title: Pigeon racing

text: The sport was banned beginning 1 January 2004 in Chicago, but there have been a number of attempts to amend the ban since then (by making exemptions to the ban for members of a national professional organization). Alderman Gilbert Villegas of the 36th ward introduced the newest legislation June 2018, on behalf of the Polish constituents in his ward, saying the sport is deeply loved in Poland and a number of residents want to reintroduce the sport to Chicago.


title: Pigeon racing

text: Pigeon racing was particularly popular throughout the twentieth century in the New York City area, particularly in Brooklyn/Coney Island and in Hoboken New Jersey, where it still has devotees.


title: Pigeon racing

text: Pigeon racing is becoming increasingly popular in parts of Asia, especially Indonesia, India, China, Pakistan, Iran, Philippines, Japan, Taiwan and Bangladesh. In Bangladesh there are three pigeon racing associations which look after the sport and organize many races. There are thousands of registered pigeon fanciers in Bangladesh.


title: Pigeon racing

text: Pakistan also has many pigeon clubs. Karachi, Peshawar, Lahore and Sargodha are leading in good quality racing pigeons.


title: Pigeon racing

text: Taiwan has more racing pigeon events than any other country in the world, and can point to between two and three million birds. Nearly 500,000 people race pigeons on the island, and each year, prize money for races reaches the billions of NT dollars.


title: Pigeon racing

text: There are over 200 pigeon fanciers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, who race their pigeons outside Cumilla and Chittagong. These two cities have over 100,000 pigeons with this number increasing day by day. Local people are also known to build their own lofts, with some being PIPA agents. These pigeons are directly bought.


title: Pigeon racing

text: The largest racing organisation in Australia is the Central Cumberland Federation. The state of Queensland also has a number of clubs and organisations. The biggest of these is the Qld Racing Pigeon Federation Inc (QRPF). Located in Brisbane, the QRPF has a long history dating back to the Second World War. Each year the QRPF organises pigeon races for its some 80 members. These races start at approximately in distance and continue on a gradual basis out to distances of over . A specialised transporter is used to transport the birds to the release points. This transporter enables the birds to be fed and watered en route before mass release at a predetermined time for their flight back to various home lofts. Many thousands of pigeons compete in races each weekend during the winter months.


title: Pigeon racing

text: In Western Australia racing is conducted by the Pigeon Racing Federation of Western Australia (Inc) and the West Coast Racing Pigeon Federation (Inc.).


title: Pigeon racing

text: The sport of pigeon racing has been declining around Sydney with pigeon club members gradually dying off as fewer younger people take up the sport. The high cost of feeds and fuel have also contributed to the decline.


title: Pigeon racing

text: The Janssen brothers (Louis, Charel, Arjaan and Sjef) were a famous and successful pigeon racing family from Arendonk, Belgium. Louis Janssen, born 1912, was the last-surviving of the famous brothers. He died on 16 April 2013, at the age of 100. Descendants of the brothers' pigeons can be found racing all around the world.


title: Pigeon racing

text: Another famous and successful pigeon fancier is Karel Meulemans. Karel, born in Retie, also lives in Arendonk.


title: Pigeon racing

text: Pigeon racing in Poland is overseen by "Polski Związek Hodowców Gołębi Pocztowych" (the Polish Pigeon Breeders Association), which has over 40,000 members. The first local association of pigeon breeders in the Polish lands under occupation was established in 1905 in Zabrze. After Poland regained independence in 1918, several such organisations were established, and in 1926 the first nationwide breeders' association was established: "Zjednoczenie Polskich Stowarzyszeń Hodowców Gołębi Pocztowych na Rzeczpospolita Polska" (Unification of Polish Pigeon Breeders' Associations for the Republic of Poland). The breeding of racing pigeons was banned during the Nazi occupation, but after World War II the Polish Pigeon Breeders Union was recreated on 1 April 1946 in Kraków.


title: Pigeon racing

text: Romania is one of Europe's hot spots in pigeon racing. Many pigeon breeders join the National Federations every year, triggering more and more competitive challenges. Furthermore, the sport's image has changed in the last decade: nowadays it stands for a fine art in Romania, with symbolic prizes and bets. There is a close collaboration with pigeon fanciers from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.


title: Pigeon racing

text: In 2019, the Madona National Marathon, a competition organized by Best Pigeons, had the highest number of pigeons ever registered on a Romanian competition: over 19,000 birds and over 1,000 breeders.


title: Pigeon racing

text: The sport is popular in Turkey. In May 2008 a nine part, pigeon race from the town of Manisa to Erzurum was organised with participants from many pigeon associations across the country.


title: Pigeon racing

text: The first regular race in Great Britain was in 1881. The British Royal Family first became involved with pigeon racing in 1886 when King Leopold II of Belgium gave them breeding stock. The tradition continues to this day, and a bird of Queen Elizabeth II won a race in 1990. The sport is declining in the UK, with membership of recognised clubs and federations falling by about five per cent annually.


title: Pigeon racing

text: In 2007 the British Parliament banned pigeons racing from continental Europe to Britain because of the risk of bird flu. A British MEP supported fanciers to have the ban lifted. Labours MEP Brian Simpson, from Golborne, believed that it was unfair to allow concerns about avian flu to throttle the fanciers' sport. Simpson said, "But what is clearly apparent now is that pigeon are low-risk in regards to avian flu and the decision to ban continental pigeon racing was wrong."


title: Pigeon racing

text: Apart from the sport of racing against each other, fanciers also exhibit racing pigeons at organised shows and have a judge decide who has the better bird. British Homing World holds a show each year; all profits from the event are donated to both national and local charities, including Help the Aged and the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus.


title: Pigeon racing

text: South Africa is the home of the richest one-loft race in the world, the Million Dollar Pigeon Race. The Million Dollar Pigeon Race involves 4,300 birds from 25 countries with a prize fund of $1.3 million. The runners-up win cars and smaller monetary prizes, while the overall winner receiving US$200,000. Sun City's one-loft race, sees birds from across the world air-freighted to South Africa as squabs, months before the race, and trained to orient to a single loft. Then on race day, after being released out on the South African veldt, the birds all race back to the same destination. The first race was in 1996 and attracted 893 pigeons. The race broke even after five years.


title: Pigeon racing

text: In February 2008 a pigeon fancier paid a South African record R800,000 for a racing pigeon at auction. The auction, where he bought several other birds, was held after the Sun City Million Dollar Pigeon Race.


title: The Red Shoes (album)

text: The Red Shoes is the seventh studio album by English musician Kate Bush. Released on 2 November 1993, it was accompanied by Bush's short film, "The Line, the Cross and the Curve", and was her last album before a 12-year hiatus. The album peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), denoting shipments in excess of 300,000 copies. In the United States, the album reached number 28 on the "Billboard" 200, her highest-peaking album on the chart at the time.


title: The Red Shoes (album)

text: "The Red Shoes" was inspired by the 1948 film of the same name by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, which itself was inspired by the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. It concerns a dancer, possessed by her art, who cannot take off the eponymous shoes and find peace.


title: The Red Shoes (album)

text: Bush had suggested she would tour in support of "The Red Shoes" and deliberately aimed for a "live band" feel, with less of the studio trickery that had typified her last three albums (which would be difficult to recreate on stage). However, the tour never materialised.


title: The Red Shoes (album)

text: This was a troubled time for Bush, who had suffered a series of bereavements including the loss of her favoured guitarist, Alan Murphy, as well as her mother, Hannah, who died the year before the album's release. Bush's long-term relationship with bassist Del Palmer had also ended, although the pair continued to work together. "I've been very affected by these last two years", she remarked in late 1991. "They've been incredibly intense years for me. Maybe not on a work level, but a lot has happened to me. I feel I've learnt a lot – and, yes, I think [my next album] is going to be quite different... I hope the people that are waiting for it feel it's worth the wait."


title: The Red Shoes (album)

text: Many of the people she lost are honoured on the ballad "Moments of Pleasure", as well as director Michael Powell, with whom she had discussed working shortly before his death in 1990. Composer and conductor Michael Kamen contributed a score for the song.


title: The Red Shoes (album)

text: Most notably, "The Red Shoes" featured many more high-profile cameo appearances than her previous efforts. The track "Why Should I Love You?" featured instrumental and vocal contributions from Prince as well as guest vocals from comedian Lenny Henry. "And So Is Love" features guitar work by Eric Clapton, and Gary Brooker (from the band Procol Harum), and Jeff Beck also collaborated. Trio Bulgarka (who had contributed to "The Sensual World") appeared on three songs: "You're the One", "The Song of Solomon", and "Why Should I Love You?".


title: The Red Shoes (album)

text: A short film, "The Line, the Cross and the Curve", written and directed by Bush, and starring herself and English actress Miranda Richardson, was released the same year. It featured six songs from the album: "Rubberband Girl", "And So Is Love", "The Red Shoes", "Moments of Pleasure", "Eat the Music" and "Lily". The first five were used as promo videos for the singles, though Bush recorded a separate video for the American release of "Rubberband Girl" (though this video is intercut with clips from "The Line, the Cross and the Curve"). The film was nominated for the Long Form Music Video at the 1996 Grammy Awards.


title: The Red Shoes (album)

text: The album was recorded digitally, and Bush has since expressed regrets about the results of this, which is why she revisited seven of the songs using analogue tape for her 2011 album "Director's Cut", as well as releasing a remastered version of "The Red Shoes" in 2011, based on the master from an analogue backup tape.


title: The Red Shoes (album)

text: Bush performed "Lily" and "Top of the City" live for the first time in 2014 as part of the Before the Dawn concert residency.


title: Chapel

text: A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type of these. Secondly, a chapel is a place of worship, sometimes non-denominational, that is part of a building or complex with some other main purpose, such as a school, college, hospital, palace or large aristocratic house, castle, barracks, prison, funeral home, cemetery, airport, or a military or commercial ship. Thirdly, chapels are small places of worship, built as satellite sites by a church or monastery, for example in remote areas; these are often called a chapel of ease. A feature of all these types is that often no clergy were permanently resident or specifically attached to the chapel.


title: Chapel

text: Finally, for historical reasons, "chapel" is also often the term used by independent or nonconformist denominations for their places of worship in Great Britain, even where they are large and in practice they operate as a parish church.


title: Chapel

text: The earliest Christian places of worship are now often referred to as chapels, as they were not dedicated buildings but rather a dedicated chamber within a building. Most larger churches had one or more secondary altars which, if they occupied a distinct space, would often be called a chapel. In Russian Orthodox tradition, the chapels were built underneath city gates, where most people could visit them. The most famous example is the Iberian Chapel.


title: Chapel

text: Although chapels frequently refer to Christian places of worship, they are also commonly found in Jewish synagogues and do not necessarily denote a specific denomination. In England—where the Church of England is established by law—non-denominational or inter-faith chapels in such institutions may nonetheless be consecrated by the local Anglican bishop. Non-denominational chapels are commonly encountered as part of a non-religious institution such as a hospital, airport, university or prison. Many military installations have chapels for the use of military personnel, normally under the leadership of a military chaplain.


title: Chapel

text: The earliest Christian places of worship were not dedicated buildings but rather a dedicated chamber within a building, such as a room in an individual's home. Here one or two people could pray without being part of a communion/congregation. People who like to use chapels may find it peaceful and relaxing to be away from the stress of life, without other people moving around them.


title: Chapel

text: The word "chapel", like the associated word "chaplain", is ultimately derived from Latin. More specifically, the word "chapel" is derived from a relic of Saint Martin of Tours: traditional stories about Martin relate that while he was still a soldier, he cut his military cloak in half to give part to a beggar in need. The other half he wore over his shoulders as a "small cape" (). The beggar, the stories claim, was Christ in disguise, and Martin experienced a conversion of heart, becoming first a monk, then abbot, then bishop. This cape came into the possession of the Frankish kings, and they kept the relic with them as they did battle. The tent which kept the cape was called the "capella" and the priests who said daily Mass in the tent were known as the "capellani". From these words, via Old French, we get the names "chapel" and "chaplain".


title: Chapel

text: The word also appears in the Irish language in the Middle Ages, as Welsh people came with the Norman and Old English invaders to the island of Ireland. While the traditional Irish word for church was "eaglais" (derived from "ecclesia"), a new word, "séipéal" (from "cappella"), came into usage.


title: Chapel

text: In British history, "chapel" or "meeting house" were formerly the standard designations for church buildings belonging to independent or Nonconformist religious societies and their members. They were particularly associated with the pre-eminence of independent religious practice in rural regions of England and Wales, the northern industrial towns of the late 18th and 19th centuries, and centres of population close to but outside the City of London. As a result, "chapel" is sometimes used as an adjective in the UK to describe the members of such churches: for example in the sentence "I'm Chapel."


title: Chapel

text: A bridge chapel is a small place of Christian worship, built either on, or immediately adjacent to, a road bridge; they were commonly established during pre-Reformation mediaeval era in Europe.


title: Chapel

text: A capilla posa (Posa chapel) is an architectural feature of the monastery-ensembles of Mexico in the 16th century, consisting of four vaulted quadrangular buildings located at the ends of the atrium outside them.


title: Chapel

text: A capilla abierta (open chapel) is one of the most distinct Mexican church construction forms, mostly built in the 16th century during the early colonial period.


title: Chapel

text: A proprietary chapel is one that originally belonged to a private individual. In the 19th century they were common, often being built to cope with urbanisation. Frequently they were established by evangelical philanthropists with a vision of spreading Christianity in cities whose needs could no longer be met by the parishes. Some functioned more privately, with a wealthy person building a chapel so that they could invite their favorite preachers. They are anomalies in the English ecclesiastical law, having no parish area, but being permitted to have an Anglican clergyman licensed there. Historically many Anglican churches were proprietary chapels. Over the years they have often been converted into normal parishes.


title: Chapel

text: A court chapel is a chapel as a musical ensemble associated with a royal or noble court. Most of these are royal (court) chapels, but when the ruler of the court is not a king, the more generic "court chapel" is used, for instance for an imperial court.


title: Chapel

text: While the word "chapel" is not exclusively limited to Christian terminology, it is most often found in that context. Nonetheless, the word's meaning can vary by denomination, and non-denominational chapels (sometimes called "meditation rooms") can be found in many hospitals, airports, and even the United Nations headquarters. Chapels can also be found for worship in Judaism.


title: Chapel

text: The word "chapel" is in particularly common usage in the United Kingdom, and especially in Wales, for Nonconformist places of worship; and in Scotland and Ireland for Roman Catholic churches. In England and Wales, due to the rise in Nonconformist chapels during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, by the time of the 1851 census, more people attended the independent chapels than attended the state religion's Anglican churches. (The Anglican Church does not function as the established church in Scotland.)


title: Chapel

text: In Roman Catholic Church canon law, a chapel, technically called an "oratory", is a building or part thereof dedicated to the celebration of services, particularly the Mass, which is not a parish church. This may be a private chapel, for the use of one person or a select group (a bishop's private chapel, or the chapel of a convent, for instance); a semi-public oratory, which is partially available to the general public (a seminary chapel that welcomes visitors to services, for instance); or a public oratory (for instance, a hospital or university chapel).


title: Chapel

text: Chapels that are built as part of a larger church are holy areas set aside for some specific use or purpose: for instance, many cathedrals and large churches have a "Lady Chapel" in the apse, dedicated to the Virgin Mary; parish churches may have such a "Lady Chapel" in a side aisle or a "Chapel of Reservation" or "Blessed Sacrament Chapel" where the consecrated bread of the Eucharist is kept in reserve between services, for the purpose of taking Holy Communion to the sick and housebound and, in some Christian traditions, for devotional purposes.


title: Chapel

text: The first airport chapel was created in 1951 in Boston for airport workers but grew to include travelers. It was originally Catholic, but chapels today are often multifaith.


title: Francis Lenn Taylor

text: Francis Lenn Taylor (December 28, 1897 – November 20, 1968) was an American art dealer and the father of actress Elizabeth Taylor.


title: Francis Lenn Taylor

text: He was born in Springfield, Illinois, the son of Elizabeth Mary (née Rosemond; 1869–1937) and Francis Marion Taylor (1860–1946). The family later moved to Arkansas City, Kansas.


title: Francis Lenn Taylor

text: Francis began dealing in art in New York City for a wealthy uncle by marriage, Stephen Howard Young (22 May 1878 - 24 June 1972), later, a friend of Dwight Eisenhower after World War II.


title: Francis Lenn Taylor

text: Taylor married stage actress Sara Sothern (whose real name was Sara Viola Warmbrodt and who was also from Arkansas City) in 1926 in New York.


title: Francis Lenn Taylor

text: Within a few years of his marriage, Taylor was transferred to Young's art gallery in London, England, where he and Sara lived for several years, and where their children were born. In April 1939, five months before the outbreak of World War II in Europe, they returned to the United States.


title: Francis Lenn Taylor

text: He died at age 70 in Los Angeles, California. He is interred beside his widow in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, Los Angeles.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: National Alliance (, AN) was a conservative political party in Italy. It was the successor of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), a neo-fascist party founded in 1946 by former followers of Benito Mussolini that had moderated its policies over its last decades and finally distanced itself from its former ideology, a move known as "", during a convention in Fiuggi by dissolving into the new party in 1995.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: Gianfranco Fini was the leader of AN from its foundation through 2008, after being elected President of the Chamber of Deputies. Fini was succeeded by Ignazio La Russa, who managed the merger of the party with Forza Italia (FI) into The People of Freedom (PdL) in 2009. A group of former AN members, led by La Russa, left PdL in 2012 in order to launch the Brothers of Italy (FdI), while others remained in the PdL and were among the founding members of the new Forza Italia (FI) in 2013.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: National Alliance was launched in 1994 when the Italian Social Movement (MSI), the former neo-fascist party, merged with conservative elements of the former Christian Democracy, which had disbanded in 1994 after two years of scandals and various splits due to political corruption at its highest levels, exposed by the "Mani pulite" investigation, and the Italian Liberal Party, disbanded in the same year. It was officially launched in January 1995. Former MSI members dominated the new party, and the MSI's last leader, Gianfranco Fini, was elected the new party's first leader.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: The AN logo followed a template very similar to that of the Democratic Party of the Left, incorporating the MSI logo in a small roundel of the AN logo as a means of legally preventing others from using it. The name was suggested by an article on the Italian newspaper "Il Tempo" written in 1992 by Domenico Fisichella, a prominent conservative academic. Starting in the 1990s, the MSI gradually transformed into a mainstream right-wing party, culminating in its 1995 dissolution into AN.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: The party was part of all three House of Freedoms coalition governments led by Silvio Berlusconi. Fini was nominated Deputy Prime Minister after the 2001 Italian general election and was Foreign Minister from November 2004 to May 2006.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: When Fini visited Israel in late November 2003 in the function of Italian Deputy Prime Minister, he labeled the racial laws issued by the Italian fascism regime in 1938 as "infamous", as also Giorgio Almirante, historic leader of MSI, had done before. He also referred to the Italian Social Republic as belonging to the most shameful pages of the past, and considered fascism part of an era of "absolute evil", something which was hardly acceptable to the few remaining hardliners of the party. As a result, Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of the former fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, who had been at odds with the party on a number of issues for a long time, and some hardliners left the party and formed Social Action.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: In occasion of the 2006 Italian general election, AN ran within the House of Freedoms, with new allies. The centre-right lost by 24,000 votes in favour of the centre-left coalition The Union. Individually, AN received nearly 5 million votes, amounting to 12.3%. In July 2007, a group of splinters led by Francesco Storace formed The Right, which was officially founded on 10 November. Seven MPs of AN, including Teodoro Buontempo and Daniela Santanchè, joined the new party.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: In November 2007, Silvio Berlusconi announced that Forza Italia would have soon merged or transformed into The People of Freedom (PdL) party.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: After the sudden fall of the Prodi II Cabinet in January 2008, the breakup of The Union and the subsequent political crisis which led to a fresh general election, Berlusconi hinted that Forza Italia would have probably contested its last election and the new party would have been officially founded only after that election. In an atmosphere of reconciliation with Gianfranco Fini, Berlusconi also stated that the new party could see the participation of other parties. Finally, on 8 February, Berlusconi and Fini agreed to form a joint list under the PdL banner, allied with Lega Nord (LN). After the victory of the PdL in the 2008 Italian general election, AN was merged into the PdL in early 2009.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: Distinguishing itself from the MSI, the party distanced itself from Benito Mussolini and fascism, and made efforts to improve relations with Jewish groups. For example, after far-right skinheads celebrated the then-AN politician Gianni Alemanno's election as Mayor of Rome in 2008 by making the Roman salute outside the Palazzo Senatorio, Alemanno visited Rome Synagogue, where he gave a speech praising what he called the universal values of the fight against Nazism. The shift was also present in the rhetoric of the party's leader Fini, who went from declaring himself as "fascist for the 2000s" in 1987 when at the head of the MSI, to describing himself as a conservative at the time of the AN's launch in 1994. With most hardliners leaving the party, it sought to present itself as a respectable conservative party and to join forces with Forza Italia in the European People's Party and eventually in a united party of the centre-right. Historian David Broder has compared the AN to the People's Party in Spain, a post-Francisco Franco party.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: Although the party approved the market economy and held favourable views on liberalization and the privatization of state-owned companies, AN was to the left of Forza Italia on economic issues and sometimes supported statist policies. That is why the party was strong in Rome and Lazio, where most civil servants live. The implosion of the Christian Democrats created space for a more economically interventionist party of the conservative right, and the AN sought closer ties to the former DC factions tha joined the Berlusconi-led alliances of the right. As part of this, it also moderated its stances on the European Union and immigration, both of which were conditionally accepted by the party's leadership. Moreover, AN presented itself as a party promoting national cohesion, national identity, and patriotism.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: Regarding institutional reforms, the party was a long-time supporter of presidentialism and a plurality voting system, and came to support also federalism and to fully accept the alliance with Lega Nord, although the relations with that party were tense at times, especially about issues regarding national unity.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: Fini, a moderniser who saw Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron as role-models, impressed an ambitious political line to the party, combining the pillars of conservative ideology like security, family values, and patriotism with a more progressive approach in other areas, such as stem cell research and supporting voting rights for legal aliens. Some of these positions were not shared by many members of the party, most of whom staunchly opposed stem cell research and artificial insemination.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: National Alliance was a heterogeneous political party and within it members were divided in different factions, some of them very organized:


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: In the party there was also a group named Ethic-Religious Council, whose board members included Gaetano Rebecchini (founder, ex-DC), Riccardo Pedrizzi (president), Franco Tofoni (vice president), Luigi Gagliardi (secretary-general), Alfredo Mantovano, Antonio Mazzocchi, and Riccardo Migliori. This was not a faction but an official organism within the party and expressed the official position of the party on ethical and religious matters. Sometimes the group criticized Fini for his liberal views on abortion, artificial insemination, and stem-cell research, which led some notable ex-DC members as Publio Fiori to leave the party. Some members of the council, such as Pedrizzi and Mantovano, were described as members of an unofficial Catholic Right faction.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: The party had roughly 10–15% support across Italy, having its strongholds in Central Italy, as well as Southern Italy (Lazio 18.6%, Umbria 15.2%, Marche 14.3%, Abruzzo 14.3%, Apulia 13.2%, Sardinia 12.9%, Tuscany 12.6%, and Campania 12.6% in the 2006 Italian general election), scoring badly in Lombardy (10.2%) and Sicily (10.9%), while competing in the North-East (Friuli-Venezia Giulia 15.5% and Veneto 11.3%).


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: The party had a good showing in the first general election in which it took part, achieving 13.5% of the popular vote in 1994 Italian general election). In the 1996 Italian general election, when Fini tried for the first time to replace Silvio Berlusconi as leader of the centre-right, the party grew its support to 15.7%. From that moment the party suffered an electoral decline but remained the third force of Italian politics.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: In the 2006 Italian general election, the final election in which the party participated on its own account, AN won 12.3% of the vote, securing 71 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 41 in the Senate. In the 2008 Italian general election, the party had 90 deputies (excluding Fiamma Nirenstein, Alessandro Ruben, and Souad Sbai, whose election was supported both by Forza Italia and National Alliance), and 48 senators, who were elected as part of a joint election list under the banner of The People of Freedom.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: The electoral results of National Alliance in general (Chamber of Deputies) and European Parliament elections since 1994 are shown in the chart below.


title: National Alliance (Italy)

text: The electoral results of National Alliance in the 10 most populated regions of Italy are shown in the table below.


title: Miranda Sings

text: Miranda Sings is a fictional character, created and portrayed by American comedian, actress, singer and YouTube personality Colleen Ballinger, that first appeared on the Internet in 2008. Ballinger displays videos of the comically talentless, egotistical, misguided and quirky character on her YouTube channel. In these videos, the eccentric, narcissistic, yet endearing character sings and dances badly, gives inept "tutorials", recounts her daily activities, discusses current events that she often misunderstands, collaborates with other YouTubers, and rants about her critics, reading examples of hate mail directed at the character on social media; she responds to them with her catchphrase: "Haters Back Off!"


title: Miranda Sings

text: Inspired by early YouTube videos that she saw, and by rude classmates, Ballinger created the character as a satire of bad but arrogant singers who believe that posting their videos on YouTube will lead to them breaking into show business. As of July 2021, the Miranda Sings YouTube channel has more than 2 billion views and 10 million subscribers, and Miranda has accumulated more than 12 million TikTok followers and 6 million Instagram followers. The character also has an active presence on other social media platforms.


title: Miranda Sings

text: Since 2009, in addition to her internet videos, Ballinger has presented live comedy acts, in character as Miranda Sings, at first in cabaret spaces and later in theaters in New York, London, and other cities in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and elsewhere; she has toured regularly since 2014. Her acts include Miranda's signature off-key singing of pop music hits and show tunes, with introductions focusing on the character's backstory. Her delivery is full of malapropisms, mondegreens and spoonerisms, and the acts incorporate interaction with audience volunteers, giving a "voice lesson" to, or singing a duet with, Broadway or other musical celebrities, reading hate mail, seeking a boyfriend, and singing while being stabbed through the neck in her "magic trick". One of Miranda's 2018 tour stops was filmed and released as a 2019 Netflix comedy special.


title: Miranda Sings

text: The character has appeared in television and web series and other media. Her first network television appearance was in a 2012 episode of the TV show "Victorious". In 2014, she guest-starred in character on an episode of "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" with Jerry Seinfeld and appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon". In 2015, she released a "New York Times" #1 best-selling book, written in Miranda's voice, titled "Selp-Helf". Miranda is the main character in the Netflix original series "Haters Back Off" (2016–2017). Ballinger won a Teen Choice Award and a Streamy Award for her Miranda videos.


title: Miranda Sings

text: Since 2008, Ballinger has posted more than 800 videos as the character Miranda Sings on the YouTube channel of the same name. The character is a satire of bad, but egotistical, singers who post internet videos of themselves singing in hopes of breaking into show business, despite the realistic or cruel comments of "haters" who comment on their videos. More generally, it is a satire of pretentious and untalented performers everywhere. Miranda is supposedly a home-schooled single woman who lives with her mother, uncle and baby. She is narcissistic, infantilized, overconfident and has a relentless ambition to achieve show business fame.


title: Miranda Sings

text: In the videos, the Miranda character sings in a comically off-key, yet plausible, voice and covers pop music hits, show tunes and original songs. Sometimes she discusses current events, which she usually misunderstands, gives inept mock-"tutorials", rants about her internet critics or discusses the character's backstory. She uses spoonerisms, mondegreens and malapropisms, is irritable, ludicrously self-absorbed, narcissistic, prudish and self-righteous, socially awkward, and has a defiant, arrogant attitude. "The Times" describes the character as "self-obsessed and immune to criticism". Her videos "exhibit the near-tragic extent of Miranda’s idiocy." As Robert Lloyd, writing for the "Los Angeles Times" put it, "the ferocious enormousness of Miranda’s self-regard, which blots out nearly everything around her, is inversely proportional to her talent." To viewers who take the videos seriously and offer criticism, she responds with the catchphrase, "Haters Back Off!", telling these critics that they are "just jealous" and that "haters make me famous".


title: Miranda Sings

text: The character displays eccentric facial traits such as unusually active eyebrows and a crooked smile described as a "side smirk". Her head is cocked to one side, and her pronunciation quirks include an emphasis on the use of a prominent hard 'g' (in such words as 'singing' and 'song'). In place of lyrics that she cannot remember, the character "scat" sings. She wears bright red lipstick drawn beyond the borders of her lips, her hair pulled up at the temples to expose the maximum amount of forehead, dresses in mismatched out-of-style clothing (such as a men's shirt buttoned to the neck with red sweatpants), and often dances stiffly to the music she is performing. Miranda's views of society and morality are politically incorrect, and she displays a strong prudish aversion to anything risque, which she calls "porn". Since 2013, Miranda has frequently collaborated on videos that other YouTubers display on their channels, often accumulating millions of views. "People" magazine featured a Miranda collaboration with Tyler Oakley and Bethany Mota. Her YouTube audience was relatively modest until early 2013 when her audience reached 150,000 subscribers and began to expand rapidly.


title: Miranda Sings

text: In 2018, Ballinger became pregnant with her first child, and Miranda announced her own pregnancy on YouTube. Ballinger created a story arc on Miranda's channel in which the character claimed to be the "virgin Miranda", with a virgin conception; she mentioned this soon afterwards on "Live with Kelly and Ryan". After Ballinger gave birth in December 2018, she tweeted about it from Miranda's account. Since then, Miranda has incorporated footage of the baby into her videos, focusing on how he inconveniences her, is trying to murder her, is "dumb", and is a "cannobel" because of his quest for her breast milk.


title: Miranda Sings

text: Since April 2009, in addition to her internet videos, Miranda Sings has performed her one-woman live comedy acts at first at cabaret spaces and later theatres in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Toronto, Amsterdam, Sydney and other cities in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere. In 2009, BroadwayWorld.com called her "the hottest, freshest and oddest breakout star in the musical theatre/cabaret scene".


title: Miranda Sings

text: In the live comedy acts, Ballinger begins the show as herself and then transforms onstage into Miranda. Miranda typically sings pop hits and some musical theatre songs in her signature off-key style (one reviewer called this "deranged versions duly delivered with gawky, gurning panache"); gives "voice lessons" or acting lessons to Broadway or West End stars, such as Sutton Foster, Andrew Rannells, and Shoshana Bean, to Broadway casts of shows such as "Billy Elliot" (to which cast she also gave dance and acting "lessons") and "Rock of Ages", and to pop stars such as Ariana Grande and Tori Kelly, in which she is hypercritical of the stars' performances, often telling them that they should leave show business; sings one or more duets with established (and bemused) musical theatre singers; indignantly reads hate mail (bleeping out any profanity) that she has received on her YouTube channel and other social media; interacts with audience volunteers; uses projected presentations containing terrible spelling; and sometimes improvises a song based on audience suggestions. The act has autobiographical elements from Miranda's backstory. In her holiday act, in addition to some of the above, Miranda has recreated the Christmas story "complete with the Three Kings, the Drummer Boy, and Santa Claus, as well as a shockingly dissonant 'Carol of the Bells'" and other Christmas songs.


title: Miranda Sings

text: As an example of the character's delusional arrogance, Miranda stated in her early acts that she expected to perform the role of Elphaba in "Wicked" on Broadway. During 2009, as part of her act, she announced that she planned to date Cheyenne Jackson (who she did not realize is openly gay) or to find another boyfriend, who must be talented and famous. She was photographed and videotaped together with Jackson at Broadway on Broadway 2009, confronting him about their "relationship", and finally receiving a "first kiss" from him. In 2010, she stated in her videos and comedy acts that Jackson is no longer her boyfriend (because he never called her for a date), and so she was seeking a new, famous, talented, handsome boyfriend, such as Zac Efron or Justin Bieber. In 2013, Ballinger began a series of Miranda collaboration videos about "dating" YouTuber Joey Graceffa; an ongoing gag is that she cannot pronounce his last name. She has stated that the two are engaged, but she has accumulated several other boyfriends or "baes".


title: Miranda Sings

text: In 2009, Miranda proclaimed that she was not just a "triple threat" entertainer, but a "four threat", because she is also a model, as well as a singer/actor/dancer. Since 2010, she has asserted that she is a "five threat" talent, adding "magic" to her list of skills, and in videos she has combined inept magic tricks with singing. A regular part of her live comedy acts since 2010 includes a "magic trick" where Miranda sings while appearing to be stabbed through the neck by a sword. The joke is that she sings better when the sword is inserted through her neck. In 2012, Miranda Sings was one of the headliners at the Out of the Loop Fringe Festival, presented by WaterTower Theatre in Addison, Texas. A 2012 Miranda Birdland cabaret act was filmed by Seth Rudetsky.


title: Miranda Sings

text: As the popularity of the character increased, Ballinger was able to book longer sell-out runs of her live comedy acts at larger and larger venues including, in 2013, a six-performance run at the Leicester Square Theatre in London and theatres in Australia. In 2014, she expanded to larger theatres, beginning with the Best Buy Theater in New York City and, among other theatres, three shows in London's Cadogan Hall. A Buffalo, New York reviewer explained the shows' appeal: "Miranda's stage show – a quixotic blend of melodramatic pathos, lightning-speed wit and cultural literacy – is no mere ... reproduction of her Internet channel. It is as theatrical as it is musical, comedic as it is inspirational." A London reviewer concurred:


title: Miranda Sings

text: In her 2014 "Selp Helf" tour, she instructed her (mostly young, female) audience on how to get a boyfriend by being more Miranda-like. "To break up the horrendous musical numbers, Miranda incorporated a series of segments that took the four daily concepts of porn, bullies, love and 'haters' and transformed the subject matter into ... comical banter that relied heavily on audience participation ... she worked off everything the volunteers said and did, improvising and creating punchlines on the spot. ... Ballinger, the genius behind Miranda, is so convincing in the role, you ... will likely forget that there is a normal person behind the red lips". Miranda's more risque stage business is performed "in a way that will have parents laughing and children oblivious." "There was some great physical comedy. Miranda's alternative to twerking has to be seen to be believed and her recreation of her own birth ... was a hoot. As she told us, she was always famous, it's just that everyone else knows it now." "But [the show] is deeper than it initially appears. ... She is funny and a strong role model, with a healthy disdain for pop’s oversexualisation. ... The satire is not exactly mindblowing but the message is undeniably positive. Plenty of interaction keeps everyone interested and lends proceedings an inclusive feel ... when there was an appeal for volunteers almost every hand shot straight into the air."


title: Miranda Sings

text: Ballinger gave Miranda shows in 57 cities in her 2014 "Selp Helf" tour. Her spring 2015 tour was styled the "Miranda 4 Precident" tour; the concept was that Miranda was "born to be President" and was running for election again in 2015 "to help the whole world". Her 2015 "Summer Camp" bus tour of the US Midwest and East Coast featured ghost stories, a "bon fire", camp counsellors, merit badges, games and "friendship bracelets ... more of a variety show." It featured members of her family and friends. In September 2015, Miranda was a headliner at the Just for Laughs festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and in December, Ballinger released a film version of one of her stage shows on Vimeo, titled "Miranda Sings: Selp Helf".


title: Miranda Sings

text: Reviewing Miranda's second engagement at the LaughFest festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2016, a critic noted that the material "resonated with parents as well as the younger set." Among other appearances, Miranda performed at the Kennedy Center in April 2016 and in Nashville's Ryman Auditorium in May at the 3rd Annual Wild West Comedy Festival. During the second half of 2016, Ballinger toured Miranda shows in the US, England, Ireland, Germany and Denmark. A US tour in early 2017 and subsequent concerts were billed as "Miranda Sings Live! ... Your Welcome". The premise was that, finding it unfair that she will not be able to attend her own funeral, Miranda enacts a funeral celebrating her life, career, death and resurrection. She continued the tour in September with shows in Europe, Australasia and the US in late 2017 and early 2018. In her 2017–2018 shows, Miranda gave tips on "how to be famous". Her tour in mid-2018 was styled "Miranda Sings Live ... No Offense", in which she argued that one can say anything, as long as they follow the statement with "no offense".


title: Miranda Sings

text: A Netflix comedy special, "Miranda Sings Live... Your Welcome", filmed live at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater in Washington, D.C. in 2018, was released on June 4, 2019. Sara Aridi of "The New York Times" wrote: "Her peculiar sense of humor is the kind that simultaneously draws laughs and cringes – and it works." The same month, Ballinger began touring with her first post-baby Miranda show, "Who Wants My Kid?", in which Miranda tries to find a suitable audience member to take the "brat" she has been complaining about online. This tour continued throughout 2019 and into early 2020. Ballinger is touring a new Miranda show in 2022, which "BroadwayWorld" termed her "funniest one yet".


title: Miranda Sings

text: Miranda is the main character of a Netflix comedy series, "Haters Back Off", co-developed by Ballinger (who stars as Miranda) and her brother Christopher Ballinger, about the beginnings of Miranda's career, her family life and her efforts to demonstrate her talents as she seeks fame. The series fills out the backstory implied in the Miranda videos, incarnating her spineless mother, Bethany (Angela Kinsey), and her overly devoted uncle Jim (Steve Little). It also introduced Miranda's best friend and neighbor, Patrick (Erik Stocklin), who has a crush on her; her younger sister, Emily (Francesca Reale), the normal family member who is treated as an outsider; and Miranda's estranged father Kelly (Matt Besser). Netflix released the first season in October 2016 and the second season in October 2017, after which it cancelled the series.


title: Miranda Sings

text: Miranda's creator, Colleen Ballinger, based the character partly on young women that she knew in the performance department of her college, Azusa Pacific University. She told "The Times" of London, "There were a lot of cocky girls who thought they were really talented, and they ... were so rude and snotty, it drove me nuts. Then I saw all these girls trying to make a career out of putting videos on YouTube [of themselves singing in their bedrooms] ... clueless to the fact that they were terrible." Ballinger said: "I thought it was so stupid, because I didn't think anybody got famous off of YouTube." Also, when bored in choir class, Ballinger practiced singing slightly sharp or flat to amuse her friends. At first, the "Miranda videos were meant to be an inside joke" among Ballinger's friends. Ballinger's YouTube channel received little traffic for more than a year, but in March 2009, she uploaded a video called "Free Voice Lesson" that quickly became a sensation. The video consists of advice to use, and demonstrations of, techniques that real voice teachers would warn students to avoid, delivered in Miranda's arrogant, off-key way. Miranda's videos drew predictably sharp criticism on YouTube, as many viewers mistakenly believed the character was a real person, a "neo-Florence Foster Jenkins". As her videos became popular, Ballinger modified the character in response to the negative comments to make it more extreme, baiting the commenters by adopting the catchphrases "Haters Back Off" and "Haters Make Me Famous". "People would make fun of my hair, and I made it worse. ... I took what people hated and exaggerated it more in the next video."


title: Miranda Sings

text: Ballinger was briefly unsure of what to do with her newfound internet success, but in April 2009, Jim Caruso invited her to perform as the character at Cast Party, a weekly show at his Birdland jazz club in New York City. She recalls, "I went from making a minute-and-a-half video in my bedroom to doing an hour-and-a-half live show". Members of the Broadway theatre community quickly embraced the Miranda videos and were eager to be a part of Miranda's live comedy acts. Frankie Grande, who was then in the cast of "Mamma Mia!", invited Ballinger to join the cast as Miranda at the Minskoff Theatre in the 2009 Broadway Cares Easter Bonnet competition charity benefit. Later, Broadway celebrities like Lin-Manuel Miranda performed in videos with Miranda. Ballinger was also invited to perform in London. At the Leicester Square Theatre in 2010, Miranda taught "voice lessons" to, and performed with, such West End theatre stars as Leanne Jones, Scarlett Strallen, Daniel Boys, Julie Atherton, Ian ‘H’ Watkins, Anna-Jane Casey, Jon Lee and Noel Sullivan, and the London casts of "Naked Boys Singing", "Wicked" and "Les Misérables". Since the summer of 2009, Miranda Sings has also been featured in radio, television and internet interviews where the interviewers explore the personality traits of, and play along with, the character.


title: Miranda Sings

text: The Miranda character receives negative comments to her videos from viewers who are fooled by the character and believe that they are watching a serious video by a bad entertainer. Ballinger told "Backstage": "It's sort of like an Andy Kaufman thing. You wouldn't believe the hate mail. ... You would never say that stuff to someone's face, but you can type anything online." "TheaterJones" commented that "perhaps because the Internet is some crazy postmodern distortion of reality, people ... felt it was their duty to point out how woefully untalented [Miranda] was, in the most horrific ways. ... Her hate mail, which she reads some of on stage, is an art form all its own." Ballinger noted: "The whole reason Miranda went viral is because people were making fun of how stupid it was. If I didn't get hate mail, I wouldn't have a job." The online critics were so harsh that Miranda became a "hero of the anti-bullying movement". Her young fans find the character empowering because they see, perhaps selectively, "a conservatively attired girl who does what she likes, gets lots of attention and has bottomless self-esteem." Miranda also teaches that "Popular girls don’t have to be stylish. ... Fear no one. ... It's [acceptable for girls] to be cranky." An article at "The Conversation" observed that some YouTubers "use humour and satire to challenge ideas of popular femininity. ... Miranda Sings... puts on monstrous makeup to perform parody music videos [rejecting] being conventionally pretty." Fans of the character who are studying the performing arts say that Miranda is "a role model and a 'strong woman in comedy'" that inspires confidence in their performance and social skills.


title: Miranda Sings

text: "The Times" commented, "there is another, sweeter side to her travails. Miranda loves singing and, despite – or perhaps because of – the satire, becomes an evocation of something all humans love to do and have done since before we discovered language. The very act of singing, however dire the sound, makes us feel good." Ballinger noted that the TV show "Glee" (to which Miranda submitted an "audition" in 2010) is causing a resurgence of interest in singing in schools: "Everyone is talking about "Glee" and choirs and musical theatre, igniting a flame that has been dimmed for a long time. ... Live performance and musical theatre were almost a lost art ... people need to be reminded that it takes a lot more effort to sing than just watching movies or TV shows." Miranda followed up on this idea, saying: "Since I became so famous ... everyone is watching more music and singing more – because everyone wants to be more like me." As the Miranda character matured, its popularity grew especially with younger audiences of the "Glee" generation, with most of those attending her concerts being teenagers or in their twenties.


title: Miranda Sings

text: In 2009, Ballinger released a Christmas EP entitled "Christmas With Miranda Sings". In 2010, she appeared as Miranda at the Nightlife Awards, and Miranda was a presenter at the CYT Directors' Choice Awards in La Mesa, California. Later that year, at the Rose Center Theater, Miranda co-hosted a benefit concert, "Broadway Memories" (which included giving Sutton Foster a "voice lesson"), for the Alzheimer's Association and the Capistrano Center for the Performing Arts. The same year, Miranda appeared in an episode of the web series "Apartment Red". From 2010 to 2012, Ballinger posted videos to another YouTube channel, Mirandavlogz, where Miranda vlogged, gave mock-tutorials, offered ridiculous opinions and participated in internet challenges like the cinnamon challenge. Miranda is heard in character on two tracks of the 2011 album "Self Taught, Still Learning", by Chris Passey. The character also appeared in a 2012 comedy film, "Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads".


title: Miranda Sings

text: Miranda Sings appeared in a Season 3 episode of the Nickelodeon television show "Victorious", a one-hour special titled "Tori Goes Platinum", first broadcast on May 19, 2012. In the episode, Miranda is one of the auditioners for an awards show, singing "Freak the Freak Out". Also in 2012, she "interviewed" Nickelodeon star Jennette McCurdy and gave a "master class" at the Boston Children's Theatre. The character appeared in episode 6 of "Dr. Fubalous", a 2012 web series. Later in 2012 Miranda vlogged that she was running for President of the US to offer an alternative to the candidates nominated by the major parties and offered a brief analysis of the presidential race. In another vlog, she laid out her campaign platform. She appeared in the first episode of "Dance Chat" in 2013, an Australian web show, and gave a free performance at the Community College of Rhode Island for the Charles Sullivan Fund for the Arts and Humanities. Miranda's commercial video collaborations include a 2014 back-to-school video for Old Navy, her 2016 video, "Sexy Buttery Love Song", for Jack in the Box restaurants and a 2018 Dunkin Donuts promotion.


title: Miranda Sings

text: Miranda guest starred on the season 5 episode, "Happy Thanksgiving Miranda", of "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" with Jerry Seinfeld on the Crackle network in November 2014. Seinfeld called Miranda "a very well-developed character ... just as funny to me as ... to my daughter, who is 13. ... [The episode is] one of the best shows of "Comedians in Cars" we’ve ever done." Mediaite agreed, writing: "In its fifth season, Jerry Seinfeld's web series continued to be one of the most enjoyable weekly events on the internet. His experience with YouTube star Miranda Sings, which carried its way onto the "Tonight Show", was a particular highlight." In December 2014, Miranda appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" playing "Pictionary" with Jimmy Fallon, Martin Short and Jerry Seinfeld. "Us Weekly" called the segment "the most hilarious game night ever". "Entertainment Weekly" called it "a riveting game", and "People" magazine wrote: "It's the most wonderful trainwrecked game of "Pictionary" you'll see this holiday season". In early 2015, she appeared in a music video for Lance Bass and on "The Grace Helbig Show" with Jim Parsons. Miranda was profiled in "People" magazine in June 2015. In June and July, Miranda and Ballinger (as herself) both starred in a six-episode beauty series parody, called "How to Makeup", on the I Love Makeup YouTube channel operated by Collective Digital Studio.


title: Miranda Sings

text: In July 2015, "Miranda" released a book, "Selp-Helf", published by Simon & Schuster, which calls it a "decidedly unhelpful, candid, hilarious 'how-to' guide". It contains 240 pages, in mock-scrapbook format, of photos and extensive artwork by Ballinger and her brother Christopher Ballinger, with Miranda's silly advice about such topics as love, finances, diet and exercise, and fashion. During pre-sales, "Vanity Fair" called Miranda "America's Newest Best-Selling Author". The book debuted at No. 1 on the "Publishers Weekly" Hardcover Non-Fiction best sellers list and "The New York Times" Best Seller list for Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous. It remained on the "Times" Best Seller list for "Advice & Misc." for 11 weeks and was on their monthly Best Seller list for "Humor" through May 2016. Miranda released a hidden object game app, made by Games2win, called "Miranda Sings vs Haters" that was well reviewed and "topped iTunes USA charts in the week of December 3, [2015]". Ballinger appeared as Miranda as a guest star on the 2016 YouTube Red series "Prank Academy". In 2016, Ballinger released a second Miranda Christmas EP, titled "Hapy Holidays frum Miranda Sings". She released a second Miranda book in July 2018 titled "My Diarrhe". It debuted at No. 8 on "The New York Times" Best Seller list for Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous.


title: Miranda Sings

text: In 2022 the character returned to television as a guest star on Episode 3 of the game show "Generation Gap".


title: Miranda Sings

text: Since early 2009, Ballinger's character has enjoyed widespread popularity, especially (initially) among musical theatre fans. Later, her fan base expanded particularly among teenagers. Her live comedy acts have been in demand at cabaret clubs and theaters in New York (Birdland Jazz Club, Best Buy Theater), London (Ambassadors Theatre; Leicester Square Theatre), Australia and elsewhere throughout North America, in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia, at venues where her mostly teenage fans, who call themselves "Mirfandas", are admitted.


title: Miranda Sings

text: In 2009, the "Los Angeles Times" wrote of her videos, "this footage is a major hoot", and BroadwayWorld.com described Ballinger as an "Internet Superstar." "The Times" of London commented that although Miranda's videos have made her "a darling of the Broadway musical-theatre scene ... [it] is not online but on stage that Miranda truly comes to ghastly life." In 2010, a "BroadwayWorld" review of Miranda's live comedy act said that Ballinger's "'Miranda Sings' persona is a very unique and original concept devised by a very creative imagination. ... Miranda is not to be missed. [As] the old saying goes, it takes talent to be that bad". Another commentator wrote similarly: "It's so awful, it's brilliant." "Woman Around Town" called Miranda "an atrocious, comedic masterpiece." Perez Hilton praised Miranda's parody of the hit song "Chandelier" as "the crowning achievement of music video parodies ... utterly fantastic". "TheaterJones" noted that Ballinger: "has hit on a character that reflects the zeitgeist of our time and does it with tongue firmly planted in cheek." In 2015, "Playbill" concluded: "Miranda Sings is a huge talent. With very demonstrative facial expressions, a unique take on makeup and wardrobe and her almost unbelievable vocal stylings, she cuts an undeniable figure in the world of online music video." "The Guardian" characterized Miranda's channel as "so bad it's great". Miranda has been compared with such absurd comic creations as Roseanne Roseannadanna and Andy Kaufman's characters, Kimmy Schmidt, "a distaff Napoleon Dynamite" and Pee-wee Herman.


title: Miranda Sings

text: In each of 2014 and 2015, Ballinger was nominated for a Teen Choice Award for "Web Star: Comedy" for her Miranda videos, winning the award in 2015. She was nominated for three 2015 Streamy Awards, winning one for best actress. She was also nominated for a 2015 People's Choice Award and a 2016 Shorty Award. She was nominated for a 2016 Streamy Award. A 2013 "BroadwayWorld" feature commented, "While [Miranda's] singing might not be anywhere near pitch-perfect, the character's comedic lampooning of self-aggrandizing divas surely is. ... [O]nly a truly talented performer could make the Miranda character believable, let alone as endearing as she ends up being." AussieTheatre.com stated: "Miranda ... creates the most successful parody of the world of YouTube ... she has created an international cult following". "Real Detroit Weekly" calls the character "delightfully hilarious". A reviewer from the "Irish Independent" wrote: "There is an endearing sweetness to her performance. ... This bizarre and bonkers show is somehow strangely compelling". "The New York Times" review of "Selp-Helf" commented that Miranda's success stems from "milking the disconnect between her supreme confidence and her hopeless lack of ability ... endearing incompetence". One of the top 10 most-Googled fashion questions of 2015 was "How to dress up like Miranda Sings". Ballinger's success has, paradoxically, realized Miranda's supposedly misguided dreams. "TV Guide" commented: "Ironically, the character ... was created to satirize the very type of YouTube fame she's managed to cultivate." "Newsweek"s review of Miranda's YouTube satire of the 2019 James Charles/Tati Westbrook feud noted that although the character "rarely humanizes herself", she has the surprising ability to "make our heart hurt".


title: Miranda Sings

text: The Miranda Sings YouTube channel has received more than 2 billion views and has more than 10 million subscribers. In 2014, it was ranked No. 38 on New Media Rockstars' Top 100 Channels of All Time list, and in 2015, Miranda was listed as the 7th "most popular YouTube personality" by "Daily American". Miranda was ranked No. 5 on "Forbes" magazine's 2017 list of top entertainment influencers. The most popular Miranda video, a parody cover of Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off", received more than 55 million views on YouTube in 2016 before the site removed it. Nine more of her videos have surpassed 20 million views, more than 35 of her videos have received over 10 million views, over 110 of her videos have received more than 5 million views, and more than 200 Miranda videos have received over 3 million views. The character also has more than 13 million followers on TikTok, 6 million followers on Instagram, 2.2 million followers on Twitter, and 1.6 million page likes on Facebook. BuzzFeed called her "The Queen of Twitter".


title: Vernors

text: Vernors is an American brand of ginger ale owned by Keurig Dr Pepper that was first served in 1866 by James Vernor, a Detroit pharmacist.


title: Vernors

text: Vernors is the oldest surviving ginger ale, according to the company it was first served to the public in 1866 in the United States.


title: Vernors

text: Vernor opened a drugstore of his own in Detroit, Michigan, on Woodward Avenue, on the southwest corner of Clifford Street and sold his ginger soda at its soda fountain. Initially, Vernors was only sold via soda fountain franchises. In 1896, Vernor closed his drugstore and opened a soda fountain closer to the city center to concentrate on the ginger ale business alone, on Woodward Avenue south of Jefferson Avenue, near the ferry docks on the Detroit River. The early Vernors soda fountains featured ornate plaster, lighting and ironwork featuring a "V" design, examples of which still exist, such as at the Halo Burger restaurant in Flint, Michigan. Later, Vernor also sold bottling franchises in other cities, requiring operators to adhere strictly to his recipe.


title: Vernors

text: Vernor died October 29, 1927, and was succeeded by his son, James Vernor Jr. Expansion continued throughout Prohibition. Just prior to the onset of World War II, Vernors built a bottling plant and headquarters encompassing an entire city block on Woodward Avenue, one block from the Detroit River. In the late 1950s, when the City of Detroit proposed construction of Cobo Hall and other riverfront projects, a land-swap was negotiated, and Vernors moved its bottling plant and headquarters to the location of the old civic exhibition hall at 4501 Woodward Avenue, incorporating many of the popular features of the old plant. Tours of the Vernors plant old and new were major tourist attractions.


title: Vernors

text: The brand was originally sold as Vernor's; the apostrophe was dropped in 1959. In 1962, Vernors introduced Vernors 1-Calorie, now called Diet Vernors.


title: Vernors

text: In 1966, the Vernor family sold out to the first of what became a succession of owners. The company was next acquired by American Consumer Products and then by United Brands. The flagship Detroit bottling plant was shut down in 1985, with the local rights to bottle Vernors granted to Pepsi-Cola. The Woodward Avenue plant was later demolished. The Vernors brand was purchased by A&W Beverages in 1987, which was in turn purchased by Cadbury Schweppes. Today, Vernors is property of Keurig Dr Pepper of Burlington, Vermont, and Plano, Texas, and the flagship bottling plant serving Michigan is the Keurig Dr Pepper bottling plant in Holland, Michigan.


title: Vernors

text: In August 2022, Vernor's released a black cherry flavor, its first new flavor in more than 50 years. The limited-time product was only available in Michigan and the Toledo, Ohio, area.


title: Vernors

text: Vernors is a sweet "golden" ginger ale that derives its color, like other commercial, industrially produced ginger ales, from caramel, and has a robust, vanilla-heavy flavor. The Vernors style was common before Prohibition, during which "dry" pale, less sweet ginger ale (typified by Canada Dry Ginger Ale) became popular as a drink mixer.


title: Vernors

text: Los Angeles Metropolitan News-Enterprise Editor Roger Grace describes the original flavor as "mellow yet perky" with the mellowness attributed to the aging in oak barrels, and the perkiness to the use of more ginger than "dry" ginger ales.


title: Vernors

text: Many people believe that the taste of Vernors has changed significantly in recent years. Grace describes the current flavor as an "emaciated version of a product that once was", and "sweetened carbonated water with ginger flavoring". Theories as to the reason for the evident change in flavor include that the secret formula has been changed, or the substitution of modern high fructose corn syrup for its traditional refined sugar; that it seems to have less carbonation than formerly; and that Vernors is no longer aged four years, but three in oak barrels.


title: Vernors

text: A company-spread legend once held that prior to the start of the American Civil War James Vernor, then a clerk at the Higby & Sterns drugstore in Detroit, experimented with flavors in an attempt to duplicate a popular ginger ale imported from Dublin, Ireland. When Vernor was called off to serve he stored the syrup base of 19 ingredients, including ginger, vanilla and other natural flavorings, in an oaken cask. When he was discharged four years later he found the concentrate had been changed by being aged in the wood. The drink made from it was like nothing else he had ever tasted, and he purportedly declared it "Deliciously different," which remains the drink's motto to this day.


title: Vernors

text: In a 1936 interview, however, James Vernor Jr., admitted that the formula was not developed by his father until after the war was over. This was confirmed both in a 1962 interview with former company president, James Vernor Davis, and a 1911 trademark application on "Vernor's" as a name for ginger ale and extract indicating Vernor's ginger ale first entered commerce in 1880.


title: Vernors

text: For most of its history, Vernors was a regional product. Initially Vernor sold franchises throughout Michigan and in major regional cities; the product was also available in Ontario, Canada. In the 1970s and 1980s Vernors-flavored ice cream was sold by Sanders Confectionery.


title: Vernors

text: Vernors was not mass distributed nationally for many years; by 1997, the brand's distribution had expanded to a 33-state area. In 1997, even after expansion, Michigan accounted for 80% of Vernors sales. Ohio and Illinois were the next-highest-selling states; the drink was also very popular in Florida, which has large numbers of retired or relocated former Michigan residents. In 2015, Dr Pepper Snapple said that it sold more than 7 million cases of Vernors, about 1% of the company's total sales volume. At that time, a "large percentage — although not a majority — of the sales" were in Michigan.


title: Vernors

text: A number of slogans have been associated with Vernors over the years. Advertising in the early 1900s used the slogan "Detroit's Drink". According to its trademark application, it began using the slogan "Deliciously Different" in 1921. The labels formerly read "Aged 4 years in wood", which was changed some years ago to "Flavor aged in oak barrels", again in 1996 to "Barrel Aged, Bold Taste" and currently notes "Barrel Aged 3 Years • Bold Taste". The apostrophe in the name "Vernor's" was dropped in the late 1950s. For a time in the mid-1980s, Vernors used the slogan "It's what we drink around here" in its advertising campaigns. The gnome mascot, named "Woody", was used from the start of the 20th century until 1987, when it was dropped by A&W Brands in favor of new packaging, but had returned to the packaging by the 2000s. As recently as October 2013, Vernors features a picture of Woody with the slogan "A Michigan Original Since 1866", plus a picture of a barrel with the slogan "Barrel Aged – Bold Taste". As of January 2016, the wording surrounding the picture was changed to "Authentic • Bold Taste".


title: Vernors

text: The identity of the Vernors gnome mascot has been contested and as a result, there is significant local folklore surrounding the gnome. While the Dr. Pepper company insists the name of the gnome has always been Woody, Lawrence L. Rouch, Vernors historian, argues this was not the case. He agrees that the gnome mascot surfaced sometime in the early 1900s and lasted through to the 1980s, but found no historical evidence of the name “Woody” being associated with the gnome.


title: Vernors

text: There is general consensus, however, of Ronald Bialecki's live-action appearances as the gnome in the 1970s. According to both Vernors historians and Bialecki's family members, he was employed with the Doner Company at the time, which was the advertising firm in charge of the Vernors account. His arrival at work one morning was followed by widespread agreement amongst both Vernors representatives and Doner ad executives that he should be cast as the gnome. Bialecki was so dedicated to the role that he and his wife created a gnome costume for public appearances. During his time as the Vernors mascot, Bialecki made personal appearances in the "gnome mobile" which he also designed for the enjoyment of the local public.


title: Vernors

text: The Detroit Historical Society and Museum teamed up with the Vernor's Collectors' Club and the Detroit Experience Factory to celebrate the brand. Starting June 7, 2016, a Vernors memorabilia exhibition showed artifacts and vintage signage from the brand. The feature ran through June 12, 2016, at the Detroit Historical Museum.


title: Vernors

text: Some people drink Vernors hot as a remedy for stomach ache. Others, such as some Detroit natives, add it to impart a sweet and spicy flavor to dishes. Soul singer Aretha Franklin became famous in the city for demonstrating a recipe, traditionally at her church, for Christmas ham with a glaze made with the soft drink; Vernors has also been used in a glaze for salmon and in a batter for onion rings.


title: Vernors

text: A Boston Cooler, also known as a Vernors float, is an ice cream soda variant typically composed of Vernors Ginger Ale and vanilla ice cream blended together similar to a milkshake, although in other parts of the country, different combinations of ingredients are also known as a Boston Cooler. Some native Detroiters simply put a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream in a glass, add Vernors and a soda straw, and call it a Boston Cooler. While some claim it is named Boston Cooler for being invented on Boston Boulevard in Detroit, but Boston Boulevard had not been developed when the drink was named.


title: Somewhere (song)

text: "Somewhere", sometimes referred to as "Somewhere (There's a Place for Us)" or simply "There's a Place for Us", is a song from the 1957 Broadway musical "West Side Story" that was made into films in 1961 and 2021. The music is composed by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.


title: Somewhere (song)

text: In the stage musical, the song appears in the second act of the show during the Somewhere Ballet. It is performed by an off-stage soprano singer and is later reprised by the entire company. In the original Broadway production, "Somewhere" was sung by Reri Grist who played the role of Consuelo.


title: Somewhere (song)

text: At the end of the show, when Tony is shot, Maria sings the first few lines of the song as he dies in her arms.


title: Somewhere (song)

text: In the 1961 film, the song occurs at a pivotal point, after the rumble in which Tony (Richard Beymer) has stabbed Maria's brother, Bernardo (George Chakiris). Having nowhere else to go, Tony runs to Maria (Natalie Wood), who has just been told of her brother's death and who killed him. When Tony comes to her room through the balcony window, Maria, in shock, pounds against his chest.


title: Somewhere (song)

text: Realizing in spite of her anger that she still loves Tony, Maria begs him to hold her. After Maria cries out, "It's not us...it's everything around us." Tony replies, "Then I'll take you away, where nothing can get to us." He then begins singing "Somewhere" to her. His comforting voice draws her in and it becomes a duet of hope that their love will survive "somehow, someday, somewhere."


title: Somewhere (song)

text: As in the stage show, Maria sings the first few lines of the song as Tony dies in her arms. In 2004, this version finished at #20 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.


title: Somewhere (song)

text: "Somewhere" is the only track that is out of sequence on the original soundtrack album as it is the last track on Side 2. This is rectified on the CD as "Somewhere" is correctly placed in sequence to the film between "The Rumble" and "Cool."


title: Somewhere (song)

text: In the 2021 film, the song takes place after "I Feel Pretty," like in the stage show, except now it is sung by Valentina (Rita Moreno), a reworked version of the character Doc. The ballet is again omitted, like in the 1961 film. This version was also used to underscore the film's teaser trailer, which premiered during the 93rd Academy Awards telecast on April 25, 2021.


title: Somewhere (song)

text: In 1964, P. J. Proby released his version of "Somewhere", which reached numbers six on the British and eight on the Australian singles charts. The song also charted well in various European countries.


title: Somewhere (song)

text: In 1965, the Supremes recorded the song for their album, "There's a Place for Us", though it went unreleased until 2004. They also used it for their debut appearance at the Copacabana nightclub in New York City and it eventually became a fixture of their nightclub acts. They also sang the song on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Hollywood Palace". In contrast to the original melody, a special dramatic monologue was incorporated, which was frequently changed in conjunction with changes in the group as well as the country's turmoil in the late 1960s.


title: Somewhere (song)

text: In the aftermath of the shooting of Martin Luther King Jr., the monologue was changed to reflect King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. When the Supremes appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" the day after King had been murdered, lead singer Diana Ross was so overcome with emotion that she practically stumbled through the speech, but got an extraordinary ovation from the studio audience. It would once again be nationally televised several months later that year when the group paired up with the Temptations for an NBC television special, "TCB". The monologue for that special went as follows:


title: Somewhere (song)

text: In 1985, American singer, songwriter, actress and director Barbra Streisand released a version of "Somewhere" as a single from the Grammy Award-winning "The Broadway Album". In the United States, it narrowly missed the top 40 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, peaking at number 43, but fared better on the Adult Contemporary chart, peaking at number five. It also peaked at number 88 on the UK Singles Chart. The song itself won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s). In 2011, a duet was produced using scenes from Streisand's version while Jackie Evancho performed live with David Foster at the Ringling Museum of Art. On her 2014 "Partners" album, she released a new recording of the song, this time as a duet with Josh Groban.


title: Somewhere (song)

text: British musician Phil Collins recorded the song in 1996 for the album "The Songs of West Side Story".


title: Somewhere (song)

text: Steve Baltin from "Cash Box" wrote, "Taken from the tribute album "The Songs Of West Side Story", this classic takes on a whole new connotation than previously heard in Tom Waits and Barbara Streisand’s brilliant versions. Collins’ lush arrangement milks the song for all the sap it has to offer, bilking the schmaltz factor to create a song reminiscent of his more recent ballads. Look for strong support from Adult Contemporary for the track."


title: Somewhere (song)

text: "Somewhere" was released as a single by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys on June 23, 1997, to promote their "Somewhere" residency at the Savoy Theatre in London, which was named after the song, and to promote a repackage of "Bilingual".


title: Somewhere (song)

text: The single was another top-10 entry for the group, peaking at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart. The single also peaked at number 25 on the "Billboard"s Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. It also peaked at number 19 on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart. In the United States, the song was released as a double A-side with "A Red Letter Day".


title: Somewhere (song)

text: The Pet Shop Boys' version also uses elements of another "West Side Story" song, "I Feel Pretty", and the album version uses elements of "One Hand, One Heart" spoken by Chris Lowe.


title: Somewhere (song)

text: Barry Walters for "The Advocate" said Pet Shop Boys "do for this "West Side Story" standard what k.d. lang did for “Secret Love” in "The Celluloid Closet" — put a showbiz classic in the queer context it always deserved." Larry Flick from "Billboard" wrote, "In a perfect world, this wistful disco cover of the classic song (...) would meet with open arms at pop radio. But, alas, narrow programming minds and even tighter playlist space will probably limit this single to the clubs—which is not necessarily a sad fate. Partners Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe dress the song in vibrant trance/NRG keyboards and plucky beats." He added, "Also quite nice is a stately orchestral version that allows Tennant to be at his melodramatic best."


title: Somewhere (song)

text: British magazine "Music Week" rated the song three out of five, noting Tennant's "emotionally controlled vocals and a thumping techno pop beat". They also concluded, "But despite its high drama, this is too overblown, even by PSB standards." Editor Alan Jones felt that the duo "turns it from an emotional tour-de-force into a camp disco celebration, where its subleties are completely lost. Working with such a melodic and powerful song they can't help but succeed, however." David Sinclair from "The Times" viewed it as a "questionable disco version" of the "West Side Story" standard.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: Moral foundations theory is a social psychological theory intended to explain the origins of and variation in human moral reasoning on the basis of innate, modular foundations. It was first proposed by the psychologists Jonathan Haidt, Craig Joseph, and Jesse Graham, building on the work of cultural anthropologist Richard Shweder. It has been subsequently developed by a diverse group of collaborators and popularized in Haidt's book "The Righteous Mind". The theory proposes six foundations: Care/Harm, Fairness/Cheating, Loyalty/Betrayal, Authority/Subversion, Sanctity/Degradation, and Liberty/Oppression. Its authors remain open to the addition, subtraction, or modification of the set of foundations.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: Although the initial development of moral foundations theory focused on cultural differences, subsequent work with the theory has largely focused on political ideology. Various scholars have offered moral foundations theory as an explanation of differences among political progressives (liberals in the American sense), conservatives, and right-libertarians (libertarians in the American sense), and have suggested that it can explain variation in opinion on politically charged issues such as same sex marriage and abortion.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: The two main sources are "The Pragmatic Validity of Moral Pluralism" and "Mapping the Moral Domain". In the first Haidt and Graham describe their work as looking, as anthropologists, at the evolution of morality and finding the common ground between each variation. In the second they describe and defend their method, known as the Moral Foundations Questionnaire. Through studies that jointly consisted of over 11,000 people, from a variety of ages and political beliefs, they found results that supported their prediction.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: Moral foundations theory was first proposed in 2004 by Haidt and Joseph. The theory emerged as a reaction against the developmental rationalist theory of morality associated with Lawrence Kohlberg and Jean Piaget. Building on Piaget's work, Kohlberg argued that children's moral reasoning changed over time, and proposed an explanation through his six stages of moral development. Kohlberg's work emphasized justice as the key concept in moral reasoning, seen as a primarily cognitive activity, and became the dominant approach to moral psychology, heavily influencing subsequent work. Haidt writes that he found Kohlberg's theories unsatisfying from the time he first encountered them in graduate school because they "seemed too cerebral" and lacked a focus on issues of emotion.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: In contrast to the dominant theories of morality in psychology, the anthropologist Richard Shweder developed a set of theories emphasizing the cultural variability of moral judgments, but argued that different cultural forms of morality drew on "three distinct but coherent clusters of moral concerns", which he labeled as the ethics of autonomy, community, and divinity. Shweder's approach inspired Haidt to begin researching moral differences across cultures, including fieldwork in Brazil and Philadelphia. This work led Haidt to begin developing his social intuitionist approach to morality. This approach, which stood in sharp contrast to Kohlberg's rationalist work, suggested that "moral judgment is caused by quick moral intuitions" while moral reasoning simply serves as a post-hoc rationalization of already formed judgments. Haidt's work and his focus on quick, intuitive, emotional judgments quickly became very influential, attracting sustained attention from an array of researchers.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: As Haidt and his collaborators worked within the social intuitionist approach, they began to devote attention to the sources of the intuitions that they believed underlay moral judgments. In a 2004 article published in the journal "Daedalus", Haidt and Joseph surveyed works on the roots of morality, including the work of Frans de Waal, Donald Brown and Shweder, as well as Alan Fiske's relational models theory and Shalom Schwartz's Theory of Basic Human Values. From their review of these earlier lines of research, they suggested that all individuals possess four "intuitive ethics", stemming from the process of human evolution as responses to adaptive challenges. They labelled these four ethics as suffering, hierarchy, reciprocity, and purity.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: Invoking the notion of preparedness, Haidt and Joseph claimed that each of the ethics formed a cognitive module, whose development was shaped by culture. They wrote that each module could "provide little more than flashes of affect when certain patterns are encountered in the social world", while a cultural learning process shaped each individual's response to these flashes. Morality diverges because different cultures utilize the four "building blocks" provided by the modules differently. Their "Daedalus" article became the first statement of moral foundations theory, which Haidt, Graham, Joseph, and others have since elaborated and refined, for example by splitting the originally proposed ethic of hierarchy into the separate moral foundations of ingroup and authority, and by proposing a tentative sixth foundation of liberty.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: According to Moral Foundations Theory, differences in people's moral concerns can be described in terms of five moral foundations:


title: Moral foundations theory

text: "Individualizing" cluster of Care and Fairness, and the group-focused "Binding" cluster of Loyalty, Authority and Sanctity. The empirical evidence favoring this grouping comes from patterns of associations between the moral foundations observed with the Moral Foundations Questionnaire.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: A sixth foundation, "liberty" (opposite of "oppression") was theorized by Jonathan Haidt in "The Righteous Mind", chapter eight, in response to the need to differentiate between proportionality fairness and the objections he had received from conservatives and right-libertarians to coercion by a dominating power or person. Haidt noted that the latter group's moral matrix relies almost entirely on the "liberty" foundation. The evolutionary roots of the liberty foundation are theorized to lie in "hypervigilance of egalitarian hunter–gatherers for any sign of alpha male behavior, including boasting."


title: Moral foundations theory

text: Several other candidate foundations have also been discussed: Efficiency/waste, Ownership/theft, Honesty/deception, and Equity/undeservingness (separate from Fairness).


title: Moral foundations theory

text: A large amount of research on Moral Foundations Theory uses self-report instruments such as the Moral Foundations Questionnaire, formally published in 2011 (though earlier versions of the questionnaire had already been published). Subsequent investigations using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire in other cultures have found broadly similar correlations between morality and political identification to those of the US, with studies taking place in Korea, Sweden and New Zealand. However, other studies suggest that the structure of the MFQ is inconsistent across demographic groups (e.g., comparing religious and non-religious and Black and White respondents) and across cultures.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: Other materials and methods used to study Moral Foundations Theory include the Moral Foundations Sacredness Scale, Moral Foundations Vignettes, the Socio-Moral Image Database, and Character Moral Foundations Questionnaire. Research on moral language use have also relied on variants of a Moral Foundations Dictionary. Researchers have also examined the topographical maps of somatosensory reactions associated with violations of different moral foundations. Specifically, in a study where participants were asked to describe key aspects of their subjective somatosensory experience in response to scenarios involving various moral violations, body patterns corresponding to violations of moral foundations were felt in different regions of the body depending on whether participants were liberal or conservative.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: Researchers have found that people's sensitivities to the five/six moral foundations correlate with their political ideologies. Using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire, Haidt and Graham found that libertarians are most sensitive to the proposed Liberty foundation, liberals are most sensitive to the Care and Fairness foundations, while conservatives are equally sensitive to all five/six foundations.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: According to Haidt, the differences have significant implications for political discourse and relations. Because members of two political camps are to a degree blind to one or more of the moral foundations of the others, they may perceive morally driven words or behavior as having another basisat best self-interested, at worst evil, and thus demonize one another.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: Haidt and Graham suggest a compromise can be found to allow liberals and conservatives to see eye-to-eye. They suggest that the five foundations can be used as "doorway" to allow liberals to step to the conservative side of the "wall" put up between these two political affiliations on major political issues (i.e. legalizing gay marriage). If liberals try to consider the latter three foundations in addition to the former two (therefore adopting all five foundations like conservatives for a brief amount of time) they could understand where the conservatives' viewpoints stem from and long-lasting political issues could finally be settled.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: Researchers postulate that the moral foundations arose as solutions to problems common in the ancestral hunter-gatherer environment, in particular intertribal and intra-tribal conflict. The three foundations emphasized more by conservatives (Loyalty, Authority, Sanctity) bind groups together for greater strength in intertribal competition while the other two foundations balance those tendencies with concern for individuals within the group. With reduced sensitivity to the group moral foundations, progressives tend to promote a more universalist morality.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: The usefulness of moral foundations theory as an explanation for political ideology has been contested on the grounds that moral foundations are less heritable than political ideology, and longitudinal data suggest that political ideology predicts subsequent endorsement of moral foundations, but moral foundations endorsement does not predict subsequent political ideology.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: Haidt's initial field work in Brazil and Philadelphia in 1989, and Odisha, India in 1993, showed that moralizing indeed varies among cultures, but less than by social class (e.g. education) and age. Working-class Brazilian children were more likely to consider both taboo violations and infliction of harm to be morally wrong, and universally so. Members of traditional, collectivist societies, like political conservatives, are more sensitive to violations of the community-related moral foundations. Adult members of so-called WEIRD (western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) societies are the most individualistic, and most likely to draw a distinction between harm-inflicting violations of morality and violations of convention.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: A recent large-scale ("u" = 336,691) analysis of sex differences based on the five moral foundations suggested that women consistently score higher on care, fairness, and purity across 67 cultures. However, loyalty and authority were shown to have negligible sex differences, highly variable across cultures. This study, published in 2020 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, also examined country-level sex differences in moral foundations in relation to cultural, socioeconomic, and gender-related indicators revealing that global sex differences in moral foundations are larger in individualistic, Western, and gender-equal cultures. Examining multivariate sex differences in the five moral foundations (i.e. Mahalanobis' D as well as its disattenuated bias-corrected version) in moral judgements, the authors concluded that multivariate effects were substantially larger than previously estimated sex differences in moral judgements using non-MFT frameworks and, more generally, the median effect size in social and personality psychology research. Mahalanobis' D of the five moral foundations were significantly larger in individualist and gender-equal countries.


title: Moral foundations theory

text: A number of researchers have offered critiques of, and alternative theories to, Moral Foundations Theory. Critiques of the theory have included claims of biological implausibility and redundancy among the moral foundations (which are argued to be reducible to concern about harm). Both critiques have been disputed by the original authors. Alternative theories include the Model of Moral Motives, the Theory of Dyadic Morality, Relationship Regulation Theory, the right-wing authoritarianism scale developed by Bob Altemeyer, the theory of Morality As Cooperation John Rawls and Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative.


title: Shalom aleichem

text: Shalom aleichem (; , ; ) is a spoken greeting in Hebrew, meaning "peace be upon you". The appropriate response is ("unto you peace") (). The plural form "" is used even when addressing one person.


title: Shalom aleichem

text: This form of greeting is traditional among Jews throughout the world. The greeting is more common among Ashkenazi Jews.


title: Shalom aleichem

text: The plural first appears in the Jerusalem Talmud (c. 400 CE), always with a plural object. It occurs there six times and the response is to repeat .


title: Shalom aleichem

text: The inverted response (upon you šālōm, m. singular) is first attested in the Midrash Abba Gorion (before 1050 CE), in its gloss on Esther 3:5:


title: Shalom aleichem

text: "What did Haman do when he passed by and Mordechai did not rise to greet him? He came from one side and made as if Mordechai had greeted him, saying '<dfn>"ʿālēkā šālōm"</dfn>,' but Mordechai replied, 'the Lord says there is no šālōm for the wicked.'"


title: Shalom aleichem

text: The plural greeting and response became common among European Jews in the second half of the next millennium, as the use of plural forms to denote respect was imported from French and German.


title: Shalom aleichem

text: The related Arabic variation ("peace be upon you", in Arabic), is used by Muslims of many language and ethnic backgrounds. The appropriate response is Wa alaikumus-salaam ("and unto you peace", ). As-salāmu alaykum and its variants are also used by Arabs of different religions as a greeting. Aramaic and Classical Syriac use , which means "peace on you".


title: Shalom aleichem

text: Within the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, "Peace be with you" (in Greek: , in Latin: ) is the initial liturgical greeting by a bishop or priest during divine services. In Mass, Catholic priests who are not bishops say "The Lord be with you." The response is "And with your spirit." A somewhat similar greeting used within the Mass by bishops and priests is "The peace of the Lord be with you always." In Orthodox Church, the greeting is always the same: "Peace be with you".


title: Shalom aleichem

text: Similarly, "Peace be with you" is used within Anglican liturgies of the Episcopal Church and other Anglican churches, with the response being "And also with you." The same is true of Lutheran churches, some Presbyterian and Reformed churches, such as the Presbyterian Church and the Church of the Brethren.


title: Just Like Heaven (The Cure song)

text: "Just Like Heaven" is a song by British alternative rock band the Cure. The group wrote most of the song during recording sessions in southern France in 1987. The lyrics were written by their frontman Robert Smith, who drew inspiration from a past trip to the sea shore with his future wife. Smith's memories of the trip formed the basis for the song's accompanying music video. Before Smith had completed the lyrics, an instrumental version of the song was used as the theme for the French television show "Les Enfants du Rock".


title: Just Like Heaven (The Cure song)

text: "Just Like Heaven" was the third single released from their 1987 album "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me". The song became the Cure's first American hit and reached number 40 on the "Billboard" charts in 1988. It has been praised by critics and covered by artists such as Dinosaur Jr. and Katie Melua. Smith has said he considers "Just Like Heaven" to be one of the band's strongest songs.


title: Just Like Heaven (The Cure song)

text: In order to develop material for "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me", Smith forced himself to write music for 15 days of each month. During this regimen, he developed the chords and melody which form the basis of "Just Like Heaven". Structurally, Smith found what he had written was similar to the Only Ones's 1979 hit "Another Girl, Another Planet". When he brought an instrumental demo of the song to the album recording sessions in Southern France, Cure drummer Boris Williams increased the tempo and added an opening drum fill which inspired Smith to introduce each instrument singularly and in sequence.


title: Just Like Heaven (The Cure song)

text: When the French TV show "Les Enfants du Rock" asked The Cure to provide a theme song, Smith offered the instrumental version. As he explained, "It meant the music would be familiar to millions of Europeans even before it was released". He completed the lyrics when the group moved the sessions to Studio Miraval, located in Le Val, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. The band completed the song quickly, and at the time Smith considered it to be the most obvious potential single from the songs the band had recorded during their two-week stay at Miraval.


title: Just Like Heaven (The Cure song)

text: "Just Like Heaven" is written in the key of A major and consists of an A–E–Bm–D chord progression which repeats throughout the song, except during the chorus when the band plays an Fm–G–D progression. The song's central hook is formed from a descending guitar riff which appears between song verses and in parts of the bridge and the last verse. This guitar line contrasts with the "fuzzier mix" of the rhythm guitars.