title: Top Chess Engine Championship

text: After a short break in 2012, TCEC was restarted in early 2013 (as "nTCEC") and is currently active (renamed as TCEC in early 2014) with 24/7 live broadcasts of chess matches on its website.


title: Top Chess Engine Championship

text: The TCEC competition is divided into seasons, where each season happens over a course of a few months, with matches played round-the-clock and broadcast live over the internet. Each season is divided into several tournaments: a Leagues Season, a Cup, a Swiss tournament, a Fischer Random Chess tournament. Additionally, seasons contain various bonus contests, like the 'Viewer Submitted Opening Bonus'.


title: Top Chess Engine Championship

text: Prior to season 21, there was originally one tournament in each season. This tournament consisted of several qualifying stages and one "superfinal", and the winner of the superfinal is called the "TCEC Grand Champion" until the next season. Prior to season 11, the tournament used a cup format, while starting in Season 11, the tournament used a division system. Starting in season 13, there was also a cup tournament consisting of the top 32 engines in the main tournament, resulting in a 5-round single elimination tournament.


title: Top Chess Engine Championship

text: Pondering is set to off. All engines run on mostly the same hardware and use the same opening book, which is set by the organizers and changed in every stage. Large pages are disabled, but access to various endgame tablebases is permitted. Engines are allowed updates between stages; if there is a critical play-limiting bug, they are also allowed to be updated once during the stage. In previous seasons, if an engine crashes 3 times in one event, it is disqualified to avoid distorting the results for the other engines; however starting in TCEC Season 20, an engine is allowed to crash as many times as possible without being disqualified from the current event; however, the engine will still be disqualified from future events unless the crash is fixed. TCEC generates an Elo rating list from the matches played during the tournament. An initial rating is given to any new participant based on its rating in other chess engine rating lists.


title: Top Chess Engine Championship

text: There is no definite criterion for entering into the competition, other than inviting the top participants under active development from various rating lists which can run on their Linux platform. Originally, TCEC used Windows instead of Linux. In addition, either XBoard or UCI protocol are required to participate.


title: Top Chess Engine Championship

text: Usually chess engines that support multiprocessor mode are preferred (8-cores or higher), and engines in active development are given preference. Since TCEC 12, engines like LCZero which use GPUs for neural processing were supported.


title: Top Chess Engine Championship

text: Initially, the list of participants was personally chosen by Thoresen before the start of a season. His stated goal was to include "every major engine that is not a direct clone". In TCEC 13, DeusX was banned due to being a clone of Leela, and in TCEC 20, Houdini, Fire, Rybka (engine in Fritz up to TCEC 16), and Critter were banned due to allegations of plagiarism.


title: Triple J

text: Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broadcasting Australian content compared to commercial stations.


title: Triple J

text: 2JJ commenced broadcasting at 11:00 am, Sunday 19 January 1975, at 1540 kHz (which switched to 1539kHz in 1978) on the AM band. The new Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) station was given the official call-sign 2JJ, but soon became commonly known as Double J. The station was restricted largely to the greater Sydney region, and its local reception was hampered by inadequate transmitter facilities. However, its frequency was a clear channel nationally, so it was easily heard at night throughout south-eastern Australia. After midnight the station would often use ABC networks – during their off air time slot – to increase its broadcasting range.


title: Triple J

text: Its first broadcast demonstrated a determination to distinguish itself from other Australian radio stations. The first on-air presenter, DJ Holger Brockmann, notably used his own name (a deliberate reference to his former work for top-rated Sydney pop station 2SM). Owing to 2SM's restrictive policies at the time, Brockmann, whose real name was considered "too foreign-sounding", had been forced to work using the pseudonym "Bill Drake" in prior positions. After an introductory audio collage that featured sounds from the countdown and launch of Apollo 11, Brockmann launched the station's first-ever broadcast with the words, "Wow, and we're away!", and then cued The Skyhooks' "You Just Like Me 'Cos I'm Good in Bed".


title: Triple J

text: The choice of a Skyhooks song to introduce the station was significant, as it represented several important features of the Double J brand at the time. Choosing an Australian band reflected Double J's commitment to Australian content at a time when American acts dominated commercial pop stations. The song was one of several tracks from the Skyhooks' album that had been banned from airplay on commercial radio by the industry's peak body.


title: Triple J

text: Because Double J was a government-funded station operating under the umbrella of the ABC, it was not bound by commercial-radio censorship codes, and was not answerable to advertisers or the station owners. In contrast, their Sydney rival, 2SM, was owned by a holding company controlled by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, resulting in the ban or editing of numerous songs.


title: Triple J

text: 2JJ was a product of the progressive media policies of the Whitlam Government of 1972–75, and combined influences from several earlier ABC programs, such as "Room to Move", as well as the freewheeling programming policies of British pirate radio and BBC Radio 1, which was created to target the pirate radio audience. The inspiration gained from the UK led to Double J adopting the tradition of weekly, live-in-the-studio performances by pop and rock bands. Gough Whitlam was unable to also fulfill his aspiration for the establishment of a "National Youth Radio Network", as he was controversially sacked.


title: Triple J

text: 2JJ presenter, and the first female DJ on Australian pop radio, Gayle Austin, who was completing a Master of Arts(MA) on Triple J's first 16 years in 2005, explained that 2JJ staff had also heard of other motivations for the founding of the station:


title: Triple J

text: Word was the Whitlam government wanted to set the station up to woo young voters. We also heard that the ABC was worried about its audience dying off and wanted a station for young people who would grow up to be ABC listeners.


title: Triple J

text: Additionally, the station was one of a series of innovations that stemmed from the recommendations in the McLean Report of 1974. These included expanding radio broadcasting onto the FM band, issuing a new class of broadcasting license which finally permitted the establishment of community radio stations (the long-awaited third tier of the Australian radio industry), and the creation of two new stations for the ABC – 2JJ in Sydney and the short-lived 3ZZ in Melbourne.


title: Triple J

text: By the time 2JJ went to air, the Whitlam government was in its final months of office. Marius Webb, one of the station's co-ordinators recalls an ABC executive informing him: "You'll be on the air by January. Thank you very much, I've got another meeting." On 11 November 1975, Whitlam's commission was revoked by Governor-General Sir John Kerr, sparking a double dissolution of parliament. In the subsequent 1975 federal election, Labor was defeated by the Liberal-National Party coalition that was led by Malcolm Fraser. During the more conservative media climate that emerged in the Fraser years, 2JJ staff were frequently accused of left-wing bias. 2JJ was initially intended to be the first link in Whitlam's planned national youth network; but the expansion was greatly delayed by the election of the Fraser government and the subsequent budget cuts it imposed on the ABC.


title: Triple J

text: It was a historic moment in Australian radio, when the station decided to hire a female disc jockey and, excluding the first experimental FM licences, was granted the first new radio licence issued in any Australian capital city since 1932.


title: Triple J

text: In its early years 2JJ's on-air staff were mainly recruited from either commercial radio or other ABC stations. Later, in another first, the roster also featured presenters who did not come from a radio industry background, including singer-songwriters Bob Hudson and John J. Francis, and actor Lex Marinos. Francis commenced broadcasting in the Saturday midnight-to-dawn shift in 1975, and the program became so popular that it was expanded to include Friday and Sunday nights two years later.


title: Triple J

text: The foundation staff of January 1975 were: Webb and Ron Moss (co-ordinators), Ros Cheney, David Ives, Sam Collins, Holger Brockman (aka Bill Drake), Caroline Pringle, Bob Hudson, Mike Parker, Iven Walker, Arnold Frolows, Di Auburn, Margot Edwards, George "Groover" Wayne who often called himself "G" (the hard 'G'), Graeme Berry, John Arden, Colin Vercoe, Alan McGirvan, Pam Swain, Graeme Bartlett, Tony Maniaty, John Arden, Keith Walker and Michael Byrne. Other popular presenters of the 2JJ period included Austin (a former producer for talkback radio king John Laws), Mark Colvin, Jim Middleton, Russell Guy, Mac Cocker (father of musician Jarvis Cocker), and Keri Phillips. Several of the original team developed successful careers at the ABC: Mark Colvin hosted ABC Radio National's current affairs show "PM"; Jim Middleton hosts "Newsline with Jim Middleton" on ABC Television; Keri Phillips isa long-serving presenter and producer on ABC Radio National and Ros Cheney was Arts Editor of ABC radio until her dismissal in 2001 (during the controversial regime of Jonathan Shier).


title: Triple J

text: 2JJ's programming policies were considered a radical departure from the formats of commercial stations. In 2005 Austin published a recollection from Colin Vercoe, one of the station's first music programmers: "In those days it was the early disco stuff and if it was black they just wouldn't play it." Although the station was primarily oriented towards a pop-rock format, the range of music programmed on Double Jay in its early years music was far wider than any of its commercial rivals, encompassing both mainstream and alternative rock and pop, experimental and electronic music, progressive rock, funk, soul, disco, the emerging ambient, punk and New Wave genres of the late 70s and, most notably, reggae, a genre that was gaining wide popularity in the UK but which was being almost totally ignored by Australian commercial radio. For several years in the late 1970s Double Jay presented "The Dogs of Babylon" a three-hour weekly Sunday afternoon shift exclusively featuring reggae and dub music.


title: Triple J

text: In sharp contrast to the highly restrictive and tightly controlled local versions of the Drake-Chenault "More Music" format that prevailed on Australian commercial radio at the time, Double Jay's presenters had almost total freedom in their on-air delivery, and both the presenters and the station staff participated in music programming decisions. 2JJ was also a pioneer in terms of its coverage of local music. Austin stated in a 2005 ABC radio special to commemorate the youth station's 30th anniversary: "There was very little Australian music. At that time Australian music didn’t have much production put into it because there wasn’t much money made out of it." 2JJ announcer Chris Winter explained that "there was enormous breadth of music around at the time" that was not played on radio, but could be heard in private gatherings or bought from specialist stores. Austin states that the original aim of 2JJ was to highlight "our own culture" and the staff were expected to "provide an alternative to the mainstream, with a heavy emphasis on Australian content". 2JJ consequently garnered a reputation for not only eclectic playlists, but also radical talk content:


title: Triple J

text: ... it was in the talk area that the really radical work was done. Comedy segments such as the sci-fi parody "Chuck Chunder of the Space Patrol", Captain Goodvibes, "Nude Radio" (presented by the stars of the cult TV comedy series The Aunty Jack Show, Grahame Bond, Rory O'Donoghue and Garry McDonald), Fred Dagg (aka John Clarke) and the station's legendary "anti-ads" informed future program-makers on how humour could be used on radio.


title: Triple J

text: The station also sought to create a genuine dialogue with listeners, whereby the audience could claim a sense of ownership of the station, and announcers even played demo tapes recorded by listeners who were also musicians, the start of what is now known as Triple J Unearthed. Austin explained in 2005:


title: Triple J

text: In that first year we had a station policy of access all areas. In early March, women took over the station as announcers to celebrate International Women's Day. The listeners owned the station, too, and if they wanted to come to the meetings and join the debate, they were welcome. This attitude led to some interesting moments, such as when Holger Brockman's shift was hijacked by three Aboriginal activists. They entered the studio and said they were armed and hijacking the station. Brockman said: "Oh, OK. Well, that's the microphone there, and here you are, have my seat." Brockman says they were really polite. "They said their bit, which took about five or 10 minutes, and then politely handed back to me – 'And now back to Holger.' Respectfully, like family."


title: Triple J

text: The station played an unprecedented level of Australian content, as well as imported music, music brought in from the staff's personal collections, music purchased by overseas correspondents, and songs banned by other stations because of religious or sexual controversies. The first song played on air on the first broadcast day, "You Just Like Me 'Cos I'm Good in Bed" by the Skyhooks, was banned on commercial radio for its explicit sexual content.


title: Triple J

text: Double J also featured regular news broadcasts, current affairs programs, political commentary by noted journalist Mungo MacCallum, and audio documentaries like the controversial "The Ins and Outs of Love" (produced by former 2SM producers Carl Tyson-Hall and Tony Poulsen), which included frank interviews with young people about their first experiences of sex. The Tyson-Hall and Poulsen documentary had allegedly "breached community standards" and, although the ABC reportedly received few direct complaints about "The Ins and Outs of Love" (originally broadcast on Sunday, 23 February 1975), the documentary sparked a debate in the media and the Broadcasting Control Board (BCB) reportedly asked for talks with the ABC. Two days after the documentary was broadcast, Fairfax tabloid "The Sun" published an editorial calling for the station to be closed, and a week later, on 10 March 1975, the influential marketing/advertising industry journal "B&T" followed suit, demanding that the station should be forced to undertake one of three options: (i) 2JJ should be closed down; (ii) 2JJ's programming should be completely revamped; or (iii) the removal of those staff responsible for "the present series of lapses". Austin explained in 2005 that Webb was largely responsible for shielding the station from external criticism.


title: Triple J

text: The station rapidly gained popularity, especially with its target youth demographic: media articles noted that in its first two months on air, 2JJ reached a 5.4% share of the total radio audience, with 17% in the 18–24 age group, while the audience share of rival 2SM dropped by 2.3%. Despite the poor quality of reception caused by the Sydney transmitter, the station still saw rapid growth. Austin explained that station staff threatened industrial action in July 1975 due to the transmitter issues, but officials of the BCB still refused to meet with 2JJ representatives. A new transmitter was not provided until 1980, following the transition to the FM band.


title: Triple J

text: 2JJ presenter George "Groover" Wayne, who hosted the show "Cooking with George", became very popular, but was also part of the station's controversial reputation. Originally from South Africa, Wayne was fondly remembered by a listener for the 30-year anniversary event: "I remember George being booted off air. One night, reading the gig guide, he announced a fund raiser for NORML where the lucky door prize (or raffle) was a block of hash. I can't remember how long he was off air but he went home early that night." Former Triple J DJ Ian Rogerson stated: "He had this fantastic voice and presence on air...He was just a great communicator...I really miss him."


title: Triple J

text: Controversy also emerged after the station hosted an open-air concert in Liverpool, in Sydney's south-west, in June 1975 (featuring Skyhooks and Dragon). A page-one headline in the Sydney "Sun" that read "Rock Concert Filth Uproar" introduced a story that claimed that many were "shocked" by "depictions of sexual depravity and shouted obscenities", which allegedly caused women in the audience to clap their hands over their ears, and reportedly prompted Coalition frontbencher Peter Nixon to call for the station to be closed down. The station regularly sponsored live concerts and organised a number of major outdoor concert events in the late 1970s, culminating in an outdoor, all-day event in Parramatta Park, Sydney on 18 January 1981 to celebrate the end of Double J and the start of 2JJJ. Attended by 40,000 people, the historic concert featured Midnight Oil and Matt Finish.


title: Triple J

text: On 1 August 1980 2JJ began broadcasting on the FM band at a frequency of 105.7 MHz (again restricted to within the greater Sydney region) and became 2JJJ (later, Triple J). Test transmissions in the lead-up to the FM launch used the innovative device of broadcasting stereo audio-verité recordings made by ABC staff, and, in a deliberate echo of the original Double Jay launch, the first song played on the new FM incarnation was another track then banned from commercial radio, "Gay Guys" by Dugites. Through the mid-to-late eighties, Triple J continued to pioneer new music and developed a wide range of special-interest programs including the Japanese pop show "Nippi Rock Shop", Arnold Frolows' weekly late-night ambient music show "Ambience", and Jaslyn Hall's world music show, the first of its kind on Australian mainstream radio.. For several years in the late 1970s and early 1980s the breakfast shift was presented by Doug Mulray, which featured regular input from Mulray's long-serving collaborator Ken Sterling, who regularly impersonated then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser (as "The Prime Mincer"), while Mulray often performed a parody of TV scientist Julius Sumner-Miller. Stirling and Mulray also wrote and produced a popular series of parodic "anti-ads". One of the show's most popular features was the Doctor Who parody serial "Dr Poo", written and performed by comedians Lance Curtis, Geoff Kelso, Steve Johnstone and Ken Matthews, although the series was cancelled in 1981 following the station's transition to the FM band. Mulray continued on the Triple J breakfast shift until 1982, when he was poached by rival commercial FM rock station Triple M, where he became very popular, presenting their breakfast shift for the next ten years.


title: Triple J

text: On 19 January 1981 at 12:00 PM , the AM transmissions ceased, and 2JJJ became an FM only station. It was not until the late 1980s that the ABC was finally able to begin development of the long-delayed national "youth network". Between October 1989 to the end of 1990, JJJ expanded to: Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle, and Perth.


title: Triple J

text: In 1983, four Triple J presenters – Peter Doyle, Virginia Moncrieff, Tony Barrell and Clive Miller – began producing a fanzine with the inscrutable title of "Alan". Designed in a manic collage style by David Art Wales, "Alan" featured programming information, pop trivia, and irreverent interviews with recording artists. Wales also supplied a comic strip featuring a boy sage named Guru Adrian. In a twist that added to the character's appeal, the Guru's face was that of a real child whose identity was never revealed, leading many to believe that he was in fact a real guru. Guru Adrian's philosophy, "Adrianetics", consisted of quixotic maxims, including: "Having fun is half the fun," "Gee, you are you" and "Realise your real eyes," which rapidly gained the character a cult following in Australia, with Wales making many radio and television appearances during the mid-1980s to discuss the Guru Adrian phenomenon.


title: Triple J

text: In 1984, Wales teamed with renowned Australian journalist Bruce Elder on the book "Radio With Pictures: The History of Double Jay and Triple Jay".


title: Triple J

text: In the late 1980s, Barry Chapman (Programme Director 2SM 1977–80, and managing director EMI Music Publishing 1983–89) was appointed as general manager to oversee Triple J's network expansion. His tenure, and the expansion of the network, generated controversy, most notably in 1990, when a large portion of 2JJJ's Sydney-based on air staff was fired, (the so-called "Night of the long knives") including the most popular presenters Tony Biggs and Tim Ritchie, the station's dance-music maven. As details of the changes became public, there were accusations of a "JJJ Bland Out" (analogous to Harry Enfield's fictional British DJs Smashie and Nicey) and several protests were held outside its William Street studios. There was a public meeting that packed the Sydney Town Hall with angry listeners. The crowd spilled out onto the street as the hall was not big enough to hold everyone who felt that "their" beloved radio station had been hijacked.


title: Triple J

text: Concern was expressed about the introduction of a more highly programmed music format, and the appointment of Chapman was seen as an indication of a more commercial direction. Management responded that to launch a national network meant that the station must broaden its then almost-exclusive focus on the Sydney music scene, requiring the addition of new talent. When the dispute waned, the radio programming was not nearly as free-form as it had been before going national, but neither was it as highly programmed as its critics feared. In the pre-national era, there had been less emphasis on a structured playlist but the introduction of a tighter playlist allowed (at least initially) a degree of input from individual presenters that exceeded that usually permitted on a commercial station.


title: Triple J

text: The laissez-faire collective management style of the Double Jay days was gradually replaced by a more business-like top-down management style. Prior to the controversial appointment of Chapman, many of the 'old guard' were dismissed from the station and replaced by presenters who were more amenable to the increasingly structured format.


title: Triple J

text: Chapman oversaw a radical overhaul of Triple J's programming and marketing. This basic format, though not dissimilar to the old Sydney based Triple J, included: an early morning comedy breakfast program with duo presenters, a late morning talk and talkback program, and a light talk-and-comedy afternoon drive-time shift. Decades later the format remains substantially in place. Compared to the late 1970s, Chapman did not reduce the amount of comedy, documentaries and news. Although as he did at 2SM, Chapman maintained and strengthened the station's commitment to live music.


title: Triple J

text: In the late 1980s Triple J was accused of ignoring the emerging hip hop scene and related genres, in favour of the more marketable rock-oriented grunge style that dominated American music at the same time.


title: Triple J

text: The number of news comedy programs and documentaries remained essentially the same in the 1990s as it was during the 1980s. The key changes were new programmes replacing old. Throughout the 1990s, Triple J commenced expansion to more regional areas of Australia and, in 1994, it was extended to another 18 regional centres throughout the country. In 1996, the total was brought to 44, with the new additions including: Launceston, Tasmania; Albany, Western Australia; Bathurst, New South Wales and Mackay, Queensland. As of 2006, Triple J's most recent expansion was to Broome, Western Australia.


title: Triple J

text: In May 2003, Arnold Frolows, the only remaining member of the original Double Jay staff of 1975, stepped down after 28 years as Triple J music director. He was replaced by presenter Richard Kingsmill.


title: Triple J

text: In 2004, the station began to release podcasts of some of its talkback shows, including "Dr Karl", "This Sporting Life", and "Hack".


title: Triple J

text: In 2006, Triple J's coverage expanded when transmission began in Broome, Western Australia. As Broome was one of the largest towns in Australia to not receive Triple J to this point, the station celebrated with a concert featuring many local bands, also simulcast on the "Live at the Wireless" programme.


title: Triple J

text: Also in 2006, Triple J launched jtv, a series of television programs broadcast on ABC and ABC2, as well as being made available online. Programming included music videos, live concerts, documentaries, and comedy, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at Triple J's studios. In 2008 jtv was rebranded as Triple J TV. Triple J TV's first 'spin-off' series "The Hack Half Hour" premiered on 22 September 2008, hosted by Steve Cannane.


title: Triple J

text: In 2014, ABC's Dig Music digital radio station joined the Triple J family and was relaunched as Double J on 30 April 2014. The new station features both new music and material from Triple J interview and sound archives. Former Triple J announcer Myf Warhurst, who hosted the inaugural shift, said "it's for people who love music, and also love a bit of music history."


title: Triple J

text: The station celebrated its 40th anniversary on 16 January 2015 with the seven-hour "Beat The Drum" event at the Domain venue in Sydney. Hosted by Peter Garrett, an Australian musician with Midnight Oil and former federal Environment Minister, the list of performers, all of whom are the beneficiaries of the station's support, included: Hilltop Hoods, The Presets, The Cat Empire, You Am I, Daniel Johns, Joelistics, Ball Park Music, Adalita, Vance Joy, and Gotye. The majority of performers played a combination of their own music and cover versions, including Sarah Blasko and Paul Dempsey's rendition of Crowded House's "Distant Sun", and The Preatures covering "At First Sight" by The Stems and The Divinyls' "All the Boys in Town".


title: Triple J

text: In ratings released in August 2015, Triple J was the highest or equal first in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in the 25–39 demographic.


title: Triple J

text: Triple J frequently features new, alternative music and local Australian performers, and programming which used to show a bias against bubblegum pop and top 40 hits. Triple J has nightly specialist programs in different musical genres (see the programmes section below). It also covers news and current affairs from a youth-oriented perspective, although this facet of its programming has been reduced considerably since the station's inception.


title: Triple J

text: In common with other Australian radio stations, Triple J has also gradually increased the amount of talkback content in its programming. There are several reasons for this. Most importantly, it provides an inexpensive and popular source of program content, and also provides the appearance of listener interactivity and involvement. Like many other former 'all music' stations, Triple J has had to respond to the advent of music file-sharing, digital music players, and other digital music innovations, which have drastically reduced listeners' dependence on radio as a means of accessing music.


title: Triple J

text: The evolution of Triple J's programming has always been contentious. In the Double Jay days, commercial stations and conservatives regularly cried foul over the station's free use of expletives on air and its ability to ignore the censorship restrictions that were in force for commercial radio. This situation stemmed from Double Jay's status as a special unit of the ABC which, at that time, was only answerable to the ABC Board and the Minister for Communications, unlike the commercial stations, which were subject to regulation by the old Broadcasting Control Board (now the Australian Communications and Media Authority) and by their own peak body, the Federation of Australian Commercial Broadcasters (FACB), now known as Commercial Radio Australia.


title: Triple J

text: Over the years the station gained considerable renown for breaking new local acts. Midnight Oil, the prime example of this, would almost certainly not have had the success they enjoyed without the help of Double Jay/Triple J. The station also broke countless overseas acts who were being ignored in their home countries. Double Jay was virtually the only 'pop' station in Australia in the late Seventies to play reggae, dub, punk rock, new wave, world music, electronic music, and ambient music.


title: Triple J

text: Over the years the station moved away from its early style, which featured a high level of news, features, documentaries, current affairs, and comedy, and was gradually steered towards a non-commercial version of the continuous music format that prevailed in commercial radio. Many original Double Jay segments including the nightly "What's On" gig guide, its extensive news and current affairs coverage, and its 'community noticeboard' segment, were gradually eliminated, as were almost all the character comedy spots that had been popular features in previous years.


title: Triple J

text: The station also exerted a noticeable effect on local record companies. For many years, local record labels would only import recordings that they knew would earn a good commercial return, and they were often unwilling to take risks on local releases of unknown acts. Much new music was routinely available only as expensive imports in specialist shops. This began to change almost as soon as Double Jay came on air. A good example of the station's influence was in 1976 when Double Jay championed a new album, "801 Live", recorded by a one-off group that included former Roxy Music members Phil Manzanera and Brian Eno. Although the LP was hailed overseas as one of the best live recordings ever made, and set new standards of technical excellence, the Australian distributor at first refused to release it locally, in spite of the fact that it was one of the most requested items on the Double Jay playlist at the time. As a result of the import sales that were generated by Double Jay airplay – it became the highest selling import album that year – the company decided to release it locally.


title: Triple J

text: Triple J routinely championed many local and overseas acts whose early recordings were ignored by commercial radio including: Midnight Oil, Models, Paul Kelly, The Clash, Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Pixies, Ben Folds Five, and hundreds more. As with the ABC's long-running pop TV show "Countdown", the support of Triple J in Australia also had a strong effect on the success of emerging overseas acts. A case in point is American group The B-52's. It is believed that Double Jay was the first radio station in the world to play their debut single "Rock Lobster". The support of Double Jay/Triple J had a similarly significant effect on the worldwide success of many acts, including: Blondie, Devo, and more recently Ben Folds Five, Garbage, and especially Ben Harper, whose popularity in Australia, which was almost entirely the result of support from Triple J, was instrumental in breaking him back in his home country, the United States.


title: Triple J

text: It is also notable that Triple J was for many years routinely used as a free market research facility by commercial stations. As mainstream pop radio struggled to establish itself on the FM band, commercial stations like those owned by Austereo constantly monitored what songs and acts were doing well on Triple J and would then introduce the most 'saleable' of them into their own playlists. Acts like Talking Heads, The Police, and Nirvana unquestionably owed their commercial success in Australia to the early support of Double Jay/Triple J.


title: Triple J

text: In 1990, Triple J had been playing N.W.A's protest song "Fuck tha Police" for up to six months, before catching the attention of ABC management who subsequently banned it. As a result, the staff went on strike and put the group's song "Express Yourself" on continuous play for 24 hours, playing it roughly 82 times in a row. In 2014, when launching Double J on digital radio, the station played nothing but "Express Yourself" for 48 hours.


title: Triple J

text: Many Double Jay and early Triple J presenters went on to successful careers with commercial stations, the most notable being Doug Mulray, who honed his distinctive comedy-based style at the Jays before moving to rival FM rock station 2-MMM (Triple M) in the 1980s, where he became the most popular breakfast presenter in Sydney (and one of the highest-paid radio personalities in the country). Presenter Annette Shun Wah went on to host the popular "Rock Around the World" series on SBS and is now a program executive with SBS TV and producer of "The Movie Show".


title: Triple J

text: The Hottest 100 is an annual poll of the previous year's most popular songs, as voted by its listeners. It has been conducted for over two decades in its present form, and in 2016 attracted 2.26 million votes from 172 countries. It is promoted as the "world's greatest music democracy" and has also spawned a series of compilation CDs, and more recently, music DVDs, released via ABC Music. The countdown of the poll had regularly taken place on Australia Day from 1998 to 2017. In response to controversy surrounding Australia Day celebrations and an extensive poll of Triple J listeners, it was announced in November 2017 that future countdowns would be aired on the fourth weekend of January to avoid associations with the Australia Day holiday.


title: Triple J

text: Unearthed, an ongoing project to find hidden talent, began in 1995. It originally focused on regional areas but now covers all of Australia. Many of these discoveries have been very successful. Some, such as Grinspoon, Killing Heidi, and Missy Higgins, have even been successful enough to receive commercial radio airplay. The Unearthed competition was inspired by the success of a talent search on SBS program "Nomad" called "Pick Me". This segment, co-produced by Triple J, discovered a trio from Newcastle called the "Innocent Criminals", who later gained international fame under the name Silverchair.


title: Triple J

text: On 5 October 2011, Triple J Unearthed (-styled triple j unearthed) was launched as a radio station available on digital radio and online. It allows listeners to rate and review songs uploaded by bands and musicians.


title: Triple J

text: Triple j unearthed runs a competition to select an Indigenous Australian artist to play the National Indigenous Music Awards, known as the Unearthed National Indigenous Music Awards Competition, Unearthed NIMAs Competition, or simply NIMA Unearthed. Past winners have included Dallas Woods, Thelma Plum, Baker Boy, Alice Skye, and Kuren. In 2021, Tilly Tjala Thomas won the award. Thomas sings in both Nukunu language and English, and performed her song "Ngai Yulku" in both languages. The 2022 winner was JACOTÉNE.


title: Triple J

text: Triple J occasionally runs a competition known as 'Beat the Drum' – named for their logo of three drumsticks hitting a drum. It is a competition designed to promote the logo, whereby, whoever displays it in the most prominent place would win a prize. Notable entries include:


title: Triple J

text: In late 2004, the station's promotion for that year's Beat the Drum contest caused a brief but bitter controversy after it released a series of promotional images featuring the 'Drum' logo. Many were outraged by the inclusion of a mocked-up image of the former World Trade Center draped with a huge Drum flag.


title: Triple J

text: To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Triple J a one-off concert was held on 16 January at The Domain, Sydney. Artists included: Ball Park Music, Vance Joy, The Preatures, You Am I, The Cat Empire, The Presets, Hilltop Hoods, and many special guests.


title: Triple J

text: The "Impossible Music Festival", broadcast in August 2005 was a celebration of 30 years of live music recordings made by JJ and Triple J. Voted for by listeners from over 1000 recorded gigs/concerts, the broadcast went from 18:00 Friday the 26th to 01:00 Monday the 29th. The 2006 "Impossible Music Festival" was aired on the weekend of 7–8 October. The 2007 "Impossible Music Festival" broadcast from Friday 25 May to Sunday 27 May. The 2008 "Impossible Music Festival" was broadcast from Friday 19 September until Sunday 21 September.


title: Triple J

text: The "One Night Stand", held annually since 2004, offers a small town the opportunity to host a free, all ages concert, sponsored by Triple J, featuring three or four Australian musical acts. Entries must include examples of local support, including community (signatures), local government (council approval), and a venue for the concert.


title: Triple J

text: Each November on Triple J is Aus Music month, where Australian artists are heavily promoted. This includes a solid weekend of Australian music; some free, limited-entry concerts around the country; All-Australian feature albums; Live at the Wireless; and each day, a new "unknown" Australian band is featured and played several times during the day.


title: Triple J

text: The J Awards are an annual awards ceremony held at the start of December each year to celebrate Australian music. Awards include; the Unearthed J Award for best Unearthed artist, the J Award for Australian Music Video of the year, and the main J Award for Australian album of the year, judged by a panel of Triple J presenters. Past winners of the J Award include; Wolfmother (2005), Hilltop Hoods (2006), and The Panics (2007). In 2008, The Presets took the award for "Apocalypso". In 2009 the award was won by Sarah Blasko. In 2010, Tame Impala won the coveted J Award. The 2011 winner of best Australian album was Gotye. In 2012 Tame Impala won the award for a second time, this time with "Lonerism". In 2013, the electronic artist Flume took out the award with his self-titled debut album. In 2019 Matt Corby was awarded album of the year for "Rainbow Valley".


title: Nikki Bedi

text: Nikhila Bedi (; "née" Moolgaoker; 9 September 1966) is a British television and radio presenter, born to an Indian father of Maharashtrian origin and an English mother. Married to Kabir Bedi from 1992 to 2005, she retained her married name after a divorce in 2005. She describes herself as Indo-Anglian.


title: Nikki Bedi

text: She writes and presents "The Arts Hour" and "The Arts Hour on Tour" for the BBC World Service, and co-hosts BBC Radio 4's "Saturday Live".


title: Nikki Bedi

text: Both a stage and television actress, she began her career in Mumbai. Spotted by the UK's Channel 4, Bedi hosted "Bombay Chat", an on-location celebrity talk show. Star TV gave her a primetime slot for "Nikki Tonight" which quickly proved to be Asia's most widely viewed and controversial talk show, although it was subsequently cancelled by Star TV after a guest, gay rights activist Ashok Row Kavi, made a derogatory remark about Mahatma Gandhi.


title: Nikki Bedi

text: Bedi then moved to live and work for a time in Los Angeles, before returning to the UK in 2000 to be the face of Universal's film channel The Studio for over two years. She also presented two live film shows for NOW, "Worldwide Screen" and "Bollywood Today".


title: Nikki Bedi

text: In 2003, Bedi began working in radio, appearing on LBC and BBC Radio 4. In 2004, she became the presenter of a new weekend morning programme called "Hot Breakfast" on the BBC Asian Network before taking over as presenter of the weekday afternoon show, "Drive" in 2005. In May 2006, as part of wide-ranging schedule changes, she was given her own show called "Nikki Bedi" on the BBC Asian Network. The daily show featured music, films, books, art and all things cultural and included interviews with prominent figures from those worlds.


title: Nikki Bedi

text: She has covered for a number of key presenters on BBC Radio 2, BBC London 94.9 and BBC Radio 4 and in October 2008 fulfilled a long-held ambition by appearing in an episode of the BBC Radio 4 drama, "The Archers". Bedi continued with her television work alongside radio, appearing as a presenter on BBC2's "Desi DNA" for three years and on the popular BBC One series "To Buy or Not to Buy" during 2010 and 2011.


title: Nikki Bedi

text: Bedi was a Costa Book Awards judge in the New Novel category announced in Jan 2010 and has also been on the judging panel for the European Independent Film Festival Awards and the One World Media Awards. In February 2010, she presented a 3-part documentary series on BBC Radio 2 called "Bollywood Britain". The series explores the history of Hindi film music and its lasting ties with generations of British Asians.


title: Nikki Bedi

text: Bedi continues to be a voiceover artist, having voiced or narrated a wide variety of shows from the BBC Four documentary series "Indian School" to the "Millies" on ITV.


title: Nikki Bedi

text: Joining BBC Radio London in 2010, Bedi presented an evening weekend show until taking over as presenter of the Monday to Thursday overnight show in 2011. She has also been a regular stand-in presenter for key BBC Radio London shows and presenters including, the "Lesley Joseph Show", the "Vanessa Feltz Show", "Eddie Nestor's Rum Shop", "The Late Show with JoAnne Good" and Gaby Roslin on "The Breakfast Show".


title: Nikki Bedi

text: Early in 2013, Bedi moved to the BBC Radio London evening weekend show (Friday to Sunday), making way for her new weekday show "The Arts Hour" on the BBC World Service. Curated, written and presented by Bedi, "The Arts Hour" is a weekly collection of the most interesting arts related stories from across the BBC and elsewhere. In February 2016, Bedi moved to the weekday early breakfast on the renamed BBC Radio London. She left early breakfast in December 2016, and from January 2017 until April 2019, Bedi presented a Sunday mid morning show on BBC Radio London.


title: Nikki Bedi

text: Bedi has been associated with BBC Radio 4 for several years having become a regular interviewer on "Loose Ends", presenting the show when usual host Clive Anderson was absent and she has also occasionally presented "Woman's Hour". Bedi became co-host of "Saturday Live" in late 2020.


title: Sarah Waters

text: Sarah Ann Waters (born 21 July 1966) is a Welsh novelist. She is best known for her novels set in Victorian society and featuring lesbian protagonists, such as "Tipping the Velvet" and "Fingersmith".


title: Sarah Waters

text: Sarah Waters was born in Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1966. She later moved to Middlesbrough when she was eight years old.


title: Sarah Waters

text: She grew up in a family that included her father Ron, mother Mary, and a "much older" sister. Her mother was a housewife and her father an engineer who worked on oil refineries. She describes her family as "pretty idyllic, very safe and nurturing". Her father, "a fantastically creative person", encouraged her to build and invent.


title: Sarah Waters

text: Waters said, "When I picture myself as a child, I see myself constructing something, out of plasticine or papier-mâché or Meccano; I used to enjoy writing poems and stories, too." She wrote stories and poems that she describes as "dreadful gothic pastiches", but had not planned her career. Despite her obvious enjoyment of writing, she did not feel any special calling or preference for becoming a novelist in her youth.


title: Sarah Waters

text: Waters was a supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, joining as a result of her boyfriend at the time. Politically, she has always identified as a leftist.


title: Sarah Waters

text: After Milford Haven Grammar School, Waters attended university and earned degrees in English literature. She received a BA from the University of Kent, an MA from Lancaster University, and a PhD from Queen Mary, University of London. Her PhD thesis, entitled "Wolfskins and togas : lesbian and gay historical fictions, 1870 to the present", served as inspiration and material for future books. As part of her research she read 19th-century pornography, in which she came across the title of her first book, "Tipping the Velvet". However, her literary influences are also found in the popular classics of Victorian literature, such as Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and the Brontës, and in the contemporary novelists that combine a keen interest in Victoriana with a post-modernist approach to fiction, especially A.S. Byatt and John Fowles. Angela Carter's "Nights at the Circus" had a huge influence on her début novel as well, and Waters praises her for her literary prose, her "common touch", and her commitment to feminism.


title: Sarah Waters

text: Waters came out as lesbian in the late 1980s. She has been in a relationship with copy editor Lucy Vaughan since 2002. As of 2007, she lives in Kennington, south-east London.


title: Sarah Waters

text: Before writing novels, Waters worked as an academic, earning a doctorate and teaching. Waters went directly from her doctoral thesis to her first novel. It was during the process of writing her thesis that she thought she would write a novel; she began as soon as the thesis was complete. Her work is very research-intensive, which is an aspect she enjoys. Waters was briefly a member of the long-running London North Writers circle, whose members have included the novelists Charles Palliser and Neil Blackmore, among others.


title: Sarah Waters

text: With the exception of "The Little Stranger", all of her books contain lesbian themes, and she does not mind being labelled a lesbian writer. She said, "I'm writing with a clear lesbian agenda in the novels. It's right there at the heart of the books." Despite this "common agenda in teasing out lesbian stories from parts of history that are regarded as quite heterosexual", she also calls her lesbian protagonists "incidental", due to her own sexual orientation. "That's how it is in my life, and that's how it is, really, for most lesbian and gay people, isn't it? It's sort of just there in your life."


title: Sarah Waters

text: Her writing influences include Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Mary Shelley, the Brontës, John Fowles, A. S. Byatt, and Angela Carter.


title: Sarah Waters

text: Her debut work was the Victorian picaresque "Tipping the Velvet", published by Virago Press in 1998. The novel took 18 months to write. The book takes its title from Victorian slang for cunnilingus. Waters describes the novel as a "very upbeat [...] kind of a romp".


title: Sarah Waters

text: It won a 1999 Betty Trask Award, and was shortlisted for the Mail on Sunday / John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.


title: Sarah Waters

text: In 2002, the novel was adapted into a three-part television serial of the same name for BBC Two. It has been translated into at least 24 languages, including Chinese, Latvian, Hungarian, Korean and Slovenian.


title: Sarah Waters

text: Waters's second book, "Affinity", was published a year after her first, in 1999. The novel, also set in the Victorian era, centres on the world of Victorian Spiritualism. While finishing her debut novel, Waters had been working on an academic paper on spiritualism. She combined her interests in spiritualism, prisons, and the Victorian era in "Affinity", which tells the story of the relationship between an upper-middle-class woman and an imprisoned spiritualist.


title: Sarah Waters

text: The novel is less light-hearted than the ones that preceded and followed it. Waters found it less enjoyable to write. "It was a very gloomy world to have to go into every day", she said.


title: Sarah Waters

text: "Affinity" won the Stonewall Book Award and Somerset Maugham Award. Andrew Davies wrote a screenplay adapting "Affinity" and the resulting feature film premiered 19 June 2008 at the opening night of Frameline the San Francisco LGBT Film Festival at the Castro Theater.


title: Sarah Waters

text: "Fingersmith" was made into a serial for BBC One in 2005, starring Sally Hawkins, Elaine Cassidy and Imelda Staunton. Waters approved of the adaptation, calling it "a really good quality show", and said it was "very faithful to the book. It was spookily faithful to the book at times, which was exciting." The novel was later adapted again by South Korean director Park Chan-wook into the 2016 film "The Handmaiden", which set the story in Japanese-occupied Korea in the 1930s.


title: Sarah Waters

text: "The Night Watch" took four years for Waters to write. It differs from the first three novels in its time period and its structure. Although her thesis and previous books focused on the 19th century, Waters said that "Something about the 1940s called to me". It was also less tightly plotted than her other books. Waters said,


title: Sarah Waters

text: The novel tells the stories of a man and three women in 1940s London. Waters describes it as "fundamentally a novel about disappointment and loss and betrayal", as well as "real contact between people and genuine intimacy".


title: Sarah Waters

text: In 2005, Waters received the highest bid (£1,000) during a charity auction in which the prize was the opportunity to have the winner's name immortalised in "The Night Watch." The auction featured many notable British novelists, and the name of the bidder, author Martina Cole, appeared in Waters' novel.


title: Sarah Waters

text: Also set in the 1940s, "The Little Stranger" also differs from Waters' previous novels. It is her first with no overtly lesbian characters. Initially, Waters set out to write a book about the economic changes brought by socialism in postwar Britain, and reviewers note the connection with Evelyn Waugh. During the novel's construction, it turned into a ghost story, focusing on a family of gentry who own a large country house they can no longer afford to maintain.


title: Sarah Waters

text: This novel is set in the 1920s, in the social and economic aftermath of World War I. Households are in reduced circumstances and Frances Wray and her mother have to take in lodgers to keep going. The developing lesbian relationship between Frances and lodger Lilian Barber provides a complex backdrop for a murder investigation that takes up the latter half of the book. "The Observer" said: "The inimitable Sarah Waters handles a dramatic key change with aplomb in her new novel set in 1920s south London". "The Telegraph" described it as "eerie, virtuoso writing".


title: Sarah Waters

text: Waters was named as one of Granta's 20 Best of Young British Writers in January 2003. The same year, she received the South Bank Award for Literature. She was named Author of the Year at the 2003 British Book Awards. In both 2006 and 2009 she won "Writer of the Year" at the annual Stonewall Awards. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2009. She holds an honorary degree from Lancaster University. She has featured on the Pinc List of leading Welsh LGBT figures.


title: Sarah Waters

text: She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to literature.


title: Thinner (novel)

text: Thinner is a horror novel by American author Stephen King, published in 1984 by NAL under King's pseudonym Richard Bachman. The story centers on lawyer Billy Halleck, who kills a crossing Romani woman in a road accident and escapes legal punishment because of his connections. However, the woman's father places a curse on Halleck, which causes him to lose weight uncontrollably. King, who was overweight at the time of the novel's writing, created the novel's outline following an annual medical examination.


title: Thinner (novel)

text: Following the book's release, media outlets discussed the similarities between the works of Bachman and King. Eventually, bookstore clerk Stephen Brown, a fan of King's work, located evidence from copyright data held in the Library of Congress that Bachman and King were the same person. After the secret of King's pseudonym was revealed, sales of "Thinner" increased tenfold. In total, over three million copies of "Thinner" have been sold. Critical reception to "Thinner" was polarized; some reviewers disliked the authorship deception and pessimistic ending, while others held these same points as merits of the book. The literary style, however, was generally praised. A film adaptation was released in 1996.


title: Thinner (novel)

text: Billy Halleck, a successful, arrogant and morbidly obese lawyer, is distracted while driving across town by his wife Heidi giving him a handjob and runs over and kills an elderly Romani woman. Billy uses his connections within the local police and criminal court to get himself acquitted and avoid punishment. The woman's father, Taduz Lemke, exacts vengeance by imposing a curse upon Billy outside the courthouse—using the word "thinner"—and Billy begins to lose weight rapidly regardless of how much he eats. Worried, Billy consults a series of doctors, suspecting cancer but the doctors are unable to determine the cause of his weight loss. Later, Billy discovers that the judge who presided over his case has grown scales on his skin and the policeman who committed perjury on Billy's behalf has been struck with severe acne. Both men eventually commit suicide. With the help of private detectives and Richie "The Hammer" Ginelli, a former client with ties to organized crime, a now emaciated Billy tracks the Romani band north along the seacoast of New England to Maine. He confronts Lemke at their camp and tries to persuade him to lift the curse but Lemke refuses to do so, insisting that justice must be done upon Billy. The Romani inhabitants throw Billy out of their camp but not before Lemke's great-granddaughter Gina slingshots him through the hand with a ball bearing. Billy calls for help from Richie, who sends a mob doctor to treat Billy's hand and then arrives in person to terrorize the Romani camp. After Richie finishes with the inhabitants, Lemke agrees to meet with Billy. Lemke brings a strawberry pie with him and adds blood from Billy's wounded hand to it. The weight loss will stop for a short time but then resume unless Billy passes the curse to someone else by getting them to eat the pie. Lemke implores Billy to eat the pie himself so that he may die with dignity. After finding Richie's severed hand in his car and learning that he has been murdered, Billy returns home and intends to give the pie to Heidi, whom he has come to blame for his predicament. The next morning, though, he finds that both she and their daughter Linda have eaten from the pie. Realizing that they are both doomed, he cuts a slice for himself so that he can join them in death.


title: Thinner (novel)

text: The idea for "Thinner" came to author Stephen King during an annual medical exam. King knew he had gained weight, and as soon as he entered the exam room, the doctor asked him to step on the scale. King was angered at the doctor for not allowing him to undress or use the bathroom first. The doctor informed King that he was overweight at and his cholesterol levels were elevated, and recommended losing weight and quitting smoking. King spent the next few days fuming over the doctor's perceived insolence, but upon calming down, he decided to lose weight and cut back on his smoking. When he managed to lose a few pounds, he was simultaneously delighted and distressed, elaborating that "Once the weight actually started to come off, I began to realize that I was attached to it somehow, that I didn't really want to lose it. Then I began to think about what would happen if somebody started to lose weight and couldn't stop".


title: Thinner (novel)

text: In several scenes in the story, the Gypsy characters speak in what was intended to be their native language. Not knowing the said language, King turned to Czechoslovakian editions of his books and pulled random phrases from them. King noted that his readers called him out on this, and admitted that he "deserved to be because it was lazy". The novel's working title, "Gypsy Pie", became the name of the book's 27th chapter.


title: Thinner (novel)

text: "Thinner" was published in November 1984 as the fifth book by Richard Bachman. It was Bachman's first book to be published in hardcover. In May of that year, the book was presented at the American Booksellers Association Convention as a featured title. The novel was heavily advertised and promoted in bookstores across the country. Elaine Koster, in a promotional letter attached to advance reading copies, wrote "As the publisher of some of the finest horror novels ever written, it takes a lot to get me excited about a new horror writer. Such a writer has now appeared". Koster knew that King was the real author of "Thinner", but repressed the urge to reveal the writer's identity in respect to his privacy.


title: Thinner (novel)

text: The back of the novel features a photo of Richard Manuel, a friend of King's literary agent Kirby McCauley. Manuel was a construction worker who lived near Saint Paul, Minnesota, and was selected by McCauley as someone who lived a great distance from New York, thus reducing the likelihood of him being recognized. Manuel was amused by his role, and following the book's publication, friends and relatives called him to note his resemblance to Bachman. "Thinner" revived interest in Bachman's previous works, most of which had been in print for six years, which was unusual for a supposedly unknown author.


title: Thinner (novel)

text: Readers soon began sending irate letters to Bachman, accusing him of copying King's style, and some wondered if King and Bachman were the same person. King and his publisher maintained denial in the face of inquiries from major talk shows such as "Good Morning America" and "Entertainment Tonight". In some interviews, King claimed to know Bachman informally, describing him as an unsociable chicken farmer who disdained publicity and telling reporters that "the poor guy was one ugly son of a bitch". A representative of B. Dalton's phoned New American Library and promised to purchase 30,000 copies of "Thinner" if the publisher confirmed their suspicions.


title: Thinner (novel)

text: The secret was solved by Stephen P. Brown, a bookstore employee in Washington, D.C. Brown was an avid King fan who had also read all of Bachman's books. After reading an advance reading copy of "Thinner", which came to his store a few months before its publication, he was "eighty percent convinced" that Bachman was King; he noted that their style was only differentiated by the downbeat endings of Bachman's books, which runs counter to King's general philosophy of ending his books in an uplifting manner (with "Pet Sematary" and "Cujo" being exceptions). Brown consulted the copyright documentation for Bachman's first four novels, and found that McCauley held the copyright for "Rage". Brown sent a letter to King concerning his discovery, and eventually received a phone call from King, who admitted his secret identity. On February 9, 1985, King revealed himself to be Bachman in the "Bangor Daily News" under the headline "Pseudonym Kept Five King Novels a Mystery". Following this revelation, sales of "Thinner" increased tenfold from 28,000 to 280,000.


title: Thinner (novel)

text: "Thinner" was met with a favorable response from the Literary Guild; to King's amusement, one of the club's readers remarked that "This is what Stephen King would write like if Stephen King could really write".


title: Thinner (novel)

text: George Beahm compared protagonist Billy Halleck to Johnny Smith in "The Dead Zone", describing him as "a victim of the wheel of fate". James Smythe, a columnist for "The Guardian", treated him more harshly, regarding him as a "complete asshole" who admits no guilt for his actions. Smythe cited Halleck's decision to use his mafia connections to exact revenge instead of atoning for the old woman's death, as well as his belief that his wife is to blame for his own situation. He determined that Halleck's final action in the story was not a selfless deed, but "penance through self-destruction" intended as a means of avoiding the guilt of his family's deaths. Smythe remarked that while King had previously dabbled with the notion of unsympathetic protagonists (citing Carrie White, Jack Torrance, and Louis Creed as examples), he felt that "Halleck takes things a step further", observing that even his innocent daughter is punished for his selfish actions, and admitted to feeling satisfied by Halleck's suffering. In his review's conclusion, he recalled enjoying the ending for its "dark and cold" nature.


title: Thinner (novel)

text: Similarities were drawn between "Thinner" and "Dark Melody of Madness", a short novel by Cornell Woolrich published in 1935. Woolrich's story also deals with a man cursed to lose weight to the death—although this time it is a voodoo spell, not a Gypsy curse.


title: Thinner (novel)

text: A film adaptation of "Thinner" was filmed in 1996 by director Tom Holland, and premiered in theaters on October 25. Halleck was played by Robert John Burke, and Ginelli was played by Joe Mantegna. King makes a cameo appearance as pharmacist Dr. Bangor. Critical reviews were mostly negative. The film has a rating of 16% on the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. With a budget of $14 million, the film grossed just over $15 million at home. The film's opening weekend brought it to third place with $5.6 million in grosses. The film fell out of the top ten after two weeks of release. "Thinner" was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Make-up. The film's tagline is "Let the curse fit the crime".


title: Thinner (novel)

text: Because King was reportedly unsatisfied with the initial version of the film, some scenes were re-shot and the film's premiere was moved to a later date. According to George Beahm, the book's volume of events amounted to little more than a novella, which required the film's plot to be padded while remaining faithful to the book. Beahm concluded that the film "tried to please everyone... and pleased very few people in the end".


title: Oxxxymiron

text: Miron Yanovich Fyodorov (; born 31 January 1985), known by the stage name Oxxxymiron, is a Russian hip-hop artist and former CEO of the Booking Machine booking agency, as well as a co-founder and former member of the record label Vagabund. He is one of the most influential and prominent hip-hop performers in Russia, and his albums ' and ' are considered by the community as the most important releases of Russian rap.


title: Oxxxymiron

text: Miron Yanovich Fyodorov was born on 31 January 1985 in Leningrad, in a family of Russian Jews. His father is a theoretical physicist of the Konstantinov Institute of Nuclear Physics in St. Petersburg and his mother is a librarian. In St. Peterburg Miron attended secondary school No. 185. When Fyodorov was 9 years old, his family emigrated to Essen, Germany. During his studies in Maria Wächtler School, Miron had a 'tense relationship' with his classmates because of his social standing and poor German. At the age of 13, Fyodorov began to write lyrics and rap in German and Russian under the name MC Mif (from Miron Fyodorov). When he was 15, the Fyodorovs moved to Slough, United Kingdom. In 2004, Miron Fyodorov began studying at the University of Oxford in the faculty of English. During his studies Fyodorov was the president of the Russian community of Oxford. In 2006 he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had to stop studying, however he managed to continue studying after a break. In June 2008 he graduated from the university with a degree in Middle English literature.


title: Oxxxymiron

text: After university, Fyodorov moved to the East End where he restarted his musical career under the name Oxxxymiron. The name is derived from his first name Miron, rhetorical device oxymoron and triple X, representing the large amount of profanity in his lyrics. He was not able to find a job because of his perceived overqualification and had to work as a cashier, a translator, a loader, a guide, a stallman, a tutor, an MC and an office clerk. Fyodorov's life in London formed the basis of the script of the Russian 2015 TV series "Londongrad".


title: Oxxxymiron

text: In 2008, after a seven-year break, Oxxxymiron published a new track "London Against All" (). In the same year he joined a German label Optik Russia where he met Dimitri Hinter (), known by his stage name . In 2008 Oxxxymiron published his first music video, "I'm a Hater" ().


title: Oxxxymiron

text: In 2009 Oxxxymiron participated in the 14th independent battle on Hip-Hop.ru and reached the semi-finals. One of the main intrigues of the battle was the correspondence confrontation of Oxxxymiron and underground anonymous rapper , which was expressed in mutual disses against each other in the tracks of both performers. However, due to the departure of Miron after the 8th round, the face-to-face confrontation between them never took place. At the end of the year Oxxxymiron won several nominations (the Best Battle MC, the Breakthrough of the Battle, the Best Sparring of the Battle, the Best Track of the Battle) in the Hip-Hop.ru Awards 2009 public voting and also became the Invention of 2009.


title: Oxxxymiron

text: On 26 and 31 July of the same year, Miron's first concerts took place in Kyiv and Odessa. In August 2010 Oxxxymiron and Schokk left Optik Russia.


title: Oxxxymiron

text: In autumn 2010 Oxxxymiron and Schokk toured countries of CIS. In a year, Oxxxymiron, Schokk and manager Ivan Karoy aka Vanya Lenin founded an independent label "Vagabund" ("Vagabond" in German). On 15 September 2011, Vagabund published Fyodorov's first album "" (), which received a lot of positive reviews. On 30 October 2011 "Vagabund" gave their last concert. On 1 November 2011 Oxxxymiron left "Vagabund" due to conflict between the members of the label and Moscow rapper Roma Zhigan. On 6 November he gave a free a cappella concert in Moscow and moved back to London.


title: Oxxxymiron

text: On 12 March 2012 Oxxxymiron published "miXXXtape I" which includes the best tracks recorded from 2008 to 2011. On 18 October 2013 "" () was published. It included the best tracks of 2012-2013 and remixed Oxxxymiron's bars from his battle against Krip-a-Krip in Versus Battle league. On 8 August 2014 Oxxxymiron extended the deadline of the release of his second album for an indefinite period despite it having been planned to be released on 14 August 2014.


title: Oxxxymiron

text: On 25 August 2015 music video "Londongrad" () was published as a teaser trailer for TV series "Londongrad" based on Miron's life in London before restarting his rapper career. On 21 September Oxxxymiron published the music video "City under the Sole" () which was watched 2 million times in a week.


title: Oxxxymiron

text: On 13 November 2015 Oxxxymiron released his second album, "Gorgorod" () which became the most popular Russian music album of 2015.


title: Oxxxymiron

text: On 28 September 2017 it was announced that Oxxxymiron will star in the film adaptation of Victor Pelevin’s novel "Empire V". The film's director is Victor Ginzburg, famous for the screen version of the novel "Generation "П"". In 2021 Oxxxymiron also portrayed composer Nikolai Rubinstein in Kirill Serebrennikov's "Tchaikovsky's wife".


title: Oxxxymiron

text: In September 2019, Oxxxymiron unexpectedly took part in the 17th Independent Battle on Hip-Hop.ru and passed the track for the first qualifying round. After that, a certain wave of excitement began around the event, and many famous hip-hop artists also participated (Egor Kreed, Noize MC, L'One, ST1M, Yury Khovansky, etc.). On 2 March 2020 Oxxxymiron announced his rejection from the 5th round of the battle on Twitter.


title: Oxxxymiron

text: On 1 November 2021 Oxxxymiron published a ten-minute-long music video "Who killed Mark?". On 12 November Fyodorov's third mixtape, "", was released. It included 36 songs from 2014 to 2021 and two new tracks among them. The nine-minute single "Who killed Mark?", which preceded the release of the mixtape, was not included in the playlist of the record. On 1 December 2021 Oxxxymiron released his third album "Beauty & Ugliness" which included 22 new songs including collaborations with Russian singer Tosia Chaikina, Estonian rapper Tommy Cash, Russian rappers Dolphin, and Igla and Russian electronic hip-hop duo AIGEL. The album cover was made by one of the founding fathers of Russian rock music Boris Grebenshchikov.


title: Oxxxymiron

text: In reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Oxxxymiron called for an anti-war movement, stating, "I know that most people in Russia are against this war, and I am confident that the more people would talk about their real attitude to it, the faster we can stop this horror." He cancelled six sold-out concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg, stating, "I cannot entertain you when Russian missiles are falling on Ukraine. When residents of Kyiv are forced to hide in basements and in the metro, while people are dying." He later said that it was impossible to hold an anti-war concert in Russia because "total censorship has been implemented, and anyone who speaks out against the war in any way becomes a potential target for criminal prosecution." He went on to announce a series of benefit concerts in other countries, entitled "Russians Against War", the proceeds from which would be donated to NGOs helping Ukrainian refugees. The first of these concerts was held in Istanbul, which has a large Russian diaspora consisting of people who left the country in protest of the invasion. The other two concerts were held in London and Berlin. In September, he returned to Russia; the next month, the Russian justice ministry added him to the list of foreign agents.


title: Oxxxymiron

text: Oxxxymiron is the most viewed battle rapper in the world. Amount of views of his rap battles exceed 120 million on YouTube.


title: Oxxxymiron

text: Oxxxymiron participated in the Russian battle rap league Versus Battle five times and won the first four of them.


title: Oxxxymiron

text: Also Oxxxymiron performed at the [[Canada|Canadian]] [[Battle rap|rap battle]] league [[King of the Dot]]:


title: Segway Inc.

text: Segway Inc. is a Chinese owned, formerly American manufacturer of two-wheeled personal transporters, chiefly through its Segway PT and Segway miniPro product lines. Founded by inventor Dean Kamen in 1999, the company's name is a homophone of the word "segue".


title: Segway Inc.

text: Segway Inc. was headquartered in the U.S. state of New Hampshire and primarily marketed its products to various niche markets, including police departments, military bases, warehouses, corporate campuses, and industrial sites. It has held some key patents on designs for self-balancing personal transporters, although some of them have since expired. Since the Chinese company Ninebot acquired it in 2015, Segway has focused on developing a stronger presence in the consumer market with smaller products such as the Segway miniPro.


title: Segway Inc.

text: The first patent by Dean Kamen for a self-balancing transportation device was filed on February 23, 1993, and granted on December 30, 1997, in relation to the iBOT, a self-balancing wheelchair which he developed at DEKA, a company that he had founded in 1982. That patent has since expired, although it was followed by various others, and some patents assigned to the company have not yet expired (as of early 2019).


title: Segway Inc.

text: Development of the iBOT started in 1990 with the first working prototypes available in 1992. In late 1994, DEKA signed a deal with Johnson & Johnson to manufacture the unit, with Johnson & Johnson paying for all subsequent R&D with DEKA received a smaller royalty fee than normal in return for their retaining rights to all non-medical applications of the technology. The iBOT was revealed to the public on Dateline NBC in a segment by John Hockenberry on June 30, 1999.


title: Segway Inc.

text: Segway Inc. was founded in July 1999 to develop non-medical applications for the self-balancing technology, and the Segway PT, a two-wheeled personal transporter, was launched in December 2001, with first deliveries to customers in early 2002.


title: Segway Inc.

text: When it was launched in December 2001, the annual sales target was 40,000 units, and the company expected to sell 50,000 to 100,000 units in the first 13 months. By 2003, the company had sold 6,000 units, and by September 2006 approximately 23,500, when all units sold up to that point were recalled due to a software glitch that could cause the units to reverse, potentially causing riders to fall off. In a March 2009 interview, a company official said the firm "has shipped over 50,000" Segway PTs.


title: Segway Inc.

text: Segway Inc's investors remained optimistic. Dean Kamen predicted that the Segway ""will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy"" and John Doerr, a venture capitalist who invested in the company, predicted that Segway Inc would be the fastest company to reach in sales.


title: Segway Inc.

text: By 2007, cumulative sales were 30,000 units. Critics pointed to Segway Inc's silence over its financial performance as an indication that the company was still not profitable, following expenditure of some developing the Segway PT.


title: Segway Inc.

text: In 2009, General Motors announced that it was building a prototype two-seat electric vehicle with Segway. An early prototype of the Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility vehicle, dubbed Project P.U.M.A., was demonstrated in New York a day ahead of the press previews for the 2009 New York International Auto Show. At Expo 2010 in Shanghai, the successor was presented, the "EN-V project".


title: Segway Inc.

text: James Norrod served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Segway Inc. from April 2005 to January 2010 and steered the sale of the company to a group led by British millionaire Jimi Heselden, chairman of Hesco Bastion in December 2009. After the sale, Dean Kamen was no longer involved with the company. Ten months after buying the company, Heselden died after he accidentally drove a Segway off a cliff.


title: Segway Inc.

text: In February 2013, Summit Strategic Investments, LLC, announced it had acquired the company for $9 million, saying that it planned to refocus, grow its product portfolio and expand its worldwide network. In September 2014, Segway filed a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission about the infringement of several of its patents by several Chinese companies, including Ninebot, Shenzhen INMOTION Technologies and Robstep Robot. Two years later, on April 1, 2015, Summit Strategic Investments sold the company for more than $75 million.


title: Segway Inc.

text: On April 1, 2015, Segway was acquired by Ninebot Inc., a Beijing-based transportation robotics startup that had raised $80M USD from Xiaomi and Sequoia Capital.


title: Segway Inc.

text: In May 2016, it was announced that the Segway miniPRO, a smaller self-balancing scooter, would be launched in June that year.


title: Segway Inc.

text: In June 2018, after initially announcing that production of the Segway PT would move from Bedford, New Hampshire to China, the company decided to keep most of its production in its New Hampshire facility.


title: Segway Inc.

text: On July 15, 2020, Ninebot ceased production of the Segway PT and laid off the 21 employees working at the Bedford, New Hampshire plant.


title: Segway Inc.

text: In 2019, Sur-Ron, a privately held company, announced major investments from Segway with plans to design an ebike for Segway and off-road motorcycles.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: The Royal Moroccan Armed Forces (, ) are the military forces of the Kingdom of Morocco. They consist of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Royal Gendarmerie, and the Royal Guard.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: The Royal Moroccan Armed Forces are large, expensive and well-trained with extensive experience in counter-insurgency, desert warfare and combined air-land operations. Further experience has come from participating in peace-keeping operations.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: The oldest "Moroccan" military forces are those of the Mauri Berber Kingdoms from around 225 BCE. The Moroccan army has existed continuously since 1088 during the rising of Almoravid Empire in the 11th-century. During the protectorates period (1912–1955), large numbers of Moroccans were recruited for service in the Spahi and Tirailleur regiments of the French Army of Africa (French: "Armée d'Afrique"). Many served during World War I. During World War II more than 300,000 Moroccan troops (including goumier auxiliaries) served with the Free French forces in North Africa, Italy, France and Austria. The two world conflicts saw Moroccan units earning the nickname of "Todesschwalben" (death swallows) by German soldiers as they showed particular toughness on the battlefield. After the end of World War II, Moroccan troops formed part of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps engaged in the First Indochina War from 1946 to 1954.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: The Spanish Army also made extensive use of Moroccan troops recruited in the Spanish Protectorate, during both the Rif War of 1921–26 and the Spanish Civil War of 1936–39. Moroccan "Regulares", together with the Spanish Legion, made up Spain's elite Spanish Army of Africa. A para-military gendarmerie, known as the "Mehal-la Jalifianas" and modelled on the French goumieres, was employed within the Spanish Zone.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: The Royal Armed Forces were created on 14 May 1956, after the French Protectorate was dissolved in 1955. 14,000 Moroccan personnel from the French Army and 10,000 from the Spanish Armed Forces transferred into the newly formed armed forces, this number was augmented by approximately 5,000 former guerrillas from the "Army of Liberation", About 2,000 French officers and NCOs remained in Morocco on short term contracts until the training programs at the military academies of St-Cyr, Toledo and Dar al Bayda produced sufficient numbers of Moroccan commissioned officers. Four years later, the Royal Moroccan Navy was established in 1960.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: The Moroccan military's first engagement as an independent country in the 20th century was the Ifni War, followed by the Rif revolt, and then the border war of 1963 with Algeria, In the early 1960s, Moroccan troops were sent to the Congo as part of the first multifunctional UN peacekeeping operation ONUC, The Royal Moroccan Armed Forces fought on the Golan front during the Yom Kippur War of 1973 (mostly in the battle for Quneitra) and intervened decisively in the 1977 conflict known as Shaba I to save Zaire's regime. After Shaba II, Morocco was part of the Inter-African Force deployed on the Zaire border, contributing about 1,500 troops. The Royal Moroccan Armed Forces also took a symbolic part in the Gulf War among other Arab armies.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: Between 1975 and 1991, the Moroccan Armed Forces fought a 16-year war against the POLISARIO, an Algerian backed rebel national liberation movement seeking the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco. From the mid-1980s on, Morocco largely managed to keep POLISARIO troops at bay by building a huge sand wall, staffed by an army roughly the same size as the entire Sahrawi population, enclosing the Southern Provinces within it. The enclosure contained most of the economically useful parts of Western Sahara, including Bou Craa, El-Aaiun, and Smara. The Moroccan army destroyed all the posts created by the Polisario and won decisively the majority of battles, but artillery strikes and sniping attacks by the guerrillas continued, and Morocco was economically and politically strained by the war.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: In the 1990s, Moroccan troops went to Angola with the three UN Angola Verifications Missions, UNAVEM I, UNAVEM II, and UNAVEM III. They were also in Somalia, with UNOSOM I, the U.S.-led Unified Task Force (UNITAF), known by its U.S. codename of 'Restore Hope' and the follow-on UNOSOM II, They saw fighting during the Battle of Mogadishu to rescue a U.S. anti-militia assault force. Other peace support involvement during the 1990s included United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) in Cambodia, and the missions in the former Yugoslavia: IFOR, SFOR, and KFOR.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: On 14 July 1999, the Moroccan Armed Forces took part in the Bastille Day parade on the Champs-Élysées, which was exceptional for a non-French armed forces, at the invitation of then French President Jacques Chirac.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: The Royal Moroccan Army is the branch of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The army is about 175,000 troops strong, In case of war or a state of siege, an additional force of 150,000 Reservists and paramilitary forces, including 20,000 regulars of the Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie and 30,000 Auxiliary Forces come under the Ministry of Defense command. The Moroccan Army helped with the annexation of Western Sahara which is disputed.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: The Moroccan Royal Guard is officially part of the Royal Moroccan Army, However, it is under the direct operational control of the Royal Military Household of His Majesty the King, The sole duty of the guard is to provide for the security and safety of the King and royal family of Morocco, it's 1,500 personnel strong.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: The Royal Moroccan Air Force is the air force branch of the Moroccan Armed Forces, It employs 13,000 personnel and is equipped with more than 300 aircraft, in the 21st century the Royal Moroccan Air Force started a progressive modernization program of its ageing fleet and their technical and operational capacities.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: The Royal Navy is the branch of the Moroccan Armed Forces responsible of conducting naval operations, 7,800 personnel strong Its mission includes the protection of Moroccan territory and sovereignty, as well as the control of Morocco's Exclusive Economic Zone. Given Morocco's significant coastline (2,952 km) and strategic position overseeing the strait of Gibraltar, it (with Spain and the United Kingdom) is deeply involved in the security of this important international waterway.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: The Moroccan Royal Gendarmerie is the Gendarmerie body of Morocco, the legislation which founded the Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie describes it as a public force designed to guarantee public security and public order and the implementation of laws. This legislation text attaches the Gendarmerie to the Royal Moroccan Army, then constituting a military force in its structure, administration and command forms. It consists of officers and NCOs.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: Morocco has deployed one company of soldiers to contribute in the NATO-led international peacekeeping force which was responsible for establishing a secure environment in Kosovo.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: In 2004, Morocco provided an infantry company as part of a joint Spanish-Moroccan battalion, which was deployed in Fort Liberté, in the northeastern part of Haiti. Disagreements between the United Nations and the Spanish government led to Spain´s withdrawal from the mission, leaving the Moroccans in charge of a much larger area than what was initially designed. The last Moroccan troops left Haiti in 2006, and the sector was covered by a battalion from Uruguay, which had already another unit in the South of the country.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: Morocco has deployed 6 observers, one mechanised infantry battalion and one field hospital to participate in the United Nations Security Council efforts to monitor the peace process of the Second Congo War .


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: Morocco has deployed one infantry battalion to participate in the ONUCI peacekeeping mission whose objective is "to facilitate the implementation by the Ivorian parties of the peace agreement signed by them in January 2003" (which aimed to end the Ivorian Civil War). The two main Ivorian parties here are the Ivorian Government forces who control the south of the country, and the New Forces (former rebels), who control the north. The UNOCI mission aims to control a "zone of confidence" across the centre of the country separating the two parties.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: The Moroccan Royal Armed Forces Has sent a contingent on December 25, 2013 for the Central African Republic to be deployed in the UN Integrated Peace building Office (BINUCA). Moroccan authorities also said they stand ready to support the Central African Republic in its path toward peace and stability.


title: Royal Moroccan Armed Forces

text: The Royal Moroccan Armed Forces motto, which graces every military base, banner, and ship, is: "God, The Fatherland, and The King".


title: FC2 (portal)

text: FC2 (founded July 20, 1999) is a popular Japanese blogging host, the third most popular video hosting service in Japan (after YouTube and Niconico), and a web hosting company headquartered in the Netherlands. It is the 11th most popular website in Japan overall (as of January 2018).


title: FC2 (portal)

text: FC2 is a US corporation, and according to an interview article by representative Takahiro Rihiro published in the magazine "Yahoo! Internet Guide" May issue in 2006, as of 2006, It is run by two people, his brother Takahashi Takahiro and his younger brother Takahashi Riyo, with 17 full-time employees and approximately 30 part-time staff.


title: FC2 (portal)

text: It offers free and paid various web services in various languages such as Japanese, including rental server, domain, blog, chat, access analysis, bulletin board, diary, access counter, SNS, etc.


title: FC2 (portal)

text: The same ID and password can be used in the service of F. It is characterized that service addition can be registered with one ID.


title: FC2 (portal)

text: According to a survey by Nielsen in 2016, the number of PC users dropped to 8th in Japan (3rd from 2014 to 2015), and the number of users decreased.


title: FC2 (portal)

text: Due to FC2's physical presence in the United States, it has been known to allow hosting of not limited but including pornographic, pirated, and slanderous contents but is being enforced with strict rules. Until 2012 it was very difficult to sue and get FC2 to release information on its users. This changed somewhat with an amendment to Japan's Code of Civil Procedure for foreign entities operating in Japan in 2012 and the ensuing injunctions that followed against FC2.


title: PGA Tour Champions

text: PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour.


title: PGA Tour Champions

text: The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many years the only high-profile tournament for golfers over 50. The idea for a senior tour grew out of a highly successful event in 1978, the Legends of Golf at Onion Creek Club in Austin, Texas, which featured competition between two-member teams of some of the greatest older golfers of that day. The tour was formally established in 1980 and was originally known as the Senior PGA Tour until October 2002. The tour was then renamed the Champions Tour through the 2015 season, after which the current name of "PGA Tour Champions" was adopted.


title: PGA Tour Champions

text: Of the 26 tournaments on the 2010 schedule, all were in the United States except for the Cap Cana Championship in the Dominican Republic, the Senior Open Championship in Scotland and tournaments in Canada and South Korea. The guaranteed minimum official prize money is $51.5 million over 26 tournaments, with a record average purse of $1.98 million per event; slightly higher than the 2008 prize money of $51.4 million over the same number of events. The total prize money and number of events, however, are down from previous years—for example, the 2007 tour offered a total of $55.2 million over 29 events.


title: PGA Tour Champions

text: Most of the tournaments are played over three rounds (54 holes), which is one round fewer than regular professional stroke play tournaments on the PGA Tour. Because of this and having smaller fields (81 golfers), there are generally no "cuts" between any of the rounds. However, the five senior majors have a full 72 holes (four rounds) with a 36-hole cut. Until 2015, the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship, with a limited field of 36, was played over 72 holes with no cut. Since 2016, it has been played over 54 holes with no cut. A golfer's performances can be quite variable from one round to the next, and playing an extra round increases the likelihood that the senior majors will be won by leading players.


title: PGA Tour Champions

text: Through the 2015 season, the Charles Schwab Cup was a season-long points race. Points were given to players who finished in the top 10. One point was earned for each $1,000 won (i.e. $500,000 = 500 points) with majors counting double. From the Cup's inception in 1990 through 2015, the top 30 players competed in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, which was contested over four rounds and where all contestants earned points. The top five finishers in the points race earned annuities.


title: PGA Tour Champions

text: In 2016, the format of the Charles Schwab Cup was radically changed to a playoff-style format similar to that used for the FedEx Cup on the main PGA Tour. Qualification for the playoffs is now based on money earned during the PGA Tour Champions season. The top 72 players on the money list automatically qualify for the first playoff event, the PowerShares QQQ Championship. Additionally, if one or more golfers finish in the top 10 in the final non-playoff event, the SAS Championship, "and" are not in the top 72 on the money list entering the playoffs, the highest such finisher in the SAS Championship will also receive a playoff place. The playoffs operate on a points system, with each qualifying player receiving a points total equal to the money earned on the season. Points during the first two playoff events, the QQQ Championship and Dominion Charity Classic, are also based on money earned, except that the winner of each of those events receives double points. The playoff field is cut to 54 for the Dominion Charity Classic, and finally to 36 for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. After the Dominion Charity Classic, the field's points are reset so that each of the remaining 36 players can theoretically win the Charles Schwab Cup, and that each of the top five players can clinch the Charles Schwab Cup by winning the final event.


title: PGA Tour Champions

text: In 2006, the Champions Tour Division Board of the PGA Tour organization voted to allow players the option to use golf carts during most events on the tour. The five major championships and certain other events, including pro-ams, are excluded.


title: PGA Tour Champions

text: Current PGA Tour Champions competitor and TV golf analyst Bobby Clampett has called the process for determining the field in tour events "the most complicated system known to man," and added that "[n]ot a single player even understands it fully."


title: PGA Tour Champions

text: Clampett attempted to explain the process in a 2011 post on his blog. Standard tour events—apart from invitationals and majors, which have their own entry criteria—have a field of 78 (currently 81). The first 60 places in the field are filled as follows:


title: PGA Tour Champions

text: Players who lead the money list on PGA Tour Champions win the Arnold Palmer Award. No season-long awards were given in 2020 as, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour switched to a wraparound season encompassing all of 2020 and 2021.


title: PGA Tour Champions

text: There is a full list on the PGA Tour's website here. The PGA Tour also publishes a list of PGA Tour Champions players' total career earnings on its three main tours here. The top player on that list after the 2022 season is Phil Mickelson, who has won a combined career total of $96,470,603.


title: Jim O'Rourke (musician)

text: Jim O'Rourke (born January 18, 1969, Chicago, Illinois) is a Tokyo-based American musician, composer and record producer. He has released albums across varied genres, including singer-songwriter music, post-rock, ambient, noise music, and tape experiments. He was associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene when he relocated to New York City in 2000. He now resides in Japan. O’Rourke is best known for his numerous solo and collaborative music projects, many of which are entirely instrumental, and for his tenure as a member of Sonic Youth from 1999 to 2005.


title: Jim O'Rourke (musician)

text: O'Rourke was born on January 18, 1969, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He is an alumnus of DePaul University.


title: Jim O'Rourke (musician)

text: O'Rourke has collaborated with Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Kim Gordon, Steve Shelley, Derek Bailey, Mats Gustafsson, Mayo Thompson, Brigitte Fontaine, Loren Mazzacane Connors, Merzbow, Nurse with Wound, Phill Niblock, Fennesz, Organum, Phew, Henry Kaiser, Flying Saucer Attack, and in 2006 mixed Joanna Newsom's album "Ys". In 2009, he also mixed several tracks on Newsom's follow up "Have One On Me".


title: Jim O'Rourke (musician)

text: He has produced albums by artists such as Sonic Youth, Wilco, Stereolab, Superchunk, Kahimi Karie, Quruli, John Fahey, Smog, Faust, Tony Conrad, The Red Krayola, Bobby Conn, Beth Orton, Joanna Newsom and U.S. Maple. He mixed Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" album and produced their 2004 album, "A Ghost Is Born", for which he won a Grammy Award for "Best Alternative Album". During the recording of "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", O'Rourke collaborated with Wilco member Jeff Tweedy and pre-Wilco Glenn Kotche under the name Loose Fur. Their self-titled debut was released in 2003 with a follow-up in 2006 entitled "Born Again in the USA". He also mixed the unfinished recordings that made up a planned third album by the late American singer-songwriter Judee Sill, recorded in 1974 and mixed by O'Rourke for a 2005 release.


title: Jim O'Rourke (musician)

text: O'Rourke was once a member of Illusion of Safety, Gastr Del Sol (with David Grubbs) and Sonic Youth. Beginning in 1999 he played bass guitar, guitar and synthesizer with Sonic Youth, in addition to recording and mixing duties with the group. He withdrew as a full member in late 2005, but continued to play with them in some of their side projects.


title: Jim O'Rourke (musician)

text: In early 1993, O'Rourke formed an avant-rock group with Darin Gray and Dylan Posa called Brise-Glace. The band released one studio album, "When in Vanitas...", in 1994. They also released a 7" in the same year titled "In Sisters All and Felony/Angels on Installment Plan".


title: Jim O'Rourke (musician)

text: O'Rourke has also released many albums under his own name on a variety of labels, exploring a range of electronic and avant-garde styles. His most well-known works may be his series of releases on Drag City, which focus on more traditional songcraft: "Bad Timing" (1997), "Eureka" (1999), "Insignificance" (2001), "The Visitor" (2009) and "Simple Songs" (2015). The titles of the first four albums all refer to films by the British director Nicolas Roeg; the first three by direct reference to film titles, the fourth being titled after a fictional album within Roeg's film "The Man Who Fell To Earth".


title: Jim O'Rourke (musician)

text: With music director Takehisa Kosugi, he played for the Merce Cunningham dance company for four years. He was guitarist for the 1999 premiere of Cunningham's ballet Biped with Gavin Bryars in Berkeley, California,


title: Jim O'Rourke (musician)

text: Since 2013, O'Rourke has used his "Steamroom" Bandcamp page to release material. "Steamroom" releases have included reissues of rare or unpublished older material, as well as original newer pieces.


title: Inverse hyperbolic functions

text: In mathematics, the inverse hyperbolic functions are the inverse functions of the hyperbolic functions.


title: Inverse hyperbolic functions

text: For a given value of a hyperbolic function, the corresponding inverse hyperbolic function provides the corresponding hyperbolic angle. The size of the hyperbolic angle is equal to the area of the corresponding hyperbolic sector of the hyperbola , or twice the area of the corresponding sector of the unit hyperbola , just as a circular angle is twice the area of the circular sector of the unit circle. Some authors have called inverse hyperbolic functions "area functions" to realize the hyperbolic angles.


title: Inverse hyperbolic functions

text: Hyperbolic functions occur in the calculations of angles and distances in hyperbolic geometry. It also occurs in the solutions of many linear differential equations (such as the equation defining a catenary), cubic equations, and Laplace's equation in Cartesian coordinates. Laplace's equations are important in many areas of physics, including electromagnetic theory, heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and special relativity.


title: Inverse hyperbolic functions

text: The ISO 80000-2 standard abbreviations consist of ar- followed by the abbreviation of the corresponding hyperbolic function (e.g., arsinh, arcosh).