title: Luang Prabang

text: Xieng Dong Xieng Thong experienced a brief period of Khmer suzerainty under Jayavarman VII from 1185 to 1191. By 1180 the Sipsong Panna had regained their independence from the Khmers, however, and in 1238 an internal uprising in the Khmer outpost of Sukhothai expelled the Khmer overlords. Xieng Dong Xieng Thong in 1353 became the capital of the Lan Xang kingdom. In 1359 the Khmer king from Angkor gave the Phra Bang to his son-in-law, the first Lang Xang monarch Fa Ngum (1353-1373); to provide Buddhist legitimacy both to Fa Ngum's rule and by extension to the sovereignty of Laos and was used to spread Theravada Buddhism in the new kingdom. The capital name was changed to Luangphabang, where it was kept, named after the Buddha image. Luang Prabang was briefly occupied by the Vietnamese forces during Emperor Lê Thánh Tông's 1478–1480 expedition against Lan Xang and Lanna. The capital was moved in 1560 by King Setthathirath I to Vientiane, which remains the capital today.


title: Luang Prabang

text: In 1707, Lan Xang fell apart because of a dynastic struggle and Luang Prabang became the capital of the independent Kingdom of Luang Prabang. When France annexed Laos, the French recognised Luang Prabang as the royal residence of Laos. Eventually, the ruler of Luang Prabang became synonymous with the figurehead of Laos. When Laos achieved independence, the king of Luang Prabang, Sisavang Vong, became the head of state of the Kingdom of Laos.


title: Luang Prabang

text: The town was the scene of many events during and in the aftermath of World War II and it was occupied by several foreign countries during the war (Vichy France, Thailand, Imperial Japan, Free France, and Nationalist China). Initially the Vichy French controlled the city but lost it to Thai forces following the Franco-Thai War of 1940–1941. On 9 March 1945, a nationalist group declared Laos once more independent, with Luang Prabang as its capital but on 7 April 1945 two battalions of Japanese troops occupied the city. The Japanese attempted to force Sisavang Vong (the King of Luang Prabang) to declare Laotian independence but on 8 April he instead simply declared an end to Laos' status as a French protectorate. The King then secretly sent Prince Kindavong to represent Laos to the Allied forces and Sisavang Vatthana as representative to the Japanese. Following Japan's surrender to the Allies, Free French forces were sent to reoccupy Laos and entered Luang Prabang on 25 August, at which time the King assured the French that Laos remained a French colonial protectorate. In September the Chinese Nationalist forces arrived to receive the surrender of the remaining Japanese forces but also quickly set about buying up the Laotian opium crop.


title: Luang Prabang

text: In April and May 1946, the French attempted to recapture Laos by using paratroops to retake Vientiane and Luang Prabang and drive Phetsarath and the Lao Issara ministers out of Laos and into Thailand and Vietnam. During the First Indochina War, the Viet Minh and Pathet Lao forces attempted to capture the city several times in 1953 and 1954, but were stopped before they could reach it by French forces. During the Laotian Civil War of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, a secret American airbase was located at Luang Prabang and it was the scene of fighting. Luang Prabang remained the royal capital until 1975, when the Pathet Lao communist forces seized power with North Vietnamese support and dissolved the monarchy.


title: Luang Prabang

text: Luang Prabang has both natural and historical sites. Among the natural tourism sites are the Kuang Si Falls, Tat Sae Waterfalls, and Pak Ou Caves. Elephant riding is offered at some sites. Phou Si, in the center of the town, has broad views of the town and river systems, and is a popular place to watch the sun setting over the Mekong River. At the end of the main street of Luang Prabang is a night market where stalls sell shirts, bracelets, and other souvenirs. The Haw Kham Royal Palace Museum and the Wat Xieng Thong temple are among the best known historical sites. The town, particularly the main street, is dotted with many smaller wats such as Wat Hosian Voravihane. Every morning at sunrise, monks walk in a procession through the streets accepting alms offered by local residents, an event popular with tourists. Mountain biking is quite common, with people often biking around the town or to the waterfalls for the day.


title: Luang Prabang

text: Down the Mekong River, a 15-minute boat ride from the city centre, Ban Chan (the pottery village ) is an interesting place. Luang Prabang received 'Best City' in the Wanderlust Travel Awards 2015.


title: Luang Prabang

text: Luang Prabang has a rich artistic and culinary history and the city's cooks were hired by the king. Typical local dishes include: Or lam (O-lam, the favourite dish of Luang Prabang locals), Luang Prabang sausage, mokpa (steamed fish), and Kaipen made from Mekong River moss (served fried) with the Luang Prabang's famous Jeow Bong.


title: Luang Prabang

text: Luang Prabang is served by Luang Prabang International Airport with non-stop flights to adjoining countries.


title: Luang Prabang

text: Luang Prabang is served by Route 13, which connects to Vang Vieng and Vientiane to the south, and to Boten in the north. The road is paved, though the surface is in poor condition at places. Since 2014, a new road connects Kasi (close to Vang Vieng) to Luang Prabang, allowing the trip to be made in about 3 hours (compared to 5 hours via Route 13). Several daily buses run from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, taking 11–13 hours.


title: Luang Prabang

text: The road from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang is poorly maintained, remote, unlit, unmarked and dangerous for the unfamiliar, particularly in the wet season. Buses regularly travel the route in 14–16 hours.


title: Luang Prabang

text: If coming from Vietnam, sleeper buses can be caught from Hanoi to either Luang Prabang or Vang Vieng.


title: Luang Prabang

text: The Mekong River itself is also an important transportation link. At Chiang Khong it is possible to hire a barge to cross the river. A trip from Huay Xai, across from Thailand, downstream to Luang Prabang takes two days by slow boat, typically with a stop at Pakbeng.


title: Luang Prabang

text: Beginning December 2021, Luang Prabang is served by the high speed Vientiane–Boten railway. The railway parallels Route 13, and serve as Laos' first major north-south railway line, from Boten at the Chinese border in the north to Vientiane in the south. The complete journey takes less than three hours by train instead of three days by road.


title: Luang Prabang

text: Luang Prabang features a tropical wet and dry climate ("Aw") under the Köppen climate classification. While the city is generally very warm throughout the year, it is noticeably cooler during December and January. Luang Prabang also experiences wet and dry seasons, with the wet season from April until October, and the dry season during the remaining five months. The city receives approximately of precipitation annually.


title: Chanson de l'Oignon

text: According to legend, it originated among the Old Guard Grenadiers of Napoleon's Imperial Guard. Before the Battle of Marengo, Napoleon found some grenadiers rubbing an onion on their bread. "Very good," he said, "there is nothing better than an onion for marching on the road to glory."


title: Chanson de l'Oignon

text: The verses of the Chanson de l'Oignon are in 6/8, while the refrain is in 2/4. This has the effect of rendering the verses more lyrical and the refrain more military, though both remain the same tempo as befits a marching song.


title: Taira clan

text: The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided into four major groups, named after the emperor they descended from: Kanmu Heishi, Ninmyō Heishi, Montoku Heishi, and Kōkō Heishi.


title: Taira clan

text: The clan is commonly referred to as or , using the character's On'yomi for "Taira", while means "clan", and is used as a suffix for "extended family".


title: Taira clan

text: Along with the Minamoto, Taira was one of the honorary surnames given by the emperors of the Heian Period (794–1185 CE) to their children and grandchildren who were not considered eligible for the throne.


title: Taira clan

text: The clan was founded when the Imperial Court grew too large, and the emperor ordered that the descendants of previous emperors from several generations ago would no longer be princes, but would instead be given noble surnames and ranks. The decision became applicable during the reign of Emperor Kanmu (782–805) and thus, together with the Taira clan, the Minamoto clan was born.


title: Taira clan

text: Some grandchildren of Emperor Kanmu were the first to bear the name of Taira, after 825. Later, the descendants of Emperor Nimmyo, Emperor Montoku and Emperor Koko also received the surname. The specific hereditary lines of these emperors are referred to by the posthumous name of the emperor followed by Heishi, for example "Kanmu Heishi".


title: Taira clan

text: The Kanmu Heishi line, founded in 889 by Taira no Takamochi (great-grandson of the 50th Emperor Kanmu, who reigned from 781 to 806) proved to be the strongest and most dominant line during the Heian period. Later, another member of this lineage, Taira no Kiyomori, created what was considered the first samurai government in the history of Japan. A great-grandson of Takamochi, Taira no Korehira, moved to Ise Province (currently part of Mie Prefecture) and established an important Daimyo dynasty. Masamori, his grandson; and Tadamori, his great-grandson, became loyal supporters of Emperor Shirakawa and Emperor Toba, respectively.


title: Taira clan

text: Taira no Kiyomori, son and heir of Tadamori, rose to the position of Daijō Daijin (great Minister of State), after his victories in the Hōgen Rebellion (1156) and the Heiji Rebellion (1160). Kiyomori succeeded in enthroning his youngest grandson as Emperor Antoku in 1180, an act that led to the Genpei War (Genpei no Sōran, 1180–1185). The last leader of the Kanmu Heishi bloodline, was eventually destroyed by Minamoto no Yoritomo's armies at the Battle of Dan-no-ura, the last battle of the Genpei War. This story is told in the Heike Monogatari.


title: Taira clan

text: This branch of the Kanmu Heishi had many other branches, including Hōjō, Chiba, Miura and Hatakeyama.


title: Taira clan

text: Another member of this family was Takamune-ō (804–867), the eldest son of Prince Imperial Kazurahara and grandson of Emperor Kanmu, who received the title of Taira no Ason in the year 825. Thus, there were two groups in Kanmu Heishi, a nucleus that descended from Takamune and another from his nephew, Takamochi (the son of Imperial Prince Takami).


title: Taira clan

text: The Oda clan at the time of Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582) also claimed Taira descent, they were descendants of Taira no Chikazane, grandson of Taira no Shigemori (1138–1179).


title: Taira clan

text: During the Heiji Rebellion (1160), the Seiwa Genji leader, Minamoto no Yoshitomo, died in battle. Taira no Kiyomori gained power in Kyoto forging alliances with retired emperors Shirakawa and Toba. Kiyomori sent Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–1199), the third son of Yoshitomo, into exile. In 1180, Yoritomo organized a large-scale rebellion against the rule of the Taira (the Genpei War or "Taira-Minamoto"), culminated with the destruction of the Taira by the Minamoto clan and the subjugation of eastern Japan in five years. In 1192, Minamoto no Yoritomo received the title shogun and created the first bakufu based in Kamakura (Kanagawa Prefecture).


title: Taira clan

text: The "mon" (crest, emblem) of the Taira clan is an Agehanochō (揚羽蝶, Swallowtail butterfly) with raised wings.


title: Network effect

text: In economics, a network effect (also called network externality or demand-side economies of scale) is the phenomenon by which the value or utility a user derives from a good or service depends on the number of users of compatible products. Network effects are typically positive, resulting in a given user deriving more value from a product as more users join the same network. The adoption of a product by an additional user can be broken into two effects: an increase in the value to all other users ( "total effect") and also the enhancement of other non-users' motivation for using the product ("marginal effect").


title: Network effect

text: Network effects can be direct or indirect. Direct network effects arise when a given user's utility increases with the number of other users of the same product or technology, meaning that adoption of a product by different users is complementary. This effect is separate from effects related to price, such as a benefit to existing users resulting from price decreases as more users join. Direct network effects can be seen with social networking services, including Twitter, Facebook, Airbnb, Uber, and LinkedIn; telecommunications devices like the telephone; and instant messaging services such as MSN, AIM or QQ. Indirect (or cross-group) network effects arise when there are "at least two different customer groups that are interdependent, and the utility of at least one group grows as the other group(s) grow". For example, hardware may become more valuable to consumers with the growth of compatible software.


title: Network effect

text: Network effects are commonly mistaken for economies of scale, which describe decreasing average production costs in relation to the total volume of units produced. Economies of scale are a common phenomenon in traditional industries such as manufacturing, whereas network effects are most prevalent in new economy industries, particularly information and communication technologies. Network effects are the demand side counterpart of economies of scale, as they function by increasing a customer's willingness to pay due rather than decreasing the supplier's average cost.


title: Network effect

text: Upon reaching critical mass, a bandwagon effect can result. As the network continues to become more valuable with each new adopter, more people are incentivised to adopt, resulting in a positive feedback loop. Multiple equilibria and a market monopoly are two key potential outcomes in markets that exhibit network effects. Consumer expectations are key in determining which outcomes will result.


title: Network effect

text: Network effects were a central theme in the arguments of Theodore Vail, the first post-patent president of Bell Telephone, in gaining a monopoly on US telephone services. In 1908, when he presented the concept in Bell's annual report, there were over 4,000 local and regional telephone exchanges, most of which were eventually merged into the Bell System.


title: Network effect

text: Network effects were popularized by Robert Metcalfe, stated as Metcalfe's law. Metcalfe was one of the co-inventors of Ethernet and a co-founder of the company 3Com. In selling the product, Metcalfe argued that customers needed Ethernet cards to grow above a certain critical mass if they were to reap the benefits of their network. According to Metcalfe, the rationale behind the sale of networking cards was that the cost of the network was directly proportional to the number of cards installed, but the value of the network was proportional to the square of the number of users. This was expressed algebraically as having a cost of N, and a value of N. While the actual numbers behind this proposition were never firm, the concept allowed customers to share access to expensive resources like disk drives and printers, send e-mail, and eventually access the Internet.


title: Network effect

text: The economic theory of the network effect was advanced significantly between 1985 and 1995 by researchers Michael L. Katz, Carl Shapiro, Joseph Farrell, and Garth Saloner. Author, high-tech entrepreneur Rod Beckstrom presented a mathematical model for describing networks that are in a state of positive network effect at BlackHat and Defcon in 2009 and also presented the "inverse network effect" with an economic model for defining it as well. Because of the positive feedback often associated with the network effect, system dynamics can be used as a modelling method to describe the phenomena. Word of mouth and the Bass diffusion model are also potentially applicable. The next major advance occurred between 2000 and 2003 when researchers Geoffrey G Parker, Marshall Van Alstyne, Jean-Charles Rochet and Jean Tirole independently developed the two-sided market literature showing how network externalities that cross distinct groups can lead to free pricing for one of those groups.


title: Network effect

text: While the diversity of sources is in decline, there is a countervailing force of continually increasing functionality with new services, products and applications — such as music streaming services (Spotify), file sharing programs (Dropbox) and messaging platforms (Messenger, Whatsapp and Snapchat). Another major finding was the dramatic increase in the “infant mortality” rate of websites — with the dominant players in each functional niche - once established guarding their turf more staunchly than ever.


title: Network effect

text: On the other hand, growing network effect does not always bring proportional increase in returns. Whether additional users bring more value depends on the commoditization of supply, the type of incremental user and the nature of substitutes. For example, social networks can hit an inflection point, after which additional users do not bring more value. This could be attributed to the fact that as more people join the network, its users are less willing to share personal content and the site becomes more focused on news and public content.


title: Network effect

text: Network economics refers to business economics that benefit from the network effect. This is when the value of a good or service increases when others buy the same good or service. Examples are website such as EBay, or iVillage where the community comes together and shares thoughts to help the website become a better business organization.


title: Network effect

text: In sustainability, network economics refers to multiple professionals (architects, designers, or related businesses) all working together to develop sustainable products and technologies. The more companies are involved in environmentally friendly production, the easier and cheaper it becomes to produce new sustainable products. For instance, if no one produces sustainable products, it is difficult and expensive to design a sustainable house with custom materials and technology. But due to network economics, the more industries are involved in creating such products, the easier it is to design an environmentally sustainable building.


title: Network effect

text: Another benefit of network economics in a certain field is improvement that results from competition and networking within an industry.


title: Network effect

text: In the early phases of a network technology, incentives to adopt the new technology are low. After a certain number of people have adopted the technology, network effects become significant enough that adoption becomes a dominant strategy. This point is called critical mass. At the critical mass point, the value obtained from the good or service is greater than or equal to the price paid for the good or service.


title: Network effect

text: When a product reaches critical mass, network effects will drive subsequent growth until a stable balance is reached. Therefore, a key business concern must then be how to attract users prior to reaching critical mass. Critical quality is closely related to consumer expectations, which will be affected by price and quality of products or services, the company's reputation and the growth path of the network. Thus, one way is to rely on extrinsic motivation, such as a payment, a fee waiver, or a request for friends to sign up. A more natural strategy is to build a system that has enough value "without" network effects, at least to early adopters. Then, as the number of users increases, the system becomes even more valuable and is able to attract a wider user base.


title: Network effect

text: Beyond critical mass, the increasing number of subscribers generally cannot continue indefinitely. After a certain point, most networks become either congested or saturated, stopping future uptake. Congestion occurs due to overuse. The applicable analogy is that of a telephone network. While the number of users is below the congestion point, each additional user adds additional value to every other customer. However, at some point, the addition of an extra user exceeds the capacity of the existing system. After this point, each additional user decreases the value obtained by every other user. In practical terms, each additional user increases the total system load, leading to busy signals, the inability to get a dial tone, and poor customer support. Assuming the congestion point is below the potential market size, the next critical point is where the value obtained again equals the price paid. The network will cease to grow at this point if system capacity is not improved. Peer-to-peer (P2P) systems are networks designed to distribute load among their user pool. This theoretically allows P2P networks to scale indefinitely. The P2P based telephony service Skype benefits from this effect and its growth is limited primarily by market saturation.


title: Network effect

text: Network effects give rise to the potential outcome of market tipping, defined as "the tendency of one system to pull away from its rivals in popularity once it has gained an initial edge". Tipping results in a market in which only one good or service dominates and competition is stifled, and can result in a monopoly. This is because network effects tend to incentivise users to coordinate their adoption of a single product. Therefore, tipping can result in a natural form of market concentration in markets that display network effects. However, the presence of network effects does not necessarily imply that a market will tip; the following additional conditions must be met:


title: Network effect

text: If any of these three conditions are not satisfied, the market may fail to tip and multiple products with significant market shares may coexist. One such example is the U.S. instant messaging market, which remained an oligopoly despite significant network effects. This can be attributed to the low multi-homing and switching costs faced by users.


title: Network effect

text: Market tipping does not imply permanent success in a given market. Competition can be reintroduced into the market due to shocks such as the development of new technologies. Additionally, if the price is raised above customers' willingness to pay, this may reverse market tipping.


title: Network effect

text: Networks effects often result in multiple potential market equilibrium outcomes. The key determinant in which equilibrium will manifest are the expectations of the market participants, which are self-fulfilling. Because users are incentivised to coordinate their adoption, user will tend to adopt the product that they expect to draw the largest number of users. These expectations may be shaped by path dependence, such as a perceived first-mover advantage, which can result in lock-in. The most commonly cited example of path dependence is the QWERTY keyboard, which owes its ubiquity to its establishment of an early lead in the keyboard layout industry and high switching costs, rather than any inherent advantage over competitors. Other key influences of adoption expectations can be reputational (e.g. a firm that has previously produced high quality products may be favoured over a new firm).


title: Network effect

text: Markets with network effects may result in inefficient equilibrium outcomes. With simultaneous adoption, users may fail to coordinate towards a single agreed-upon product, resulting in splintering among different networks, or may coordinate to lock-in to a different product than the one that is best for them.


title: Network effect

text: If some existing technology or company whose benefits are largely based on network effects starts to lose market share against a challenger such as a disruptive technology or open standards based competition, the benefits of network effects will reduce for the incumbent, and increase for the challenger. In this model, a tipping point is eventually reached at which the network effects of the challenger dominate those of the former incumbent, and the incumbent is forced into an accelerating decline, whilst the challenger takes over the incumbent's former position.


title: Network effect

text: Sony's Betamax and Victor Company of Japan (JVC)'s video home system (VHS) can both be used for video cassette recorders (VCR), but the two technologies are not compatible. Therefore, the VCR that is suitable for one type of cassette cannot fit in another. VHS's technology gradually surpassed Betamax in the competition. In the end, Betamax lost its original market share and was replaced by VHS.


title: Network effect

text: Negative network externalities, in the mathematical sense, are those that have a negative effect compared to normal (positive) network effects. Just as positive network externalities (network effects) cause positive feedback and exponential growth, negative network externalities create negative feedback and exponential decay. In nature, negative network externalities are the forces that pull towards equilibrium, are responsible for stability, and represent physical limitations keeping systems bounded.


title: Network effect

text: Besides, Negative network externalities has four characteristics, which are namely, more login retries, longer query times, longer download times and more download attempts. Therefore, congestion occurs when the efficiency of a network decreases as more people use it, and this reduces the value to people already using it. Traffic congestion that overloads the freeway and network congestion on connections with limited bandwidth both display negative network externalities.


title: Network effect

text: Braess's paradox suggests that adding paths through a network can have a negative effect on performance of the network.


title: Network effect

text: Interoperability has the effect of making the network bigger and thus increases the external value of the network to consumers. Interoperability achieves this primarily by increasing potential connections and secondarily by attracting new participants to the network. Other benefits of interoperability include reduced uncertainty, reduced lock-in, commoditization and competition based on price.


title: Network effect

text: Interoperability can be achieved through standardization or other cooperation. Companies involved in fostering interoperability face a tension between cooperating with their competitors to grow the potential market for products and competing for market share.


title: Network effect

text: Product compatibility is closely related to network externalities in company's competition, which refers to two systems that can be operated together without changing. Compatible products are characterized by better matching with customers, so they can enjoy all the benefits of the network without having to purchase products from the same company. However, not only products of compatibility will intensify competition between companies, this will make users who had purchased products lose their advantages, but also proprietary networks may raise the industry entry standards. Compared to large companies with better reputation or strength, weaker companies or small networks will more inclined to choose compatible products.


title: Network effect

text: Besides, the compatibility of products is conducive to the company's increase in market share. For example, the Windows system is famous for its operating compatibility, thereby satisfying consumers' diversification of other applications. As the supplier of Windows systems, Microsoft benefits from indirect network effects, which cause the growing of the company's market share.


title: Network effect

text: Incompatibility is the opposite of compatibility. Because incompatibility of products will aggravate market segmentation and reduce efficiency, and also harm consumer interests and enhance competition. The result of the competition between incompatible networks depends on the complete sequential of adoption and the early preferences of the adopters. Effective competition determines the market share of companies, which is historically important. Since the installed base can directly bring more network profit and increase the consumers' expectations, which will have a positive impact on the smooth implementation of subsequent network effects.


title: Network effect

text: In communication and information technologies, open standards and interfaces are often developed through the participation of multiple companies and are usually perceived to provide mutual benefit. But, in cases in which the relevant communication protocols or interfaces are closed standards, the network effect can give the company controlling those standards monopoly power. The Microsoft corporation is widely seen by computer professionals as maintaining its monopoly through these means. One observed method Microsoft uses to put the network effect to its advantage is called Embrace, extend and extinguish.


title: Network effect

text: Mirabilis is an Israeli start-up which pioneered instant messaging (IM) and was bought by America Online. By giving away their ICQ product for free and preventing interoperability between their client software and other products, they were able to temporarily dominate the market for instant messaging. The IM technology has completed the use from the home to the workplace, because of its faster processing speed and simplified process characteristics. Because of the network effect, new IM users gained much more value by choosing to use the Mirabilis system (and join its large network of users) than they would use a competing system. As was typical for that era, the company never made any attempt to generate profits from its dominant position before selling the company.


title: Network effect

text: Network effect can significantly influence the competitive landscape of an industry. According to Michael E. Porter, strong network effect might decrease the threat of new entrants, which is one of the five major competitive forces that act on an industry. Persistent barriers to entry a market may help incumbent companies to fend off competition and keep or increase their market share, while maintaining profitability and return on capital.


title: Network effect

text: These attractive characteristics are one of the reasons that allowed platform companies like Amazon, Google or Facebook to grow rapidly and create shareholder value. On the other hand, network effect can result in high concentration of power in an industry, or even a monopoly. This often leads to increased scrutiny from regulators that try to restore healthy competition, as is often the case with large technology companies.


title: Network effect

text: Network effects are the incremental benefit gained by each user for each new user that joins a network. An example of a direct network effect is the telephone. Originally when only a small number of people owned a telephone the value it provided was minimal. Not only did other people need to own a telephone for it to be useful, but it also had to be connected to the network through the users home. As technology advanced it became more affordable for people to own a telephone. This created more value and utility due to the increase in users. Eventually increased usage through exponential growth led to the telephone is used by almost every household adding more value to the network for all users. Without the network effect and technological advances the telephone would have no where near the amount of value or utility as it does today.


title: Network effect

text: Stock exchanges and derivatives exchanges feature a network effect. Market liquidity is a major determinant of transaction cost in the sale or purchase of a security, as a bid–ask spread exists between the price at which a purchase can be made versus the price at which the sale of the same security can be made. As the number of sellers and buyers in the exchange, who have the symmetric information increases, liquidity increases, and transaction costs decrease. This then attracts a larger number of buyers and sellers to the exchange.


title: Network effect

text: The network advantage of financial exchanges is apparent in the difficulty that startup exchanges have in dislodging a dominant exchange. For example, the Chicago Board of Trade has retained overwhelming dominance of trading in US Treasury bond futures despite the startup of Eurex US trading of identical futures contracts. Similarly, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange has maintained dominance in trading of Eurobond interest rate futures despite a challenge from Euronext.Liffe.


title: Network effect

text: Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, also feature network effects. Bitcoin's unique properties make it an attractive asset to users and investors. The more users that join the network, the more valuable and secure it becomes. This method creates incentive for users to join so that when the network and community grows, a network effect occurs, making it more likely that new people will also join. Bitcoin provides its users with financial value through the network effect which may lead to more investors due to the appeal of financial gain. This is an example of an indirect network effect as the value only increases due to the initial network being created.


title: Network effect

text: The widely used computer software benefits from powerful network effects. The software-purchase characteristic is that it is easily influenced by the opinions of others, so the customer base of the software is the key to realizing a positive network effect. Although customers' motivation for choosing software is related to the product itself, media interaction and word-of-mouth recommendations from purchased customers can still increase the possibility of software being applied to other customers who have not purchased it, thereby resulting in network effects.


title: Network effect

text: In 2007 Apple released the iPhone followed by the app store. Most iPhone apps rely heavily on the existence of strong network effects. This enables the software to grow in popularity very quickly and spread to a large userbase with very limited marketing needed. The Freemium business model has evolved to take advantage of these network effects by releasing a free version that will not limit the adoption or any users and then charge for premium features as the primary source of revenue. Furthermore, some software companies will launch free trial versions during the trial period to attract buyers and reduce their uncertainty. The duration of free time is related to the network effect. The more positive feedback the company received, the shorter the free trial time will be.


title: Network effect

text: Software companies (for example Adobe or Autodesk) often give significant discounts to students. By doing so, they intentionally stimulate the network effect - as more students learn to use a particular piece of software, it becomes more viable for companies and employers to use it as well. And the more employers require a given skill, the higher the benefit that employees will receive from learning it. This creates a self-reinforcing cycle, further strengthening the network effect.


title: Network effect

text: Many web sites benefit from a network effect. One example is web marketplaces and exchanges. For example, eBay would not be a particularly useful site if auctions were not competitive. As the number of users grows on eBay, auctions grow more competitive, pushing up the prices of bids on items. This makes it more worthwhile to sell on eBay and brings more sellers onto eBay, which, in turn, drives prices down again due to increased supply. Increased supply brings even more buyers to eBay. Essentially, as the number of users of eBay grows, prices fall and supply increases, and more and more people find the site to be useful.


title: Network effect

text: Network effects were used as justification in business models by some of the dot-com companies in the late 1990s. These firms operated under the belief that when a new market comes into being which contains strong network effects, firms should care more about growing their market share than about becoming profitable. The justification was that market share would determine which firm could set technical and marketing standards and giving these companies a first-mover advantage.


title: Network effect

text: Social networking websites are good examples. The more people register onto a social networking website, the more useful the website is to its registrants.


title: Network effect

text: Google uses the network effect in its advertising business with its Google AdSense service. AdSense places ads on many small sites, such as blogs, using Google technology to determine which ads are relevant to which blogs. Thus, the service appears to aim to serve as an exchange (or ad network) for matching many advertisers with many small sites. In general, the more blogs AdSense can reach, the more advertisers it will attract, making it the most attractive option for more blogs.


title: Network effect

text: By contrast, the value of a news site is primarily proportional to the quality of the articles, not to the number of other people using the site. Similarly, the first generation of search engines experienced little network effect, as the value of the site was based on the value of the search results. This allowed Google to win users away from Yahoo! without much trouble, once users believed that Google's search results were superior. Some commentators mistook the value of the Yahoo! brand (which does increase as more people know of it) for a network effect protecting its advertising business.


title: Network effect

text: There are strong network effects in the initial choice of rail gauge, and in gauge conversion decisions. Even when placing isolated rails not connected to any other lines, track layers usually choose a standard rail gauge so they can use off-the-shelf rolling stock. Although a few manufacturers make rolling stock that can adjust to different rail gauges, most manufacturers make rolling stock that only works with one of the standard rail gauges. This even applies to urban rail systems where historically tramways and to a lesser extent metros would come in a wide array of different gauges, nowadays virtually all new networks are built to a handful of gauges and overwhelmingly standard gauge.


title: Network effect

text: For credit cards that are now widely used, large-scale applications on the market are closely related to network effects. Credit card, as one of the currency payment methods in the current economy, which was originated in 1949. Early research on the circulation of credit cards at the retail level found that credit card interest rates were not affected by macroeconomic interest rates and remained almost unchanged. Later, credit cards gradually entered the network level due to changes in policy priorities and became a popular trend in payment in the 1980s. Different levels of credit cards separate benefit from two types of network effects. The application of credit cards related to external network effects, which is because when this has become a payment method, and more people use credit cards. Each additional person uses the same credit card, the value of rest people who use the credit card will increase. Besides, the credit card system at the network level could be seen as a two-sided market. On the one hand, the number of cardholders attracts merchants to use credit cards as a payment method. On the other hand, an increasing number of merchants can also attract more new cardholders. In other words, the use of credit cards has increased significantly among merchants which leads to increased value. This can conversely increase the cardholder's credit card value and the number of users. Moreover, credit card services also display a network effect between merchant discounts and credit accessibility. When credit accessibility increases which greater sales can be obtained, merchants are willing to be charged more discounts by credit card issuers.


title: Network effect

text: Visa has become a leader in the electronic payment industry through the network effect of credit cards as its competitive advantage. Till 2016, Visa's credit card market share has risen from a quarter to as much as half in four years. Visa is benefit from the network effect. Since every additional Visa cardholder is more attractive to merchants, and merchants can also attract more new cardholders through the brand. In other words, the popularity and convenience of Visa in the electronic payment market, lead more people and merchants choose to use Visa, which greatly increases the value of Visa.


title: Premier League Player of the Month

text: The Premier League Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League player each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to 10% of the final tally, a panel of experts, and the captain of each Premier League club. It has been called the Carling Premiership Player of the Month (1994–2001), the Barclaycard Premiership Player of the Month (2001–2004) and the Barclays Player of the Month (2004–2016); it is currently known as the EA Sports Player of the Month.


title: Premier League Player of the Month

text: The Premier League was formed in 1992, when the members of the First Division resigned from the Football League. These clubs set up a new commercially independent league that negotiated its own broadcast and sponsorship agreements. The Premier League introduced new Manager of the Month and Manager of the Season awards for the 1993–94 season, supplementing the existing Football Writers' Association and Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year awards. For the 1994–95 season, the Premier League introduced the Player of the Month award, which is presented alongside the Manager of the Month award. The first Player of the Month was awarded to Tottenham Hotspur player Jürgen Klinsmann for his performances in August 1994.


title: Premier League Player of the Month

text: Sergio Agüero and Harry Kane have been Player of the Month the most with seven awards each. Eight players have won the award in consecutive months: Robbie Fowler, Dennis Bergkamp, Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Mohamed Salah, Bruno Fernandes, and İlkay Gündoğan. Salah has won the award three times in a season, the first player to do so. Fernandes is the first player to win four awards in one calendar year. Eighteen individuals have won two awards in a season: Robbie Fowler, Dennis Bergkamp, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ashley Young, Peter Odemwingie, Robin van Persie, Daniel Sturridge, Luis Suárez, Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Sergio Agüero, Son Heung-min, and Bruno Fernandes. Robbie Keane has won the award while playing for three clubs, while twelve players have won the award playing for two clubs: Alan Shearer, Dion Dublin, David Ginola, Dwight Yorke, Tim Flowers, Teddy Sheringham, Danny Murphy, Andrew Johnson, Nicolas Anelka, Dimitar Berbatov, Scott Parker and Robin van Persie.


title: Premier League Player of the Month

text: The award has been shared on six occasions: by Blackburn Rovers's Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton in November 1994, Liverpool's Robbie Fowler and Stan Collymore in January 1996, Southampton's Kevin Davies and Manchester United's Andy Cole in November 1997, Arsenal's Dennis Bergkamp and Edu in February 2004, Tottenham Hotspur's Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane in April 2007 and Liverpool's Steven Gerrard and Luis Suárez in April 2014. More than four in ten of the Player of the Month awards have gone to English players, and over a quarter of foreign winners have been French or Dutch. Michail Antonio became the first player to win the award with different nationalities, winning in July 2020 as an Englishman and in August 2021 as a Jamaican. Manchester United have had more Player of the Month awards than any other club.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: The Bricklin SV-1 is a two-seat sports car built from 1974 until late 1975. The car was noteworthy for its gull-wing doors and composite bodywork of color-impregnated acrylic resin bonded to fiberglass. Assembly took place in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. The name "SV-1" is an abbreviation of "safety vehicle one". Bricklin company literature uses both the "SV-1" and "SV1" formats. To promote the car's safety bona fides, the company touted such features as its integrated roll-over structure and energy-absorbing bumpers.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: The Bricklin Canada assembly plant was located in the Grandview Industrial Park in Saint John, New Brunswick, at 150 Industrial Drive. A separate facility to produce the bodywork was in Minto, New Brunswick.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: With the support of New Brunswick premier, Richard Hatfield, the provincial government provided $4.5 million of financing. The government believed that this money would be used to cover expenses incurred to begin the production of cars, when in fact it was used for the engineering and development of the car as well as salaries and operations of the Phoenix-headquartered company.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: The SV-1 was the creation of American entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin, known in the industry for establishing Subaru of America prior to building the SV-1, and for importing Zastava cars to North America under the Yugo name afterwards.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: Bricklin wanted to build a small, affordable sports car with gullwing doors. Power was to come from a four-cylinder engine from Opel. Bricklin entrusted design of a road-going proof-of-concept car to Bruce Meyers, but responsibility for the design soon transferred to Marshall Hobart. Dick Dean built the car, which was complete by December 1972. This car became known as the Grey Ghost. When completed the car had a six-cylinder Chrysler Slant-6 engine instead of a four. Other features included a rear suspension from a Datsun 510, a braking system that drew parts from Opel, Datsun and Toyota, and a tilting steering wheel from a Chevrolet.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: In 1972 the Bricklin Vehicle Corporation began working with Herb Grasse Design and AVC Engineering to redesign and re-engineer the car. Three prototypes were built with assistance from AVC. AVC engineer Tom Monroe would later join Bricklin as Chief Engineer.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: Design of the production SV-1 was done by Herb Grasse, a graduate of the ArtCenter College of Design who had earlier been employed by both Chrysler and Ford. Grasse had also worked with George Barris on the conversion of the 1955 Lincoln Futura show car into the television Batmobile.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: It is claimed that Grasse opted to use the same taillamp units fitted to his personal DeTomaso Pantera for the Bricklin. These Carello units were also used on cars from Maserati and Lamborghini, but originally appeared on the Alfa Romeo 2000 Berlina.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: The first of the original three prototypes became known as the Red Car. While some references say that it, like the Grey Ghost, had a Chrysler slant-6 engine, pictures exist of a Bricklin identified as the Red Car with an Argentine-sourced version of the Kaiser/Jeep Tornado inline six-cylinder engine from an IKA-Renault Torino installed. All subsequent prototypes had V8 engines. As many as eight prototypes were eventually built.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: The E.M.C. Company consulted on the plastic bodywork and built some prototype parts. Toolmaker Visioneering Inc. produced the master patterns for the molds using their new CNC equipment. E.M.C. expected to supply both the large panel press as well as a complete set of water-cooled cast aluminum molds for the 22 body-parts required for the Bricklin, but ultimately Bricklin only bought the press from E.M.C., opting to use epoxy molds for their bodywork.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: Bricklin experienced persistent problems with the composite acrylic/fiberglass body panel technology. The acrylic resin first selected would blister at temperatures as low as . A substitute resin able to withstand higher temperatures was thinner than the original product, requiring an extra layer of fiberglass in the panel and increasing weight, so Bricklin reverted to the original resin. It was also discovered that ultraviolet light could pass through the acrylic layer, potentially degrading the polyester resins that were used to bond the acrylic to the fiberglass below.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: To address these issues the company brought in polymer expert Archie Hamielec from McMaster University in Hamilton. A significant problem was lack of adhesion between the acrylic layer and the fiberglass. According to sources inside the company, as much as 60% of the acrylic used in the first few months of production was lost due to failures during the pressing and bonding stage, and another 10% was lost to damage during shipment of the parts from the Minto plant to Saint John. The only test for the integrity of the parts was one suggested by Albert Bricklin, Malcolm's father, who proposed striking each part that came out of the presses with a seven pound hammer; if the part did not delaminate it passed. Even after an acceptable bonding method was found, in 1975 losses due to poor bonding continued to be 15% to 25% of the parts produced.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: The SV-1 was presented to a gathering of celebrities and potential dealers at the Riviera Hotel Las Vegas in February 1974. The official unveiling of the car took place at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York in June 1974.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: Among the factors blamed for the car's ultimate demise were ongoing quality control problems, nepotism, supplier shortages, worker absenteeism and a series of price increases that more than doubled the price of the car in two years.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: Production of the SV-1 ended with just under 3,000 cars built. An estimated 1,700 Bricklins were surviving as of 2012.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: Consolidated Motors acquired the inventory of the defunct Bricklin company, among which were several partially assembled cars later completed by Consolidated and sold as 1976 models. Consolidated also built a small number of SV-1s up from bare chassis, which were also sold as 1976 models. Bricklin had incorporated some minor body changes in the car for 1976.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: In a test done by Car and Driver magazine in May 1975 the performance of the Bricklin was found to be comparable to the contemporary Corvette, the only other V8-powered 2-seat plastic-bodied American sports car at the time.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: The SV-1 is a two-door, two-seat hatchback with gull-wing doors, hidden headlamps and a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. Its bodywork is a composite material made up of acrylic resin bonded to a fibreglass substrate. The acrylic is impregnated with the body's colour, which had the potential to reduce costs, as it eliminated the need for the factory to paint the cars in a separate step. The five "Safety" colours offered were one of the few options buyers had.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: The doors, which weigh each, are raised by hydraulic cylinders controlled by switches in the interior, and take up to 12 seconds to open or close. The system is sensitive to the condition of the car's battery, as well as being prone to breakdown. The system uses a single hydraulic pump and has no hydraulic interlock, so opening one door and closing the other at the same time has the potential to destroy the pump.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: The Bricklin's chassis is a steel perimeter frame with an integrated roll-over structure. The front and rear bumpers are designed to absorb the force of a impact.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: The front suspension uses A-arms and coil springs and is made up of parts shared with a variety of existing AMC models. At the rear is a Hotchkiss system of leaf springs on a live axle.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: Braking is by power-assisted discs in front and drums in back. Kelsey-Hayes provided the brake components for Bricklins built from 1974 to early 1975, after which the car used parts from Bendix.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: Production Bricklins are powered by one of two OHV V8 engines, depending on the year of manufacture. Cars built in 1974 received a AMC V8 from American Motors. With a single four-barrel carburetor this engine produces and of torque. Transmission options for the year are a 3-speed Torque Command automatic (AMC's rebranded TorqueFlite 727) or a BorgWarner T-10 4-speed manual. Of the 772 cars built in 1974, 137 received the manual. Cars built in 1975 mounted a Windsor V8 from Ford, a change which required an extensive redesign of the car's subframe. With a single two-barrel carburetor this later engine produces and of torque. As Ford had no manual transmission EPA certified for the 351W engine, transmission options were limited to the Ford FMX 3-speed automatic.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: In November 1974 Bricklin announced that they would supply five SV-1s to the police department in Scottsdale, Arizona. Only three 1974 cars were ultimately delivered. The cars were leased to the city for $1 each. The Bricklins had the same paint scheme as the department's regular cruisers and a single beacon on the roof. The cars were used primarily for public relations events. Officers found them difficult to get in and out of, and the Arizona heat caused battery issues that would prevent the electrically operated doors from opening.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: In 1975, in an effort to raise capital, development started on a more exclusive model to be called the "Chairman". While mechanically similar to the existing car, Chairman cars were to have a larger engine than the stock SV-1. Visually they would be distinguished by black interior and a black body with gold stripes, gold coloured wheels and trim, and a gold-plated toolkit. The buyer was to be flown to the assembly plant to watch their car being built and receive a gold jumpsuit along with the car on delivery.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: Two existing SV-1s were used to prototype the Chairman. Prototype #3 was used for the car's exterior appearance, and SV-1 VIN #1339 was used for interior development. Work on the car began in Arizona in June 1975 and moved to Livonia by July. The Chairman did not reach production.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: The unfinished interior model VIN #1339 was bought by former Bricklin Manufacturing Engineering manager Terry Tanner and completed in the style of a Chairman.


title: Bricklin SV-1

text: In 1978 mini-car builder F.W. & Associates offered a miniature version of the SV-1 to existing Bricklin owners through the pages of the Bricklin International quarterly magazine. The cars were powered by a Briggs & Stratton gasoline engine and could be ordered in any of the Bricklin factory colours. List price was $550.00. The serial number of each mini-Bricklin was the same as that of the buyer's full-size car.


title: Nickeil Alexander-Walker

text: Nickeil Alexander-Walker (born September 2, 1998) is a Canadian professional basketball player for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Virginia Tech Hokies. A shooting guard and a point guard, he was drafted 17th overall by the Brooklyn Nets in the 2019 NBA draft but was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans.


title: Nickeil Alexander-Walker

text: A native of Toronto, Alexander-Walker played for Vaughan Secondary School, St. Louis Christian Academy, and Hamilton Heights Christian Academy. At Hamilton Heights, he was a teammate of his cousin Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The two have a close relationship and shared a room at coach Zach Ferrell's house. He was ranked the No. 74 prospect in the class of 2017 according to Scout.com.


title: Nickeil Alexander-Walker

text: Alexander-Walker committed to Virginia Tech in May 2016, over offers from USC and Maryland. As a freshman for the Hokies, Alexander-Walker averaged 10.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. In his second game in college, he scored a season-high 29 points in a 132–93 win over The Citadel. He helped lead Virginia Tech to a 21–12 record and NCAA Tournament appearance. In the first round loss to Alabama, Alexander-Walker scored 15 points.


title: Nickeil Alexander-Walker

text: As a sophomore, Alexander-Walker averaged 16.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game during the regular season. He helped lead Virginia Tech to a 24–8 season, with a 12–6 record in the ACC and a 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament.


title: Nickeil Alexander-Walker

text: On June 20, 2019, Alexander-Walker was selected with the 17th overall pick by the Brooklyn Nets in the 2019 NBA draft.


title: Nickeil Alexander-Walker

text: On July 6, 2019, his draft rights were traded to the Atlanta Hawks and then immediately traded again to the New Orleans Pelicans. The next day, the Pelicans announced that they had signed Alexander-Walker. On October 22, 2019, Alexander-Walker made his NBA debut, coming off the bench in a 130–122 overtime loss to the Toronto Raptors. He finished the game with three points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals.


title: Nickeil Alexander-Walker

text: On November 16, 2019, Alexander-Walker scored a career-high 27 points, while getting four rebounds and three assists in a 109–94 loss against the Miami Heat.


title: Nickeil Alexander-Walker

text: On February 26, 2020, the Pelicans assigned Alexander-Walker to the Erie BayHawks of the NBA G League. On February 27, 2020, Alexander-Walker had 23 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals in his first G League game, a 125–124 win over the Long Island Nets.


title: Nickeil Alexander-Walker

text: On January 13, 2021, he started for the Pelicans and scored a career-high 37 points against the Los Angeles Clippers.


title: Nickeil Alexander-Walker

text: On February 8, 2022, the Portland Trail Blazers acquired Alexander-Walker, Josh Hart, Tomáš Satoranský, Didi Louzada, a protected 2022 first-round draft pick, the better of New Orleans' and Portland's 2026 second-round draft picks and New Orleans' 2027 second-round draft pick from the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for CJ McCollum, Larry Nance Jr. and Tony Snell. A day later, Alexander-Walker was traded again, this time to the Utah Jazz in a three-team trade.


title: Nickeil Alexander-Walker

text: Alexander-Walker competed for Canada at the 2016 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship, leading the team to the silver medal. He led all scorers in the tournament with 17.4 points per game. He also competed for Canada with the senior national team in the Olympic qualifiers in 2021.


title: Nickeil Alexander-Walker

text: On May 24, 2022, Alexander-Walker agreed to a three-year commitment to play with the Canadian senior men's national team.


title: Nickeil Alexander-Walker

text: His cousin, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, also plays in the NBA, currently for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Shai's younger brother, Thomasi, was a college basketball player for the Evansville Purple Aces and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.


title: Kanwaljit Singh (actor)

text: Kanwaljit Singh is an Indian actor who has performed in films as well as television serials. He has acted in Hindi and Punjabi films.


title: Kanwaljit Singh (actor)

text: He is married to Anuradha Patel, Ashok Kumar's granddaughter. They have two sons Sidharth and Aditya and a god-daughter, Mariam, living in the United States.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: Mukkabaaz (), released internationally as The Brawler, is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language sports drama film co-written, co-produced and directed by Anurag Kashyap. Jointly produced by Aanand L. Rai's Colour Yellow Productions and Phantom Films, the film stars Vineet Kumar Singh, debutant Zoya Hussain, Ravi Kishan and Jimmy Shergill in the lead roles. It follows Shravan Kumar (Singh), an aspiring boxer, who falls in love with the niece of the boxing federation head, Bhagwan Das Mishra (Shergill). Kashyap, Singh, Mukti Singh Srinet, K.D.Satyam, Ranjan Chandel and Prasoon Mishra wrote the script.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: "Mukkabaaz" was conceived by Singh, who wrote it with his sister Mukti Singh, based on his observations of several sportspersons' experiences in India. Several producers rejected it until Kashyap agreed to make the film if Singh would become a real boxer. To prepare, Singh went to the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, where he trained in boxing for a year. Aarti Bajaj and Ankit Bidyadhar edited the film, while Shanker Raman, Rajeev Ravi, Jay I. Patel and Jayesh Nair served as the directors of photography. The score is composed by Prashant Pillai and the songs are composed by Singh, Nucleya and Rachita Arora.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: "Mukkabaaz" premiered in the Special Presentations section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and was also screened at the 2017 Mumbai Film Festival. It was released theatrically in India on 12 January 2018 and received mostly positive reviews, with particular praise for Singh's performance. The film grossed at the box office. At the 64th Filmfare Awards, it received three nominations including Best Actor (Critics) for Vineet and Best Story for Anudeep Singh. Vikram Dahiya and Sunil Rodrigues won the award for Best Action.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: Shravan Singh is a struggling boxer who works for a local politician and head of the State Boxing Federation, Bhagwan Das Mishra. He drifts away after Mishra has him perform only domestic tasks and errands rather than boxing training. Singh falls in love with Mishra's niece, Sunaina, who is mute. Her father tells him to get a job first before thinking about marrying her. For the job, Singh tries to enter the state-level tournament but is not selected because of Mishra. He then leaves for Varanasi and is trained by a local trainer, Sanjay Kumar.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: Singh defeats Mishra's boxer and wins a medal, after which he gets a job with the Indian Railways. Singh and Sunaina are married as her father promised. However, Mishra despises the marriage and threatens his brother. Singh tries to balance his job, training, family life and learning sign language at Sunaina's request. Meanwhile, his boss at the office tries to harass him by putting too much work pressure on him. Mishra gets Sunaina's father fired from his job and expels her family from their home. They go to their ancestral village to live but are held captive by Mishra's goons in his village house. Mishra also breaks his brother's leg.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: Later, at Sanjay Kumar's house, both Kumar and Singh are attacked by a mob after being falsely accused of eating beef. Kumar is seriously injured in the attack and is admitted to an ICU; Singh survives the attack. He then tries to find Sunaina but fails; meanwhile, she is forcefully engaged by Mishra to a businessman with a disability, for money. Singh fights and qualifies for the final of a national tournament. Sunaina and her mother manage to call Singh and tell him of their whereabouts. Singh goes there and rescues Sunaina and her family. Mishra manages to disqualify Singh on health grounds but reinstates him after Singh apologises; Mishra also requires that Singh will have to lose the match and retire from boxing. Singh loses the final match.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: Actor Vineet Kumar Singh said that he was not getting the kind of work he wanted in films, so he decided to write his own script on boxing, as he has a sports background, having been a national-level basketball player who played at six National Games at the mini and sub-junior levels. The idea of the film came to Singh based on his observation of the experiences of athletes in the country. He said: "I’ve seen lots of stories like this, which stayed with me over the years. I wrote this film because I wanted to play this character and I knew the only way to do that is by writing it myself." Singh wrote the script with his sister, basketball player Mukti Singh Srinet, in 2013 and sought a financier for it. He looked at the "player's struggles — those who couldn't find their way up because they couldn't land in the officials' good books; the bad conditions they lived, played and practised in". He mentioned a single incident that triggered the script was seeing his senior, who had won several boxing medals and whose photographs had appeared in the newspaper, "stealthily porting luggage" at the Varanasi Junction railway station to make ends meet. When Singh saw him, he was trying to hide his face behind the luggage. Singh said the incident "really shook" him because he was also a sportsperson. He took inspiration from the story of some other players who worked as a sweeper or who sold their medals.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: While he was pitching his script, Singh also worked on his stamina for the role by running, skipping and cardio training for two hours every day. Singh insisted that he had to be the lead actor of the film, but no producer would agree to this. Eventually, director Anurag Kashyap learned of the script. He had worked earlier with Singh on three films: "Gangs of Wasseypur" (2012), "Bombay Talkies" (2013) and "Ugly" (2014). Kashyap felt that the script was very similar to "Rocky" (1976) and asked Singh to show him a "Rocky" in India. However, Kashyap found one sequence in the script where the protagonist tries to get a government job interesting. He said he would make the film on two conditions: he would change the script a little, and Singh needed "to look like a boxer".


title: Mukkabaaz

text: For Kashyap, it was boxing and the case of Narsingh Pancham Yadav, who was accused of doping, that prompted him to make the film. Singh said that he knew about the "politics, caste bias and power struggles in sports associations" but Kashyap developed the sociopolitical side of the script. To prepare for the role, Singh could find only mixed martial arts fighters in Mumbai, who were expensive. Kashyap connected him to boxer Vijender Singh, who put him in touch with coaches in Patiala. Singh sold all his belongings and left Mumbai the same night for training after Kashyap decided to make the film.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: Kashyap, Singh, Mukti Singh, K.D.Satyam, Ranjan Chandel and Prasoon Mishra wrote the final script. Anand L. Rai called Kashyap and asked him to direct "Manmarziyaan", but Kashyap said he wanted to make "Mukkabaaz" first. They both agreed to this and decided to co-produce the film. In July 2017, it was confirmed they would be working together on the film. The film is set in the Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh and is inspired by several true incidents. "Mukkabaaz" also deals with the issue of the caste system and cow vigilantism in India. Singh trained for a year to play the part with coach Anudeep Singh, a former boxer, who was coaching people for free and runs a garage. His story was used when researching the film. He was also trained by Harpreet Singh, who was a coach of the Indian boxing team. Singh did not disclose to his coaches that he was preparing for a film role. His trainers said that Singh was learning boxing at the age when boxers usually retire. Singh's training began at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Patiala, a year before filming. During training, he could not see punches coming and took a real beating every day, at one point breaking some ribs. Later, he learned how to counter and defend himself. He trained for more than 700 days and was injured several times.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: Delhi theatre actress Zoya Hussain makes her feature debut in the film playing a mute girl. Kashyap had wanted to work with her after seeing her film "Three and Half Takes", which he liked. To prepare for the role, Hussain spent several months learning non-verbal language and mannerisms from sign language expert Sangeeta Gala. Kashyap said that her disability symbolises the lack of voice women in her region have.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: Ravi Kishan plays the role of Sanjay Kumar, a failed boxer who teaches Shravan Kumar boxing. He was selected by casting director Mukesh Chhabra. Rajesh Tailang plays the role of Shravan's father. Jimmy Shergill was cast as the antagonist, Bhagwan Das Mishra, an upper-caste don. Sadhana Singh was also part of the film. Real life boxers Neeraj Goyat and Deepak Tanwar also appear in the film.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: Kashyap sent his second unit director, Saqib Pandor, to record boxing tournaments, which were then recreated as the state tournaments for the film. They witnessed a boxing tournament happening under a tent without an audience as the boxing ring was being used for something else. Kashyap also realised that after attending an actual boxing tournament in north India that there was no audience apart from "people in power who decide which boxer should represent the state, and who will not". Kashyap told Singh not to do ""filmi" training" but to become a hardcore boxer. No boxing choreographers or action directors were used for the film. Kashyap also watched several Hollywood films about boxing. During filming, he fought with real international-level boxers with no choreography. He broke a rib and his hand. Kashyap said that in sports films the actors "expose themselves too much", whereas Singh "just disappeared" into the role. "Mukkabaaz" was shot in Bareilly, Varanasi and Lucknow in May 2017.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: The film was singer-composer Rachita Arora's first film as a composer. She was recommended to Kashyap by Makrand Deshpande. She was doing a play with him and was standing outside in a parking lot. Kashyap heard a song composed by Arora and approached her, later signing her for the film. Aarti Bajaj and Ankit Bidyadhar edited the film, while Shanker Raman, Rajeev Ravi and Jayesh Nair served as the directors of photography.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: The film's soundtrack featured ten tracks; eight songs and two alternates. Rachita Arora composed seven tracks for the album, with one song "Paintra" and its extended version, being composed by Nucleya. Besides acting, Vineet Kumar Singh also worked on composing the track "Adhura Main", while also writing lyrics for three songs, while the rest of the tracks were written by Hussain Haidry. One song, "Mushkil Hai Apna Meil Priye", was written by author and politician Sunil Jogi based on his own poem. Singh wrote the lyrics of two songs after Kashyap wanted him to create a "desi rap", similar to the one he had written for "Ugly" (2014). The vocals were provided by DIVINE, Brijesh Shandilya, Swaroop Khan, Rachita Arora, Dev Arijit, Vijay Arora, Khushboo Raj, Deepak Thakur and Sukhwinder Singh. The original score is composed by Prashant Pillai. The album was released on 23 December 2017 under the Eros Music label. Another song, "Blonde Balma", was deleted from the film.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: The album generally received a positive response. Suanshu Khurana of "The Indian Express" called it "robust" and cited "Paintra" as "one of the better Hindi raps we've heard in a long time." Debarati S Sen of "The Times of India" praised the album and wrote: "You are left wondering about what deserves the maximum applaud "(sic)" — the creative music, the intelligent lyrics or the soulful rendition."


title: Mukkabaaz

text: "Mukkabaaz" premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and was also screened at the 2017 MAMI Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: The film was originally scheduled for release on 10 November 2017, but the date moved to 12 January 2018. "Mukkabaaz" was released alongside "Kaalakaandi" and "1921" on about 1100 screens across India. A special screening was held for the cast and crew before the theatrical release. The film is also available in DVD format and in the online streaming platform, Zee5.


title: Mukkabaaz

text: "Mukkabaaz" received mostly positive reviews from critics with particular praise for Singh's performance. Rajeev Masand responded positively saying, "[..] populated by characters that are authentic and rooted firmly in the landscape, the film sees Kashyap on solid ground." He felt, however, the film was "overlong and occasionally rambling". Anirudh Bhattacharya of "Outlook" felt the film was a "little heftier" but said, "this isn't "Raging Bull", it's just rocky." Raja Sen called it Kashyap's best film, made with "vintage filmi sensibility but highly modern skills". He also praised Singh for a "tremendous performance, not least because of his staggeringly authentic physicality". The "Hindustan Times" Rohit Vats commended both Hussain's and Singh's performances. He noted that though Hussain is "at the lack of words" ... "her eyes are not", and praising Singh for giving a "performance we all will cherish for years". Vats also called it "the best film in last one year or so.""(sic)"


title: Mukkabaaz

text: Renuka Vyavahare of "The Times of India" cited the film as a "total knockout" and wrote: "The not-just-a-boxing film must not be missed as it puts forth a message that's most relevant in today's world." "The Hindu"s Namrata Joshi wrote: "This is in no way a celebration of sports but a hard-nosed look at the rampant corruption, nepotism and casteist politics at the core of games, and life in general, especially their centrality in Uttar Pradesh." Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV praised Hussain and Zoya's performances and the treatment of cow vigilantism and wrote: "Watch it because it is one of the more important films to have come out of the Mumbai movie industry in recent times."


title: Mukkabaaz

text: Anupama Chopra praised Singh's physical transformation as well as the "internal transformation", though she expressed her concern over the film's runtime that "just wears you down". Mayank Shekhar wrote: ""Mukkabaaz" marks Kashyap's fab return to a realm he understands and expresses best -- with all its flaws, angst and humour, Tarantino-esque pop-culture references, making it all as distressing as it is frickin' fun and real." Rachit Gupta of "Filmfare" felt it was Kashyap's "most mature film to date" with "bits of "Rocky", "On the Waterfront" and a whole lot of "Romeo & Juliet"". Uday Bhatia of "Mint" called it a "bracing start to the movie year" that is "overstuffed, enjoyable and urgent".


title: Mukkabaaz

text: On the contrary, Sreehari Nair of Rediff.com felt the film tried to cover too many issues and called it a "minor Anurag Kashyap film" that "aims low and hits." Shubhra Gupta of "The Indian Express" said that the "punches land in exactly the right place" when caste discrimination is addressed in the film. She also felt that the "film falters when it slips into melodrama". Tanul Thakur of "The Wire" wrote: ""Mukkabaaz" fails to go beyond the surface of caste realities." "Reuters" Shilpa Jamkhandikar said that the film "tries to land too many punches, and in doing so, misses the mark."


title: Mukkabaaz

text: Among the overseas reviewers, Deborah Young of "The Hollywood Reporter" in a positive review wrote: "Energetic, cinematic, political and not just for sports fans." Screen International's David D'Archy mentioned in his review: "Kashyap manages to pack caste inequality, corruption and a triumph over disability into a romantic melodrama built around the boxing ring." Wendy Ide called the film an example of "gritty, grubby film-making" with "robustly filthy" dialogues, the violence "unflinching and the music loaded with innuendo". Mike McCahill of "The Guardian" called it "a heavy-hitting social critique disguised as a rock 'em–sock 'em sports movie."


title: Mukkabaaz

text: "Mukkabaaz" earned in its first day of release and on its second day. It collected a total of in its first weekend and in its first week. The film's opening was slow but the collections increased after positive word of mouth. "Mukkabaaz" earned a total of over its theatrical run.


title: Potato salad

text: Potato salad is a salad dish made from boiled potatoes, usually containing a dressing and a variety of other ingredients such as boiled eggs and raw vegetables.


title: Potato salad

text: In the United States, it is generally considered a side dish, and usually accompanies the main course.


title: Potato salad

text: Potato salad is widely believed to have originated in Germany, spreading largely throughout Europe, the United States, and later Asia. American potato salad most likely originated from recipes brought to the U.S. by way of German and other European immigrants during the nineteenth century.


title: Potato salad

text: American-style potato salad is served cold or at room temperature. Ingredients often include mayonnaise or a comparable substitute (such as yogurt or sour cream), herbs, and raw vegetables (such as onion and celery). German-style potato salad is served warm or at room temperature and is made with a vinaigrette, (rather than a creamy mayonnaise-based dressing), and typically includes bacon. Asian-style potato salad is similar to American-style potato salad, but has a sweeter and eggier flavor.


title: Potato salad

text: The earliest known American potato salad recipes date back to the mid 19th century, or mid 1800s, and is rooted in German cuisine which was introduced to the United States by European settlers. Early American potato salad was made from cooked potatoes that were typically dressed with oil, vinegar and herbs.


title: Potato salad

text: A version of potato salad in Japan is known as potesara (or potesala ポテサラ), an English loanword portmanteau. It traditionally consists of the primary potato salad ingredients (mashed boiled potatoes, boiled eggs) with vegetables (cucumber, onion, carrot) and ham mixed with a dressing of mayonnaise, rice vinegar, and karashi mustard.


title: Potato salad

text: This kind of potato salad typically includes potatoes, mayonnaise, boiled eggs, boiled carrots and pickled cucumbers (in Polish ). Sometimes canned corn, peas, boiled parsley root, boiled leek or even apples are added. Furthermore, chopped parsley is commonly used as a garnish. For seasoning the salad only salt and pepper are necessary.


The 2020 United States presidential election in Oregon was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. President Donald Trump, and Vice President Mike Pence were renominated by the Republican Party. They faced a Democratic Party ticket of former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate, California U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, as vice president.


title: 2020 United States presidential election in Oregon

text: Biden won 56.45% of the vote to 40.37% for Trump. Biden received Oregon's seven electoral votes in the Electoral College. The state certified its election results on December 3.


text: Biden won Oregon by 16.1%, an increase from Hillary Clinton's 11% victory margin in 2016. No Republican presidential candidate has won Oregon since Ronald Reagan of neighboring California in 1984. Biden flipped two counties Trump won in 2016: Marion County-home to the state capital of Salem, and Deschutes County-anchored by fast-growing Bend. It was also the first time a majority of Deschutes County voted for a Democrat since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.


text: Biden was the first Democrat since Woodrow Wilson to win the presidency without carrying Columbia County and Tillamook County. He also became the first non-incumbent Democrat since Jimmy Carter to get elected without carrying Jackson County, and the first non-incumbent presidential candidate since George H. W. Bush to win without carrying Wasco County. Tillamook and Columbia Counties were among a fraction of the more than 3,000 counties in the U.S. to vote twice for Barack Obama (2008, 2012) and twice for Donald Trump (2016, 2020).


text: Per exit polls by the Associated Press, Biden's strength in Oregon came from white liberals, with white Oregonians favoring him by 57%–40%. 33% of voters were secular and supported Biden by 80%.


text: Donald Trump ran unopposed in Oregon, receiving the state's 28 delegates to the Republican National Convention


text: Though all Democrats but Joe Biden had withdrawn from the national race by the Oregon primary, four remained on the ballot. Biden won just under two-thirds of the vote. Bernie Sanders received just over 20% of the vote. Oregon's 71 delegates were allocated with 46 to Biden and 15 to Sanders.


text: The Independent Party of Oregon cross-nominated Joe Biden after an online nonpartisan blanket primary.


title: 11th century

text: The 11th century is the period from 1001 (MI) through 1100 (MC) in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the 1st century of the 2nd millennium.


title: 11th century

text: In the history of Europe, this period is considered the early part of the High Middle Ages. There was, after a brief ascendancy, a sudden decline of Byzantine power and a rise of Norman domination over much of Europe, along with the prominent role in Europe of notably influential popes. Christendom experienced a formal schism in this century which had been developing over previous centuries between the Latin West and Byzantine East, causing a split in its two largest denominations to this day: Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.


title: 11th century

text: In Song dynasty China and the classical Islamic world, this century marked the high point for both classical Chinese civilization, science and technology, and classical Islamic science, philosophy, technology and literature.


title: 11th century

text: Rival political factions at the Song dynasty court created strife amongst the leading statesmen and ministers of the empire. In Korea, the Goryeo Kingdom flourished and faced external threats from the Liao dynasty (Manchuria).


title: 11th century

text: In this century the Turkish Seljuk dynasty comes to power in Western Asia over the now fragmented Abbasid realm, while the first of the Crusades were waged towards the close of the century. The Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt, the Ghaznavids, and the Chola dynasty in India had reached their zenith in military might and international influence. The Western Chalukya Empire (the Chola's rival) also rose to power by the end of the century. In Japan, the Fujiwara clan continued to dominate the affairs of state.


title: 11th century

text: In the Americas, the Toltec and Mixtec civilizations flourished in Central America, along with the Huari Culture of South America and the Mississippian culture of North America. The Tiwanaku Empire centered around Lake Titicaca collapsed in the first half of the century.


title: 11th century

text: In European history, the 11th century is regarded as the beginning of the High Middle Ages, an age subsequent to the Early Middle Ages. The century began while the "translatio imperii" of 962 was still somewhat novel and ended in the midst of the Investiture Controversy. It saw the final Christianisation of Scandinavia and the emergence of the Peace and Truce of God movements, the Gregorian Reforms, and the Crusades which revitalised a church and a papacy that had survived tarnished by the tumultuous 10th century. In 1054, the Great Schism saw the political and religious culmination and a formal split between the Western and Eastern church.


title: 11th century

text: In Germany, the century was marked by the ascendancy of the Holy Roman Emperors, who hit their high-water mark under the Salians. In Britain, it saw the transformation of Scotland into a single, more unified and centralised kingdom and the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The social transformations wrought in these lands brought them into the fuller orbit of European feudal politics. In France, it saw the nadir of the monarchy and the zenith of the great magnates, especially the dukes of Aquitaine and Normandy, who could thus foster such distinctive contributions of their lands as the pious warrior who conquered Britain, Italy, and the East and the impious peacelover, the troubadour, who crafted out of the European vernacular its first great literary themes. There were also the first figures of the intellectual movement known as Scholasticism, which emphasized dialectic arguments in disputes of Christian theology as well as classical philosophy.


title: 11th century

text: In Italy, the century began with the integration of the kingdom into the Holy Roman Empire and the royal palace at Pavia was summoned in 1024. By the end of the century, Lombard and Byzantine rule in the Mezzogiorno had been usurped by the Normans and the power of the territorial magnates was being replaced by that of the citizens of the northern cities. In Northern Italy, a growth of population in urban centers gave rise to an early organized capitalism and more sophisticated, commercialized culture by the late 11th century, most notably in Venice. In Spain, the century opened with the successes of the last caliphs of Córdoba and ended in the successes of the Almoravids. In between was a period of Christian unification under Navarrese hegemony and success in the Reconquista against the taifa kingdoms that replaced the fallen caliphate. In Eastern Europe, there was a golden age for the principality of Kievan Rus.


title: 11th century

text: In China, there was a triangular affair of continued war and peace settlements between the Song dynasty, the Tanguts-led Western Xia in the northwest, and the Khitans of the Liao dynasty in the northeast. Meanwhile, opposing political factions evolved at the Song imperial court of Kaifeng. The political reformers at court, called the New Policies Group (新法, Xin Fa), were led by Emperor Shenzong of Song and the Chancellors Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi, while the political conservatives were led by Chancellor Sima Guang and Empress Dowager Gao, regent of the young Emperor Zhezong of Song. Heated political debate and sectarian intrigue followed, while political enemies were often dismissed from the capital to govern frontier regions in the deep south where malaria was known to be very fatal to northern Chinese people (see History of the Song dynasty). This period also represents a high point in classical Chinese science and technology, with figures such as Su Song and Shen Kuo, as well as the age where the matured form of the Chinese pagoda was accomplished in Chinese architecture.


title: 11th century

text: In Japan, the Fujiwara clan dominated central politics by acting as imperial regents, controlling the actions of the Emperor of Japan, who acted merely as a 'puppet monarch' during the Heian period. In Korea, the rulers of the Goryeo Kingdom were able to concentrate more central authority into their own hands than in that of the nobles, and were able to fend off two Khitan invasions with their armies.


title: 11th century

text: In the Middle East, the Fatimid Empire of Egypt reached its zenith only to face steep decline, much like the Byzantine Empire in the first half of the century. The Seljuks came to prominence while the Abbasid caliphs held traditional titles without real, tangible authority in state affairs.


title: 11th century

text: In India, the Chola dynasty reached its height of naval power under leaders such as Rajaraja Chola I and Rajendra Chola I, dominating southern India (Tamil Nadu), Sri Lanka, and regions of Southeast Asia. The Ghaznavid Empire would invade northwest India, an event that would pave the way to a series of later Muslim expansions into India.


title: 11th century

text: In Southeast Asia, the Pagan Kingdom reached its height of political and military power. The Khmer Empire would dominate in Mainland Southeast Asia while Srivijaya would dominate Maritime Southeast Asia. Further east, the Kingdom of Butuan, centered on the northern portion of Mindanao island flourished as the dominant trading polity in the archipelago. In Vietnam, the Lý dynasty began, which would reach its golden era during the 11th century.


title: 11th century

text: In Nigeria, formation of city states, kingdoms and empires, including Hausa kingdoms and Borno dynasty in the north, and the Oyo Empire and Kingdom of Benin in the south.


title: Laurasia

text: Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around (Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pangaea, drifting farther north after the split and finally broke apart with the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean c. 56 Mya. The name is a portmanteau of Laurentia and Asia.


title: Laurasia

text: Laurentia, Avalonia, Baltica, and a series of smaller terranes, collided in the Caledonian orogeny c. 400 Ma to form Laurussia (also known as Euramerica, or the Old Red Sandstone Continent). Laurussia then collided with Gondwana to form Pangaea. Kazakhstania and Siberia were then added to Pangaea 290–300 Ma to form Laurasia. Laurasia finally became an independent continental mass when Pangaea broke up into Gondwana and Laurasia.


title: Laurasia

text: Laurentia, the Palaeozoic core of North America and continental fragments that now make up part of Europe, collided with Baltica and Avalonia in the Caledonian orogeny c. 430–420 Mya to form Laurussia. In the Late Carboniferous Laurussia and Gondwana formed Pangaea. Siberia and Kazakhstania finally collided with Baltica in the Late Permian to form Laurasia.


title: Laurasia

text: In 1904–1909 Austrian geologist Eduard Suess proposed that the continents in the Southern Hemisphere were once merged into a larger continent called Gondwana. In 1915 German meteorologist Alfred Wegener proposed the existence of a supercontinent called Pangaea. In 1937 South African geologist Alexander du Toit proposed that Pangaea was divided into two larger landmasses, Laurasia in the Northern Hemisphere and Gondwana in the Southern Hemisphere, separated by the Tethys Ocean.


title: Laurasia

text: "Laurussia" was defined by Swiss geologist Peter Ziegler in 1988 as the merger between Laurentia and Baltica along the northern Caledonian suture. The "Old Red Continent" is an informal name often used for the Silurian-Carboniferous deposits in the central landmass of Laurussia.


title: Laurasia

text: Several earlier supercontinents proposed and debated in the 1990s and later (e.g. Rodinia, Nuna, Nena) included earlier connections between Laurentia, Baltica, and Siberia. These original connections apparently survived through one and possibly even two Wilson Cycles, though their intermittent duration and recurrent fit is debated.


title: Laurasia

text: Laurentia and Baltica first formed a continental mass known as Proto-Laurasia as part of the supercontinent Columbia which was assembled 2,100—1,800 Mya to encompass virtually all known Archaean continental blocks. Surviving sutures from this assembly are the Trans-Hudson orogen in Laurentia; Nagssugtoqidian orogen in Greenland; the Kola-Karelian (the northwest margin of the Svecokarelian/Svecofennian orogen) and the Volhyn—Central Russia and Pachelma orogenies (across western Russia) in Baltica; and the Akitkan Orogen in Siberia.


title: Laurasia

text: Additional Proterozoic crust was accreted 1,800—1,300 Mya, especially along the Laurentia—Greenland—Baltica margin.


title: Laurasia

text: Laurentia and Baltica formed a coherent continental mass with southern Greenland and Labrador adjacent to the Arctic margin of Baltica. A magmatic arc extended from Laurentia through southern Greenland to northern Baltica. The breakup of Columbia began 1,600 Mya, including along the western margin of Laurentia and northern margin of Baltica (modern coordinates), and was completed c. 1,300—1,200 Mya, a period during which mafic dike swarms were emplaced, including MacKenzie and Sudbury in Laurentia.


title: Laurasia

text: Traces left by large igneous provinces provide evidences for continental mergers during this period. Those related to Proto-Laurasia includes:


title: Laurasia

text: In the vast majority of plate tectonic reconstructions, Laurentia formed the core of the supercontinent Rodinia, but the exact fit of various continents within Rodinia is debated. In some reconstructions, Baltica was attached to Greenland along its Scandinavian or Caledonide margin while Amazonia was docked along Baltica's Tornquist margin. Australia and East Antarctica were located on Laurentia's western margin.


title: Laurasia

text: Siberia was located near but at some distance from Laurentia's northern margin in most reconstructions.


title: Laurasia

text: In the reconstruction of some Russian geologists, however, the southern margin (modern coordinates) of Siberia merged with the northern margin of Laurentia, and these two continents broke up along what is now the -long Central Asian Foldbelt no later than 570 Mya and traces of this breakup can still be found in the Franklin dike swarm in northern Canada and the Aldan Shield in Siberia.


title: Laurasia

text: The Proto-Pacific opened and Rodinia began to breakup during the Neoproterozoic (c. 750–600 Mya) as Australia-Antarctica (East Gondwana) rifted from the western margin of Laurentia, while the rest of Rodinia (West Gondwana and Laurasia) rotated clockwise and drifted south. Earth subsequently underwent a series of glaciations – the Varanger (c. 650 Mya, also known as Snowball Earth) and the Rapitan and Ice Brook glaciations (c. 610-590 Mya) – both Laurentia and Baltica were located south of 30°S, with the South Pole located in eastern Baltica, and glacial deposits from this period have been found in Laurentia and Baltica but not in Siberia.


title: Laurasia

text: A mantle plume (the Central Iapetus Magmatic Province) forced Laurentia and Baltica to separate ca. 650–600 Mya and the Iapetus Ocean opened between them. Laurentia then began to move quickly () north towards the Equator where it got stuck over a cold spot in the Proto-pacific. Baltica remained near Gondwana in southern latitudes into the Ordovician.


title: Laurasia

text: Laurentia, Baltica, and Siberia remained connected to each other within the short-lived, Precambrian-Cambrian supercontinent Pannotia or Greater Gondwana. At this time a series of continental blocks – Peri-Gondwana – that now form part of Asia, the Cathaysian terranes – Indochina, North China, and South China – and Cimmerian terranes – Sibumasu, Qiangtang, Lhasa, Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey – were still attached to the Indian–Australian margin of Gondwana. Other blocks that now form part of southwestern Europe and North America from New England to Florida were still attached to the African-South American margin of Gondwana.


title: Laurasia

text: This northward drift of terranes across the Tethys also included the Hunic terranes, now spread from Europe to China.


title: Laurasia

text: Pannotia broke apart in the late Precambrian into Laurentia, Baltica, Siberia, and Gondwana. A series of continental blocks – the Cadomian–Avalonian, Cathaysian, and Cimmerian terranes – broke away from Gondwana and began to drift north.


title: Laurasia

text: Laurentia remained almost static near the Equator throughout the early Palaeozoic, separated from Baltica by the up to -wide Iapetus Ocean.


title: Laurasia

text: In the Late Cambrian, the mid-ocean ridge in the Iapetus Ocean subducted beneath Gondwana which resulted in the opening of a series of large back-arc basins. During the Ordovician, these basins evolved into a new ocean, the Rheic Ocean, which separated a series of terranes – Avalonia, Carolinia, and Armorica – from Gondwana.


title: Laurasia

text: Avalonia rifted from Gondwana in the Early Ordovician and collided with Baltica near the Ordovician–Silurian boundary (480–420 Mya). Baltica-Avalonia was then rotated and pushed north towards Laurentia. The collision between these continents closed the Iapetus Ocean and formed Laurussia, also known as Euramerica. Another historical term for this continent is the Old Red Continent or Old Red Sandstone Continent, in reference to abundant red beds of the Old Red Sandstone during the Devonian. The continent covered including several large Arctic continental blocks.


title: Laurasia

text: During the Devonian (416-359 Mya) the combined landmass of Baltica and Avalonia rotated around Laurentia, which remained static near the Equator. The Laurentian warm, shallow seas and on shelves a diverse assemblage of benthos evolved, including the largest trilobites exceeding . The Old Red Sandstone Continent stretched across northern Laurentia and into Avalonia and Baltica but for most of the Devonian a narrow seaway formed a barrier where the North Atlantic would later open. Tetrapods evolved from fish in the Late Devonian, with the oldest known fossils from Greenland. Low sea-levels during the Early Devonian produced natural barriers in Laurussia which resulted in provincialism within the benthic fauna. In Laurentia the Transcontinental Arch divided brachiopods into two provinces, with one of them confined to a large embayment west of the Appalachians. By the Middle Devonian, these two provinces had been united into one and the closure of the Rheic Ocean finally united faunas across Laurussia. High plankton productivity from the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary resulted in anoxic events that left black shales in the basins of Laurentia.


title: Laurasia

text: The subduction of the Iapetus Ocean resulted in the first contact between Laurussia and Gondwana in the Late Devonian and terminated in full collision or the Hercynian/Variscan orogeny in the early Carboniferous (340 Mya). The Variscan orogeny closed the Rheic Ocean (between Avalonia and Armorica) and the Proto-Tethys Ocean (between Armorica and Gondwana) to form the supercontinent Pangaea. The Variscan orogeny is complex and the exact timing and the order of the collisions between involved microcontinents has been debated for decades.