title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: Dramaturgical theory suggests that a person's identity is not a stable and independent psychological entity, but rather, it is constantly remade as the person interacts with others. In a dramaturgical model, social interaction is analyzed in terms of how people live their lives, like actors performing on a stage.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: This analysis offers a look at the concepts of "status", which is like a part in a play; and "role", which serves as a script, supplying dialogue and action for the characters. Just as on the stage, people in their everyday lives manage settings, clothing, words, and nonverbal actions to give a particular impression to others. Goffman described each individual's "performance" as the "presentation of self"; a person's efforts to create specific impressions in the minds of others. This process is also sometimes called "impression management".


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: Goffman makes an important distinction between "front stage" behaviour, which are actions that are visible to the audience and are part of the performance; and "back stage" behavior, which are actions that people engage in when no audience is present. For example, a server in a restaurant is likely to perform one way in front of customers but might be much more casual in the kitchen. It is likely that he or she does things in the kitchen that might seem unseemly in front of customers.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: Before interaction with another, an individual prepares a role, or impression, that he or she wants to make on the other. These roles are subject to what is, in theater, termed "breaking character". Inopportune intrusions may occur in which a backstage performance is interrupted by someone who is not meant to see it. In addition, there are examples of how the audience for any personal performance plays a part in determining the course it takes: how typically we ignore many performance flaws out of tact, such as if someone trips or spits as they speak.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: Within dramaturgy analysis, teams are groups of individuals who cooperate with each other in order to share the 'party line.' Team members must share information as mistakes reflect on everyone. Team members also have inside knowledge and are not fooled by one another's performances.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: Stages or regions refer to the three distinct areas where different individuals with different roles and information can be found. There are three stages: front, back, and outside.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: Within society, individuals are expected to present themselves in a certain way; however, when a person goes against the norm, society tends to notice. Therefore, individuals are expected to put on a costume and act differently when in front of the 'audience'. Goffman noticed this habit of society and developed the idea of front stage.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: In his book "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life", Goffman defines "front" as "that part of the individual's performance which regularly functions in a general and fixed fashion we define the situation for those who observe the performance. Front, then, is the expressive equipment of a standard kind intentionally or unwittingly employed by the individual during his performance."


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: During the front stage, the actor formally performs and adheres to conventions that have meaning to the audience. It is a part of the dramaturgical performance that is consistent and contains generalized ways to explain the situation or role the actor is playing to the audience that observes it. The actor knows that they are being watched and acts accordingly. This is a fixed presentation. This concept can be seen in the film "Waiting..." (2005), in which the servers have to act much more proper and presentable in the dining room than they do in the kitchen.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: Goffman explains that the front stage involves a differentiation between "setting" and "personal front", two concepts that are necessary for the actor to have a successful performance. Setting is the scene that must be present in order for the actor to perform; if it is gone, the actor cannot perform. Personal front consists of items or equipment needed in order to perform. These items are usually identifiable by the audience as a constant representation of the performance and actor. The personal front is divided into two different aspects:


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: In "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life", Goffman explains that the "back stage" is where "the performer can relax; he can drop his front, forgo speaking in his lines, and step out of character." When the individual returns to the back stage, they feel a sense of relief knowing the actions that would not be condoned in the front stage are free to be expressed. In the backstage, actions are not to please anyone but the self. Back stage is where performers are present but audience is not, hence the performers can step out of character without fear of disrupting the performance. It is where various kinds of informal actions, or facts suppressed in the front stage, may appear. Simply put, the back stage is completely separate from the front stage, and it is where the performance of a routine is prepared. No members of the audience may appear in the back, and the actor takes many methods to ensure this.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: "Back region" is a relative term, in that it exists only in regards to a specific audience: where two or more people are present, there will almost never be a true 'back region'.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: Outside, or off-stage, is the place where individuals who are outsiders are not involved in the performance (although they may not be aware of it). The off-stage is where individual actors meet the audience members independently of the team performance on the front stage. Specific performances may be given when the audience is segmented as such.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: Borders, or boundaries, are important as they prevent or restrict movement of individuals between various regions. Performers need to be able to maneuver boundaries to manage who has the access to the performance, when and how. The border phenomenon is highlighted by Victor Turner's concept of liminality, and thus prolonged in the imaginable field: semiotics of ritual.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: The management of thresholds may be operated on several axes; the most crude is exclusion-inclusion, similar to the basic digital on-off (1 – 0). To be a part or not may be seen as the fundamental asset in a society, but as far society is perceived as a rhizomatic conglomerate, rather such than a unitary or arborescent whole. Border-control, so to speak, becomes in a paradoxical fashion "the" central issue. Thus the study of liminality in sociology, ritual and theatre reveals the fictional elements underpinning society. Rites of passage seem to reflect this as the enactments of exclusion, and dissociation seem to be an essential feature of such. The enactment of exclusion from a society seem to be essential for the formation of an imaginary central governing (cf. Michel Foucault).


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: Many performances need to prevent the audience from getting some information (secrets). For that, several specialized roles are created.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: There are three basic roles in Goffman's scheme, each centered on who has access to what information: performers are most knowledgeable; audiences know only what the performers disclosed and what they have observed themselves; and outsiders have little if any relevant information.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: Performers may communicate out of character on purpose, in order to signal to others on their team, or by accident.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: "Impression management" refers to work on maintaining the desired impression, and is composed of defensive and protective techniques. Protective techniques are used in order to cover mistakes, only once the interaction begins. For example, relying on audience to use tact and overlook mistakes of the performers. In contrast, defensive techniques are employed before an interaction begins, and involves:


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: Believing that theories should not be applied where they have not been tested, it has been argued that dramaturgy should only be applied in instances that involve people associated with a total institution, for which the theory was designed.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: In addition to this, it also has been said that dramaturgy does not contribute to sociology's goal of understanding the legitimacy of society. It is claimed to be drafting on positivism, which does not offer an interest in both reason and rationality. John Welsh called it a "commodity."


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: For one, dramaturgy has been used to depict how social movements communicate power. Robert D. Benford and Scott A. Hunt argued that "social movements can be described as dramas in which protagonists and antagonists compete to affect audiences' interpretations of power relations in a variety of domains." The people seeking power present their front stage self in order to captivate attention. However, the back stage self is still present, though undetectable. This is a competition of power, a prime example of dramaturgy.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: A useful, and everyday way of understanding dramaturgy (specifically front stage and back stage) is to think of a waiter or waitress at a restaurant. Their main avenue of concern for him or her is "customer service." Even if a customer is rude, waiters and/or waitresses are expected to be polite ("the customer is always right") as part of their job responsibilities. That same waiter or waitress speaks differently when going out to her/his break room. s/he may complain, mimic and discuss with their fellow peers how irritating and rude the customer is. In this example, the waiter/waitress acts a certain way when dealing with customers and acts a completely different way when with her/his fellow employees.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: Dramaturgy has also been applied to the emerging interdisciplinary domain of scholarly research known as technoself studies, which deals with human identity in a technological society.


title: Dramaturgy (sociology)

text: In terms of social media profiles, users and their followers share a social space online. Social media users create profiles and post things that are specifically curated to portray a certain image that they want their followers to see. Often times this curated image is a facade. This is an “authoritative performance” of ones lifestyle. A dynamic is created between the user and their followers where the user is in control of how and what represents them, while the followers are spectators to this presentation of the user's self but they themselves are also presenting themselves in the same way.


title: Primal (2019 film)

text: Primal is a 2019 action-thriller film directed by Nick Powell and starring Nicolas Cage, Famke Janssen, Kevin Durand, LaMonica Garrett, and Michael Imperioli. The film was shot in Puerto Rico and released in the United States on November 8, 2019.


title: Primal (2019 film)

text: Frank Walsh is a skilled big-game hunter specializing in rare and dangerous species. He has recently caught an extremely rare white jaguar in the rain forests of Brazil illegally by tranquilizing it while sitting on a wooden platform high above in a tree. His assistant refuses to help him move the animal because of local superstition. He now expects to sell it to a zoo for a fortune. Frank books a container ship to deliver the jaguar along with other animals to the U.S.


title: Primal (2019 film)

text: However, US Marshals also need the ship to transport a notorious political assassin and ex-special forces operative, Richard Loffler, who is being extradited in order to be brought to trial. Loffler cannot be transported by plane because he suffers from air pressure-related seizures. He is chained to a chair inside a cage. Navy Lieutenant Dr. Ellen Taylor is the doctor in charge of Loffler's medical needs. Walsh and Taylor butt heads as Taylor finds Walsh to be arrogant and dishonest and tells him so.


title: Primal (2019 film)

text: On the way to the U.S., Loffler escapes and releases dangerous animals including venomous snakes that Walsh has captured in order to attack his captors and cause mayhem. One group of crew members escape in a lifeboat, leaving Walsh, Taylor, and several others behind on the ship. Loffler kills many onboard and takes Taylor and a young crewman named Rafael hostage, but is eventually subdued by Walsh who uses his expert skills to capture him. He then turns his prized white jaguar loose, which attacks and kills Loffler, while Walsh rescues Taylor and Rafael from a venomous viper.


title: Primal (2019 film)

text: , on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, "Primal" had an approval rating of , based on reviews. Its consensus read: "Chiefly of interest to Nicolas Cage completists and hardcore B-movie fans, this action thriller suffers from an unfortunate lack of "Primal" energy." On Metacritic, as of September 2020, the film had a weighted average score of 32 out of 100, based on 11 critical reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: Primal (2019 film)

text: D.D. Crowley from "Nightmarish Conjurings" wrote that: "It’s like "Jumanji" but with less family-friendly content and more grunting. If you’re looking for a wildly fun action flick, I would highly recommend "Primal." It is a hell of a good time". "Flickering Myth" gave the film a rating of 3 stars out of 5. "Film School Rejects" appreciated the film, writing that: ""Primal" at least has the added hook of killer animals which bring some thrills and allow for some fun". Also "The Daily Beast" called it a fun B-movie. Noel Murray of the "Los Angeles Times" noted "Alas, “Primal” ends up being more exhausting than awesome. Cage and Durand chew the scenery like trenchermen; and Janssen and Imperioli are far more charismatic than their roles require. But while director Nicholas Powell is a veteran stunt coordinator, his movie is decidedly lacking in eye-popping action... Unfortunately, even by the relaxed standards of trash cinema, 'Primal' is dispiritingly tame."


title: Primal (2019 film)

text: Simon Abrams in his review for "RogerEbert.com" gave the film 1.5 stars out of four and stated, "So while 'Primal' is supposed to be a star vehicle for Cage, it's mostly enjoyable for its charismatic ensemble cast and incidental gonzo elements... There's sadly not much more to 'Primal' than that. You might think there doesn't need to be, but there should be an extra "something" given how enticing the movie appears to be (from a distance)." Dennis Harvey of "Variety" wrote, "'Primal' isn't just a title that's been used many times, it's now a movie that seems to have put several prior movies in a food processor — to results that are edible, but unsurprisingly don't taste like anything in particular, let alone induce a desire for seconds. That this mashup of too many familiar action-thriller elements doesn't emerge a generic mess is a credit to all involved. That it's passably entertaining but also instantly forgettable comes as less of a surprise." "The Hollywood Reporter"'s John DeFore added, "...when the time comes for Cage to play great-white-hunter, viewers will likely want more. But no film involving Nicolas Cage and a blowgun with curare-tipped darts can be all bad, and Primal gives us at least a little of everything we'd want in this kind of yarn."


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: Sandpoint (Kutenai language: kamanqukuⱡ) is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Bonner County, Idaho. Its population was 8,639 at the 2020 census.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: Sandpoint's major economic contributors include forest products, light manufacturing, tourism, recreation and government services. As the largest service center in the two northern Idaho counties (Bonner and Boundary), as well as northwestern Montana, it has an active retail sector. It is the home of the headquarters of utility aircraft maker Quest Aircraft and salad dressing manufacturer Litehouse Foods.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: Sandpoint lies on the shores of Idaho's largest lake, 43-mile-long Lake Pend Oreille, and is surrounded by three major mountain ranges, the Selkirk, Cabinet and Bitterroot ranges. It is home to Schweitzer Mountain Resort, Idaho's largest ski resort, and is on the International Selkirk Loop and two National Scenic Byways (Wild Horse Trail and Pend Oreille Scenic Byway). Among other distinctions awarded by national media in the past decade, in 2011 Sandpoint was named the nation's "Most Beautiful Small Town" by Rand McNally and "USA Today".


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: Salish Tribes, specifically the Kalispel, and the Kootenai, built encampments on the shore of Lake Pend Oreille every summer, fished, made baskets of cedar, and collected huckleberries before returning to either Montana or Washington in the fall. The encampments ended before 1930.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: The region was extensively explored by David Thompson of the North West Company starting in 1807. Disputed joint British/American occupation of the Columbia District led to the Oregon boundary dispute. This controversy ended in 1846 with the signing of the Oregon Treaty, whereby Britain ceded all rights to land south of the 49th parallel.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: In August 1888, 29-year-old author and civil servant Theodore Roosevelt visited Sandpoint on a caribou-hunting trip in the Selkirk Mountains. Roosevelt documented what a rough-and-tumble environment "Sand Point" was at that time (and for many decades following).


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: Timber harvesting and railroads drove the economy for nearly a century as loggers moved in from the over-harvested Great Lakes region. Several lumber companies operated in the region from as early as 1896 to present, the most notable being the Humbird Lumber Company which operated from 1900 to around 1944. The lumber companies bought land from the Northern Pacific Railroad and built a major mill at Sandpoint and adjacent Kootenai. Lumber company-owned railroads extended into many of the local drainages including Grouse Creek, Gold Creek and Rapid Lightning Creek. Although the trees were never exhausted in the area, Humbird Lumber succumbed to the low timber prices of the Great Depression.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: "Stump ranches" were sold by Humbird to many families who slowly cleared much of the valley land of tree stumps. Farming and ranching became the third largest business in the area, behind lumber and railroads, prior to the "discovery" of Lake Pend Oreille as a sports fishery in the 1950s. The economy was given a boost during World War II from Farragut Naval Station, a training center for the US Navy located at the southwestern end of Lake Pend Oreille.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: The opening of Schweitzer Mountain Resort in 1963 turned the area into a year-round tourism destination. The beauty of the surrounding Selkirk and Cabinet Mountains and Lake Pend Oreille has kept Sandpoint a tourist favorite for water sports, hunting, hiking, horseback riding, fishing and skiing.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: In the 1980s and 1990s, 30 miles south of Sandpoint, the areas of Coeur d'Alene and Hayden Lake attracted nationwide publicity when white supremacist Neo-Nazi groups (most notably the Aryan Nations) set up headquarters in the area. Many Sandpoint residents reacted negatively to such groups; some formed the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force in opposition. In 2001, the Aryan Nations lost a lawsuit filed against them. The lawsuit bankrupted the organization and forced them to give up their Hayden Lake property and disband. In December 2011, Sandpoint became the first city in Idaho to pass an ordinance prohibiting discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations based on sexual orientation or gender identity.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: Community organizations stage a number of regionally known annual events, including Sandpoint Winter Carnival in February; including the 50s vintage car show in May; the Festival at Sandpoint summer music festival in August; and Idaho State Draft Horse International show in September. Sandpoint's historic vaudeville-era Panida Theater hosts frequent performing art events and an ongoing independent film series. A robust visual arts community supported by the Pend Oreille Arts Council also contributes to Sandpoint's reputation as a center for arts and culture in northern Idaho and the Inland Northwest.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Sandpoint has a fairly typical inland Northwestern humid continental climate (Köppen "Dsb"), with cold, snowy winters and dry summers with large diurnal temperature swings from hot in the day to very cool at night. The record low was on December 30, 1968, while the record high was recorded on both July 20, 1923 and July 24, 1994. The wettest month was December 1933 with of total precipitation and the most monthly snowfall in January 1969.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: The median income between 2016 and 2020 for a household in the city was $46,712. The per capita income for the city was $28,210. The percentage of persons below the poverty line (2016–2020) was 14.7%.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: The median value of owner-occupied housing in the city was $228,800. The homeownership rate (2006–2010) was 49.6%.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: Of the population over 25 years of age (2006–2010), 89.9% had graduated high school, 25.6% had achieved a bachelor's degree or higher.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: As of the census of 2010, there were 7,365 people, 3,215 households, and 1,811 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 3,769 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.5% White, 0.1% African American, 0.7% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0.5% from other races, and 2.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.9% of the population.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: There were 3,215 households, of which 29.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.4% were married couples living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 43.7% were non-families. 36.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.86.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: The median age in the city was 38.8 years. 23.3% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 26.2% were from 25 to 44; 25.9% were from 45 to 64; and 16.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.2% male and 51.8% female.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: Sandpoint is part of the Lake Pend Oreille School District. Sandpoint High School and Lake Pend Oreille Alternative High School educate students in grades 9 through 12.


title: Sandpoint, Idaho

text: The Sandpoint Amtrak station serves as the only stop in Idaho. The Amtrak Empire Builder route carries passengers daily in both directions between Chicago, Illinois to the east and Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon to the west.


title: Victorian house

text: In Great Britain and former British colonies, a Victorian house generally means any house built during the reign of Queen Victoria. During the Industrial Revolution, successive housing booms resulted in the building of many millions of Victorian houses which are now a defining feature of most British towns and cities.


title: Victorian house

text: In the United Kingdom, Victorian houses follow a wide range of architectural styles. Starting from the early classicism inherited from Regency architecture, the Italianate style gained influence in the 1840s and 1850s, and the Gothic Revival style became prevalent by the 1880s. Later in the Victorian era, the Queen Anne style and the Arts and Crafts movement increased in influence, resulting in the transition to styles typically seen in Edwardian houses. Victorian houses are also found in many former British colonies where the style might be adapted to local building materials or customs, for example in Sydney, Australia and Melaka, Malaysia.


title: Victorian house

text: In the United States, Victorian house styles include Second Empire, Queen Anne, Stick (and Eastlake Stick), Shingle, Richardsonian Romanesque, and others.


title: Victorian house

text: Early in the Victorian era, up to the 1840s houses were still influenced by the classicism of Regency styles. However the simplicity of Regency classicism fell out of favour as affluence increased and by the 1850s the Italianate style influenced domestic architecture which now incorporated varying quantities of stucco. From the 1850s domestic buildings also became increasingly influenced by the Gothic Revival, incorporating features such as pointed, projecting porches, bay windows, and grey slate.


title: Victorian house

text: In addition to general architectural influences, this progressive change in style resulted from several other factors. In the 1850s, the abolition of tax on glass and bricks made these items cheaper yet a suitable material and the coming of the railway allowed them to be manufactured elsewhere, at low cost and to standard sizes and methods, and brought to site. There was also progressive introduction from the 1850s of various building regulations. There are a number of common themes in Victorian housing:


title: Victorian house

text: In Victorian times, population growth, and the Industrial Revolution which saw a migration of workers from the countryside to the cities, resulted in successive housing booms in the 1850s and 1870s that saw the creation of millions of houses. These catered not only for the rich and the new "middling-classes" but also for the poor.


title: Victorian house

text: In deprived areas, Victorian houses were often very small, for example, back-to-back houses built in extremely cramped conditions. Some of these areas became slums or 'rookeries', and were later cleared. Some smaller, two-up two-down houses still survive, for example in Salford, Greater Manchester.


title: Victorian house

text: Victorian houses for the middle classes and upwards tended to have accommodation for servants, often employed to carry out the considerable labour required to keep the house, including its fireplaces, clean and well stocked.


title: Victorian house

text: Victorian houses of the middle and upper classes aspired to follow the purest forms of contemporary architecture, for example, the Gothic Revival or Queen Anne styles.


title: Victorian house

text: The Victorian era, together with the Edwardian era was the last sustained period in which great houses were built in large numbers. Many of these harked back to earlier periods of English architecture, for example:


title: Victorian house

text: Victorian-era homes in eastern American cities tend to be three stories and those in western American cities tend to be two-story houses or one-story cottages. This is not representative of a typical Victorian-era home in all regions.


title: Victorian house

text: Although the general public often incorrectly refers to a Victorian-era house as a Victorian-"style" house, Victorian era refers to a time period and not to a style. Although architectural historians generally agree that about eight primary architectural styles were prominent in the United States and Canada during the Victorian era, Victorian-era residential architecture in the United States and Canada was a procession of styles borrowed from countries and historical styles.


title: Victorian house

text: One feature that became popular in the Victorian era was the use of wooden gingerbread trims to create ornate embellishments to decorate their homes. This was a reinterpretation of European Gothic Revival architecture using timber that was abundantly available in North America. With the invention of steam-powered scroll saw, the gingerbread trims could be produced en masse. The popularity started in the east in 1870 and spread to the west five to ten years later.


title: Victorian house

text: In Australia, the Victorian period is generally classified as the years from 1840 to 1890. There were fifteen styles that predominated, of which the following eight were used for homes:


title: Victorian house

text: (The Arts and Crafts style and Queen Anne style are placed in the Federation period, from 1890 to 1915.)


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF, formerly Alliance Defense Fund) is an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group that works to curtail rights for LGBTQ people; expand Christian practices within public schools and in government; and outlaw abortion. ADF is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, with branch offices in Washington, D.C. and New York, among other locations. The global arm, Alliance Defending Freedom International, which is headquartered in Vienna, Austria, operates in over 100 countries.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: ADF is one of the most organized and influential Christian legal interest groups in the United States based on its budget, caseload, network of allied attorneys, and connections to significant members of the political right. These include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and high-ranking Republicans such as former vice president Mike Pence, former attorneys general William Barr and Jeff Sessions, and US Senator from Missouri Josh Hawley (husband of ADF senior counsel Erin Hawley). ADF attorneys have argued a number of cases before the Supreme Court, including cases about religion in public schools, the Affordable Care Act, the legalization of same-sex marriage, business owners' right to not provide services for same-sex marriages, and prayers before town meetings. They also wrote the model legislation for Mississippi's anti-abortion legislation, making them significant players in "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization," the decision that overruled the fifty-year-old precedent case "Roe v. Wade" establishing the right to abortion.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) designates ADF as an anti-LGBT hate group based on its active opposition to legal rights and protections of LGBTQ people in the United States and around the world. ADF has lobbied, brought lawsuits, and provided legal support to groups to prevent decriminalization of homosexual acts in the United States and worldwide; oppose same-sex marriage; prevent laws from being passed to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; prohibit transgender people from changing their identification documents unless they have undergone genital surgery and are sterilized; and opposing transgender people's use of bathrooms and playing sports in accordance with their gender identity. The SPLC described the ADF as "one of the most influential groups informing the Trump administration's attack on LGBTQ rights."


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: The Alliance Defense Fund, now known as the Alliance Defending Freedom, was founded by members of the evangelical Christian right movement to prevent what its founders saw as threats to religious liberty in American society. ADF was incorporated in 1993 by six conservative Christian men. The co-founders were Bill Bright, who also founded Campus Crusade for Christ; Larry Burkett, an evangelical financial advisor; James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; D. James Kennedy, founder of Coral Ridge Ministries; Marlin Maddoux, a Christian radio personality; and Alan Sears, former director of the Meese Commission.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: The ADF's first president, CEO and Chief Counsel was Alan Sears. Sears has been described as "an ardent antipornography crusader," and had previously served as staff executive director of the Reagan administration Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, which produced the 1986 Meese Report.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: In its early years, Alliance Defense Fund funded legal cases rather than litigating directly. It particularly targeted the work of the American Civil Liberties Union, which its founders saw as contributing to an erosion of Christian values.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: Principal concerns of the ADF have been outlawing abortion and opposing gay rights. Several founding members wrote books condemning homosexuality, including longtime president Alan Sears (The Homosexual Agenda) and Marlin Malloux (Answers to the Gay Deception). Evangelist pastor D. James Kennedy described same-sex marriage as "counterfeit marriage" and was a proponent of conversion therapy "for homosexuals who want to change, through the power of Jesus Christ." James Dobson's Focus on the Family founded a ministry called Love Won Out to convince people that homosexuality is a sin and that same-sex attraction could be "overcome."


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: The Alliance Defense Fund changed its name to Alliance Defending Freedom on July 9, 2012. The name change was intended to reflect the organization's shift in focus from funding allied attorneys to directly litigating cases. By 2014 the organization had more than 40 staff attorneys, and had "emerged as the largest legal force of the religious right, arguing hundreds of pro bono cases across the country.". The ADF garnered national attention in its 2014 challenge to the Affordable Care Act. In "Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.", the Court ruled that the birth control mandate in employee funded health plans was unconstitutional since there existed a less restrictive means of furthering the law’s interest.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: The Southern Poverty Law Center listed the organization as an extremist anti-LGBTQ hate group in 2016. The group's designation "was a judgment call that went all the way up to top leadership at the SPLC." According to the SPLC, the ADF was included on the list due to the group's filing of an amicus brief in the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case "Lawrence v. Texas", in which the ADF expressed support for upholding the state's right to criminalize consensual sexual acts between people of the same sex. The SPLC has described the ADF as "virulently anti-gay." The SPLC describes the group's mission as "making life as difficult as possible for LGBT communities in the U.S. and internationally." The ADF has opposed its inclusion on the SPLC's list, with senior counsel Jeremy Tedesco describing it as "a stranglehold on conservative and religious groups that is just hovering over us and that can continue to constrict and limit our ability to simply voice our opinion."


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: In July 2017, U.S. sitting Attorney General Jeff Sessions attended ADF's Summit on Religious Liberty. Sessions said, "While your clients vary from pastors to nuns to geologists, all of us benefit from your good work." LGBTQ rights groups criticized Sessions for his participation at the event. Dominic Holden wrote in "BuzzFeed News" that ADF's growing influence within the federal government can be attributed to Sessions' support.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: In January 2017, Michael Farris, the founder of Patrick Henry College, became the new CEO of ADF. Farris lobbied Congress for the passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. Farris has called the SPLC's designation a "troubling smear" and "slander."


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: After Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election and refused to concede while making claims of fraud, Farris worked behind the scenes on legal documents filed by Texas attorney general Ken Paxton to overturn the election results.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: On October 1, 2022, Kristen Waggoner succeeded Farris as CEO and President of ADF, retaining her role as General Counsel.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: Since 2010, ADF's global arm, ADF International, has been increasingly politically active in countries around the world. ADF International reported 580 "ongoing legal matters" in 51 countries as of 2017, and increased spending in the EU alone from less than $2 million in 2019 to over $10 million in 2020-21.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: ADF is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. In 2020 ADF reported total revenue of $65 million, and net assets of $43 million (including domestic operations only). This is similar to its reported budget in 2015, when revenue was $62 million and net assets $40 million. Since 1999, its budget has increased seven-fold from $9 million. In 2020, ADF founder Alan Sears was compensated over $803,000 and President Michael Farris was compensated $455,000.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: In the European Union, ADF International spending was about $2 million per year (£1.5 million) in 2019, including about $560,000 on lobbying EU . As of 2020-2021, ADF International had a $11.5 million USD (€9.5 million) budget for EU activities.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: Donors include the Covenant Foundation, the Bolthouse Foundation, the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, and the Bradley Foundation. The Charles Koch Institute donated $275,000 to ADF in 2020. The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, one of largest charities in the Pacific Northwest, donated nearly $1 million to ADF from 2007 to 2016.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: While the ADF states that it works to promote freedom of religion and that it is "not a political organization," it is explicitly Christian; employees of ADF must profess "adherence to the inspired, infallible, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God in Scripture." Moreover, its stated mission is to "keep the door open for the gospel" by seeking to bring United States law in line with their Christian beliefs.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: One of ADF's goals is for Christianity to be written into the US legal system, based on their interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. In materials they share with donors, ADF says that they seek to spread a belief in "the framers' original intent for the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights as it reflects God's natural law and God's higher law."


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: The organization also pursues "other strategies for reclaiming the judicial system as it was originally envisioned," most notably through litigation. The ADF has been involved in several United States Supreme Court cases regarding the use of public buildings and public funds for religious purposes, including "Rosenberger v. University of Virginia" (1995), "Good News Club v. Milford Central School" (2001), and "Town of Greece v. Galloway" (2014). ADF supports Christian prayer at public town meetings (see "Town of Greece v. Galloway," 2014) and the use of religious displays (such as crosses and other religious monuments) in public buildings and on public lands. ADF has argued that parents with religious objections should have the right to opt their children out of sex education in schools. The organization supports cases supporting religious practice in public schools, for example, in "Good News Club v. Milford Central School" (2001) the ADF was part of a case in which the Supreme Court ruled that religious clubs must be afforded equal access to school facilities.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: In 2003, ADF unsuccessfully called for the recriminalization of homosexual acts, in the U.S., filing a Supreme Court brief supporting Texas' sodomy law in the landmark "Lawrence v. Texas" case which declared sodomy laws unconstitutional; it opposed laws that would protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; and it falsely linked homosexuality to pedophilia. ADF also opposes same-sex marriage and civil unions, as well as adoption by same-sex couples, based on its leaders' "belief that God created men, women, and families such that children thrive best in homes with a married mother and father." ADF provided legal support to the defendants in two Supreme Court cases dealing with the intersection of freedom of religion against Colorado's anti-discrimination laws for public-serving businesses, "Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission" (2018) and "303 Creative LLC v. Elenis" (2022); in both cases, the underlying issue was whether Christian business owners, under the anti-discrimination law, were compelled to create works with LGBT messaging that they said went against their Christian faith. In 2021, the Supreme Court declined to consider an appeal from ADF attorneys on behalf of a florist who refused to serve her clients' same-sex wedding, with three of the nine justices indicating they were willing to hear the case.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: The organization has also worked internationally to prevent decriminalization of homosexuality in Jamaica and Belize. The SPLC has reported on ADF support for a law criminalizing same-sex sexual acts in Belize (ruled unconstitutional in 2016). The ADF denied playing any role in the case. In the United Kingdom, ADF International advocated in favor of a mother's custody of her child, against the custody of the child's father and his same-sex partner. ADF also has links to the former prime minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, an outspoken opponent of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Australia. Abbott gave a speech to ADF regarding marriage in 2016.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: ADF opposes transgender rights based on an idea that "God creates each person with an immutable biological sex — male or female..." The organization has litigated against transgender employment protections, access to bathrooms, and participation in sports for transgender people. Members of ADF also authored model legislation for bathroom bills in the United States, aimed at restricting transgender people's use of public bathrooms. In 2020, the ADF lost a Supreme Court case in which they argued that employers should be allowed to discriminate against transgender people. ADF attorneys defended a funeral home that fired a trans employee in the Supreme Court case, "R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission", losing in a 6–3 vote.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: The organization has worked to prevent transgender children from playing sports, through lawsuits and by lobbying state legislatures. In April 2022, ADF-affiliated lawyers defended a professor at Shawnee State University, Ohio, who refused to use preferred pronouns when referring to a transgender student; the university agreed to a $400,000 settlement with the professor.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: In Europe, ADF International has supported mandatory genital surgery and sterilization of transgender people before they are be allowed to change the gender marker on government IDs. However, a decision by the European Court of Human Rights, "A.P., Garçon and Nicot v. France", has led France, Greece, Portugal, and several other countries to allow non-medical pathways to gender marker change.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: In June 2022 several groups opposing trans rights, including Alliance Defending Freedom, WDI USA, Family Research Council and Women's Liberation Front, organized an anti-trans rally in Washington D.C. According to Lindsay Schubiner, director of an Oregon non-profit organization which aims to counter right-wing extremism, white nationalists have attempted "to exploit the current increased focus on spreading homophobia and transphobia on the broader right and institutional environments" to appeal to and recruit mainstream conservatives.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: ADF actively opposes the right to abortion and euthanasia, and has litigated to restrict access to contraception in the US and in other countries. In the 2022 decision "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization", the Supreme Court upheld a Mississippi law that was the nation’s first-ever 15-week abortion ban, thereby overturning "Roe v. Wade" (1973) and "Planned Parenthood v. Casey" (1992). The law was based on ADF’s model legislation, specifically designed to provoke a legal challenge that would be appealed to the ultraconservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and then to the Supreme Court. That strategy succeeded in ending the legal right to abortion in the United States, and giving states the power to restrict or ban medical care related to pregnancy termination. The ADF has links to at least one Justice of the Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: Among its most notable legal battles was a 2014 case challenging the Affordable Care Act. In "Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.", the Court ruled that the birth control mandate in employee-funded health plans when the company is "closely-held" was unconstitutional. The case set a precedent for allowing corporations and individuals to make religious claims for exemption from laws and regulations based on a religious freedom argument. The United States Supreme Court held that privately held corporations could be exempt from Affordable Care Act regulations if the owners asserted religiously objections, basing the decision on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. The decision meant that many employers could decide not to cover contraceptives through their health insurance plans.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: ADF has led an international campaign to influence and restrict the right to abortion. The organization takes the position that healthcare workers have a right to refuse to provide care for abortion and other practices the individual finds morally objectionable. ADF has backed anti-abortion causes in Ireland, El Salvador, Colombia, Poland and Sweden.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: In Sweden, a midwife, Ellinor Grimmark sued the province of Jönköping for discrimination because she was refused employment when, citing "freedom of conscience,” she refused to give morning-after pills, refused to perform abortions, and refused to put in copper IUDs. She lost both her hearing before the Discrimination Ombudsman, and in the Jönköping district court. The proceedings in the Labor Court of Sweden began on January 24, 2017, and her case received both legal and financial aid from ADF. Grimmark’s legal representative, Ruth Nordström, was a registered partner of ADF, and both Grimmark and Nordström participated in ADFs marketing films. Nordström co-wrote an opinion piece opposing abortion rights with an ADF representative for Sveriges Television, Sweden's national public television broadcaster.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: In the United Kingdom, the group has campaigned against buffer zones around abortion clinics and against the legalization of voluntary euthanasia in the United Kingdom. The group has also challenged the right to euthanasia in Belgium before the European Court of Human Rights.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: In 2022, ADF took on a case defending a Tennessee-based Christian adoption agency that refused to work with Jewish prospective parents. The case, which names the State of Tennessee as a defendant for its law permitting religious organizations to reject applicants based on faith, was dismissed on technical grounds. As of late July 2022, the case is being appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals on behalf of the couple and several other plaintiffs.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: Commenting on an earlier case in South Carolina, an ADF spokesperson expressed support for an evangelical foster care provider in South Carolina that rejects Jewish prospective parents, as well as LGBTQ people, atheists, and other non-Christians. The agency, Miracle Hill Ministries, is the largest foster and adoption agency in South Carolina and receives public funding; its President has stated that its religious discrimination policy is justified, because “We look like a social service agency, but we’re a community of Christ followers and our faith in Christ is the most important part of who we are." A Catholic woman sued the agency after being rejected on the basis of religion, but the agency later changed its rules to permit "Catholics who affirm Miracle Hill's doctrinal statement in belief and practice to serve as foster parents and employees."


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: At the request of South Carolina governor Henry McMaster, the Trump administration granted the organization a waiver of federal non-discrimination law. An ADF spokesperson indicated that the organization is "grateful [to] HHS and South Carolina" for granting the waiver, which allows the agency to continue to restrict fostering and adoption work to those who endorse evangelical beliefs.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: ADF has opposed government measures aimed to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the United States and in other countries. In the US, ADF partnered with The Daily Wire in a legal challenge against the Biden administration's OSHA vaccine mandate. In Uganda, ADF joined a Texas libertarian organization in backing a campaign to end restrictions on large gatherings that the government had implemented to reduce COVID-19 spread. ADF brought legal challenges against the Ugandan government's regulations on large gatherings. In Scotland, ADF fought against COVID-19 regulations on large gatherings, claiming that the measures were unfair to religious groups. The ADF-backed lawsuit won in Scotland's high court. A poll commissioned by the Humanist Society showed that more than three-quarters of Scots were opposed to the church's reopening and the Church of Scotland distanced itself from the legal action, saying that they accepted measures to prevent COVID-19 spread.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: In the US Supreme Court decision "Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta" (2021), ADF argued that non-profits should not be required to disclose the identities of their donors on California state tax returns. In a victory for ADF, the court struck down the disclosure law as unconstitutional.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: Blackstone Legal Fellowship, named after the English jurist William Blackstone, is ADF's summer legal training program. It was founded in 2000 for the purpose of preparing Christian law students for professional legal careers. The first class comprised 24 interns. The program is made up of interns, called Fellows, from a diverse selection of law schools as well as elite institutions such as Harvard and Yale. Amy Coney Barrett, who went on to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, was a paid speaker at Blackstone on five occasions between 2013 and 2017.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: In 2003 the ADF launched the "Christmas Project," aiming to discourage non-Christian holidays from being celebrated and to promote Christmas celebrations in public schools. The annual initiative was organized in an effort to prevent school districts from holding secular holiday celebrations, or what the organization called the "censorship of Christmas." In its press release ADF singled out the American Civil Liberties Union as the chief target of the campaign. By 2004, the organization had contacted 3,600 school districts to inform them that they were not required by the Constitution to have holiday celebrations inclusive of all religions.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: In 2005 the ADF and Focus on the Family began sponsoring a counter-protest called the Day of Truth (later called "Day of Dialogue") to oppose the annual Day of Silence, an annual event to promote awareness of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools. The ADF asserted that 1,100 students from 350 schools participated in ADF's event, which ADF billed as a response to the "homosexual agenda."


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: In 2008, ADF launched the first Pulpit Freedom Sunday to promote political messaging and endorsements in Christian pastors' sermons in defiance of the prohibition on political endorsements by non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations under the 1954 Johnson Amendment. The practice of political endorsement is not broadly accepted within the evangelical community, with most Evangelical pastors opposed as of 2017.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: Pulpit Freedom Sunday is an initiative aimed to overturn the Johnson Amendment, which restricts political campaigning by tax-exempt non-profit organizations, which includes most churches. According to "The New York Times", ADF's campaign is "perhaps its most aggressive effort." In the first year about 35 pastors participated, in what they consider an act of civil disobedience, endorsing political candidates in their sermons and defying the Internal Revenue Service regulations. In Minnesota, reverend Gus Booth encouraged his congregation to vote for John McCain rather than Barack Obama. , participation in the event had grown to about 1,800 pastors. The IRS indicated that it would increase enforcement of the Johnson Amendment.


title: Alliance Defending Freedom

text: Some opponents of the movement have voiced concern about permitting churches to endorse politicians because it would allow political donors to remain anonymous and to get tax breaks for their donations. Unlike other non-profits, churches aren’t required to make financial disclosures, so churches endorsing politicians could act as funnels for anonymous campaign donations, or "dark money."


title: Chipping Norton set

text: The Chipping Norton set is a group of media, political and show-business acquaintances who have homes near the market town of Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, England. Chipping Norton is located approximately 75 miles from London. The group gained notoriety in the wake of the News International phone hacking scandal, which directly involved members of the group.


title: Chipping Norton set

text: The term "Chipping Norton set" was included in the 19th edition of "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable", published in 2012.


title: Chipping Norton set

text: In 2012, "The Daily Telegraph" identified the following people as being part of a "Chipping Norton Set":


title: Chipping Norton set

text: Other prominent local residents include Anthony Bamford, Baron Bamford, chairman of J. C. Bamford (JCB) and his wife Carole, who live in Daylesford House in nearby Daylesford, Gloucestershire; Anthony Bamford is a major donor to the Conservative Party.


title: Chipping Norton set

text: The guestlist for Rebekah and Charlie Brooks' wedding reception near Chipping Norton in 2009 was described by "The Guardian" as a "powerlist." Guests included then Prime Minister Gordon Brown, leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron, and the CEO of News Corporation Rupert Murdoch. Rebekah Brooks was the editor of "The Sun" at the time of her marriage.


title: Chipping Norton set

text: The couple repeated their vows in a lakeside ceremony in front of 240 guests, who included Jeremy Clarkson—at whose house the couple met—and Will Lewis, Charles Dunstone, Dow Jones chief executive Les Hinton; and Rupert Murdoch's children James, Elisabeth, and her husband Matthew Freud.


title: Chipping Norton set

text: On 23 December 2010, James Murdoch and Prime Minister David Cameron were guests at a dinner at the home of Rebekah and Charlie Brooks. Brooks was by then chief executive of News International (a subsidiary of News Corporation), and Murdoch was chairman of BSkyB in which News Corporation has a controlling minority stake. The meal took place two days after Cameron had been forced to replace the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, as the minister scrutinising News Corporation's bid for BSkyB. Until April 2012 Cameron had refused to issue an outright denial that he spoke about BSkyB during the dinner with Murdoch in 2010.


title: Chipping Norton set

text: Murdoch confirmed that they had discussed the bid at the dinner in his testimony to the Leveson Inquiry in April 2012. James Murdoch said he sought assurances at the meal that Jeremy Hunt, who took over Cable's brief, would be more "objective"; Cable had told undercover "The Daily Telegraph" reporters he had "declared war on Mr Murdoch." Cable was referring to James Murdoch's father, Rupert.


title: Chipping Norton set

text: Cameron was accused in 2011 of breaking Parliament's ministerial code of conduct by failing to avoid a possible conflict of interest in attending the Christmas dinner, but he refused to allow an inquiry by Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell. Cameron declared in Parliament that he had "never had one inappropriate conversation" and that he "completely took myself out of any decision-making about this bid". A spokesman later said that Cameron had "not been involved in any of the discussions about BSkyB." James Murdoch has met Cameron twice since he became Prime Minister, at the Christmas dinner at the Brooks' and a lunch at Chequers in November 2010.


title: Chipping Norton set

text: Before Murdoch's testimony in April 2012 fellow dinner guest Jeremy Clarkson claimed in July 2011 that Murdoch could not have discussed the BSkyB with Cameron as the Prime Minister and Rebekah Brooks had spent the entire evening discussing sausage rolls. In her testimony to the Leveson Inquiry Brooks stated that she and Cameron had attended a second party a few days later on Boxing Day, at her sister-in-law's house.


title: Chipping Norton set

text: A horse, Raisa, was loaned to Rebekah Brooks by the Metropolitan Police from 2008–2010, stabled at the Brooks' farm and was subsequently returned to the police in a "poor condition." In March 2012, David Cameron confirmed that he had ridden the horse with Charlie Brooks before he became Prime Minister in 2010. Cameron had previously stated that he had not. The leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband said that Cameron was in danger of becoming a symbol of "how leading politicians get too close to the powerful media."


title: Chipping Norton set

text: Cameron apologised for a "confusing picture" to emerge over his connection to Raisa. Cameron said that he was sorry to hear that Raisa "is no longer with us...I think I should probably conclude by saying I don't think I will be getting back into the saddle any time soon." On Charlie Brooks, Cameron had earlier told "5 News", "He is a friend of mine of 30 years' standing and a neighbour in my constituency, so that's a matter of record. But since I have been prime minister I think I have been on a horse once, and it wasn't that one." Before Cameron confirmed that he had ridden the horse, Jeremy Clarkson said of the affair that "I can categorically state that he never rode that horse. I do actually live there. It's all rubbish."


title: Chipping Norton set

text: Nick Cohen wrote in the "Observer" in May 2012 that "The non-Murdoch press will not shirk our duty to recall the fabulous social whirl that was once the "Chipping Norton Set." We will remind you of how Brooks, Elisabeth Murdoch and Matthew Freud slapped and scratched the backs of David and Samantha Cameron at country homes, while Jeremy Clarkson flitted in and out of their parties – gambolling through the Cotswolds like a portly court fool."


title: Chipping Norton set

text: Peter Oborne described the Chipping Norton set as "an incestuous collection of louche, affluent, power-hungry and amoral Londoners", while Christina Odone said that "Chipping Norton remains a state of mind. It's where the stars of Westminster and White City can be machos of the manor, shooting, riding and drinking...Top Londoners who can afford the £750,000 per cottage lifestyle here lead a phoney county life where a BlackBerry is charged, not picked...Anywhere else in the world, country folk are desperate to appear city sophisticates; it's only in Britain that urbanites invest millions in buying a "country" pedigree."


title: Chipping Norton set

text: Comedian Graeme Garden, who has lived locally for 30 years, said, "I can think of more acceptable reasons for Chipping Norton to be put on the map, rather than through any association with sleazy journalism... But Chipping Norton will get over it." The Mayor of Chipping Norton said that "We would prefer to be put on the map for more positive things." His wife, the mayoress, added, "Surely people are allowed to have supper at Christmas with their neighbours...Such a lot has been made of the celebrity factor. But we have a lot of well-known people in the area...because it is a beautiful place, and people are allowed to get on with things."


title: Chipping Norton set

text: In his book "", fictional conservative ex-BBC presenter Alan Partridge said that he "would love to live in Chipping Norton; Brooks, Cameron, Clarkson, Murdoch. Drinking champagne and laughing our heads off at everyone else."


title: Windy City (nickname)

text: The city of Chicago has been known by many nicknames, but it is most widely recognized as the "Windy City".


title: Windy City (nickname)

text: The earliest known reference to the "Windy City" was actually to Green Bay in 1856. The first known repeated effort to label Chicago with this nickname is from 1876 and involves Chicago's rivalry with Cincinnati. The popularity of the nickname endures to this day – 126 years after the Cincinnati rivalry ended.


title: Windy City (nickname)

text: There are four main possibilities to explain the city's nickname: the weather, as Chicago is near Lake Michigan; the rivalry with Cincinnati; the World's Fair; and politics.


title: Windy City (nickname)

text: While Chicago is widely known as the "Windy City", it is not the windiest city in the United States. Some of the windier cities recorded by the NOAA/NCDC are


title: Windy City (nickname)

text: Chicago is not significantly windier than any other U.S. city. For example, the average annual wind speed of Chicago is ; Boston: ; Central Park, New York City: ; and Los Angeles: .


title: Windy City (nickname)

text: The following "windy city" explanation involving a "wind tunnel" effect is from the "Freeborn County Standard" of Albert Lea, Minnesota, on November 20, 1892:


title: Windy City (nickname)

text: An explanation for Chicago being a naturally breezy area is that it is on the shores of Lake Michigan.


title: Windy City (nickname)

text: Chicago had long billed itself as an ideal summer resort because of its cool lake breeze. "The Boston Globe" of July 8, 1873, wrote that "a few years ago, Chicago advertised itself as a summer resort, on the strength of the lake breezes which so nicely tempered the mid-summer heats." The "Chicago Tribune" of June 14, 1876, discussed "Chicago as a Summer Resort" at length, proudly declaring that "the people of this city are enjoying cool breezes, refreshing rains, green fields, a grateful sun, and balmy air—winds from the north and east tempered by the coolness of the lake, and from the south and west, bearing to us frequent hints of the grass, flowers, wheat and corn of the prairies."


title: Windy City (nickname)

text: Cincinnati and Chicago were rival cities in the 1860s and 1870s. Cincinnati was well known in the meatpacking trade and it was called "Porkopolis" from at least 1843. Starting from the early 1860s, Chicago surpassed Cincinnati in this trade and proudly claimed the very same "Porkopolis" nickname.


title: Windy City (nickname)

text: The baseball inter-city matches were especially intense. The 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings were the pride of all of baseball, so Chicago came up with a rival team called the White Stockings to defeat them. "Windy City" often appeared in the Cincinnati sporting news of the 1870s and 1880s.


title: Windy City (nickname)

text: It is a popular myth that the first person to use the term "Windy City" was "The New York Sun" editor Charles Dana, in a New York Sun article in the 1890s complaining about Chicago's victory in 1890 over New York in its bid to host the World's Fair. However, the term was in common use since at least 1886, while the first known use of it was from 1876. As Chicago did not win the bid to host the World's Fair until 1890, Dana cannot possibly have been the source of the term.


title: Windy City (nickname)

text: Nineteenth-century journalists frequently referred to Chicago as the windy city because they allegedly believed Chicagoan politicians were nothing but profit-centric. However, it's worth noting that the rivalry was between Chicago, a growing metropolis in the nineteenth century, and other cities such as New York City, from where most of these journalists came. In other words, the Windy City is not a nickname Chicago gave itself, but rather something that the city has embraced over time.


title: Windy City (nickname)

text: Chicago's wind is often called "The Hawk". This term has long been popular in African American Vernacular English. "The Baltimore Sun's" series of columns in 1934 attempted to examine the origin of the phrase, "Hawkins is coming", for a cold, winter wind. The first recorded Chicago citation is in the "Chicago Defender", October 20, 1936: "And these cold mornings are on us – in other words 'Hawkins' has got us."


title: Windy City (nickname)

text: It is also referenced in the first line of Steve Goodman's song, "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request", is "By the shores of old Lake Michigan / Where the Hawk Wind blows so cold..."


title: Jayachandra

text: Jaya-chandra (IAST: Jayacandra, r. c. 1170–1194 CE) was a king from the Gahadavala dynasty of northern India. He is also known as Jayachchandra (IAST: Jayaccandra) in inscriptions, and Jaichand in vernacular legends. He ruled the Antarvedi country in the Gangetic plains, including the important cities of Kannauj and Varanasi. His territory included much of the present-day eastern Uttar Pradesh and some parts of western Bihar. The last powerful king of his dynasty, he was defeated and killed in 1194 CE, in a battle near Yamuna against a Ghurid army led by Muhammad of Ghor.


title: Jayachandra

text: A fictional account of Jayachandra (as Jaichand) occurs in a legendary text "Prithviraj Raso". The epic poem was likely written centuries after his death. According to this account, he was a rival of another Indian king, Prithviraj Chauhan. His daughter Samyukta eloped with Prithviraj against his wishes, and he allied with the foreign non-Hindu Ghurids to ensure Prithviraj's downfall. The name "Jaichand" became synonymous with the word "traitor" in folklore of northern India because of this legend.


title: Jayachandra

text: Jayachandra was a son of the Gahadavala king Vijayachandra. According to a Kamauli inscription, he was crowned king on 21 June 1170 CE. Jayachandra inherited his grandfather Govindachandra's royal titles: "Ashva-pati Nara-pati Gaja-pati Rajatrayadhipati" ("leader of three forces: the cavalry, the infantry and the elephant corps") and "Vividha-vidya-vichara-vachaspati" ("patron of different branches of learning").


title: Jayachandra

text: <mapframe text="Find-spots of inscriptions from Jayachandra's reign" width="400" height="400" zoom="6" longitude="82.96" latitude="25.48">


title: Jayachandra

text: Jayachandra's inscriptions praise him using the conventional grandiloquent terms, but do not mention any concrete achievement of the king. The records of his neighbouring Hindu kings (Paramara, Chahamana, Chandela and Kalachuri) do not mention any conflict with him either. The Sena king Lakshmana Sena is believed to have invaded the Gahadavala territory, but this invasion may have taken place after Jayachandra's death.


title: Jayachandra

text: The Muslim Ghurids invaded Jayachandra's kingdom in the 1193 CE. The Muslim accounts describe Jayachandra as the "Rāi of Banaras" (king of Varanasi). According to Ibn Asir's "Kamil ut-Tawarikh", Jayachandra was "the greatest king of India and possessed the largest territory", and his army had a million soldiers and 700 elephants.


title: Jayachandra

text: The Hindu accounts (such as Vidyapati's "Purusha-Pariksha" and "Prithviraj Raso") claim that Jayachandra defeated the Ghurids multiple times. The contemporary Muslim accounts, on the other hand, mention only two battles: one relatively minor engagement and the Battle of Chandwar, in which Jayachandra was killed.


title: Jayachandra

text: The Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor had defeated the Chahamana king Prithviraja III in 1192 CE. According to Hasan Nizami's 13th century text "Taj-ul-Maasir", he decided to attack the Gahadavala kingdom after taking control of Ajmer, Delhi and Kol. He dispatched a 50,000-strong army commanded by Qutb al-Din Aibak. Nizami states that this army defeated "the army of the enemies of the Religion" (Islam). It appears that the defeated army was not Jayachandra's main army, but only a smaller body of his frontier guards.


title: Jayachandra

text: Jayachandra then himself led a larger army against Muhammad of Ghor who marched from Ghazni with an army of 50,000 cavalry in 1194 CE.


title: Jayachandra

text: Jayachandra's son Harishchandra succeeded him on the Gahadavala throne. According to one theory, he was a Ghurid vassal. However, in an 1197 CE Kotwa inscription, he assumes the titles of a sovereign.


title: Jayachandra

text: Jayachandra is a prominent character in the Braj language text "Prithviraj Raso". According to the text, Jayachandra ("Jaichand") was a cousin of the Chahamana king Prithviraja III ("Prithviraj Chauhan"). Their mothers were sisters born to the Tomara king of Delhi. This claim is directly contradicted by the more reliable contemporary text "Prithviraja Vijaya", according to which Prithviraj's mother had nothing to do with the Tomaras.


title: Jayachandra

text: The text states that Jaichand's wife was a daughter of king Mukunda-deva, the Somavanshi king of Kataka. Jaichand's father Vijayachandra had defeated Mukunda-deva, who concluded a peace treaty by marrying his daughter to prince Jaichand. Samyukta was the issue of this marriage. This narrative is historically inaccurate: the Somavanshi dynasty did not have any king named Mukunda-deva. Moreover, the Somavanshis had already been displaced by the Gangas before Vijayachandra's ascension.


title: Jayachandra

text: The text also talks of a conflict between Jaichand and Prithviraj. Neither Chahamana nor Gahadavala inscriptions mention any such conflict. The text claims that Jaichand assisted the Chandela king Paramardi in a battle against Prithviraj. The Chandelas were defeated in this battle. The inscriptional evidence confirms that Prithviraj defeated Paramardi, but there is no evidence for a Gahadavala-Chandela alliance. That said, it is known that Paramardi's grandfather Madanavarman had friendly relations with the Gahadavalas. It is also possible that Gahadavalas may have supported the Chandelas, because the Chahamanas were a common rival of these two kingdoms. This hypothesis notwithstanding, there is no evidence to suggest that Jayachandra and Prithviraja were rivals.


title: Jayachandra

text: "Prithviraj Raso" further claims that Jaichand launched a "digvijaya" campaign (conquest in all directions). At the end of this campaign, he conducted a rajasuya ceremony to proclaim his supremacy. However, none of the Gahadavala inscriptions mention such a ceremony by Jaichand. The contemporary literary work "Rambha-Manjari", which presents Jaichand as a hero, does not mention this campaign either.


title: Jayachandra

text: According to the text, Jaichand also conducted a svayamvara (husband selection) ceremony for his daughter Samyukta. He did not invite Prithviraj to this ceremony, but Samyukta had fallen in love with Prithviraj, and decided to select him as her husband. Prithviraj came to the ceremony and eloped with the princess after a fight with Jaichand's men. This anecdote is not supported by any historical evidence either.


title: Jayachandra

text: It is possible that Jaichand and Prithviraj were political rivals, as indicated by their non-cooperation against the Ghurid invaders. But the "Prithviraj Raso" goes on to claim that Jaichand not only refused to help Prithviraj against the Ghurids, but also formed an alliance with the invading Ghurid king Muhammad of Ghor Although the account in Prithviraj Raso is disputed by historians, the name "Jaichand" became synonymous with the word "traitor" in Indian folklore.


title: Jayachandra

text: Several inscriptions from Jayachandra's reign have been discovered, most of them in and around Varanasi. One of the inscriptions has been discovered at Bodh Gaya in present-day Bihar.


title: Jayachandra

text: Jayachandra's court poet Bhatta Kedar wrote a eulogy titled "Jaichand Prakash" on his life, but the work is now lost. Another lost eulogy on his life is the poet Madhukar's "Jaya-Mayank-Jasha-Chandrika" (c. 1183).


title: Jayachandra

text: According to the 1167 CE Kamauli inscription, as a prince, Jayachandra was initiated as a worshipper of Krishna by the Vaishnavite guru Praharaja-Sharman. Nevertheless, after ascending the throne, Jayachandra assumed the dynasty's traditional title "Parama-Maheshvara" ("devotee of Shiva"). His Kamauli grant inscription states that he made a village grant and performed tulapurusha ceremony in the presence of the god Kṛittivāsa (an epithet of Shiva).


title: Jayachandra

text: An inscription discovered at Bodh Gaya suggests that Jayachandra also showed interest in Buddhism. This inscription begins with an invocation to Gautam Buddha, the Bodhisattavas, and one Shrimitra (Śrimītra). Shrimitra is named as a perceptor ("diksha-guru") of Kashisha Jayachchandra, identified with the king Jayachandra. The inscription records the construction of a "guha" (cave monastery) at Jayapura.


title: Bazar de la Charité

text: The Bazar de la Charité was an annual charity event orchestrated by the French Catholic aristocracy in Paris beginning in 1885, when it was first organised by Englishman Henry Blount, the son of banker Sir Edward Blount, a financier of railway enterprises in France. The "Bazar" was held in a variety of locations by a consortium of charitable organisations that shared renting fees, acting to reduce costs and group potential buyers.


title: Bazar de la Charité

text: The 1897 "Bazar de la Charité" became known for the fire which claimed 126 lives, many of which were notable aristocratic women, including Sophie Charlotte, Duchess of Alençon.


title: Bazar de la Charité

text: In 1897, the "Bazar" was located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris at 17 Rue Jean-Goujon, inside a large wooden warehouse which the organisers had reconstituted as a medieval street using painted wood, cardboard, cloth, and papier-mache. One of the key attractions of the "Bazar", scheduled for 3 to 6 May, was to be a cinematograph installation which functioned with ether lamps.


title: Bazar de la Charité

text: On the afternoon of 4 May, the projectionist's equipment caught fire, and 126 people—mostly aristocratic women—died as a result of the following blaze and the panic of the crowd in attendance. Over 200 others sustained additional injuries, and the disaster—noted for improperly marked exits—was reported internationally.


title: Bazar de la Charité

text: Some of the visitors fleeing through the courtyard were aided in escaping through the windows of the adjacent Hôtel du Palais' kitchen by the hotel's manager, Mme Roche-Sautier, and cook M Gauméry. The condition of the charred remains of the victims was such that dental records were necessary for identification, which in itself became a landmark in the early history of forensic dentistry.


title: Bazar de la Charité

text: In the aftermath of the fire, 937,438 francs, equivalent to the amount raised by the previous year's "Bazar", was donated by an anonymous benefactor to the charitable purposes for which the "Bazar de la Charité" had been organised.


title: Bazar de la Charité

text: A Catholic chapel, the Notre-Dame-de-Consolation, was built on the location of the "Bazar" in honour of the victims of the fire, and is currently owned by the Bazar de la Charité Memorial association. It was classed as a historic monument in 1982, and in 2013 was devolved to the Society of Saint Pius X.


title: Blackest Night

text: "Blackest Night" is a 2009–10 American comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous central miniseries, written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Ivan Reis, along with a number of tie-in issues. "Blackest Night" involves Nekron, a personified force of death who reanimates deceased superheroes and seeks to eliminate all life and emotion from the universe. Geoff Johns has identified the series' central theme as emotion. The crossover was published for eight months as a limited series and in both the "Green Lantern" and "Green Lantern Corps" comic titles. Various other limited series and tie-ins, including an audio drama from Darker Projects, were published.


title: Blackest Night

text: The storyline was first mentioned at the conclusion of the "Sinestro Corps War" in "Green Lantern" (vol. 4) #25. As the war between the Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps reaches its climax, the four Green Lanterns of Earth—Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner—are told by the Guardians Ganthet and Sayd of the Blackest Night prophecy. According to the prophecy, the two existing Corps would be joined by five new ones, each driven by a specific emotion and empowered by a specific color of the emotional spectrum, leading to a "War of Light" that would subsequently destroy the universe. Johns says the prophecy has its origins in the story "Tygers" by Alan Moore, which touches on the rising up of the Guardians' enemies the Weaponers of Qward, Ranx the Sentient City, and the Children of the White Lobe, the destruction of the Green Lanterns, and shows Hal Jordan, Sinestro, and Mogo dying. Both Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver said that "Blackest Night" is the third part of a "Green Lantern" event trilogy that began with "" and continued with "Sinestro Corps War". In a December 2007 interview with IGN, Johns stated that he had the monthly "Green Lantern" book plotted up until issue #55. More details for the event were revealed in "DC Universe" #0, which depicted Black Hand discovering the black power battery on the planet of Ryut.


title: Blackest Night

text: "Blackest Night" #0 was released on May 2, 2009, —Free Comic Book Day—and portrays a series of events directly leading into "Blackest Night" #1. The standalone, self-titled miniseries consists of "Blackest Night" #0 and eight monthly issues. Tie-ins include issues of "Green Lantern" and "Green Lantern Corps" starting with issues #43 and #38, respectively, and nine 3-issue limited series: "Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps", "Blackest Night: Superman", "Blackest Night: Batman", "Blackest Night: Titans", "Blackest Night: Wonder Woman", "Blackest Night: Flash", and "Blackest Night: JSA". Ethan Van Sciver had planned to work on the opening book, but because of his work on "" miniseries he was not able to complete both effectively. Van Sciver and Ivan Reis, as well as Joe Prado created many of the designs for this storyline.


title: Blackest Night

text: Green Lanterns Ash and Saarek find the Black Central Battery at a reportedly classified location within Sector 666. After touching the battery, Saarek reports that their presence has awakened something. The two are killed when two monstrous hands emerge from below them as the battery calls "flesh". In "Green Lantern Corps", a field of asteroids in an unknown region of space is depicted with the colors of the spectrum in the background. The asteroids, which are apparently the remains of the planet Xanshi, are shattered and a large quantity of black power rings move through them.


title: Blackest Night

text: In Gotham City, Black Hand removes Bruce Wayne's skull from his grave and carries it with him, and a Black Lantern power battery begins to charge. The Guardians of Oa observe the War of Light and realize that Ganthet and Sayd are correct, but are kept from intervening by Scar, who swiftly kills one and imprisons the rest. Thousands of black rings assault the Corps' crypt, creating a Black Lantern Corps. Hal Jordan and the newly revived Flash investigate Bruce Wayne's grave and are attacked by Black Lantern Martian Manhunter. On Oa, the Green Lanterns are met by all of the resurrected Lanterns, now reborn as Black Lanterns. Hawkgirl and Hawkman are killed by Black Lanterns Elongated Man and Sue Dibny and join the growing Black Corps.


title: Blackest Night

text: The Atom is tricked into visiting Black Lantern Hawkman, and Deadman is the first to realize the dead superheroes are not their true selves when his physical body revives as a Black Lantern while he is still free. Aquaman and his Black Lantern family, including Tempest, attack Mera, who flees. A black ring strikes the Spectre, binding the spirit Aztar and reviving Crispus Allen as a Black Lantern. The black rings are unable to revive dead characters who are at peace, such as former Dove Don Hall, even as his partner Hawk and his brother Hank rise. In Gotham, Hal Jordan and Barry Allen are confronted by several Black Lanterns, including Ronald Raymond. Hal, the Atom and Flash battle the Black Lanterns when the Indigo Tribe appear and use their Indigo power with other rings to obliterate the Black Dibnys. Mera finds the new (still human) Firestorm and Gehenna, who merge to create a new Firestorm. Indigo says that the Lantern Corps must unite to defeat the Black one. The Indigo Tribe depart with Hal and leave the other heroes to fight the invading Black Lanterns. Black Lantern Firestorm separates Jason and Gehenna, kills Gehenna, while taunting her how scared she was, and absorbs Jason's consciousness. Black rings revive the villains whose remains have been in storage in the Hall of Justice.


title: Blackest Night

text: Mera and Flash flee the Black Lanterns and use Atom's powers to escape through a telephone line. Flash leaves and gives all the superheroes in the US the key to defeat the Black Lanterns—merging lights with a Green Ring—and the Atom, Mera and the Justice Society of America battle many Lanterns together. Jean Loring kills and causes Damage to revive as a Lantern, which fully empowers the Black Lantern power battery. Barry arrives in Coast City, where Scar has teleported with the Black Central Power Battery. Black Hand then summons Nekron, who revives the residents of Coast City. The JLA, Wally West, the Teen Titans, and Bart Allen fight the Coast City Black Lanterns. Dove can destroy Black Lanterns with her presence. Hal and Lantern Corps members Carol Ferris, Sinestro, Atrocitus, Larfleeze, Saint Walker, Indigo-1, Ganthet, and Sayd return to Earth and attack Scar while she is attacking Wally West. Nekron has Batman's corpse—later revealed to be a clone briefly reanimated to gain a necessary connection—and sends rings to Superman, Wonder Woman, Superboy, Green Arrow, Kid Flash, Donna Troy, Ice, and Animal Man, previously killed and revived into Black Lantern members by Nekron as Hal and Barry try to outrace their rings.


title: Blackest Night

text: Allen time-travels himself and Jordan two seconds into the future and disables their rings. Mera and the Atom arrive. John Stewart warns Hal that every Black Lantern in the universe is heading for Earth. Jordan says they need the entire seven Corps to unite to produce White Light. While they summon the seven Corps to Earth, Ganthet duplicates the seven colored rings present and deputizes non-Corps members Ganthet as Green, Barry Allen as Blue, Lex Luthor as Orange, Scarecrow as Yellow, Atom as Indigo, Mera as Red, and Wonder Woman as Violet after separating her from her Black Ring. The Corps Leaders and deputies fight Nekron but cannot stop him, partly because Luthor is overwhelmed by the Orange light of avarice. John Stewart is trying to stop the horde of Black Lanterns when the combined Six Corps arrive to join and battle the Black Lanterns. In Coast City, Dove tries to reach the Black Lantern Battery but is forced to retreat as a being from within the battery tries to escape. Nekron kills a Guardian and uses his blood to cause a cocoon to emerge. Ganthet reveals that this is the White Light Entity that triggered existence and that life actually began on Earth, not Oa, and that the Guardians upheld the lie to protect the Entity and justify their power. Nekron stabs the Entity, causing living beings across the universe to feel pain, and Sinestro surrenders to his anger at Abin Sur's death and stabs Ganthet, much to Hal Jordan's charging.


title: Blackest Night

text: Hal realizes the Entity is like Parallax and Ion and needs a guide, and tries to merge with it, but is blocked by Sinestro, who is unhappy that Hal recently reused Parallax, who Sinestro feels he deserves. Sinestro demands the Entity's power, emerges and is told "Thaal Sinestro of Korugar. Destiny awaits". Sinestro is promptly killed by Nekron, but the White Ring revives him. Sinestro retaliates and kills Nekron, but Nekron's scythe is picked up by a Black Lantern human who transforms into Nekron and says "death cannot be stopped". Ganthet notes that Sinestro cannot properly control the Entity as it is being powered by Sinestro's ego rather than his will to live. The united Lantern Corps attacks Nekron. Deadman possesses Guy Gardner and explains that Black Hand is Nekron's tether and that he must be revived to defeat Nekron. Nekron separates Sinestro from the Entity and Hal says that Nekron opened the door to death but it was the decision of the heroes to live. Hal merges with the Entity and transforms himself and the Black Lantern heroes into a White Lantern Corps, who restore Black Hand to life. This causes Black Hand to regurgitate a White Ring which revives the Anti-Monitor trapped in the Black Lantern Power Battery. Nekron briefly fights the Anti-Monitor and banishes him to his home in Qward, the Antimatter Universe. Black Hand regurgitates a cluster of white rings that destroy Nekron. The rings bring only 12 Black Lanterns back to life: Maxwell Lord, Jade, the Hawk, Captain Boomerang, Firestorm (Ronald Raymond), the Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Osiris, Professor Zoom the Reverse-Flash, and Deadman (Boston Brand).


title: Blackest Night

text: Upon seeing Aquaman alive, Mera's love causes her ring to depart and shatter, sending her into cardiac arrest. Star Sapphire and Saint Walker join their powers together to restore her, and Aquaman and Mera share a joyful reunion. Hawkgirl recalls her past lives, removes her helmet to reveal that she is again Shiera Hall and embraces Hawkman. Superman expresses his happiness that J'onn has returned. Firestorm forcibly separates into Ronald Raymond and Jason, the latter is angry that Ronald has killed his girlfriend. As Mera comforts Jason, Ronald is confused and asks Atom what is happening and where Professor Stein is. Guy lets Lord, who is controlling his mind, escape. Jade kisses Kyle, unaware he is in love with fellow Green Lantern Soranik Natu. Osiris is confused and says he wants to go home. Superboy and Kid Flash, who only knows him by name, try to figure out who he is. After Professor Zoom flees, Flash knocks out Captain Boomerang, while saying bloody hell to him. Barry notes that Ralph and Sue Dibny have not been revived. Deadman, the only one of the resurrected still wearing a White Ring, is stunned to realize he is alive and something is wrong. Larfleeze returns an unconscious Lex Luthor stripped of his ring, who briefly realizes that he has given something away, and demands that Sayd honors her debt to him.


title: Blackest Night

text: Ganthet protests but Sayd tells him all is well and believes she can somehow help Larfleeze. Sayd says the future of the Lantern Corps must be discussed. Saint Walker notices that the Indigo Tribe and Black Hand are missing. On the Indigo home world, Black Hand is now a member and prisoner of the Indigo Tribe, and is chained to an indigo power staff. Hal and Barry realize that because Black Lantern Batman was a fake, Bruce Wayne is still alive somewhere. Barry wonders what became of the Entity; Hal says it is still out there, urging them all to move past the events of the Blackest Night. Elsewhere, on a distant road, a White Power Battery is found in a crater.


title: Blackest Night

text: Following the end of "Blackest Night", DC launched "Brightest Day", a 25-issue bi-weekly comic book written by Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi. Also, "Action Comics" features a story arc in which Lex Luthor starts a universal quest to locate the power sources of the Black Lantern Corps after being infused with the Orange Light of Avarice.


title: Blackest Night

text: The series has received generally positive reviews. Comic Book Resources gave the first and third issues in the series 5 out of 5 stars, and the second received 4.5 stars. IGN also reviewed the series favorably, and rated the first three individual issues between 8.7 and 9.3 out of a possible 10.


title: Blackest Night

text: In "Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Blackest Night", an alternate outcome to "Blackest Night" is depicted where Sinestro's ego refused to release his control of the Entity, with the result that all life was destroyed by the Black Lanterns. By the time of the storyline, a few weeks after Nekron's attack, the only living beings in the universe are Sinestro, Lobo, Dove, and Mister Miracle, and Sinestro is only half-alive because the Entity keeps him going even as he wears a Black ring at the same time. Mister Miracle is able to find a means of channelling the Source Wall through Dove to recreate the universe, but when Nekron - now possessing Darkseid - reveals that this will literally remake the universe over, Mister Miracle kills Dove as he cannot bring himself to erase Barda from existence, which causes Lobo to kill Mister Miracle in retribution for killing the only thing in the universe he considered "pure". As a last resort, Sinestro uses Lobo to channel the life energy into the universe, but this only results in the creation of a more twisted form of 'life' that follows Lobo's example by trying to destroy all remnants of the old existence and their own enemies, leaving Sinestro fighting to escape this world even as higher entities keep him contained so that he cannot contaminate other realities.


title: Pasta e fagioli

text: Pasta e fagioli (), meaning "pasta and beans", is a traditional Italian pasta soup. It is often called pasta fasul or pasta fazool in the New York Italian dialect, derived from its Neapolitan name, pasta e fasule.


title: Pasta e fagioli

text: Recipes for "pasta e fagioli" vary, the only true requirement being that beans and pasta are included. While the dish varies from region to region, it is most commonly made using cannellini beans, navy beans, or borlotti beans and a small variety of pasta such as elbow macaroni or ditalini. The base typically includes olive oil, garlic, minced onion, celery, carrots, and often stewed tomatoes or tomato paste. Some variations omit tomatoes and instead use a broth base. Preparation may be vegetarian, or contain meat (often bacon, ground beef, or pancetta) or a meat-based stock.


title: Pasta e fagioli

text: The recipe varies greatly based on the region or town in which it is prepared, depending on available ingredients. The consistency of the dish can vary, with some being soupy, while others are much thicker. For instance, in Bari the dish is thicker in consistency and uses mixed pasta shapes. It also uses pancetta in the base of the sauce. Other varieties call for the beans to be passed through a food mill, giving it a stew-like consistency. Pasta e ceci, a version replacing the beans with chickpeas, is common in Rome.


title: Pasta e fagioli

text: "Pastafazoola", a 1927 novelty song by Van and Schenck, capitalizes on the Neapolitan pronunciation in the rhyme, "Don't be a fool, eat pasta fazool." The song "That's Amore", by Warren and Brooks (popularized by Dean Martin), includes the rhyme "When the stars make you drool, just like pasta fazool, that's amore". "Pasta e fagioli" was also among Dean Martin's favorite foods.


title: Flirting with Disaster (film)

text: Flirting with Disaster is a 1996 American black comedy film written and directed by David O. Russell about a young father's search for his biological parents. It stars Ben Stiller, Patricia Arquette, Téa Leoni, Alan Alda, Mary Tyler Moore, George Segal, Lily Tomlin and Richard Jenkins. It was screened out of competition in the Special Screenings section at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.


title: Flirting with Disaster (film)

text: Mel Coplin and his wife, Nancy, live in New York, near Mel's neurotic, Jewish, adoptive parents, Ed and Pearl Coplin. Mel and Nancy have just had their first child, and Mel won't decide on a name for their son until he can discover the identity of his biological parents. When Tina, an adoption agency employee, locates his biological mother's name in a database, Mel decides to meet his mother personally.


title: Flirting with Disaster (film)

text: The sexy but highly incompetent Tina decides to accompany Mel, Nancy, and the newborn on a trip to San Diego to meet Mel's biological mother. The trip does not go as planned, and ends up becoming a tour of the United States.


title: Flirting with Disaster (film)

text: In San Diego, Mel is introduced to Valerie, a blonde Scandinavian woman with Confederate roots whose twin daughters are a head taller than Mel. They realize that Valerie is not Mel's biological mother, and Tina scrambles to get the correct information from the agency database. Meanwhile, Nancy becomes jealous as Tina and Mel begin to flirt.


title: Flirting with Disaster (film)

text: The group heads to Battle Creek, Michigan, with the hope of meeting the man whose name appears as the person who delivered infant Mel to the adoption agency. The man, Fritz Boudreau, turns out to be a trucker with a violent streak. However, when he discovers that Mel might be his son, he becomes instantly friendly and lets Mel drive his semi-trailer truck, which Mel immediately crashes into a Post Office building.


title: Flirting with Disaster (film)

text: This leads to a run-in with two ATF agents, Tony and Paul, who are in a homosexual relationship. It is discovered that Tony and Nancy went to high school together. Charges are dismissed, and Fritz tells Mel that he is not Mel's father, but only handled Mel's adoption because Mel's biological parents were indisposed. Tina locates the current address of Mel's biological parents, in rural New Mexico. Tony and Paul surprise everyone by deciding to tag along.


title: Flirting with Disaster (film)

text: While Mel and Tina become close, Nancy finds herself flirting with Tony, who returns the compliment, causing friction. The trip through rural New Mexico is fraught with more problems. The whole crowd finally descends on the front porch of Mel's true biological parents, Richard and Mary Schlichting. They are asked to stay the night.


title: Flirting with Disaster (film)

text: While Richard and Mary are more than welcoming, Mel's biological brother Lonnie is overly rude and jealous. It is during dinner that Mel discovers that Richard and Mary had to let Mel be adopted because they were in jail for making and distributing LSD ( acid) in the late 1960s. Not only that, but Richard and Mary continue to manufacture the drug, as becomes apparent when Lonnie, in an attempt to dose Mel with acid at dinner, accidentally doses Paul. Mel retires to Tina's bedroom, while Nancy and Tony share a room; neither couple is truly comfortable, leading to Nancy and Mel spending the night reconciling their issues.


title: Flirting with Disaster (film)

text: While the others are upstairs, the drugged Paul tries to arrest Richard and Mary, but Lonnie knocks him out with a frying pan. The three Schlichtings attempt to escape and decide to take Mel's car, hiding their supply of acid in the trunk. Ed and Pearl unexpectedly arrive, in their identical car, but then change their minds and decide to leave, taking the wrong car. When they change their minds again and make a blind U-turn on the nearly deserted highway, Mel's two sets of parents crash. Ed and Pearl are arrested while the Schlichtings escape to Mexico.


title: Flirting with Disaster (film)

text: As morning arrives, not realizing what has happened, Mel and Nancy agree to name the baby Garcia, after Jerry Garcia. Called to the Sheriff's office to bail out Ed and Pearl, Mel refers to them as his parents, which they are surprised and happy to hear. Paul, Tony and Tina arrive, with Paul explaining the situation and getting Ed and Pearl released.


title: Flirting with Disaster (film)

text: A montage of each family's personal relationshipsMel and Nancy, Paul and Tony and their Tina-arranged adopted baby, Ed and Pearl, the three Schlichtings, and a very pregnant Tinacontinues over the credits. Each family still have their troubles, but Mel and Nancy are happy together.


title: Flirting with Disaster (film)

text: Burt Reynolds was up for a role in the film, but Russell decided not to work with him after hearing he was abusive on the set of "The Larry Sanders Show".


title: Flirting with Disaster (film)

text: Rotten Tomatoes rated the film as "Certified Fresh" giving it an 88% based on 56 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Darkly funny, solidly cast, and surprisingly thoughtful, "Flirting with Disaster" proved David O. Russell's "Spanking the Monkey" was no fluke."


title: Jolt Cola

text: Jolt Cola is a carbonated soft drink produced by The Jolt Company, Inc. (later known as Wet Planet Beverages). The cola drink was created in 1985 by C. J. Rapp as a highly caffeinated beverage. It was targeted towards students and young professionals, stressing its use as a stimulant in a similar manner as energy drinks. Its slogan reads "All the sugar and twice the caffeine!"


title: Jolt Cola

text: Jolt Cola is a beverage originally made by The Jolt Company, Inc., of Rochester, New York. From the outset, Jolt's marketing strategy centered on the caffeine content, billing the drink as a means to promote wakefulness. The initial slogan was "All the sugar and twice the caffeine;" this slogan survived for 24 years. This slogan was changed to "Twice the Caffeine."