title: Fuji (apple)

text: Many sports (mutant cultivars) of the Fuji apple have been recognized and propagated. In addition to those that have remained unpatented, twenty had received US plant patents by August 2008:


title: DD National

text: DD National (formerly DD1) is a state-owned public entertainment television channel in India. It is the flagship channel of Doordarshan, India's public service broadcaster, and the oldest and most widely available terrestrial television channel in India.


title: DD National

text: On 15 September 1959, at the studio of All India Radio, Delhi, the first TV channel in India started an experimental telecast with a small transmitter and a makeshift studio, adopting the brand "Doordarshan", Hindi for television. Until 1965, AIR was responsible for the programming production and overall control over content, as the television service began to assume overall production. "Krishi Darshan", "Chaupaal", "Doordarshan Samachar", and "Kalyani" were among the first generation of programmes produced for the channel. In 1976, the split of the TV and radio services was made official with Doordarshan assuming overall control for television broadcasting. By the time the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment commmenced in 1975, Doordarshan coordinated with AIR as the producer of programs aired in the targeted areas of several Indian states. It would foreshadow the start of the channel's road to be a nationally aired station. By the time SITE had begun, the channel had only been seen in several Indian major cities.


title: DD National

text: SITE was just a harbinger of many great moments in Doordarshan history. With the launch of the Indian National Satellite System in the 1980s, Doordarshan, as co-partner in the project, took notice of its potential and the federal government began planning to bring Doorsharsan as a national channel aired to millions of Indians. On 15 August 1982, Indedpendence Day, Doordarshan introduced a national colour telecast service from its own TV studio in Mandi House, New Delhi using PAL Colour, and it beamed the celebrations from Red Fort marking the 35th year of nationhood in full colour.


title: DD National

text: On 9 August 1984, as Doordarshan launched its second channel for the metro/urban audience, 'DD2', the existing first channel was renamed 'DD1' and started regular transmission, beginning nationwide satellite broadcasts. In the same year, DD1 started telecast of sponsored TV serials, which were produced by veteran filmmakers and a number of flim production firms for the channel. These drama series were sponsored by a number of Indian companies. DD1's "Hum Log" was the first sponsored TV serial of Indian television and started airing with its series premiere on 7 July 1984.


title: DD National

text: After the success of "Hum Log", many other TV producers and filmmakers produced many memorable series aired on DD-1. Some of them, together with the acquired foreign language programming of the period, were "Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi", "Buniyaad", "Malgudi Days", "Shrikant", "Ramayan", "Bharat Ek Khoj", "Mahabharat", "Mirza Ghalib", "The Sword of Tipu Sultan", "Chanakya", "The Great Maratha", "Vishwamitra", "Luv Kush Uttar Ramayan", "Buddha", "Surabhi", "Tiltliyan", "Taaraa", "Star Trek", "Khaandaan", "13 Panne", "Air Hostess", "Waah Janaab", "Tamas", "Vikram Aur Betal", "Tenali Rama", "Kirdaar", "Singhasan Battisi","Guldasta","Mrignayani","Shrikant","Sadgati", "Nukkad", "Lot Pot", "Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne", "Bhim Bhawani", "Kakkaji Kahin", "Paying Guest", "Ados Pados", "Upannyas", "Fauji", "Karamchand", "Byomkesh Bakshi", "Samandar", "Param Veer Chakra", "Wagle Ki Duniya", "Buniyaad", "Kachchi Dhoop", "Chunauti", "Mahanagar", "Phir wahi Talash", "Umeed", "Subah", "Mr. Yogi", "Circus", "Ek Bhool", "Chote Babu", "Yugantar", "Kehkashan", "Yatra", "Rajni", "Street Hawk", "Udaan", "Gaata Jaaye Banjara", "Phool Khile Hain Gulsan Gulsan","Pingu","Circus", "Taaj Mahel", "Khubsuraat", and "Dada Dadi Ki Kahaniya". Many of these productions ended up being high rating successes for DD-1. Of these, "Ramayan" ended up not just being DD-1's most expensive Indian TV drama of the 80s, but also the highest rating drama of its time.


title: DD National

text: DD National served as the home for NDTV's smash Friday news program "The World This Week" from 1984 to 1995. During those years, DD National also aired NDTV-produced network coverage of federal and state elections and budget deliberations of Parliament.


title: DD National

text: After the entry of private channels in India, Doordarshan started facing strong competition from Zee TV in 1992. Even though in those days, cable and satellite channels were not easily available, DD1 was still ruling the chart, as it was the only channel available terrestrially. In 1993, Doordarshan revamped both channels for a stronger competition. DD-1 was relaunched into its present name, DD National, while DD-2 received the DD Metro brand.


title: DD National

text: With the telecast of popular TV shows like "Chandrakanta", "Alif Laila", "Tehkikaat", "Chitrahaar", "Udaan", "Byomkesh Bakshi", "Farmaan", "Katha Sagar", "Neem Ka Ped" and "Chanakya", DD National retained viewers and the high ratings, but Doordarshan Board focused more on its sister channel, DD Metro, which was aimed to compete with Zee TV. In the meantime, the channel became one of the popular destinations of TV viewers with its shows like "Junoon", "Superhit Muquabala", and "Azanabi", many of its programming being also aired on DD National either on simulcast or tape delay.


title: DD National

text: In 1995, when most of the channels like DD Metro, Zee TV, Home TV, STAR Plus and Sony TV started focusing on their prime time slots, DD National was still stacked with its role and responsibilities, as at the time it was the only source of news on TV. To provide more entertainment, DD National opened an afternoon slot for housewives, with the telecast of "Shanti". To support the success of "Shanti", many other shows like "Swabhimaan", "Farz", and "Yug" were introduced and all of them were praised.


title: DD National

text: In 1997, Prasar Bharati, the parent body of Doordarshan, was formed. While private channels like Zee TV, STAR Plus and Sony TV started airing high budget TV serials from top production houses, DD National was still doing the best in afternoon slots with "Kasam", "Itihaas", "Agni", "Aprajita", "Aurat", "Ardhangini", "Sanjog, Deewar", "Aane Wala Pal", "Waqt Ki Raftaar" and other programs. There were a few notable programs like "India's Most Wanted", "Gul Sanobar", "Surabhi", "Noorjahan", "Om namah Shivay", "Jai Ganga Maiya", and "Suraag" in prime time, but those were not enough to give competition to private channels.


title: DD National

text: In the late 1997, DD National started airing Mukesh Khanna's "Shaktimaan", which was the blockbuster TV serial in Indian history. In 2000, after tasting success with "India's Most Wanted", "Jasoos Vijay" and "Suraag" in prime time, Prasar Bharati decided to revamp both channels, and many new serials were introduced on DD National, but very few of them were successful because of a limited prime time slots of 9 to 10:30, compared to 8 to 11 for other channels. New channels like Sahara TV and SAB TV were also performing better than DD channels in prime time.


title: DD National

text: In 2002, DD offered its time slots to popular filmmakers and got some popular shows of the time. Ramanand Sagar's "Aankhen", BR Chopra's "Aap Beeti", Adhikaari Brothers "CID Officer", Kiran Bedi's "Galti Kiski", and Time's "Dishayen" were telecast on the channels and prized by viewers. In 2003, when DD Metro Channel was converted into DD News, Prasar Bharati focused on its DD national channels, and shows like "Meher", "Miss India", Shikwah, "Kayamat", "Kaanch", and "Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani" were introduced. "Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani" achieved unprecedented ratings and became DD National's biggest blockbuster during this period. In 2005, "Hawayein" starring Ravi Kishan and Malini Kapoor became one of the most popular shows and also won a title of Best TV Serial of the Year at the ITA Awards.


title: DD National

text: In this period, DD introduced many popular serials like "Air Hostess", "Wo Huye Na hamare", "Kyunki Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai", "Tum Dena Sath Mera", "Hari Mirchi lal Mirchi", "Soni Mahiwaal", "Wheel Smart Shrimati", "Krazzy Kiya Re", "Chandramukhi", "Jo Kahunga Sach Kahunga", "Tahreer Munshi Premchand Ki", and "Kashmkash Zindagi Ki".


title: DD National

text: At prime time, DD was still not able to compete with private channels, and it also started losing its peak position in afternoon slots to re-runs on other channels. In 2012, DD started airing Ekta Kapoor's "Pavitra Bandhan", Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Saraswatichandra" and a few other serials. In 2013, it reduced its window for regional telecasts to 4 PM-7 PM, and stopped airing news at night, which added one and a half hour to its prime time. To enrich the new four-hour long prime time, DD brought TV serials like "Gora", "Bharat Ki Shaan", Baba Aazmi's "Yeh Kaha Aa Gaye Hum", "Dil Jo Kah Na Saka", and Sanjeev Kapoor's "Chef Ki Rasoi". It also launched a campaign for its afternoon slots, DD Dophar Aapke Ghar, by airing serials like "Amrita", "Anudamini", "Aisa Prem Kahan", and "Chupau Kaise Laaga Chunari Me Daag".


title: DD National

text: In November 2014, Prasar Bharati relaunched DD National as 'Desh Ka Apna Channel' with a new theme and serials like "Happy Homes", "Khwabon Ke Darmiyaan", "Khamosh Sa Afsaana", "Dard Ka Rishta", Shama, "Paltan", "Stree Shakti", "Zindagi Ek Bhanwar", and "Janmon Ka Bandhan". Initially, these shows did better, but later, as TRP fell in 2016, Prasar Bharati decided to go for a slot sale policy and invited bids from makers for its 7 PM to 11 PM slot. Afternoon slots in 2016 aired serials like "Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule", "U-turn", and "Munidhar". However, the strategy was not enough for its revival.


title: DD National

text: In late 2016, the slot sale policy of DD was put on hold by the government. Although many production houses like Balaji Telefilms and SaaiBaba Telefilms had won slots for airing their programs, it could not be commenced as the policy was reported for review. From 2017, Doordarshan has been repeating programs from its library and does not telecast any new serial.


title: DD National

text: Due to COVID-19, when all other TV Channels were stopped shooting for fresh episodes of their serials, Doordarshan decided to re-telecast its blockbuster drama programming from the 1980s and 1990s. DD National telecasted repeats of Ramanand Sagar's Ramayana, Uttar Ramayana, Shri Krishna, Mukesh Khanna's Shaktimaan, Shrimaan Shrimati, Shahrukh Khan's Circus, Byomkesh Bakshi, Chanakya, Dekh Bhai Dekh, The Jungle Book and many more. At the same time its sister channel DD Bharati telecasted BR Chopra's Mahabharata, Sai Baba, Alif Laila, BR Chopra's Vishnu Puran and many more hit series.


title: DD National

text: This move turned out to be a "Magic Lamp" for the Doordarshan network, as the rerun broadcasts for these drama productions broke all TRP records. First episode of Ramayana gained highest TRP since 2015 for all Hindi TV Channels of All categories. DD National instantly became #1st in TRP chart and with its shows Ramayana and Shaktimaan were on #1st and #5th in Ratings. Note that, since 2010's DD National was out of top 10 in Hindi GEC Ratings.


title: DD National

text: Its sister channel DD Bharati, which was even not in notice since its inception in 2000, became 5th most-watched TV Channel in TRP Charts, with Mahabharata became #2 on TRP Charts.


title: DD National

text: Following the success of the reruns, DD National finally regained its status as the country's number 1 station. Bolstered by high ratings of the programming repeats Doordarshan launched DD Retro on 13 April 2020, with its library mainly composed of many of Doordarshan's legendary drama series.


title: DD National

text: Shortly after Prasar Bharati changed its logo, the broadcaster announced the rebranding of DD National, including its logo, which would be in effect from 15 August 2022, coinciding with the celebrations of Indian Independence day and in celebration of 40 years of nationwide broadcasts. The new logo made its debut on 14 August, one day before the holiday.


title: DD National

text: Over its long journey, being India's biggest public broadcaster, DD National has had a long list of notable anchors. Many on whom are widely recognised faces, distinguished personalities and also people known for their contribution to news and media as well as for their role in popularising Indian art and culture.


title: DD National

text: Usually, all One Day and Twenty20 international cricket matches involving or hosted by India are shown live on DD National. It also broadcast the 2014 Men's Hockey World Cup matches involving India, and also the semi-final and final matches. The ICC Champions Trophy was also broadcast by DD National.


title: DD National

text: These matches are broadcast under compulsory simulcasts from pay television rightsholders such as Star Sports, under laws requiring sporting events of national importance to be simulcast by DD National. In 2017, in response to complaints by Tata Sky, the Supreme Court of India ruled that these simulcasts are only allowed to be carried by on the free-to-air terrestrial and DD Free Dish, and that DD National must be blacked out on pay television providers in defense of the pay-television rightsholder when such events are broadcast.


title: DD National

text: Since then, Prasar Bharati decided to telecast Cricket Matches only on DD Sports Channel, and since then all matches were telecasted on DD Sports channel, but only on DD Freedish, DTT mode with different feed named DD Sports 2.0.


title: DD National

text: The idea of autonomy for the government-controlled Doordarshan was first mooted when the Janata Party came to power in 1977, in the aftermath of Emergency when the Doordarshan ended up as the government's mouthpiece. The idea was revived when the Janata Dal took office in 1989. The following governments showed no interest in autonomy despite making politically correct noises about autonomy.


title: Nataliya Kuznetsova

text: Nataliya Kuznetsova, also spelt Natalia (née Trukhina; born July 1, 1991), is a Russian professional female bodybuilder and powerlifter who holds the world armlifting, bench press, and deadlift titles, as well as the European bench press and deadlift titles.


title: Nataliya Kuznetsova

text: Kuznetsova began powerlifting at fourteen years of age in an attempt to gain muscle mass. She graduated from Moscow State Academy of Physical Culture in 2013.


title: Nataliya Kuznetsova

text: Trukhina is sponsored by the sports nutrition brands Oxytropin and RPS Nutrition. In 2019, she signed a contract with RichPiana 5% Nutrition.


title: Nataliya Kuznetsova

text: Trukhina Kuznetsov is married to bodybuilder Vladislav Kuznetsova. She has admitted to regularly using steroids and estrogen blockers, without such substances she would be incapable of building and maintaining the strength and muscle mass she currently possesses.


title: Syberia

text: Syberia is a franchise of graphic adventure games created by Belgian comic artist and video game developer Benoît Sokal. Set within an alternate universe designed by Sokal and introduced in the 1999 video game "Amerzone", the series is currently developed and published by French video game company Microids. The central focus of the franchise, beginning with the eponymous 2002 video game, follows the experiences of Kate Walker, an American adventurer who originally worked as a lawyer in a prominent New York City law firm. In each installment, Walker travels to various fictional locations in continental Europe and former Soviet states during the 2000s, where she encounters fantastical creatures as well as highly advanced automatons powered by intricate clockwork mechanisms.


title: Syberia

text: The first "Syberia" centers on Walker's efforts to locate and deal with the eccentric inventor Hans Voralberg on behalf of her firm to secure the purchase of his family's factory. By the events of "Syberia II", Walker abandons her assignment and accompanies Voralberg in his search for the legendary island of Syberia, which is said to be home to the last surviving mammoths of the world. The franchise features a cast of secondary characters, including Oscar, one of Voralberg's sentient automatons, and Dana Roze, an aspiring pianist introduced in the 2022 video game "". Members of a nomadic tribal people indigenous to the geographical area of Siberia known as the Youkols also play an important role in the lore and setting of the series, which combines realistic and surrealistic elements for its tone.


title: Syberia

text: The first two "Syberia" titles has been commercially successful, with lifetime sales reaching 3 million worldwide by 2016. Both titles have been ported or re-released on multiple platforms ever since their original launches in the early 2000s. "Amerzone", the predecessor of the first two "Syberia" titles, also saw critical and commercial success, especially in France. "Syberia 3" was released in 2017 to a mediocre critical reception. "The World Before" launched for PC platforms on March 18, 2022, with console platforms due for release at a later date.


title: Syberia

text: The "Syberia" universe is created and designed by Belgian comic artist and video game developer Benoît Sokal. Each installment in the series has been developed and published by Microids. The development team originally considered developing a single game for "Syberia", but decided to develop two separate titles due to the large scope of the project as envisioned by Sokal.


title: Syberia

text: "Syberia" was first adapted into the comic book format in 2017, with the release of a two-volume graphic novel published by Belgian publisher Le Lombard. It serves as a prelude to the video game series' third installment and offers an "alternative version" of the first game's story, which is centered on Hans Voralberg's backstory as a child in the distant past, with interspersed scenes depicting Kate Walker in the 2000s. The first issue was released on April 20, 2017, and the second issue on October 18, 2017. Sokal and his son Hugo were credited as scriptwriters, with art provided by Johann Blais.


title: Syberia

text: "Amerzone" was a surprise commercial success. Following its release in France in March 1999, it sold 10,000 units by early May. By June 1999, "GameSpot UK" concluded that "Amerzone" had become a "big hit in France". The game generated lifetime sales of 1.5 million copies by 2013.


title: Syberia

text: The first two "Syberia" titles have been successful commercially and critically. The first "Syberia" surpassed 225,000 units in sales by February 2003, and had achieved nearly 350,000 global sales across its console and computer versions by September 2003. In France, the reported that "Syberia"s computer release had sold 50,000 units by September 2003. According to Michel Bams of Sokal's White Birds Productions, it reached "nearly 500,000 copies" in global sales that February, a number it surpassed by late 2005, according to Ubisoft. By 2006, "Syberia"s sales in the United States reached 161,000 units. Following its launch in March 2004, "Syberia II" reached sales of 215,000 copies in Europe and the United States combined two months later. Its PC version also saw some commercial success in Russia. By late 2005, "Syberia II" was on track to reach 600,000 sales overall, a number it had reached by March 2006. Worldwide sales of the overall "Syberia" series had topped 1 million units by 2008, and rose to 3 million by 2016, before the release of "Syberia 3".


title: Syberia

text: The first two "Syberia" titles received praise from critics following their initial launches, although reviews of console ports for the original Xbox and Nintendo Switch were less enthusiastic. The Nintendo DS and PlayStation 3 ports of the first "Syberia" in particular received criticism over significant technical issues or perceived quality. The third installment received an unfavorable critical reception, with a consensus among reviewers that it is not up to par with its predecessors in terms of overall quality. "The World Before" received generally positive reviews from reviewers, with some reviewers lauding the title as a return to form for the series.


title: Fëanor

text: Fëanor () is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Silmarillion". He creates the three Silmarils, the skilfully-forged jewels that give the book their name and theme, triggering division and destruction. He was the eldest son of Finwë, the King of the Noldor, and his first wife Míriel.


title: Fëanor

text: Fëanor's Silmarils form a central theme of "The Silmarillion" as the human and elvish characters battle with the forces of evil for their possession. After the Dark Lord Morgoth steals the Silmarils, Fëanor and his seven sons swear the Oath of Fëanor, vowing to fight anyone and everyone—whether Elf, Man, Maia, or Vala—who withhold the Silmarils.


title: Fëanor

text: The oath commanded Fëanor and his sons to press to Middle-earth, in the process committing atrocities, the first Kinslaying, against their fellow Elves at the havens of the Teleri. Fëanor died soon after his arrival in Middle-earth, but his sons were united in the cause of defeating Morgoth and retrieving the Silmarils. Though they lived on in relative harmony with the Eldar of Beleriand for the greater part of the First Age, they committed further Kinslayings against their fellow Elves, and their wayward actions defined the fate of Beleriand.


title: Fëanor

text: Scholars have seen Fëanor's pride as Biblical, alongside Morgoth's corruption of elves and men as reflecting Satan's temptation of Adam and Eve, and the desire for godlike knowledge as in the Garden of Eden. Others have likened Fëanor to the Anglo-Saxon leader Byrhtnoth whose foolish pride led to defeat and death at the Battle of Maldon. Tom Shippey writes that the pride is specifically a desire to make things that reflect their own personality, and likens this to Tolkien's own desire to sub-create. John Ellison further likens this creative pride to that of the protagonist in Thomas Mann's 1947 novel "Doctor Faustus", noting that both that novel and Tolkien's own legendarium were responses to World War.


title: Fëanor

text: Fëanor's mother, Míriel, died, exhausted, shortly after giving birth. As a result, Fëanor "was made the mightiest in all parts of body and mind: in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in understanding, in skill, in strength and subtlety alike: of all the Children of Ilúvatar, and a bright flame was in him." Finwë would remarry and had several children, including Fëanor's half-brothers Fingolfin and Finarfin, who became prominent leaders among the Noldor.


title: Fëanor

text: Fëanor was the student of his father-in-law Mahtan, who was a student of the Vala Aulë. He was a craftsman and gem-smith, inventor of the Tengwar script, and the creator of the "palantíri".


title: Fëanor

text: Fëanor, "in the greatest of his achievements, captured the light of the Two Trees to make the three Silmarils, also called the Great Jewels, though they were not mere glittering stones, they were alive, imperishable, and sacred." Even the Valar could not copy them. In fact, Fëanor himself could not copy them, as part of his essence went into their making. Their worth was close to infinite, as they were unique and irreplaceable. So "Varda hallowed the Silmarils so that thereafter no mortal flesh, nor hands unclean, nor anything of evil will might touch them, for it would be scorched and withered."


title: Fëanor

text: Fëanor prized the Silmarils above all else, and grew suspicious of the Valar and Eldar who he believed coveted them. Melkor, recently released from imprisonment and now residing in Valinor, saw an opportunity to sow dissent among the Noldor. Fëanor refused to communicate with Melkor, but was still caught in his plot. Melkor told Fëanor that his half-brother Fingolfin was planning to usurp his place as heir to Finwë, prompting Fëanor to threaten Fingolfin. As punishment, the Valar exiled Fëanor to Formenos. He took a treasure with him, including the Silmarils, which he put in a locked box. In a show of support, Finwë also withdrew to Formenos. Fingolfin took their place as king.


title: Fëanor

text: The Valar learnt that Melkor was manipulating Fëanor, and sent Tulkas to capture Melkor, but he had already escaped. Fëanor realised that Melkor's goal was to obtain the Silmarils, "and he shut the doors of his house in the face of the mightiest of all the dwellers in Eä." The Valar invited Fëanor and Fingolfin to Valinor to make peace. Fingolfin offered a hand to his half-brother, recognising Fëanor's place as the eldest. Fëanor accepted, but The Two Trees were destroyed by Melkor with the aid of Ungoliant. The Valar, realising that now the light of the Trees survived only in the Silmarils, asked Fëanor to give them up so that they could restore the Trees. Fëanor replied: "It may be that I can unlock my jewels, but never again shall I make their like; and if I must break them, I shall break my heart." He refused to give up the Silmarils of his own free will. Messengers from Formenos told him that Melkor had killed Finwë and stolen the Silmarils. Yavanna was thus unable to heal the Two Trees.


title: Fëanor

text: Fëanor named Melkor "Morgoth", "Black Enemy". Fëanor railed against the Great Enemy, blaming the Valar for Morgoth's deeds. He persuaded most of his people that because the Valar had abandoned them, the Noldor must follow him to Middle-earth to wrest the Silmarils back from Morgoth and avenge Finwë. Together with his seven sons, they swore the fateful Oath of Fëanor:


title: Fëanor

text: To get to Middle-earth, Fëanor went to the shores of Aman, and asked the seafaring Teleri for their aid. When they refused, Fëanor ordered the Noldor to steal the ships. The Teleri resisted, and many of them were killed. The battle became known as the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, or the first kinslaying. His sons would commit two other acts of warfare against elves in Middle-earth in his name. In repentance, Finarfin, Finwë's third son, took his host and turned back. They were accepted by the Valar, and Finarfin ruled as High-King of the Noldor in Valinor. The remaining Elves, those who followed Fëanor and Fingolfin, became subject to the Doom of Mandos. There were not enough ships to carry all of the Noldor across the sea, so Fëanor and his sons led the first group. Upon arriving at Losgar, in Lammoth in the far west of Beleriand, they decided to burn the ships and leave the followers of Fingolfin behind. Fingolfin led his people for many months to reach Beleriand, travelling by the northern ice.


title: Fëanor

text: Morgoth summoned his armies from his fortress of Angband and attacked Fëanor's encampment in Mithrim. This battle was called the Battle under the Stars, or "Dagor-nuin-Giliath", for the Sun and Moon had not yet been made. The Noldor won the battle. Fëanor pressed on toward Angband with his sons. He came within sight of Angband, but was ambushed by a force of Balrogs, with few elves about him. He fought mightily with Gothmog, captain of the Balrogs. His sons came upon the Balrogs with a great force of elves, and drove them off; but Fëanor knew his wounds were fatal. He cursed Morgoth thrice, but with the eyes of death, he saw that his elves, unaided, would never throw down the dark towers of Thangorodrim. Nevertheless, he told his sons to keep the oath and to avenge their father. When he died, his body turned to ashes.


title: Fëanor

text: The Oath of Fëanor affected the lovers Beren and Lúthien. They recovered a Silmaril from Morgoth. Their son Dior inherited it, but it awoke the oath and caused the Sons of Fëanor to make war on the Elves of Doriath when Dior refused to give up the Silmaril. The brothers killed Dior and sacked the halls of the Sindar, the second Kinslaying, where three of their number—Celegorm, Curufin, and Caranthir—died. The Silmaril escaped the destruction of Doriath, and the oath drove the remaining sons onwards. When the Sons of Fëanor learned that it was possessed by Elwing, daughter of Dior, they attacked after Elwing also refused to return the Silmaril to them, the third and final Kinslaying where Amras was slain.


title: Fëanor

text: The Silmaril escaped them again and was borne by Eärendil into the West. That Silmaril was lost to the Sons of Fëanor, but two more remained inside the crown of Morgoth. At the end of the War of Wrath the two surviving oath-takers, Maedhros and Maglor, stole the two Silmarils from the camp of the victorious Hosts of Valinor. Due to the terrible deeds committed by the brothers in their retrieval of the Silmarils, they could not handle the Silmarils without enduring searing pain. The two brothers parted: in their anguish Maedhros threw himself and his Silmaril into a fiery chasm, while Maglor cast his Silmaril into the sea, spending eternity wandering the shore, lamenting his fate.


title: Fëanor

text: According to Mandos' prophecy, following Melkor's final return and defeat in the Dagor Dagorath, the world will be changed and the Valar will recover the Silmarils. Fëanor will be released from the Halls of Mandos and give Yavanna the Silmarils. Depending on the version of the story, either she or Fëanor will break them, and Yavanna will revive the Two Trees. The Pelóri Mountains will be flattened and the light of the Two Trees will fill the world in eternal bliss.


title: Fëanor

text: Fëanor was originally named Curufinwë ("skilful [son of] Finwë") in Tolkien's fictional language of Quenya. He is known as Fëanáro, "spirit of fire" in Quenya, from "fëa" ("spirit") and "nár" ("flame"). Fëanáro is his "mother-name" or "Amilessë", the name given by an Elf's mother at, or some years after, birth and it was one of their true names.


title: Fëanor

text: Tolkien wrote at least four versions of the Oath of Fëanor itself, as found in "The History of Middle-earth." The three earliest versions are found in "The Lays of Beleriand": in alliterative verse (circa 1918–1920s), in chapter 2, "Poems Early Abandoned" "The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor". Lines 132–141; in rhyming couplets (circa 1928), in chapter 3, "The Lay of Leithian". Canto VI, lines 1628–1643; and in a different form as restated by Celegorm, third son of Fëanor, in chapter 3, "The Lay of Leithian." Canto VI, lines 1848–1857. A later version is found in "Morgoth's Ring". Fëanor is among those major characters whom Tolkien, who also used to illustrate his writings, supplied with a distinct heraldic device.


title: Fëanor

text: The Tolkien scholar Jane Chance sees Fëanor's pride as Biblical, writing that Morgoth's corruption of elves and men "mirrors that of Adam and Eve by Satan; the desire for power and godlike being is the same desire for knowledge of good and evil witnessed in the Garden of Eden." She treats the Silmarils as symbols of that same desire, identifying Fëanor's wish to be like the Valar in creating "things of his own" as rebellious pride, and pointing out that his rebellion is echoed by that of the Numenorean man Ar-Pharazon, and then at the end of "The Silmarillion" by the (angelic) Maia, Sauron, who becomes the Dark Lord of "The Lord of the Rings".


title: Fëanor

text: The philologist Elizabeth Solopova suggests that the character of Fëanor was inspired by Byrhtnoth from the Anglo-Saxon poem "The Battle of Maldon" who is slain in battle. Tolkien has described Byrhtnoth as misled by "pride and misplaced chivalry proven fatal" and as "too foolish to be heroic", and Fëanor is driven by "overmastering pride" that causes his own death and that of countless followers.


title: Fëanor

text: The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey comments that Fëanor and his Silmarils relate to "The Silmarillion"s theme in a particular way: the sin of the elves is not human pride, as in the Biblical fall, but their "desire to make things which will forever reflect or incarnate their own personality". This elvish form of pride leads Fëanor to forge the Silmarils, and, Shippey suggests, led Tolkien to write his fictions: "Tolkien could not help seeing a part of himself in Fëanor and Saruman, sharing their perhaps licit, perhaps illicit desire to 'sub-create'."


title: Fëanor

text: John Ellison, writing in "Mallorn", draws a comparison between Fëanor's ultimately self-destructive pride and that of Adrian Leverkühn, the protagonist in Thomas Mann's 1947 novel "Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn, Told by a Friend". In his view, the life history of both characters is of "genius corrupted finally into insanity; the creative drive turns on its possessor and destroys him, and with him a good part of the fabric of society." He describes as parallel Mann's depiction of Leverkühn in a collapsing Nazi Germany and Tolkien's starting his mythology amidst the collapse of pre-1914 Europe: he likens the "Good German" narrator Zeitblom (who does not support the Nazis) to one of "the Faithful" (like Elendil) among the gone-to-bad Númenóreans. Fëanor is, he writes, not an exact equivalent of Doctor Faustus: he does not make a pact with the devil; but both Fëanor and Leverkühn outgrow their teachers in creative skill. Ellison calls Leverkühn "a Fëanor of our times", and comments that far from being a simple battle of good versus evil, Tolkien's world as seen in Fëanor has "the creative and destructive forces in man's nature ... indivisibly linked; this is the essence of the 'fallen world' in which we live."


title: Fëanor

text: Like Shippey, Ellison relates Fëanor's making of the Silmarils to what he supposes was Tolkien's own belief: that it was "a dangerous and impermissible act" that went beyond what the Creator had intended for the Elves. Further, Ellison suggests that while Fëanor does not directly represent Tolkien, there is something about his action that can be applied to Tolkien's life. Tolkien calls Fëanor "fey"; Ellison notes that Tolkien analysed his own name as "tollkühn", with the same meaning. Further, Tolkien seems, Ellison writes, to have felt a conflict between his own "sub-creation" and his Catholic faith. He worked out and justified his fantasy writing in his essay "On Fairy-Stories": the creative artist may have had a subordinate role but all the same, sub-creation was "supremely important". Ellison notes that Tolkien was disinclined to finish any of his works: he had to be pushed to complete "The Hobbit" and "did not think of "The Lord of the Rings" as something independently complete in itself", but as the last part of "a triptych", the rest of which (his legendarium) "remained unfilled" in his lifetime.


title: Fëanor

text: The black metal band Summoning's album "Oath Bound"s name comes from the Oath of Fëanor; the lyrics are about the "Quenta Silmarillion". Blind Guardian's song "The Curse of Fëanor", featured on the album "Nightfall in Middle Earth", tells of Fëanor swearing to go after Morgoth. The Russian power metal band Epidemia has a song entitled "Fëanor" about the character's campaign against Morgoth, and his death.


title: The Kissing Booth (film series)

text: The Kissing Booth film series consists of American teen-romantic comedy films developed and released as Netflix original films, exclusively for the streaming service. Based on the novels written by Beth Reekles, the plot centers around Rochelle (Shelly) "Elle" Evans, and the complications that arise when she begins dating her best friend's older brother. The series explores the teenage experiences of high school, popularity, dating, and friendship.


title: The Kissing Booth (film series)

text: Although it was poorly-received by critics, the series as a whole has seen success in its streaming numbers with audiences. Netflix officially identified it as one of its consistently most-viewed releases.


title: The Kissing Booth (film series)

text: Rochelle "Elle" Evans, is popular and outgoing student at her high school. Despite this, she has never been kissed. Together with her life-long best friend Lee, the pair plan a kissing booth event as a fundraiser for their school at a Spring Carnival fair. Elle has always had a secret crush on Lee's bad-boy older brother, named Noah. For years she never acted on her feelings, since she and Lee had written rules about their friendship. One of those rules was to never date each other's family members. After sharing a kiss at the event, Elle and Noah begin a secret romantic relationship. When Lee finds out, there is a strain on the pair's friendship. After some time, their differences are overcome. Elle navigates the complexities of teenage-drama, while Noah prepares for Ivy League college experience at Harvard University. As he leaves, Elle realizes that though she doesn't know what the future holds, her romance with Noah will always be a part of her.


title: The Kissing Booth (film series)

text: Elle begins her senior year of high school, while Noah is a Freshman at Harvard. The couple navigate their lives, balancing full schedules of education and studies, and continuing their long-distance relationship. This is complicated as each of them find attraction elsewhere; Elle with a new student named Marco, and Noah with a British student named Chloe. Elle tags along with her best friend and his girlfriend named Rachel, as a third wheel on the couple's dates, only to unintentionally cause friction in their relationship. Noah meanwhile asks Elle to once again break one of her best friend rules with Lee, and wants her to move to attend college with him once she graduates high school. Lee however wants her to continue her schooling, with him at Berkeley. Noah realizes that his feelings for Chloe are only as a friend, while Marco tries to convince Elle that they have something more. Noah and Elle reconcile at her graduation. Elle receives letters from Harvard and Berkeley notifying her that she is accepted at both schools. She faces the difficult decision of choosing her best friend, or her love life with Noah.


title: The Kissing Booth (film series)

text: In July 2020, it was announced that a third entry in the series had been filmed back-to-back with the previous film. As principal photography had been completed before the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, its release will be affected as was much of the film industry.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: The fauna of Australia consists of a huge variety of animals; some 46% of birds, 69% of mammals, 94% of amphibians, and 93% of reptiles that inhabit the continent are endemic to it. This high level of endemism can be attributed to the continent's long geographic isolation, tectonic stability, and the effects of a unique pattern of climate change on the soil and flora over geological time. A unique feature of Australia's fauna is the relative scarcity of native placental mammals. Consequently, the marsupials – a group of mammals that raise their young in a pouch, including the macropods, possums and dasyuromorphs – occupy many of the ecological niches placental animals occupy elsewhere in the world. Australia is home to two of the five known extant species of monotremes and has numerous venomous species, which include the platypus, spiders, scorpions, octopus, jellyfish, molluscs, stonefish, and stingrays. Uniquely, Australia has more venomous than non-venomous species of snakes.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: The settlement of Australia by Indigenous Australians between 48,000 and 70,000 years ago and by Europeans from 1788, has significantly affected the fauna. Hunting, the introduction of non-native species, and land-management practices involving the modification or destruction of habitats have led to numerous extinctions. Based on the list of Australian animals extinct in the Holocene, about 33 mammals (27 from the mainland, including the thylacine), 24 birds (three from the mainland), one reptile, and three frog species or subspecies are strongly believed to have become extinct in Australia during the Holocene epoch. These figures exclude dubious taxa like the Roper River scrub robin ("Drymodes superciliaris colcloughi") and possibly extinct taxa like the Christmas Island shrew ("Crocidura trichura"). Unsustainable land use still threatens the survival of many species. To target threats to the survival of its fauna, Australia has passed wide-ranging federal and state legislation and established numerous protected areas.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Both geologic and climatic events helped to make Australia's fauna unique. Australia was once part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, which also included South America, Africa, India and Antarctica. Gondwana began to break up 140 million years ago (MYA); 50 MYA Australia separated from Antarctica and was relatively isolated until the collision of the Indo-Australian Plate with Asia in the Miocene era 5.3 MYA. The establishment and evolution of the present-day fauna was apparently shaped by the unique climate and the geology of the continent. As Australia drifted, it was, to some extent, isolated from the effects of global climate change. The unique fauna that originated in Gondwana, such as the marsupials, survived and adapted in Australia.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: After the Miocene, fauna of Asian origin were able to establish themselves in Australia. The Wallace Line — the hypothetical line separating the zoogeographical regions of Asia and Australasia — marks the tectonic boundary between the Eurasian and Indo-Australian plates. This continental boundary prevented the formation of land bridges and resulted in a distinct zoological distribution, with limited overlap, of most Asian and Australian fauna, with the exception of birds. Following the emergence of the circumpolar current in the mid-Oligocene era (some 15 MYA), the Australian climate became increasingly arid, giving rise to a diverse group of arid-specialised organisms, just as the wet tropical and seasonally wet areas gave rise to their own uniquely adapted species.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Australia has a rich mammalian fossil history, as well as a variety of extant mammalian species, dominated by the marsupials, currently however there is limited taxonomic research into Australia's mammals. The fossil record shows that monotremes have been present in Australia since the Early Cretaceous 145–99 MYA, and that marsupials and placental mammals date from the Eocene 56–34 MYA, when modern mammals first appeared in the fossil record. Although terrestrial marsupials and placental mammals did coexist in Australia in the Eocene, only the marsupials have survived to the present. Non-volant placental mammals made their reappearance in Australia in the Miocene, when Australia moved closer to Indonesia, and rodents started to appear reliably in the Late Miocene fossil record. The marsupials evolved to fill specific ecological niches, and in many cases they are physically similar to the placental mammals in Eurasia and North America that occupy similar niches, a phenomenon known as convergent evolution. For example, the top predator in Australia, the Tasmanian tiger, bore a striking resemblance to canids. Gliding possums and flying squirrels have similar adaptations enabling their arboreal lifestyle; and the numbat and anteaters are both digging insectivores. For the most part, mammals are not a highly visible part of the faunal landscape, as most species are nocturnal and many arboreal.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Two of the five living species of monotreme occur in Australia: the platypus and the short-beaked echidna, the other three being echidnas that only occur in New Guinea. Monotremes differ from other mammals in their methods of reproduction; in particular, they lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. The platypus — a venomous, egg-laying, duck-billed amphibious mammal — is considered to be one of the strangest creatures in the animal kingdom. When it was first presented by Joseph Banks to English naturalists it was thought to be a hoax. The short-beaked echidna is covered in hairy spikes with a tubular snout in the place of a mouth, and a tongue that can move in and out of the snout at a rate of 100 times a minute to capture termites.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Australia has the world's largest and most diverse range of marsupials. Marsupials are characterised by the presence of a pouch in which they rear their young after birth. The carnivorous marsupials — Dasyuromorphia — are represented by two surviving families: the Dasyuridae with 51 members, and the Myrmecobiidae with the numbat as its sole extant species. The Tasmanian tiger was the largest Dasyuromorphia and the last living specimen of the family Thylacinidae died in captivity in 1936. The world's largest surviving carnivorous marsupial is the Tasmanian devil; it is the size of a small dog and can hunt, although it is mainly a scavenger. It became extinct on the mainland some 600 years ago, and is now found only in Tasmania. There are four species of quoll, or "native cat", all of which are threatened species. The eastern quoll for example is believed to have been extinct on the mainland since the 1960s, though there are efforts to reintroduce it. The remainder of the Dasyuridae are referred to as "marsupial mice"; most weigh less than 100 g. There are two species of marsupial mole — order Notoryctemorphia — that inhabit the deserts of Western Australia. These rare, blind and earless carnivorous creatures spend most of their time underground; little is known about them.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: The bandicoots and bilbies — order Peramelemorphia — are marsupial omnivores. There are seven extant species in Australia, most of which are endangered. These small creatures share several characteristic physical features: a plump, arch-backed body with a long, delicately tapering snout, large upright ears, long, thin legs, and a thin tail. The evolutionary origin of this group is unclear, because they share characteristics from both carnivorous and herbivorous marsupials.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Marsupials with two front teeth (diprotodont) on the lower jaw and syndactyly are classified in the order Diprotodontia, and further into the suborders Vombatiformes, Macropodiformes and Phalangerida. The Vombatiformes include the koala and the three species of wombat. One of Australia's best-known marsupials, the koala is an arboreal species that feeds on the leaves of various species of eucalyptus. Wombats, on the other hand, live on the ground and feed on grasses, sedges and roots. Wombats use their diprotodont teeth and powerful claws to dig extensive burrow systems; they are mainly crepuscular and nocturnal.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: The Phalangerida includes six families and 26 species of possum and three families with 53 species of macropod. The possums are a diverse group of arboreal marsupials and vary in size from the little pygmy possum, weighing just 7 g, to the cat-sized common ringtail and brushtail possums. The sugar and squirrel gliders are common species of gliding possum, found in the eucalypt forests of eastern Australia, while the feathertail glider is the smallest glider species. The gliding possums have membranes called "patagia" that extend from the fifth finger of their forelimb back to the first toe of their hind foot. These membranes, when outstretched, allow them to glide between trees.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: The macropods are divided into three families: the Hypsiprymnodontidae, with the musky rat-kangaroo as its only member; the Potoroidae, with 11 species; and the Macropodidae, with 45 species. Macropods are found in all Australian environments except alpine areas. The Potoroidae include the bettongs, potaroos and rat-kangaroos, small species that make nests and carry plant material with their tails. The Macropodiae include kangaroos, wallabies and associated species; size varies widely within this family. Most macropods have large hind legs and long, narrow hind feet, with a distinctive arrangement of four toes, and powerfully muscled tails, which they use to hop around. The musky rat-kangaroo is the smallest macropod and the only species that is quadrupedal not bipedal, while the male red kangaroo is the largest, reaching a height of about 2 m and weighing up to 85 kg.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Australia has indigenous placental mammals from two orders: the bats — order Chiroptera — represented by six families; and the mice and rats — order Rodentia, family Muridae. There are only two endemic genera of bats, although 7% of the world's bat species live in Australia. Rodents first arrived in Australia 5–10 MYA, undergoing a wide radiation to produce the species collectively known as the "old endemic" rodents. The old endemics are represented by 14 extant genera. A million years ago, the rat entered Australia from New Guinea and evolved into seven species of "Rattus", collectively called the "new endemics".


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Since human settlement many additional placental mammals have been introduced to Australia and are now feral. The first placental mammal introduced to Australia was the dingo. Fossil evidence suggests that people from the north brought the dingo to Australia about 5000 years ago. When Europeans settled Australia they intentionally released many species into the wild including the red fox, European hare, and the European rabbit. Other domestic species have escaped and over time have produced wild populations including the banteng, cat, fallow deer, red deer, sambar deer, rusa deer, chital, hog deer, horse, donkey, pig, goat, water buffalo, and the camel. Only three species of non-native placental mammal were not deliberately introduced to Australia: the house mouse, black rat and the brown rat.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Forty-six marine mammals from the order Cetacea are found in Australian coastal waters. Since the majority of these species have global distribution, some authors do not consider them to be Australian species. There are eleven species of baleen whale present; humpback whales, southern right whales, dwarf minke whales and pygmy blue whales are more commonly observed. There are 37 species of toothed whale, which include all six genera of the family Ziphiidae, and 21 species of oceanic dolphin, including the Australian snubfin dolphin, a species first described in 2005. Some oceanic dolphins, such as the orca, can be found in all waters around the continent; others, such as the Irrawaddy dolphin, are confined to the warm northern waters. The dugong is an endangered marine species that inhabits the waters of north-eastern and north-western Australia, particularly the Torres Strait. It can grow up to 3 m long and weigh as much as 400 kg. The dugong is the only herbivorous marine mammal in Australia, feeding on sea grass in coastal areas. The destruction of sea grass beds is a threat to the survival of this species. Eleven species of seal — family Pinnipedia — live off the southern coast.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Australia and its territories are home to around 800 species of bird; 45% of these are endemic to Australia. The fossil record of birds in Australia is patchy; however, there are records of the ancestors of contemporary species as early as the Late Oligocene. Birds with a Gondwanan history include the flightless ratites (the emu and southern cassowary), megapodes (the malleefowl and Australian brush-turkey), and a huge group of endemic parrots, order Psittaciformes. Australian parrots comprise a sixth of the world's parrots, including many cockatoos and galahs. The kookaburra is the largest species of the kingfisher family, known for its call, which sounds uncannily like loud, echoing human laughter.The passerines of Australia, also known as songbirds or perching birds, include wrens, robins, the magpie group, thornbills, pardalotes, the huge honeyeater family, treecreepers, lyrebirds, birds of paradise and bowerbirds. The satin bowerbird has attracted the interest of evolutionary psychologists; it has a complex courtship ritual in which the male creates a bower filled with blue, shiny items to woo mates.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Relatively recent colonists from Eurasia are swallows, larks, thrushes, cisticolas, sunbirds, and some raptors, including the large wedge-tailed eagle. A number of bird species have been introduced by humans; some, like the European goldfinch and greenfinch, coexist happily with Australian species, while others, such as the common starling, common blackbird, house sparrow and Indian mynah, are destructive of some native bird species and thus destabilise the native ecosystem.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: About 200 species of seabird live on the Australian coast, including many species of migratory seabird. Australia is at the southern end of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway for migratory water birds, which extends from Far-East Russia and Alaska through Southeast Asia to Australia and New Zealand. About two million birds travel this route to and from Australia each year. One very common large seabird is the Australian pelican, which can be found in most waterways in Australia. The little penguin is the only species of penguin that breeds on mainland Australia.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Australia has four families of native frogs and one introduced toad, the cane toad. In 1935 the cane toad was introduced to Australia in a failed attempt to control pests in sugarcane crops. It has since become a devastating pest, spreading across northern Australia. As well as competing with native insectivores for food, the cane toad produces a venom that is toxic to native fauna, as well as to humans. The Myobatrachidae, or southern frogs, are Australia's largest group of frogs, with 112 species classified into anywhere from 17 to 22 genera. A notable member of this group is the colourful and endangered Corroboree frog. The tree frogs, from family Hylidae, are common in high rainfall areas on the north and east coasts; there are 77 Australian species from three genera. The 18 species from two genera of the Microhylidae frogs are restricted to the rainforests of northern Australia and nearby habitats; the smallest species, the scanty frog, is from this family. There is a single species from the world's dominant frog group, family Ranidae – the Australian wood frog – which only occurs in the Queensland rainforests. As elsewhere, there has been a precipitous decline in Australia's frog populations in recent years. Although the full reasons for the decline are uncertain, it can be at least partly attributed to the fatal amphibian fungal disease chytridiomycosis. Another theory for the decline might be, as research shows, that species from the Southern Hemisphere are on average 4.6 million years old, compared to an average 2.9 million years old for the Northern Hemisphere: Researchers believe this age difference is because of the history of severe ice ages in the Northern Hemisphere, which may drive older species to extinction.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Australia has two species of crocodile. The saltwater crocodile, known colloquially as the "salty", is the largest living crocodile species; reaching over 7 m, and weighing over 1,000 kg, they can and do kill people. They live on the coast and in the freshwater rivers and wetlands of northern Australia, and they are farmed for their meat and leather. Freshwater crocodiles, found only in northern Australia, are not considered dangerous to humans.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: The Australian coast is visited by six species of sea turtle: the flatback, green sea, hawksbill, olive ridley, loggerhead and the leatherback sea turtles; all are protected in Australian waters. There are 35 species of Australian freshwater turtles from eight genera of the family Chelidae. The pig-nosed turtle is the only Australian turtle not of that family. Australia is the only continent without any living species of land tortoises of the Testudinoidea superfamily besides Antarctica.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Australia is the only continent where venomous snakes outnumber their non-venomous cousins. Australian snakes belong to seven families. Of these, the most venomous species, including the fierce snake, eastern brown snake, taipan and eastern tiger snake are from the family Elapidae. Of the 200 species of elapid, 106 are found in Australia and 86 are found only in Australia. Thirty-three sea snakes from family Hydrophiidae inhabit Australia's northern waters; many are extremely venomous. Two species of sea snake from the Acrochordidae also occur in Australian waters. Australia has only 11 species from the world's most significant snake family Colubridae; none are endemic, and they are considered to be relatively recent arrivals from Asia. There are 15 python species and 45 species of insectivorous blind snake.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: There are more than 700 species of lizards in Australia with representatives of five families. There are over 130 species in 20 genera of gecko found throughout the Australian continent. The Pygopodidae is a family of limbless lizards endemic to the Australian region; all 39 species from seven genera occur in Australia. The Agamidae or dragon lizards are represented by 70 species in 14 genera, including the thorny devil, bearded dragon and frill-necked lizard. There are 30 species of monitor lizard, family Varanidae, in Australia, where they are commonly known as goannas. The largest Australian monitor is the perentie, which can reach up to 2 m in length. There are about 450 species of skink from more than 40 genera, comprising more than 50% of the total Australian lizard fauna; this group includes the blue-tongued lizards.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: More than 5000 species of fish inhabit Australia's waterways; of these, 24% are endemic. However, because of the relative scarcity of freshwater waterways, Australia has only about 300 species of freshwater fish. Two families of freshwater fish have ancient origins: the arowana or bonytongues, and the Queensland lungfish. The Queensland lungfish is the most primitive of the lungfish, having evolved before Australia separated from Gondwana. One of the smallest freshwater fish, peculiar to the southwest of Western Australia, is the salamanderfish, which can survive desiccation in the dry season by burrowing into mud. Other families with a potentially Gondwanan origin include the Retropinnidae, Galaxiidae, Aplochitonidae and Percichthyidae. Apart from the ancient freshwater species, 70% of Australia's freshwater fish have affinities with tropical Indo-Pacific marine species that have adapted to freshwater. These species include freshwater lampreys, Herrings, catfish, rainbowfish, and some 50 species of gudgeon, including the sleepy cod. Native freshwater game fish include the barramundi, Murray cod, and golden perch. Two species of endangered freshwater shark are found in the Northern Territory.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Several exotic freshwater fish species, including brown, brook and rainbow trout, Atlantic and Chinook salmon, redfin perch, common carp, and mosquitofish, have been introduced to Australian waterways. The mosquitofish is a particularly aggressive species known for harassing and nipping the fins of other fish. It has been linked to declines and localised extirpations of several small native fish species. The introduced trout species have had serious negative impacts on a number of upland native fish species including trout cod, Macquarie perch and mountain galaxias species as well as other upland fauna such as the spotted tree frog. The common carp is strongly implicated in the dramatic loss in waterweed, decline of small native fish species and permanently elevated levels of turbidity in the Murray-Darling Basin of south west Australia.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Most of Australia's fish species are marine, and 75% live in tropical marine environments. This is partly due to Australia's huge marine territory, covering 9 million km. Groups of interest include the moray eels and squirrelfish, as well as the pipefish and seahorses, whose males incubate their partner's eggs in a specialised pouch. There are 80 species of grouper in Australian waters, including one of the world's biggest bony fish, the giant grouper, which can grow as large as 2.7 m and weigh up to 400 kg. The trevally, a group of 50 species of silver schooling fish, and the snappers are popular species for commercial fishing. The Great Barrier Reef supports a huge variety of small- and medium-sized reef fish, including the damselfish, butterflyfish, angelfish, gobies, cardinalfish, wrassees, triggerfish and surgeonfish. There are several venomous fish, among them several species of stonefish and pufferfish and the red lionfish, all of which have toxins that can kill humans. There are 11 venomous species of stingray, the largest of which is the smooth stingray. The barracudas are one of the reef's largest species. However, large reef fish should not be eaten for fear of ciguatera poisoning.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Sharks inhabit all the coastal waters and estuarine habitats of Australia's coast. There are 166 species, including 30 species of requiem shark, 32 of catshark, six of wobbegong shark, and 40 of dogfish shark. There are three species from the family Heterodontidae: the Port Jackson shark, the zebra bullhead shark and the crested bullhead shark. In 2004, there were 12 unprovoked shark attacks in Australia, of which two were fatal. Only 3 species of shark pose a significant threat to humans: the bull shark, the tiger shark and the great white shark. Some popular beaches in Queensland and New South Wales are protected by shark netting, a method that has reduced the population of both dangerous and harmless shark species through accidental entanglement. The overfishing of sharks has also significantly reduced shark numbers in Australian waters, and several species are now endangered. A megamouth shark was found on a Perth beach in 1988; very little is known about this species, but this discovery may indicate the presence of the species in Australian coastal waters.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Of the estimated 200,000 animal species in Australia, about 96% are invertebrates. While the full extent of invertebrate diversity is uncertain, 90% of insects and molluscs are considered endemic. Invertebrates occupy many ecological niches and are important in all ecosystems as decomposers, pollinators, and food sources. The largest group of invertebrates is the insects, comprising 75% of Australia's known species of animals. The most diverse insect orders are the Coleoptera, with 28,200 species of beetles and weevils, the Lepidoptera with 20,816 species including butterflies and moths, and around 14,800 species of Hymenoptera, including the ants, bees and wasps. Order Diptera, which includes the flies and mosquitoes, comprises 7,786 species. Order Hemiptera, including bugs, aphids and hoppers, comprises 5,650 species; and there are 2,827 species of order Orthoptera, including grasshoppers, crickets and katydids. Introduced species that pose a significant threat to native species include the European wasp, the red fire ant, the yellow crazy ant and feral honeybees which compete with native bees.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Australia has a wide variety of arachnids, including 78 spider families with 79 species of spider familiar enough to have common names. There are numerous highly venomous species, including the notorious Sydney funnel-web and allied mygalomorphs, whose bites can be deadly. The redback spider was thought to be deadly but redback bites are no longer thought to be life-threatening, as the lack of deaths since 1956 was thought to be due to the development of an anti-venom which has since been shown to be no better than placebo. There are thousands of species of mites and ticks from the subclass Acari. Australia also has at least 150 species of pseudoscorpion with an estimated 550 more waiting to be described, and at least 17 scorpion genera with 120 species.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: In the Annelida (sub)class Oligochaeta there are many families of aquatic worms, and for native terrestrial worms: the Enchytraeidae (pot worms) and the "true" earthworms in families Acanthodrilidae, Octochaetidae and Megascolecidae. The latter includes the world's largest earthworm, the giant Gippsland earthworm, found only in Gippsland, Victoria. On average they reach 80 cm in length, but specimens up to 3.7 m in length have been found.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: The large family Parastacidae includes 124 species of Australian freshwater crayfish. These include the world's smallest crayfish, the swamp crayfish, which does not exceed 30 mm in length, and the world's largest crayfish, the Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish, measuring up to 76 cm long and weighing 4.5 kg. The crayfish genus "Cherax" includes the common yabby, in addition to the farmed species marron and Queensland red claw. Species from the genus "Engaeus", commonly known as the land crayfish, are also found in Australia. "Engaeus" species are not entirely aquatic, because they spend most of their lives living in burrows. Australia has seven species of freshwater crab from the genus "Austrothelphusa". These crabs live burrowed into the banks of waterways and can plug their burrows, surviving through several years of drought. The extremely primitive freshwater mountain shrimp, found only in Tasmania, are a unique group, resembling species found in the fossil record from 200 MYA.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: A huge variety of marine invertebrates are found in Australian waters, with the Great Barrier Reef an important source of this diversity. Families include the Porifera or sea sponges, the Cnidaria (includes the jellyfish, corals and sea anemones, comb jellies), the Echinodermata (includes the sea urchins, sea stars, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, the lamp shells) and the Mollusca (includes snails, slugs, limpets, squid, octopus, cockles, oysters, clams, and chitons). Venomous invertebrates include the box jellyfish, the blue-ringed octopus, and ten species of cone snail, which can cause respiratory failure and death in humans. The crown-of-thorns starfish usually inhabits the reef at low densities. However, under conditions that are not yet well understood, they can reproduce to reach an unsustainable population density when coral is devoured at a rate faster than it can regenerate. This presents a serious reef management issue. Other problematic marine invertebrates include the native species purple sea urchin and the white urchin, which have been able to take over marine habitats and form urchin barrens due to the over harvesting of their natural predators which include abalone and rock lobster. Introduced invertebrate pests include the Asian mussel, New Zealand green-lipped mussel, black-striped mussel and the northern Pacific seastar, all of which displace native shellfish.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: There are many unique marine crustaceans in Australian waters. The best-known class, to which all the edible species of crustacean belong, is Malacostraca. The warm waters of northern Australia are home to many species of decapod crustaceans, including crabs, false crabs, hermit crabs, lobsters, shrimps, and prawns. The peracarids, including the amphipods and isopods, are more diverse in the colder waters of southern Australia. Less-well-known marine groups include the classes Remipedia, Cephalocarida, Branchiopoda, Maxillopoda (which includes the barnacles, copepods and fish lice), and the Ostracoda. Notable species include the Tasmanian giant crab, the second largest crab species in the world, found in deep water, and weighing up to 13 kg, and the Australian spiny lobsters, such as the western rock lobster, which are distinct from other lobster species as they do not have claws.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Introduction of exotic fauna in Australia by design, accident and natural processes has led to a considerable number of invasive, feral and pest species which have flourished and now impact the environment adversely. Introduced organisms affect the environment in a number of ways. Rabbits render land economically useless by eating everything. Red foxes affect local endemic fauna by predation while the cane toad poisons the predators by being eaten. The invasive species include birds (Indian mynah), fish (common carp), insects (red imported fire ant), molluscs (Asian mussel). The problem is compounded by invasive exotic flora as well as introduced diseases, fungi and parasites. An example of this is Blue Green Algae, which is spreading through many bodies of water in rural Victoria, such as the Gippsland Lakes.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Costly, laborious and time-consuming efforts at control of these species has met with little success and this continues to be a major problem area in the conservation of Australia's biodiversity.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Many of the introduced species are not regulated through wildlife services and can be regularly hunted year round. Some states even fund hunting initiatives though the efficacy of these programs are disputed.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: For at least 40,000 years, Australia's fauna played an integral role in the traditional lifestyles of Indigenous Australians, who relied upon many species as a source of food and skins. Vertebrates commonly harvested included macropods, possums, seals, fish and the short-tailed shearwater, most commonly known as the muttonbird. Invertebrates used as food included insects such as the bogong moth and larvae collectively called witchetty grubs and molluscs. The use of fire-stick farming, in which large swathes of bushland were burnt to facilitate hunting, modified both flora and fauna – and are thought to have contributed to the extinction of large herbivores with a specialised diet, such as the flightless birds from the genus "Genyornis". The role of hunting and landscape modification by aboriginal people in the extinction of the Australian megafauna is debated, but increasingly favours the idea humans were responsible for megafaunal extinction.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Despite the major impact of Aboriginals on native species populations, this is considered to be less significant than that of the European settlers, whose impact on the landscape has been on a relatively large scale. Since European settlement, direct exploitation of native fauna, habitat destruction and the introduction of exotic predators and competitive herbivores has led to the extinction of some 27 mammal, 23 bird and 4 frog species. Much of Australia's fauna is protected by legislation. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 was created to meet Australia's obligations as a signatory to the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity. This act protects all native fauna and provides for the identification and protection of threatened species. In each state and territory, there is statutory listing of threatened species. At present, 380 animal species are classified as either endangered or threatened under the EPBC Act, and other species are protected under state and territory legislation. More broadly, a complete cataloguing of all the species within Australia has been undertaken, a key step in the conservation of Australian fauna and biodiversity. In 1973, the federal government established the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS), which coordinates research in the taxonomy, identification, classification and distribution of flora and fauna. The ABRS maintains free online databases cataloguing much of the described Australian flora and fauna. Impacts such as the illegal setting of traps in rivers affect animals such as the Australian platypus, along with lack of awareness each year an average of 2–5 Australians lose their lives to what is presumed a safe creature. The key is understanding of Australia's diverse wildlife and fauna; what seems safe is often deadly.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: The Australian Wildlife Conservancy is the largest private owner of land for conservation in the country which is dedicated to protecting endangered species across 4.8 million hectares of land in the most popular regions such as the Kimberley, Cape York, Lake Eyre and the Top End. This not-for-profit organisation is working hard to avoid extinction of the endangered native species in various wildlife sanctuaries.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: Australia is a member of the International Whaling Commission and is strongly opposed to commercial whaling — all cetacean species are protected in Australian waters. Australia is also a signatory to the CITES agreement and prohibits the export of endangered species. Protected areas have been created in every state and territory to protect and preserve the country's unique ecosystems. These protected areas include national parks and other reserves, as well as 64 wetlands registered under the Ramsar Convention and 16 World Heritage Sites. , 10.8% (774,619.51 km) of the total land area of Australia is within protected areas. Protected marine zones have been created in many areas to preserve marine biodiversity; , these areas cover about 7% (646,000 km) of Australia's marine jurisdiction. The Great Barrier Reef is managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority under specific federal and state legislation. Some of Australia's fisheries are already overexploited, and quotas have been set for the sustainable harvest of many marine species.


title: Fauna of Australia

text: The "State of the Environment Report, 2001", prepared by independent researchers for the federal government, concluded that the condition of the environment and environmental management in Australia had worsened since the previous report in 1996. Of particular relevance to wildlife conservation, the report indicated that many processes — such as salinity, changing hydrological conditions, land clearing, fragmentation of ecosystems, poor management of the coastal environment, and invasive species — pose major problems for protecting Australia's biodiversity.


title: Triethanolamine

text: Triethanolamine, or TEA is a viscous organic compound that is both a tertiary amine and a triol. A triol is a molecule with three alcohol groups. Approximately 150,000 tonnes were produced in 1999. It is a colourless compound although samples may appear yellow because of impurities.


title: Triethanolamine

text: Triethanolamine is produced from the reaction of ethylene oxide with aqueous ammonia, also produced are ethanolamine and diethanolamine. The ratio of the products can be controlled by changing the stoichiometry of the reactants.


title: Triethanolamine

text: Triethanolamine is used primarily in making surfactants, such as for emulsifier. It is a common ingredient in formulations used for both industrial and consumer products. The triethanolamine neutralizes fatty acids, adjusts and buffers the pH, and solubilizes oils and other ingredients that are not completely soluble in water. Triethanolammonium salts in some cases are more soluble than salts of alkali metals that might be used otherwise, and results in less alkaline products than would from using alkali metal hydroxides to form the salt. Some common products in which triethanolamine is found are sunscreen lotions, liquid laundry detergents, dishwashing liquids, general cleaners, hand sanitizers, polishes, metalworking fluids, paints, shaving cream and printing inks.


title: Triethanolamine

text: Triethanolamine is also used as organic additive (0.1 wt%) in the grinding of cement clinker. It facilitates the grinding process by preventing agglomeration and coating of the powder at the surface of balls and mill wall.


title: Triethanolamine

text: Various ear diseases and infections are treated with eardrops containing triethanolamine polypeptide oleate-condensate, such as Cerumenex in the United States. In pharmaceutics, triethanolamine is the active ingredient of some eardrops used to treat impacted earwax. It also serves as a pH balancer in many different cosmetic products, ranging from cleansing creams and milks, skin lotions, eye gels, moisturizers, shampoos, shaving foams, TEA is a fairly strong base: a 1% solution has a pH of approximately 10, whereas the pH of skin is less than pH 7, approximately 5.5−6.0. Cleansing milk–cream emulsions based on TEA are particularly good at removing makeup.


title: Triethanolamine

text: Another common use of TEA is as a complexing agent for aluminium ions in aqueous solutions. This reaction is often used to mask such ions before complexometric titrations with another chelating agent such as EDTA. TEA has also been used in photographic (silver halide) processing. It has been promoted as a useful alkali by amateur photographers.


title: Triethanolamine

text: TEA is used to provide a sensitivity boost to silver-halide-based holograms, and also as a swelling agent to color shift holograms. It is possible to get the sensitivity boost without color shift by rinsing out the TEA before squeegee and drying.


title: Triethanolamine

text: 2-3% in water TEA is used as an corrosion inhibitor (anti-rust) agent in immersion ultrasonic testing.


title: Triethanolamine

text: Triethanolamine, diethanolamine and aminoethylethanolamine are major components of common liquid organic fluxes for the soldering of aluminium alloys using tin-zinc and other tin or lead-based soft solders.


title: Triethanolamine

text: A 1996 study found that triethanolamine (TEOA) occasionally causes contact allergy. A 2001 study found TEOA in a sunscreen caused an allergic contact dermatitis. A 2007 study found TEOA in ear drops caused a contact allergy. Systemic and respiratory tract (RT) toxicity was analyzed for 28 days in a nose specific inhalation 2008 study in Wistar rats; TEOA seems to be less potent in regard to systemic toxicity and RT irritancy than diethanolamine (DEA). Exposure to TEOA resulted in focal inflammation, starting in single male animals from 20 mg/m concentrations.


title: Triethanolamine

text: A 2009 study stated that patch test reactions reveal a slight irritant potential instead of a true allergic response in several cases, and also indicated the risk of skin sensitization to TEOA seems to be very low.


title: Triethanolamine

text: Reports indicated that TEOA causes an increased incidence of tumor growth in the liver in female B6C3F1 mice, but not in male mice or in Fischer 344 rats. A 2004 study concluded "TEOA may cause liver tumors in mice via a choline-depletion mode of action and that this effect is likely caused by the inhibition of choline uptake by cells."


title: Triethanolamine

text: A 2009 study found that TEOA has potential acute, sub-chronic and chronic toxicity properties in respect to aquatic species.


title: Triethanolamine

text: TEOA is listed under Schedule 3, part B of the Chemical Weapons Convention as it can be used in the manufacture of HN3 nitrogen mustard.


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: In classical electromagnetism, magnetic vector potential (often called A) is the vector quantity defined so that its curl is equal to the magnetic field: formula_1. Together with the electric potential "φ", the magnetic vector potential can be used to specify the electric field E as well. Therefore, many equations of electromagnetism can be written either in terms of the fields E and B, or equivalently in terms of the potentials "φ" and A. In more advanced theories such as quantum mechanics, most equations use potentials rather than fields.


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: Magnetic vector potential was first introduced by Franz Ernst Neumann and Wilhelm Eduard Weber in 1845 and in 1846, respectively. Lord Kelvin also introduced vector potential in 1847, along with the formula relating it to the magnetic field.


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: The magnetic vector potential A is a vector field, defined along with the electric potential "ϕ" (a scalar field) by the equations:


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: where B is the magnetic field and E is the electric field. In magnetostatics where there is no time-varying charge distribution, only the first equation is needed. (In the context of electrodynamics, the terms "vector potential" and "scalar potential" are used for "magnetic vector potential" and "electric potential", respectively. In mathematics, vector potential and scalar potential can be generalized to higher dimensions.)


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: If electric and magnetic fields are defined as above from potentials, they automatically satisfy two of Maxwell's equations: Gauss's law for magnetism and Faraday's law. For example, if A is continuous and well-defined everywhere, then it is guaranteed not to result in magnetic monopoles. (In the mathematical theory of magnetic monopoles, A is allowed to be either undefined or multiple-valued in some places; see magnetic monopole for details).


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: Starting with the above definitions and remembering that the divergence of the curl is zero and the curl of the gradient is the zero vector:


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: Alternatively, the existence of A and "ϕ" is guaranteed from these two laws using Helmholtz's theorem. For example, since the magnetic field is divergence-free (Gauss's law for magnetism; i.e., ), A always exists that satisfies the above definition.


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: The vector potential A is used when studying the Lagrangian in classical mechanics and in quantum mechanics (see Schrödinger equation for charged particles, Dirac equation, Aharonov–Bohm effect).


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: In the SI system, the units of A are V·s·m and are the same as that of momentum per unit charge, or force per unit current. In minimal coupling, qA is called the potential momentum, and is part of the canonical momentum.


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: The line integral of A over a closed loop, Γ, is equal to the magnetic flux, Φ, through a surface, "S", that it encloses:


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: Therefore, the units of A are also equivalent to Weber per metre. The above equation is useful in the flux quantization of superconducting loops.


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: Although the magnetic field B is a pseudovector (also called axial vector), the vector potential A is a polar vector. This means that if the right-hand rule for cross products were replaced with a left-hand rule, but without changing any other equations or definitions, then B would switch signs, but A would not change. This is an example of a general theorem: The curl of a polar vector is a pseudovector, and vice versa.


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: The above definition does not define the magnetic vector potential uniquely because, by definition, we can arbitrarily add curl-free components to the magnetic potential without changing the observed magnetic field. Thus, there is a degree of freedom available when choosing A. This condition is known as gauge invariance.


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: Using the above definition of the potentials and applying it to the other two Maxwell's equations (the ones that are not automatically satisfied) results in a complicated differential equation that can be simplified using the Lorenz gauge where A is chosen to satisfy:


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: Using the Lorenz gauge, Maxwell's equations can be written compactly in terms of the magnetic vector potential A and the electric scalar potential "ϕ":


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: In other gauges, the equations are different. A different notation to write these same equations (using four-vectors) is shown below.


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: The solutions of Maxwell's equations in the Lorenz gauge (see Feynman and Jackson) with the boundary condition that both potentials go to zero sufficiently fast as they approach infinity are called the retarded potentials, which are the magnetic vector potential and the electric scalar potential due to a current distribution of current density , charge density , and volume Ω, within which "ρ" and J are non-zero at least sometimes and some places):


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: where the fields at position vector r and time "t" are calculated from sources at distant position r′ at an earlier time "t"′. The location r′ is a source point in the charge or current distribution (also the integration variable, within volume Ω). The earlier time "t"′ is called the "retarded time", and calculated as


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: In other gauges, the formula for A and "ϕ" is different; for example, see Coulomb gauge for another possibility.


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: the lines and contours of A relate to B like the lines and contours of B relate to J. Thus, a depiction of the A field around a loop of B flux (as would be produced in a toroidal inductor) is qualitatively the same as the B field around a loop of current.


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: The figure to the right is an artist's depiction of the A field. The thicker lines indicate paths of higher average intensity (shorter paths have higher intensity so that the path integral is the same). The lines are drawn to (aesthetically) impart the general look of the A-field.


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: In the context of special relativity, it is natural to join the magnetic vector potential together with the (scalar) electric potential into the electromagnetic potential, also called "four-potential".


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: One motivation for doing so is that the four-potential is a mathematical four-vector. Thus, using standard four-vector transformation rules, if the electric and magnetic potentials are known in one inertial reference frame, they can be simply calculated in any other inertial reference frame.


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: Another, related motivation is that the content of classical electromagnetism can be written in a concise and convenient form using the electromagnetic four potential, especially when the Lorenz gauge is used. In particular, in abstract index notation, the set of Maxwell's equations (in the Lorenz gauge) may be written (in Gaussian units) as follows:


title: Magnetic vector potential

text: where □ is the d'Alembertian and "J" is the four-current. The first equation is the Lorenz gauge condition while the second contains Maxwell's equations. The four-potential also plays a very important role in quantum electrodynamics.


title: Empire Builder

text: The Empire Builder is an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that operates daily between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great Northern Railway and its successor, the Burlington Northern Railroad, and was retained by Amtrak when it took over intercity rail service in 1971.


title: Empire Builder

text: The end-to-end travel time of the route is 45–46 hours for an average speed of about , though the train travels as fast as over the majority of the route. It is Amtrak's busiest long-distance route.


title: Empire Builder

text: During fiscal year 2019, the "Empire Builder" carried 433,372 passengers, an increase of 1.1% from FY2018. During FY2016, the train had a total revenue of $51,798,583, an increase of 2.5% over FY2015.


title: Empire Builder

text: The Great Northern Railway inaugurated the Empire Builder on June 10, 1929. It was named in honor of the company's founder, James J. Hill, who had reorganized several failing railroads into the only successful attempt at a privately funded transcontinental railroad. It reached the Pacific Northwest in the late 19th century, and for this feat, he was nicknamed "The Empire Builder". Following World War II, Great Northern placed new streamlined and diesel-powered trains in service that cut the scheduled 2,211-mile trip between Chicago and Seattle from 58.5 hours to 45 hours.


title: Empire Builder

text: On May 27, 1931, the eastbound "Empire Builder" was struck by a tornado in Clay County, North Dakota. The train, carrying 117 passengers, had all of its cars, minus the locomotive and coal tender, thrown off the tracks by the tornado, with one car being thrown 80 ft. (24.4 meters) off the track. One passenger died, with 57 others injured.


title: Empire Builder

text: The schedule allowed riders views of the Cascade Mountains and Glacier National Park, a park established through the lobbying efforts of the Great Northern. Re-equipped with domes in 1955, the Empire Builder offered passengers sweeping views of the route through three dome coaches and one full-length Great Dome car for first class passengers.


title: Empire Builder

text: In 1970, the Great Northern merged with three other closely affiliated railroads to form the Burlington Northern Railroad, which assumed operation of the "Builder." Amtrak took over the train when it began operating most intercity routes a year later. To improve its farebox recovery ratio, Amtrak shifted the Chicago–St. Paul leg to run through Milwaukee via the Milwaukee Road. Before 1971, the Chicago–St. Paul leg used the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad's mainline along the Mississippi River through Wisconsin. The service also used to operate west from the Twin Cities before turning northwest in Willmar, Minnesota, to reach Fargo.


title: Empire Builder

text: Amtrak added a Portland section in 1981, with the train splitting in Spokane. This restored service to the line previously operated by the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway. It was not the first time that the train had operated Seattle and Portland sections; Great Northern had split the "Builder" in Spokane for much of the 1940s and 1950s.


title: Empire Builder

text: In 2005, Amtrak upgraded service to include a wine and cheese tasting in the dining car for sleeping car passengers and free newspapers in the morning. Amtrak's inspector general eliminated some of these services in 2013 as part of a cost-saving measure.


title: Empire Builder

text: During summer months, on portions of the route, "Trails and Rails" volunteer tour guides in the lounge car give commentary on points of visual and historic interest that can be viewed from the train.


title: Empire Builder

text: After running daily for the better part of a century, the "Empire Builder" was cut back to tri-weekly operation along with most of Amtrak's other long-distance routes on October 12, 2020, as part of a round of service reductions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For most of the fall and winter of 2020–21, trains departed Chicago on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays and departed Seattle or Portland on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. However, in March 2021, Amtrak announced the train would return to its pre-pandemic daily schedule on May 24, 2021.


title: Empire Builder

text: The westbound "Empire Builder" derailed near Joplin, Montana on September 25, 2021, with three fatalities.


title: Empire Builder

text: The "Empire Builder" is Amtrak's most popular long-distance train. Over fiscal years 2007–2016, "Empire Builder" annual ridership averaged 500,000, with a high of 554,266 in FY 2008. Revenue peaked in FY 2013 at $67,394,779. About 65% of the cost of operating the train is covered by fare revenue, a rate among Amtrak's long-distance trains second only to the specialized East Coast "Auto Train".


title: Empire Builder

text: The current Amtrak "Empire Builder" passes through Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. It makes service stops in Spokane, Washington; Havre, Montana; Minot, North Dakota; and Saint Paul, Minnesota. Its other major stops include Vancouver, Washington; Whitefish, Montana; Williston, North Dakota; Fargo, North Dakota; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It uses BNSF Railway's Northern Transcon from Seattle to Minneapolis, Minnesota Commercial Railway from Minneapolis to St. Paul, the Canadian Pacific (former Milwaukee Road) from St. Paul to Rondout, Illinois, and Metra's Milwaukee District / North Line (former Milwaukee Road) from Rondout to Chicago. The St. Paul to Chicago portion currently follows the route of the former "Twin Cities Hiawatha". In pre-Amtrak days it used the "Twin Zephyrs" routing.


title: Empire Builder

text: The Seattle section uses the Cascade Tunnel and Stevens Pass as it traverses the Cascade Range to reach Spokane, while the Portland section runs along the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge. The cars from the two sections are combined at Spokane. The combined train then traverses the mountains of northeastern Washington, northern Idaho and northwestern Montana, arriving in Whitefish in the morning. The schedule is timed so that the train passes through the Rocky Mountains (and Glacier National Park) during daylightan occurrence that is more likely on the eastbound train during summer. Passengers can see sweeping views as the "Builder" travels along the middle fork of the Flathead River, crossing the Continental Divide at Marias Pass. After crossing Marias Pass, the "Empire Builder" leaves Glacier National Park and enters the Northern Plains of eastern Montana and North Dakota.


title: Empire Builder

text: The land changes from prairie to forest as it travels through Minnesota. From Minneapolis-St. Paul, the "Builder" crosses the Mississippi River at Hastings, Minnesota and passes through southeastern Minnesota cities on or near Lake Pepin before crossing the Mississippi again at La Crosse, Wisconsin. It passes through rural southern Wisconsin, turns south at Milwaukee, and ends at Chicago Union Station.


title: Empire Builder

text: The westbound "Empire Builder" leaves Chicago in early afternoon, arriving in Milwaukee just before the afternoon rush and in St. Paul in the evening. After traveling overnight through Minnesota, it spends most of the following day traveling through North Dakota and Montana, arriving at Glacier National Park in the early evening and splittling late at night in Spokane. The Seattle section travels through the Cascades overnight, arriving in Seattle in mid-morning. The Portland section arrives in the Tri-Cities just before breakfast and in Portland in mid-morning. The eastbound Seattle and Portland sections leave within five minutes of each other just before the afternoon rush, combining in Spokane and traveling through Montana overnight before arriving at Glacier National Park in mid-morning and Williston at dinner time. After traveling overnight through North Dakota and Minnesota, it arrives in St. Paul at breakfast time, Columbus/Madison at lunch time, Milwaukee in early afternoon and Chicago just before the afternoon rush.


title: Empire Builder

text: Stops at Milwaukee Airport and Sturtevant were added beginning March 21, 2020 to replace "Hiawatha Service" trains suspended due to the COVID-19-related drastic drop in demand. Additionally, local travel was allowed between Chicago and Milwaukee. These adjustments lasted until the train resumed its normal schedule in May 2021.


title: Empire Builder

text: The line has come under threat from flooding from the Missouri, Souris, Red, and Mississippi Rivers, and has occasionally had to suspend or alter service. Most service gets restored in days or weeks, but Devils Lake in North Dakota, which has no natural outlet, is a long-standing threat. The lowest top-of-rail elevation in the lake crossing is . In spring 2011, the lake reached , causing service interruptions on windy days when high waves threatened the tracks.


title: Empire Builder

text: BNSF, which owns the track, suspended freight operations through Devils Lake in 2009 and threatened to allow the rising waters to cover the line unless Amtrak could provide $100 million to raise the track. In that case, the "Empire Builder" would have been rerouted to the south, ending service to Rugby, Devils Lake, and Grand Forks. In June 2011 agreement was reached that Amtrak and BNSF would each cover 1/3 of the cost with the rest to come from the federal and state governments.


title: Empire Builder

text: In December 2011, North Dakota was awarded a $10 million TIGER grant from the US Department of Transportation to assist with the state portion of the cost. Work began in June 2012, and the track is being raised in two stages: 5 feet in 2012, and another 5 feet in 2013. Two bridges and their abutments are also being raised. When the track raise is complete, the top-of-rail elevation will be . This is 10 feet above the level at which the lake will naturally overflow and will thus be a permanent solution to the Devils Lake flooding.


title: Empire Builder

text: In the spring and summer of 2011 flooding of the Souris River near Minot, North Dakota blocked the route in the latter part of June and for most of July. For some of that time the "Empire Builder" (with a typical consist of only four cars) ran from Chicago and terminated in Minneapolis/St Paul; to the west, the "Empire Builder" did not run east of Havre, Montana. (Other locations along the route also flooded, near Devils Lake, North Dakota and areas further west along the Missouri River.)


title: Empire Builder

text: An oil boom from the Bakken formation, combined with a robust fall 2013 harvest, led to a spike in the number of crude oil and grain trains using the Northern Transcon in Montana and North Dakota. The resulting congestion led to rampant delays for the "Empire Builder," with the train running on time 44.5% in November 2013, the worst on-time performance of any Amtrak route and well below congressional standards. In some cases, the delays resulted in an imbalance of crew and equipment, forcing Amtrak to cancel runs of the "Empire Builder". By May 2014, only 26% of "Empire Builder" trains had arrived within 30 minutes of their scheduled time, with delays averaging between 3 and 5 hours. In some cases, freight congestion and severe weather resulted in delays as long as 11 to 12 hours. This was a marked change from past years in which the "Empire Builder" was one of the best on-time performers in the entire Amtrak system, ahead of even the flagship "Acela Express."