title: Manjushri

text: Mount Wutai was also associated with the East Mountain Teaching. Mañjuśrī has been associated with Mount Wutai since ancient times. Paul Williams writes:


title: Manjushri

text: According to official histories from the Qing dynasty, Nurhaci, a military leader of the Jurchens of Northeast China and founder of what became the Qing dynasty, named his tribe after Mañjuśrī as the Manchus. The true origin of the name Manchu is disputed.


title: Manjushri

text: Monk Hanshan (寒山) is widely considered to be a metaphorical manifestation of Mañjuśrī. He is known for having co-written the following famous poem about reincarnation with monk Shide:


title: Manjushri

text: In Tibetan Buddhism, Mañjuśrī manifests in a number of different Tantric forms. Yamāntaka (meaning 'terminator of Yama i.e. Death') is the wrathful manifestation of Mañjuśrī, popular within the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Other variations upon his traditional form as Mañjuśrī include Namasangiti, Arapacana Manjushri, etc. In Tibetan Buddhism, Mañjuśrī is also an "yidam".


title: Manjushri

text: According to Swayambhu Purana, the Kathmandu Valley was once a lake. It is believed that Mañjuśrī came on a pilgrimage from his earthly abode-Wutaishan (five-peaked mountain) in China. He saw a lotus flower in the center of the lake, which emitted brilliant radiance. He cut a gorge at Chovar with his flaming sword to allow the lake to drain. The place where the lotus flower settled became the great Swayambhunath Stupa, and the valley thus became habitable.


title: Manjushri

text: In eighth century Java during the Mataram Kingdom, Mañjuśrī was a prominent deity revered by the Sailendra dynasty, patrons of Mahayana Buddhism. The Kelurak inscription (782) and Manjusrigrha inscription (792) mentioned about the construction of a grand Prasada named "Vajrāsana Mañjuśrīgṛha" (Vajra House of Mañjuśrī) identified today as Sewu temple, located just 800 meters north of the Prambanan. Sewu is the second largest Buddhist temple in Central Java after Borobudur. The depiction of Mañjuśrī in Sailendra art is similar to those of the Pala Empire style of Nalanda, Bihar. Mañjuśrī was portrayed as a youthful handsome man with the palm of his hands tattooed with the image of a flower. His right hand is facing down with an open palm while his left-hand holds an "utpala" (blue lotus). He also uses the necklace made of tiger canine teeth.


title: Manjushri

text: Harrison, Paul M. (2000). Mañjuśrī and the Cult of the Celestial Bodhisattvas, Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal 13, 157-193


title: Open reading frame

text: In molecular biology, open reading frames (ORFs) are defined as spans of DNA sequence between the start and stop codons. Usually, this is considered within a studied region of a prokaryotic DNA sequence, where only one of the six possible reading frames will be "open" (the "reading", however, refers to the RNA produced by transcription of the DNA and its subsequent interaction with the ribosome in translation). Such an ORF may contain a start codon (usually AUG in terms of RNA) and by definition cannot extend beyond a stop codon (usually UAA, UAG or UGA in RNA). That start codon (not necessarily the first) indicates where translation may start. The transcription termination site is located after the ORF, beyond the translation stop codon. If transcription were to cease before the stop codon, an incomplete protein would be made during translation.


title: Open reading frame

text: In eukaryotic genes with multiple exons, introns are removed and exons are then joined together after transcription to yield the final mRNA for protein translation. In the context of gene finding, the start-stop definition of an ORF therefore only applies to spliced mRNAs, not genomic DNA, since introns may contain stop codons and/or cause shifts between reading frames. An alternative definition says that an ORF is a sequence that has a length divisible by three and is bounded by stop codons. This more general definition can be useful in the context of transcriptomics and metagenomics, where a start or stop codon may not be present in the obtained sequences. Such an ORF corresponds to parts of a gene rather than the complete gene.


title: Open reading frame

text: One common use of open reading frames (ORFs) is as one piece of evidence to assist in gene prediction. Long ORFs are often used, along with other evidence, to initially identify candidate protein-coding regions or functional RNA-coding regions in a DNA sequence. The presence of an ORF does not necessarily mean that the region is always translated. For example, in a randomly generated DNA sequence with an equal percentage of each nucleotide, a stop-codon would be expected once every 21 codons. A simple gene prediction algorithm for prokaryotes might look for a start codon followed by an open reading frame that is long enough to encode a typical protein, where the codon usage of that region matches the frequency characteristic for the given organism's coding regions. Therefore, some authors say that an ORF should have a minimal length, e.g. 100 codons or 150 codons. By itself even a long open reading frame is not conclusive evidence for the presence of a gene.


title: Open reading frame

text: Short ORFs (sORFs). Some short ORFs (sORFs) that lack the classical hallmarks of protein-coding genes (both from ncRNAs and mRNAs) can produce functional peptides. 5’-UTR of about 50% of mammal mRNAs are known to contain one or several sORFs, also called upstream ORFs or uORFs. However, less than 10% of the vertebrate mRNAs surveyed in an older study contained AUG codons in front of the major ORF. Interestingly, uORFs were found in two thirds of proto-oncogenes and related proteins. 64–75% of experimentally found translation initiation sites of sORFs are conserved in the genomes of human and mouse and may indicate that these elements have function. However, sORFs can often be found only in the minor forms of mRNAs and avoid selection; the high conservation of initiation sites may be connected with their location inside promoters of the relevant genes. This is characteristic of SLAMF1 gene, for example.


title: Open reading frame

text: Since DNA is interpreted in groups of three nucleotides (codons), a DNA strand has three distinct reading frames. The double helix of a DNA molecule has two anti-parallel strands; with the two strands having three reading frames each, there are six possible frame translations.


title: Open reading frame

text: The ORF Finder (Open Reading Frame Finder) is a graphical analysis tool which finds all open reading frames of a selectable minimum size in a user's sequence or in a sequence already in the database. This tool identifies all open reading frames using the standard or alternative genetic codes. The deduced amino acid sequence can be saved in various formats and searched against the sequence database using the basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) server. The ORF Finder should be helpful in preparing complete and accurate sequence submissions. It is also packaged with the Sequin sequence submission software (sequence analyser).


title: Open reading frame

text: ORF Investigator is a program which not only gives information about the coding and non coding sequences but also can perform pairwise global alignment of different gene/DNA regions sequences. The tool efficiently finds the ORFs for corresponding amino acid sequences and converts them into their single letter amino acid code, and provides their locations in the sequence. The pairwise global alignment between the sequences makes it convenient to detect the different mutations, including single nucleotide polymorphism. Needleman–Wunsch algorithms are used for the gene alignment. The ORF Investigator is written in the portable Perl programming language, and is therefore available to users of all common operating systems.


title: Open reading frame

text: OrfPredictor is a web server designed for identifying protein-coding regions in expressed sequence tag (EST)-derived sequences. For query sequences with a hit in BLASTX, the program predicts the coding regions based on the translation reading frames identified in BLASTX alignments, otherwise, it predicts the most probable coding region based on the intrinsic signals of the query sequences. The output is the predicted peptide sequences in the FASTA format, and a definition line that includes the query ID, the translation reading frame and the nucleotide positions where the coding region begins and ends. OrfPredictor facilitates the annotation of EST-derived sequences, particularly, for large-scale EST projects.


title: Open reading frame

text: ORF Predictor uses a combination of the two different ORF definitions mentioned above. It searches stretches starting with a start codon and ending at a stop codon. As an additional criterion, it searches for a stop codon in the 5' untranslated region (UTR or NTR, "nontranslated region".)


title: Open reading frame

text: ORFik is a R-package in Bioconductor for finding open reading frames and using Next generation sequencing technologies for justification of ORFs.


title: Open reading frame

text: orfipy is a tool written in Python / Cython to extract ORFs in an extremely and fast and flexible manner. orfipy can work with plain or gzipped FASTA and FASTQ sequences, and provides several options to fine-tune ORF searches; these include specifying the start and stop codons, reporting partial ORFs, and using custom translation tables. The results can be saved in multiple formats, including the space-efficient BED format. orfipy is particularly faster for data containing multiple smaller FASTA sequences, such as de-novo transcriptome assemblies.


title: Purple Hibiscus

text: Purple Hibiscus is a novel written by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Her debut novel, it was first published by Algonquin Books in 2003.


title: Purple Hibiscus

text: "Purple Hibiscus" is set in postcolonial Nigeria, a country beset by political instability and economic difficulties. The central character is Kambili Achike, aged fifteen for much of the period covered by the book, a member of a wealthy family in Enugu State, dominated by her devoutly Catholic father, Eugene. Eugene is both a religious zealot and a violent figure in the Achike household, subjecting his wife Beatrice, Kambili herself, and her brother Jaja to beatings and psychological cruelty. Beatrice even has two miscarriages because of the violence.


title: Purple Hibiscus

text: The story is told through Kambili's eyes and is essentially about the disintegration of her family unit and her struggle to grow to maturity. A key period is the time Kambili and her brother spend at the house of her father's sister, Ifeoma, and her three children. This household offers a marked contrast to what Kambili and Jaja are used to. It practices a completely different form of Catholicism, making for a happy, liberal place that encourages its members to be inquisitive, form their own opinions and speak their minds. In this nurturing environment, both Kambili and Jaja become more open and more able to form and voice their own opinions. While at Aunty Ifeoma's, Kambili also falls in love with a young priest, Father Amadi, which awakens her sense of her own sexuality.


title: Purple Hibiscus

text: Ultimately, a critical mass is reached in terms of the lives of Kambili, Jaja and the existence of their family as it once was. Unable to cope with Eugene's continual violence any longer, Beatrice poisons him. Jaja takes the blame for the crime and ends up in prison. In the meantime, Aunty Ifeoma and her family move to America after she is unfairly dismissed from her job as lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.


title: Purple Hibiscus

text: The novel ends almost three years after these events, on a cautiously optimistic note. Kambili has become a young woman of eighteen, more confident than before, while her brother Jaja is about to be released from prison, hardened but not broken by his experience there. Their mother, Beatrice, has deteriorated psychologically to a great degree.


title: Post-irony

text: Post-irony (from Latin "post" (after) and Ancient Greek "", meaning dissimulation (or feigned ignorance)) is a term used to denote a state in which earnest and ironic intents become muddled. It may less commonly refer to its converse: a return from irony to earnestness, similar to New Sincerity. Noted surreal humor comedian Tim Heidecker portrays a man living a post-ironic lifestyle in the 2012 indie drama film "The Comedy".


title: Post-irony

text: In literature, David Foster Wallace is often described as the founder of a "postironic" literature. His essays "E Unibus Pluram" and "Fictional Futures and the Conspicuously Young" describe and hope for a literature that goes beyond postmodern irony. Other authors often described as postironic are Dave Eggers, Tao Lin, and Alex Shakar.


title: Post-irony

text: Whereas in postmodern irony, something is meant to be cynically mocked and not taken seriously, and in New Sincerity, something is meant to be taken seriously or "unironically", post-irony combines these two elements by either having something absurd taken seriously or be unclear as to whether something is meant to be ironic.


title: Post-irony

text: A central element of post-irony is the obfuscation, ambiguity, watering-down, degradation, or simple lack of meaning and intent in statements and artwork, and whether the creator or disseminator intends this to be celebrated, decried, or met apathetically can itself be part of this uncertainty. As journalist Dmitry Lisovsky writes, "Post-ironic memes[...] don’t even have to be of great quality: I once took 10 random pictures from a few post-ironic meme communities and shuffled the captions between them. Users had a hard time telling the difference between the new ones and those that came before." Post-irony, meta-irony, and the often vague deconstruction and reconstruction of irony in general, are common elements in millennial and zoomer humor. Post-irony has been stated to be utilized in internet memes to spread disinformation and as a tool to radicalize people into extremist communities, especially relating to the American alt-right and related movements.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: 30 Seconds to Mars is the debut studio album by American rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars. It was first released on August 27, 2002, by Immortal Records and distributed by Virgin Records. The album was produced by Bob Ezrin, Brian Virtue, and Thirty Seconds to Mars, and was recorded in rural Wyoming during 2001 and early 2002. It had been in the works for a couple of years, with lead vocalist Jared Leto writing the majority of the songs.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: "30 Seconds to Mars" was described as a concept album centering on human struggle and self-determination, characterized by personal lyrics that use otherworldly elements and conceptual ideas to illustrate a truthful personal situation. The album incorporates progressive sounds with influences and elements from new wave, space rock, and electronica. Upon release, "30 Seconds to Mars" received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who commended the album's lyrical content and the band's musicianship, which has been compared to the works of Pink Floyd, Tool, and Brian Eno.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: The album debuted at number 107 on the "Billboard" 200 and number one on the US Top Heatseekers. It was a slow-burning success that eventually sold two million copies worldwide. It produced two singles, "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)" and "Edge of the Earth". Thirty Seconds to Mars promoted the album by opening concerts for bands such as Puddle of Mudd, Incubus, Sevendust, and Chevelle.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: By 1998, Thirty Seconds to Mars was performing gigs at small American venues and clubs. When they first started, lead vocalist Jared Leto did not allow his vocation as a Hollywood actor to be used in promotion of the band. They played their first concerts under different names, before finally settling on the name "Thirty Seconds to Mars", which was taken from a rare manuscript titled Argus Apocraphex. During this period, the band recorded demo tracks such as "Valhalla" and "Revolution", or "Jupiter" and "Hero", which later appeared on the debut album as "Fallen" and "Year Zero" respectively, but also "Buddha for Mary". Their work led to a number of record labels being interested in signing Thirty Seconds to Mars, which eventually signed to Immortal Records. In 1999, Virgin Records entered into the contract.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: The work of Thirty Seconds to Mars generated the interest of record producer Bob Ezrin, who had previously worked on several groundbreaking projects, including "The Wall" by Pink Floyd, "Love It to Death" by Alice Cooper, and "Destroyer" by Kiss. Thirty Seconds to Mars contacted Ezrin because they felt that he had the ability to help them achieve their own vision and create a distinct sound; moreover, the band's members grew up listing to his work with Pink Floyd, Kiss and Alice Cooper. Brian Virtue, who had previously worked with Jane's Addiction, joined the band and Ezrin in producing the record.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: Thirty Seconds to Mars retreated to the isolation of Wyoming's countryside in 2001 to record the album, tentatively titled "Welcome to the Universe". The band and Ezrin chose an empty warehouse lot on 15,000 acres, starting an intense period of preproduction focused on fifty songs. The isolation allowed the band to work at a different pace. Jared Leto said that while recording in Wyoming, "there was an interesting dichotomy, a kind of contradiction with the technology and the organic world that we were surrounded [...] It's something that I think ended up in the music". Ezrin helped the band to understand the importance of an album's structure and how to create a progression, rather than a simple series of singles. "We really wanted to create something that had depth," Leto explained. He described the process of working with Ezrin as tumultuous but also fulfilling, having its own dynamics. He also stated that Virtue was a key element in helping the band define their sound. Although bassist Matt Wachter was a band member at the time, the majority of the bass tracks were recorded by Jared Leto, with Wachter only being credited as a band member.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: The track "Fallen", originally titled "Jupiter", was the first to be produced for the album. Thirty Seconds to Mars initially thought to exclude the track from the record since they were not satisfied with it, but then they decided to rework the song because there were people who had strong feelings about it. The track features programming by Danny Lohner and background vocals by Maynard James Keenan. Several musicians, including Elijah Blue Allman, Renn Hawkey, as well as producers Ezrin and Virtue, contributed on selected tracks.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: The style of the album combined progressive metal and space rock with influences and elements from new wave and electronica, utilizing programming and synthesizers. According to Jared Leto, the band wanted to create "something that had cohesiveness and kind of an atmospheric musical story to it". He identified groups that had a sense of identity and atmosphere as being influential on the album's songwriting. He cited classic stoner rock artists, to which he and his brother Shannon had listened while growing up. Eventually, they gravitated toward more conceptual work like Pink Floyd, David Bowie and The Cure. Thirty Seconds to Mars also drew influences from acts such as Björk, Rush, and Depeche Mode; according to Shannon Leto, the inspirations derived from "mostly big conceptional bands; bands that had depth; bands that were dynamic".


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: The sound of "30 Seconds to Mars" takes on many musical stylistic shifts. Elizabeth Bromstein from "Now" magazine described it as a concoction of '80s electronics, industrial music and nu metal with a heavy dose of progressive rock. Jaan Uhelszki of "Alternative Press" felt that the album is made of "sterner stuff", with the band's prog-metal foundation "enhanced by an unexpectedly powerful sense of melody". Smiley Ben of BBC Collective noted in the album alternative rock tendencies. Ryan Rayhill from "Blender" found the album befitting prog-rock prototypes Rush and opined that Thirty Seconds to Mars "emerged with an eponymous debut that sounds like Tool on "The Dark Side of the Moon"", referring to the 1973 album by Pink Floyd.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: "30 Seconds to Mars" is a concept album focusing on human struggle and self-determination. It deals with characters who battle with social alienation, emotional isolation, and political malaise. The title itself "30 Seconds to Mars" indicates the accelerated human society and suggests a potential escapism from it. The album's lyrics describe the personal human experience through the use of metaphors and moments of fantasy. Jared Leto regarded it as a "very personal album that sometimes uses otherworldly elements and conceptual ideas to illustrate a truthful personal situation". He cited the human struggle as the most inspiring source for the band and explained that the record features "a definite desire for change, for renewal, for a new beginning and ultimately, for escape". Author Karin Lowachee commented that Leto, who wrote most of the lyrics, allows the listener to draw his or her own conclusions to the meanings of the songs. She noted that "this makes the music especially personal, as whatever images you conjure from the sound and words can be interpreted by your own inner language".


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: Opening track "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)" deals with a desire for renewal. Leto, however, stated that he prefers to let the listener take its own understanding and meaning from the song, claiming that the interpretation, from individual to individual, is one of the most interesting aspects of music. The track "Fallen" faces the necessity to escape from the inner world that every person has created for itself. The lyrics of "Oblivion", originally titled "The Reckoning", lead into a frantic threat, in which "Unity divides / Division will unite". Leto described this paradox as a rather common but unfortunate occurrence. A dramatic narration drives "Buddha for Mary", whose story is not about a specific person and represents a metaphor. "End of the Beginning" features a foreboding tone and emphasizes the human nature in constant search for something. The album ends with the hidden track "The Struggle", whose lyrics were taken from the ancient Chinese military treatise "The Art of War", attributed to Sun Tzu.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: The track "Revolution", excluded from the final track listing, was considered by some critics as having an anti-American tone. Leto rejected the claim and explained that it can be taken "many different ways" and if taken literally or politically, it could be misinterpreted. He said that the band "didn't want a song like that to overshadow what we are about" and especially after the September 11 attacks, they felt it did not fit thematically with the rest of the album, stating that "it took on new dimensions". The album features elements inspired by the science fiction novel "Dune" by Frank Herbert, which influenced the album's songwriting for its themes regarding the interactions of politics, religion, technology, and human emotion.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: The photography for the album was handled by drummer Shannon Leto, with additional works provided by Ken Schles. The cover art features a teenage boy and some of the band's symbolism. It includes a phoenix logo, named "Mithra" by the band, that bears the motto "Provehito in Altum". Roughly translated from Latin, the phrase means "Launch forth into the deep". The band chose a phoenix for its association with rebirth and renewal in the Greek mythology. The group expressed interest in signs and symbols and their relationships with cultures and subcultures. The album's cover art was unveiled through the band's official website on July 29, 2002. However, it was not conceived to be the original concept for the artwork. The initial cover art was discontinued and destroyed during production following the September 11 attacks due to the graphic content of the image. It featured a fighter pilot ejecting from an exploding plane. Thirty Seconds to Mars explained that they never saw it as a violent image, but felt that it was inappropriate in the wake of the events.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: "30 Seconds to Mars" was released on August 27, 2002, on Immortal Records in the United States and September 30 on EMI in the United Kingdom. It was originally expected to be released in early 2002. However, the band was behind schedule and the cover design needed a reshoot. The album's compact disc featured enhanced material developed by Little Lion Studios, including a promotional video titled "Capricorn" directed by Lawton Outlaw, and a behind the scenes footage edited by Ari Sandel. The Japanese edition of the album included the bonus track "Anarchy in Tokyo". "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)" was the first single taken from "30 Seconds to Mars". It was issued a month before the album's release on July 23, 2002. It had an accompanying music video directed by Paul Fedor. "Edge of the Earth" was released as the album's second single on January 28, 2003, with a music video directed by Kevin McCullough.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: After five years since its original release, "30 Seconds to Mars" was made available in Australia on April 7, 2007, on Virgin Records. EMI re-issued a limited edition of the album in Japan on December 2, 2009. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the album, Thirty Seconds to Mars hosted an event called MarsX on August 27, 2012. It was broadcast worldwide through the online platform VyRT and included live playback and commentary of the record with the band, interactive discussion focused on the formation of Thirty Seconds to Mars, and exclusive acoustic performances. The album was also re-issued as a limited edition picture disc. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the long-playing vinyl, Universal Music re-issued a double LP of "30 Seconds to Mars" on September 23, 2016. A re-release on red translucent vinyl was pressed the following year in a limited edition for the 15th anniversary of the album.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: The band promoted the album through a number of tours in North America. Even before its release, Puddle of Mudd invited Thirty Seconds to Mars to open a six-week tour for them in the spring of 2002. On January 30, Thirty Seconds to Mars began a promotional tour in North America. The band played its first European concert on June 24, 2002, at The Barfly in London, England. In July 2002, they began a club tour and also embarked on a North American tour supporting Incubus. In early October, they were invited by MTV to join the Campus Invasion Tour, playing ten dates in Canada alongside I Mother Earth, Billy Talent, and Pepper Sands. The band was also scheduled to open a spring tour for Adema but was forced to withdraw due to scheduling conflicts.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: After playing a series of shows supporting Our Lady Peace, Thirty Seconds to Mars opened an autumn tour for Sevendust. The band's first appearance on television was on "Last Call with Carson Daly" on November 18, which aired on November 27, 2002. It was the last performance with guitarist Solon Bixler, which left the band due to issues primarily related to touring. The band later performed on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn", which marked the first live performance with guitarist Tomo Miličević. In 2003, the band went on tour with Chevelle, Trust Company, and Shihad, and played thirteen shows for Lollapalooza.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: "30 Seconds to Mars" earned mostly positive reviews upon release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 60, based on 5 reviews. Jason Pettigrew from "Alternative Press" regarded it as "an ambitious, immense-sounding work that's at once rich in melody" and "lyrically jarring". Ryan Rayhill from "Blender" noticed "throbbing synths" and "exploding guitars", and called the album a "high-minded space opera of epic scope" narrating "tales of living in deep, black oblivion". Smiley Ben of BBC Collective described the overall sound as "certainly compelling", and praised the sonic variety, writing that the band "knowingly push[es] boundaries" producing "great music with an edge". AllMusic reviewer Jon O'Brien called the record a "highly ambitious space-themed concept album", and commended its "heavy, riff-laden" guitars, "soaring" vocals and sci-fi lyrics.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: Johan Wippsson from "Melodic" claimed that the band has "something new to add to the world" with their space-influenced modern rock. Jeremy Gladstone of "Kludge" commented that the album reaches its peak with "Buddha for Mary", which he called a "virtual sonic achievement", but felt that the quality of the songs drops off at the halfway point, describing the entire project as "top-heavy". Canadian critic Karin Lowachee found the group's sound and vision reminiscent of their "concept-styled forbears" but "uniquely owned" for a contemporary audience, and wrote that the band "defies the trend by stepping out ahead of it and into the future", giving the listener something original to enjoy. Amber Authier from "Exclaim!" echoed this sentiment, stating that the band stretched musical borders and represented something that is "a little different", offering a "solid sound".


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: Mitch Joel from "Blistering" commended the band's musical diversity, noting that they are "worth more than most of their peers on a song-by-song magnitude." Elizabeth Bromstein of "Now" magazine found the track-to-track variation limited, although she appreciated the range of styles. Peter Relic of "Rolling Stone" gave a mixed response, stating that the album has its finer moments but felt that it is undone by Jared Leto's "baffling, pretentious poetry" and the "sanitized quality of the heavy guitars. "Q" magazine described it as having "a polished sheen", but opined that the "earnest, sci-fi-tinged lyrics gets monotonous" over the course of the album. In contrast, Jason D. Taylor from AllMusic commented that the "space-age themes complement the group's advanced musical achievements wonderfully". Megan O'Toole of "The Gazette" felt that every track on the album is a "unique masterpiece that simultaneously operates on a number of different musical and spiritual levels", writing that its music has the potential to "affect and infect the deepest recesses" of the soul.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: In the United States, "30 Seconds to Mars" entered the "Billboard" 200 at number 107 on the issue dated September 14, 2002. It also debuted at number one on the Top Heatseekers. After nine weeks, it fell to number 40, with sales of over 40,000 units. As of August 2006, Nielsen SoundScan estimates actual sales of the album at over 120,000 in the United States. Its lead single, "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)", entered the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart at number 40 and eventually reached a peak of number 31. In the United Kingdom, although the album never charted, it was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in July 2013, denoting shipments of over 60,000 units.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: In France, "30 Seconds to Mars" debuted at number 142 on the national albums chart on October 5, 2002. After its release to the Australian market, the album entered the ARIA Charts at number 95 on the issue dated June 11, 2007. It peaked at number 89 the following week. In Greece, it entered the national albums chart in June 2011, in view of a band's concert held in Athens in July, reaching a peak of number 41. "30 Seconds to Mars" was a slow-burning success, and eventually sold two million copies worldwide as of March 2011.


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: Jason D. Taylor of AllMusic considered the release of "30 Seconds to Mars" a "daring new step in musical evolution" and noted that its impact left "vast corridors of sound open for the listener to meander down at will". He commented that Thirty Seconds to Mars managed to record an album that "breathes life" into the "empty shell that corporate rock has become", and felt that in "reanimating an avenue of musical expression that has for many years been on its deathbed", the band possibly offered the best rock experience of 2002. "30 Seconds to Mars" was named one of the best albums of 2002 by a number of publications, including "CMJ New Music Report", "Kludge", "Melodic", and "Metal Hammer". Johan Wippsson of "Melodic" regarded it as "one of the most unique albums when it comes to an own style", while music critic Megan O'Toole from "The Gazette" felt that the band managed to "carve out a unique niche for themselves in the rock realm".


title: 30 Seconds to Mars (album)

text: A writer of MuchMusic called the album a "work that is built to last", noting that the band produced "something unique" with "depth and substance". Artistdirect agreed and explained that "30 Seconds to Mars" established the group as "fresh, new force", revealing a "multi-faceted outfit that thrived on creative exploration and escape". Jon O'Brien, writing for AllMusic, labelled the album one of the "more convincing actor-turned-rock star" efforts. In a retrospective review in 2012, Ian Winwood from "Kerrang!" deemed the record an "epic starting point" for the music that followed, and stated that it displayed Jared Leto's "vast, cinematic writing style". He considered its music "undoubtedly the most aggressive they've created" and regarded lead single "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)" as the band's "most muscular moment".


title: Ungoliant

text: Ungoliant () is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, described as an evil spirit in the form of a spider. Her name means "dark spider" in Sindarin. She is mentioned briefly in "The Lord of the Rings", and plays a supporting role in "The Silmarillion", enabling the Dark Lord Melkor to destroy the Two Trees of Valinor, darkening the world.


title: Ungoliant

text: Her origins are unclear, as Tolkien's writings do not explicitly reveal her nature, other than that she is from "before the world"; this may mean she is a Maia, an immortal spirit. Scholars have likened the story of Ungoliant and Melkor to John Milton's "Paradise Lost", where Sin conceives a child, Death, by Satan: Sin and Death are always hungry. There are limited parallels in Norse myth: while there are female giants, they are not usually spiders, though the Devil appears as a spider in an early Icelandic tale, and a female giant in the "Prose Edda" is named Nott ("Night"), she and her brood dwelling in and personifying darkness.


title: Ungoliant

text: "Ungoliant" means 'dark spider' in Tolkien's invented language of Sindarin. It is a loan word from . She is also known as "Gloomweaver" (Sindarin: ' , Quenya: ' ).


title: Ungoliant

text: Tolkien's original writings say that Ungoliant was a primeval spirit of night, named Móru, who aided Melkor in his attack upon the Two Trees of Valinor, draining them of their sap after Melkor had injured them. She also consumed the reserves of light from the wells of Varda. Afterward the light of the trees persisted only within the Silmarils of Fëanor. Ungoliant helped Melkor evade the Valar by shrouding them both in the impenetrable darkness she produced.


title: Ungoliant

text: Melkor had promised Ungoliant to yield anything she wished in return for her aid, but betrayed this promise by withholding the Silmarils, and summoned the Balrogs to repel her. Ungoliant fled to the Ered Gorgoroth in Beleriand. At some point she gave birth to the Giant Spiders, including the character Shelob of "The Lord of the Rings". In "The Silmarillion", it is stated that when she went into hiding her hunger was such that she would mate with other spiders only to devour them later, with her offspring used as food once fully grown. "The Silmarillion" hints that Ungoliant's unremitting hunger drove her to devour herself.


title: Ungoliant

text: According to the Tolkien scholar John Wm. Houghton, the story of Ungoliant and Morgoth is comparable to the account in John Milton's "Paradise Lost" in which Sin conceives a child, Death, by Satan. Both Sin and Death are always hungry; Satan says he will feed them, and leads them to the world.


title: Ungoliant

text: Joe Abbott, writing in "Mythlore", comments that Ungoliant and Shelob are similar monsters, "product of a singular concept". He observes that they are female giants, something found in Northern folklore. Those are not usually in spider form, but he notes an early Icelandic example where "the Devil appears as a spider and has his leg cut off". On Ungoliant's race, he notes Tolkien's remark in "The Theft of Melko" (in "The Book of Lost Tales") that "Mayhap she was bred of mists and darkness on the confines of the Shadowy seas, in the utter dark that came between the overthrow of the Lamps and the kindling of the Trees, but "more like she has always been" [Abbott's italics]; and she it is who loveth still to dwell in that black place "taking the guise" of an unlovely spider." He draws attention to Tolkien's suggestions that Ungoliant has always existed and that she is simply choosing to appear (in the "guise") as a spider, and states that this means she must be an immortal Maia, a spirit-being able to take on physical form. He offers the parallel of Nott ("Night"), an Icelandic female giant in the "Gilfaginning" in the "Prose Edda" of Snorri Sturluson. Nott was dark, like all her kindred, just as Ungoliant and all her brood dwell in and "personify" darkness.


title: Ungoliant

text: Ungoliant is the namesake of two species of spider: "Nemesia ungoliant", a species of "Nemesiidae" which was described in 2007, and "Ochyrocera ungoliant", an Ochyroceratidae species that was described in 2018.


title: Ungoliant

text: Ungoliant has been the subject of several heavy metal music songs. Her conflict with Morgoth over the Silmaril was the subject of Blind Guardian's song "Into the Storm", from their 1998 album "Nightfall in Middle-Earth". Austrian black metal band Summoning had a song called "Ungolianth" on their 1995 album "Minas Morgul". On their 2006 album "The Morrigan's Call", the Irish Celtic metal band Cruachan featured a song "Ungoliant" as well as one named after Shelob.


title: Ungoliant

text: Ungoliant is mentioned in the 2012 film "", the first film of Peter Jackson's film trilogy of "The Hobbit", when the wizard Radagast the Brown conjectures on the origin of malevolent giant spiders endemic to Mirkwood.


title: The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series)

text: The Twilight Zone is the second of three revivals of Rod Serling's original 1959–64 television series. It aired for one season on the UPN network, with actor Forest Whitaker assuming Serling's role as narrator and on-screen host. It premiered on September 18, 2002, and aired its final episode on May 21, 2003.


title: The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series)

text: Broadcast in an hour format with two half-hour stories, it was canceled after one season. Reruns continue to air in syndication and have aired on MyNetworkTV since summer 2008. The opening theme music was provided by Jonathan Davis (singer of the band Korn).


title: The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series)

text: The series tended to address contemporary issues head-on; e.g. terrorism, racism, gender roles, sexuality, and stalking. Noteworthy episodes featured Jason Alexander as Death wanting to retire from harvesting souls, Lou Diamond Phillips as a swimming pool cleaner being shot repeatedly in his dreams, Susanna Thompson as a woman whose stated wish results in an "upgrading" of her family, Usher as a police officer being bothered by telephone calls from beyond the grave, Brian Austin Green as a businessman who encounters items from his past that somehow reappear, Jeffrey Combs as a hypochondriac whose diseases become reality, and Katherine Heigl playing a woman who went back in time on a suicide mission to kill the infant Adolf Hitler.


title: The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series)

text: The series also includes remakes and updates of stories presented in the original "Twilight Zone" television series, including the famous "Eye of the Beholder" starring Molly Sims. One of the updates, "The Monsters Are on Maple Street", is a modernized version of the classic episode similarly called "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street". The original show was about the paranoia surrounding a neighborhood-wide blackout. In the course of the episode, somebody suggests an alien invasion being the cause of the blackouts, and that one of the neighbors may be an alien. The anti-alien hysteria is an allegory for the anti-communist paranoia of the time, and the 2003 remake, starring Andrew McCarthy and Titus Welliver, replaces aliens with terrorists.


title: The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series)

text: The show also contains "It's Still a Good Life", a sequel to the events of "It's a Good Life", an episode of the original series produced 41 years earlier. Bill Mumy returned to play the adult version of Anthony, the demonic child he had played in the original story, with Mumy's daughter, Liliana, appearing as Anthony's daughter, a more benevolent but even more powerful child. Cloris Leachman also returned as Anthony's mother. Mumy went on to serve as a screenwriter for other episodes in the revival.


title: The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series)

text: Other guest stars include: Penn Badgley, Scott Bairstow, Jason Bateman, Gil Bellows, Elizabeth Berkley, Xander Berkeley, Linda Cardellini, Keith Hamilton Cobb, Rory Culkin, Reed Diamond, Shannon Elizabeth, Ethan Embry, Sean Patrick Flanery, Lukas Haas, Wood Harris, Hill Harper, Jonathan Jackson, Moira Kelly, Erik King, Wayne Knight, Wallace Langham, Method Man, Samantha Mathis, Christopher McDonald, Tangi Miller, Pat O'Brien, Adrian Pasdar, Emily Perkins, Jeremy Piven, Jaime Pressly, James Remar, Portia de Rossi, Eriq La Salle, Michael Shanks, Jeremy Sisto, Jessica Simpson, Ione Skye, Amber Tamblyn, Christopher Titus, Robin Tunney, Vincent Ventresca, Dylan Walsh, Frank Whaley, Alicia Witt, and Gordon Michael Woolvett. McDonald, Langham, Xander Berkeley, and Haas had all previously guest starred in the 1980s revival.


title: The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series)

text: The series did not enjoy the same level of critical or ratings success as the original series or the 1980s revival, and only lasted one season.


title: The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series)

text: The complete series was released on DVD by New Line in a six disc box set on September 7, 2004. The episodes are presented in their production order, not their broadcast order.


title: Lagerstroemia

text: Lagerstroemia (), commonly known as crape myrtle (also spelled crepe myrtle or crêpe myrtle), is a genus of around 50 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs native to the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, northern Australia, and other parts of Oceania, cultivated in warmer climates around the world. It is a member of the family Lythraceae, which is also known as the loosestrife family. The genus is named after Swedish merchant Magnus von Lagerström, a director of the Swedish East India Company, who supplied Carl Linnaeus with plants he collected. These flowering trees are beautifully colored and are often planted both privately and commercially as ornamentals.


title: Lagerstroemia

text: Crape myrtles are chiefly known for their colorful and long-lasting flowers, which occur in summer. Most species of "Lagerstroemia" have sinewy, fluted stems and branches with a mottled appearance that arises from having bark that sheds throughout the year. The leaves are opposite and simple, with entire margins, and vary from . While all species are woody in nature, they can range in height from over to under ; most, however, are small to medium, multiple-trunked trees and shrubs. The leaves of temperate species provide autumn color.


title: Lagerstroemia

text: Flowers are borne in summer and autumn in panicles of crinkled flowers with a crêpe-like texture. Colors vary from deep purple to red to white, with almost every shade in between. Although no blue-flowered varieties exist, the flowers trend toward the blue end of the spectrum with no orange or yellow except in stamens and pistils. The fruit is a capsule, green and succulent at first, then ripening to dark brown or black dryness. It splits along six or seven lines, producing teeth much like those of the calyx, and releases numerous, small, winged seeds.


title: Lagerstroemia

text: In their respective climates, both subtropical and tropical species are common in domestic and commercial landscapes. The timber of some species has been used to manufacture bridges, furniture, and railway sleepers, but in Vietnam's Cát Tiên National Park, the dominant stands of "Lagerstroemia calyculata" in secondary forest are thought to have survived (after episodes of logging) due to the low quality of wood. "Lagerstroemia" species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (moth and butterfly) species, including "Endoclita malabaricus".


title: Lagerstroemia

text: The leaves of "L. parviflora" are fed on by the "Antheraea paphia" moth, which produces the tassar silk, a form of wild silk of commercial importance in India.


title: Lagerstroemia

text: Certain species of crape myrtle are used in landscaping and gardening as screens, lawn specimens, shrub borders, and container plants. Since crape myrtles are found in many places, opinions differ as to how to cultivate them in landscaping. Crape myrtles are best cultivated in warmer southern climates, US zones 7–9, and prefer full sun. They occur in a variety of flowering colors and size.


title: Lagerstroemia

text: Crape myrtles might have been considered messy in the past, but their seedpods cannot stain concrete, so are best planted near swimming pools, decks, and sidewalks.


title: Lagerstroemia

text: The common crape myrtle ("L. indica") from China and Korea was introduced "circa" 1790 to Charleston, South Carolina, in the United States, by French botanist André Michaux. In the wild, the species is most often found as a multiple-stemmed, large shrub, but 200 years of cultivation have resulted in a huge number of cultivars of widely varying characteristics. Today, crape myrtle varieties can fulfill many landscaping needs, from tidy street trees to dense barrier hedges to fast-growing dwarf types of less than , which can go from seed to bloom in a season (allowing gardeners in places where the plant is not winter-hardy to still enjoy the intense colors of the frilly flowers). In Europe, crape myrtle is common in the south of France, the Iberian Peninsula, and most of Italy; in the United States, it is an iconic plant of gardens across the Southern United States from Maryland to Central Texas. It has been cultivated in many parts of Australia, but is most common in the areas of the country with a Mediterranean climate such as the south-east and west.


title: Nootka Sound

text: Nootka Sound () is a sound of the Pacific Ocean on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island, in the Pacific Northwest, historically known as King George's Sound. It separates Vancouver Island and Nootka Island, part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It played a historically important role in the maritime fur trade.


title: Nootka Sound

text: The inlet is part of the traditional territory of the indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth people. They called it "Mowichat". John R. Jewitt is an Englishman who describes the area in some detail in a memoir about his years as a captive of chief Maquinna from 1802 to 1805.


title: Nootka Sound

text: On August 8, 1774, the Spanish Navy ship "Santiago", under Juan Pérez, entered and anchored in the inlet. Although the Spanish did not land, natives paddled to the ship to trade furs for abalone shells from California. Pérez named the entrance to Nootka Sound "Surgidero de San Lorenzo". The word "surgidero" means "source". When Esteban José Martinez arrived in 1789 he gave Nootka Sound the name "Puerto de San Lorenzo de Nuca". To the Spanish establishment at Friendly Cove he gave the name "Santa Cruz de Nuca".


title: Nootka Sound

text: In March 1778, Captain James Cook of the Royal Navy landed on Bligh Island and named the inlet "King George's Sound". He recorded that the native name was "Nutka" or Nootka, apparently misunderstanding his conversations at "Friendly Cove/Yuquot"; his informant may have been explaining that he was on an island ("itchme nutka", a place you can "go around"). There may also have been confusion with "Nuu-chah-nulth", the natives' autonym (name for themselves). It may also have simply been based on Cook’s mis-pronunciation of Yuquot, the native name of the place. The earlier Spanish and British names for the Sound swiftly went out of use.


title: Nootka Sound

text: At the time, the Spanish monopolized the trade between Asia and North America, and had granted limited licenses to the Portuguese. The Russians had established a growing fur trading system in Alaska. The Spanish began to challenge the Russians, with Pérez's voyage being the first of many to the Pacific Northwest. The British also became increasingly active in the region.


title: Nootka Sound

text: The next European to visit Nootka Sound after James Cook was the British trader James Hanna in August 1785. Hanna traded iron bars for furs. He sold the furs in China for a handsome profit, beginning an era of the Maritime Fur Trade.


title: Nootka Sound

text: In 1786 another maritime fur trader, James Strange, visited Nootka Sound. One of his crew, John Mackay, volunteered to remain at Nootka and work to establish relationships until Strange returned the next year. But Strange never returned. When the trader Charles Barkley arrived at Nootka in the summer of 1787, he was surprised to find John Mackay who, over the year, had learned the Nuu-chah-nulth's language and customs, adapted himself to their ways, and married a young native girl. At first Mackay was welcomed and befriended by Maquinna, but after unknowingly breaking a taboo he was exiled from Maquinna's house and forced to survive on his own. Barkley took Mackay on board his ship, "Imperial Eagle".


title: Nootka Sound

text: Starting in 1774 Spain sent several expeditions to Alaska to assert its long-held claim over the Pacific Northwest which dated back to the 16th century. During the decade 1785–1795 British merchants, encouraged by Sir Joseph Banks and supported by their government, made a sustained attempt to develop British fur trade in the area, despite Spain's claims and navigation rights. The endeavours of these merchants did not last long in the face of Spain's opposition. The challenge was also opposed by Japan holding obdurately to national seclusion. In 1789 Spain sent Sub-Lieutenant Esteban José Martinez, commanding "Princesa" and "San Carlos", to enforce Spanish sovereignty and defend its claims. He arrived in February 1789 and established a settlement and built Fort San Miguel. The ship , under Captain William Douglas and owned by John Meares, was impounded and the Spanish navy seized two other British ships, including . Two American ships in the area were allowed to sail as the United States was Spain's ally (Spain had helped the US in its War of Independence). However, the American ship , under Thomas Humphrey Metcalfe, was seized and taken to San Blas, before being released. The capture of the British ships led to the Nootka Crisis and near war between Britain and Spain. The British challenged Spanish claims to allegedly "un-colonized" land on the Pacific coasts of North and South America. The first Nootka Convention (1790) gave both countries the right to settle along the Pacific coasts, interrupting the Spanish monopoly for the first time in over two centuries. The British quickly sponsored the Vancouver Expedition of exploration. Difficulties in implementing the terms led to a second, and then a third Nootka Convention (1794).


title: Nootka Sound

text: The Nootka Sound controversy also played a part in the French Revolution. The Spanish Bourbon monarchy asked for French support in the dispute in the event that it led to war between Spain and Great Britain. The French Bourbon king Louis XVI wanted to back Spain against Great Britain, but his right to enter France into an alliance on his own prerogative was disputed by the National Assembly. The Assembly maintained that the King's right to determine foreign policy and declare war was subject to the sovereignty of the people. Eventually the Assembly ruled that a proposal for a declaration of war could be initiated by the king, but had to be ratified by the Assembly; this was a major blow to the monarchy.


title: Nootka Sound

text: The Scottish political reformer Thomas Muir had been banished to Port Jackson in Botany Bay in Australia for 14 years for the crime of sedition in 1793. He managed to escape having only spent 13 months there, on board the American merchant ship . After a highly adventurous voyage across the as yet largely uncharted Pacific Ocean to Vancouver Island, "Otter" finally dropped anchor in Nootka Sound on 22 June 1796.


title: Nootka Sound

text: In conversation with José Tovar, the "piloto" (master) of , a Spanish vessel at anchor in the Nootka Sound, Muir learned to his dismay of the presence in neighbouring waters of , the British sloop-of-war under William Robert Broughton. This vessel had visited Port Jackson in Australia shortly before Muir’s escape and, since Broughton had almost certainly become acquainted with the captain or members of the crew, his life was now in real danger.


title: Nootka Sound

text: To be captured while under sentence of transportation meant immediate execution. Once again Muir’s extraordinary luck held out. While a student at Glasgow, he had acquired a fluent command of Spanish and he was now able to persuade Tovar to break his regulations regarding the admission of foreigners into Spanish territory. Changing vessels he sailed with Tovar down the Pacific West Coast to the port of Monterey in Spanish Las Californias.


title: Nootka Sound

text: The chronicles of Pierre François Péron describe Muir's escape from Australia and the voyage across the Pacific to Nootka Sound, and then as far as Monterey, California.


title: Nootka Sound

text: Nootka Sound has not been the scene of any major international disagreements in modern history. It is mentioned in the former unofficial national anthem of English-speaking Canada, "The Maple Leaf Forever", to represent the western extent of Canada's "fair dominion".


title: Nootka Sound

text: In 2001, a two-year-old male orca, later named Luna, was seen alone in Nootka Sound as far inland as the marina at Gold River, British Columbia. Presumed to be an orphan separated from his pod, Luna became a local and international celebrity as a result of his playful and curious behaviour towards tug boats and recreational watercraft on Nootka Sound, and with people, including young children, on the Gold River dock. The popularity of Luna made Nootka Sound and Gold River an international attraction from early 2002 through March 2006 when Luna was killed in an accidental collision with the propeller of the Vancouver-based tugboat, "General Jackson", on Mooyah Bay in Nootka Sound.


title: Nootka Sound

text: Nootka Sound is referred to in the 2017 BBC One drama "Taboo" and is fictionalized as a heavy contention point between the United States, the British Crown and the East India Company over protagonist James Keziah Delaney's inheritance of it.


title: Tears

text: Tears are a clear liquid secreted by the lacrimal glands (tear gland) found in the eyes of all land mammals. Tears are made up of water, electrolytes, proteins, lipids, and mucins that form layers on the surface of eyes. The different types of tears—basal, reflex, and emotional—vary significantly in composition. The functions of tears include lubricating the eyes (basal tears), removing irritants (reflex tears), and also aiding the immune system. Tears also occur as a part of the body's natural pain response. Emotional secretion of tears may serve a biological function by excreting stress-inducing hormones built up through times of emotional distress. Tears have symbolic significance among humans.


title: Tears

text: Tears are made up of three layers: lipid, aqueous, and mucous. Tears are composed of water, salts, antibodies, and lysozymes (antibacterial enzymes); though composition varies among different tear types. The composition of tears caused by an emotional reactions differs from that of tears as a reaction to irritants, such as onion fumes, dust, or allergens. Emotional tears contain higher concentrations of stress hormones such as adrenocorticotropic hormone and leucine enkephalin (a natural pain killer), which suggests that emotional tears play a biological role in balancing stress hormone levels.


title: Tears

text: The lacrimal glands secrete lacrimal fluid, which flows through the main excretory ducts into the space between the eyeball and the lids. When the eyes blink, the lacrimal fluid is spread across the surface of the eye. Lacrimal fluid gathers in the lacrimal lake which is found in the medial part of the eye. The lacrimal papilla is an elevation in the inner side of the eyelid, at the edge of the lacrimal lake. The lacrimal canaliculi open into the papilla. The opening of each canaliculus is the lacrimal punctum. From the punctum, tears will enter the lacrimal sac, then on to the nasolacrimal duct, and finally into the nasal cavity. An excess of tears, as caused by strong emotion, can cause the nose to run. Quality of vision is affected by the stability of the tear film.


title: Tears

text: Some mammals, such as cats, camels, polar bears, seals and aardvarks, have a full translucent third eyelid called a nictitating membrane, while others have a vestigial nictitating membrane. The membrane works to protect and moisten the eyelid while maintaining visibility. It also contributes to the aqueous portion of the tear film and possibly immunoglobulins. Humans and some primates have a much smaller nictitating membrane; this may be because they do not capture prey or root vegetation with their teeth, so that there is no evolutionary advantage of the third eyelid.


title: Tears

text: The trigeminal V (fifth cranial) nerve bears the sensory pathway of the tear reflexes. When the trigeminal nerve is cut, tears from reflexes will stop, while emotional tears will not. The great (superficial) petrosal nerve from cranial nerve VII provides autonomic innervation to the lacrimal gland. It is responsible for the production of much of the aqueous portion of the tear film.


title: Tears

text: In nearly all human cultures, crying is associated with tears trickling down the cheeks and accompanied by characteristic sobbing sounds. Emotional triggers are most often sadness and grief, but crying can also be triggered by anger, happiness, fear, laughter or humor, frustration, remorse, or other strong, intense emotions. Crying is often associated with babies and children. Some cultures consider crying to be undignified and infantile, casting aspersions on those who cry publicly, except if it is due to the death of a close friend or relative. In most Western cultures, it is more socially acceptable for women and children to cry than men, reflecting masculine sex-role stereotypes. In some Latin regions, crying among men is more acceptable. There is evidence for an interpersonal function of crying as tears express a need for help and foster willingness to help in an observer.


title: Tears

text: Some modern psychotherapy movements such as Re-evaluation Counseling encourage crying as beneficial to health and mental well-being. An insincere display of grief or dishonest remorse is sometimes called crocodile tears in reference to an Ancient Greek anecdote that crocodiles would pretend to weep while luring or devouring their prey. In addition, "crocodile tears syndrome" is a colloquialism for Bogorad's syndrome, an uncommon consequence of recovery from Bell's palsy in which faulty regeneration of the facial nerve causes people to shed tears while eating.


title: Tears

text: Bogorad's syndrome, also known as "Crocodile Tears Syndrome", is an uncommon consequence of nerve regeneration subsequent to Bell's palsy or other damage to the facial nerve. Efferent fibers from the superior salivary nucleus become improperly connected to nerve axons projecting to the lacrimal glands, causing one to shed tears (lacrimate) on the side of the palsy during salivation while smelling foods or eating. It is presumed that this would cause salivation while crying due to the inverse improper connection of the lacrimal nucleus to the salivary glands, but this would be less noticeable. The condition was first described in 1926 by its namesake, Russian neuropathologist F. A. Bogorad, in an article titled "Syndrome of the Crocodile Tears" (alternatively, "The Symptom of the Crocodile Tears") that argued the tears were caused by the act of salivation.


title: Tears

text: Keratoconjunctivitis sicca, known in the vernacular as dry eye, is a very common disorder of the tear film. Despite the eyes being dry, those affected can still experience watering of the eyes, which is, in fact, a response to irritation caused by the original tear film deficiency. Lack of Meibomian gland secretion can mean that the tears are not enveloped in a hydrophobic film coat, leading to tears spilling onto the face.


title: Tears

text: Treatment for dry eyes to compensate for the loss of tear film include eye-drops composed of methyl cellulose or carboxy- methyl cellulose or hemi-cellulose in strengths of either 0.5% or 1% depending upon the severity of drying up of the cornea.


title: Tears

text: Familial dysautonomia is a genetic condition that can be associated with a lack of overflow tears (Alacrima) during emotional crying.


title: Tears

text: Obstruction of the punctum, nasolacrimal canal, or nasolacrimal duct can cause even normal levels of the basal tear to overflow onto the face (Epiphora), giving the appearance of constant psychic tearing. This can have significant social consequences.


title: Tears

text: Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) is a condition involving episodic uncontrollable laughter or crying. PBA mostly occurs in people with neurological injuries affecting how the brain controls emotions. Scientists believe PBA results from prefrontal cortex damage. PBA often involves crying. Hence, PBA is mistakable for depression. But PBA is neurological; depression is psychological. patients with PBA do not experience typical depression symptoms like sleep disturbances or appetite loss.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: Utopia is the ninth studio album by Icelandic singer-musician Björk. It was primarily produced by Björk and Venezuelan electronic record producer Arca, and released on 24 November 2017 through One Little Independent Records in the United Kingdom and The Orchard Enterprises in the United States.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: The album was acclaimed by music critics for its production, songwriting and Björk's vocals, and later received a nomination for Best Alternative Music Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, becoming Björk's eighth consecutive nomination in the category.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: Björk began working on "Utopia" soon after releasing "Vulnicura" in 2015. Upon winning the award for International Female Solo Artist at the 2016 Brit Awards, Björk did not appear as she was busy recording her new album. In an interview published in March 2016, Björk likened the writing to "paradise" as opposed to "Vulnicura" being "hell... like divorce". Speaking to "The Fader" in March 2017, filmmaker and collaborator Andrew Thomas Huang said that he had been involved with Björk on her new album, stating that "quite a bit of it" had already been written, and that the "new album's gonna be really future-facing, in a hopeful way that I think is needed right now."


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: "Utopia" was announced via social media on 2 August 2017 with a handwritten note by Björk. The announcement coincided with "Dazed"s autumn 2017 cover issue with Björk which included the announcement of few song titles. The lead single, "The Gate" was announced on 12 September for a digital release the following week but received a surprise midnight release on 15 September. The same day of the single's release, Björk announced the album's title, "Utopia", during an interview with Nowness, stating she had "a thousand name suggestions" and "couldn't think of anything better" but it was open to change. The release date of 24 November and cover art were unveiled on 31 October. Jesse Kanda, Arca's frequent collaborator and director of Björk's "Mouth Mantra" music video designed the cover, which incorporated a silicone mask designed by frequent collaborator and mask maker James Merry. However, the makeup was done by Berlin-based drag queen Hungry. Jade Gomez of "The Fader" described the cover as "having a sense of eerily detached femininity."


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: On 15 November 2017, "Utopia"s second single, "Blissing Me", was released as a digital download only, accompanied by a music video, directed by Tim Walker and Emma Dalzell, was released the following day.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: The album was released on 24 November 2017, with those who purchased the album receiving cryptocurrency in the form of 100 audiocoins (with a value of about $0.19), through a partnership with British blockchain startup Blockpool.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: While promoting "Utopia", Björk revealed that she plans working on a live version of the album beginning in the spring of 2018. "There were a lot of flute things I didn't completely explore," she said, "like more soloists and mysterious kind of flute playing," and added "We have some additional flute songs and some different kind of angles."


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: On 16 August 2019, nearly two years after the album was released, Björk announced the "Utopia Bird Call Boxset" as a way to celebrate the end of the "Utopia" era, a collection featuring 14 hand-carved wooden flutes that imitate various bird calls. Björk personally selected each type of flute, working with a French company called Quelle Est Belle, and the set comes with a booklet detailing how to use each flute and which bird it imitates. In addition to the flutes, the box set comes with a custom-made USB stick that features the music of "Utopia", the "Utopia" music videos and remixes, and an exclusive unreleased instrumental track called "Arpeggio". In a statement, Björk explained, ""Utopia" is so much about birdsong and sonically the mutation between synth/bird, bird/flute, flute/synth... so I got very excited when i found these handmade wooden flutes imitating precisely particular birds." The set is valued at £500 and was released on 3 December 2019.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: "Utopia" is an avant-garde and folktronica album. With fourteen tracks in total, the album clocks in at 71 minutes and 38 seconds, making it the longest of Björk's studio albums to date. The first comprehensive media coverage on the album came from an article published by "Dazed". Björk stated that the album is an exploration of utopia, with its writing process coinciding with her own personal, political and environmental concerns. She made headlines by describing the record as her "Tinder album". She later clarified her comment, saying that the album would cover a different emotional terrain than her last record which she constantly referred to as her heartbreak album.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: The "Dazed" article revealed just how involved Arca, co-producer on "Vulnicura", was on "Utopia". Unlike their previous collaboration where Arca came on board after all the songs and string arrangements were written, the new album saw them collaborating from the start. Arca had encouraged her to pursue a direction she'd hinted at on obscure cuts like "Batabid", a "Pagan Poetry" B-side, and "Ambergris March" from "Drawing Restraint 9". According to Björk, their collaboration was "a musical conversation that was cross-generational, cross-Atlantic, h[er] encouraging me to go into this area that I sort of suggested years ago, but didn't necessarily go all the way".


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: Björk said that air was a conscious, stylistic choice for the album after frequently composing for strings arrangements in her previous work: "I started a 12 piece Icelandic flute section and spent a few months recording and rehearsing with them [...] We decided to have synths that have a lot of air sounds in them and flutes that sound synthy." She said the melodies were composed while out walking in the Icelandic wilderness, and once she had completed the melodies, she wrote the flute arrangements, later superimposing melodies. The lyrics were the final element in the songwriting process. The "Dazed" article went on to reveal that the tranquil sounds of bird calls bridge a number of the tracks together, a similar flourish to her 2007 album, "Volta". These sounds came from original field recordings by Björk herself but were also sampled from Jean C. Roché's 1973 album, "Oiseaux du Vénézuéla", which Björk considers as one of her favorite albums.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: The "Dazed" article revealed many song titles including lead single "The Gate". "'The Gate' is essentially a love song," says Björk, "but I say 'love' in a more transcendent way. "Vulnicura" was about a very personal loss, and I think this new album is about a love that's even greater. It's about rediscovering love – but in a spiritual way, for lack of a better word." Two additional song titles were released by "Dazed", "Losss" and "Features Creatures". "Losss" was co-produced by Texas-based producer Rabit, who stated that the song was his first outside production work, and that the song serves a reminder of "how force of will is the ultimate force". "Features Creatures" talks about seeing someone with the same accent as a lover.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: In an interview with "Harpcolumn.com", harpist Katie Buckley revealed that the songs "Arisen My Senses" and "Blissing Me" were recorded over two years before the album's release, and she was not even sure those songs would appear on the final record. "The final harp part on 'Losss' was recorded this past summer," she revealed, and it was not until "Blissing Me" was released as a single a week before the album's release date that she got to hear the finished song. "I was completely surprised and quite excited by how exposed the harp was! When you're just recording with click track, you really just have no idea. I have done a lot of wonderful things here in Iceland, but this is one of the coolest!" She said that Björk composed all the harp parts and Buckley's work was predominately as performer but also editor, revealing that originally "Blissing Me" was written for a harp trio but she suggested that a harp quartet would better capture what Björk was trying to accomplish.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: In an interview published on "The Creative Independent" on 14 December 2017, Björk revealed that there were initially two different versions of the studio album, one without birdsong and with each song separated by silence as in a traditional studio album and the final version as released with birdsong and many of the tracks cross-fading into each other.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: By the end of 2017, two singles had been released from the album, both prior to "Utopia"s 24 November release date. The first was "The Gate", released digitally and on limited edition single-sided black vinyl. The single version is slightly different from the final album mix, with the bird song that accompanies the flute and vocal intro absent. The vinyl version is different still, with an additional 54 second flute instrumental outro added at the end of the song.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: "Utopia's" second single, "Blissing Me", was released a week before the album released. A month later, on 13 December 2017, a two track "Blissing Me" remix EP was released featuring two new mixes, the first of which was a collaboration with Brooklyn singer Serpentwithfeet who contributes new lyrics and beats to the track. Björk had previously praised the singer in a September 2016 article with "The Guardian". The second remix was a "Harp Only" version of "Blissing Me" which has been described as "heavenly" by "Consequence of Sound". A limited edition turquoise vinyl version of the "Blissing Me" remixes was released in February 2018.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: The third single "Arisen My Senses" was released on 21 March 2018, with a remix EP featuring three remixes from Lanark artefax, Jlin and Kelly Lee Owens. A vinyl release of the EP was released on 25 May.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: On 6 September 2019, two remixes of "Features Creatures" were released as digital singles, one by Fever Ray and the other by the Knife. Both remixes, as well as Björk's own remix of Fever Ray's 2017 song, "This Country", are collected in a limited-edition 12-inch EP titled "Country Creatures", released on 1 November 2019.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: The first two music videos from "Utopia" accompanied the album's first two singles, "The Gate" and "Blissing Me". "The Gate" was directed by Björk's frequent collaborator Andrew Thomas Huang and debuted to critical acclaim, eventually being named the best music video of 2017 by Pitchfork. Of the video, Huang said, "'The Gate' picks up where 2015's "Vulnicura" left off. It is the first glimpse into Björk's utopia. The doorway lies within the wound from "Vulnicura", which now appears transformed into a prismatic portal channeled between the chests of two lovers. Not lovers in the quotidian romantic sense, but in a broader cosmological way... "The Gate" is a declaration of hope sung by a woman refracted and re-formed into a luminous whole". He went on to describe the experience as the "culmination of my five-year collaboration with Björk".


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: "Blissing Me" was directed by Tim Walker and Emma Dalzell. Critics noted the video's simplicity when compared to the VR experiments of the "Vulnicura" videos and heavy reliance on CGI on "The Gate". Fashion magazine "Vogue" praised this quality, declaring it "one of her most restrained moments in recent memory... despite her Gucci platforms". In addition to her yellow Gucci shoes, Björk wears a ruffled, blue semi-sheer tulle jumpsuit by British designer Pam Hogg. James Merry, frequent Björk collaborator/mask maker, adorned her braids with flowers and other delicate ornaments. Björk's makeup was the work of Berlin-based drag artist Hungry, who also collaborated in the album's cover art.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: A third music video, "Utopia", was released on 8 December 2017. It was directed by Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones and features Björk "in yet another one of her fantastical worlds, this one populated by flutes and blue birds and soft pink viscera." In comparing the video for "Utopia" against the album's previous two videos, Hanna Flemming of "Paste" said, "Björk finally gives us what is most nearly the living room or gathering valley of this (utopian) realm, fully-fledged, realized and picturesque."


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: The fourth music video from "Utopia" was of the album's opening track, "Arisen My Senses". It depicts Björk's rebirth with "the singer emerging from a womb, before entering a fantasy world as a fiery, feathered, winged creature" and has been described as "artfully disturbing". The video was made in close collaboration between Björk, director Jesse Kanda, with whom the Icelandic singer had collaborated with on the video for "Vulnicura"s 2015 music video for "Mouth Mantra", and Arca, "Utopia's" co-producer. The video was presented by WeTransfer and debuted on their site on 18 December 2017. It was described as "her hottest (music video) to date" by "Paste" but Arca's appearance in the video was criticised by her fanbase. Both Björk and Arca addressed the controversy, with Arca writing on Instagram, "so many comments from ppl saying i should stay away from björk, ruined the arisen video by appearing or whatever .. when i've clicked thru to ur profiles i've only found faces that look sweet, soft body language and tender eyed selfies! to you: i send a soft kiss back". Björk replied to Arca's message later, comparing Arca's appearance in the video to the late British musician Mark Bell's appearance in her 2008 video for "Declare Independence", both of whom co-wrote the respective songs: "I am surprised why some of my fans have a difficulty with this," and asked fans "be open minded to the complexities of musical union between generations and different sexual orientations. Making this video with Jesse Kanda was a precious signage for us to recognize collaborations across all those."


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: On 10 May 2019, Björk released the music video for "Tabula Rasa". It was directed by Tobias Gremmler who created the digital back drops and projections for her 2019 tour Cornucopia. Gremmler offered some description on his concept, saying, "The visual transformation of Björk into faun-like flowers and mountainous landscapes embodies the utopian concept of a harmonious coexistence between nature and human based on empathy." In a social media post, Björk revealed her "sublime gratitude for (her) 18 months of work" with Gremmler and "the ambiguity of that meeting point between a song and a moving image."


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: On 6 August 2019, the music video / digital projection for "Losss" premiered on YouTube, again directed by Gremmler, which "Rolling Stone" called "mind-bending". Björk stated that, "No one captures digital sensuality like (Gremmler), elegant and expressive!" and added that the visuals were based "on the conversations between our inner optimist and pessimist. When I recorded this I tried to sing in a deeper tone for one of them in the left speaker and a higher optimist in the right. And if you listen on headphones it will match the imagery." The video was originally conceived for multiple screens for the live Cornucopia show.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: On 30 October 2017, Björk was announced as one of the headliners for the All Points East music festival in London. She is scheduled to perform on 27 May 2018, her first confirmed live gig of the Utopia Tour. On 2 November, another live date was announced, this time at the Aarhus in Denmark as part of the Northside Festival, to be held on 7 June 2018. Björk first performed at Aarhus on 9 September 1993, the third night of her first concert tour as a solo artist. The Utopia Tour began, however, with two special dress rehearsals in Reykjavík, Iceland on 9 and 12 April 2018, which opened to positive reviews from the Icelandic press.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: 11 months after the final Utopia Tour concert, Björk unveiled her new live show Cornucopia at New York's brand new Hudson Yards venue, The Shed, where she continued exploring "Utopia"'s live potential with the same musicians that joined her for the Utopia Tour in addition to the renowned Icelandic choir Hamrahlíðarkórinn plus a series of visual and theatrical artists that included graphic designer Tobias Gremmler and Argentinian film director Lucrecia Martel. Björk's Cornucopia opened on 9 May 2019 to positive reviews.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: Björk appeared on the BBC television series "Later... with Jools Holland" on 22 May 2018 after a break of six years from performing on TV. Her last television appearance was during the second year of the Biophilia Tour in 2012 when she appeared on "The Colbert Report" and sang "Cosmogony", the second single from "Biophilia" which was released eight months prior to the show's taping. Björk last appeared on "Later" on 22 November 2011 where she performed a set of three songs from the then just released "Biophilia". An extended hour-long broadcast of the show on 26 May featured two additional songs, "The Gate" and "Blissing Me".


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: "Utopia" was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 82, based on 35 reviews. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.5 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: Reviewing "Utopia" for "The Boston Globe", Terence Cawley found that the "both resolutely avant-garde and absolutely beautiful" album showcases Björk and Arca "pushing each other to create something entirely unique". In "The A.V. Club", Kelsey J. Waite wrote that Arca's presence does not detract from the album's "seamlessness" with Björk's past work, while noting that "the duo's experiments never come off as indulgent; they feel like physical, necessary expressions of the album's elemental emotions". Kitty Empire of "The Observer" stated that "Utopia" largely eschews the "austere, extreme" themes of "Vulnicura" and instead "harkens back to the nature love of older albums such as "Biophilia" and "Vespertine", and the default lust for life Björk has exhibited throughout her long career", while Will Hermes of "Rolling Stone" remarked that it "radiates playfulness and pleasure". Heather Phares of AllMusic found that lyrically, the album is not "quite as idyllic as its title implies, but its mix of idealism and realism makes it an even greater success as a manifesto for radically open love and as a document of thriving after loss." "Spin"s Winston Cook-Wilson called the album "full-on music-theater unlike anything Björk has yet attempted" and credited Björk for managing to "surprise with unforced and meaningful reinvention".


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: Describing "Utopia" as "almost completely a sensory experience", Leah Greenblatt of "Entertainment Weekly" was more reserved in her praise, remarking that the album's focus on soundscapes rendered it less accessible than Björk's 1990s and early 2000s output, despite commending Björk's continued artistic reinvention. "The Daily Telegraph" critic Neil McCormick found that the album lacked the emotional focus of "Vulnicura", adding that its concept of "women fleeing patriarchy to form an eco-island community" was largely indecipherable from the lyrics. Alexis Petridis of "The Guardian" felt that despite the "enormous amount of thought and care... expended on the sound of the album", it lacks strong melodies to anchor several of its tracks.


title: Utopia (Björk album)

text: "Utopia" peaked at number 75 on the "Billboard" 200 chart in the US. It debuted at number 25 in the UK and at number 48 on Japan's Oricon Weekly Albums chart with 1,593 copies sold in its first week of release in Japan.


title: Kate Atkinson (writer)

text: Kate Atkinson (born 20 December 1951) is an English writer of novels, plays and short stories. She is known for creating the Jackson Brodie series of detective novels, which has been adapted into the BBC One series "Case Histories". She won the Whitbread Book of the Year prize in 1995 in the Novels category for "Behind the Scenes at the Museum", winning again in 2013 and 2015 under its new name the Costa Book Awards.


title: Kate Atkinson (writer)

text: The daughter of a shopkeeper, Atkinson was born in York, the setting for several of her books. She studied English literature at the University of Dundee, gaining her master's degree in 1974. Atkinson subsequently studied for a doctorate in American literature, with a thesis titled "The post-modern American short story in its historical context". She failed at the viva (oral examination) stage. After leaving the university, she took on a variety of jobs, from home help to legal secretary and teacher.


title: Kate Atkinson (writer)

text: Her first novel, "Behind the Scenes at the Museum", won the 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year and went on to be a "Sunday Times" bestseller. Since then, she has published further novels, as well as plays and short stories.


title: Kate Atkinson (writer)

text: Some of her books are part of a series of novels, starting with "Case Histories", which feature the character of Jackson Brodie as a private investigator and former police inspector.


title: Kate Atkinson (writer)

text: Atkinson has criticised the media's coverage of her work when she won the Whitbread award, for example, it was the fact that she was a "single mother" who lived outside London that received the most attention. In a 2018 interview she declared that she did not spend time in great literary parties or the London high life.


title: Kate Atkinson (writer)

text: In 2009, she donated the short story "Lucky We Live Now" to Oxfam's Ox-Tales project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Atkinson's story was published in the "Earth" collection.


title: Kate Atkinson (writer)

text: In March 2010, Atkinson appeared at the York Literature Festival, giving a world-premier reading from an early chapter from her novel "Started Early, Took My Dog" (2010), which is set mainly in the English city of Leeds.


title: Kate Atkinson (writer)

text: Atkinson was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to literature. On 30 November 2018, she was the guest on BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs".


title: Kate Atkinson (writer)

text: The first four Jackson Brodie novels have been adapted by other writers for the BBC under the series titled "Case Histories", featuring Jason Isaacs as Brodie.


title: Kate Atkinson (writer)

text: In 2015 in the United States, Shonda Rhimes was in the process of developing a pilot called "The Catch", based on a treatment written by Atkinson, and starring Mireille Enos.


title: Kate Atkinson (writer)

text: Her 2013 novel "Life After Life" was screened as a BBC drama of the same name in 2022, with Thomasin McKenzie in the role of Ursula.


title: Kate Atkinson (writer)

text: Atkinson has been married twice: while a student, to the father of her first daughter Eve, and subsequently to the father of her second daughter Helen.


title: Vokkaliga

text: Vokkaliga (also transliterated as Vokkaligar, Vakkaliga, Wakkaliga, Okkaligar, Okkiliyan) is a community, or a group of closely-related castes, from the Indian state of Karnataka. They are also present in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu.


title: Vokkaliga

text: As a community of warriors and cultivators they have historically had notable demographic, political, and economic dominance in Old Mysore (region). It is believed by some historians that the Rashtrakutas and Western Gangas were of Vokkaliga origin. The Vokkaligas occupied administrative positions in the Vijayanagara Empire. They later formed the early rulers of the Nayakas of Keladi. The Vokkaligas had the most families in the ruling classes of the 17th century when the Arasu caste of the Wodeyars was created to exclude them. Under the Kingdom of Mysore they operated autonomously and also served in the army and militia. The Vokkaligas formed the landed-gentry and warrior class of Karnataka.


title: Vokkaliga

text: Most subsects of the Vokkaliga community are designated as Forward castes by the Central Government of India. While some subsects in rural areas, are designated as Other Backward Class by the Karnataka Government.


title: Vokkaliga

text: Vokkaliga is a Kannada-language word found in some of the earliest available literary works of the language, such as the "Kavirajamarga", "Pampa Bharata", and "Mangaraja's Nighantu". It has been used as an appellation for the cultivator community since time immemorial. Generally, the term has come to mean an agriculturist though various etymological derivations are available, including:


title: Vokkaliga

text: According to historian Suryanath U. Kamath, the word "Gowda" derives from "Gavunda". The German Indologist Gustav Oppert opined that the root of ‘Gowda’ is a Dravidian word meaning "mountain".


title: Vokkaliga

text: The term "Gowda" and its archaic forms in Old Kannada such as "Gamunda", "Gavunda", "Gavuda", appear frequently in the inscriptions of Karnataka. The "Epigraphia Carnatica" is replete with references to land grants, donations to temples, hero-stones ("Veeragallu"), stone edicts and copper plates dating back to the age of the Western Ganga Dynasty (est. 350 CE) and earlier. The Gavundas were landlords that collected taxes and rendered military service to the Kings. Noboru Karashima says the Gavundas had functions corresponding to that of the Chola Vellala Nattars. The majority of the gavundas were derived from the Vokkaligas; but by the 10th century, the term gavunda also came to denote chiefship of a community or group and was adopted by the heads of other communities assimilated into the early medieval state.


title: Vokkaliga

text: The Vokkaligas of Tamil Nadu use "Gowdar" and "Gounder" as their surname. The Tamil origins to the word "Gounder" claim its derivation from "kavundan" or "kamindan" (one who watches over).


title: Vokkaliga

text: Whether the name "Gauda/Gowda" is an allusion to the Gauḍa region or not has not been conclusively proved.


title: Vokkaliga

text: The term Vokkaliga was used to refer to Canarese cultivators. Vokkaliga community has several sub-groups within its fold such as Gangadhikara, Namdhari Vokkaliga, Morasu Vokkaliga, Kunchitiga, Halikkar(Palikkar) Vokkaliga, Reddy Vokkaliga, Gounder, Tulu Gowda. etc.


title: Vokkaliga

text: Exogamy at the family/clan level is strictly controlled by using the idiom of Mane Devaru (the patron god of the given exogamic clan) which dictates that the followers of same "Mane Devaru" are siblings and marriage is thus forbidden, allowing marital alliances only with another clan and not within.


title: Vokkaliga

text: The Gangadikara Vokkaligas, also known as the Gangatkars are numerically the largest among the Vokkaliga. The Gangadikaras are mostly found in the Mysore, Mandya, Chamarajnagar, Hassan, Bangalore, Ramanagara and Tumkur districts of Karnataka. Gangawadi was the name for the area covering these districts, ruled over by the Western Ganga Dynasty and Gangadikara is a contraction of the term Gangawadikara (A man of Gangawadi). According to Burton Stein and L. K. Iyer the Ganga rulers were Gangadikara Vokkaliga chiefs. The Gangadikara Gowdas claim to be descendants of the erstwhile Ganga rulers. The administrative setup of Gangas vested power in the Ooru Gauda, Nadu Gauda, Pergade (archaic for Hegde, Pergade->Peggade->Heggade) and so on, at various levels of administration and apart from administrative duties, the Gauda was expected to raise militia when called for.


title: Vokkaliga

text: The Gangadikaras and other Vokkaligas were considered analogous to the Vellalar Chieftains of Tamil Country. They are Deccan Kshatriyas corresponding to Marathas of Maharashtra. The Gangadikaras and the Kongu Vellalars could possibly share a common origin. In fact, the word "Konga" is the Tamil equivalent for "Ganga".


title: Vokkaliga

text: The Gangadikaras have two primary sections – the Bujjanige (or Dhaare Shastradavaru) and the Pettige (or Veelyada Shastradavaru) based on differences in rituals performed during the wedding ceremony. They can be Shaiva or Vaishnava in religious affiliation (called Mullu and Dasa sects). Cheluru Gangadikaras (also called Chelaru), another small sub-sect, are said to be strictly vegetarian, a vestige of the times when the Gangas followed Jainism. Oral traditions of the people maintain that after the decline of the Ganga power they reverted to Hinduism retaining certain Jain practices. The Gangadikara Vokkaligas have as many as 40 "kulas", exogamous clans, known in Kannada as "Bedagu".


title: Vokkaliga

text: The border regions of Karnataka around modern-day Bangalore, Tumkur and Hosur was known as Morasu-nadu and was dominated by Morasu Vokkaligas.


title: Vokkaliga

text: The chief endogamous divisions of the Morasu Vokkaligas are Morasu proper, Musuku, Palyada sime and Reddy. They speak both Kannada and Telugu. Telugu is restricted to the two sections of Reddy and Palyada Sime. The usual caste titles are Gowda for the Kannada section and Reddy for the Telugu section.


title: Vokkaliga

text: Many Palegars belonged to the Musuku group. The Palegars of Devanhalli, Dodballapur, Yelahanka, Magadi, Hoskote, Kolar, Anekal and Koratagere were Morasu Vokkaligas. The famous Kempe Gowda I, the founder of Bangalore City, was the most distinguished of the Palegars of Magadi. The family of Kempe Gowda migrated from Kanchi in the 15th century. The Devanahalli Fort was built by Malla Bhaire Gowda to immortalise Bhaire Gowda, the headman of one of the seven clans that migrated from Kanchi.


title: Vokkaliga

text: Kunchitigas are concentrated mostly in Tumkur, Chitradurga, Bangalore and Mysore. They are also found in Salem, Coimbatore and Theni districts of Tamil Nadu. They were traditionally agriculturists and were known for being a successful and enterprising group.


title: Vokkaliga

text: The Namdhari Vokkaliga is the oldest and second largest Vokkaliga sub-group and are concentrated in Malenadu. The Namdharis were Jains who converted to Vaishnavism along with their Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana and are followers of Sri Ramanujacharya.


title: Vokkaliga

text: The Hoysalas were possibly of Namdhari Vokkaliga origin. Historians refer to the founders of the Hoysala dynasty as natives of Malenadu based on numerous inscriptions calling them "Maleparolganda" or "Lord of the Male (hills) chiefs" ("Malepas"). Some historians believe Hoysala originated from Sosevuru (Modern Angadi, Mudigere taluk). Hoysalas also strongly supported Kannada language. The early Hoysala chiefs had alliances with the Western Ganga Dynasty and claimed to be heirs to the Gangas. Several of the major feudatories of the Hoysalas were Vokkaligas.


title: Vokkaliga

text: Hallikkar Vokkaligas or Pallikar Vokkaligas are a subsect of Vokkaligas. They were mainly engaged in the rearing of cattle. According to M. N. Srinivas, the Hallikar were related to the Gollas and Kurubas. The namesake is the best in the far-famed Amrit Mahal cattle.


title: Vokkaliga

text: Tulu and Arebhase Gowda (Gauda) are the subsect of the Vokkaliga community located primarily in the South Canara District, Kodagu District, Indian state of Karnataka and Bandadka village of Kasaragod, Kerala State. They are said to have 10 Kutumba and 18 Bari as their primordial root families, from which a Nūru Mane or "hundred families" arose.


title: Vokkaliga

text: Jogi Vokkaligas are mostly found in parts of Chitradurga, Shivamogga, Tumkur and Mandya districts. They worship Bhairava. They were the teachers (mattpati) of Adichunchanagiri matt during its early days. The Jogi are disciples of yoga and traditionally wear saffron-colored clothing.


title: Vokkaliga

text: They were residents of the ancient Kingdom of Nonambavadi which was ruled by the Pallavas up till 10th century A.D. The Pallavas also called themselves as Nonambadhi Raja, Nonamba Pallava, Pallavadhi Raja, etc. This section of the Vokkaligas are Lingayats by faith. In most respects, they follow the same customs as the Gangadhikara Vokkaligas.


title: Vokkaliga

text: They are Vokkaligas found chiefly in the Shimoga and Chitradurga Districts. They were originally Jains, though many converted to the Lingayat and Hindu faiths. The Hindus worship both Siva and Vishnu, while the Jains worship the Jain Tirthankaras and Hindu Gods as well. The non-Lingayats, are divided into


title: Vokkaliga

text: Huvvinavaru ("Those of flowers") and Hongeyavaru ("Those of the Honge Mara"). Sadas had a high social status due to their strict vegetarianism and total abstinence. They have the usual Kattemane form of caste organization. The use the caste title Gowda.


title: Vokkaliga

text: The varna system of Brahmanic ritual ranking never really took hold in South Indian society. The two intermediate dvija varnas—the Kshatriyas and Vaishyas—did not exist.


title: Vokkaliga

text: There were essentially three classes: Brahmin, non-Brahmin and Dalit. Vokkaligas were considered non-Brahmin upper-castes.


title: Vokkaliga

text: Therefore Vokkaligas along with other ruling castes like Bunts, Marathas and Nairs were classified as "Upper shudra"/"Sat shudra" during the British Raj. This ritual status was not accepted by the Vokkaligas and was misleading as historically, dominant land-holding castes like the Vokkaligas, Vellalars and Reddys belonged to the ruling classes and were analogous to the Kshatriyas of the Brahmanical society.


title: Vokkaliga

text: Before the 20th century Vokkaligas were the landed gentry and agricultural caste of Karnataka. Despite the community enjoying the status of chieftains and zamindars, there were also a lot of small landholding farmers. They, along with the Lingayats, owned most of the cultivated land in the state. Therefore they were considered forward castes and dominant-majority communities. In 1961, Karnataka passed a new Land Reforms Act under the then Revenue minister and idealist Kadidal Manjappa (a Vokkaliga). This was followed by another Land Reform Act passed in 1973 by Ex-Chief Minister Devaraj Urs. These acts redistributed land from the Vokkaliga landlords to the landless and land-poor.


title: Jewell (singer)

text: Jewell Caples (June 12, 1968 – May 6, 2022), better known as Jewell (), was an American contemporary R&B singer best known for her work with Death Row Records in the early 1990s. She was called the "First Lady of Death Row Records".


title: Jewell (singer)

text: From 1992 to 1997, Jewell provided vocals on albums from various Death Row artists such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and 2Pac, in addition to motion picture soundtracks produced by the label. Her biggest solo success was her 1994 cover of Shirley Brown's song "Woman to Woman", which peaked at #72 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and #16 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.