title: Yumi Nu

text: Nu's family moved from New Jersey to Maryland when she was seven years old. She said that she was one of two Asian girls in her school, and was subject to prejudiced comments. When she was 14 years old, her family moved to Newport Beach, California.


title: Yumi Nu

text: Nu began modeling in 2010. She began practicing songwriting at the age of 12, and wrote her first song in 2016. Nu released an extended play (EP) in June 2019. Nu is signed to her uncle's record label, Dim Mak Records.


title: Yumi Nu

text: Nu created Blueki, a plus-size clothing line. She was on the cover of the American and Japanese editions of "Vogue" in 2021, and also appeared in British "Vogue". Nu made her debut appearance in "Sports Illustrated"s annual Swimsuit Issue in 2021, becoming the first Asian plus-size model to appear. Nu will be one of the cover models for the Swimsuit Issue in 2022, and released her second EP, "Hajime", in May 2022. She was also invited to the White House's celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May 2022.


title: Suleyman Shah

text: Suleyman Shah (; Modern ) was, according to Ottoman tradition, the son of Kaya Alp and the father of Ertuğrul, who was the father of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire. Early Ottoman genealogies disputed this lineage, and either Suleyman Shah or Gündüz Alp could be Osman's grandfather and the father of Ertuğrul. An Ottoman tomb initially in or near Qal'at Ja'bar has historically been associated with Suleyman Shah. He succeeded his father as bey in 1214 when he decided to lead the 50,000 strong tribe West in the face of Mongol invasion. After migrating to the North Caucasus, thousands of Kayis settled in Erzincan and Ahlat in 1214, while some of the other Kayi groups dispersed in Diyarbakir, Mardin, and Urfa.


title: Suleyman Shah

text: In chapter fourteenth of " of Âşıkpaşazâde," Osman I asserted that he had descended from "Gökalp" and "Suleiman ibn Qutulmish" the founder of Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate instead of ""Süleymanşâh ibn Kaya Alp"." Erhan Afyoncu claims that the identity of "Süleyman Şah" in the Tomb of Suleyman Shah is unidentified. He also defends that the father of "Ertuğrul" according to the recent investigations is "Gündüz Alp."


title: Suleyman Shah

text: In early 2015, during the Syrian Civil War, on the night of 21–22 February, 2015, a Turkish military convoy including tanks and other armored vehicles numbering about 100 entered Syria to evacuate the tomb's 40 guards and to relocate the tomb of Suleyman Shah.


title: Suleyman Shah

text: The tomb is now temporarily located in Turkey-controlled territory 200 meters inside Syria, 22 km (14 mi) west of Ayn al-Arab and 5 km (3.1 mi) east of the Euphrates, less than 2 km (1.2 mi) southeast of the Turkish village of Esmesi that is in southernmost Birecik District.


title: Suleyman Shah

text: The Turkish government has highlighted that the relocation is temporary, and that it does not constitute any change to the status of the tomb site.


title: Suleyman Shah

text: Serdar Gökhan appeared as Suleyman Shah in the Turkish TV series "", where he starred as a main character in the first season, and its sequel, "", where he made a cameo appearance in the thirteenth episode.


title: Carolina Miranda (actress)

text: Carolina Miranda Olvera (June 25, 1990, Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico) is a Mexican television actress. She obtained her first character in the telenovela "Los Rey", then in "Las Bravo." She starred in the series "Señora Acero", after the departure of Blanca Soto.


title: Whitney Sudler-Smith

text: Whitney Sudler-Smith (born June 2, 1968) is an American filmmaker, television director, and classically trained guitarist. He is the Creator and Executive Producer of Bravo's "Southern Charm", a "reality docu-series" about life in Charleston, South Carolina. He is also an executive producer on the Savannah and New Orleans spin-off shows.


title: Whitney Sudler-Smith

text: Sudler-Smith was born June 2, 1968 in Washington, D.C. but brought up in Virginia. His mother is Patricia Altschul (then Pat Dey-Smith), a socialite and prominent art dealer at the time. He graduated from Georgetown Day School and George Washington University, and studied at Oxford University and the Alliance Française in Paris. His late father Lon Hayes Smith was an Investment Banker at Morgan Stanley and resided on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.


title: Whitney Sudler-Smith

text: After arriving in Los Angeles in 1996, Sudler-Smith directed two small films "Going for Baroque" and "Afternoon Delight". In 1998 he released the Indie film "Bubba and Ike", a "redneck buddy comedy" starring Jesse Borrego and Elisa Gabrielli that was first screened at the Austin Film Festival. In 2002 Smith wrote and directed "Torture TV", another Indie film that starred Danny Huston and Trevor Goddard. He is also a screenwriter.


title: Whitney Sudler-Smith

text: In 2010 Sudler-Smith directed the documentary "Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston" about Roy Halston, the famous fashion designer who helped to create the casual chic look. The film focused on Studio 54 and the club scene in Manhattan in the 1970s, using archival footage and interviews of personalities including Anjelica Huston, Billy Joel, Liza Minnelli, and Anthony Haden-Guest. After an international theatrical release, the movie was sold to Showtime, and can be subsequently seen on Amazon Prime and Peacock. In reviewing the film, critic Owen Gleiberman of Variety and Entertainment Weekly gave it an A−, stating the film ‘has a grander trajectory than just about any other fashion doc.” The film was met with mostly negative reviews and currently holds a 33% on review aggregating site Rottentomatoes.com.


title: Whitney Sudler-Smith

text: Sudler-Smith is creator and executive producer of "Southern Charm", a reality show on Bravo that chronicles the social life of Charleston, SC. Filming of the second season finished in November, 2014. "Southern Charm" looks at the life of six young professionals in Charleston including a novice lawyer, an aspiring fashion designer, and Thomas Ravenel, a local celebrity who was forced to resign as state treasurer of South Carolina after being indicted on cocaine charges. Ravenel is still "pursuing a political career with utter delusion," noted a reviewer about the show. "He plots his comeback while also getting sloshed and hooking up with a 21-year-old. In other words, he is reality TV gold."


title: Whitney Sudler-Smith

text: Sudler-Smith is also the executive producer of two spin-off series, "Southern Charm Savannah" and "Southern Charm New Orleans".


title: Whitney Sudler-Smith

text: "Whitney Sudler-Smith is plenty interesting, but he’s nothing compared to his mother, Patricia Altschul, a woman who wakes up and tells her butler she’s ready for her morning cocktail with the signal, 'It’s time for my medicine!'" wrote Gregory Miller in "The New York Post". She's the widow of Arthur Goodhart Altschul Sr., the prominent New York art collector and philanthropist who was longtime General Partner of Goldman Sachs. On the show, Patricia Altschul sometimes provides commentary on the younger crowd's activities with icy wit. When Sudler-Smith announced plans during the show's first season to open a restaurant in Charleston, his mother told him, “I think that’s a little out of your realm.” The show is sometimes filmed in Mikell House, a 9,480-square-foot mansion built in 1851 that Patricia Altschul bought in downtown Charleston.


title: Matzah ball

text: Matzah balls ( pl., singular ; with numerous other transliterations) or matzo balls are Ashkenazi Jewish soup dumplings made from a mixture of matzah meal, beaten eggs, water, and a fat, such as oil, margarine, or chicken fat. Matzah balls are traditionally served in chicken soup and are a staple food on the Jewish holiday of Passover, though they are not eaten during Passover by those who observe a prohibition on soaking matzah products.


title: Matzah ball

text: The texture of matzah balls may be light or dense, depending on the recipe. Matzah balls made from some recipes float in soup; others sink.


title: Matzah ball

text: Although there are official transliterations of Yiddish words into English by the YIVO Institute, there are many non-standard transliterations. Alternate transliterations of the Yiddish term for "matzah" ball, in the singular, include: knaidl, knaidel, kneidl, and kneidel. Transliterations in the plural include: knaidels, knaidlach, knaidelach, kneidels, kneidlach, kneidelach, kneydls, kneydels, and kneydlach.


title: Matzah ball

text: The various transliterations of the term gave rise to minor controversy in June 2013, when it was the winning word in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Thirteen-year-old Arvind Mahankali of New York spelled ""knaidel"" correctly in accordance with Webster's Third New International Dictionary, the official dictionary of the Bee, to become the champion. However, there was controversy whether that was indeed the definitive spelling of the term, with others preferring ""knaydel"", ""kneydel"", ""knadel"", or ""kneidel"".


title: Matzah ball

text: The exact origins of matzo balls – and the traditional matzo ball soup – are unknown. Some historians posit that the copious amounts of matzo meal produced during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, others believe that Jews used the crumbs leftover from matzo baking to produce the filling additions to their soup. It is believed that Jews began placing matzo balls in their soup as Eastern European cuisine began introducing dumplings in traditional foods, and Jews were adapting them to their dietary restrictions and culinary tastes. German, Austrian, and Alsatian Jews were the first to prepare matzo balls for their soup; middle eastern Jews introduced additional variations. An early recipe for matzoh ball soup, made with beef stock, is found in "The Jewish manual, or, Practical information in Jewish and modern cookery" (1846).


title: Matzah ball

text: Schmaltz (chicken fat) imparts a distinctive flavour, but many modern cooks prefer vegetable oils or margarine. The use of butter, while otherwise suitable, violates the Jewish law of kashrut prohibiting consumption of milk and meat products together, if the balls are eaten with chicken soup. The balls are dropped into a pot of salted boiling water or chicken soup, then the heat turned down to a simmer and a lid placed on the pot. The balls swell during the cooking time of 20 to 30 minutes. Adding kosher baking powder for lightness is permissible, even for Passover.


title: Matzah ball

text: While the recipe is simple, there are also ready matzah ball mixes, typically to be added to beaten egg.


title: Matzah ball

text: In 2008 Joey Chestnut held the world record for eating matzah balls: 78 of exactly in 8 minutes, at the Inaugural World Matzoh Ball Eating Championship, a charity event.


title: Matzah ball

text: In 2010, the world's largest matzah ball was prepared by Chef Jon Wirtis of Shlomo and Vito's New York City Delicatessen, located in Tucson, Arizona. He created a matzah ball for New York's Jewish Food Festival. The ingredients were of matzah meal, of schmaltz, over 1,000 eggs and of potato starch. This broke the previous record set by Chef Anthony Sylvestri of Noah's Ark Deli to raise awareness for a charity basketball game, which weighed and was long and was made from "1,000 eggs, 80 pounds of margarine, 200 pounds of matzah meal, and 20 pounds of chicken base".


title: Lee Israel

text: Leonore Carol "Lee" Israel (December 3, 1939 – December 24, 2014) was an American author known for committing literary forgery. Her 2008 confessional autobiography "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" was adapted into the 2018 film of the same name starring Melissa McCarthy as Israel.


title: Lee Israel

text: Israel was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family. Her parents were Jack and Sylvia Israel; she also had a brother, Edward. She graduated from Midwood High School, and in 1961 from CUNY's Brooklyn College.


title: Lee Israel

text: Israel began a career as a freelance writer in the 1960s. Her profile of Katharine Hepburn, whom Israel had visited in California shortly before the death of Spencer Tracy, ran in the November 1967 edition of "Esquire" magazine. Israel's magazine-writing career continued into the 1970s. In the 1970s and 1980s, she published biographies of the actress Tallulah Bankhead, the journalist and game-show panelist Dorothy Kilgallen, and the cosmetics tycoon Estée Lauder. The Kilgallen book was well received upon its publication in 1979, and appeared on "The New York Times" Best Seller List. Novelist and book reviewer Rita Mae Brown told readers of "The Washington Post" in 1979 that Kilgallen had expressed much curiosity about Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby, despite the prevalence of show business gossip in her newspaper column. Brown added that Israel's book “deserves to be ranked with serious biography just as its subject deserves to be ranked a serious journalist” despite the possibility that some “political movements would probably find even the mention of [Kilgallen’s] name a cause for hilarity.”


title: Lee Israel

text: In another Dorothy Kilgallen biography that was published in 2017, author Mark William Shaw noted, “Unfortunately, in 1993, [Lee] Israel’s reputation was soiled when she was convicted of a class D felony: conspiracy to transport stolen property in interstate commerce.” After explaining that her conviction put an end to a phase of her life during which she swindled numerous autograph dealers and bookstore owners, Shaw went on to say, “Despite Israel’s deceptive practices more than twelve years after finishing her 485-page Kilgallen book, there is no indication she fabricated any portion of the book. Some material is incomplete but reference notes at the end of the book appear credible. Ms. Israel's citations of old newspaper articles, magazine pieces and her quotations from numerous books, all check out. Unfortunately, this author was unable to speak with her before she died in 2014.”


title: Lee Israel

text: In her 2008 memoir "Can You Ever Forgive Me?", Israel claimed that in 1983, four years after the "Kilgallen" publication, she had received an advance from Macmillan Publishing to begin a project on Estee Lauder, "about whom Macmillan wanted an unauthorized biography — warts and all. I accepted the offer though I didn't give a shit about her warts." Israel also claimed that Lauder repeatedly attempted to bribe her into dropping the project. In the book, Israel discredited Lauder's public statements that she was born into European aristocracy and attended church regularly in Palm Beach, Florida. In 1985, Lauder wrote an autobiography that her publisher timed to coincide with Israel's book. Israel's book was panned by critics and was a commercial failure. "I had made a mistake," Israel said of the episode. "Instead of taking a great deal of money from a woman rich as Oprah, I published a bad, unimportant book, rushed out in months to beat [Lauder's own memoir] to market." After this failure, Israel's career went into decline, compounded by alcoholism and a personality that some found difficult.


title: Lee Israel

text: By 1992, Israel's career as a writer of books and magazine articles had ended. She had tried and failed to support herself with wage labor. To make money, she began forging letters (estimated to total more than 400) of deceased writers and actors. Later, she began stealing actual letters and autographed papers of famous persons from libraries and archives, replacing them with forged copies she had made. She and an accomplice, Jack Hock, sold forged works and stolen originals. (Hock had been released from prison a short time earlier for the armed robbery of a taxicab driver). This continued for over a year until two undercover FBI agents questioned Israel on a Manhattan sidewalk outside a delicatessen from which they saw her exit, according to her memoir.


title: Lee Israel

text: It is unclear how her forgeries were detected, but in her memoir she indicates that her ability to sell letters ended universally and abruptly. She mentions in her memoir that a Noël Coward expert insisted that Coward would not have referenced his homosexual activities so enthusiastically in letters at a time when such behavior would be punished with a prison sentence. Researchers have doubted that Coward believed authorities in Jamaica, where he lived from 1956 until his death, in his native United Kingdom or in the United States might tamper with his mail. These researchers have noted that Israel never had Coward make an explicit reference to a sexual act. They believe the sheer abundance of letters being sold by Israel aroused suspicion among autograph collectors, dealers and used bookstore owners. Other researchers believe they became suspicious of paper with anachronistic watermarks. Some researchers suspect Israel's use of very ordinary (aged) paper raised an alarm because the sophisticated letter writers were likely to have owned the finest stationery.


title: Lee Israel

text: Israel's memoir makes clear that her name suddenly became toxic among autograph collectors, dealers and used book merchants no matter exactly how they caught on. Moreover, she criticizes the guild of autograph brokers: before they became suspicious, they never required her to recite her prepared lies about how a letter came into her hands. Israel points out that their own code of conduct required all of them to be able to attest unquestioningly to a detailed account of the provenance of each document.


title: Lee Israel

text: Her criminal prosecution was set in motion not over the forgeries she was selling to collectors, but over the forgeries she was slipping into library and museum files to replace the genuine letters she was stealing. The forgeries she sold had not involved interstate commerce or great sums of money, and so were overlooked by the FBI and other law enforcement. But when autograph dealer David Lowenherz learned that an Ernest Hemingway letter he had purchased from Israel's accomplice, Jack Hock, was supposed to be in the Columbia University archives, it was then discovered that Columbia's letter had been replaced by a forgery and Israel had signed the register for having examined that folder.


title: Lee Israel

text: At this point, the FBI was called in and an investigation showed that Israel had stolen authentic letters, replacing them with forged copies, from several institutional collections. According to David Lowenherz, Israel and Hock were arrested together by the FBI when they met at a bank to cash Lowenherz's check from a sale.


title: Lee Israel

text: In Israel's memoir, where she cites FBI documents from her case file, her story of her encounter with the FBI differs from the account by Lowenherz. She describes her encounter with two FBI agents on a sidewalk outside a Manhattan delicatessen where she had waited for Jack Hock to meet her so they could count the cash from a sale he had made (she had caught him stealing when they had met at her home several weeks earlier). Israel claims Hock failed to show up at the delicatessen and she decided to return to her home in case he had gone there, instead.


title: Lee Israel

text: When Israel exited the delicatessen, her memoir goes on to say, she was startled by a man's voice shouting "Lee!", and she noticed that another man "appeared to be with him". "The man in my face showed me a big star affixed to his wallet that glinted in the sunlight. The lunch-hour crowd milled around us." She told them she needed to consult with her lawyer. The two agents on the sidewalk left without arresting her or telling her what was going to happen next. They did tell her that Jack Hock was in federal custody and he had requested that she never try to contact him again.


title: Lee Israel

text: She immediately returned to her apartment and started to destroy all evidence of her crimes, discarding in public trash cans more than a dozen typewriters she had used to emulate the look of the famous writers' letters. By the time she was served with a federal warrant ordering her to save this evidence, it had already been destroyed. Israel also claims she was never arrested or handcuffed, instead receiving summonses for federal court dates, though Lowenherz's account contradicts hers on this point.


title: Lee Israel

text: In June 1993, Israel pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to transport stolen property, for which she served six months under house arrest and five years of federal probation. Additionally, she was barred by almost all libraries and archives, ending any opportunity to resume her career as a biographer. She eventually supported herself copy editing for Scholastic magazines.


title: Lee Israel

text: Even after her exposure and sentencing, some of her forgeries were still being sold by reputable dealers as authentic—and at substantially greater prices than she had been paid for them. Some were even quoted in published books as if they were real. Israel later expressed pride in her criminal accomplishments, especially the forgeries.


title: Lee Israel

text: Some reviewers of Israel's memoir questioned Simon & Schuster's decision to publish it, because she would profit from the sales. One reviewer wrote, "What this is is a hilarious memoir of a self-described miscreant and her pursuit of a meal ticket. Ironically, in a joke the reader will share, by purchasing her book we all participate in buying her that meal." Upon the publication of the memoir in 2008, Naomi Hample, a New York City bookstore owner who had purchased some of Israel's forged letters in 1992, was quoted by "The New York Times" as saying, "I'm certainly not angry anymore, though it was an expensive and very large learning experience for me. And she's really an excellent writer. She made the letters terrific."


title: Lee Israel

text: Lee Israel died in New York City on December 24, 2014 from myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells. According to a "New York Times" obituary, she had lived alone and had no children. Regarding her family, she wrote in her memoir, "I had a brother with whom I had never had much in common."


title: Lee Israel

text: In April 2015, it was announced that a film version of "Can You Ever Forgive Me?", starring Julianne Moore and directed by Nicole Holofcener, would be produced. In July 2015, Moore said she had been fired from the project. In May 2016, it was confirmed that Melissa McCarthy would play Israel, while Marielle Heller would direct the film. Filming of "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" took place in New York City in early 2017.


title: Lee Israel

text: The film held its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 19, 2018. For her portrayal of Israel, McCarthy was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.


title: Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2019 Turkish film)

text: Miracle in Cell No. 7 () is a 2019 Turkish drama film directed by Mehmet Ada Öztekin. It is an official adaptation of the 2013 South Korean comedy-drama film "Miracle in Cell No. 7" using the same premise, but with significant changes in story, characters, and tone. It was selected as the Turkish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.


text: The story unfolds in a story to a village in 1983. An autistic father, Mehmet "Memo" Koyuncu, lives with his young daughter, Ova, and his grandmother on a hillside. After a misunderstanding, he is falsely charged with murdering a girl who had died due to an accident.


text: Memo saves the leader of the cell from being stabbed by another inmate and befriends the rest of his cellmates. The cellmates realise Memo couldn't possibly have committed the crime and plan to prove his innocence.


text: Ova reveals that she met a deserter who witnessed Memo's alleged crime, who confirmed that it was an accident and that Memo was innocent. After hearing this, they ask the Warden to investigate about the deserter. The deserter is found, only to be killed to ensure Memo is executed.


text: Days after the execution, the Warden reveals to Ova that one of the cellmates volunteered to secretly take Memo's place in the execution to ensure Memo's escape and return home.


text: The film was the most watched film in Turkish theaters in 2019, with more than 5.3 million admissions. It also gained a large worldwide audience due to its release on Netflix, especially in France and Latin America, where it topped the charts.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase toxic assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President George Bush. It was a component of the government's measures in 2009 to address the subprime mortgage crisis.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The TARP originally authorized expenditures of $700 billion. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 created the TARP. The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, signed into law in 2010, reduced the amount authorized to $475 billion. By October 11, 2012, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated that total disbursements would be $431 billion, and estimated the total cost, including grants for mortgage programs that have not yet been made, would be $24 billion.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: On December 19, 2014, the U.S. Treasury sold its remaining holdings of Ally Financial, essentially ending the program.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: TARP allowed the United States Department of the Treasury to purchase or insure up to $700 billion of "troubled assets", defined as "(A) residential or commercial obligations will be bought, or other instruments that are based on or related to such mortgages, that in each case was originated or issued on or before March 14, 2008, the purchase of which the Secretary determines promotes financial market stability; and (B) any other financial instrument that the Secretary, after consultation with the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, determines the purchase of which is necessary to promote financial market stability, but only upon transmittal of such determination, in writing, to the appropriate committees of Congress".


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: In short, this allows the Treasury to purchase illiquid, difficult-to-value assets from banks and other financial institutions. The targeted assets can be collateralized debt obligations, which were sold in a booming market until 2007, when they were hit by widespread foreclosures on the underlying loans. TARP was intended to improve the liquidity of these assets by purchasing them using secondary market mechanisms, thus allowing participating institutions to stabilize their balance sheets and avoid further losses.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: TARP does not allow banks to recoup losses already incurred on troubled assets, but officials expect that once trading of these assets resumes, their prices will stabilize and ultimately increase in value, resulting in gains to both participating banks and the Treasury itself. The concept of future gains from troubled assets comes from the hypothesis in the financial industry that these assets are oversold, as only a small percentage of all mortgages are in default, while the relative fall in prices represents losses from a much higher default rate.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) requires financial institutions selling assets to TARP to issue equity warrants (a type of security that entitles its holder to purchase shares in the company issuing the security for a specific price), or equity or senior debt securities (for non-publicly listed companies) to the Treasury. In the case of warrants, the Treasury will only receive warrants for non-voting shares, or will agree not to vote the stock. This measure was designed to protect the government by giving the Treasury the possibility of profiting through its new ownership stakes in these institutions. Ideally, if the financial institutions benefit from government assistance and recover their former strength, the government will also be able to profit from their recovery.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: Another important goal of TARP was to encourage banks to resume lending again at levels seen before the crisis, both to each other and to consumers and businesses. If TARP can stabilize bank capital ratios, it should theoretically allow them to increase lending instead of hoarding cash to cushion against future unforeseen losses from troubled assets. Increased lending equates to "loosening" of credit, which the government hopes will restore order to the financial markets and improve investor confidence in financial institutions and the markets. As banks gain increased lending confidence, the interbank lending interest rates (the rates at which the banks lend to each other on a short-term basis) should decrease, further facilitating lending.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: TARP will operate as a "revolving purchase facility". The Treasury will have a set spending limit, $250 billion at the start of the program, with which it will purchase the assets and then either sell them or hold the assets and collect the coupons. The money received from sales and coupons will go back into the pool, facilitating the purchase of more assets. The initial $250 billion could be increased to $350 billion upon the president's certification to Congress that such an increase was necessary. The remaining $350 billion may be released to the Treasury upon a written report to Congress from the Treasury with details of its plan for the money. Congress then had 15 days to vote to disapprove the increase before the money will be automatically released. Privately held mortgages would be eligible for other incentives, including a favorable loan modification for five years.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The authority of the United States Department of the Treasury to establish and manage TARP under a newly created Office of Financial Stability became law October 3, 2008, the result of an initial proposal that ultimately was passed by Congress as H.R. 1424, enacting the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and several other acts.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: On October 8, the British announced their bank rescue package consisting of funding, debt guarantees and infusing capital into banks via preferred stock. This model was closely followed by the rest of Europe, as well as the U.S Government, who on the October 14 announced a $250bn (£143bn) Capital Purchase Program to buy stakes in a wide variety of banks in an effort to restore confidence in the sector. The money came from the $700bn Troubled Asset Relief Program.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: To qualify for this program, the Treasury required participating institutions to meet certain criteria, including: "(1) ensuring that incentive compensation for senior executives does not encourage unnecessary and excessive risks that threaten the value of the financial institution; (2) required clawback of any bonus or incentive compensation paid to a senior executive based on statements of earnings, gains or other criteria that are later proven to be materially inaccurate; (3) prohibition on the financial institution from making any golden parachute payment to a senior executive based on the Internal Revenue Code provision; and (4) agreement not to deduct for tax purposes executive compensation in excess of $500,000 for each senior executive". The Treasury also bought preferred stock and warrants from hundreds of smaller banks, using the first $250 billion allotted to the program.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The first allocation of the TARP money was primarily used to buy preferred stock, which was similar to debt in that it gets paid before common equity shareholders. This had led some economists to argue that the plan may be ineffective in inducing banks to lend efficiently.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: In the original plan, the government would buy troubled (also known as 'toxic') assets in insolvent banks and then sell them at auction to private investor and/or companies. This plan was scratched when United Kingdom's Prime Minister Gordon Brown came to the White House for an international summit on the global credit crisis. Prime Minister Brown, in an attempt to mitigate the credit squeeze in England, planned a package of three measures consisting of funding, debt guarantees and infusing capital into banks via preferred stock. The objective was to directly support banks' solvency and funding; in some economists' view, effectively nationalizing many banks. This plan seemed attractive to the Treasury Secretary in that it was relatively easier and seemingly boosted lending more quickly. The first half of the asset purchases may not be effective in getting banks to lend again because they were reluctant to risk lending as before with low lending standards. To make matters worse, overnight lending to other banks came to a relative halt because banks did not trust each other to be prudent with their money.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: On November 12, 2008, Paulson indicated that reviving the securitization market for consumer credit would be a new priority in the second allotment.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: On December 19, 2008, President Bush used his executive authority to declare that TARP funds could be spent on any program that Paulson, deemed necessary to alleviate the financial crisis. On December 31, 2008, the Treasury issued a report reviewing Section 102, the Troubled Assets Insurance Financing Fund, also known as the "Asset Guarantee Program". The report indicated that the program would likely not be made "widely available".


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: On January 15, 2009, the Treasury issued interim final rules for reporting and record keeping requirements under the executive compensation standards of the Capital Purchase Program (CPP). Six days later, the Treasury announced new regulations regarding disclosure and mitigation of conflicts of interest in its TARP contracting.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: On February 5, 2009, the Senate approved changes to the TARP that prohibited firms receiving TARP funds from paying bonuses to their 25 highest-paid employees. The measure was proposed by Christopher Dodd of Connecticut as an amendment to the $900 billion economic stimulus act then waiting to be passed. On February 10, the newly confirmed Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner outlined his plan to use the remaining $300 billion or so in TARP funds. He intended to direct $50 billion towards foreclosure mitigation and use the rest to help fund private investors to buy toxic assets from banks. Nevertheless, this highly anticipated speech coincided with a nearly 5 percent drop in the S&P 500 and was criticized for lacking details.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: Geithner announced on March 23, 2009 a Public-Private Investment Program (P-PIP) to buy toxic assets from banks' balance sheets. The major stock market indexes in the United States rallied on the day of the announcement rising by over six percent with the shares of bank stocks leading the way. P-PIP has two primary programs. The Legacy Loans Program will attempt to buy residential loans from bank's balance sheets. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) will provide non-recourse loan guarantees for up to 85 percent of the purchase price of legacy loans. Private sector asset managers and the U.S. Treasury will provide the remaining assets. The second program was called the legacy securities program, which would buy residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) that were originally rated AAA and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and asset-backed securities (ABS) which were rated AAA. The funds would come in many instances in equal parts from the U.S. Treasury's TARP monies, private investors, and from loans from the Federal Reserve's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF). The initial size of the Public Private Investment Partnership was projected to be $500 billion. Economist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman had been very critical of this program arguing the non-recourse loans lead to a hidden subsidy that will be split by asset managers, banks' shareholders and creditors. Banking analyst Meredith Whitney argued that banks will not sell bad assets at fair market values because they are reluctant to take asset write downs. Economist Linus Wilson, a frequent commenter on TARP related issues, also pointed to excessive misinformation and erroneous analysis surrounding the U.S. toxic asset auction plan. Removing toxic assets would also reduce the volatility of banks' stock prices. This lost volatility would hurt the stock price of distressed banks. Therefore, such banks would only sell toxic assets at above market prices.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: On April 19, 2009, the Obama administration outlined the conversion of the TARP loans to common stock.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The program was run by the Treasury's new Office of Financial Stability. According to a speech made by Neel Kashkari, the fund would be split into the following administrative units:


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: Eric Thorson was the Inspector General of the US Department of the Treasury and was responsible for the oversight of the TARP but expressed concerns about the difficulty of properly overseeing the complex program in addition to his regular responsibilities. Thorson called oversight of TARP a "mess" and later clarified this to say "The word 'mess' was a description of the difficulty my office would have in providing the proper level of oversight of the TARP while handling its growing workload, including conducting audits of certain failed banks and thrifts at the same time that efforts are underway to nominate a special inspector general."


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The Treasury retained the law firms of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey and Hughes, Hubbard & Reed to assist in the administration of the program. Accounting and internal controls support services have been contracted from PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst and Young under the Federal Supply Schedule.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The Act's criterion for participation stated that "financial institutions" will be included in TARP if they are "established and regulated" under the laws of the United States and if they have "significant operations" in the United States. The Treasury would need to define what institutions will be included under the term "financial institution" and what will constitute "significant operations". Companies that sell their bad assets to the government must have provided warrants so that the government would benefit from future growth of the companies. Certain institutions seemed to be guaranteed participation. These included: U.S. banks, U.S. branches of a foreign bank, U.S. savings banks or credit unions, U.S. broker-dealers, U.S. insurance companies, U.S. mutual funds or other U.S. registered investment companies, tax-qualified U.S. employee retirement plans, and bank holding companies.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The President was to submit a law to cover government losses on the fund, using "a small, broad-based fee on all financial institutions". To participate in the bailout program, "...companies will lose certain tax benefits and, in some cases, must limit executive pay. In addition, the bill limits 'golden parachutes' and requires that unearned bonuses be returned." The fund had an Oversight Board so that the U.S. Treasury cannot act in an arbitrary manner. There was also an inspector general to protect against waste, fraud and abuse.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: CAMELS ratings (US supervisory ratings used to classify the nation's 8,500 banks) were being used by the United States government in response to the global financial crisis of 2008 to help it decide which banks to provide special help for and which to not as part of its capitalization program authorized by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. It was being used to classify the nation's 8,500 banks into five categories, where a ranking of 1 means they are most likely to be helped and a 5 most likely to not be helped. Regulators were applying a short list of criteria based on a secret ratings system they use to gauge this.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: "The New York Times" stated: "The criteria being used to choose who gets money appears to be setting the stage for consolidation in the industry by favoring those most likely to survive" because the criteria appears to favor the financially best off banks and banks too big to let fail. Some lawmakers are upset that the capitalization program will end up culling banks in their districts. However, "The Wall Street Journal" suggested that some lawmakers are actively using TARP to funnel money to weak regional banks in their districts. Academic studies have found that banks and credit unions located in the districts of key Congress members had been more likely to win TARP money.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: Known aspects of the capitalization program "suggest that the government may be loosely defining what constitutes healthy institutions. [... Banks] that have been profitable over the last year are the most likely to receive capital. Banks that have lost money over the last year, however, must pass additional tests. [...] They are also asking if a bank has enough capital and reserves to withstand severe losses to its construction loan portfolio, nonperforming loans and other troubled assets." Some banks received capital with the understanding the banks would try to find a merger partner. To receive capital under the program banks are also "required to provide a specific business plan for the next two or three years and explain how they plan to deploy the capital".


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: TARP allowed the Treasury to purchase both "troubled assets" and any other asset the purchase of which the Treasury determined was "necessary" to further economic stability. Troubled assets included real estate and mortgage-related assets and securities based on those assets. This included both the mortgages themselves and the various financial instruments created by pooling groups of mortgages into one security to be bought on the market. This category probably included foreclosed properties as well.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: Real estate and mortgage-related assets (and securities based on those kinds of assets) were eligible if they originated (that is, were created) or were issued on or before March 14, 2008, the date of the Bear Stearns bailout.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: One of the more difficult issues that the Treasury faced in managing TARP was the pricing of the troubled assets. The Treasury had to find a way to price extremely complex and sometimes unwieldy instruments for which a market did not exist. In addition, the pricing had to strike a balance between efficiently using public funds provided by the government and providing adequate assistance to the financial institutions that need it.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The Act encouraged the Treasury to design a program using market mechanisms to the extent possible. This had led to the expectation that the Treasury would use a reverse auction to price assets. Theoretically, the system would create a market price from bidders that would want to sell at the highest possible price, but also be able to make a sale, therefore the price must set a low enough price to be competitive. The Treasury was required to publish its methods for pricing, purchasing, and valuing troubled assets no later than two days after the purchase of their first asset. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) used procedures similar to those specified in the Federal Credit Reform Act (FCRA) to value assets purchased under the TARP.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: In a report dated February 6, 2009, the Congressional Oversight Panel concluded that the Treasury paid substantially more for the assets it purchased under the TARP than their then-current market value. The COP found the Treasury paid $254 billion, for which it received assets worth approximately $176 billion, for a shortfall of $78 billion. The COP's valuation analysis assumed that "securities similar to those issued under the TARP were trading in the capital markets at fair values" and employed multiple approaches to cross-check and validate the results. The value was estimated for each security as of the time immediately following the announcement by Treasury of its purchase. For example, the COP found that the Treasury bought $25 billion of assets from Citigroup on October 14, 2008, however, the actual value was estimated to be $15.5, creating a 38 percent (or $9.5 billion) subsidy.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: , $467 billion had been allotted, and $416 billion spent, according to a literature review on the TARP. Among the money committed, includes:


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The Congressional Budget Office released a report in January 2009, reviewing the transactions enacted through the TARP. The CBO found that through December 31, 2008, transactions under the TARP totaled $247 billion. According to the CBO's report, the Treasury had purchased $178 billion in shares of preferred stock and warrants from 214 U.S. financial institutions through its Capital Purchase Program (CPP). This included the purchase of $40 billion of preferred stock in AIG, $25 billion of preferred stock in Citigroup, and $15 billion of preferred stock in Bank of America. The Treasury also agreed to lend $18.4 billion to General Motors and Chrysler. The Treasury, the FDIC and the Federal Reserve have also agreed to guarantee a $306 billion portfolio of assets owned by Citigroup.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The CBO also estimated the subsidy cost for transactions under TARP. The subsidy cost is defined as, broadly speaking, the difference between what the Treasury paid for the investments or lent to the firms and the market value of those transactions, where the assets in question were valued using procedures similar to those specified in the Federal Credit Reform Act (FCRA), but adjusting for market risk as specified in the EESA. The CBO estimated that the subsidy cost of the $247 billion in transactions before December 31, 2008 amounts to $64 billion. As of August 31, 2015, TARP is projected to cost approximately $37.3 billion total—significantly less than the $700 billion originally authorized by Congress.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The May 2015 report of the TARP to Congress stated that $427.1 billion had been disbursed, total proceeds by April 30, 2015 were $441.8 billion, exceeding disbursements by $14.1 billion, though this included $17.7 billion in non-TARP AIG shares. The report predicted a total net cash outflow of $37.7 billion (excluding non-TARP AIG shares), based on the assumption the TARP housing programs' (Hardest Hit Fund, Making Home Affordable and FHA refinancing) funds are fully taken up. Debt is still outstanding, some of which has been converted to common stock, from just under $125 million down to $7,000. Sums loaned to entities that have gone into, and in some cases emerged from bankruptcy or receivership are provided. Additional sums have been written off, for example Treasury's original investment of $854 million in Old GM.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The May 2015 report also detailed other costs of the program, including $1.157 billion "for financial agents and legal firms" $142 million for personnel services, and $303 million for "other services".


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The banks agreeing to receive preferred stock investments from the Treasury include Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. (which had just agreed to purchase Merrill Lynch), Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of New York Mellon and State Street Corp.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The U.S. Treasury maintains an official list of TARP recipients and proceeds to the government on a TARP website. Note that foreign-owned U.S. banks were not eligible. Beneficiaries of TARP include the following:


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: Of these banks, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, American Express Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., U.S. Bancorp, Capital One Financial Corp., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., State Street Corp., BB&T Corp, Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America repaid TARP money. Most banks repaid TARP funds using capital raised from the issuance of equity securities and debt not guaranteed by the federal government. PNC Financial Services, one of the few profitable banks without TARP money, planned on paying their share back by January 2011, by building up its cash reserves instead of issuing equity securities. However, PNC reversed course on February 2, 2010, by issuing $3 billion in shares and $1.5-2 billion in senior notes in order to pay its TARP funds back. PNC also raised funds by selling its Global Investment Services division to crosstown rival The Bank of New York Mellon.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: In a January 2012, review, it was reported that AIG still owed around $50 billion, GM about $25 billion and Ally about $12 billion. Break even on the first two companies would be at $28.73 a share versus then-current share price of $25.31 and $53.98 versus then-current share price of $24.92, respectively. Ally was not publicly traded. The 371 banks that still owed money include Regions ($3.5 billion), Zions Bancorporation ($1.4 billion), Synovus Financial Corp. ($967.9 million), Popular, Inc. ($935 million), First BanCorp of San Juan, Puerto Rico ($400 million) and M&T Bank Corp. ($381.5 million).


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: Some in the financial industry have been accused of not using the loaned dollars for its intended reason. Others further abused investors after the TARP legislation was passed by telling investors their money was invested in the federal TARP financial bailout program and other securities that did not exist. Neil Barofsky, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), told lawmakers, "Inadequate oversight and insufficient information about what companies are doing with the money leaves the program open to fraud, including conflicts of interest facing fund managers, collusion between participants and vulnerabilities to money laundering.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: In its October 2011 quarterly report to Congress, SIGTARP reported "more than 150 ongoing criminal and civil investigations". SIGTARP had already achieved criminal convictions of 28 defendants (19 had already been sentenced to prison), and civil cases naming 37 individuals and 18 corporate/legal entities as defendants. It had recovered $151 million, and prevented $553 million going to Colonial Bank, which failed.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The first TARP fraud case was brought by the SEC on January 19, 2009, against Nashville-based Gordon Grigg and his firm ProTrust Management. The latest occurred in March 2010, with the FBI claiming Charles Antonucci, the former president and chief executive of the Park Avenue Bank, made false statements to regulators in an effort to obtain about $11 million from the fund.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The nearest parallel action the federal government has taken was in investments made by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) in the 1930s. The RFC, an agency chartered during the Herbert Hoover administration in 1932, made loans to distressed banks and bought stock in 6,000 banks, totalling $1.3 billion. "The New York Times," citing finance experts on October 13, 2008, noted that, "A similar effort these days, in proportion to today's economy, would be about $200 billion." When the economy had stabilized, the government sold its bank stock to private investors or the banks, and is estimated to have received approximately the same amount previously invested.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: In 1984, the government took an 80 percent stake in the nation's then seventh-largest bank Continental Illinois Bank and Trust. Continental Illinois made loans to oil drillers and service companies in Oklahoma and Texas. The government was estimated to have lost $1 billion because of Continental Illinois, which ultimately became part of Bank of America.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The $24 billion for the estimated subsidy cost of TARP was less than the government's cost for the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s, although the subsidy cost does not include the cost of other "bailout" programs (such as the Federal Reserve's Maiden Lane Transactions and the Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). The cost of the S&L crisis amounted to 3.2 percent of GDP during the Reagan/Bush era, while the GDP percentage of the TARP cost was estimated at less than 1 percent.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The primary purpose of TARP, according to the Federal Reserve, was to stabilize the financial sector by purchasing illiquid assets from banks and other financial institutions. However, the effects of the TARP have been widely debated in large part because the purpose of the fund is not widely understood. A review of investor presentations and conference calls by executives of some two dozen US-based banks by The New York Times found that "few [banks] cited lending as a priority. Further, an overwhelming majority saw the program as a no-strings-attached windfall that could be used to pay down debt, acquire other businesses or invest for the future." The article cited several bank chairmen as stating that they viewed the money as available for strategic acquisitions in the future rather than to increase lending to the private sector, whose ability to pay back the loans was suspect. PlainsCapital chairman Alan B. White saw the Bush administration's cash infusion as "opportunity capital", noting, "They didn't tell me I had to do anything particular with it."


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: Moreover, while TARP funds have been provided to bank holding companies, those holding companies have only used a fraction of such funds to recapitalize their bank subsidiaries.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: Many analysts speculated TARP funds could be used by stronger banks to buy weaker ones. On October 24, 2008, PNC Financial Services received $7.7 billion in TARP funds, then only hours later agreed to buy National City Corp. for $5.58 billion, an amount that was considered a bargain. Despite ongoing speculation that more TARP funds could be used by large-but-weak banks to gobble up small banks, as of October 2009, no further such takeover had occurred.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: The Senate Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee the TARP concluded on January 9, 2009: "In particular, the Panel sees no evidence that the U.S. Treasury has used TARP funds to support the housing market by avoiding preventable foreclosures." The panel also concluded that "Although half the money has not yet been received by the banks, hundreds of billions of dollars have been injected into the marketplace with no demonstrable effects on lending."


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: Government officials that oversaw the bailout acknowledged the difficulties in tracking the money and in measuring the bailout's effectiveness.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: During 2008, companies that received $295 billion in bailout money had spent $114 million on lobbying and campaign contributions. Banks that received bailout money had compensated their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in 2007, including salaries, cash bonuses, stock options, and benefits including personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships, and professional money management. The Obama administration has promised to set a $500,000 cap on executive pay at companies that receive bailout money, directing banks to tie risk taken to workers' reward by paying anything further in deferred stock. Graef Crystal, a former compensation consultant and author of "The Crystal Report on Executive Compensation", claimed that the limits on executive pay were "a joke" and that "they're just allowing companies to defer compensation."


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: In November 2011, a report showed that the sum of the government's guarantees increased to $7.77 trillion; however, loans to banks were only a small fraction of that amount.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: One study found that the typical white-owned bank was about ten times more likely to receive TARP money in the CDCI program than a black-owned bank after controlling for other factors.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: By March 31, 2009, four banks out of over five hundred had returned their preferred stock obligations. None of the publicly traded banks had yet bought back their warrants owned by the U.S. Treasury by March 31, 2009. According to the terms of the U.S. Treasury's investment, the banks returning funds can either negotiate to buy back the warrants at fair market value, or the U.S. Treasury can sell the warrants to third party investors as soon as feasible. Warrants are call options that add to the number of shares of stock outstanding if they are exercised for a profit. The American Bankers Association (ABA) has lobbied Congress to cancel the warrants owned by the government, calling them an "onerous exit fee". Yet, if the Capital Purchase Program warrants of Goldman Sachs are representative, then the Capital Purchase Program warrants were worth between $5-to-$24 billion as of May 1, 2009. Canceling the CPP warrants thus amounts to a $5-to-$24 billion subsidy to the banking industry at government expense. While the ABA wants the CPP warrants to be written off by the government, Goldman Sachs does not hold that view. A representative of Goldman Sachs was quoted as saying "We think that taxpayers should expect a decent return on their investment and look forward to being able to provide just that when we are permitted to return the TARP money."


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: In total, U.S. government economic bailouts related to the global financial crisis had federal outflows (expenditures, loans, and investments) of $633.6 billion and inflows (funds returned to the Treasury as interest, dividends, fees, or stock warrant repurchases) of $754.8 billion, for a net profit of $121 billion. Of financial system bailout outflows, 38.7% went to banks and other financial institutions, 30.2% to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, 12.6% to auto companies, and 10.7% to AIG, with the remaining 7.8% in other programs.


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: A 2019 study by economist Deborah Lucas published in the "Annual Review of Financial Economics" estimated "that the total direct cost of the 2008 crisis-related bailouts in the United States" (including TARP and other programs) was about $500 billion, or 3.5% of the United States's GDP in 2009, and that "the largest direct beneficiaries of the bailouts were the unsecured creditors of financial institutions." Lucas noted that this cost estimate "stands in sharp contrast to popular accounts that claim there was no cost because the money was repaid, and with claims of costs in the trillions of dollars."


title: Troubled Asset Relief Program

text: In a 2012 survey of leading economists conducted by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business' Initiative on Global Markets, economists generally agreed that unemployment at the end of 2010 would have been higher without the program.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: The Amity Affliction is an Australian metalcore band from Gympie, Queensland, formed in 2003. The band's current line-up consists of Ahren Stringer (bass, clean vocals), Joel Birch (lead vocals), Dan Brown (guitar) and Joe Longobardi (drums). They have released seven studio albums including "Severed Ties" (2008), "Youngbloods" (2010), "Chasing Ghosts" (2012), "Let the Ocean Take Me" (2014), "This Could Be Heartbreak" (2016) and "Misery" (2018), the latter four debuting at number one on the ARIA charts. They are known for their highly personal songs, often dealing with depression, anxiety, death, substance abuse, and suicide, many lyrics stemming from vocalist Joel Birch's past struggles.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: The Amity Affliction formed in Gympie, a South-East Queensland town in Australia by friends Ahren Stringer, Joseph Lilwall and Troy Brady in their final year of high school. The band was named for a close friend of the band, who died in a car accident at the age of 17. 'Amity' referred to the friendship and 'Affliction' was to indicate the struggle which dealing with the death caused the band members.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: In 2004, The Amity Affliction released a three track self-titled demo produced by Scott Mullane at Aisle 6 Recording. At the time there were four members with former members Garth Buchanan on bass and Lachlan Faulkner on drums.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: In late 2004, vocalist Joel Birch joined the band. Following, mid-2005, The Amity Affliction released their debut self-titled EP. After the release of the EP they toured the East Coast on their 2005 East Coast Tour.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: In 2007, there was a line up change when Lachlan Faulkner quit and Garth Buchanan left to join Behind Crimson Eyes. Lachlan Faulkner later joined Saint Lucia. They then hired drummer, Troels Thomasson, Chris Burt on guitar (originally on bass), Ahren Stringer now on bass and the addition of a keyboardist, Trad Nathan. The Amity Affliction released a new five track EP entitled "High Hopes" which was named for the house in which "The Amityville Horror" took place. The first pressing came in a CD/DVD package. The DVD featured the band discussing the recording of the EP, it also featured the band on the road and performing.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: The band released their debut studio album in 2008, entitled "Severed Ties". The album spent a week on the Australian Albums Chart at number 26.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: It is the first album to feature Chris Burt's brother Ryan Burt on drums. The album features guest vocals from Michael Crafter of I Killed the Prom Queen/Confession, Matthew Wright of the Getaway Plan, JJ Peters of I Killed the Prom Queen/Deez Nuts/Grips 'N' Tonic, Helmet Roberts and Lochlan Watt (Nuclear Summer). A music video was released for the song Fruity Lexia. The Amity Affliction played numerous shows across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: During May 2009, they supported the Getaway Plan along with Perth band Elora Danan, on the Getaway Plan's national Finale Tour.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: The Amity Affliction undertook a headlining tour across Australia in 2009. They also played the 2009 Stairway to Hell Tour across Australia with support from UK band We Are the Ocean and Melbourne band Hopeless, with a local support band for each city. The Amity Affliction then went to the UK for a full tour supporting We Are the Ocean alongside Flood of Red and All Forgotten.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: In late 2009, The Amity Affliction parted ways with guitarist Christopher Burt. The decision was mutual and had been planned for some time. His last show was in London in December 2009. While all the members are still good friends with Chris, the decision was made in the best interest of the band musically. Chris now plays guitar and sings in Brisbane based band SENSaii. Afterwards, Clint Ellis (Splattering) from the Getaway Plan took his place.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: In April 2010, the band flew out to New York to record their second full-length record with producer Machine. On 10 May, the band uploaded a new song from this album, "I Hate Hartley" on their MySpace and the song was later available for free download.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: On a pushed-forward date on 18 June as announced on their website (originally 25 June 2010), the band released their second studio album "Youngbloods" on Boomtown and Shock Records. The album was a huge success for the band, receiving critical acclaim and debuting at number 6 on the ARIA charts. The Amity Affliction went on tour in July to support the release of their second album. Joining them was Misery Signals, fellow Australians Confession and Scottish band Flood of Red. They toured Western Australia a few weeks later, joined by local band Break Even.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: In October, the band announced they would be releasing "Glory Days", which would be a compilation of old demos and the first two EPs as well as two B-sides from "Youngbloods". "Glory Days" was released on 26 November. They then announced a UK tour with Asking Alexandria and one following with long-time friends Deez Nuts, Endwell and Louie Knuxx.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: In the autumn of 2010, The Amity Affliction had their first American interview with alternative scene magazine "Substream Music Press" for its 22nd issue, just after signing to The Artery Foundation. The band found out they would be performing at the next Soundwave festival during the actual interview for the article.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: On 30 May 2011, the band released their second music video from "Youngbloods"; following the music video for "I Hate Hartley", the new music video for the song "Youngbloods" was released exclusively on Guvera.com.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: In late 2011, the band embarked on their headline nationwide tour," Fuck the Reaper", with supporting acts Asking Alexandria, Skyway and a local band in each city.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: During the 17 September 2011 show in Townsville, Queensland, vocalist Joel Birch announced that they were planning to head over to America early 2012 to record their third album.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: Then again on 22 September 2011, Ahren stated in an interview with Alt Music Hub that the band planned to begin recording their new album in March/April 2012.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: On 8 February 2012, it was announced that The Amity Affliction had been signed to Roadrunner Records for their next album and future.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: On 7 May 2012, the band headed over to Orlando, Florida to start recording their third album with producer Michael Baskette.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: On 7 June 2012, it was announced the band's third studio album would be titled "Chasing Ghosts" and was set to be released on 7 September 2012 in Australia, 17 September for the UK, and 18 September for the US.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: It was revealed in a news article and magazine cover posted on 13/14 August that guitarist Imran Siddiqi would no longer be a part of the band. Furthermore, Siddiqi then did not appear in the video clip for the single "Chasing Ghosts" released on 15 August. A fill in guitarist played their album tour and U.S tour in late 2012.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: After the release of "Chasing Ghosts", the band had an Australian nationwide tour in September–October promoting their new album with supporting acts the Ghost Inside, Architects and Buried in Verona. Amity appeared on Soundwave in 2013 in February–March and also Warped Tour Australia at the end of the year.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: It was announced by Joel Birch on 24 March 2013 that Dan Brown was the new guitarist, although he did not appear on the "Open Letter" music video.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: In 2013, The Amity Affliction was part of Warped Tour in the United States with Chad Hasty (Glass Cloud) on drums and percussion due to Ryan Burt severely damaging his cornea during a set in Portland, Oregon. Later in the tour vocalist Joel Birch was also hospitalized due to unspecified illness, forcing the band to cancel their set in Pittsburgh. The band's next show in Cleveland was played due to the help of Sam Carter (Architects), Jason Aalon Butler (Letlive) and Chris Roetter (Like Moths to Flames) sharing the stage as replacement vocals for Joel. All shows after this were played with Joel back on vocals after his recovery.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: Late in 2013 the band went on to play the "Brothers in Arms" tour across Europe and Australia with support acts Landscapes and in Hearts Wake for the European portion and Chelsea Grin, Stick to Your Guns and in Hearts Wake for the Australian segment. In late 2013, the band released a demo of the song "Cave In". The single was speculated to be featured on the upcoming album. However, this was proved false when the band announced the track list for their upcoming fourth studio album. The first single from the bands forthcoming album titled "Pittsburgh" was released on 14 April. The second single "Don't Lean on Me" was released on 15 May. The album itself, titled "Let the Ocean Take Me", was released on 6 June in Australia, 9 June in the UK, and 10 June in the U.S. it debuted at No. 1 on the Australian ARIA albums chart, becoming the band's second consecutive No. 1.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: On 11 October, lead guitarist Troy Brady announced that he had decided to leave the band, making Ahren Stringer the only original member left in the band.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: On 18 May 2015, The Amity Affliction released a trailer for their upcoming documentary film titled "Seems Like Forever" on YouTube. The video description contains links to pre-order the film, released on 10 July 2015 as a stand-alone DVD or a deluxe two-disc edition CD version of "Let the Ocean Take Me", including two unreleased tracks, "Skeletons" (featured in the trailer) and "Farewell".


title: The Amity Affliction

text: The band played the full Vans Warped Tour, and in October–November 2015 headlined in the U.S. with the "Seems Like Forever U.S. Tour" with Chelsea Grin, Secrets, Cruel Hand and The Plot in You. In mid-November, a new, non-album single "Shine On" was premiered on radio and released digitally without prior announcement. It reached the top five on the Australian iTunes chart and debuted at No. 19 on the ARIA singles chart, the band's highest. The band also co-headlined the "Big Ass Tour" with A Day to Remember, Motionless in White and Hands Like Houses in Australia and New Zealand in December 2015.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: On 18 May, The Amity Affliction posted a video to their Facebook page announcing their fifth studio album, "This Could Be Heartbreak". It was also announced that the album would be released on 12 August and the band also released the music video for the first single, "I Bring the Weather with Me". The song also features clean vocals from Joel Birch. Along with this new album, The Amity Affliction also announced a 1500-person capacity (per city) tour in Australia called the I Bring the Weather with Me Tour at The Tivoli in Brisbane on 19 August, Metro Theatre in Sydney on 26 August and 170 Russell in Melbourne on 31 August. Supporting them on this tour will be Trophy Eyes. They will also tour the United States during September and October and then Europe in December for the record. On 10 July the band released their second single for the album, the title track "This Could Be Heartbreak" along with a music video. On 9 August, the band released a lyric video for the song "All Fucked Up" on YouTube.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: The band was also featured on the Fearless compilation "Punk Goes Pop Vol. 7", covering the Weeknd's song "Can't Feel My Face". A music video for the cover was released on 22 June 2017. The Amity Affliction officially announced that Ryan Burt departed from the band due to mental health reasons on 5 February 2018.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: On 20 June 2018, The Amity Affliction released the first single, "Ivy (Doomsday)", from their upcoming sixth studio album, "Misery". The band announced that the album will be released on 24 August through Roadrunner Records. The band released an official video along with the release of "Ivy (Doomsday)". The band released the song "Feels Like I'm Dying" as a second part to the "Ivy (Doomsday)" video. The official track listing was eventually revealed on the band's website. It is their fourth consecutive album to reach number one on the Aria Albums Chart.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: On 29 January 2019, the band released a music video for "Drag the Lake", the first to feature new drummer Joe Longobardi of Defeater fame, who replaced Ryan Burt after he departed the band back in 2018. In September the band will complete an East Coast Tour of Australia with Underoath, Crossfaith and Pagan.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: On 6 September 2019, the band released their new song, "All My Friends Are Dead" accompanied with a music video. The song marks a return to the band's heavier elements; it is their first release under Pure Noise Records. On 31 December, it was revealed that the band would be releasing their new album on 21 February after the German version of Amazon accidentally leaked the product listing for the effort. The band have also released a sneak peek of an upcoming track from the album.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: On 8 January 2020, the band confirmed their seventh album, "Everyone Loves You... Once You Leave Them", would be released on 21 February 2020, along with unveiling the track list for the album. Along with the confirmation of the album they released the second single from the outing, "Soak Me in Bleach", accompanied with a music video.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: On 29 January, the band released the next single from the album, "Catatonia", which harks back to their earlier heavier sound. On 20 October, the band released two B-Side songs that didn't make it on their seventh album, "Everyone Loves You... Once You Leave Them" called "Midnight Train" and "Don't Wade in the Water".


title: The Amity Affliction

text: On 15 September 2021, the band released the first single "Like Love" alongside an accompanying music video. On 17 November, a follow-up single titled "Give Up the Ghost" was released. Ahren Stringer told "Wall of Sound" during an interview: ""We are really enjoying playing the heavier stuff again. Seems our audience is happy with that as well…""


title: The Amity Affliction

text: On 15 December, the band released "Death Is All Around", the third and final track from their EP "Somewhere Beyond the Blue" which was released on 15 December 2021 and features unclean vocal performances by both Joel Birch and Ahren Stringer. When discussing the new single, Ahren revealed: ""We're deep into a pandemic that won't go away, with lockdowns still happening here in Australia and no touring in sight, it's a hopeless situation and one that inspired the lyrics in this song."" On 29 November 2022, the band released unveiled a brand new single "Show Me Your God" and its corresponding music video.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: Shortly after the announcement of the "Chasing Ghosts" album, the album's cover was revealed. The cover depicts a man hanging from a tree who is thought to have committed suicide. The graphic nature of this image caused much controversy among social media. The situation was very ironic due to the main message behind the album being anti-suicide and urging fans who feel suicidal to turn to people close to them and seeking help rather than taking their own life. The band later apologized for the artwork along with the responses band members made to fans regarding the artwork.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: Slight controversy sparked during the Warped Tour 2013, when in the middle of a set Joel Birch called out the frontman of Memphis May Fire, Matty Mullins, on supposed sexist comments that had been made to female attendance at Warped. The frontman then went on to continue talking about racist taunts that had been made towards the band's replacement drummer/percussionist for the tour, Chad Hasty.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: The APRA Awards are several award ceremonies run in Australia by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) to recognise composing and song writing skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. The Amity Affliction has 5 nominations from this category.


title: The Amity Affliction

text: The Queensland Music Awards (previously known as Q Song Awards) are annual awards celebrating Queensland, Australia's brightest emerging artists and established legends. They commenced in 2006.


title: Acrylic fiber

text: Acrylic fibers are synthetic fibers made from a polymer (polyacrylonitrile) with an average molecular weight of ~100,000, about 1900 monomer units. For a fiber to be called "acrylic" in the US, the polymer must contain at least 85% acrylonitrile monomer. Typical comonomers are vinyl acetate or methyl acrylate. DuPont created the first acrylic fibers in 1941 and trademarked them under the name Orlon. It was first developed in the mid-1940s but was not produced in large quantities until the 1950s. Strong and warm acrylic fiber is often used for sweaters and tracksuits and as linings for boots and gloves, as well as in furnishing fabrics and carpets. It is manufactured as a filament, then cut into short staple lengths similar to wool hairs, and spun into yarn.


title: Acrylic fiber

text: Modacrylic is a modified acrylic fiber that contains at least 35% and at most 85% acrylonitrile. Vinylidene chloride or vinyl bromide used in modacrylic give the fiber flame retardant properties. End-uses of modacrylic include faux fur, wigs, hair extensions and protective clothing.


title: Acrylic fiber

text: The polymer is formed by free-radical polymerization in aqueous suspension. The fiber is produced by dissolving the polymer in a solvent such as N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) or aqueous sodium thiocyanate, metering it through a multi-hole spinneret and coagulating the resultant filaments in an aqueous solution of the same solvent (wet spinning) or evaporating the solvent in a stream of heated inert gas (dry spinning). Washing, stretching, drying and crimping complete the processing. Acrylic fibers are produced in a range of deniers, usually from 0.9 to 15, as cut staple or as a 500,000 to 1 million filament tow. End uses include sweaters, hats, hand-knitting yarns, socks, rugs, awnings, boat covers, and upholstery; the fiber is also used as "PAN" precursor for carbon fiber. Production of acrylic fibers is centered in the Far East, Turkey, India, Mexico, and South America, though a number of European producers still continue to operate, including Dralon and Fisipe. US producers have ended production (except for specialty uses such as in friction materials, gaskets, specialty papers, conductive, and stucco), though acrylic tow and staple are still spun into yarns in the USA.


title: Acrylic fiber

text: In the late 1950s, Courtaulds Ltd began investigating the production of an acrylic fiber later to be called "courtelle" by a process of solvent polymerisation. Methyl acrylate (6%) and acrylonitrile were polymerised in a 50% solution of sodium thiocyanate to produce a dope ready for spinning into a waterbath to produce "courtelle" fiber in various grades of denier. The sodium thiocyanate solution was reconcentrated and re-used. The reaction was a continuous process, with about 5% of reactants being recycled. This recycling process resulted in the build-up of pollutants in the process, as did the recycling of the solvent. A great deal of research in the chemical engineering laboratory in Lockhurst Lane, Coventry, and on the pre-production pilot plant at Little Heath overcame the recycling problems and resulted in the process becoming a commercial success at a new production plant in Grimsby.


title: Acrylic fiber

text: Acrylic is lightweight, soft, and warm, with a wool-like feel. It can also be made to mimic other fibers, such as cotton when spun on short staple equipment. Some acrylic is extruded in colored or pigmented form; other is extruded in "ecru", otherwise known as "natural," "raw white," or "undyed." Pigmented fiber has the highest lightfastness. Its fibers are very resilient compared to both other synthetics and natural fibers. Some acrylic is used in clothing as a less expensive alternative to cashmere, due to the similar feeling of the materials. Some acrylic fabrics may fuzz or pill easily, though there are low-pilling variants. Acrylic takes color well, is washable, and is generally hypoallergenic. End-uses include socks, hats, gloves, scarves, sweaters, home furnishing fabrics, and awnings. Acrylic can also be used to make fake fur and to make many different knitted clothes.


title: Acrylic fiber

text: As acrylic is a synthetic fiber, the larvae of clothes moths are unable to digest it. However, acrylic fibers that are blended with wool or soiled may be eaten as a consequence of having blended fibers.


title: Acrylic fiber

text: Acrylic is the "workhorse" hand-crafting fiber for crafters who knit or crochet; acrylic yarn may be perceived as "cheap" because it is typically priced lower than its natural-fiber counterparts, and because it lacks some of their properties, including softness and propensity to felt. The fiber requires heat to "relax" or set the shape of the finished garment, and it isn't as warm when wet as alternatives like wool. Some hand-knitters also complain that the fiber "squeaks" when knitted, or that it is painful to knit with because of a lack of "give" or stretch in the yarn. On the other hand, it is machine-washable and extremely color-fast. This makes it useful in certain items, like garments for babies, which require constant washing. However it is much more flammable than its natural fiber counterparts, so caution should be used when making items for babies and children.


title: Acrylic fiber

text: A team at Plymouth University in the UK spent 12 months analyzing what happened when a number of synthetic materials were washed at different temperatures in domestic washing machines, using different combinations of detergents, to quantify the microfibres shed. They found that acrylic was responsible for releasing nearly 730,000 tiny synthetic particles (microplastics) per wash, five times more than polyester-cotton blend fabric, and nearly 1.5 times as many as pure polyester. Research by ecologist Mark Browne showed synthetic fibre waste over coastlines at a global scale, with the greatest concentration near sewage outflows. Of the man-made material found on the shoreline, 85% were microfibers and matched the types of material (such as nylon and acrylic) used in clothing.


title: Afsana Khan

text: Afsana Khan is an Indian Punjabi playback singer, actress and songwriter. She started her career as a participant in the singing reality show, "Voice of Punjab Season 3" in 2012. She is known for her tracks "Titliaan" written by Jaani and "Dhakka" with Sidhu Moose Wala. In 2021, she participated in the reality show "Bigg Boss 15".


title: Afsana Khan

text: In 2012, Afsana participated in the singing reality show "Voice of Punjab Season 3" and reached the top 5 of the show.


title: Afsana Khan

text: In 2017, Khan appeared in the singing reality show "Rising Star Season 1" as a contestant where she finished in Top 7. During an interview, Afsana shared that she didn't know any Bollywood song when she appeared for the auditions of the show. She prepared the song "Jag Suna Suna Lage" on the auditions venue itself and got selected for the show. Afterwards she started singing in the Punjabi music industry with various labels.


title: Afsana Khan

text: When Afsana Khan visited her own school, a government senior secondary school at Badal village in the district and sang some lines of her song Dhakka, the video went viral. A complaint was filed against her to the police since the song seemed to promote gun culture.


title: Sujeeth

text: Sujeeth Reddy is an Indian film director and writer. He made his directorial debut in Telugu Cinema with the romantic comedy thriller film "Run Raja Run" at the age of 23. Prior to films, Sujeeth started to study to be a chartered accountant, but eventually quit to pursue his passion for filmmaking. He received SIIMA Award for Best Debut Director (Telugu) in 2015 for the film "Run Raja Run".


title: Spenser: For Hire

text: Spenser: For Hire is an American crime drama series based on Robert B. Parker's "Spenser" novels. The series, developed for TV by John Wilder and starring Robert Urich, was broadcast on ABC from September 20, 1985, until May 7, 1988.


title: Spenser: For Hire

text: The series ran on ABC from September 20, 1985, to May 7, 1988. Despite frequent time slot changes and occasional pre-emptions, the show garnered decent ratings. Location shooting ultimately led to the show's demise, with costs being cited as one of the main reasons why ABC cancelled it. Filmed largely in Boston, which was considered one of the show's strong points, it featured shots from many locations, even showing the harsh winters there (notably in the pilot). The show's music was produced by Steve Dorff and Larry Herbstritt.


title: Spenser: For Hire

text: Spenser (Robert Urich) is the only name used for this character throughout the show. When introducing himself, he often says "Spenser with an 'S', like the poet." In "The Choice", it is revealed that Spenser fared poorly in a professional fight 12 years ago, but he still boxes and exercises at Henry Cimoli's Gym. He is well-read, often quoting poetry in everyday conversation, and is an excellent cook, often making recipes he picks up from watching Julia Child on his kitchen counter television.


title: Spenser: For Hire

text: Spenser lives in Boston and drives distinctive cars. His first is a mildly-worn out, ivy green '66 Ford Mustang, which is destroyed at the beginning of the second season. It is succeeded by a new 1987 Mustang 5.0 GT which, nine episodes later, is traded for a perfectly restored 1966 Mustang GT which gets banged up over the remaining run of the show. In the TV films, he drives a red Ford Probe in the first two, then switches to a burgundy red 1967 Ford Mustang fastback for the final two films.


title: Spenser: For Hire

text: Spenser carries a Beretta 9mm pistol and acknowledges being a Vietnam War veteran in the series' pilot episode. Spenser was also a former member of the Boston police force and occasionally cooperates with the BPD in the series.


title: Spenser: For Hire

text: In "Children of the Tempest Storm", Ms. Silverman reveals that she is pregnant with Spenser's child. The word "abortion" comes up when talking with her doctor, and is discussed throughout the episode, though often not using the word. Susan and Spenser discuss the issue and are at odds over the moral dilemma. Spenser, a Catholic, does not know if he can stay with Susan, though he loves her deeply, if she aborts. He believes it is only for her convenience that she would choose abortion. In the end, she has the abortion, and he brings her flowers. They silently affirm that the relationship will continue. After Susan leaves the show, ADA Rita Fiore becomes Spenser's love interest during the second season.


title: Spenser: For Hire

text: After his apartment goes up in flames at the start of the second episode, Spenser moves into a "firehouse", given to him by grateful local firefighters for saving the life of a firefighter at his apartment building. It is situated on the corner of River Street, near Mt. Vernon Square and Beacon Hill. In the second season, the Fire Department takes the station back and Spenser moves to a small top floor apartment in Charlestown, near the old Boston Navy Yard which he now uses as his office.


title: Spenser: For Hire

text: Hawk (Avery Brooks) is a smartly dressed enforcer. Though he is for hire, he has a code of ethics and assists Spenser. In the pilot episode ("Promised Land"), he and Spenser obviously have respect for each other, and he switches over from King Powers' (Chuck Connors) side to Spenser's side when he does not like Powers' actions. Hawk carries a Colt Python .357 Magnum as his weapon of choice.


title: Spenser: For Hire

text: Lt. Quirk (Richard Jaeckel) and Spenser have an uneasy, somewhat adversarial relationship, but often work together. In the episode "Heart of the Matter", Quirk suffers an angina attack and reluctantly accepts the fact that he must retire after 35 years on the force.


title: Spenser: For Hire

text: The series consisted of three seasons (1985–1988) with a total of 66 episodes, and was followed by a series of four made-for-TV movies (1993–1995).


title: Spenser: For Hire

text: On June 28, 2005, Rykodisc released the four TV movies on DVD that were made following the cancellation of the weekly series. In 2007, Rykodisc re-released each of them separately.


title: Spenser: For Hire

text: On August 26, 2014, Warner Bros. released the first season on DVD via their Warner Archive Collection. This is a manufacture-on-demand (MOD) release, available through Warner's online store and Amazon.com. Warner's website explains that the initial disc run was pressed traditionally "to meet expected high consumer demand". The second season was released on May 12, 2015. The third and last season was released on September 1, 2015.


title: Spenser: For Hire

text: In an April 23, 2009 blog entry, Robert Parker stated that he was in talks with TNT to produce a remake of the series. However, Parker died in 2010 before these plans could take place.


title: Guizhou JL-9

text: The Guizhou JL-9, also known as the FTC-2000 Mountain Eagle (), is a family of two-seat supersonic advanced jet trainer and light combat aircraft developed by the Guizhou Aviation Industry Import/Export Company (GAIEC) for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) and the People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF).


title: Guizhou JL-9

text: The FTC-2000 started as a GAIEC private venture to develop an inexpensive trainer for fourth generation aircraft. The trainer was revealed at the 2001 China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition. The aircraft are reported to be produced at a GAIC assembly line in Anshun, Guizhou.


title: Guizhou JL-9

text: The FTC-2000, as the JL-9, competed with the Hongdu JL-10 to meet the advanced trainer requirements of the PLAAF and PLANAF. The JL-10 is more technologically advanced, but also more expensive, than the JL-9. In 2013, both had entered production.


title: Guizhou JL-9

text: A carrier-landing trainer variant was revealed by Chinese state media in 2011. Designated the JL-9G, it has strengthened undercarriage, enlarged wing and diverterless supersonic inlets, but has proved to be unsuitable for arrested landings and is limited to land-based operations.


title: Guizhou JL-9

text: On 5 September 2018, Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that GAIC had begun mass production of the FTC-2000G variant. On 28 September it was reported that the first mass-produced FTC-2000G performed its maiden flight. In April 2020, China reported that an unnamed South-East Asian country had placed an order for the FTC-2000G, with deliveries expected between 2021 and 2023.


title: Guizhou JL-9

text: The FTC-2000 is developed from the JJ-7/FT-7, the two seat trainer version of Chengdu J-7; the Chengdu J-7 is a Chinese variant of Mig-21. The FTC-2000 uses a new wing, a forward fuselage with side air intakes, and a glass cockpit; the engine, empennage, and mechanical controls of the JJ-7/FT-7 are retained.


title: Marco Polo (game)

text: One player is chosen as "it". That player, with closed eyes, tries to find and tag any one of the other players, relying on hearing to find someone to tag. The player who is "it" shouts "Marco" and the other players must all respond by shouting "Polo", which the "it" player uses to try to find them. If a player is tagged, then that player becomes "it". If "it" suspects that a player has left the pool, they can shout, "fish out of water!" and the player who is out of the pool becomes the new "it".


title: Marco Polo (game)

text: The game can also be played on land, with slightly modified rules. It is similar to blind man's buff, where one person is blindfolded while others choose hiding places around the room. While playing one cannot hold another player in place to be tagged or that person is it.


title: Marco Polo (game)

text: There does not appear to be any real connection between the game and the explorer of the same name, although according to one whimsical explanation, "legend has it that the famed explorer didn't really have a clue as to where he was going", this being reflected in the "it" player's behavior. Although water polo is another popular pool game, the name of "Marco Polo" is apparently unrelated.


title: Marco Polo (game)

text: The game shares similar traits with blind man's bluff, an essentially identical game played on dry land which dates back to at least the 16th century. Marco Polo was known as a water game in America by the 1960s. Between 1965 and 1970, some respondents to a Dictionary of American Regional English survey, when asked to name a game played in the water, responded with "Marco Polo". By the mid-1970s, the game had spread and become very popular in swimming pools frequented by expatriates living in Hong Kong. It did not reach swimming pools in the United Kingdom until later, likely from British children returning from Hong Kong for their studies.


title: Marco Polo (game)

text: In modern times, Marco Polo is played worldwide. Various regions have their own versions of the game, with names such as Mermaid on the Rocks and Alligator. The term "Marco Polo game" is sometimes used to describe an online game where a similar call-and-response system of gameplay is adopted.


title: Marco Polo (game)

text: Marco Polo is an "easily modifiable game", and is based on the notion of call-and-response. Marco Polo is a location-based game because players are confined to a set space and because players must locate each other using auditory clues. Encyclopedia of Play in Today's Society argues "there is bipolarity in the reversal of roles...there are repeated actions, a routine to be repeated, rules to be observed, and verbal signs to be used". Playing this game can allow children to experiment with different social roles, for example learning what it means to be an outcast in the role of "it" (isolated, confined to a space, and unable to see others). According to the Nevada Regional Medical Center, "Marco Polo is not only fun, it can be a good workout. It also puts less stress on your bones and joints because the water makes your body float."


title: Maria Teresa, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

text: Maria Teresa (born María Teresa Mestre y Batista; 22 March 1956) is the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg as the wife of Grand Duke Henri, who acceded to the throne in 2000.


text: Maria Teresa was born on 22 March 1956 in Marianao, Havana, Cuba, to José Antonio Mestre y Álvarez (1926–1993) and wife María Teresa Batista y Falla de Mestre (1928–1988), both from bourgeois families of Spanish descent.


text: In October 1959, at the time of the Cuban Revolution, Maria Teresa Mestre’s parents left Cuba with their children, because the new government headed by Fidel Castro confiscated their properties. The family settled in New York City, where as a young girl she was a pupil at Marymount School. From 1961 she carried on her studies at the Lycée Français de New York. In her childhood, Maria Teresa Mestre took ballet and singing courses. She practices skiing, ice-skating and water sports. She later lived in Santander, Spain, and in Geneva, Switzerland, where she became a Swiss citizen.


text: In 1980, Maria Teresa graduated from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva with a degree in political sciences. While studying there, she met her future husband Henri of Luxembourg.


text: Soon after her marriage, Maria Teresa and the then Hereditary Grand Duke Henri established The Prince Henri and Princess Maria Teresa Foundation to help those with special needs integrate fully into society. In 2001, she and her husband created The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess Foundation, launched upon the accession of the couple as the new Grand Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg. In 2004, the Grand Duke Henri and the Grand Duchess Maria Teresa Foundation was created after the merging of the two previous foundations.


text: In 1997, Maria Teresa was made a special ambassador for UNESCO, working to expand education for young girls and women and help to fight poverty.


text: Since 2005, Maria Teresa has been the chairwoman of the international jury of the European Microfinance Award, which annually awards holders of microfinance and inclusive finance initiatives in developing countries. Also, since 2006, Maria Teresa has been honorary president of the LuxFLAG (Luxembourg Fund Labeling Agency), the first agency to label responsible microfinance investment funds around the world.


text: On 19 April 2007, the Grand Duchess was appointed UNICEF Eminent Advocate for Children, in which role she has visited Brazil (2007), China (2008), and Burundi (2009).


text: She is a member of the Honorary Board of the International Paralympic Committee and a patron of the "Ligue Luxembourgeoise de Prévention et d’Action medico-sociales" and "SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde".


text: The Grand Duchess and her husband Grand Duke Henri are the members of the Mentor Foundation (London), created under the patronage of the World Health Organization. She is also the president of the Luxembourg Red Cross and the Cancer Foundation. In 2016, she organized the first international forum on learning disabilities in Luxembourg.