


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: Wong was born Anthony William Perry on 2 September 1961 to a Hong Kong Chinese mother Wong Juen Yee, and an English father, Frederick William Perry (1914 – 1988), who served with the Royal Air Force during World War II and later as a colonial officer. Frederick Perry walked out on the family when Wong was four, so he lived with his mother "in the staircase of a pre-war building in Wan Chai" until he was sent to live with various relatives for two years while his mother "held down three jobs." He kept in touch with his father through letters until they lost contact when he was 12 years old, and he knew that he had three older half-siblings from his father's marriage. He met his half-brothers in 2018.


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: In his acting career, Wong's established a reputation for openly critiquing the Hong Kong film industry and its practices, actors' performances and pop culture in interviews and his personal microblog. In some of those critiques, he revealed his experiences of being bullied and discriminated against—for being a "mixed race foreigner" and "during the 1960s, English-Chinese mixed race people like me were regarded as bastards" and for being born outside Hong Kong—while growing up in Hong Kong and during the early years of his acting career.


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: During his late teens, Wong moved to the United Kingdom to attend a college of further education. He returned to Hong Kong to attend a training course in hairdressing until he quit to join Asia Television's (ATV) training programme when he was 21.


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: After completing ATV's training programme, he continued his training at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He had stated in an interview that his mixed ethnicity initially caused him to be typecast as a villain, due to institutionalised racism in the Hong Kong film industry during this period. He, however, won a Hong Kong Film Award for his performance as a real-life serial killer, who made meat buns from his victims' flesh, in "The Untold Story" in 1993.


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: In the following years, Wong appeared in a wide range of genre films including "Rock n' Roll Cop", "Hard Boiled", "The Heroic Trio", "Infernal Affairs", "The Mission" and "The Medallion". He had also several appearances in the popular "Young and Dangerous" film series as Tai Fei; a rival Triad gangster to Ekin Cheng's character Chan Ho-nam, an ambitious Triad gangster, whom Tai Fei eventually befriends.


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: Wong had also appeared in a number of international English-language films including "The Painted Veil" and "".


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: In 2014, Wong made his culinary debut in "Dinner Confidential", where he would prepare one dish out of a table d'hote candle-lit dinner menu for guests.


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: In 2015, Wong became the first Hong Kong actor to have won the best lead actor role award in TV and movies when he won 2015 TVB Anniversary Awards for Best Actor and Best Drama for "Lord of Shanghai", marking his triumphant return to TVB. He also became the first Hong Kong actor to have won Best Actor awards in films, stage theatre and TV. He also became the first Hong Kong actor to ever win TVB's Best Actor award on his first nomination.


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: In May 2020, Wong travelled to Taiwan for his role in the Public Television Service (PTS) drama "Heaven on the Fourth Floor".


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: Wong married Jane Ng Wai Zing in 1996 and they have two sons, Wong Yat Yat (born 1996) and Ulysses Wong (born 1998). Wong is taking care of his mother who now has dementia, while his sons now live outside of Hong Kong. In June 2018, it was revealed that he had a son named William (born 1998), with a woman known only as "Joyce" who is the niece of veteran actor and producer John Shum.


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: In March 2018, Wong met his half-brothers, twins John William and David Frederick Perry, after a BBC story on Wong's search for his family was published. He also has a half-sister, Vera Ann. His father died in 1988 in Australia, where he and his first family settled after they left Hong Kong. His half-siblings did not know of Wong's existence until the BBC story was produced.


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: In a 2005 interview with "Star eCentral", Wong stated that amongst his prolific output during the 1980s and the 1990s, a considerable number of films he appeared in were "terrible." However, he does not regret making those films, as he needed the money to support his family.


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: Wong is a supporter of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, a series of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. This has reportedly led to limited acting opportunities for him in mainland China. He has also voiced support for the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.


title: Anthony Wong (Hong Kong actor)

text: Wong travelled to Taiwan in May 2020, which fuelled speculation that he was moving to the island. However, Wong later revealed he was there for a filming commitment, nonetheless describing Taiwan's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as "excellent" and expressing interest in staying long term. On 18 April 2021, Wong was approved for an Employment Gold Card, allowing him to work in Taiwan without needing to apply in advance. It also allows him to receive tax incentives and National Health Insurance.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky (; ) better known by his stage name Krusty the Clown (sometimes spelled as Krusty the Klown), is a recurring character on the animated television series "The Simpsons". He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He is the long-time clown host of Bart and Lisa's favorite TV show, a combination of kiddie variety television hijinks and cartoons including "The Itchy & Scratchy Show". Krusty is often portrayed as a cynical, burnt-out, addiction-riddled smoker who is made miserable by show business but continues on anyway. He has become one of the most frequently occurring characters outside the main Simpson family and has been the focus of several episodes, many of which also feature Sideshow Bob.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: Krusty was created by cartoonist Matt Groening and partially inspired by Rusty Nails, a television clown from Groening's hometown of Portland, Oregon. He was designed to look like Homer Simpson with clown makeup, with the original idea being that Bart worships a television clown who was actually his own father in disguise. His voice is based on Bob Bell, who portrayed WGN-TV's Bozo the Clown. Krusty made his television debut on January 15, 1989, in the "Tracey Ullman Show" short "The Krusty the Clown Show".


title: Krusty the Clown

text: Krusty the Clown, born Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky, was born in the Lower East Side of Springfield and is the son of Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky. Very little is known about his mother, aside from her name being Rachel and that she died when Krusty was around thirteen. Hyman strongly opposed Krusty's wish to become a clown and make people laugh, believing that it would distract him from his religion, wanting the boy to go to "yeshiva" instead. However, Krusty performed slapstick comedy behind his father's back. One day, he was performing at a rabbis' convention when one joking rabbi squirted seltzer on him, washing off his clown makeup. When Rabbi Krustofsky found out, he disowned his son, and did not speak to him for 25 years. Krusty was later reconciled with his father with the assistance of Bart and Lisa Simpson. It was later revealed that Krusty did not have a Bar Mitzvah service, because Hyman feared he would violate the sanctity of the rites by "acting up." Krusty had two adult Bar Mitzvah ceremonies: a Hollywood gala which Krusty uses to stage a comeback after his show is cancelled, then a simple ceremony intended to reconnect with his father. After leaving the Lower East Side of Springfield, Krusty started his show biz career as a street mime in Tupelo, Mississippi (Elvis Presley's birthplace). Krusty later discovered that he has a daughter named Sophie with a female soldier named Erin. He had met Erin when she served as a soldier in the Gulf War and he was entertaining the troops. After spending the night together, he prevented her from assassinating Saddam Hussein to protect his Saddam-themed comedy act. After that Erin started hating clowns, and kept their daughter a secret from Krusty. Krusty and Sophie bonded over time, and while not a full-time father, he is known to keep up with her birthdays and to also make occasional in-show references to "my daughter."


title: Krusty the Clown

text: Krusty has his own show on Channel 6 in Springfield: "The Krusty the Clown Show", which is aimed towards a children's audience and has many followers, including Bart Simpson. Krusty has licensed the show to dozens of countries that produce localized versions, including Ireland, China, Jamaica, and Romania with the original version being the least popular. Krusty's show has gone through various phases: a clip from 1961 presents the show as a serious talk show featuring Krusty interviewing AFL–CIO president George Meany on the topic of collective bargaining agreements, while a clip from 1963 shows Krusty interviewing Robert Frost, then dumping a load of snow on the poet. The show later takes a different turn, featuring Ravi Shankar as a guest and having Krusty howl a drugged-out version of The Doors' "Break on Through (To the Other Side)" in 1973. By the 1980s, the show had devolved into a children's entertainment show, although in one episode Krusty provided updates on the 1982 Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. During the series, the "Krusty the Clown Show" is shown to be aimed almost entirely at children and features many characters, including Sideshow Mel, Mr. Teeny, Tina Ballerina, and Corporal Punishment. Sideshow Bob begins the series as Krusty's main sidekick. However, years of constant abuse lead to Bob framing Krusty for armed robbery, although Bob is eventually foiled by Bart. Bob is replaced by Sideshow Mel, who has remained loyal to Krusty despite being constantly abused by Krusty as well.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: Krusty seems to retire from—and then get back into—show business repeatedly throughout his career. One of his retirements is almost made permanent due to just-paroled Sideshow Bob's latest scheme: wiring plastic explosives to a hypnotized Bart and sending him up on stage. When Krusty makes a tribute to Bob at the last minute, however, Bob has a change of heart and stops Bart from fulfilling his mission. Bob and Krusty later reconcile, with Krusty exclaiming that Bob's attempts at Krusty's life make his ratings shoot through the roof. This reconciliation remains for the rest of the series, as Bob abandons his attempts for revenge on Krusty in favor of targeting Bart exclusively.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: Bart Simpson is one of Krusty's biggest fans. In the episode "Krusty Gets Busted" (Season 1, Episode 12) he declares, "I've based my entire life on Krusty's teachings," and sleeps in a room filled with Krusty merchandise. He exposes Sideshow Bob's attempted framing, helps Krusty return to the air with a comeback special, reigniting his career, and reunites Krusty with his estranged father. For his part, Krusty is usually grateful for Bart's assistance, but almost immediately forgets about it — presumably due to his excessive drinking and drug habits as well as his general conceitedness — and usually does not even remember his name the next time they encounter each other. One summer, Bart enthusiastically attends Kamp Krusty, largely because of the promise that he would get to spend his summer with Krusty. The camp turns out to be a disaster, with Krusty nowhere to be seen, as the camp is simply a franchise location to which Krusty has licensed his image. Bart keeps his hopes up by believing that Krusty will show up, but one day the camp director, Mr. Black, brings in Barney Gumble with clown makeup masquerading as Krusty. This pushes Bart over the edge. He decides that he is sick of Krusty's shoddy merchandise and takes over the camp. Krusty immediately visits the camp in hopes of ending the conflict and manages to appease Bart.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: Krusty is a multimillionaire who has amassed his fortune mostly by licensing his name and image to a variety of substandard products and services, from Krusty alarm clocks to Krusty crowd control barriers. Many of these products are potentially dangerous, such as Krusty's brand of cereal, Krusty-O's, which in one episode boasts a jagged metal Krusty-O in each box. One of many lawsuits regarding these products is launched by Bart, who eats a jagged metal Krusty-O by mistake and has to have his appendix removed. The "Krusty Korporation," the company responsible for Krusty's licensing, has also launched a series of disastrous promotions and business ventures, such as sponsoring the 1984 Summer Olympics with a rigged promotion that backfires when the Soviet Union boycotts the games, causing Krusty to lose $44 million. In the TV series and comic books, Krusty is also the mascot and owner of the restaurant Krusty Burger. He has been shut down by the health board many times for everything from overworking employees to stapling together half-eaten burgers to make new ones, as well as using beef infected with mad cow disease to save money. Krusty wastes money almost as fast as he earns it: lighting his cigarettes with hundred-dollar bills, eating condor-egg omelettes, spending huge sums on pornographic magazines and call girls, and losing a fortune gambling on everything from horse races to operas and betting against the Harlem Globetrotters.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: Krusty is a hard-living entertainment veteran, sometimes depicted as a jaded, burned-out has-been, who has been down and out several times and remains addicted to gambling, cigarettes, alcohol, Percodan, Pepto-Bismol, and Xanax. He instantly becomes depressed as soon as the cameras stop rolling; Marge states in "The Sweetest Apu" that, "off camera, he's a desperately unhappy man." Krusty appears to have used cocaine, one time emerging from a restaurant bathroom with white powder under his nose; however, he explains that he was simply researching a part for a film in which he played himself. In his book "Planet Simpson", author Chris Turner describes Krusty as "the wizened veteran, the total pro" who lives the celebrity life. He is miserable but he needs his celebrity status. In "Bart the Fink," Bart inadvertently reports Krusty for tax fraud to the Internal Revenue Service and, as a result, Krusty loses most of his money. Bart soon discovers that Krusty has faked his death and is living as Rory B. Bellows on a boat. Krusty declares that he is finished with the life of a celebrity and is unconvinced when Bart reminds him of his fans and his entourage. Finally, Bart tells Krusty that leaving show business would mean losing his celebrity status, which convinces Krusty to return. Krusty has been described as "the consummate showman who can't bear the possibility of not being on the air and not entertaining people."


title: Krusty the Clown

text: In the fourteenth season, Bart convinces Krusty to run for Congress so that Krusty can introduce an airline rerouting bill and stop planes from flying over the Simpsons' house. Krusty agrees and runs on the Republican ticket. Although his campaign starts off badly, Lisa suggests that he try connecting with regular families. He does so, resulting in a landslide victory. Krusty's term starts off badly, as he is completely ignored by his new, more politically savvy colleagues. With the help of the Simpsons and an influential doorman, however, Krusty succeeds in passing his bill.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: His body features include a third nipple, a veal-shaped birthmark, and a scar on his chest as a result of having a pacemaker inserted into his heart after suffering from a heart attack on the air in 1986.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: Krusty first appeared in "The Krusty the Clown Show", one of the "Simpsons" shorts from "The Tracey Ullman Show" that first aired on January 15, 1989. The character was partially inspired by TV clown "Rusty Nails" whom "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening and director Brad Bird watched as children while growing up in Portland, Oregon. Groening describes Rusty Nails as being a sweet clown whose show sometimes had a Christian message, but whose name scared Groening. Dan Castellaneta based his voice characterization on Chicago television's Bob Bell who had a very raspy voice and portrayed WGN-TV's Bozo the Clown from 1960 to 1984. Krusty has been compared to an earlier incarnation named "Flunky the Late Night viewer mail clown" who had appeared on "Late Night with David Letterman". Jeff Martin, a writer on Letterman’s show, created and played the character. Martin also went on to become a writer on "The Simpsons" writing episodes that included Krusty.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: Many events in Krusty's life parallel those of comedian Jerry Lewis, including his Jewish background, addiction to Percodan, hosting of telethons, and appearance in The Jazz Singer (Ford Startime). When asked, Groening has simply noted that "["Simpsons"] characters are collaborations between the writers, animators, and actors" without specifically confirming or denying the association.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: Krusty's appearance and design is essentially that of Homer Simpson with clown makeup. Groening said that "The satirical conceit that I was going for at the time was that "The Simpsons" was about a kid who had no respect for his father, but worshipped a clown who looked exactly like his father", a theme which became less important as the show developed. One concept initially saw Krusty being revealed as Homer's secret identity but the idea was dropped for being too complex and because the writers were too busy developing the series. There are two instances of the one assuming the identity of the other. In a (non-canonical) Butterfinger commercial depicting a contest for $50,000 to find out who stole Bart's Butterfinger, a captured Homer appears to be the culprit until Maggie pulls off a mask, revealing Krusty. In the episode "Homie the Clown", Homer goes to Clown College and dresses up as—and is confused with—Krusty. Krusty was originally just a normal man wearing clown makeup, but David Silverman noted that "at some point, we decided he looked [like a clown] all the time". The producers had long discussions about whether or not Krusty would always remain in his clown makeup but eventually decided that it did not matter. The writers had tried showing Krusty's real face a few times in early episodes, but decided that it did not look right, although his real face was seen in "Krusty Gets Busted" and "Like Father, Like Clown". Later episodes made jokes about Krusty's face. In "Homer's Triple Bypass", Krusty reveals that his "grotesque appearance" is the result of multiple heart attacks. Homer remarks that he seems fine, and Krusty replies, "This ain't makeup." In "Bart the Fink", he abandons an idea to sail away with a new identity and swims towards shore, leaving a trail of yellow makeup in his wake and his natural white face underneath. On shore, he shakes off his black hair, revealing his natural green clown hair, and removes his normal-looking fake nose to reveal his natural red bulbous clown nose underneath.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: The third season episode "Like Father, Like Clown" is the first to establish that Krusty is Jewish. Krusty's religion had not been part of the original concept, and the idea came from Jay Kogen. The episode is a parody of "The Jazz Singer", which is about a son with a strict religious upbringing who defies his father to become an entertainer. In order to make "Like Father, Like Clown" a full parody of "The Jazz Singer", the decision was made to make Krusty Jewish and have his father be a Rabbi. Krusty's real last name, Krustofsky, was pitched by Al Jean. Krusty's father, Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky was played by Jackie Mason, who won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for the episode. It was established in "Krusty Gets Busted" that Krusty is illiterate. This was shown in subsequent episodes like "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge" but the trait was dropped after the first few seasons because it was hard for the writers to write for an illiterate character.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: Krusty's design has undergone several subtle changes since the early years. For the episode "Homie the Clown", Krusty's design was permanently enhanced and he was given a different shaped mouth muzzle and permanent bags under his eyes in order to distinguish him from Homer. In the episode "Lisa's Wedding", which is set fifteen years in the future, Krusty's design was significantly altered to make him look considerably older and was based on Groucho Marx.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: Krusty is a favorite character of several of the original writers, many of whom related themselves to him and wanted to write the Krusty-focused episodes. Krusty was used as a chance for show business jokes and thus many of Krusty's experiences and anecdotes are based on real experiences and stories heard by the writers. He was a particular favorite of Brad Bird, who directed the first two Krusty episodes and always tried to animate a scene in every Krusty episode.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: In 1992, Matt Groening and James L. Brooks began planning a live-action spin-off from "The Simpsons" that revolved around Krusty and would star Dan Castellaneta as Krusty. They pitched the series in 1994. Groening and Michael Weithorn wrote a pilot script where Krusty moved to Los Angeles and got his own talk show. A recurring joke throughout the script was that Krusty lived in a house on wooden stilts which were continuously being gnawed by beavers. Eventually, the contract negotiations fell apart and Groening decided to stop work on the project.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: Prior to Groening's live-action pitch, "Simpsons" showrunners Al Jean and Mike Reiss planned an animated Krusty spin-off in which he would be a single father in New York, and supporting characters would include a prickly make-up lady and a boss resembling Ted Turner. This unsuccessful pitch was later reworked into the animated series "The Critic".


title: Krusty the Clown

text: Krusty has been included in many "Simpsons" publications, toys and other merchandise. Krusty-themed merchandise includes dolls, posters, figurines, Jack-in-the-boxes, Pint glasses, bobblehead dolls, costumes, and clothing such as T-shirts. Playmates Toys has made a talking evil Krusty doll, based on the one that appeared in "Treehouse of Horror III". In 1992, Acclaim Entertainment released the video game "Krusty's Fun House" for PC and home consoles. Krusty was made into an action figure, and several different versions were included as part of the "World of Springfield" toy line. The first, which shows Krusty in his normal clown attire with several Krusty products, was released in 2000 as part of "wave one". The second, released in 2002 as part of "wave nine", is called "busted Krusty" and shows him in a prison and without his clown makeup, as he was seen in "Krusty Gets Busted". The third was released in 2003 as part of "wave thirteen" and was called "Tuxedo Krusty". Several Krusty themed play sets were also released, including a Krusty-Lu Studios and Krusty Burger playset, both released in 2001. Krusty appears as a playable character in the toys-to-life video game "Lego Dimensions", released via a "Fun Pack" packaged with a Clown Bike accessory in November 2015. In game, his only ability is being able to spray water and all his voice lines are archive audio from Dan Castellaneta.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: In The Simpsons Ride, a simulator ride opened at Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood in May 2008, Krusty builds and opens a cartoon theme park called Krustyland. Sideshow Bob makes an appearance and tries to murder the Simpson family. In July 2007, convenience store chain 7-Eleven converted eleven of its stores in the United States and one in Canada into Kwik-E-Marts to celebrate the release of "The Simpsons Movie". Amongst the products sold were "Krusty-O's", which were made by Malt-O-Meal. In 2015, Krusty had its first merchandise experience during the AW15 influence.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: In 2004, Dan Castellaneta won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in "Today I Am a Clown", an episode that heavily features Krusty. Several episodes featuring Krusty have been very well received. In 2007, "Vanity Fair" named "Krusty Gets Kancelled" as the ninth best episode of "The Simpsons". John Ortved felt, "This is Krusty's best episode – better than the reunion with his father, or the Bar Mitzvah episode, which won an Emmy much later on. The incorporation of guest stars as themselves is topnotch, and we get to see the really dark side of Krusty's flailing showbiz career. Hollywood, television, celebrities, and fans are all beautifully skewered here." Matt Groening cites "Krusty Gets Busted" as his ninth favorite episode and has said that he particularly loves Castellaneta's voice work. Groening claims that he has to leave the room every time Castellaneta records as Krusty for fear of ruining the take. "Star News Online" named "Krusty the Clown's hatred of children", Kamp Krusty, and Krusty's line "All these rules, I feel like I'm in a strip club" as some of the four hundred reasons why they loved "The Simpsons". "The Observer" listed two Krusty products, "Krusty's Non-Toxic Kologne" and "Krusty's home pregnancy kit", as part of their list of the three hundred reasons why they loved the show.


title: Krusty the Clown

text: In 2015, "The A.V. Club" stated that Krusty has "arguably the most pathos of any "Simpsons" character not named Moe Szyslak". In 2021, Meghan Markle reflected on her old memorable haircut being compared to Krusty the Clown at "The Ellen DeGeneres Show".


title: Watts Towers

text: The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or Nuestro Pueblo ("our town" in Spanish) are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics within the site of the artist's original residential property in Watts, Los Angeles. The entire site of towers, structures, sculptures, pavement and walls were designed and built solely by Sabato ("Simon" or "Sam") Rodia (1879 or 1886 to 1965), an Italian immigrant construction worker and tile mason, over a period of 33 years from 1921 to 1954. The tallest of the towers is . The work is an example of outsider art (or Art Brut) and Italian-American naïve art.


title: Watts Towers

text: The Watts Towers were designated a National Historic Landmark and a California Historical Landmark in 1990. They are also a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, and one of nine folk art sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles. The Watts Towers of Simon Rodia State Historic Park encompasses the Watts Towers site.


title: Watts Towers

text: Sabato ("Simon" or "Sam") Rodia (February 12, 1879 (?) – July 17, 1965) was born and raised in Serino, Italy. In 1895, aged fifteen, he emigrated to the United States with his brother. Rodia lived in Pennsylvania until his brother died in a mining incident. He then moved to Seattle, Washington, where he married Lucia Ucci in 1902. They soon moved to Oakland, where Rodia's three children were born. Following his divorce around 1909, he moved to Long Beach and worked at odd jobs before finally settling in Watts in 1920. Rodia began constructing the Watts Towers in 1921.


title: Watts Towers

text: There has been some question as to what Rodia was called during his lifetime; some sources have cited that his birth name was "Sabatino" and it is disputed as to if he was called "Simon" during his lifetime. It is widely known and accepted that he was referred to as "Sam" by close friends. He appears as Samuel Rodia (and still living in Oakland) in the 1910 U.S. Census, but by the time of the 1920 U.S. Census, he had already become Sam Rodia. His surname has also been misspelled as "Rodella" or "Rodilla".


title: Watts Towers

text: He appears on the iconic cover of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club album by The Beatles (top right corner, to the left of and behind Bob Dylan).


title: Watts Towers

text: The sculptures' armatures are constructed from steel rebar and Rodia's own concoction of a type of concrete, wrapped with wire mesh. The main supports are embedded with pieces of porcelain, tile, and glass. They are decorated with found objects, including bottles, ceramic tiles, seashells, figurines, mirrors, and much more. Rodia called the Towers "Nuestro Pueblo" ("our town" in Spanish). He built them with no special equipment or predetermined design, working alone with hand tools. Neighborhood children brought pieces of broken pottery to Rodia, and he also used damaged pieces from Malibu Potteries and CALCO (California Clay Products Company). Green glass includes recognizable soft drink bottles from the 1930s through 1950s, some still bearing the former logos of 7 Up, Squirt, Bubble Up, and Canada Dry; blue glass appears to be from milk of magnesia bottles.


title: Watts Towers

text: Rodia bent much of the Towers' framework from scrap rebar, using nearby railroad tracks as a makeshift vise. Other items came from alongside the Pacific Electric Railway right-of-way between Watts and Wilmington. Rodia often walked the right-of-way all the way to Wilmington in search of material, a distance of nearly .


title: Watts Towers

text: In the summer of 1954, Rodia suffered a mild stroke. Shortly after the stroke, he fell off a tower from a low height. In 1955, Rodia gave his property to a neighbor and left, reportedly tired of battling with the City of Los Angeles for permits, and because he understood the possible consequences of his aging and being alone. He also mentioned that the towers were frequently vandalized by neighbors. He moved to Martinez, California, to be with his sister. He remained there for the next eleven years until his death in 1965.