title: Ex-Muslims

text: According to a study of behaviour by young Moroccan non-believers in Facebook groups by Lena Richter (2021), humour is one of the most popular ways of expressing experiences and thoughts among non-believers in different parts of the world to challenge religious authority. Richter says: "On the surface, Internet memes and other jokes might appear trivial. While they often appear to lack seriousness, they are an intrinsic part of today's digital culture (Milner 2012; Shifman 2013) and carry important social, emotional, cultural, and political messages (Miltner 2018; Bennett and Segerberg 2012). Beyond that, memes can be an important part of lived (non)religion, as they are a common and participatory expression of meaning-making in everyday life (Aguilar et al. 2017)." Richter went on to state that humor remains a covert dissent strategy which establishes differentiation towards the religious majority, contributes to bridging (non)religious disagreement and the creation of identification among non-believers.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Richter wrote: "In countries like Morocco, the room for humorous activism is influenced by the semi-authoritarian context, which restricts some freedoms but offers others (Ottaway 2003)." According to Richter, activism that openly advocates for freedom of conscience is rather restricted, as many activists fear the legal and social consequences. Suffering from stigmatization, activists reported cases of (verbal) violence by family members, investigations by authorities, and obstacles in professional, educational, and private life. As a consequence, the restrictive situation for non-believers gives an indication as to why many non-believers rely on "more indirect forms of activism such as humor".


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Richter found that "humor tests the border of what is still tolerated to express. On the one hand, some jokes enjoy a free pass as they are "not meant seriously" and provide a space of liberty that allows people to vent frustrations (Davies 2007). On the other hand, some topics, that touch the troika of "allah, al-watan, al-malik" (Kettioui 2020) cross that line and are labeled as blasphemous. The awareness that it is not possible to criticize or joke about certain topics leads to (self-)censorship (Rahman 2012) and a try-and-see ethos that tests the limits of freedom of speech (Iddins 2020)".


title: Ex-Muslims

text: In Malaysian textbook cases, Malaysian courts declined to approve changes of religion and marriage to non-Muslim men to one Azlina Jailani, who was allowed to change her name to Lina Joy, but not her religion. In another case, Nur'aishah Bokhari had to file habeas corpus against her own parents and flee from Malaysia in order to marry her non-Muslim boyfriend. In one more Malaysian case, the young woman Revathi Masoosai was raised as a Hindu in childhood by her grandmother before her parents converted to Islam. When Masoosai married a Hindu and sought to change her religion, the Malaysian courts not only denied her request to formally change the record of her religion, but also seized her daughter and handed her over to her converted Muslim mother. Another recent case being, In August 2021, an ex-Muslim from Kerala, Abdul Khader Puthiyandadi was arrested without bail and sentenced to prison for three years for criticising Quran and Hadith by United Arab Emirates on the grounds of blasphemy law.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: The term 'ex-Muslim movement' is used to describe the social movement of individuals and groups who have renounced Islam, seek to normalize religious dissent and leaving of Islam, support others who have done so or are in the process of leaving by linking them to support networks, and sometimes encourage Muslims to leave Islam. According to Frank Fregosi, while publicly recommending leaving Islam, Ex-Muslims mobilize on politically secular lines, and also defend absolute freedom of conscience and freedom of criticizing Islam. Citing a 2017 Pew Research survey, "The Wall Street Journal"s Daniel Pipes stated that roughly a hundred thousand people in the United States may be leaving Islam annually, and even if new ones join Islam in similar numbers, still it is those who leave Islam who would ultimately influence the Islamic faith more than any converts to Islam would do.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Ex-Muslim activism uses avenues of newspapers, public gatherings as well as online platforms. Smaller gatherings and events also take place in bars, cafes, and restaurants. According to Farzana Hassan, even many ex-Muslims who come out on YouTube channels of other prominent ex-Muslim's channels like Harris Sultan, Apostate Prophet, Ghalib Kamal, continue to prefer to maintain anonymity by using pseudonyms or restricting the information to very trusted few. Hassan says, ex-Muslim activism is making Muslim world face some introspection.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: "The Satanic Verses" controversy motivated Ibn Warraq to write his 1995 book "Why I Am Not a Muslim" (in reference to Bertrand Russell's 1926 classic "Why I Am Not a Christian") in defence of its author Salman Rushdie and other apostates, followed by other books critical of the Quran and Muhammad. Three years later, Warraq and other former Muslims founded the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society to advocate for the interests of apostates and jointly express criticism of their former religion.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Al Qaeda's terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 (colloquially known as 9/11) on the World Trade Center (1973–2001) in New York City and The Pentagon in Washington, D.C. made a powerful impact on doubting and former Muslims. For some, it (partially or temporarily) reversed their process of apostasy in the face of a generalised anti-Muslim backlash that (mistakenly) targeted them or their family and friends as "terrorists" in Western societies. For others, it accelerated their loss of faith, or in fact planted the first seed of doubt about their Islamic beliefs, that appeared to be based on the same religious texts that the 9/11 hijackers used to justify their terrorist attacks. Ali Sina, a Muslim convert to Christianity, founded the Faith Freedom International (FFI) website in October 2001. Meanwhile, Ibn Warraq compiled the first collection of stories from former Muslims: "Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out" (2003);


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Seeing children of Muslim parents cheer at the 9/11 attacks, having checked that Osama bin Laden's justifications for it could indeed be found in verses of the Quran, and finally having read the "Atheïstisch manifest" of Dutch philosopher Herman Philipse, Dutch political scientist and former Somali asylum-seeker Ayaan Hirsi Ali renounced Islam in 2002 and became a prominent critic. Due to her open hostility towards Islam in public discourse in the Netherlands, where she became a Member of Parliament in 2003, she received numerous death threats for leaving and criticising her former faith, culminating in the assassination of Theo van Gogh on 2 November 2004, with whom she had co-produced the short film "Submission". Hirsi Ali's essays were later bundled into two collections, "De zoontjesfabriek" and "The Caged Virgin"; the latter became an international bestseller and had been translated into about 10 languages by May 2006. Subsequently, in 2006, issues surrounding difficulties faced by apostates from Islam, for example by Italian journalist Magdi Allam, came into French discourse while discussing criticism of Islam by Robert Redeker in "Le Figaro".


title: Ex-Muslims

text: The modern international organised ex-Muslim movement may be traced back to the 2007 foundation of the Central Council of Ex-Muslims (Zentralrat der Ex-Muslime, ZdE) in Germany. Its primary initiator was Mina Ahadi, an ex-Muslim refugee from Iran who escaped a death sentence that she received for criticising the Islamic regime; she settled in Cologne in 1996. After an April 2006 workshop on political Islam in Osnabrück, she discussed how to do better activism for people who have renounced Islam with Giordano Bruno Foundation spokesperson Michael Schmidt-Salomon, who suggested the launch of an awareness campaign titled "Wir haben abgeschworen!" ("We have renounced!", in reference to the 1971 campaign We've had abortions!, "Wir haben abgetrieben!" in German). It would be a collection of photographs of people who had escaped political Islam to Germany, and were willing to come out publicly with their faces as former Muslims. To carry out such a campaign, Schmidt-Salomon suggested the foundation of a Central Council for Ex-Muslims, in contrast to the existing Central Council of Muslims in Germany (founded in 1994). Although Ahadi and fellow apostates disliked the term 'ex-Muslim' at first, because they preferred to call themselves atheists and humanists, they eventually agreed and made preparations. The council's formation was announced on 28 February 2007 at a press conference in Berlin, during which the "Wir haben abgeschworen!" campaign was launched as well. Previously, former Muslims had expressed frustration at the media for continually associating them with the Islamic religion that they had left. For example, Ibn Warraq and Salman Rushdie were called 'Muslim intellectuals'. But after the council's formation, the term "ex-Muslim" was rapidly popularised in the media.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: The Central Council of Ex-Muslims directly inspired the foundation of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (headed by Maryam Namazie and others, presented on 19 June 2007) in the United Kingdom, the Central Committee for Ex-Muslims (headed by Ehsan Jami and, until June, also by Loubna Berrada) in the Netherlands in May, officially presented on 11 September 2007, and also a council in Scandinavia.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: The American group Former Muslims United, headed by Muslim-turned-Christian Nonie Darwish, was founded in October 2009 in Los Angeles. It was followed in 2012 by the Muslimish group, and in 2013 by Ex-Muslims of North America (EXMNA), which formed a network of local ex-Muslim groups throughout the United States and Canada. Meanwhile, the online community Atheist Republic was set up by Vancouver-based ex-Muslim activist Armin Navabi in 2012; by May 2017, it had become the largest online atheist community in the world, with chapters ('consulates') in dozens of countries.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: It is generally understood that the rise of the jihadist-terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS, IS or Daesh), that proclaimed a caliphate in July 2014 and committed massacres and systematic sexual slavery across Syria and Iraq in the name of Islam, had a major impact on many thousands of Muslims throughout the world (primarily the Middle East and North Africa) in dissociating themselves from their religion.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: The period from 2014 to 2019 saw a surge in Kurdish Muslims converting to Zoroastrianism, the original faith of their ancestors that was prevalent in the region before the Muslim conquest of Persia. This surge is largely attributed to disillusionment with Islam after the years of violence and barbarism perpetrated by the ISIS jihadi group.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: In Nigeria, Mubarak Bala, an Ex-Muslim and president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria was forcible subjected to the psychiatric institution on leaving Islam in 2014 and arrested again in April 2020, he was arrested in Kaduna for blasphemy due to a Facebook post he made, facing difficulties in getting legal aid as of July 2020.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Globally quite a few notable ex-Muslim activists are of Pakistani and South Asian origin. According to the Gallup Poll In 2005, 1% of those Pakistanis who participated in the poll were atheist and by 2012, the figure rose to 2%. In 2012, the Atheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan was founded by Fauzia Ilyas, who had to take asylum in Netherlands after being persecuted under Pakistani blasphemy laws. Agents of the Pakistani state attempt to suppress nascent online atheist activism by infiltration of atheist groups, and suppression by blocking online and offline safe spaces for free speech and persecution by unofficial abductions and Pakistani blasphemy law threats.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: In the early 21st century, an un-organised ex-Muslim movement started to emerge in India, typically among young (in their 20s and 30s) well-educated Muslim women and men in urban areas. They are often troubled by religious teachings and practices (such as shunning of and intolerance and violence towards non-Muslims), doubting their veracity and morality, and started to question them. Feeling that Islamic relatives and authorities failed to provide them with satisfactory answers, and with access to alternative interpretations of and information about Islam on the Internet, and the ability to communicate with each other through social media, these people resolved to apostatize. On 16 March 2017, an atheist political activist of Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam (DVK) named Farook Hameed of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu (an Indian state known for decades of well-established atheist politics) who had an open Whatsapp group named 'Murtad (atheist)', was hacked to death allegedly by his own close friends for openly professing his atheism. Ex Muslims of Kerala conduct several discussions on  Islam and Atheism on social media and also conducts public debate with Islamic scholars. Ex-Muslims of Kerala observe every January 9 as Kerala 'ex-Muslim Day. Another  Muslim organization from Kerala, Samastha Kerala Jamiat-ul-Ulema are conducting special programs to counter increasing atheism among Muslim youth. According to a 2021 Pew Research Center report on a survey amongst Indians conducted in late 2019 and early 2020, 6% of Indian Muslims did not believe in God, and 12% of Indian Muslims were uncertain whether they believed in God.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: In the Bangladesh Liberation War (March–December 1971), a significant number of Bangladeshis left Islam to join Christianity (because missionaries stood with them during their difficult times during the civil strife) or to atheism after 1971 due to their experience of oppression conducted by fellow Muslims from West Pakistan. After the Internet became available, atheist, secular and ex-Muslim Bangladeshi bloggers began to appear in the mid-2000s. Asif Mohiuddin organised the first meeting of Bangladeshi freethinkers, atheists, agnostics, and other nonbelievers in Dhaka in 2010, which was attended by 34 people. Mohiuddin then became the first victim of the attacks by Islamic extremists in Bangladesh (2013–2016), although, unlike many others, he survived the attempt on his life, and managed to flee to Germany. According to him, the number of 'secularist, humanist, atheist, nonbeliever' bloggers in Bangladesh (which has an 89% Muslim population) grew from 'four or five' people in 2005 to '15,000–20,000' in 2015.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: In the small South Asian Muslim-majority island state of the Maldives, free thinker activists contested extremist narratives on social media, conducted silent protests and questioned some conservatives since 2010. At least one of them, Mohamed Nazim, was arrested or in protective custody subsequently had to publicly revert to Islam in the custody period. Another, the young air traffic controller Ismail Mohamed Didi, was found dead after getting exposed for his apostasy, and further multiple questionable deaths of ex-Muslims over the years were linked to international terrorist connections of the accused.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: In Sri Lanka, 9.7% of the population is Muslim. Due to the social taboo on leaving Islam, the Council of Ex-Muslims of Sri Lanka was founded in secret in 2016. Members of the organisation hold meetings in hiding. In June 2019, Rishvin Ismath decided to come forward as a spokesperson for the Council in order to denounce government-approved and distributed textbooks for Muslim students which stated that apostates from Islam should be killed. Ismath subsequently received several death threats.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: In Malaysia, the pro-moderation group G25 stated in January 2020 that, while they do not advocate apostasy, they supported doing away with anti-apostasy laws. In 2017 Malaysian government investigated a group of atheist republic chapter members in Kuala Lumpur and declared atheism to be unconstitutional. Indonesian Atheist Facebook page was started in 2008, face to face gatherings of atheists were started in 2011 in Jakarta Indonesian atheist 'Karina'. Atheist republic chapter in Jakarta Indonesia also had to self-censor their activism further under pressure of blasphemy laws.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: In July 2020, the Sudanese transitional government abolished the death penalty for apostasy from Islam in Sudan.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: According to Simon Cottee, ex-Muslims aspire to move on beyond religious discussions, but materializing that aspiration remains a challenge. Khalil Bilici, while admitting that the limitations of their 2007 study database are too small, found a substantial number of South Asians who tend to remain agnostic or atheist after leaving Islam, whereas a good number of Middle Eastern people are likely to convert to Christianity after leaving Islam.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: According to Simon Cottee, overwhelming realization from the interviews of ex-Muslims he has taken, marginalization of individual ex-Muslims across the board is a serious cause of concern and Cottee earnestly pleads in his book preface that ex-Muslims do deserve a better deal than what they are presently getting.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: According to Cottee ex-Muslim individuals, self-help groups and forums would need to find financial support from larger society in lieu of family and community. Cottee says ex-Muslims in the west ought to manage the moral stigma attached to apostasy within their own communities and emotional difficulties and challenges involved in leaving Islam. Cottee further says it is not about traditional notions families and surrounding community is afraid about duty, honor, and shame has nothing to do with Islam but empathy is a solution where in Ex-Muslim individuals are looking forward to continuation of familial and community relationships in spite of leaving their faith. Cottee says even social workers and even mental health care workers need to be trained not only about nuances of Islamic faith but also about difficulties and dilemmas while leaving Islam.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: One of Simon Cottee's ex-Muslim respondent says that actually many of them are originally very devote and when they study original scriptures and Prophets life to defend against doubts about Islam they end up on side of confirming doubts being valid enough. According to Aki Muthali, apologist claims of persecution of Muslims by new atheist ex-Muslims are dishonest; and actually it is atheists, who have been and are most persecuted by religious societies and how many more homicides of atheist Muslims would take it to acknowledge the need of (modernist) reform in Islam.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: On the other hand, some ex-Muslims do complain that in non-Muslim majority countries, non-Muslim right-wing conservatives attempt to misuse their criticism to demonize Muslims as individuals or as a community; on the other hand, liberals and politically left-leaning people distance themselves from ex-Muslims to whitewash limitations of as an ideology, narrative, and religion to avoid upsetting the minority. Ex-Muslim atheist author Ali Amjad Rizvi expresses his anguish at the 'liberal left in non-Muslim majority countries' contradictory attitude to treat non-Muslim far-right ideas as bad, but hesitating in extending the same level of criticism to questionable illiberal ideas and practices advocated in Islamic holy books like the Quran from misogyny, homophobia, extremist interpretations of jihad, harsh corporal punishments like hand amputation, severe legal penalties for blasphemy and apostasy and many more.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Rizvi calls, 'liberal left in non-Muslim majority countries' behavior of not supporting ex-Muslims but rather distancing themselves to shake hands with conservative Islamic bigotry as a kind of betrayal of true liberalism, shared by ex-Muslims. According to Rizvi, 'many liberals in non-Muslim majority countries' inadvertently end up empowering inhumane and undemocratic attitudes of Islamist institutions and governments in Muslim-majority countries, who misuse the victimhood card to oppress and persecute liberal dissidents within their own societies.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Rizvi further points out that bigotry against Muslims as a human community and criticism of Islam are two different things. Ex-Muslims do not support any hate against Muslims, but rather, ex-Muslims themselves suffer from the same hate coming from the far-right for reasons such as sharing Muslim-cultural names. Ex-Muslims face triple jeopardy: they receive discrimination from the far-right, persecution from their erst-while Muslim relations and community, and even the liberal left of non-Muslims stand with persecutors of ex-Muslims. According to Rizvi, critics of ex-Muslims tend to confuse between hate against a community and legitimate criticism of Islam. Muslims as humans do have rights and deserve respect, whereas Islam is just an idea, and all ideas are very much expected to be open to unreserved criticism and that ex-Muslims limit their criticism to Islam and do not extend it to Muslims as a community. While quoting Maryam Namazie, Rizvi reiterates that "criticizing Islam and Islamism is not anti-Muslim", rather, avoiding legitimate criticism of Islam and Islamism tend to create a vacuum as an open field for the far-right which is frequently used against Muslims.


title: Ex-Muslims

text: Ex-Muslims are found to have concerns about some of the Islamic practices, including that of not allowing questioning in and about religion; practicing hatred of kafirs (nonbelievers), hatred of certain animal species like swine and dogs, sending more women to hell, polygamy, and thighing.


California's 45th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California. Katie Porter, a Democrat, has represented the district since January 2019. She is the first Democrat to do so.


title: California's 45th congressional district

text: The district is based in Orange County and includes all of Irvine, Tustin, North Tustin, Villa Park, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, and Rancho Santa Margarita, as well as parts of Anaheim, Orange, Laguna Woods, Mission Viejo, and Trabuco Canyon.


text: Incumbent Walters competed against a field of four Democrats and an independent candidate in the primary election for the 2018 midterm elections. On February 25, 2018, UC Irvine (UCI) assistant law professor Dave Min received the endorsement of the California Democratic Party.


text: Min, former White House senior technology advisor Brian Forde, former legislative assistant to Sherrod Brown (D-OH) Kia Hamadanchy, UCI law professor Katie Porter, and UCI business professor John Graham ran in the "top two" primary in June 2018. Walters and Porter placed first and second and advanced to the general election in November.


text: On November 14, 2018, 8 days after polls closed, Dave Wasserman, then the House Editor for The Cook Political Report, projected that Porter had won the general election.


text: As of the 2020 redistricting, California's 45th congressional district is located in Southern California. It takes up western Orange County and east Los Angeles.


text: Orange County is split between this district, the 40th district, the 46th district, and the 47th district. The 45th and 40th are partitioned by Orange Freeway, E Lambert Rd, Sunrise Rd, Foothill Ln, Wandering Ln, N Associated Rd, E Birch St, S Valencia Ave, La Plaza Dr, La Floresta Dr, La Crescenta Dr, Highway 90, 1053 E Imperial Highway-343 Tolbert St, Vesuvius Dr, Rose Dr, Wabash Ave, 6th St, Golden Ave, Carbon Canyon Creek, E Yorba Linda Blvd, Jefferson St, 1401 Zion Ave-N Van Buren St, Buena Vista Ave, 17225 Orange Blossom Ln-1480 E Howard Pl, 17511 Pine Cir-Orchard Dr, Mariposa Ave, Lakeview Ave, E Miraloma Ave, Fee-Ana St, Sierra Madre Cir, E Orangethorpe Ave, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, Kensington Ave, N Kraemer Blvd, Carbon Creek, and E La Jolla St.


text: The 45th and 46th are partitioned by Santa Ana River, W Lehnhardt Ave, Gloxinia Ave, Lilac Way, Edinger Ave, Pebble Ct, 10744 W Lehnhardt Ave-10726 Kedge Ave, 724 S Sail St-5641 W Barbette Ave-407 S Starboard St, Starboard St/S Cooper St, Taft St, Hazard Ave, N Euclid St, Westminster Ave, Clinton St, 14300 Clinton St-1001 Mar Les Dr, Mar Les Dr, 2729 Huckleberry Rd, N Fairview St, Fairview St, 13462 Garden Grove Blvd-13252 Marty Ln, Townley St/Siemon Ave, W Garden Grove Blvd, S Lewis St, W Chapman Ave, E Simmons Ave, S Haster St, Ascot Dr, W Orangewood Ave, S 9th St, 2209 S Waverly Dr-11751 S Waverly Dr, Euclid St, Haven Ln, W Dudley Ave, S Euclid St, Katella Ave, Dale St, Rancho Alamitos High School, Orangewood Ave, Barber City Channel, Arrowhead St, Del Rey Dr, Westcliff Dr, Lampson Ave, Fern St, Garden Glove Blvd, Union Pacific Railroad, 7772 W Chapman Ave-Bently Ave, Highway 39, Western Ave, Stanton Storm Channel, Knott Ave, 6970 Via Kannela-6555 Katella Ave, Cerritos Ave, 10490 Carlotta Ave-Ball Rd, John Beat Park, S Knott Ave, Solano Dr, Monterra Way, Campesina Dr, Holder Elementary School, W Orange Ave, 6698 Via Riverside Way-Orangeview Junior High School, W Lincoln Ave, 195 N Western Ave-298 N Western Ave, 3181 W Coolidge Ave-405 N Dale St, W Crescent Ave, N La Reina St, W La Palma Ave, Boisseranc Park, I-5 HOV Lane, Orangethorpe Ave, Fullerton Creek, Whitaker St, Commonwealth Ave, Los Angeles County Metro, W Malvern Ave, W Chapman Ave, E Chapman Ave, S Placentia Ave, Kimberly Ave, E Orangethorpe Ave, and 2500 E Terrace St-Highway 57.


text: The 45th and 47th are partitioned by Highway 405, Old Ranch Parkway, Seal Beach Blvd, St Cloud Dr, Montecito Rd, Rossmoor Center Way, 12240 Seal Beach Blvd-Los Alamitos Army Airfield, Bolsa Chica Channel, Rancho Rd, Harold Pl, Springdale St, 6021 Anacapa Dr-Willow Ln, Edward St, Bolsa Ave, Goldenwest St, McFadden Ave, Union Pacific Railroad, 15241 Cascade Ln-15241 Cedarwood Ave, Highway 39, Edinger Ave, Newland St, Heil Ave, Magnolia St, Warner Ave, Garfield Ave, and the Santa Ana River.


text: The 45th district takes in the cities of Cypress, Brea, Placentia, Westminster, Garden Grove, Buena Park, Fountain Valley, and northern Fullerton, as well as the census-designated place Rossmoor.


text: Los Angeles County is split between this district, the 38th district, and the 42nd district. The 45th and 42nd are partitioned by San Gabriel River, Palo Verde Ave, South St, Del Amo Blvd, Pioneer Blvd, Coyote Creek, Centralia Creek, Hawaiian Ave, Verne Ave, Bloomfield Park, Highway 605, 226th St, Dorado Cir, Cortner Ave, E Woodson St, Bloomfield Ave, Lilly Ave, Marna Ave, and Los Alamos Channel.


text: The 45th and 38th are partitioned by Valley View Ave, Southern Pacific Railroad, Alondra Blvd, 15917 Canyon Creek Rd-12371 Hermosura St, Norwalk Blvd, 166th St, and Cerritos College Child Development-Alondra Blvd. The 45th district takes in the cities of Cerritos, Artesia, and Hawaiian Gardens.


text: From 2003 to 2013, this district was based in Riverside County. The district included the communities of Palm Springs, Moreno Valley, Palm Desert, Hemet, Cathedral City, Temecula, Blythe, Rancho Mirage, Murrieta, Indio, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Cabazon, Anza, Thermal, Idyllwild, Coachella, and other unincorporated areas of Riverside County.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) is the conversion process used in petroleum refineries to convert the high-boiling point, high-molecular weight hydrocarbon fractions of petroleum (crude oils) into gasoline, olefinic gases, and other petroleum products. The cracking of petroleum hydrocarbons was originally done by thermal cracking, now virtually replaced by catalytic cracking, which yields greater volumes of high octane rating gasoline; and produces by-product gases, with more carbon-carbon double bonds (i.e. olefins), that are of greater economic value than the gases produced by thermal cracking.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The feedstock to the FCC conversion process usually is heavy gas oil (HGO), which is that portion of the petroleum (crude oil) that has an initial boiling-point temperature of or higher, at atmospheric pressure, and that has an average molecular weight that ranges from about 200 to 600 or higher; heavy gas oil also is known as “heavy vacuum gas oil” (HVGO). In the fluid catalytic cracking process, the HGO feedstock is heated to a high temperature and to a moderate pressure, and then is placed in contact with a hot, powdered catalyst, which breaks the long-chain molecules of the high-boiling-point hydrocarbon liquids into short-chain molecules, which then are collected as a vapor.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: Oil refineries use fluid catalytic cracking to correct the imbalance between the market demand for gasoline and the excess of heavy, high boiling range products resulting from the distillation of crude oil.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: As of 2006, FCC units were in operation at 400 petroleum refineries worldwide, and about one-third of the crude oil refined in those refineries is processed in an FCC to produce high-octane gasoline and fuel oils. During 2007, the FCC units in the United States processed a total of of feedstock per day, and FCC units worldwide processed about twice that amount.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: FCC units are less common in EMEA because those regions have high demand for diesel and kerosene, which can be satisfied with hydrocracking. In the US, fluid catalytic cracking is more common because the demand for gasoline is higher.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The modern FCC units are all continuous processes which operate 24 hours a day for as long as 3 to 5 years between scheduled shutdowns for routine maintenance.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: There are several different proprietary designs that have been developed for modern FCC units. Each design is available under a license that must be purchased from the design developer by any petroleum refining company desiring to construct and operate an FCC of a given design.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: There are two different configurations for an FCC unit: the "stacked" type where the reactor and the catalyst regenerator are contained in two separate vessels, with the reactor above the regenerator, with a skirt between these vessels allowing the regenerator off-gas piping to connect to the top of the regenerator vessel, and the "side-by-side" type where the reactor and catalyst regenerator are in two separate vessels. The stacked configuration occupies less physical space of the refinery area. These are the major FCC designers and licensors:


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: Each of the proprietary design licensors claims to have unique features and advantages. A complete discussion of the relative advantages of each of the processes is beyond the scope of this article.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The reactor and regenerator are considered to be the heart of the fluid catalytic cracking unit. The schematic flow diagram of a typical modern FCC unit in Figure 1 below is based upon the "side-by-side" configuration. The preheated high-boiling petroleum feedstock (at about 315 to 430 °C) consisting of long-chain hydrocarbon molecules is combined with recycle slurry oil from the bottom of the distillation column and injected into the "catalyst riser" where it is vaporised and cracked into smaller molecules of vapour by contact and mixing with the very hot powdered catalyst from the regenerator. All of the cracking reactions take place in the catalyst riser within a period of 2–4 seconds. The hydrocarbon vapours "fluidize" the powdered catalyst and the mixture of hydrocarbon vapors and catalyst flows upward to enter the "reactor" at a temperature of about 535 °C and a pressure of about 1.72 bar.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The reactor is a vessel in which the cracked product vapors are: (a) separated from the "spent catalyst" by flowing through a set of two-stage cyclones within the reactor and (b) the "spent catalyst" flows downward through a steam stripping section to remove any hydrocarbon vapors before the spent catalyst returns to the "catalyst regenerator". The flow of spent catalyst to the regenerator is regulated by a "slide valve" in the spent catalyst line.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: Since the cracking reactions produce some carbonaceous material (referred to as catalyst coke) that deposits on the catalyst and very quickly reduces the catalyst reactivity, the catalyst is regenerated by burning off the deposited coke with air blown into the regenerator. The regenerator operates at a temperature of about 715 °C and a pressure of about 2.41 bar, hence the regenerator operates at about 0.7 bar higher pressure than the reactor. The combustion of the coke is exothermic and it produces a large amount of heat that is partially absorbed by the regenerated catalyst and provides the heat required for the vaporization of the feedstock and the endothermic cracking reactions that take place in the catalyst riser. For that reason, FCC units are often referred to as being 'heat balanced'.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The hot catalyst (at about 715 °C) leaving the regenerator flows into a "catalyst withdrawal well" where any entrained combustion flue gases are allowed to escape and flow back into the upper part to the regenerator. The flow of regenerated catalyst to the feedstock injection point below the catalyst riser is regulated by a slide valve in the regenerated catalyst line. The hot flue gas exits the regenerator after passing through multiple sets of two-stage cyclones that remove entrained catalyst from the flue gas.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The amount of catalyst circulating between the regenerator and the reactor amounts to about 5 kg per kg of feedstock, which is equivalent to about 4.66 kg per litre of feedstock. Thus, an FCC unit processing will circulate about 55,900 tonnes per day of catalyst.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The reaction product vapors (at 535 °C and a pressure of 1.72 bar) flow from the top of the reactor to the bottom section of the main column (commonly referred to as the "main fractionator" where feed splitting takes place) where they are distilled into the FCC end products of cracked petroleum naphtha, fuel oil, and offgas. After further processing for removal of sulfur compounds, the cracked naphtha becomes a high-octane component of the refinery's blended gasolines.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The main fractionator offgas is sent to what is called a "gas recovery unit" where it is separated into butanes and butylenes, propane and propylene, and lower molecular weight gases (hydrogen, methane, ethylene and ethane). Some FCC gas recovery units may also separate out some of the ethane and ethylene.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: Although the schematic flow diagram above depicts the main fractionator as having only one sidecut stripper and one fuel oil product, many FCC main fractionators have two sidecut strippers and produce a light fuel oil and a heavy fuel oil. Likewise, many FCC main fractionators produce a light cracked naphtha and a heavy cracked naphtha. The terminology "light" and "heavy" in this context refers to the product boiling ranges, with light products having a lower boiling range than heavy products.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The bottom product oil from the main fractionator contains residual catalyst particles which were not completely removed by the cyclones in the top of the reactor. For that reason, the bottom product oil is referred to as a "slurry oil". Part of that slurry oil is recycled back into the main fractionator above the entry point of the hot reaction product vapors so as to cool and partially condense the reaction product vapors as they enter the main fractionator. The remainder of the slurry oil is pumped through a slurry settler. The bottom oil from the slurry settler contains most of the slurry oil catalyst particles and is recycled back into the catalyst riser by combining it with the FCC feedstock oil. The "clarified slurry oil" or decant oil is withdrawn from the top of slurry settler for use elsewhere in the refinery, as a heavy fuel oil blending component, or as carbon black feedstock.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: Depending on the choice of FCC design, the combustion in the regenerator of the coke on the spent catalyst may or may not be complete combustion to carbon dioxide . The combustion air flow is controlled so as to provide the desired ratio of carbon monoxide (CO) to carbon dioxide for each specific FCC design.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: In the design shown in Figure 1, the coke has only been partially combusted to . The combustion flue gas (containing CO and ) at 715 °C and at a pressure of 2.41 bar is routed through a secondary catalyst separator containing "swirl tubes" designed to remove 70 to 90 percent of the particulates in the flue gas leaving the regenerator. This is required to prevent erosion damage to the blades in the turbo-expander that the flue gas is next routed through.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The expansion of flue gas through a turbo-expander provides sufficient power to drive the regenerator's combustion air compressor. The electrical motor–generator can consume or produce electrical power. If the expansion of the flue gas does not provide enough power to drive the air compressor, the electric motor–generator provides the needed additional power. If the flue gas expansion provides more power than needed to drive the air compressor, then the electric motor–generator converts the excess power into electric power and exports it to the refinery's electrical system.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The expanded flue gas is then routed through a steam-generating boiler (referred to as a CO boiler) where the carbon monoxide in the flue gas is burned as fuel to provide steam for use in the refinery as well as to comply with any applicable environmental regulatory limits on carbon monoxide emissions.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The flue gas is finally processed through an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) to remove residual particulate matter to comply with any applicable environmental regulations regarding particulate emissions. The ESP removes particulates in the size range of 2 to 20 µm from the flue gas. Particulate filter systems, known as Fourth Stage Separators (FSS) are sometimes required to meet particulate emission limits. These can replace the ESP when particulate emissions are the only concern.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The steam turbine in the flue gas processing system (shown in the above diagram) is used to drive the regenerator's combustion air compressor during start-ups of the FCC unit until there is sufficient combustion flue gas to take over that task.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The fluid catalytic cracking process breaks large hydrocarbons by their conversion to carbocations, which undergo myriad rearrangements.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: Figure 2 is a very simplified schematic diagram that exemplifies how the process breaks high boiling, straight-chain alkane (paraffin) hydrocarbons into smaller straight-chain alkanes as well as branched-chain alkanes, branched alkenes (olefins) and cycloalkanes (naphthenes). The breaking of the large hydrocarbon molecules into smaller molecules is more technically referred to by organic chemists as "scission" of the carbon-to-carbon bonds.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: As depicted in Figure 2, some of the smaller alkanes are then broken and converted into even smaller alkenes and branched alkenes such as the gases ethylene, propylene, butylenes, and isobutylenes. Those olefinic gases are valuable for use as petrochemical feedstocks. The propylene, butylene and isobutylene are also valuable feedstocks for certain petroleum refining processes that convert them into high-octane gasoline blending components.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: As also depicted in Figure 2, the cycloalkanes (naphthenes) formed by the initial breakup of the large molecules are further converted to aromatics such as benzene, toluene, and xylenes, which boil in the gasoline boiling range and have much higher octane ratings than alkanes.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: In the cracking process carbon is also produced which gets deposited on the catalyst (catalyst coke). The carbon formation tendency or amount of carbon in a crude or FCC feed is measured with methods such as Micro carbon residue, Conradson carbon residue, or Ramsbottom carbon residue.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: FCC units continuously withdraw and replace some of the catalyst in order to maintain a steady level of activity. Modern FCC catalysts are fine powders with a bulk density of 0.80 to 0.96 g/cm and having a particle size distribution ranging from 10 to 150 µm and an average particle size of 60 to 100 μm. The design and operation of an FCC unit is largely dependent upon the chemical and physical properties of the catalyst. The desirable properties of an FCC catalyst are:


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: A modern FCC catalyst has four major components: crystalline zeolite, matrix, binder, and filler. Zeolite is the active component and can comprise from about 15% to 50%, by weight, of the catalyst. Faujasite (aka Type Y) is the zeolite used in FCC units. The zeolites are strong solid acids (equivalent to 90% sulfuric acid). The alumina matrix component of an FCC catalyst also contributes to catalytic activity sites. The binder and filler components provide the physical strength and integrity of the catalyst. The binder is usually silica sol and the filler is usually a clay (kaolin). The predominant suppliers of FCC catalysts worldwide are Albemarle Corporation, W.R. Grace Company, and BASF Catalysts (formerly Engelhard).


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The first commercial use of catalytic cracking occurred in 1915 when Almer M. McAfee of Gulf Refining Company developed a batch process using aluminium chloride (a Friedel–Crafts catalyst known since 1877) to catalytically crack heavy petroleum oils. However, the prohibitive cost of the catalyst prevented the widespread use of McAfee's process at that time.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: In 1922, a French mechanical engineer named Eugene Jules Houdry and a French pharmacist named E. A. Prudhomme set up a laboratory near Paris to develop a catalytic process for converting lignite coal to gasoline. Supported by the French government, they built a small demonstration plant in 1929 that processed about 60 tons per day of lignite coal. The results indicated that the process was not economically viable and it was subsequently shut down.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: Houdry had found that Fuller's earth, a clay mineral containing aluminosilicates, could convert oil derived from the lignite to gasoline. He then began to study the catalysis of petroleum oils and had some success in converting vaporized petroleum oil to gasoline. In 1930, the Vacuum Oil Company invited him to come to the United States and he moved his laboratory to Paulsboro, New Jersey.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: In 1931, the Vacuum Oil Company merged with Standard Oil of New York (Socony) to form the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company. In 1933, a small Houdry unit processed of petroleum oil. Because of the economic depression of the early 1930s, Socony-Vacuum was no longer able to support Houdry's work and gave him permission to seek help elsewhere.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: In 1933, Houdry and Socony-Vacuum joined with Sun Oil Company in developing the Houdry process. Three years later, in 1936, Socony-Vacuum converted an older thermal cracking unit in their Paulsboro refinery in New Jersey to a small demonstration unit using the Houdry process to catalytically crack of petroleum oil.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: In 1937, Sun Oil began operation of a new Houdry unit processing at their Marcus Hook refinery in Pennsylvania. The Houdry process at that time used reactors with a fixed bed of catalyst and was a semi-batch operation involving multiple reactors with some of the reactors in operation while other reactors were in various stages of regenerating the catalyst. Motor-driven valves were used to switch the reactors between online operation and offline regeneration and a cycle timer managed the switching. Almost 50 percent of the cracked product was gasoline as compared with about 25 percent from the thermal cracking processes.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: By 1938, when the Houdry process was publicly announced, Socony-Vacuum had eight additional units under construction. Licensing the process to other companies also began and by 1940 there were 14 Houdry units in operation processing .


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: The next major step was to develop a continuous process rather than the semi-batch Houdry process. That step was implemented by advent of the moving-bed process known as the Thermofor Catalytic Cracking (TCC) process which used a bucket conveyor-elevator to move the catalyst from the regeneration kiln to the separate reactor section. A small semi-commercial demonstration TCC unit was built in Socony-Vacuum's Paulsboro refinery in 1941 and operated successfully, producing . Then a full-scale commercial TCC unit processing began operation in 1943 at the Beaumont, Texas refinery of Magnolia Oil Company, an affiliate of Socony-Vacuum. By the end of World War II in 1945, the processing capacity of the TCC units in operation was about .


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: It is said that the Houdry and TCC units were a major factor in the winning of World War II by supplying the high-octane gasoline needed by the air forces of Great Britain and the United States for the more efficient higher compression ratio engines of the Spitfire and the Mustang.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: In the years immediately after World War II, the Houdriflow process and the air-lift TCC process were developed as improved variations on the moving-bed theme. Just like Houdry's fixed-bed reactors, the moving-bed designs were prime examples of good engineering by developing a method of continuously moving the catalyst between the reactor and regeneration sections. The first air-lift TCC unit began operation in October 1950 at the Beaumont, Texas refinery.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: This fluid catalytic cracking process had first been investigated in the 1920s by Standard Oil of New Jersey, but research on it was abandoned during the economic depression years of 1929 to 1939. In 1938, when the success of Houdry's process had become apparent, Standard Oil of New Jersey resumed the project, hopefully in competition with Houdry, as part of a consortium of that include five oil companies (Standard Oil of New Jersey, Standard Oil of Indiana, Anglo-Iranian Oil, Texas Oil and Royal Dutch Shell), two engineering-construction companies (M. W. Kellogg Limited and Universal Oil Products) and a German chemical company (I.G. Farben). The consortium was called Catalytic Research Associates (CRA) and its purpose was to develop a catalytic cracking process which would not impinge on Houdry's patents.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: Chemical engineering professors Warren K. Lewis and Edwin R. Gilliland of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggested to the CRA researchers that a low velocity gas flow through a powder might "lift" it enough to cause it to flow in a manner similar to a liquid. Focused on that idea of a fluidized catalyst, researchers Donald Campbell, Homer Martin, Eger Murphree and Charles Tyson of the Standard Oil of New Jersey (now Exxon-Mobil Company) developed the first fluidized catalytic cracking unit. Their U.S. Patent No. 2,451,804, "A Method of and Apparatus for Contacting Solids and Gases", describes their milestone invention. Based on their work, M. W. Kellogg Company constructed a large pilot plant in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana refinery of the Standard Oil of New Jersey. The pilot plant began operation in May 1940.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: Based on the success of the pilot plant, the first commercial fluid catalytic cracking plant (known as the Model I FCC) began processing of petroleum oil in the Baton Rouge refinery on May 25, 1942, just four years after the CRA consortium was formed and in the midst of World War II. A little more than a month later, in July 1942, it was processing . In 1963, that first Model I FCC unit was shut down after 21 years of operation and subsequently dismantled.


title: Fluid catalytic cracking

text: In the many decades since the Model I FCC unit began operation, the fixed bed Houdry units have all been shut down as have most of the moving bed units (such as the TCC units) while hundreds of FCC units have been built. During those decades, many improved FCC designs have evolved and cracking catalysts have been greatly improved, but the modern FCC units are essentially the same as that first Model I FCC unit.


title: National Testing Agency

text: National Testing Agency (NTA) is an Indian government agency that has been approved by the Union Council of Ministers and established in November 2017 to conduct entrance examinations for educational institutions. The government appointed Vineet Joshi as the first Director-General of the agency. NTA is responsible for conducting the Joint Entrance Examination – Main (JEE Main), National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET UG), National Eligibility Test (NET), Common Management Admission Test (CMAT), Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT), Common University Entrance Test (CUET) and All India Ayush Post Graduate Entrance Test (AIAPGET).


title: National Testing Agency

text: The roots of the agency can be traced to the Programme of Action 1992, related to National Policy of Education 1986, which mentioned conducting national level common entrance tests to professional and non-professional programmes of study. Its actual start was in 2010 with a report submitted to the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) by a committee consisting of some of the directors of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), which recommended that the national testing agency be "created by an Act of Parliament". The report mentioned that a statutory agency can ensure independence and transparency in testing of the magnitude that is being envisaged. In 2013 the MHRD constituted a seven member task force to "prepare a blue print for creating a special purpose vehicle to take the concept of National Testing Agency (NTA) forward". This was following a decision made in April 2013 to set up the agency. In 2017 an announcement about NTA was made by the Finance Minister in the budget speech of 2017, and this was followed by cabinet approval.


title: National Testing Agency

text: On 7 July 2018, Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar stated during a press conference that the NTA will be holding the Joint Entrance Examination – Main (JEE Main) and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET UG) twice a year, and will also be holding National Eligibility Test (NET), Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) and Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT).


title: National Testing Agency

text: In 2020 Neel Nakshatra Das, a candidate for JEE Mains used a substitute to give the exam. He subsequently scored 99.8 percentile in the exam and topped in his state, Assam. Seven persons have been arrested including Bhargav Deka, owner of a city-based coaching institute Global Edu Light, Tata Consultancy Services employees, the candidate (Neel Nakshatra Das), Neel's father - Dr. Jyotirmoy Das, and an invigilator.


title: National Testing Agency

text: In NEET (UG) 2020 exam, NTA incorrectly declared that Vidhi Suryavanshi of Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district had only scored 6 marks which were later found out to be false after Vidhi committed suicide. Vidhi's response sheet proved that she had actually scored 590 marks.


title: National Testing Agency

text: In NEET (UG) 2020 exam, NTA had allegedly declared Mridul Rawat as failed. Rawat claimed that he challenged the NTA and after rechecking his OMR sheet and Answer Key, it was found that he is an All India Topper (ST Category). Rawat also claimed that even after the rechecking, in the revised scorecard, his score was 650 but only three hundred twenty-nine were written in words. NTA refuted the claims of Mridul Rawat. Director-General Vineet Joshi of NTA said “An aspirant has claimed that he has 650 marks whereas he has obtained 329 marks in NEET 2020 results. The emails purported to have been written by NTA are also fake. This news has been broadcast by some local news channels in some cities. This news is totally fake, fabricated, and one-sided and news channels should have confirmed from NTA prior to broadcasting it. In the instant case, a complaint is being filed by NTA with the cybersecurity cell under the IT Act at Noida, UP.”


title: National Testing Agency

text: National Testing Agency was widely criticized for the improper conduction of JEE (Main) 2022 examination. Many students faced technical issues during the examination, which resulted in lower score. Glitches in answer key and response sheet of the exam were also a serious problem for the students. The agency has not considered the reconduction of the examination.


title: National Testing Agency

text: NTA has been criticized of irregularities in the difficulty level of various question papers of JEE (Main) 2022, which leads to normalization of marks and ultimately, lower score.


title: Code page 437

text: Code page 437 (CCSID 437) is the character set of the original IBM PC (personal computer). It is also known as CP437, OEM-US, OEM 437, PC-8, or DOS Latin US. The set includes all printable ASCII characters as well as some accented letters (diacritics), Greek letters, icons, and line-drawing symbols. It is sometimes referred to as the "OEM font" or "high ASCII", or as "extended ASCII" (one of many mutually incompatible ASCII extensions).


title: Code page 437

text: This character set remains the primary set in the core of any EGA and VGA-compatible graphics card. As such, text shown when a PC reboots, before fonts can be loaded and rendered, is typically rendered using this character set. Many file formats developed at the time of the IBM PC are based on code page 437 as well.


title: Code page 437

text: The original IBM PC contained this font as a 9×14 pixels-per-character font stored in the ROM of the IBM Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA) and an 8×8 pixels-per-character font of the Color Graphics Adapter (CGA) cards. The IBM Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) contained an 8×14 pixels-per-character version, and the VGA contained a 9×16 version.


title: Code page 437

text: All these display adapters have text modes in which each character cell contains an 8-bit character code point (see details), giving 256 possible values for graphic characters. All 256 codes were assigned a graphical character in ROM, including the codes from 0 to 31 that were reserved in ASCII for non-graphical control characters.


title: Code page 437

text: Various Eastern European PCs used different character sets, sometimes user-selectable via jumpers or CMOS setup. These sets were designed to match 437 as much as possible, for instance sharing the code points for many of the line-drawing characters, while still allowing text in a local language to be displayed.


title: Code page 437

text: A legacy of code page 437 is the number combinations used in Windows Alt keycodes. The user could enter a character by holding down the Alt key and entering the three-digit decimal Alt keycode on the numpad and many users memorized the numbers needed for CP437 (or for the similar code page 850). When Microsoft switched to their proprietary character sets (such as CP1252) and later Unicode in Windows, the original codes were retained; Microsoft added the ability to type a code in the new character set by typing the numpad 0 before the digits.


title: Code page 437

text: The following tables show code page 437. Each character is shown with its equivalent Unicode code point (when it is not equal to the character's code). A tooltip, generally available only when one points to the immediate left of the character, shows the Unicode code point name and the decimal Alt code. See also the notes below, as there are multiple equivalent Unicode characters for some code points.


title: Code page 437

text: Although the ROM provides a graphic for all 256 different possible 8-bit codes, some APIs will not print some code points, in particular the range 0-31 and the code at 127. Instead, they will interpret them as control characters. For instance, many methods of outputting text on the original IBM PC would interpret the codes for BEL, BS, CR and LF. Many printers were also unable to print these characters.


title: Code page 437

text: When translating to Unicode some codes do not have a unique, single Unicode equivalent; the correct choice may depend upon context.


title: Code page 437

text: The repertoire of code page 437 was taken from the character set of Wang word-processing machines, according to Bill Gates in an interview with Gates and Paul Allen that appeared in the 2 October 1995 edition of "Fortune Magazine:"


title: Code page 437

text: According to an interview with David J. Bradley (developer of the PC's ROM-BIOS) the characters were decided upon during a four-hour meeting on a plane trip from Seattle to Atlanta by Andy Saenz (responsible for the video card), Lew Eggebrecht (chief engineer for the PC) and himself.


title: Code page 437

text: Most fonts for Microsoft Windows include the special graphic characters at the Unicode indexes shown, as they are part of the WGL4 set that Microsoft encourages font designers to support. (The monospaced raster font family Terminal was an early font that replicated all code page 437 characters, at least at some resolutions.) To draw these characters directly from these code points, a Microsoft Windows font called MS Linedraw replicates all of the code page 437 characters, thus providing one way to display DOS text on a modern Windows machine as it was shown in DOS, with limitations.


title: Code page 437

text: Code page 437 has a series of international characters, mainly values 128 to 175 (80 to AF). However, it only covers a few major Western European languages in full, including English, German and Swedish, and so lacks several characters (mostly capital letters) important to many major Western European languages:


title: Code page 437

text: Along with the cent (¢), pound sterling (£) and yen/yuan (¥) currency symbols, it has a couple of former European currency symbols: the florin (ƒ, Netherlands) and the peseta (₧, Spain). The presence of the last is unusual, since the Spanish peseta was never an internationally relevant currency, and also never had a symbol of its own; it was simply abbreviated as "Pt", "Pta", "Pts", or "Ptas". Spanish models of the IBM electric typewriter, however, also had a single position devoted to it.


title: Code page 437

text: Later DOS character sets, such as code page 850 (DOS Latin-1), code page 852 (DOS Central-European) and code page 737 (DOS Greek), filled the gaps for international use with some compatibility with code page 437 by retaining the single and double box-drawing characters, while discarding the mixed ones ("e.g." horizontal double/vertical single). All code page 437 characters have similar glyphs in Unicode and in Microsoft's WGL4 character set, and therefore are available in most fonts in Microsoft Windows, and also in the default VGA font of the Linux kernel, and the ISO 10646 fonts for X11.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: Giovanni da Verrazzano ( , , often misspelled Verrazano in English; 1485–1528) was an Italian (Florentine) explorer of North America, in the service of King Francis I of France.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: He is renowned as the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and New Brunswick in 1524, including New York Bay and Narragansett Bay.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: The consensus of scholars is that Giovanni da Verrazzano was born in Val di Greve, south of Florence, the capital and the main city of the Republic of Florence, the son of Piero Andrea di Bernardo da Verrazzano and Fiammetta Cappelli. It is generally claimed that he was born in the Castello di Verrazzano, hence its birth indicator (similar to Leonardo "da Vinci").


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: Some alternative theories have been elaborated; for example, certain French scholarship assumes that Verrazzano was born in Lyon, France, the son of Alessandro di Bartolommeo da Verrazano and Giovanna Guadagni.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: "Whatever the case," writes Ronald S. Love, "Verrazzano always considered himself to be Florentine," and he was considered a Florentine by his contemporaries as well.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: He signed documents employing a Latin version of his name, "Janus Verrazanus", and he called himself "Jehan de Verrazane" in his will dated 11 May 1526 in Rouen, France (preserved at the Archives départementales de la Seine-Maritime).


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: In contrast to his detailed account of his voyages to North America, little is known about his personal life. After 1506, he settled in the port of Dieppe, Kingdom of France, where he began his career as a navigator.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: He embarked for the American coast probably in 1508 in the company of captain , on the ship "La Pensée", equipped by the owner, Jean Ango. He explored the region of Newfoundland, possibly during a fishing trip, and possibly the St. Lawrence River in Canada; on other occasions, he made numerous voyages to the eastern Mediterranean.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: In September 1522, the surviving members of Ferdinand Magellan's crew returned to Spain, having circumnavigated the globe. Competition in trade was becoming urgent, especially with Portugal.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: King Francis I of France was impelled by French merchants and financiers from Lyon and Rouen who were seeking new trade routes and so he asked Verrazzano in 1523 to make plans to explore on France's behalf an area between Florida and Terranova, the "New Found Land", with the goal of finding a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: Within months, four ships set sail due west for the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, but a violent storm and rough seas caused the loss of two ships. The remaining two damaged ships, "La Dauphine" and "La Normande", were forced to return to Brittany.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: Repairs were completed in the final weeks of 1523, and the ships set sail again. This time the ships headed south toward calmer waters, which were under hostile Spanish and Portuguese control.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: After a stop in Madeira, complications forced "La Normande" back to home port, but Verrazzano's ship "La Dauphine" departed on January 17, 1524, piloted by Antoine de Conflans, and headed once more for the North American continent.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: It neared the area of Cape Fear on about March 21st and, after a short stay, reached the Pamlico Sound lagoon of modern North Carolina. In a letter to Francis I described by historians as the "Cèllere Codex", Verrazzano wrote that he was convinced that the Sound was the beginning of the Pacific Ocean from which access could be gained to China.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: Continuing to explore the coast further northwards, Verrazzano and his crew came into contact with Native Americans living on the coast. However, he did not notice the entrances to Chesapeake Bay or the mouth of the Delaware River.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: In New York Bay, he encountered the Lenape in about 30 Lenape canoes and observed what he deemed to be a large lake, really the entrance to the Hudson River. He then sailed along Long Island and entered Narragansett Bay, where he received a delegation of Wampanoag and Narragansett people.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: The words "Norman villa" are found on the 1527 map by Visconte Maggiolo identifying the site. The historian Samuel Eliot Morison writes that "this occurs at Angouleme (New York) rather than Refugio (Newport). It was probably intended to compliment one of Verrazzano's noble friends. There are several places called 'Normanville' in Normandy, France. The main one is located near Fécamp and another important one near Évreux, which would naturally be it. West of it, conjecturally on the Delaware or New Jersey coast, is a "Longa Villa", which Verrazzano certainly named after François d'Orléans, duc de Longueville." He stayed there for two weeks and then moved northwards.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: He discovered Cape Cod Bay, his claim being proved by a map of 1529 that clearly outlined Cape Cod. He named the cape after a general, calling it Pallavicino. He then followed the coast up to modern Maine, southeastern Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, and he then returned to France by 8 July 1524. Verrazzano named the region that he explored "Francesca" in honor of the French king, but his brother's map labeled it "Nova Gallia" (New France).


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: Verrazzano arranged a second voyage, with financial support from Jean Ango and Philippe de Chabot, which departed from Dieppe with four ships early in 1527. One ship was separated from the others in a gale near the Cape Verde Islands, but Verrazzano reached the coast of Brazil with two ships and harvested a cargo of brazilwood before returning to Dieppe in September. The third ship returned later, also with a cargo of brazilwood.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: The partial success did not find the desired passage to the Pacific Ocean, but it inspired Verrazzano's final voyage, which left Dieppe in early 1528.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: There are conflicting accounts of Verrazzano's demise. In one version, during his third voyage to North America in 1528, after he had explored Florida, the Bahamas, and the Lesser Antilles, Verrazzano anchored out to sea and rowed ashore, probably on the island of Guadeloupe. He was allegedly killed and eaten by the native Caribs. The fleet of two or three ships was anchored out of gunshot range, and no one could respond in time. However, older historical accounts suggest that Verrazzano was the same person as the corsair Jean Fleury, who was executed for piracy by the Spanish at Puerto del Pico, Spain.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: The geographic information derived from this voyage had a significant influence on sixteenth-century cartographers. Despite his discoveries, Verrazzano's reputation did not proliferate as much as other explorers of that era. For example, Verrazzano gave the European name Francesca to the new land that he had seen, in accordance with contemporary practices, after the French king in whose name he sailed. That and other names that he bestowed on features that he discovered have not survived. He had the misfortune of making major discoveries in the same three years (1519 to 1521) that the dramatic Conquest of the Aztec Empire and Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation of the world occurred. Magellan himself did not complete his voyage, but his publicist Antonio Pigafetta did so, and Spanish publicity outweighed the news of the French voyage.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: In the 19th and the early 20th centuries, there was a great debate in the United States about the authenticity of the letters that he wrote to Francis I to describe the geography, flora, fauna, and native population of the east coast of North America. Others thought that they were authentic, almost universally the current opinion, particularly after the discovery of a letter signed by Francis I, which referred to Verrazzano's letter.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: Verrazzano's reputation was particularly obscure in New York City, where the 1609 voyage of Henry Hudson on behalf of the Dutch Republic came to be regarded as the "de facto" start of European exploration of New York. It was only by a great effort in the 1950s and 1960s that Verrazzano's name and reputation were re-established as the European discoverer of the harbor, during an effort to name the newly built Narrows bridge after him.


title: Giovanni da Verrazzano

text: A native of Val Di Greve in the Tuscany region of Italy, he studied navigation as a young man and became a master mariner. He was engaged by the King of France to lead a voyage to North America in 1524. The purpose of Verrazzano's journey was to learn more about the continent. Traveling in a small ship known as the Dauphine, he explored coastal areas from the present-day State of North Carolina to Canada, observing the natural abundance of the land and the vibrant culture of its native peoples. His voyage is the earliest documented European exploration of this part of the Atlantic Coast.This monument rests upon stone from Castello di Verrazzano, the explorer's ancestral home.


title: Mat Best

text: Mathew Alfred Best is an American internet personality, entrepreneur, and a former United States Army Ranger. Best joined the United States Army shortly after graduating high school, eventually serving five deployments with the 2nd Ranger Battalion, before working as a private contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency. He operates a popular comedic YouTube channel, has starred in one self-made movie, and published one book, a memoir of his military service. Best is also a co-founder of Black Rifle Coffee Company.


title: Mat Best

text: Best enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2004 at 17, three months after graduating high school. His father is a U.S. Marine who served in the Vietnam War, while both of his brothers served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Iraq War.


title: Mat Best

text: He served five tours with the 2nd Ranger Battalion, four in the Iraq War, and one in Afghanistan. After leaving the military he worked as a contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency.


title: Mat Best

text: He operates a popular satirical channel on the online video platform YouTube, where he produces content aimed at an audience of military service members, veterans, and the firearms community. Best began making videos in El Paso with then United States Air Force member Jarred Taylor, when Best would return during breaks from contracting tours overseas.


title: Mat Best

text: The channel has also released a number of music videos, including "Bitch I Operate", which peaked on the "Billboard" charts at 36.


title: Mat Best

text: In 2016, Article 15 partnered with another clothing company, Ranger Up, to produce a crowd-funded movie entitled "Range 15". The film starred Best along with an ensemble of other veterans, including three Medal of Honor recipients, as well as Marcus Luttrell, best known as author of "Lone Survivor", adapted into a film by the same name. The film won Best Film at the GI Film Festival.


title: Mat Best

text: After a successful test roasting coffee under Article 15 Clothing with “Freedom Roast”, Best formed Black Rifle Coffee Company in 2014, alongside Evan Hafer, Jarred Taylor and Richard Ryan. They promoted the company with provocative videos posted to YouTube, that Best described to CBS News as "way over the top". The company gained some criticism from others, for the following two 2017 incidents: an endorsement from Donald Trump Jr, and again when the company pledged to hire 10,000 veterans after coffee chain Starbucks pledged to hire 10,000 refugees in the wake of travel restrictions enacted by US president Donald Trump.


title: Mat Best

text: In 2019 Best published "Thank You for My Service", co-authored with Ross Patterson and Nils Parker. Written as a memoir, the book recounts Best's service in Afghanistan and Iraq.


title: Mat Best

text: "Thank You for My Service" reached number one for non-fiction on the "Wall Street Journal" and the "Publishers Weekly best seller lists, and debuted at number five in non-fiction on "The New York Times" Best Seller list.


title: Italexit (political party)

text: Italexit, whose complete name is Italexit for Italy (), is a Eurosceptic political party in Italy, which advocates the country's exit from the eurozone and the European Union. Its founder and current leader is Gianluigi Paragone, senator and former TV journalist, who has defined himself as a "conservative", and presented Italexit as a "conservative party".


title: Italexit (political party)

text: In January 2020, Five Star Movement (M5S) senator and former journalist Gianluigi Paragone, known for his Eurosceptic stance, was expelled from the party after he abstained in the vote of confidence for the government, which was supported by M5S and the Democratic Party, and had also voted against the 2022 budget. In the following months, Paragone was speaking about a new party, talking about the "need for courage...and money."


title: Italexit (political party)

text: In July 2020, a few weeks after meeting with Nigel Farage, the founder of the pro-Brexit UK Independence Party, Paragone launched Italexit with the stated goal of taking Italy out of the European Union.


title: Italexit (political party)

text: Two M5S senators, Carlo Martelli and Mario Giarrusso, defected to Italexit in 2021, while, in 2022, League senator William De Vecchis and deputy Jessica Costanzo, who had been already expelled from the M5S, also joined.


title: Italexit (political party)

text: Between 2021 and 2022, the party was critical towards the policies of Mario Draghi's national unity government applied in order to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Italexit strongly opposed the EU Digital COVID Certificate, also known as "Green Pass", which, from October 2021 onwards, became mandatory to work and travel in the country. Paragone labeled the vaccination certificate an "obligation of infamy," stated that he was not vaccinated, and described his opposition to mandatory vaccination as a "religious war".


title: Italexit (political party)

text: In the 2021 Milan municipal election, Paragone obtained 2.99% of the vote and came in third behind incumbent mayor Giuseppe Sala of the centre-left coalition and Luca Bernardo of the centre-right coalition. Because he did not surpass the 3 percent electoral threshold he did not get elected to the municipal council. Elsewhere, in the 2021 local elections, Italexit's candidates scored from 0.8% of the vote in Turin, to 2.0% in Bologna.


title: Italexit (political party)

text: In the 2022 Italian local elections, Italexit scored from 0.9% of the vote in Como to 2.6% in Alessandria.


title: Italexit (political party)

text: In June 2022, Italexit held in Rome its first congress, at the end of which, on the 26th, its organizational chart and political platform were approved, while Gianluigi Paragone was unanimously elected party secretary.


title: Italexit (political party)

text: On 31 July, Paragone announced the formation of a joint list of candidates for the 2022 Italian general election with Alternativa, a party supportive of "dirigisme" and economic interventionism, established in November 2021 by former Five Star Movement members. After five days, on 5 August 2022, "Alternativa" announced the dissolution of the electoral alliance with Italexit, on the grounds that neofascists were ostensibly present within Italexit's lists of candidates. Paragone responded by accusing "Alternativa" of attempting to "use [Italexit] as a taxi to the Parliament."


title: Italexit (political party)

text: Paragone has stated that he wants Italy to exit from the NATO alliance, as well as to cease sanctions against Russia, sanctions which, he declared, "are causing damage to [the country's] economy."


title: Italexit (political party)

text: As declared in the program for 2022 Italian general election, the party proposes a return of Italian sovereignty (especially fiscal and monetary) in contrast to the influence of European Union, with the orientation being strongly eurosceptic and critical of part of the same Italian political and bureaucratic establishment. In this sense, it suggests policies such as the nationalization of the Bank of Italy and other strategic assets (energy, roads, communications and water) and a social public expenditure.


title: Italexit (political party)

text: Regarding COVID-19, Italexit is against social limitations and EU Digital COVID Certificate, and proposes public compensations for victims of adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines and a public inquiry about the Italian management of COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Italexit (political party)

text: Italexit welcomed some dissidents from the neo-fascist social movement CasaPound in 2022, leading several members to resign amid accusations that the party had fallen to the far-right of the political spectrum. According to "la" "Repubblica", "Fanpage.it" and "Rolling Stone", the party fell under the control of far-right militants and was used by CasaPound to enter the parliament.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: Interpreter of Maladies is a book collection of nine short stories by American author of Indian origin Jhumpa Lahiri published in 1999. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award in the year 2000 and has sold over 15 million copies worldwide. It was also chosen as "The New Yorker"'s Best Debut of the Year and is on Oprah Winfrey's Top Ten Book List.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: The stories are about the lives of Indians and Indian Americans who are caught between their roots and the "New World".


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: A married couple, Shukumar and Shoba, live as strangers in their house until an electrical outage brings them together when all of sudden "they [are] able to talk to each other again" in the four nights of darkness. From the point of view of Shukumar, we are given bits and pieces of memory which slowly gives insight into what has caused the distance in the marriage. For a brief moment, it seems the distance is nothing but perhaps a result of a disagreement. However, descriptions of Shukumar and Shoba's changed physical appearances begin to hint at something much more than a lovers’ quarrel. We soon find out that both characters’ worn outward appearance results from their internal, emotional strife that has caused such deeply woven alienation from each other.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: The husband and wife mourn for their stillborn baby. This traumatic loss casts a tone of melancholia for the rest of the story. However, there is some hope for the couple to reconnect as during each night of blackness, they confess more and more to each other—the things that were never uttered as man and woman. A late night drink with a friend, a ripped out photo from a magazine, and anguish over a sweater vest are all confessions made in the nightly blackouts. Shukumar and Shoba become closer as the secrets combine into a knowledge that seems like the remedy to mend the enormous loss they share together. On the fourth night, we are given the most hope at their reconnection when they "make love with a desperation they had forgotten."


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: But just as to be stillborn is to have never begun life, so too does the couple's effort to rekindle their marriage fail at inception. One last confession is given first by Shoba, then another by Shukumar at the end of "A Temporary Matter". In full confidence with one another, they acknowledge the finality in the loss of their marriage. And finally, "They weep for the things they now knew."


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: Mr. Pirzada is a botany professor from Dhaka and is living in New England for the year after receiving a research grant from the Pakistani Government; he has left behind his wife and seven daughters, who he has not contacted in months. Because his grant does not provide him much for daily provisions, he routinely visits ten-year-old Lilia and her family for dinner, often bringing confectionery for the young girl. When Lilia mistakenly refers to Mr. Pirzada as "Indian" to her parents in private, her father tells her that he is Pakistani, which is puzzling to Lilia because he looks like her parents, eats the same things, and speaks Bengali like them. However, the constant television news of the East Pakistan-West Pakistan War informs her about Mr. Pirzada's differences as well as his current plight. Because of this, she decides one night to eat the candy he gives her, pray, and forgo brushing her teeth so that the magic of the candy through prayer will remain. She also tries her best to learn as much about Pakistan as possible from her school library. Her curiosity is stunted by her teacher telling her there is "no reason to consult" the book on Pakistan.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: During late October, her mother buys a large pumpkin, which Lilia insists she carves. Mr. Pirzada offers his help and ends up doing most of the cutting. When news of a potential war between India and West Pakistan over East Pakistan is reported, the knife slips from Mr. Pirzada's hand and forms an "O" as the jack-o-lantern's mouth. During Halloween, when Lilia and her friend Dora go trick-or-treating dressed as witches, Mr. Pirzada insists that he accompany them for safety purposes; Lilia responds, "don't worry" and soon realizes the irony of her statement. Mr. Pirzada responds, "if the lady insists" and stays with Lilia's parents for the night.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: During Lilia and Dora's stroll around the neighborhood, Dora asks why Mr. Pirzada wanted to accompany them so direly. Lilia remarks that "his daughters are missing," which causes her great guilt upon saying it. Lilia then tries to justify to Dora that she misspoke a moment ago and that Mr. Pirzada's daughters are actually fine. That night, upon returning home, she learns of the imminent India-Pakistan War and when it occurs in December, their home is deprived of joy. After the new year, Mr. Pirzada returns home to a new nation, Bangladesh. Soon after when he sends pictures of him and all his daughters, Lilia and her family are relieved. Lilia reveals that she has been eating a piece of Halloween candy and praying for him everyday, but when she received the good news, stopped doing so and eventually decided to throw away the candy.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: Mr. and Mrs. Das, Indian Americans visiting the country of their heritage, hire a middle-aged tour guide Mr. Kapasi as their driver for the day as they tour. Mr. Kapasi notes the parents’ immaturity. Mr. and Mrs. Das look and act young to the point of childishness, go by their first names when talking to their children, Ronny, Bobby, and Tina, and seem selfishly indifferent to the kids. On their trip, when her husband and children get out of the car to sightsee, Mrs. Das sits in the car, eating snacks she offers to no one else, wearing her sunglasses as a barrier, and painting her nails. When Tina asks her to paint her nails as well, Mrs. Das just turns away and rebuffs her daughter.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: Mr. and Mrs. Das asks the good-natured Mr. Kapasi about his job as a tour guide, and he tells them about his weekday job as an interpreter in a doctor's office. Mr. Kapasi's wife resents her husband's job because he works at the doctor's clinic that previously failed to cure their son of typhoid fever. She belittles his job, and he, too, discounts the importance of his occupation as a waste of his linguistic skills. However, Mrs. Das deems it “romantic” and a big responsibility, pointing out that the health of the patients depends upon Mr. Kapasi's correct interpretation of their maladies.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: Mr. Kapasi begins to develop a romantic interest in Mrs. Das and conducts a private conversation with her during the trip. Mr. Kapasi imagines a future correspondence with Mrs. Das, picturing them building a relationship to translate the transcontinental gap between them. However, Mrs. Das reveals a secret: she tells Mr. Kapasi the story of an affair she once had, and that her son Bobby had been born out of her adultery. She explains that she chose to tell Mr. Kapasi because of his profession; she hopes he can interpret her feelings and make her feel better as he does for his patients, translating without passing judgment. However, when Mr. Kapasi reveals his disappointment in her and points out her guilt, Mrs. Das storms off.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: As Mrs. Das walks away towards her family, she leaves a trail of crumbs of puffed rice snacks, and monkeys begin to trail her. The neglectful Das parents don't notice as the monkeys, following Mrs. Das's food trail, surround their son, Bobby, isolating the son born of a different father. The monkeys begin to attack Bobby, and Mr. Kapasi rushes in to save him. Mr. Kapasi returns Bobby to his parents and looks on as they clean up their son.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: Boori Ma is a feeble 64-year-old woman deported to Calcutta who is the stairsweeper, or durwan, of an old brick building. In exchange for her services, the residents allow Boori Ma to sleep in front of the collapsible gates leading into the tenement. While sweeping, she narrates stories of her past: her daughter's extravagant wedding, her servants, her estate and her riches. The residents of the brick building hear continuous contradictions in Boori's storytelling, but her stories are seductive and compelling, so they let her contradictions rest. One family in particular takes a liking to Boori Ma, the Dalals. Mrs. Dalal often gives Boori Ma food and takes care of her ailments. When Mr. Dalal gets promoted at work, he improves the brick building by installing a sink in the stairwell and a sink in his home. The Dalals continue to improve their home and even go away on a trip to Simla for ten days and promise to bring Boori Ma a sheep's hair blanket. While the Dalals are away, the other residents become obsessed with making their own improvement to the building. Boori Ma even spends her life savings on special treats while circling around the neighborhood. However, while Boori Ma is out one afternoon, the sink in the stairwell is stolen. The residents accuse Boori Ma of informing the robbers and in negligence for her job. When Boori Ma protests, the residents continue to accuse her because of all her previous inconsistent stories. The residents' obsession with materializing the building dimmed their focus on the remaining members of their community, like Boori Ma. The short story concludes as the residents throw out Boori Ma's belongings and begin a search for a 'real durwan'. Note that 'durwan' means housekeeper in both Bengali and Hindi.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: “Sexy” centers on Miranda, a young white woman who has an affair with a married Indian man named Dev. Although one of Miranda's work friends is an Indian woman named Laxmi, Miranda knows very little about India and its culture. The first time she meets Dev, she is not able to discern his ethnicity. However, she is instantly captivated by his charm and the thrill of being with an exotic, older man. Dev takes Miranda to the Mapparium, where he whispers "You're sexy." Miranda buys "sexy" clothes that she thinks are suitable for a mistress, but feels pangs of guilt because Dev is married. Meanwhile, Laxmi's cousin has been abandoned by her husband, who left the cousin for a younger woman. One day, Laxmi's cousin comes to Boston and Miranda is asked to babysit the cousin's seven-year-old son, Rohin. Rohin asks Miranda to try on the sexy clothes that she bought, and gives Miranda insight into his mother's grief. Miranda decides that she and Dev's wife both "deserve better," and stops seeing Dev.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: In this story, 11-year-old Eliot begins staying with Mrs. Sen—a university professor's wife—after school. The caretaker, Mrs. Sen, chops and prepares food as she tells Eliot stories of her past life in Calcutta, helping to craft her identity. Like "A Temporary Matter," this story is filled with lists of produce, catalogs of ingredients, and descriptions of recipes. Emphasis is placed on ingredients and the act of preparation. Other objects are emphasized as well, such as Mrs. Sen's colorful collection of saris from her native India. Much of the plot revolves around Mrs. Sen's tradition of purchasing fish from a local seafood market. This fish reminds Mrs. Sen of her home and holds great significance for her. However, reaching the seafood market requires driving, a skill that Mrs. Sen has not learned and resists learning. At the end of the story, Mrs. Sen attempts to drive to the market without her husband, and ends up in an automobile accident. Eliot soon stops staying with Mrs. Sen thereafter.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: Sanjeev and Twinkle, a newly married couple, are exploring their new house in Hartford, Connecticut, which appears to have been owned by fervent Christians. As they go about investigating and fixing up the house, they begin to find small Christian knickknacks, left behind by the previous owners. Twinkle first finds a porcelain effigy of Christ. Sanjeev does not like it and tells Twinkle to get rid of it, but she thinks it is pretty and might even be worth something. Sanjeev reminds her that they are not Christians. No, she confirms, they are Hindus. She puts the statue of Christ on the fireplace mantel. The story ends when, during a party, Twinkle and the guests explore the house. Upon searching the attic, they find a solid silver bust of Christ. Meanwhile, Sanjeev, who stayed downstairs, alone, contemplates his situation and relationship with Twinkle.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: 29-year-old Bibi Haldar is gripped by a mysterious ailment, and myriad tests and treatments have failed to cure her. She has been told to stand on her head, shun garlic, drink egg yolks in milk, to gain weight and to lose weight. The fits that could strike at any moment keep her confined to the home of her dismissive elder cousin and his wife, who provide her only meals, a room, and a length of cotton to replenish her wardrobe each year. Bibi keeps the inventory of her brother's cosmetics stall and is watched over by the women of their community. She sweeps the store, wondering loudly why she was cursed to this fate, to be alone and jealous of the wives and mothers around her. The women come to the conclusion that she wants a man. When they show her artifacts from their weddings, Bibi proclaims what her own wedding will look like. Bibi is inconsolable at the prospect of never getting married. The women try to calm her by wrapping her in shawls, washing her face or buying her new blouses. After a particularly violent fit, her cousin Haldar emerges to take her to the polyclinic. A remedy is prescribed—marriage: “Relations will calm her blood.” Bibi is delighted by this news and begins to plan and plot the wedding and to prepare herself physically and mentally. But Haldar and his wife dismiss this possibility. She is nearly 30, the wife says, and unskilled in the ways of being a woman: her studies ceased prematurely, she is not allowed to watch TV, she has not been told how to pin a sari or how to prepare meals. The women don't understand why, then, this reluctance to marry her off if she such a burden to Haldar and his wife. The wife ask who will pay for the wedding?


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: One morning, wearing a donated sari, Bibi demands that Haldar take her to be photographed so her image can be circulated among the bachelors, like other brides-in-waiting. Haldar refuses. He says she is a bane for business, a liability and a loss. In retaliation, Bibi stops calculating the inventory for the shop and circulates gossip about Haldar's wife. To quiet her down, Haldar places an ad in the paper proclaiming the availability of an “unstable” bride. No family would take the risk. Still, the women try to prepare her for her wifely duties. After two months of no suitors, Haldar and his wife feel vindicated. Things were not so bad when Bibi's father was alive. He created charts of her fits and wrote to doctors abroad to try to cure her. He also distributed information to the members of the village so they were aware of her condition. But now only the women can look after her while being thankful, in private, that she is not their responsibility.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: When Haldar's wife gets pregnant, Bibi is kept away from her for fear of infecting the child. Her plates are not washed with the others, and she is given separate towels and soap. Bibi suffers another attack on the banks of the fish pond, convulsing for nearly two minutes. The husbands of the village escort her home in order to find her rest, a compress, and a sedative tablet. But Haldar and his wife do not let her in. That night, Bibi sleeps in the storage room. After a difficult birth, Haldar's wife delivers a girl. Bibi sleeps in the basement and is not allowed direct contact with the girl. She suffers more unchecked fits. The women voice their concerns but it goes unheeded. They take their business elsewhere and the cosmetics in the stall soon expire on their shelves. In autumn, Haldar's daughter becomes ill. Bibi is blamed. Bibi moves back into the storeroom and stops socializing—and stops searching for a husband. By the end of the year, Haldar is driven out of business, and he packs his family up and moves away. He leaves Bibi behind with only a thin envelope of cash.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: There is no more news of them and a letter written to Bibi's only other known relative is returned by the postal service. The women spruce up the storeroom and send their children to play on their roof in order to alert others in the event of an attack. At night, however, Bibi is left alone. Haggard, she circles the parapet but never leaves the roof. In spring, vomit is discovered by the cistern and the women find Bibi, pregnant. The women search for traces of assault, but Bibi's storeroom is tidy. She refuses to tell the women who the father is, only saying that she can't remember what happened. A ledger with men's names lay open near her cot. The women help her carry her son to term and teach her how to care for the baby. She takes Haldar's old creams and wares out of the basement and reopens his shop. The women spread the word and soon the stall is providing enough money for Bibi to raise her boy. For years, the women try to sniff out who had disgraced Bibi but to no avail. The one fact they could agree upon is that Bibi seemed to be cured.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: In "The Third and Final Continent", the narrator lives in India, then moves to London, then finally to America. The title of this story tells us that the narrator has lived in three different continents and chooses to stay in the third, North America. As soon as the narrator arrives, he decides to stay at the YMCA. After saving some money he decides he wants to move somewhere a little more like a home. He responds to an advertisement in the paper and ends up boarding with an elderly woman. At first, he is very respectful and courteous to the elderly woman. The narrator does not feel that he owes the old woman anything and does not go out of his way for her.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: But his attitude changes once he discovers that the elderly woman is one hundred and three years old. He becomes more caring and is amazed that this old woman has lived for one hundred and three years. Because of this woman's age, she is not accustomed to the modern times in which this story takes place. The narrator, just like the elderly woman, is not accustomed to the times in America, but also to America in general. This may help the narrator to feel more comfortable in his new setting. After boarding with the elderly woman for about six weeks, the narrator grows somewhat attached to this woman.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: Once his wife, who he was set up beforehand to marry, arrives in America he then decides to move to a bigger home. Upon this decision, he also realizes that he is going to have to look out for and nurture his new wife. After living with his wife for a time and learning to know her, he soon finds out that the elderly woman he had once lived with is now dead. This hurts him because this is the first person in America for whom he had felt any feelings. After the woman's death, he then becomes more comfortable with his wife, not because the woman died but because of the time he is spending with his wife. Just like his relationship with the elderly woman, the more time he spends with a person the closer he becomes to them. After some time, the narrator falls in love with his wife, and is frequently remembering the elderly woman with whom he had once resided.


title: Interpreter of Maladies

text: "Interpreter of Maladies" garnered universal acclaim from myriad publications. Michiko Kakutani of the "New York Times" praises Lahiri for her writing style, citing her "uncommon elegance and poise." "Time" applauded the collection for "illuminating the full meaning of brief relationships—with lovers, family friends, those met in travel". Ronny Noor asserts, "The value of these stories—although some of them are loosely constructed— lies in fact that they transcend confined borders of immigrant experience to embrace larger age-old issues that are, in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'cast into the mould of these new times' redefining America."