title: Persistent genital arousal disorder

text: A small study found that several women began to see symptoms of PGAD after discontinuing the use of their selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. It is not known whether reintroduction of the SSRIs would improve PGAD symptoms.


title: Just Cause 3

text: Just Cause 3 is a 2015 action-adventure game developed by Avalanche Studios and published by Square Enix's European subsidiary. It is the third game in the "Just Cause" series and the sequel to 2010's "Just Cause 2". It was released worldwide in December 2015, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.


title: Just Cause 3

text: Set six years after its predecessor, "Just Cause 3" follows series protagonist Rico Rodriguez as he returns to his homeland of Medici, a fictional Mediterranean island country under the control of dictator General Sebastiano Di Ravello. The game is played from a third-person perspective and allows players to explore the tropical island of Medici in an open world environment.


title: Just Cause 3

text: "Just Cause 3" received mixed reviews. Critics praised its open-ended gameplay, destruction mechanics, and emphasis on player agency. Criticism was directed both at its narrative, which some considered clichéd and uninspired, and also its performance issues, particularly on the console versions of the game.


title: Just Cause 3

text: "Just Cause 3" is an action-adventure game with a third-person perspective. It is set in an open world environment on the fictional Mediterranean island of Medici. The world size is , similar to that of the setting of "Just Cause 2". However, its volumetric terrain has increased to allow more verticality—as a result of this, it is possible for the player to explore caverns and scale buildings more effectively and realistically. The game's world is composed of five major biomes, with each having unique landmarks and landscapes.


title: Just Cause 3

text: A variety of tools are provided to players for traversing the game's environments. "Just Cause 2"s signature features—the grappling hook and parachute—re-appear with improved mechanics. The focus on chaos and exaggerated physics also remain. A new wingsuit, which is permanently equipped by protagonist Rico Rodríguez, is featured in the game and allows the player to glide across the world more quickly. When the player reaches the ground while using the wingsuit, they can use the grappling hook and parachute to draw themselves upward again. Players can switch between using the parachute and wingsuit freely. In addition to the equipment provided, a wide range of weapons, like assault rifles, missile launchers, shotguns, RPGs, and vehicles, such as fighter aircraft, planes, ships, and exotic cars, are included in the game. These vehicles can be used as weapons.


title: Just Cause 3

text: Other game mechanics have been overhauled and updated. For example, players can tether multiple objects together with the grappling hook and can increase the amount of available tethers by activating in-game 'mods', which are earned by completing challenges. Parachuting is also more stable and allows players to shoot enemies from the air. The player can grapple nearly every object and non-playable character in the game with the grappling hook. In-game currency has been left out of "Just Cause 3", making supply drops more easily accessible. However, this affects the game's difficulty; for example, if the player chooses to ride a tank, the enemy AI matches the power of it and adopts weapons that are able to take down a tank. Another new feature is giving the character an infinite amount of "GE-64", a Bavarium-based planted explosive similar to C4. Players can deploy three units of GE-64 at a time, and up to five with the in-game 'mods'. In "Just Cause 2", players were able to stand on top of moving vehicles but only in the center; in "Just Cause 3", players are allowed to move around freely on vehicles. Players are expected to liberate hostile military bases and towns featured in the game, which thereafter can be used as fast travel locations.


title: Just Cause 3

text: Creativity and destruction are heavily emphasized in "Just Cause 3". Many objects in the game, including structures like bridges and statues, can be destroyed in a variety of different ways. A new mechanic called Rebel Drop allows the player to pause the game to select equipment, weapons, and vehicles. The selected objects are then dropped in a supply cache. The game also features Challenge Modes. It includes mini-games like wingsuit races and the destruction frenzy mode, in which new objectives and challenges are unlocked when the player destroys an enemy base.


title: Just Cause 3

text: Despite the multiplayer mode of "Just Cause 2" being well received by players, the game only featured asynchronous multiplayer, in which challenges and leaderboards were included instead of any cooperative or competitive multiplayer mode, as the studio wanted to focus their manpower, time and resources in creating the game's world.


title: Just Cause 3

text: Six years after the events of "Just Cause 2", mercenary Rico Rodriguez returns to his homeland of Medici, a fictional Mediterranean island country that has fallen under the control of a military dictatorship led by General Sebastiano Di Ravello. Seeking to restore freedom to his people, Rico sets out to overthrow Di Ravello and his self-titled militia, the DRM, alongside an underground resistance movement led by his oldest friend, Mario Frigo.


title: Just Cause 3

text: After helping Mario save his forces from complete extermination at the hands of the regime, Rico reunites with another old ally from his past, Dimah al-Masri. With his help, the rebels retake the former Medician capital of Manaea and destroy the Vis Electra power plant, a symbol of Ravello's power. In response, troops are sent to destroy the coastal town of Costa del Porto as retribution, only to be defeated by the rebels. Dimah and her team inform Rico and Mario that Di Ravello has been mining Bavarium, a valuable mineral found only on Medici, so that he can use it to build the most powerful arsenal the world has ever seen.


title: Just Cause 3

text: While retrieving an experimental scanner for Dimah, Rico discovers his former Agency contact, Tom Sheldon, is also working with the rebellion. In the process, the scanner is heavily damaged; Rico delivers it to Sheldon, not trusting him to have the rebels' interests in mind. Mario assigns Rico to rescue Zeno Antithikara, a Bavarium researcher seeking to defect from the regime. In response, Di Ravello has one of his new Bavarium missiles fired directly into the heart of rebel territory, the province of Baia. At the last second, Rico is able to manually maneuver the missile off its course and crash it into Di Ravello's command base on the southern islands at the top of the mountain Cima Leon. The rebels hold a celebration, during which Rico arrives with wine stolen from Di Ravello's estate.


title: Just Cause 3

text: A few months later, the regime sends a small fleet to kill Mario and Dimah while they are out at sea. In the process of saving them, Rico meets Annika and Teo, two smugglers waging their own war on Di Ravello. After Mario sustains a serious wound during the fight, Annika offers to aid the rebellion in exchange for Rico's help in stealing Di Ravello's Imperators, tanks equipped with protective shields powered by Bavarium. In addition to destroying a number of the tanks, Rico also helps the smugglers destroy the regime's Bavarium refineries and mines, as well as test out an experimental EMP device created using technology from the Imperators. However, the rebels begin to suffer a series of defeats on the battlefield, which Rico attributes to a mole in their ranks. In a push to wipe out the rebellion, Di Ravello orders a full-scale attack on Mario's coastal hideout. Rico rallies the rebels to defeat the invasion forces, reducing Di Ravello's control to only one region of Medici after igniting an unstable reactor at another command base at Corda Dracon.


title: Just Cause 3

text: Rosa Manuela, a Medician politician and old rival of Di Ravello's, returns to Medici from political exile to form a government opposed to his regime. At the same time, Zeno is identified as the mole. With help from the smugglers, Rico destroys a train carrying Bavarium for export and frees the prisoners working in Di Ravello's last remaining mines. With Sheldon and Dimah, he also prevents Di Ravello from selling a Bavarium bomb by detonating the bomb inside the plane transporting it. Afterwards, Di Ravello orders the military to attack the rebel-held part of the wall as a diversion to break Zeno out of jail. Zeno attempts to escape by helicopter, but Rico manages to kill him.


title: Just Cause 3

text: The rebels make a final push to end Di Ravello's rule by attacking his central command at Falco Maxime, during which Dimah sacrifices herself to wipe out all known information about Bavarium. With his forces in disarray, Di Ravello confronts Rico in an active volcano, piloting his personal Urga Mstitel helicopter. After destroying the chopper, the player is given the choice to shoot Di Ravello dead as he laments his failures and regrets as general. If the player chooses not to, Di Ravello will commit suicide by throwing himself into a lava pit. Rosa forms a new Republic of Medici, assuming the office of President.


title: Just Cause 3

text: The development of "Just Cause 3" began in 2012, and was handled by Avalanche Studios' satellite studio in New York, which has around 75 staff members, while the main studio in Sweden focused on the development of "Mad Max", which was announced in 2013. The game's controls received an overhaul, and several members from Criterion Games, the developer of the racing video game series "Burnout", joined the studios and worked on the vehicle handling of the game. Inspiration for the game's asynchronous multiplayer was taken from racing games like "Need for Speed" and "Forza Horizon 2", while the "Destruction Frenzy" mechanic was inspired by the "Red Faction" series. Inspirations for the game were drawn from the modding community of "Just Cause 2". As a result, the upgrades featured in the game are called "mods".


title: Just Cause 3

text: When designing the game's world, the studio collected photo books of the Mediterranean area and sent a team to several Mediterranean islands to get a better glimpse of the area. The environment of the game is inspired by the landscape of Monaco and the southern Mediterranean area. Avalanche Studios considered such areas "an untapped resource" which no other developer had worked on before. In order to portray a world under dictatorship, the developers of the game established a color scheme composed of mainly grey, yellow, and red, to convey a sense of oppression. The size of the game's world is similar to that of "Just Cause 2", but Avalanche promised that the content featured in the world would be "denser" than its predecessor. Environmental destruction is expanded in "Just Cause 3", as Avalanche considered it a key element in creating a cinematic experience and a mechanic to give players more freedom. The team also considered that with the advancements in technologies, they were able to add more destruction mechanics, which are of larger scale, to the game.


title: Just Cause 3

text: In an interview, the CEO of Avalanche Studios Christofer Sundberg stated that the game would continue to retain and expand "Just Cause 2"s joy and humor, and that the tone of the game would not be very serious, but slightly more so than that of "Just Cause 2". He described the tone of the game "70 percent wacky and 30 percent serious". The game's campaign explores the series' protagonist Rico Rodriguez's backstory, as the game is set in his motherland. His image was made more "approachable", in which he wears casual clothing like jeans throughout the game, as opposed to his uniform in the original "Just Cause" and "Just Cause 2". His gadgets and equipment were also made more realistic. The art director of the game explained that the studios "[wanted] just a touch of that James Bond agency feel [on Rico Rodriguez] without going too far into the goofy and outlandish like "XXX" starring Vin Diesel."


title: Just Cause 3

text: The game was first hinted at by the CEO of Avalanche Studios on 27 February 2013. In August 2014, Avalanche Studios announced that 2015 would be their "biggest year since the inception of the studio", teasing "several surprises". The game was rumored to feature a free-to-play structure and microtransactions. However, the developer denied such rumors and confirmed that it would be a full-price game without microtransactions. The game was officially announced on 11 November 2014. The first gameplay demo for the game was shown at Square Enix's E3 2015 conference.


title: Just Cause 3

text: "Just Cause 3" was released worldwide on 1 December 2015, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game was published by Square Enix. A Collector's Edition of the game was announced on 12 March 2015. People were allowed to vote for the items included in the Edition. The result of the poll was revealed on 9 July 2015, and the Collector's Edition includes a grappling hook, the Weaponized Vehicle Pack content, a poster of Medici and an artbook. At Gamescom 2015, Square Enix announced that players who purchased the game on Xbox One would receive the backward-compatible version of "Just Cause 2" for the Xbox 360. Console players who purchased the game's Day One Edition are eligible to enter a contest held by Avalanche and Square Enix, which tasks players to score Chaos Points to top the leaderboard. The winner of the contest would get a real-life island, or cash.


title: Just Cause 3

text: The game's expansion pass, "Air, Land and Sea Expansion Pass", introduces three different mission sets which add new weapons, enemies, missions, and vehicles to the game. The first expansion set, titled "Sky Fortress", which includes a jet-powered wingsuit and a new aerial area, was released on 15 March 2016 (7 March for players who own the Air, Land and Sea Expansion Pass for the game). The second pack, "Mech Land Assault", which introduces a mech equipped with a gravity gun, a new area called Lacrima, and new enemies, has been released on 11 June 2016 (3 June for Expansion pass owners). The final DLC, titled "Bavarium Sea Heist", which adds a new lightning gun, the "Loochador", a boat equipped with missile launchers and miniguns, and a new area called "Stingray", a laboratory owned by Eden Corporation, was released on 18 August 2016 (11 August for Expansion Pass owners).


title: Just Cause 3

text: A multiplayer mod developed by the team that created "Just Cause 2: Multiplayer Mod" has been developed. In July 2016, Avalanche hired the lead developer of the mod, Cameron Foote, to work on projects within the studio. As a result, while the mod team will continue to support the "Just Cause 2" multiplayer mod, the one for the "Just Cause 3" will be cancelled. In July 2016, a team called Nanos GbR, who had previously produced multiplayer for to "Grand Theft Auto IV" and "Mafia II", announced plans to build a similar mod for "Just Cause 3", which was ultimately released on Steam on 20 July 2017.


title: Just Cause 3

text: "Just Cause 3" received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Just Cause 3

text: Reviewers praised the open world environment, destruction mechanics and its promotion of player agency, but criticized the narrative and technical issues.


title: Otto Ohlendorf

text: Otto Ohlendorf (; 4 February 1907 – 7 June 1951) was a German SS functionary and Holocaust perpetrator during the Nazi era. An economist by education, he was head of the (SD) Inland, responsible for intelligence and security within Germany. In 1941, Ohlendorf was appointed the commander of D, which perpetrated mass murder in Moldova, south Ukraine, the Crimea and, during 1942, the North Caucasus. He was tried at the Einsatzgruppen Trial, sentenced to death, and executed by hanging in 1951.


title: Otto Ohlendorf

text: Born in Hoheneggelsen (today part of Söhlde; then in the Kingdom of Prussia), Otto Ohlendorf came into the world as part of "a farming family". He joined the Nazi Party in 1925 and the SS in 1926. Ohlendorf studied economics and law at the University of Leipzig and the University of Göttingen, and by 1930 was already giving lectures at several economic institutions. He studied at the University of Pavia, where he gained his doctor's degree in jurisprudence; and by 1933 he obtained the position of a research directorship in the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Ohlendorf was active in the National Socialist Students' League in both Kiel and Göttingen and taught at the Nazi Party's school in Berlin. He participated in major debates between the SS, the German Labour Front, and the Quadrenniel Organization on economic policy. By 1938 he was also manager in the Trade section of the Reich Business Board (). Historian Christian Ingrao quips that for Ohlendorf, Nazism was a "quest for race" in the historical continuum, and even though he never stated it that way, his faith in Germandom was akin to that of his fellow SS intellectuals.


title: Otto Ohlendorf

text: Ohlendorf joined the SD in 1936 and became an economic consultant of the organisation. Like other talented academics such as Helmut Knochen and Franz Six, Ohlendorf had been recruited by SD talent scouts. Attached to the SS with the rank of SS-"Hauptsturmführer", by 1939, he had obtained the rank of SS-"Standartenführer" and was appointed as head of Amt III (SD-Inland) of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), a position he kept until 1945. His role in collecting intelligence from his secret police agents was disliked by some of the Nazi leadership. "Reichsführer-SS" Heinrich Himmler once characterized Ohlendorf as "an unbearable Prussian" who was "without humour". Nonetheless, Ohlendorf was instrumental as a member of the SD in shaping Nazi economic doctrine, which became "increasingly virulent as the war progressed" as he attempted to mould the economy "in an ethnic context". It was Ohlendorf's responsibility as head of the SD-Inland to collect data and scientifically examine social, cultural, and economic issues, assembling reports to his superiors in the Nazi government. Routine public opinion surveys—which were under the purview of Ohlendorf and SS-Major Reinhard Höhn—constituted some of these reports. These public opinion polls on the social climate of Nazi Germany were both unpopular and controversial.


title: Otto Ohlendorf

text: In June 1941, Reinhard Heydrich appointed Ohlendorf to be commander of "Einsatzgruppe" D, which operated in southern Ukraine and Crimea. Joining the "Einsatzgruppen" was an unappealing prospect and Ohlendorf refused twice before his eventual appointment. Transfers from the RSHA to the "Einsatzgruppen" were in part due to personnel shortages but also to keep the initial killing operations confined to those who already knew the details, such as Ohlendorf, Arthur Nebe, and Paul Blobel. "Einsatzgruppe" D was the smallest of the task forces, but was supplemented by Romanians along their way through the killing fields of Bessarabia, southern Ukraine, and the Caucasus. Additional manpower for "Einsatzgruppe" D came from Ukrainian auxiliary police formations. Supporting military operations, Ohlendorf's group was attached to the Eleventh Army. Ohlendorf's "Einsatzgruppe" in particular was responsible for the 13 December 1941 massacre at Simferopol, where at least 14,300 people, mostly Jews, were killed. Over 90,000 murders throughout Ukraine and the Caucusus are attributed to Ohlendorf's unit.


title: Otto Ohlendorf

text: Ohlendorf disliked the use of the oft-employed "Genickschuß" (shot to the back of the neck) and preferred to line up victims and fire at them from a greater distance so as to alleviate personal responsibility for individual murders. All forms of contact between the firing squads and victims were limited—per Ohlendorf's insistence—until the last moments before the killing started, and up to three rifleman were allocated to each person about to be shot. To ensure the group killing mentality, Ohlendorf forbade any commando from taking individual actions and explicitly instructed his men not to take any of the victim's valuables. One of Ohlendorf's most trusted "proper" military-style murderers, SS-"Haupsturmführer" Lothar Heimbach, once exclaimed, "A man is the lord over life and death when he gets an order to shoot three hundred children—and he kills at least one hundred fifty himself."


title: Otto Ohlendorf

text: Many of the killing operations were personally overseen by Ohlendorf, who wanted to ensure they were "military in character and humane under the circumstances". The number of persons killed under the leadership of "Einsatzgruppen" commanders such as Ohlendorf are "staggering" despite the use of varying murder techniques. On 1 August 1941, "Einsatzgruppen" commanders including Ohlendorf, received instructions from Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller to keep headquarters (Hitler especially) informed of their progress in the East; Müller also encouraged the speedy delivery of photographs showing the results of these operations. During September 1941, Ohlendorf's group slaughtered 22,467 Jews and Communists at Nikolayev near Odessa.


title: Otto Ohlendorf

text: Due to the Wehrmacht's insistence that Ukraine's agricultural production was needed to sustain its military campaign, Ohlendorf was asked during October 1941 to refrain from killing some of the Jewish farmers—a request he honored—but one which earned him Himmler's contempt. This act should not be seen as a change of heart or kindness, as just a month prior in September 1941, Ohlendorf reported to his men that "from now on the Jewish question is going to be solved and that means liquidation". From that month forward, the "Einsatzgruppen" had begun the process of systematically shooting not just men but women and children, a transition that historian Peter Longerich terms "a decisive step on the way towards a policy of racial annihilation".


title: Otto Ohlendorf

text: Between February and March 1942, Himmler ordered that gas vans should be used to murder women and children so as to reduce the strain on the men, but Ohlendorf reported that many of the "Einsatzkommandos" refused to utilize them since burying the victims proved an "ordeal" afterwards. When gas van killing operations were conducted, it was usually at night to keep the population from witnessing the macabre affair. After the victims' deaths, Jewish were forced to unload the bodies, clean the excrement and feces from inside the van's gas chamber, and once the clean up was complete, were themselves immediately shot. As far as Ohlendorf was concerned, the gas vans were impracticable for the scale of killing demanded by Himmler; namely, since they could only kill between fifteen and twenty-five persons at a time.


title: Otto Ohlendorf

text: Historian Donald Bloxham referred to Ohlendorf as a bureaucrat, who was trying to "prove himself in the field". Another historian, Mark Mazower, described Ohlendorf as a "gloomy, driven, self-righteous Prussian". His commitment to the Nazi cause kept him in Ukraine longer than any of his comrades, and while he may have disliked the political direction Germany was headed, he never registered complaints about murdering Jews. He did, however, express misgivings about the barbarity and sadism being meted out by the Romanian units that accompanied the "Einsatzgruppen" in their murderous tasks, since they were not only leaving a trail of corpses in their wake, they were also pillaging and raping in the process. Not only that, Ohlendorf lodged a complaint about the Romanian forces, who drove thousands of frail elderly persons and children from Bessarabia and Bokovina—all incapable of work—into German-held regions, which his men forced back into Romanian territory but not without killing a significant percentage of them as a result.


title: Otto Ohlendorf

text: Ohlendorf devoted only four years (1939–1943) of full-time activity to the RSHA, for in 1943, in addition to his other jobs, he became a deputy director general in the Reich Ministry of economic affairs. Sometime in November 1944, he was promoted to "Gruppenführer". Believing their expertise invaluable, Ohlendorf, Ludwig Erhard, and other experts concerned themselves with how to stabilize German currency after the war. Hoping to salvage the reputation of the SD, Ohlendorf offered his services in the hopes that he could shape the postwar reconstruction of Germany, but along "National Socialist lines", remaining convinced as was Admiral Karl Dönitz (who gave Ohlendorf the economics portfolio), that some form of Nazism would ultimately survive.


title: Otto Ohlendorf

text: In May 1945, Ohlendorf participated in Himmler's flight from Flensburg. He and several other subordinates were arrested by the British near Lüneburg on 23 May 1945. Himmler committed suicide shortly after being captured. For several weeks after his arrest, Ohlendorf was carefully interrogated, during which he revealed the criminal nature of the German campaign in the East.


title: Otto Ohlendorf

text: Ohlendorf was called as a witness by the prosecution during the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg on 3 January 1946. During the subsequent Einsatzgruppen trial, Ohlendorf was the chief defendant, and was also a key witness in the prosecution of other indicted war criminals. Ohlendorf's apparently reliable testimony was attributed to his distaste for the corruption in Nazi Germany and a stubborn commitment to duty. The court examined Ohlendorf concerning "Einsatzgruppen" operations in particular. During the trial, Ohlendorf insisted that he, as a loyal Nazi, had acted properly and had done nothing wrong. He expressed no remorse for his actions, telling prosecutor Ben Ferencz that the Jews of America would suffer for what the prosecutor had done, and seemed to have been more concerned about the moral strain on those carrying out the murders than those being murdered.


title: Otto Ohlendorf

text: At the trial, Ohlendorf attempted to present the operations in the Soviet area "not as a racist programme for the annihilation of all the Jews ... but as a general liquidation order primarily aimed at 'securing' the newly won territory". Defending his actions, Ohlendorf compared "Einsatzgruppen" activities to the Biblical Jewish extirpation of its enemies; he likewise claimed that his firing squads were "no worse than the 'press-button killers' who dropped the atom bomb on Japan".


title: Otto Ohlendorf

text: Despite his attempts to establish moral equivalency for atrocities upon the Allies, Otto Ohlendorf was convicted of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during World War II. He was sentenced to death in April 1948 and spent three years in detention before being hanged at the Landsberg Prison in Bavaria on 7 June 1951.


title: The Angry Beavers

text: The Angry Beavers is an American animated television series created by Mitch Schauer for Nickelodeon. The series revolves around Norbert and Daggett Beaver, two young beaver brothers who have moved out of their parents' home to become bachelors in the forest near the fictional Wayouttatown, Oregon. The show premiered in the United States on April 19, 1997, and ended on November 30, 2001. The series has also appeared in syndication on Nickelodeon Canada. The complete series has also been released on DVD in Region 1 by Shout! Factory.


title: The Angry Beavers

text: "The Angry Beavers" was the brainchild of Mitch Schauer, and was co-developed by Keith Kaczorek. Prior to the series, Schauer was originally an assistant storyboard artist for other Nickelodeon shows, such as "The Ren & Stimpy Show", "Rocko's Modern Life", and "Hey Arnold!". Schauer also storyboarded 8 episodes of the 1992 "Addams Family" television series. During his time as producer of the Warner Bros. animated series "Freakazoid!" in 1995"," Gunther-Wahl Productions Inc. (Schauer's employer at the time) requested three ideas for animated series, as the studio had the opportunity to pitch a show to Nickelodeon. One of the three ideas that Schauer presented was an early concept for "The Angry Beavers". Schauer wasn't even present for the pitch meeting, his ideas being pitched for him by the production company instead. Of the three ideas, network producer Mary Harrington was intrigued by the Beavers. "The Angry Beavers" was inspired from Schauer's early years in Oklahoma when he was homeless and often spotted beavers in a nearby river. The initial concept of the show centered on two bad-tempered, politically incorrect beavers that hated anything that was a fad, cause, or just popular in the media. "I tend to develop things that are counterculture", stated Schauer. "I like to buck whatever is popular at the time or considered society's way of doing things, because you get more interest when you stand outside the box". Schauer was against making the beavers cute, as a response to many of the "soft, safe" character designs at the time. He also cited cartoons such as "The Pink Panther", "The Flintstones", and "Rocky and Bullwinkle" as primary influences for the show.


title: The Angry Beavers

text: During production of the series, Schauer and the crew began to learn more about real world beavers and implemented their traits into the show's storylines, considering himself to have become a "beaver expert" by the end of its run. Traits adapted into the show include their endlessly growing incisors, tail slapping, and scent glands. During his time at Nickelodeon, Schauer gifted Harrington a personally signed log that was bitten by a beaver, though he later admitted in 2017 that he bit it himself.


title: The Angry Beavers

text: Richard Steven Horvitz and Nick Bakay were chosen as voice actors for main beavers Daggett and Norbert, respectively. Gunther-Wahl held auditions for over 300 different actors, but Schauer settled on the two because they embodied the two beavers' characters perfectly, also being impressed by their chemistry upon being introduced to one another. He recalled the two frequently going off-script while recording, which he encouraged, considering their improvisation leading to some of the series' best moments. Schauer was influenced by classic Hollywood director Howard Hawks for the show's ad-libbing and overlapping of dialogue.


title: The Angry Beavers

text: There was often tension between Schauer and Nickelodeon, with the channel imposing seemingly arbitrary restrictions on the show's content. An example includes season one's "Go Beavers" where they rejected a scene that would have featured a blimp crashing into an audience of people, while a scene in the same episode featuring out of control zambonis that wipe into and supposedly kill a crowd of people didn't meet any objections. Most infamously, the words "Shut up!" were initially censored in the 1998 episode "Alley Oops". Writer Micah Wright attributed this to then-Nickelodeon president Herb Scannell, quoting him as saying: "I don't like it when children say 'Shut up,' so if we never say it on our show, children will never say it in the real world". Wright further claimed that Scannell "would make these sweeping pronouncements about the way the world worked, and the way that kids thought, and what he wanted the world to look like", also imposing a "no-drag" policy, which forbade characters dressing in non-gender conforming clothing in order to prevent "sexual confusion" amongst the show's younger viewers. Nick Bakay, voice of Norbert, also expressed displeasure with the network, dubbing them "not very artist-friendly".


title: The Angry Beavers

text: While the show was popular and was renewed for four seasons, Schauer continued to push against the network's Standards and Practices division. "We were significantly over budget, behind schedule, and had generally worn out our welcome [with the network]" recalled series co-developer Keith Kaczorek. As the series faced cancellation, the crew devised a final episode, "Bye Bye Beavers", where the Beavers are informed by mail that their show is cancelled. During the episode, they openly criticize the network for cancelling shows and syndication, wrestle with their existence as cartoon characters, and even referencing the infamous censoring of the words "shut up". The episode was set to end with both beavers being "killed off" and sent to cartoon heaven. The episode was expected to be fully produced, as Nickelodeon initially approved the premise of the episode, but as production went on they reverted their decision. Production was halted as the episode went against the network's policies of forbidding any reference to a show ending or characters dying. As a result, the episode only exists in the form of leaked storyboards and audio (the latter being released by Richard Steven Horvitz, voice of Daggett, in 2006). Margie Cohn, then-executive vice president of the network's original programming, admitted that the episode's script was "beautifully crafted, funny, and clever", but ultimately the network was against the idea of killing off characters that its audience had grown to love.


title: The Angry Beavers

text: Schauer would sometimes poke fun at the network's demands. The episode "The Legend of Kid Friendly" (where the Beavers face off against a cowboy literally named "Kid Friendly") was created as a response to broadcast standards notes received from the network. "One of the most repeated notes was 'make sure it's kid-friendly', so it seemed natural to write a story around the comment", said Schauer. Weapons featured on the show typically received feedback requesting them be redesigned to be "larger and more colorful", to which the crew would happily oblige. Despite the crew typically being at odds with network censorship, Schauer considers the experience working with Nickelodeon a positive one.


title: The Angry Beavers

text: "The Angry Beavers" was the final (and most notable) animated series produced by Gunther-Wahl Productions Inc., which was later shut down in 2001, after the series ended its run.


title: The Angry Beavers

text: The Angry Beavers received positive reviews from critics. In a positive review, Harlene Ellin of the "Chicago Tribune" praised the show for its humor, visuals, cultural references, and nonsensical plots, writing "Although the story lines can be pure silliness, the characters are well-developed and likable, whether they're fighting each other or working together. But most of all, [this show is] downright funny. And dam it, <nowiki>"</nowiki>The Angry Beavers<nowiki>"</nowiki> is definitely that." Hollywood.com considered the show to be "truly the most clever and mature cartoon to air on Nickelodeon", praising its "whip-smart" dialogue and cultural references, considering it underappreciated when compared to Nickelodeon's other classic cartoons. Spencer Coriarty of "Screen Rant" wrote, "Together the two seem to get involved in every odd occurrence conceivable [...] the animation here is rather stunning, as is the offbeat writing which includes throwbacks to 1950s sci-fi. Creative as it is sporadic, "The Angry Beavers" is chaotic, nutty, whacky, and fun in the best possible way." Olivia Armstrong of "Decider" praised the show for appealing to older audiences, saying "Not only did "you" love to watch the adventures of Norbert and Daggett Beaver, but so did your parents and older siblings, without pestering you to hand over the remote. Perhaps it was the pure slapstick comedy or their bizarre, sometimes inappropriate friends and neighbors, but those beavers will go down in history as the funniest dam dwellers to ever exist and the oddest way to bring your family together." Andrea Graham of Common Sense Media spoke positively of the series, writing "While the series' humor may seem sophomoric, it's actually quite funny."


title: The Angry Beavers

text: Nickelodeon and Amazon.com teamed up to release "The Angry Beavers" and other Nick shows on manufacture-on-demand DVD-R discs available exclusively through Amazon's CreateSpace arm.


title: The Angry Beavers

text: "The Angry Beavers" sets, among others, were discontinued when Nick began releasing traditional DVDs of many of their series in association with Shout! Factory. The first DVD release for "Angry Beavers" was the Seasons 1 and 2 4-disc set on August 23, 2011. Season 3: Part 1 was released in a 2-disc set on February 28, 2012. Season 3: Part 2 was released in a 2-disc set on August 14, 2012. Season 4 (The Final Season) was released in a 2-disc set on February 4, 2014.


title: The Angry Beavers

text: In Australia, "The Angry Beavers" has been released on DVD by Viacom International Inc. and distributed by Beyond Home Entertainment.


title: The Angry Beavers

text: Though the series has no official video games, "The Angry Beavers" appeared in "Nicktoons Racing" for PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, PC, Game Boy Color, and Arcade, as playable characters. Norbert and Daggett had a cameo as a trophies in "" and in "Nicktoons MLB" as well.


title: Emic and etic

text: In anthropology, folkloristics, and the social and behavioral sciences, emic () and etic () refer to two kinds of field research done and viewpoints obtained: "emic", from within the social group (from the perspective of the subject) and "etic", from outside (from the perspective of the observer).


title: Emic and etic

text: "The emic approach investigates how local people think…". How they perceive and categorize the world, their rules for behavior, what has meaning for them, and how they imagine and explain things. "The etic (scientist-oriented) approach shifts the focus from local observations, categories, explanations, and interpretations to those of the anthropologist. The etic approach realizes that members of a culture often are too involved in what they are doing... to interpret their cultures impartially. When using the etic approach, the ethnographer emphasizes what he or she considers important."


title: Emic and etic

text: Although emics and etics are sometimes regarded as inherently in conflict and one can be preferred to the exclusion of the other, the complementarity of emic and etic approaches to anthropological research has been widely recognized, especially in the areas of interest concerning the characteristics of human nature as well as the form and function of human social systems.


title: Emic and etic

text: Emic and etic approaches of understanding behavior and personality fall under the study of cultural anthropology. Cultural anthropology states that people are shaped by their cultures and their subcultures, and we must account for this in the study of personality. One way is looking at things through an emic approach. This approach "is culture specific because it focuses on a single culture and it is understood on its own terms." As explained below, the term "emic" originated from the specific linguistic term "phonemic", from "phoneme", which is a language-specific way of abstracting speech sounds.


title: Emic and etic

text: When these two approaches are combined, the "richest" view of a culture or society can be understood. On its own, an emic approach would struggle with applying overarching values to a single culture. The etic approach is helpful in enabling researchers to see more than one aspect of one culture, and in applying observations to cultures around the world.


title: Emic and etic

text: The terms were coined in 1954 by linguist Kenneth Pike, who argued that the tools developed for describing linguistic behaviors could be adapted to the description of any human social behavior. As Pike noted, social scientists have long debated whether their knowledge is objective or subjective. Pike's innovation was to turn away from an epistemological debate, and turn instead to a methodological solution. "Emic" and "etic" are derived from the linguistic terms phonemic and phonetic, respectively, where phonemics effectively regard elements of meaning and phonetics regard elements of sound. The possibility of a truly objective description was discounted by Pike himself in his original work; he proposed the emic-etic dichotomy in anthropology as a way around philosophic issues about the very nature of objectivity.


title: Emic and etic

text: The terms were also championed by anthropologists Ward Goodenough and Marvin Harris with slightly different connotations from those used by Pike. Goodenough was primarily interested in understanding the culturally specific meaning of specific beliefs and practices; Harris was primarily interested in explaining human behavior.


title: Emic and etic

text: Pike, Harris, and others have argued that cultural "insiders" and "outsiders" are equally capable of producing emic "and" etic accounts of their culture. Some researchers use "etic" to refer to objective or outsider accounts, and "emic" to refer to subjective or insider accounts.


title: Emic and etic

text: Margaret Mead was an anthropologist who studied the patterns of adolescence in Samoa. She discovered that the difficulties and the transitions that adolescents faced are culturally influenced. The hormones that are released during puberty can be defined using an etic framework, because adolescents globally have the same hormones being secreted. However, Mead concluded that how adolescents respond to these hormones is greatly influenced by their cultural norms. Through her studies, Mead found that simple classifications about behaviors and personality could not be used because peoples’ cultures influenced their behaviors in such a radical way. Her studies helped create an emic approach of understanding behaviors and personality. Her research deduced that culture has a significant impact in shaping an individual's personality.


title: Emic and etic

text: Carl Jung, a Swiss psychoanalyst, is a researcher who took an emic approach in his studies. Jung studied mythology, religion, ancient rituals, and dreams, leading him to believe that there are archetypes that can be identified and used to categorize people's behaviors. Archetypes are universal structures of the collective unconscious that refer to the inherent way people are predisposed to perceive and process information. The main archetypes that Jung studied were the persona (how people choose to present themselves to the world), the anima and animus (part of people experiencing the world in viewing the opposite sex, that guides how they select their romantic partner), and the shadow (dark side of personalities because people have a concept of evil; well-adjusted people must integrate both good and bad parts of themselves). Jung looked at the role of the mother and deduced that all people have mothers and see their mothers in a similar way; they offer nurture and comfort. His studies also suggest that "infants have evolved to suck milk from the breast, it is also the case that all children have inborn tendencies to react in certain ways." This way of looking at the mother is an emic way of applying a concept cross-culturally and universally.


title: Emic and etic

text: Emic and etic approaches are important to understanding personality because problems can arise "when concepts, measures, and methods are carelessly transferred to other cultures in attempts to make cross-cultural generalizations about personality." It is hard to apply certain generalizations of behavior to people who are so diverse and culturally different. One example of this is the F-scale (Macleod). The F-scale, which was created by Theodor Adorno, is used to measure authoritarian personality, which can, in turn, be used to predict prejudiced behaviors. This test, when applied to Americans accurately depicts prejudices towards black individuals. However, when a study was conducted in South Africa using the F-Scale, (Pettigrew and Friedman) results did not predict any prejudices towards black individuals. This study used emic approaches of study by conducting interviews with the locals and etic approaches by giving participants generalized personality tests.


title: Parquet Courts

text: Parquet Courts is an American rock band from New York City. The band consists of Andrew Savage (vocals, guitar), Austin Brown (vocals, guitar, keyboard), Sean Yeaton (bass, vocals), and Max Savage (drums).


title: Parquet Courts

text: Band members Andrew Savage and Austin Brown met in Denton, Texas while both students at the University of North Texas, in a student club named Knights of the Round Turntable, where they listened to and shared new records. Andrew had a number of musical projects during college, including Teenage Cool Kids and Fergus & Geronimo. Andrew and brother Max Savage, Parquet Courts' drummer, were both born and raised in Denton. The three relocated to Brooklyn after college and soon started Parquet Courts.


title: Parquet Courts

text: The band released their debut album, "American Specialties", as an independent, limited cassette release in 2011. The album was later reissued with Rough Trade Records in 2021.


title: Parquet Courts

text: The band's second studio album, "Light Up Gold" (2012), was initially released on Savage's Dull Tools label and later reissued on What's Your Rupture? in 2013. "Light Up Gold" received widespread critical acclaim in both the DIY underground and mainstream rock press.


title: Parquet Courts

text: In 2014, the band reached #55 on the "Billboard" album chart with its third studio album, "Sunbathing Animal".


title: Parquet Courts

text: Later in 2014, the band released "Uncast Shadow of a Southern Myth" as a single under an alternative name, Parkay Quarts. Soon afterward they released their fourth studio album, "Content Nausea", on which Sean and Max were absent due to other commitments.


title: Parquet Courts

text: The following year the band released a collaboration LP "Ramsgate" with PC Worship under the name PCPC. They also released a mostly instrumental, experimental EP, entitled "Monastic Living".


title: Parquet Courts

text: On February 4, 2016, the band announced their fifth studio album, entitled "Human Performance". The album was released on April 8 through Rough Trade. Co-frontman and the artist of the album's packaging and art, Andrew Savage, received a Grammy Awards nomination for his work.


title: Parquet Courts

text: On October 13, 2017, Andrew Savage, released his first solo album, "Thawing Dawn", through Dull Tools under the stage name A. Savage.


title: Parquet Courts

text: That same month the band released "Milano", a collaboration album with Daniele Luppi featuring former Yeah Yeah Yeahs lead singer Karen O.


title: Parquet Courts

text: On May 18, 2018, the band released their sixth LP, "Wide Awake!" It was named "album of the year" by Australian radio station Double J. Their song, "Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience", is featured in the video game EA Sports NHL 19, "One Man No City" is featured in an Episode of "The Blacklist", "Wide Awake" appeared as soundtrack in Konami football game, "eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020".


title: Parquet Courts

text: Between February and March 2022, Parquet Courts headlined a North American tour, with Nigerien afro-psychedelic guitarist Mdou Moctar as their opening act.


title: TiVo

text: TiVo ( ) is a digital video recorder (DVR) developed and marketed by Xperi (previously by TiVo Corporation and TiVo Inc.) and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose features include "OnePass" schedules which record every new episode of a series, and "WishList" searches which allow the user to find and record shows that match their interests by title, actor, director, category, or keyword. TiVo also provides a range of features when the TiVo DVR is connected to a home network, including film and TV show downloads, advanced search, online scheduling, and at one time, personal photo viewing and local music playback.


title: TiVo

text: Since its launch in its home market of the United States, TiVo has also been made available in Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Taiwan, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Newer models, however, have adopted the CableCARD standard, which is only deployed in the United States, and which limits the availability of certain features.


title: TiVo

text: TiVo was developed by Jim Barton and Mike Ramsay through a corporation they named "Teleworld" which was later renamed to TiVo Inc. Though they originally intended to create a home network device, it was redesigned as a device that records digitized video onto a hard disk. They began the first public trials of the TiVo device and service in late 1998 in the San Francisco Bay Area.


title: TiVo

text: After exhibiting at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 1999, Mike Ramsay announced to the company that the first version of the TiVo digital video recorder would ship "In Q1", (the last day of which is March 31) despite an estimated 4 to 5 months of work remaining to complete the device. Because March 31, 1999, was a blue moon, the engineering staff code-named this first version of the TiVo DVR "Blue Moon".


title: TiVo

text: The original TiVo DVR digitized and compressed analog video from any source (antenna, cable or direct broadcast satellite). TiVo also integrated its DVR service into the set-top boxes of satellite and cable providers. In late 2000, Philips Electronics introduced the DSR6000, the first DirecTV receiver with an integrated TiVo DVR. This new device, nicknamed the "DirecTiVo", stored digital signals sent from DirecTV directly onto a hard disk.


title: TiVo

text: In early 2000, TiVo partnered with electronics manufacturer Thomson Multimedia (now Technicolor SA) and broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting to deliver the TiVo service in the UK market. This partnership resulted in the Thomson PVR10UK, a stand-alone receiver released in October 2000 that was based on the original reference design used in the United States by both Philips and Sony. TiVo ended UK unit sales in January 2003, though it continued to sell subscriptions and supply guide data to existing subscribed units until June 2011. TiVo branded products returned to the UK during 2010 under an exclusive partnership with cable TV provider Virgin Media.


title: TiVo

text: TiVo was launched in Australia in July 2008 by Hybrid Television Services, a company owned by Australia's Seven Media Group and New Zealand's TVNZ. TiVo Australia also launched a TiVo with a 320Gb hard Drive in 2009. TiVo Australia also launched Blockbuster on demand and in December 2009 launched a novel service called Caspa on Demand. TiVo also went on sale in New Zealand on 6 November 2009.


title: TiVo

text: Janet Jackson's Super Bowl halftime show incident on February 1, 2004, set a record for being the most watched, recorded and replayed moment in TiVo history. The baring of one of Jackson's breasts at the end of her duet with Justin Timberlake, which caused a flood of outraged phone calls to CBS, was replayed a record number of times by TiVo users. A company representative stated, "The audience measurement guys have never seen anything like it. The audience reaction charts looked like an electrocardiogram."


title: TiVo

text: In December 2019, it was announced that TiVo would merge with Xperi Corporation. The merger completed in May 2020.


title: TiVo

text: A TiVo DVR serves a function similar to that of a videocassette recorder (VCR), in that both allow a TV viewer to record programming for viewing at a later time, known as time shifting. Unlike a videocassette recorder, which uses removable magnetic tape cartridges, a TiVo DVR stores TV programs on an internal hard drive, much like a computer.


title: TiVo

text: A TiVo DVR also automatically records programs that the user is likely to be interested in. TiVo DVRs also implement a patented feature that TiVo calls "trick play", allowing the viewer to pause live television and rewind and replay up to 30 minutes of recently viewed TV. TiVo DVRs can be connected to a computer local area network, allowing the TiVo device to download information, access video streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu, as well as music from the Internet.


title: TiVo

text: TiVo DVRs communicate with TiVo's servers on a regular basis to receive program information updates, including description, regular and guest actors, directors, genres, whether programs are new or repeats, and whether broadcast is in High Definition (HD). Information is updated daily into its program guide from Rovi (Tribune Media Services was used prior to September 2016).


title: TiVo

text: Users can select individual programs to record or a "OnePass" (formerly "Season Pass") to record all episodes of a show. There are options to record First Run Only, First Run and Repeats, or All Episodes. An episode is considered "First Run" if aired within two weeks of that episode's initial air date. OnePasses can also "bookmark" shows from internet streaming video services and show a combined view of recordings and bookmarks.


title: TiVo

text: When users' requests for multiple programs are conflicting, the lower priority program in the OnePass Manager is either not recorded or clipped where times overlap. The lower priority program will be recorded if it is aired later. TiVo DVRs with multiple tuners simultaneously record the top priority programs.


title: TiVo

text: TiVo pioneered recording programs based on household viewing habits; this is called TiVo Suggestions. Users can rate programs from three "thumbs up" to three "thumbs down". TiVo user ratings are combined to create a recommendation, based on what TiVo users with similar viewing habits watch. For example, if one user likes "American Idol", "America's Got Talent" and "Dancing with the Stars", then another TiVo user who watched just "American Idol" might get a recommendation for the other two shows.


title: TiVo

text: The amount of storage capacity for programs is dependent upon the size of the hard drive inside the TiVo; different models have different sized hard drives. When the space is full on the hard drive, the oldest programs are deleted to make space for the newer ones; programs that users flag to not be deleted are kept and TiVo Suggestions are always lowest priority. The recording capacity of a TiVo HD DVR can be expanded with an external hard drive, which can add additional hours of HD recording space and standard definition video recording capacity.


title: TiVo

text: When not recording specific user requests, the current channel is recorded for up to 30 minutes. Dual-tuner models record two channels. This allows users to rewind or pause anything that has been shown in the last thirty minutes — useful when viewing is interrupted. Shows already in progress can be entirely recorded if less than 30 minutes have been shown. Unlike VCRs, TiVo can record and play at the same time. A program can be watched from the beginning even if it's in the middle of being recorded, which is something that VCRs cannot do. Some users take advantage of this by waiting 10 to 15 minutes after a program starts (or is replayed from a recording), so that they can fast forward through commercials. In this way, by the end of the recording viewers are caught up with live television.


title: TiVo

text: Unlike most DVRs, TiVo DVRs are easily connected to home networks, allowing users to schedule recordings on TiVo's website (via TiVo Central Online), and transfer recordings between TiVo units (Multi-Room Viewing (MRV)). Former and now discontinued features included the ability transfer recordings to and from a home computer (TiVoToGo (TTG) transfers), play music and view photos over the network, and access third-party applications written for TiVo's Home Media Engine (HME) API.


title: TiVo

text: Integration with Amazon Video on Demand, Jaman.com and Netflix Watch Instantly, offering users access to thousands of movie titles and television shows right from the comfort of their couch. Additionally, broadband connected to TiVo boxes can access digital photos from Picasa Web Albums or Photobucket. Another popular feature is access to Rhapsody music through TiVo, allowing users to listen to virtually any song from their living room. TiVo also teamed up with One True Media to give subscribers a private channel for sharing photos and video with family and friends. They can also access weather, traffic, Fandango movie listings (including ticket purchases), and music through Live365. In the summer of 2008 TiVo announced the availability of YouTube videos on TiVo.


title: TiVo

text: On 7 June 2006, TiVo began offering TiVoCast, a broadband download service that initially offered content from places such as Rocketboom or, The New York Times; now there are over 70 TivoCast channels available for TiVo subscribers.


title: TiVo

text: TiVo is expanding media convergence. In January 2005, TiVoToGo, a feature allowing transfer of recorded shows from TiVo boxes to PCs, was added. TiVo partnered with Sonic in the release of MyDVD 6.1, software for editing and converting TiVoToGo files. In January, 2007, TiVoToGo was extended to the Macintosh with Toast Titanium 8, Roxio software for assembly and burning digital media on CD and DVD media. In August 2005, TiVo rolled out "TiVo Desktop" allowing moving MPEG2 video files from PCs to TiVo for playback by DVR. As of June 5, 2013, TiVo stopped distributing the free version of TiVo Desktop for PC in favor of selling TiVo Desktop Plus. Users who previously downloaded the free version of TiVo Desktop can continue to use the software without paying a fee for the Plus edition.


title: TiVo

text: TiVo KidZone (later removed in the Premiere and Roamio devices) was designed to give parents greater control over what their children see on television. This feature allows parents to choose which shows their children can watch and record. It also helps kids discover new shows through recommendations from leading national children's organizations. TiVo KidZone provides a customized Now Playing List for children that displays only pre-approved shows, keeping television as safe as possible.


title: TiVo

text: The information that a TiVo DVR downloads regarding television schedules, as well as software updates and any other relevant information is available through a monthly service subscription in the United States. A different model applies in Australia, where the TiVo media device is bought for a one-off fee, without further subscription costs.


title: TiVo

text: There are multiple types of Product Lifetime Service. For satellite-enabled TiVo DVRs, the lifetime subscription remains as long as the account is active; the subscription does not follow a specific piece of hardware. This satellite lifetime subscription cannot be transferred to another person. Toshiba and Pioneer TiVo DVD recording equipped units include a "Basic Lifetime Subscription", which is very similar to Full Lifetime, except only three days of the program guide are viewable; and search and Internet capabilities are not available, or at least are limited. All units (except satellite but including DVD units) can have "Product Lifetime Subscription" added to the TiVo service, which covers the life of the TiVo DVR, not the life of the subscriber. The Product Lifetime Subscription accompanies the TiVo DVR in case of ownership-transfer. TiVo makes no warranties or representations as to the expected lifetime of the TiVo DVR (aside from the manufacturer's Limited Warranty). In the past TiVo has offered multiple "Trade Up" programs where you could transfer the Product Lifetime Subscription from an old unit to a newer model with a fee. A TiVo can be used without a service-agreement, but it will act more like a VCR in that you can only perform manual recordings and the TiVo can't be connected to the TiVo service for local time, program guide data, software updates, etc. or TiVo will shut down the recording function.


title: TiVo

text: The TiVo service is available in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Spain and Taiwan at present. Over the years since its initial release in the United States, TiVo Series1 and Series2 DVRs have also been modified by end users to work in Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and South Africa.


title: TiVo

text: The TiVo Service came to an end in Australia on 31 October 2017. The electronic programming guide and TiVo recording features are no longer available, thus making all TiVo machines in Australia virtually useless.


title: TiVo

text: The TiVo service was launched in the United Kingdom in the autumn of 2000. It sold only 35,000 units over the next 18 months. Thomson, makers of the only UK TiVo box, abandoned it in early 2002 after BSkyB launched its Sky+ integrated "set-top" decoder and DVR, which dominated the market for DVRs in homes subscribing to BSkyB's paid-for satellite television service. Many manufacturers, including Thomson have launched integrated decoder boxes/DVRs in the UK for other digital platforms, including free satellite, terrestrial, cable and IPTV.


title: TiVo

text: A technical issue caused TiVo Suggestions to stop recording for S1 UK TiVo customers in late September 2008, but this was fixed in late January 2009.


title: TiVo

text: Since December 2010, UK TiVo units that were not already on an active monthly subscription or lifetime subscription could no longer be re-activated. BSkyB who were operating the support for TiVo no longer had full access to the TiVo systems to activate accounts.


title: TiVo

text: The TiVo S1 subscription service was maintained for both lifetime and monthly subscriptions until 1 June 2011. A community project known as AltEPG was established in March 2011 with the aim of providing a replacement for the discontinued subscription service. This project now provides programme guide data and software upgrades for S1 TiVos.


title: TiVo

text: On 24 November 2009, cable television provider Virgin Media entered into a strategic partnership with TiVo. Under the mutually exclusive agreement, TiVo developed a converged television and broadband interactive interface to power Virgin Media's next generation, high definition set top boxes. TiVo will become the exclusive provider of middleware and user interface software for Virgin Media's next generation set top boxes. Virgin Media will be the exclusive distributor of TiVo services and technology in the United Kingdom. Virgin Media released its first TiVo co-branded product in December 2010. On 17 March 2011, Virgin Media enabled access to a third tuner.


title: TiVo

text: The TiVo DVR was designed by TiVo Inc., which currently provides the hardware design and Linux-based TiVo software, and operates a subscription service (without which most models of TiVo will not operate). TiVo units have been manufactured by various OEMs, including Philips, Sony, Cisco, Hughes, Pioneer, Toshiba, and Humax, which license the software from TiVo Inc. To date, there have been six "series" of TiVo units produced.


title: TiVo

text: TiVo DVRs are based on PowerPC (Series1) or MIPS (Series2) processors connected to MPEG-2 encoder/decoder chips and high-capacity IDE/ATA hard drives. Series1 TiVo units used one or two drives of 13–60 GB; Series2 units have drives of 40–250 GB in size. TiVo has also partnered with Western Digital to create an external hard drive, the My DVR Expander, for TiVo HD and Series3 Boxes. It plugs into the TiVo box using an eSATA interface. It expands the High-Definition boxes by up to 67 hours of HD, and around 300 hours of standard programming. Other TiVo users have found many ways to expand TiVo storage, although these methods are not supported by TiVo, and may void the warranty.


title: TiVo

text: Some recent models manufactured by Toshiba, Pioneer, and Humax, under license from TiVo, contain DVD-R/RW drives. The models can transfer recordings from the built-in hard drive to DVD Video compliant disc, playable in most modern DVD systems.


title: TiVo

text: All standalone TiVo DVRs have coax/RF-in and an internal cable-ready tuner, as well as analog video input — composite/RCA and S-Video, for use with an external cable box or satellite receiver. The TiVo unit can use a serial cable or infrared blasters to control the external receiver. They have coax/RF, composite/RCA, and S-Video output, and the DVD systems also have component out. Audio is RCA stereo, and the DVD systems also have digital optical out.


title: TiVo

text: Until 2006, standalone TiVo systems could only record one channel at a time, though a dual-tuner Series2DT (S2DT) box was introduced in April 2006. The S2DT has two internal cable-ready tuners and it supports a single external cable box or satellite receiver. The S2DT is therefore capable of recording two analog cable channels, one analog and one digital cable channel, or one analog cable and one satellite channel at a time, with the correct programming sources. Note, however, that the S2DT, unlike earlier units, cannot record from an antenna. This is due to an FCC mandate that all devices sold after March 2007 with an NTSC tuner must also contain an ATSC tuner. TiVo therefore had to choose between adding ATSC support, or removing NTSC support. With the S2DT they opted to remove NTSC; the Series3 supports NTSC and ATSC, along with digital cable channels (with CableCards).


title: TiVo

text: The Series2 DVRs also have USB ports, currently used only to support network (wired Ethernet and WiFi) adapters. The early Series2 units, models starting with 110/130/140, have USB1.1 hardware, while all other systems have USB2.0. There have been four major generations of Series2 units. The TiVo-branded 1xx and 2xx generations were solid grey-black. The main difference was the upgrade from USB 1.1 to the much faster USB 2.0. The 5xx generation was a new design. The chassis is silver with a white oval in the faceplate. The white oval is backlit, leading to these units being called "Nightlight" boxes. The 5xx generation was designed to reduce costs, and this also caused a noticeable drop in performance in the system menus as well as a large performance drop in network transfers. The 5xx generation also introduced changes in the boot PROM that make them unmodifiable without extensive wiring changes. The 6xx generation resembles the previous 5xx model, except that it has a black oval. The 6xx is a new design and the only model available today is the S2DT with dual tuners and a built-in 10/100baseT Ethernet port as well. The 6xx is the best performing Series2 to date, outperforming even the old leader, the 2xx, and far better than the lowest performing 5xx.


title: TiVo

text: Some TiVo systems are integrated with DirecTV receivers. These "DirecTiVo" recorders record the incoming satellite MPEG-2 digital stream directly to hard disk without conversion. Because of this and the fact that they have two tuners, DirecTiVos are able to record two programs at once. In addition, the lack of digital conversion allows recorded video to be of the same quality as live video. DirecTiVos have no MPEG encoder chip, and can only record DirecTV streams. However, DirecTV has disabled the networking capabilities on their systems, meaning DirecTiVo does not offer such features as multi-room viewing or TiVoToGo. Only the standalone systems can be networked without additional unsupported hacking.


title: TiVo

text: DirecTiVo units (HR10-250) can record HDTV to a 250 GB hard drive, both from the DirecTV stream and over-the-air via a standard UHF- or VHF-capable antenna. They have two virtual tuners (each consisting of a DirecTV tuner paired with an ATSC over-the-air tuner) and, like the original DirecTiVo, can record two programs at once; further, the program guide is integrated between over-the-air and DirecTV so that all programs can be recorded and viewed in the same manner.


title: TiVo

text: In 2005, DirecTV stopped marketing recorders powered by TiVo and focused on its own DVR line developed by its business units. DirecTV continues to support the existing base of DirecTV recorders powered by TiVo.


title: TiVo

text: On 8 July 2006, DirecTV announced an upgrade to version 6.3 on all remaining HR10-250 DirecTiVo receivers, the first major upgrade since this unit was released. This upgrade includes features like program grouping (folders), a much faster on-screen guide, and new sorting features.


title: TiVo

text: In September 2008, DirecTV and TiVo announced that they have extended their current agreement, which includes the development, marketing and distribution of a new HD DIRECTV DVR featuring the TiVo service, as well as the extension of mutual intellectual property arrangements.


title: TiVo

text: Since the discontinued Hughes Electronics DirectTV DVR with TiVo model HR10-250, all TiVo units have been fully HDTV capable. Other TiVo models will only record analog standard definition television (NTSC or PAL/SECAM). The Series3 "TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL" DVRs and the Series4 "TiVo Premiere and TiVo Premiere XL" DVRs are capable of recording HDTV both from antenna (over the air) and cable (unencrypted QAM tuner or encrypted with a Cable Card) in addition to normal standard definition television from the same sources. Unlike the HR10-250, neither the Series3 nor Series4 units can record from the DirecTV service; conversely, the HR10-250 cannot record from digital cable. Other TiVo models may be connected to a high definition television (HDTV), but are not capable of recording HDTV signals, although they may be connected to a cable HDTV set-top box and record the down-converted outputs.


title: TiVo

text: In 2008, some cable companies started to deploy switched digital video (SDV) technology, which initially was incompatible with the Series3 and TiVo HD units. TiVo Inc worked with cable operators on a tuning-adapter with USB connection to the TiVo to enable SDV. Some MSOs now offer these adapters for free to their customers with TiVo DVRs.


title: TiVo

text: TiVo has partnered with Western Digital to create an external hard drive, the My DVR Expander eSATA Edition, for TiVo HD and Series3 systems. The external drive plugs into the TiVo box using an eSATA interface. The first version of the eSATA drive shipped was a 500 GB drive that shipped in June 2008. In June 2009 the 1 TB version of the drive began shipping. The 1 TB version expands the TiVo HD and Series3 systems' capacity by up to 140 hours of HD content or 1,200 hours of standard programming.


title: TiVo

text: TiVo was not designed to have an external drive disconnected once it has been added, because data for each recording is spread across both the internal and external disk drives. As a result, it is not possible to disconnect the external drive without deleting content recorded after the external drive was added. If disconnected, any recordings made will not be usable on either the internal or external drives. However, the external drive may be removed (along with content) without losing settings.


title: TiVo

text: Various capacities of external drives have been shipped since the product was initially released. There were reports of product reliability issues, and a brief period of unavailability.


title: TiVo

text: The Western Digital 1 TB and 500 GB My DVR Expander eSATA Edition and My DVR Expander USB Edition drives have been discontinued and replaced with the Western Digital My Book AV DVR Expander 1 TB drive. This drive has received a facelift from the previous generation, which now sports a glossy finish, and a tiny white LED power indicator, along with a push button power switch in the back. The biggest change is that this drive now includes both eSATA and USB in one device. This device is DirectTV, Dish Network, TiVo, Moxi, Pace, and Scientific Atlanta (Cisco) certified. Seagate has come out with their own DVR-oriented drive called the Seagate GoFlex DVR which comes in a 1 TB and 2 TB capacity. TiVo has not approved the Seagate product for use with TiVo DVRs and they will not currently function with any TiVo products.


title: TiVo

text: Users have installed additional or larger hard drives in their TiVo boxes to increase their recording capacity. Others have designed and built Ethernet cards and a Web interface (TiVoWeb), and figured out how to extract, insert and transfer video among their TiVo boxes. Other hacks include adding time to the start and end of recording intelligently and sending daily e-mails of the TiVo's activity.


title: TiVo

text: TiVo still uses the same encoding, however, for the media files (saved as .TiVo files). These are MPEG files encoded with the user's Media Access Key (MAK). However, software developers have written programs such as tivodecode and tivodecode Manager to strip the MAK from the file, allowing the user to watch or send the recordings to friends.


title: TiVo

text: On January 4, 2018, TiVo announced its next-gen platform, a catch-all product for providers like cable companies. It's available for multiple TV devices, including not only Linux- and Android TV-based set-top boxes and traditional DVRs, but also DVR-free streaming devices like Apple TV and Amazon's Fire TV, as well as phones, tablets and PCs. The platform allows providers to take advantage of TiVo's user interface, voice control, personalization and recommendations. TiVo expects its user interface could provide an advantage over competitors such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video "in a world where cord-cutting is increasingly popular."


title: TiVo

text: While its former main competitor in the United States, ReplayTV, had adopted a commercial-skip feature, TiVo decided to avoid automatic implementation fearing such a move might provoke backlash from the television industry. ReplayTV was sued over this feature as well as the ability to share shows over the Internet, and these lawsuits contributed to the bankruptcy of SONICblue, its owner at the time. Its new owner, DNNA, dropped both features in the final ReplayTV model, the 5500.


title: TiVo

text: After demonstrating the WebTV capability at the same 1999 CES with TiVo and ReplayTV demonstrating their products, Dish (then named Dish Network) a few months later added DVR functionality to their DishPlayer 7100 (and later its 7200) with its Echostar unit producing the hardware while Microsoft provided the software that included WebTV, the same software Microsoft would later use for its UltimateTV DVR for DirecTV. The TiVo, ReplayTV, and DishPlayer 7100 represent very first DVRs that were in development at the same time and were released to market at about the same time.


title: TiVo

text: SONICblue, the owners of ReplayTV would file for bankruptcy after being sued for its ability to automatically skip commercials and other features that were thought to violate copyrights; Echostar (Dish) would eventually sue Microsoft in 2001 for failing to support the software in DishPlayer 7100 and 7200 with Dish ending their relationship with Microsoft and cease offering the DishPlayer 7100/7200 to its subscribers and, instead, produce their own in-house DVR; and DirecTV would eventually drop Microsoft's UltimateTV and keep DirecTiVo as its only DVR offering for quite some time.


title: TiVo

text: Other distributors' competing DVR sets in the United States include Comcast and Verizon, although both distribute third-party hardware from manufacturers such as Motorola and the former Scientific Atlanta unit of Cisco Systems with this functionality built-in. Verizon uses boxes fitted for FiOS, allowing high-speed Internet access and other features. However, TiVo is compatible with the FiOS TV service because when the TV programming arrives at the home via FiOS Fiber to the Home network, it is converted to CableLabs specification QAM channels exactly as those used by cable TV companies. AT&T is an IPTV service that is incompatible with the TiVo.


title: TiVo

text: Despite having gained 234,000 subscribers in the last quarter of 2011, as of January 2012 TiVo had only (approximately) 2.3 million subscribers in the United States. This is down from a peak of 4.36 million in January 2006. As of January 31, 2016, TiVo reported 6.8 million subscribers.


title: TiVo

text: TiVo collects detailed usage data from units via broadband Internet. As units are downloading schedule data, they transmit household viewing habits to TiVo Inc. Collected information includes a log of everything watched (time and channel) and remote keypresses such as fast forwarding through or replaying content. Many users were surprised when TiVo released data on how many users rewatched the exposure of Janet Jackson's breast during the 2004 Super Bowl. TiVo records usage data for their own research and they also sell it to other corporations such as advertisers. Nielsen and TiVo have also previously collaborated to track viewing habits. This data is sold to advertising agencies as a way of documenting the number of viewers watching specific commercials to their corporate clients.


title: TiVo

text: TiVo has three levels of data collection. By default, the user is in "opt-out" status, where all usage data is aggregated by ZIP Code, and individual viewing habits are not tracked. Certain optional features and promotions require the user to opt in, and individual information is then collected for targeted show suggestions or advertising. Users can request that TiVo block the collection of anonymous viewing information and diagnostic information from their TiVo DVR.


title: TiVo

text: TiVo holds several patents that have been asserted against cable TV operators and competing DVR box makers.


title: TiVo

text: In September 2005, a TiVo software upgrade added the ability for broadcasters to "flag" programs to be deleted after a certain date. Some customers had recordings deleted, or could not use their flagged recordings (transfer to a computer or burn to DVD), as they could with unflagged material. The initial showing of this for random shows was a bug in the software. It later was enabled on pay-per-view and video-on-demand content.


title: TiVo

text: During early 2005, TiVo began test marketing "pop-up" advertisements to select subscribers, to explore it as an alternative source of revenue. The idea was that as users fast-forward through certain commercials of TiVo advertisers, they would also see a static image ad more suitable and effective than the broken video stream.


title: TiVo

text: At its announcement, the concept of extra advertisements drew heavy criticism from subscribers. Some lifetime subscribers were upset that they had already paid for a service based upon their previous ad-free experience, while others argued that they had purchased the service for the specific purpose of dodging advertisements. In 2007, TiVo made changes to its pop-up ad system to show pop-up ads only if the user fast-forwards through a commercial that has a corresponding pop-up ad.


title: TiVo

text: In 2019, some TiVo DVRs began running "pre-roll advertisements." These ads are short, but mandatory. The ads run before the user can playback a recorded program. The ads are downloaded from the Internet, so a brief delay occurs before the mandatory ads begin, further delaying playback. Only TiVo DVRs using Experience 4 software (Romio, Bolt, Edge, etc.) have this forced advertising, earlier TiVo software does not deploy pre-roll ads.


title: TiVo

text: In 2006, the Free Software Foundation decided to combat TiVo's technical system of blocking users from running modified software.


title: TiVo

text: This behavior, which Richard Stallman dubbed tivoization, was tackled by creating a new version of the GNU General Public License, the GNU GPLv3, which prohibits this activity.


title: TiVo

text: The kernel of the operating system of TiVo-branded hardware, the Linux kernel, is distributed under the terms of the GNU GPLv2. The FSF's goal is to ensure that all recipients of software licensed under the GPLv3 are not restricted by hardware constraints on the modification of distributed software.


title: TiVo

text: This new license provision was acknowledged by TiVo in its April 2007 SEC filing: "we may be unable to incorporate future enhancements to the GNU/Linux operating system into our software, which could adversely affect our business".


title: TiVo

text: In September 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) changed its rules so that cable television providers no longer must support CableCard. Providers may choose to keep supporting CableCard, but TiVo owners have no assurance. The cable television provider may discontinue CableCard support at any time.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: Li Hongzhi (, born 1951/2) is a Chinese religious leader. He is the founder and leader of Falun Gong, or "Falun Dafa", a United States-based new religious movement. Li began his public teachings of Falun Gong on 13 May 1992 in Changchun, and subsequently gave lectures and taught Falun Gong exercises across China.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: In 1995, Li began teaching Falun Gong abroad, and settled as a permanent resident in the United States in 1998. Li's Falun Gong movement gained significant popularity in the 1990s, including in government and qigong circles, but was suppressed by the Chinese government in 1999. According to Freedom House, "Today, Chinese citizens who practice Falun Gong live under constant threat of abduction and torture. The name of the practice, its founder Mr. Li Hongzhi, and a wide assortment of homonyms are among the most censored terms on the Chinese internet. Any mention in state-run media or by Chinese diplomats is inevitably couched in demonizing labels."


title: Li Hongzhi

text: Li has been also associated with performance arts group Shen Yun ("Divine Rhythm"), and the media organizations "The Epoch Times" and New Tang Dynasty Television, which operate as extensions of Falun Gong. They have promoted Falun Gong's philosophical beliefs and unfounded conspiracy theories. Li has stated that he believes extraterrestrial aliens from other dimensions walk the Earth and are responsible for introducing technology, war, and immorality. Li says that he is a being who has come to help humankind from the destruction it could face as the result of rampant evil. When asked if he was a human being, Li replied "You can think of me as a human being."


title: Li Hongzhi

text: There are competing accounts of Li's life that surfaced before and after the suppression of Falun Gong began in July 1999, and there is very little authoritative information on his early life. Accounts between Li's supporters and detractors diverge significantly, and as a result, can be understood within the context of the political and spiritual purposes for which different narratives were developed.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: An unofficial biography appeared in the first of Li's major publications, "Zhongguo Falun Gong", and was written by journalist Zhu Huiguang. A second, official spiritual biography appeared in early editions of Falun Gong's primary text, "Zhuan Falun", and was written by the Falun Dafa Research Society. These biographies placed emphasis on Li's spiritual development, with minimal details on Li's ordinary work or family life. The style and content of these biographies is consistent with the "centuries-old tradition of religious biography in China." As Benjamin Penny wrote, "as with its precursors [in Chinese history], this biography seeks to establish a genealogy of the figure whose life is recorded and to buttress the orthodoxy of his doctrine." Both biographies were omitted from later printings of Falun Gong books, as Li explained that he did not want people to focus their attention on his own history or circumstances.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: These biographies state that Li was born in the town of Gongzhuling, Jilin Province. The first account, by Zhu Huiguang, stated that Li's family lived amidst poverty. In this edition, Li was described as developing a "spirit of bearing hardships and tolerating hard work" as he helped care for his younger siblings. The second, official version of his biography emphasized Li's average social background, stating that he belonged to an "ordinary intellectual's family".


title: Li Hongzhi

text: Both biographies ascribe to Li innate virtues of compassion and discipline. The official biography focuses mainly on the lineage of Daoist and Buddhist masters who it says provided Li with instruction from an early age. At four, he was trained by Quan Jue, the Tenth Heir to the Great Law of the Buddha School. By age eight, he had acquired "the superb great law with supernatural powers," which was supposed to include invisibility, levitation, etc. Master Quan left him at age twelve, to be replaced by Taoist master Baji Zhenren, who provided instruction in martial arts and physical skills.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: A third Master arrived in 1972 from the Great Way School. Zhendaozi came from the Changbai Mountains near the North Korean border. Unlike Li's other spiritual tutors, Zhendaozi wore ordinary attire, and taught Li the way of inner cultivation through "Qigong", stressing "xinxing" (i.e. "mind or heart nature, moral character"). Li's training in this period mostly took place under cover of night, possibly due to the political environment of the Cultural Revolution. Zhu Haiguang's version of the biography notes that Li consistently refused to take part in the campaigns of the Cultural Revolution, never joining the Red Guards or communist organizations.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: A fourth Master—a woman from the Buddha School—began instructing Li in 1974. After training with these four Masters, Li's "energy potency had reached a very high level." His personal development plateaued around this time, with the biography stating that Li was able "to see the truth of the universe, many more beautiful things which have existed there for a long time, as well as the origin, development and future of mankind."


title: Li Hongzhi

text: In 1982, Li moved to the city of Changchun for "civilian employment," the implication being that his previous work was with the military. At some point in the 1980s, Li married and had a daughter.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: In 1984, Li began synthesizing the teachings he received into what would become Falun Dafa. The practice would not be exactly the same as what had been transmitted to him, as those systems were not suitable to be "popularised on a large scale." Li began observing the teaching methods of other qigong masters, and by 1989 had finalised his qigong system. For the next three years until 1992, Li was said to have begun testing the system with a small group of students.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: Falun Gong books published after 1999 no longer contain biographies of Li. These changes reflected a larger trend of Li retreating from the public eye. Since 2000 he has rarely appeared in public, his presence being almost entirely electronic or re-routed through quotations on Falun Gong's websites. Li Hongzhi's biography was removed from Falun Gong websites some time after 2001.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: The Chinese government began publishing biographies of Li after the suppression of Falun Gong began in July 1999. As such, details on Li's life published in the PRC can be understood as part of the government's publicity campaign against Falun Gong. Their objective was to "demonstrate that Li Hongzhi was thoroughly ordinary and that his claims to exceptional abilities and experiences were fraudulent."


title: Li Hongzhi

text: Li was born in 1951 or 1952. His parents divorced whilst he was a toddler, and Li and his siblings remained with his mother. In 1955 they relocated to Changchun.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: Li is said to have attended primary and middle school in Changchun between 1960 and 1970. As with most school-aged children in China, Li's formal education was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution. He did not attend high school, but ultimately completed high school through correspondence courses in the 1980s. Chinese government accounts emphasize repeatedly that Li lacks a higher education, and was an undistinguished student, notable only for playing the trumpet.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: After attaining his middle school diploma in 1970, Li was said to have held "a series of unremarkable jobs": between 1970 and 1972, Li worked at an army horse farm; from 1972 to 1978, was a trumpet player in a forest police unit in Jilin Province, and subsequently worked as a clerk in the Grain and Oil Procurement company in Changchun. Unnamed former classmates and co-workers cited in government accounts stress repeatedly that Li was unremarkable, that they never saw him practising qigong, and that they had no knowledge of the Buddhist and Daoist Masters Li claimed to have studied under.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: A group of early adopters in Changchun became disenchanted after Li forbade his followers from charging fees for the practice at the end of 1994, amongst other things. The group left the Falun Gong movement, and proceeded to send to government ministries a series of accusations against Li, among them that he had not shown any supernatural powers during his youth. Falun Gong sent detailed rebuttals to the ministries. Following the suppression of Falun Gong in 1999, Chinese authorities republished all these accusations, point by point.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: Li's date of birth became a controversy after 1999. Falun Gong sources published that Li was born on 13 May 1951. The Chinese government published his birthday as 7 or 27 July 1952, pointing out that his claimed birthday was the same as Gautama Buddha. As evidence of the 1952 birth, authorities quoted Pan Yufang, a midwife who recalled delivering Li in July 1952. Pan's account included the assertion that she used oxytocin to assist in the birth, which was disputed by Falun Gong. Professor David Ownby wrote in 2008 that Li Hongzhi was born Li Lai on 27 July 1952 in Gongzhuling, Jilin province, China. The Chinese government said that Li changed his name from Lai to Hongzhi because Hongzhi, meaning "vast will", sounded more revolutionary. In 2017, Professor James R. Lewis analyzed a 2015 report by Kaiwind, an anti-cult non-profit group in China, and agreed with their photographic evidence that Li was born on 7 July 1952. The Kaiwind report documented how Li approached a friend in government service who helped him change his government identification papers in late September 1994, and that the necessary government clerk's signature was forged by a police woman named Sun Lixian, who changed his birthdate and his government identification number, after which he was issued a new identification card in October.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: Li does not argue that he changed his identification in 1994, but he said his date of birth had been misprinted as one of the pervasive bureaucratic errors of the Cultural Revolution, and he was merely correcting it. Regarding the accusation that he selected Gautama Buddha's birthday as his own, Li characterized it as a "smear", and said "I have never said that I am Sakyamuni [Gautama Buddha]. I am just a very ordinary man." However, Li has claimed a variety of superhuman powers, such as the power to become invisible.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: Li Hongzhi introduced "Falun Dafa", or the Great Law of the Wheel of Dharma, on 13 May 1992 (Li's 41st birthday as claimed) at the fifth Middle School in Changchun, Jilin. From 1992 to 1994 he traveled throughout China, giving lectures and teaching Falun Gong exercises; his following grew rapidly. Li's success was largely linked to the huge popularity enjoyed by "qigong" in the late 1980s and early 1990s under Deng Xiaoping's social liberalization. He differentiated Falun Gong by prioritising "accessibility to the public" and moral content, away from esoteric notions often found in other Qigong systems.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: Falun Gong's teachings are compiled from Li's lectures, and he holds definitional power in the Falun Gong belief system. Li was also critical of alternative systems within the "Qigong" movement, stating it was "rife with false teachings and greedy and fraudulent 'masters'" and set out to rectify it. Li said that Falun Gong was a part of a "centuries-old tradition of cultivation", and in his texts would often attack those who taught "incorrect, deviant, or heterodox ways". Li differentiated Falun Gong from other movements in Qigong by emphasizing moral values aimed to "purify one's heart and attain spiritual salvation" rather than what he saw as undue emphasis on physical health and the development of supernatural powers.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: Ian Johnson pointed out that during the greatest period of Falun Gong book sales in China, Li Hongzhi never received any royalties because all publications were bootleg. Li's success also had a large part to do with people seeking alternative medicine treatments at a time when China's health care system was struggling desperately to meet demand. As the Master of the Falun Gong cultivation system, Li claimed to "purify the students' bodies" and "unblock their main and collateral channels" and in doing so "remove the root of their disease", if they were ill. He also reputedly planted a "Falun" or "law wheel" in the abdomen of each student, and other "energy mechanisms" in other parts of their bodies. Li also described how his "Law bodies" will protect each practitioner and how he "clear[s] up the students' house and places of practice and then put[s] a covering of safety'". In Li's Falun Gong teachings, he emphasizes that practitioners should abide by the moral principles of truth, compassion and forbearance, in their daily lives. According to New Zealand scholar Heather Kavan, these principles have been repeated by Falun Gong members to outsiders as a tactic for evading deeper inquiry. Li has instructed his followers to lie to outsiders about Falun Gong.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: According to Falun Gong groups, Li's early success was recognized at the 1992 and 1993 Beijing Oriental Health Expos. At the first of these events, the fair's organizer remarked that Falun Gong and Li "received the most praise [of any qigong school] at the fair, and achieved very good therapeutic results". The event helped cement Li's popularity in the qigong world, and journalistic reports of Falun Gong's healing powers spread. The following year, Li was made a member of the organizing committee of the Beijing Health Expo, and won several awards and commendations at the event.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: In this era, Li developed a positive rapport with the Ministry of Public Security (MPS). In 1993, he provided treatment for 100 police officers who had been injured on the job, earning praise from an organization under the MPS. Li gave lectures at the Public Security University in Beijing in 1994, and contributed proceeds from the seminars to a foundation for injured police officers. The publishing ceremony for Li's book, Zhuan Falun, was held in the auditorium of the Ministry of Public Security in January 1995.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: In 1998 Li Hongzhi stated that he believes alien invaders walk the Earth and that modern science and race-mixing are part of their ploy to overtake humanity, and he has reportedly said that he can walk through walls and make himself invisible. Li says that he is a being from a higher level who has come to help humankind from the destruction it could face as the result of rampant evil. Regarding these concepts, he said, "You must not talk with ordinary people about the high-level things I have taught you. Instead, only talk about being persecuted... about our human rights being violated." Lewis says that Li's "emphatic" claims to his followers that he holds "exalted status", and his instructions to his followers to deflect outsiders from this fact, are contradictory to his teachings about "Truthfulness", a cornerstone of Falun Gong belief.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: In 1995, Li declared that he had finished teaching Falun Gong in China, and began spreading the practice abroad. His first stop in March 1995 was to the Chinese embassy in Paris, where he had been invited to teach the practice. This was followed by seminars in Sweden. Between 1995 and 1999, Li gave lectures in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States. Falun Gong associations and clubs began appearing in Europe, North America and Australia, with activities centered mainly on university campuses.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: In 1996, the city of Houston named Li as an honorary citizen and goodwill ambassador for his "unselfish public service for the benefit and welfare of mankind."


title: Li Hongzhi

text: On 25 April 1999, about 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered near the central appeals office in Beijing to demand an end to the escalating harassment against the movement, and request the release of the Tianjin practitioners. According to Benjamin Penny, practitioners sought redress from the leadership of the country by going to them and, "albeit very quietly and politely, making it clear that they would not be treated so shabbily."


title: Li Hongzhi

text: After the event, Li received more measures of recognition from North American municipalities. In May 1999, Li was welcomed to Toronto with greetings from the Mayor of Toronto and the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and in the two months that followed also received recognition from the cities of Chicago and San Jose.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: Li Hongzhi moved to the United States in 1996 with his wife and daughter, and in 1998 became a U.S. permanent resident, settling in New York.


title: Li Hongzhi

text: On 29 July 1999, after Falun Gong was banned, the Ministry of Public Security of China levelled a series of charges against Li, including the charge of "disturbing public order" and issued a circular indicating his status as being wanted and pressing for his arrest. At that time, Li Hongzhi was living in the United States. The Chinese government's request to Interpol for his arrest was rejected on the grounds that the request was a matter "of a political or religious character" and lacked information on any "ordinary law crime he would have committed." The Chinese government also revoked his passport, preventing him from travelling internationally.