title: Manuela Sáenz

text: Bolívar left Bogotá in 1830 and died in Santa Marta from tuberculosis while he was in transit, leaving the country to exile. He had made no provision for Manuela. On his deathbed, Bolívar had asked his aide-de-camp, General Daniel F. O'Leary to burn the remaining, extensive archive of his writings, letters, and speeches. O'Leary disobeyed the order and his writings survived, providing historians with a vast wealth of information about Bolívar's liberal philosophy and thought, as well as details of his personal life, such as his longstanding love affair with Manuela Sáenz. Shortly before her own death in 1856, Sáenz augmented this collection by giving O'Leary her own letters from Bolívar. Francisco de Paula Santander, who returned to power after Bolívar's death then exiled Manuela. She went to Jamaica for the early years of her exile. She remained politically active until the mid-1840s before becoming disillusioned.


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: When she attempted to return to Ecuador in 1835, the Ecuadorian president, Vicente Rocafuerte, revoked her passport. Rocafuerte justified his order to exile Sáenz by stating “It is the women who most promote the spirit of anarchy in these countries". She then took refuge in northern Peru, living in the small coastal town of Paita. She descended into poverty and for the next twenty-five years, a destitute outcast, Manuela sold tobacco and translated letters for North American whale hunters who wrote to their lovers in Latin America. While there, she met the American author Herman Melville, and the revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi.


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: Saenz would establish The Society of Patriotic Ladies and decorating the members with the slogan “To the patriotism of the most sensitive" Manuela Sáenz and other women partook in conspiracies against Spanish rule in her years of exile.


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: In 1847, her husband was murdered in Pativilca and she was denied her 8,000 pesos inheritance. Disabled after the stairs in her home collapsed, Manuela died in Paita, on 23 November 1856, during a diphtheria epidemic. Her body was buried in a communal, mass grave and her belongings were burned. The items that did survive, personal letters and artifacts, contributed later to the legacy of both her and Simon Bolívar.


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: During Saenz's time, women's realm consisted of private and domestic spaces while politics and warfare spaces were for men. She found various ways physically and symbolically to take part in masculine spheres of activity yet also take part in the feminine arenas of her period. She used feminine behaviours to have some influence in these masculine spaces, usually using her intimate relationships as tools.


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: She did not feel constrained by gendered conventions of what was considered proper feminine behaviour. She smoked, she dressed up in masculine clothes, was trained for military action. Saenz was an erotic symbol with her passion for Bolivar.


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: Saenz was often described as an eccentric woman, a lesbian, who "would dress up during the day as an official and during the night she went through a metamorphosis with the help of some wine."


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: Saenz is usually identified as an emancipated woman with a conviction for liberty and independence as well as a woman who breaks the status quo.


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: She developed a discourse of friendship while in exile to give women some empowerment. This discourse of friendship was used to justify the influence of women in politics. Her work opposed the exclusion of women from politics by connecting friendship with female companionship. Seeing elite women as friends, instead of wives and mothers, goes against the issues surrounding the notion of “republican motherhood” which Saenz was familiar with at her time. This notion of motherhood focused on the idea that women were better as wives and mothers than as companions and collaborators. The praise of republican motherhood showed that there was fear and distress with the idea that women could influence and undermine the state if they are left on their own. Through the friendship discourse women would be seen as friends and peers to men, as companions and collaborators.


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: Manuela Sáenz did not protest women’s exclusion from politics, but used that exclusion as a reasoning and personal interest into an affirmation of reliability and trustworthiness of women.


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: Friendship, therefore, became a tool for independent women, which gave them a degree of influence greater than they were previously seen before this friendship discourse. Saenz believed that friendship would create stability and consistency. Sáenz switched the gendered icons within ideology at the time by encouraging friendship and the association of it with women.


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: Lastly, by putting aside the view of motherhood or “woman problem,” Saenz work and image encouraged women to demand respect from politicians and intellectuals as individuals and not just as icons of their sex.


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: On 5 July 2010, Manuela Sáenz was given a full state burial in Venezuela. Because she had been buried in a mass grave, no official remains of her existed for the state burial; instead, "symbolic remains", composed of some soil from the mass grave into which she was buried during the epidemic, were transported through Peru, Ecuador and Colombia to Venezuela. Those remains were laid in the National Pantheon of Venezuela where those of Bolívar are also memorialized.


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: After the revolution, Manuela effectively faded from literature. Between 1860 and 1940 only three Ecuadorian writers wrote about her and her participation in the revolution, and these writings largely portrayed her as either exclusively the lover of Simón Bolívar or as incapable and wrongfully participating within the political sphere. These portrayals also assured her femininity as a mainstay of her characterization. However, the 1940s created a significant shift in how she was viewed and characterized. Literature like "Papeles De Manuela Saenz", 1945, by Vicente Lecuna, which was a compilation of documents regarding the life of Bolívar, effectively disproved popular stereotypes about Manuela. Ideas about her being sexually deviant, hyper feminine and incapable were replaced by more favorable portrayals as the 20th century progressed.


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: The later 20th century generated shifts in her portrayals that were consistent with ideological shifts within Latin America, like the increase of feminism of the 1980s and nationalism of the 1960s – 1970s. Portrayals within the fictional "The General in His Labyrinth" by Gabriel García Márquez and the nonfictional Alfonso Rumazo's "Manuela Saenz La Libertadora del Libertador" contributed to her effective humanization within popular culture and helped politicize her image. Alfonso Rumazo’s novel was especially poignant for its ideas of Pan-American Nationalism that were represented through Manuela's participation within the wars of independence. Manuela became increasingly popular with radical Latin American feminist groups subsequently, her image was commonly used as a rallying point for Indo-Latina causes of the 1980s. The popular image of Manuela riding horseback in men's clothing, popularized by her portrayal in "The General in His Labyrinth", was re-enacted by female demonstrators in Ecuador in 1998.


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: There was a gathering of feminists in Paita on September 24, 1989, organized by Nella Martinez which encouraged the recognition of Manuela Saenz and paid homage to her. This was known as the "Primer Encuentro con la Historia: Manuela Saenz". All participants swore to follow her example by rallying against sexual, racial and class discrimination, and other injustices. They saw Saenz as a feminist heroine.


title: Manuela Sáenz

text: The Museo Manuela Sáenz is a museum in Old Town, Quito, that contains personal effects from both Sáenz and Bolívar to "[safeguard] the memories of Manuela Saenz, Quito's illustrious daughter". Located at Junin 709 y Montufar, Centro Histórico, Quito. Entrance to the museum is free with the purchase of one of the books about Manuela's life. Personal effects within the museum include letters, stamps, and paintings.


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (stylised as ) is the sixth studio album by French electronic music band M83. The album was released on 18 October 2011, by Naïve Records in France and by Mute Records in the United States. The album was the last M83 album with keyboardist Morgan Kibby and the band's first full double album.


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: The album received generally favourable reviews from critics. It debuted at number 15 on the US "Billboard" 200 with first-week sales of 21,000 copies, making it M83's highest-charting album to date. It sold 300,000 copies in the United States as of March 2016. The album was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards and was ranked at number 134 on "Pitchfork" list of "The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s" in October 2019.


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: Prior to recording "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming", M83 frontman Anthony Gonzalez moved from France to Los Angeles, United States. Describing the move in an interview, Gonzalez said, "Having spent 29 years of my life in France, I moved to California a year and a half before the making of this album and I was excited and inspired by so many different things: by the landscape, by the way of life, by live shows, by movies, by the road trips I took alone... I was feeling alive again and this is, I feel, something that you can hear on the album." Gonzalez's toured with the Killers, Depeche Mode, and Kings of Leon before recording, which influenced the album. As well, he was influenced by his road trips to Joshua Tree National Park.


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: Gonzalez cited the ambitiousness of albums such as "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" by the Smashing Pumpkins as the reason "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" was made a double album. He described the two discs as brother and sister, with each track having a sibling on the other disc.


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: Gonzalez created the album to remember his childhood. Gonzalez explained to "Spin" that "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" is "mainly about dreams, how everyone is different, how you dream differently when you're a kid, a teenager, or an adult. I'm really proud of it. If you're doing a very long album, all the songs need to be different and I think I've done that with this one." In an interview with "musicOMH", he described the album as "a reflection of my 30 years as a human being" and something he dedicated to himself.


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: The album was recorded in Los Angeles at Sunset Sound and the Sound Factory. Because of budget constraints and union issues, the string and brass players who contributed to the album were not paid and were credited with pseudonyms. The album features contributions from Medicine's Brad Laner and Zola Jesus.


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: Anthony Gonzalez compared "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" sound to two of his previous releases, describing it as a mix between the synth-pop used on "Saturdays = Youth" (2008) and the ambient of "Before the Dawn Heals Us" (2005). The album includes instruments previously unused by M83, such as the acoustic guitar, flute and saxophone. Critics have noted musical influences from 1980s artists, including Kraftwerk, Simple Minds, Peter Gabriel and Harold Faltermeyer, as well as synth-pop band Cut Copy.


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" was first teased on 23 June 2011 in a YouTube video titled "Echoes...", which also announced dates for a North American tour. The album's lead single, "Midnight City", premiered online on 19 July 2011, and was officially released on 16 August 2011. On 10 October 2011, the album became available to be streamed in its entirety on the Urban Outfitters website. Urban Outfitters also hosted a simultaneous listening party at all of its stores the Saturday before "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" release. On 17 October 2011, the music video for "Midnight City" was released.


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: The album was released on 18 October 2011, by Naïve Records in France and by Mute Records in the United States. On 30 May 2012, a music video for the album's second single, "Reunion", was released. The video is a follow-up to the "Midnight City" music video. M83 released a music video for "Steve McQueen" on 25 October 2012. On 5 November 2012, a three-disc deluxe edition featuring remixes of "Midnight City", "Reunion" and "Steve McQueen" was announced. On 5 December 2012, a music video for "Wait" was released. The album's closer "Outro" was used in the extended trailer for 2012 film "Cloud Atlas" as well as other trailers and films over the following years.


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100, derived from reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 76, based on 38 reviews.


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: "Pitchfork"s Ian Cohen gave the album its "Best New Music" accolade, considering it the band's best record to date. Cohen also noted the reduction of the "heavily saturated synths" of Anthony Gonzalez's earlier work in favour of more accessible songs, adding that "the traditionally structured songs here are some of the most thrilling pop music released this year." Similarly, "The Daily Telegraph"s James Lachno felt that the album "finally fuses his innate ingenuity with an accessible, commercial edge." Rudy Klapper of Sputnikmusic praised the influence of 1980s music on the album, and called the record "near flawless, an essential distillation of the sounds of Gonzalez's youth, nostalgia and melancholy and happiness all mixed up into a sparkling pop stew." Simon Price of "The Independent" called the album "a towering city of sparkling synth edifices simultaneously summoning the best of the 1980s (New Order, The Cure) and the current breed (The Knife, Empire of the Sun)".


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: "Under the Radar"s Laura Studarus described "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" as a "remarkable accomplishment" and a "double album of stunningly ambitious, synth-soaked dreams". Jamie Crossan of "NME" compared the album's "guileless and dreamy" nature to the title character of the 1943 novella "The Little Prince" and admitted that this comparison would be "quite a bold statement to make, but this is an album of equal valor." Reef Younis of BBC Music felt that while "some consistency may have been sacrificed in favor of a space-filling selection of tracks, this set still represents a heaving, breathing journey through the introspective and the bombastic, the striving and the exhaustive. It is the undeniable sound of one man's triumphant dreams." Heather Phares of AllMusic wrote that while the album "may not be quite as striking as "Saturdays = Youth", it delivers a welcome mix of classic sounds and promising changes."


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: David Marchese of "Spin" felt that "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" is "full of goose-bump moments", but that the "lack of something as enjoyably plain (and relatively calm) as 'Kim & Jessie'... makes Gonzalez's insistence on oversize emotions feel a tad restrictive." In a similarly mixed review, Timothy Gabriele of "PopMatters" criticised M83 for "focusing too much on magnitude throughout and too little on depth" on the album, but noted that the "totality of sound" on the album "has a way of blinding even the most critical listener to the problems that underline many of the album's lesser songs". "The A.V. Club"s Christian Williams found the album underwhelming, writing, "for an album of such impressive scale and nanoscopic attention to detail, leaves a surprisingly light impression." Kevin Liedel of "Slant Magazine" criticised the album for rehashing sounds from earlier M83 albums and felt that it sounded "much more like an M83 wannabe's poor imitation than the real deal."


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" appeared on several end-of-year lists. "Filter" named it the best album of 2011. "Paste" named the album as the ninth best album of 2011, writing "As with everything the Frenchman's done so far, the album is lush and ably produced, crescendo after crescendo." "Pitchfork" named it the third best album of 2011, with Jayson Greene writing: ""Hurry Up We're Dreaming" doesn't just draw liberally from the spirit of the massive rock albums Gonzalez name-checked, it practically swallows them whole, regurgitating and redistributing them into something listeners from every corner of the music universe can hear a piece of their lives in." "Popmatters" ranked the album as number five on its list of "The 75 Best Albums of 2011", while "Spin" ranked the album number 19 on its end-of-year list. Online music retailer eMusic ranked the album number two on its "Best Albums of 2011" list.


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: The lead single "Midnight City" was singled out for praise. "Paste" named it the second-best song of the year. "PopMatters" named it the best song of 2011, with Ryan Reed writing: "On this transcendent standout [...] Anthony Gonzalez and co-synth-scientist Justin Meldal-Johnsen build layer upon layer of keys, arena-sized drums, and vocal atmospherics (not mentioning one of the tastiest sax solos this side of a Springsteen record). The result? The synth Sistine Chapel."


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: Prior to touring for "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming", Anthony Gonzalez posted an open audition on M83's website for a multi-instrumentalist who could play guitar, bass and keyboards to join him on tour. Jordan Lawlor of Sparta Township, New Jersey was hired from the audition.


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: The tour for the album began in Mexico City on 15 October 2011 and ended on 1 December 2011 in London, England. The second leg of the tour began on 12 January 2012 in Los Angeles and was set to end on 8 August 2012 in New York City, but was later extended, ending in London on 8 November 2012. During the second leg, M83 performed at the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on 13 and 20 April, at the St Jerome's Laneway Festival in Australia and New Zealand, and at Lollapalooza in Chicago, Illinois.


title: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

text: All music is composed by Anthony Gonzalez. Additional music is composed by Justin Meldal-Johnsen. Additional lyrics by Yann Gonzalez, Morgan Kibby and Brad Laner.


title: No free lunch theorem

text: In mathematical folklore, the "no free lunch" (NFL) theorem (sometimes pluralized) of David Wolpert and William Macready appears in the 1997 "No Free Lunch Theorems for Optimization". Wolpert had previously derived no free lunch theorems for machine learning (statistical inference). The name alludes to the saying "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch", that is, there are no easy shortcuts to success.


title: No free lunch theorem

text: In 2005, Wolpert and Macready themselves indicated that the first theorem in their paper "state[s] that any two optimization algorithms are equivalent when their performance is averaged across all possible problems".


title: No free lunch theorem

text: The "no free lunch" (NFL) theorem is an easily stated and easily understood consequence of theorems Wolpert and Macready actually prove. It is weaker than the proven theorems, and thus does not encapsulate them. Various investigators have extended the work of Wolpert and Macready substantively. In terms of how the NFL theorem is used in the context of the research area, the no free lunch in search and optimization is a field that is dedicated for purposes of mathematically analyzing data for statistical identity, particularly search and optimization.


title: No free lunch theorem

text: While some scholars argue that NFL conveys important insight, others argue that NFL is of little relevance to machine learning research.


title: No free lunch theorem

text: Posit a toy universe that exists for exactly two days and on each day contains exactly one object, a square or a triangle. The universe has exactly four possible histories:


title: No free lunch theorem

text: Any prediction strategy that succeeds for history #2, by predicting a square on day 2 if there is a square on day 1, will fail on history #1, and vice versa. If all histories are equally likely, then any prediction strategy will score the same, with the same accuracy rate of 0.5.


title: No free lunch theorem

text: Wolpert and Macready give two NFL theorems that are closely related to the folkloric theorem. In their paper, they state:


title: No free lunch theorem

text: The first theorem hypothesizes objective functions that do not change while optimization is in progress, and the second hypothesizes objective functions that may change.


title: No free lunch theorem

text: where formula_1 denotes the ordered set of size formula_2 of the cost values formula_3 associated to input values formula_4, formula_5 is the function being optimized and formula_6 is the conditional probability of obtaining a given sequence of cost values from algorithm formula_7 run formula_2 times on function formula_9.


title: No free lunch theorem

text: Here, "blind search" means that at each step of the algorithm, the element formula_10 is chosen at random with uniform probability distribution from the elements of formula_11 that have not been chosen previously.


title: No free lunch theorem

text: In essence, this says that when all functions "f" are equally likely, the probability of observing an arbitrary sequence of "m" values in the course of optimization does not depend upon the algorithm. In the analytic framework of Wolpert and Macready, performance is a function of the sequence of observed values (and not e.g. of wall-clock time), so it follows easily that all algorithms have identically distributed performance when objective functions are drawn uniformly at random, and also that all algorithms have identical mean performance. But identical mean performance of all algorithms does not imply Theorem 1, and thus the folkloric theorem is not equivalent to the original theorem.


title: No free lunch theorem

text: The NFL theorems were explicitly "not" motivated by the question of what can be inferred (in the case of NFL for machine learning) or found (in the case of NFL for search) when the "environment is uniform random". Rather uniform randomness was used as a tool, to compare the number of environments for which algorithm A outperforms algorithm B to the number of environments for which B outperforms A. NFL tells us that (appropriately weighted) there are just as many environments in both of those sets.


title: No free lunch theorem

text: This is true for many definitions of what precisely an "environment" is. In particular, there are just as many prior distributions (appropriately weighted) in which learning algorithm A beats B (on average) as vice versa. This statement about "sets of priors" is what is most important about NFL, not the fact that any two algorithms perform equally for the single, specific prior distribution that assigns equal probability to all environments.


title: No free lunch theorem

text: While the NFL is important to understand the fundamental limitation for a set of problems, it does not state anything about each particular instance of a problem that can arise in practice. That is, the NFL states what is contained in its mathematical statements and it is nothing more than that. For example, it applies to the situations where the algorithm is fixed a priori and a worst-case problem for the fixed algorithm is chosen a posteriori. Therefore, if we have a "good" problem in practice or if we can choose a "good" learning algorithm for a given particular problem instance, then the NFL does not mention any limitation about this particular problem instance. Though the NFL might seem contradictory to results from other papers suggesting generalization of learning algorithms or search heuristics, it is important to understand the difference between the exact mathematical logic of the NFL and its intuitive interpretation.


title: No free lunch theorem

text: To illustrate one of the counter-intuitive implications of NFL, suppose we fix two supervised learning algorithms, C and D. We then sample a target function f to produce a set of input-output pairs, "d". How should we choose whether to train C or D on "d", in order to make predictions for what output would be associated with a point lying outside of "d?"


title: No free lunch theorem

text: It is common in almost all of science and statistics to answer this question – to choose between C and D – by running cross-validation on "d" with those two algorithms. In other words, to decide whether to generalize from "d" with either C or D"," we see which of them has better out-of-sample performance when tested within "d".


title: No free lunch theorem

text: Since C and D are fixed, this use of cross-validation to choose between them is itself an algorithm, i.e., a way of generalizing from an arbitrary dataset. Call this algorithm A. (Arguably, A is a simplified model of the scientific method itself.)


title: No free lunch theorem

text: We could also use "anti"-cross-validation to make our choice. In other words, we could choose between C and D based on which has "worse" out-of-sample performance within "d". Again, since C and D are fixed, this use of anti-cross-validation is itself an algorithm. Call that algorithm B.


title: No free lunch theorem

text: NFL tells us (loosely speaking) that B must beat A on just as many target functions (and associated datasets "d") as A beats B. In this very specific sense, the scientific method will lose to the "anti" scientific method just as readily as it wins.


title: No free lunch theorem

text: NFL only applies if the target function is chosen from a uniform distribution of all possible functions. If this is not the case, and certain target functions are more likely to be chosen than others, then A may perform better than B overall. The contribution of NFL is that it tells us choosing an appropriate algorithm requires making assumptions about the kinds of target functions the algorithm is being used for. With no assumptions, no "meta-algorithm", such as the scientific method, performs better than random choice.


title: No free lunch theorem

text: While some scholars argue that NFL conveys important insight, others argue that NFL is of little relevance to machine learning research. If Occam's razor is correct, for example if sequences of lower Kolmogorov complexity are more probable than sequences of higher complexity, then (as is observed in real life) some algorithms, such as cross-validation, perform better on average on practical problems (when compared with random choice or with anti-cross-validation).


title: Onur Tuna

text: Onur Tuna (born 2 July 1985) is a Turkish actor and singer. He is known for his roles in "Filinta", "Yasak Elma", "Bi Küçük Eylül Meselesi" and "Mucize Doktor".


title: Onur Tuna

text: Tuna was born in Çanakkale. His maternal is of Turkish origin who immigrated from Thessaloniki, Ottoman Empire (today in Greece). His mother is retired from the land office, his father is a teacher of mathematics.


title: Onur Tuna

text: He completed his undergraduate education at Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Economics. He also studied Turkish classical music at Ege University Conservatory. Onur Tuna who knows how to play the guitar also has two songs called Acın Verdi and Tıpkı Sen. Onur Tuna has played licensed volleyball and basketball since the middle school years. He started to take part in theater plays in middle school and high school years. While studying at University in İzmir, he worked as a professional model for four years. He studied acting at Izmir Müjdat Gezen Art Center. When Onur Tuna settled down in Istanbul, he took private lessons for acting. Those acting pieces of training were containing method and front-camera acting skills. For this purpose, he worked with Ümit Çırak, Ayla Algan, Craft Theatre and Saim Güveloğlu.


title: Onur Tuna

text: His acting career started with "Hayat Devam Ediyor" (Life Goes On) Turkish TV series in 2011. Other TV series he took part in are "Huzur Sokağı" (Street of Peace), "Filinta", "Cesur Yürek" (Brave Heart), "Yasak Elma", and "Mucize Doktor" (Miracle Doctor).


title: Onur Tuna

text: Onur Tuna also acted in two movies in Turkey. In 2014, he played as an actor in "Bi Küçük Eylül Meselesi" Turkish drama film. Tuna continued his career with the TV series "Cesur Yürek". He also was a leading actor in the movie "Ağır Romantik" (Heavy Romance or Severely Romantic). Tuna also played in a short film by Yadel Uzun titled "Kir". In 2019, he started playing Ferman in "Mucize Doktor", an adaptation of South Korean TV series "Good Doctor". As of 2021, he shares the lead roles with İsmail Hacıoğlu in the Fox Türkiye series "Mahkum", an adaptation of "Innocent Defendant".


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: The Transfiguration is the last painting by the Italian High Renaissance master Raphael. Cardinal Giulio de Medici – who later became Pope Clement VII (in office: 1523–1534) – commissioned the work, conceived as an altarpiece for Narbonne Cathedral in France; Raphael worked on it in the years preceding his death in 1520. The painting exemplifies Raphael's development as an artist and the culmination of his career. Unusually for a depiction of the Transfiguration of Jesus in Christian art, the subject is combined with the next episode from the Gospels (the healing of a possessed boy) in the lower part of the painting.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: From the late 16th century until the early 20th century, various commentators regarded it as the most famous oil painting in the world.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: By December 1517, the latest date of commission, Cardinal Giulio de Medici, cousin to Pope Leo X (1513–1521), was also the Pope's vice-chancellor and chief advisor. He had been endowed with the legation of Bologna, the bishoprics of Albi, Ascoli, Worcester, Eger and others. From February 1515, this included the archbishopric of Narbonne. He commissioned two paintings for the cathedral of Narbonne, "The Transfiguration of Christ" from Raphael and "The Raising of Lazarus" from Sebastiano del Piombo. With Michelangelo providing drawings for the latter work, Medici was rekindling the rivalry initiated a decade earlier between Michelangelo and Raphael, in the Stanze and Sistine Chapel.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: From 11 to 12 December 1516, Michelangelo was in Rome to discuss with Pope Leo X and Cardinal Medici the facade of the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence. During this meeting, he was confronted with the commission of "The Raising of Lazarus" and it was here that he agreed to provide drawings for the endeavour, but not to execute the painting himself. The commission went to Michelangelo's friend Sebastiano del Piombo. As of this meeting the paintings would become emblematic of a paragone between two approaches to painting, and between painting and sculpture in Italian art.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: An early modello for the painting, done in Raphael's studio by Giulio Romano, depicted a 1:10 scale drawing for "The Transfiguration". Here Christ is shown on Mount Tabor. Moses and Eljah float towards him; John and James are kneeling to the right; Peter is to the left. The top of the model depicts God the Father and a throng of angels. A second modello, done by Gianfrancesco Penni, shows a design with two scenes, as the painting was to develop. This modello is held by the Louvre.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: "The Raising of Lazarus" was unofficially on view by October 1518. By this time Raphael had barely started on his altarpiece. When Sebastiano del Piombo's work was officially inspected in the Vatican by Leo X on Sunday, 11 December 1519, the third Sunday of Advent, "The Transfiguration" was still unfinished.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: Raphael would have been familiar with the final form of "The Raising of Lazarus" as early as the autumn of 1518, and there is considerable evidence that he worked feverishly to compete, adding a second theme and nineteen figures. A surviving modello for the project, now in the Louvre (a workshop copy of a lost drawing by Raphael's assistant Gianfrancesco Penni) shows the dramatic change in the intended work.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: Examination of the final "Transfiguration" revealed more than sixteen incomplete areas and pentimenti (alterations). An important theory holds that the writings of Blessed Amadeo Menes da Silva was key to the transformation. Amadeo was an influential friar, healer and visionary as well as the Pope's confessor. He was also diplomat for the Vatican State. In 1502, after his death, many of Amadeo's writings and sermons were compiled as the "Apocalypsis Nova". This tract was well known to Pope Leo X. Guillaume Briçonnet, Cardinal Giulio de' Medici's predecessor as bishop of Narbonne, and his two sons also consulted the tract as spiritual guide. Cardinal Giulio knew the "Apocalypsis Nova" and could have influenced the painting's final composition. Amadeo's tract describes the episodes of the Transfiguration and the possessed boy consecutively. The Transfiguration represents a prefiguration of the Last Judgment, and of the final defeat of the Devil. Another interpretation is that the epileptic boy has been cured, thus linking the divinity of Christ with his healing power.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: Raphael died on 6 April 1520. For a couple of days afterward, "The Transfiguration" lay at the head of his catafalque at his house in the Borgo. A week after his death, the two paintings were exhibited together in the Vatican.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: While there is some speculation that Raphael's pupil, Giulio Romano, and assistant, Gianfrancesco Penni, painted some of the background figures in the lower right half of the painting, there is no evidence that anyone but Raphael finished the substance of the painting. The cleaning of the painting from 1972 to 1976 revealed that assistants only finished some of the lower left figures, while the rest of the painting is by Raphael himself.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: Rather than send it to France, Cardinal Giulio de' Medici retained the picture. In 1523, he installed it on the high altar in the Blessed Amadeo's church of San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, in a frame which was the work of Giovanni Barile (no longer in existence). Giulio ordered Penni a copy of the Transfiguration to take with him to Naples. The final result with slight differences from the original is preserved in the Prado Museum in Madrid. A mosaic copy of the painting was completed by Stefano Pozzi in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City in 1774.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: In 1797, during Napoleon Bonaparte's Italian campaign, it was taken to Paris by French troops and installed in the Louvre. Already on 17 June 1794, Napoleon's Committee of Public Instruction had suggested an expert committee accompany the armies to remove important works of art and science for return to Paris. The Louvre, which had been opened to the public in 1793, was a clear destination for the art. On 19 February 1799, Napoleon concluded the Treaty of Tolentino with Pope Pius VI, in which was formalized the confiscation of 100 artistic treasures from the Vatican.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: Among the most sought after treasures Napoleons agents coveted were the works of Raphael. Jean-Baptiste Wicar, a member of Napoleon's selection committee, was a collector of Raphael's drawings. Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, another member, had been influenced by Raphael. For artists like Jacques-Louis David, and his pupils Girodet and Ingres, Raphael represented the embodiment of French artistic ideals. Consequently, Napoleon's committee seized every available Raphael. To Napoleon, Raphael was simply the greatest of Italian artists and "The Transfiguration" his greatest work. The painting, along with the "Apollo Belvedere", the "Laocoön", the "Capitoline Brutus" and many others, received a triumphal entry into Paris on 27 July 1798, the fourth anniversary of Maximilien de Robespierre's fall.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: In November 1798, "The Transfiguration" was on public display in the "Grand Salon" at the Louvre. As of 4 July 1801, it became the centrepiece of a large Raphael exhibition in the "Grande Galerie". More than 20 Raphaels were on display. In 1810, a famous drawing by Benjamin Zix recorded the occasion of Napoleon and Marie Louise's wedding procession through the "Grande Galerie", "The Transfiguration" on display in the background.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: The painting's presence at the Louvre gave English painters like Joseph Farington (on 1 and 6 September 1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (in September 1802) the opportunity to study it. Turner would dedicate the first of his lectures as Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy to the picture. Farington also reported on others having been to see the picture: Swiss painter Henry Fuseli, for whom it was second at the Louvre only to Titian's "The Death of St. Peter Martyr" (1530), and English painter John Hoppner. The Anglo-American painter Benjamin West "said that the opinion of ages stood confirmed that it still held the first place". Farington himself expressed his sentiments as follows:


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: After the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1815, envoys to Pope Pius VII, Antonio Canova and Marino Marini managed to secure "The Transfiguration" (along with 66 other pictures) as part of the Treaty of Paris. By agreement with the Congress of Vienna, the works were to be exhibited to the public. The original gallery was in the Borgia Apartment in the Apostolic Palace. After several moves within the Vatican, the painting now resides in the Pinacoteca Vaticana.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: The reception of the painting is well documented. Between the year 1525 and 1935, at least 229 written sources can be identified that describe, analyse, praise or criticise "The Transfiguration".


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: The first descriptions of the painting after Raphael's death in 1520 called "The Transfiguration" already a masterpiece, but this status evolved until the end of the 16th century. In his notes of a travel to Rome in 1577, the Spanish humanist Pablo de Céspedes called it the most famous oil painting in the world for the first time. The painting would preserve this authority for more than 300 years. It was acknowledged and repeated by many authors, like the connoisseur François Raguenet, who analysed Raphael's composition in 1701. In his opinion, its outline drawing, the effect of light, the colours and the arrangement of the figures made "The Transfiguration" the most perfect painting in the world.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: Jonathan Richardson Senior and Junior dared to criticise the overwhelming status of "The Transfiguration", asking if this painting could really be the most famous painting in the world. They criticised that the composition was divided into an upper and a lower half that would not correspond to each other. Also the lower half would draw too much attention instead of the upper half, while the full attention of the viewer should be paid to the figure of Christ alone.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: This criticism did not diminish the fame of the painting, but provoked counter-criticism by other connoisseurs and scholars. For the German-speaking world, it was the assessment by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe that prevailed. He interpreted the upper and the lower half as complementary parts. This assessment was quoted by many authors and scholars during the 19th century and thus the authority of Goethe helped to save the fame of "The Transfiguration".


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: During the short period of time the painting spent in Paris, it became a major attraction to visitors, and this continued after its return to Rome, then placed in the Vatican museums. Mark Twain was one of many visitors and he wrote in 1869: "I shall remember "The Transfiguration" partly because it was placed in a room almost by itself; partly because it is acknowledged by all to be the first oil painting in the world; and partly because it was wonderfully beautiful."


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: In the early 20th century, the fame of the painting rapidly diminished and soon "The Transfiguration" lost its denomination as the most famous painting in the world. A new generation of artists did not accept Raphael as an artistic authority anymore. Copies and reproductions were no longer in high demand. While the complexity of the composition had been an argument to praise the painting until the end of the 19th century, viewers were now repelled by it. The painting was felt to be too crowded, the figures to be too dramatic and the whole setting to be too artificial. In contrast, other paintings like the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci were much easier to recognise and did not suffer from the decline of the overwhelming status of Raphael as an artistic example. Thus "The Transfiguration" is a good example for the changeability of the fame of an artwork, that may last for centuries but may also decline in just a short period.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: The fame of the painting is also based on its reproduction. While the original could only be admired in one place – in Rome, and for a short period of time in Paris after it had been taken away by Napoleon – the large number of reproductions ensured that the composition of the painting was omnipresent in nearly every important art collection in Europe. It could thus be studied and admired by many collectors, connoisseurs, artists and art historians.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: Including the mosaic in St Peter's in the Vatican, at least 68 copies were made between 1523 and 1913. Good copies after the painting were highly sought after during the Early Modern period and young artists could earn money for an Italian journey by selling copies of "The Transfiguration". One of the best painted copies ever was made by Gregor Urquhart in 1827.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: At least 52 engravings and etchings were produced after the painting until the end of the 19th century, including illustrations for books like biographies and even for Christian songbooks. The Istituto nazionale per la grafica in Rome possesses twelve of these reproductions. At least 32 etchings and engravings can be traced that depict details of the painting, sometimes to use them as a part of a new composition. Among these depictions of details is one set of prints of heads, hands and feet engraved by G. Folo after Vincenzo Camuccini (1806), and another set of heads produced in stipple engraving by J. Godby after drawings by I. Goubaud (1818 and 1830). The first engraved reproduction of "The Transfiguration" is also called to be the first reproductive print of a painting ever. It was made by an anonymous engraver in 1538 and is sometimes identified with the manner of Agostino Veneziano.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: Raphael's painting depicts two consecutive, but distinct, biblical narratives from the Gospel of Matthew, also related in the Gospel of Mark. In the first, the Transfiguration of Christ itself, Moses and Elijah appear before the transfigured Christ with Peter, James and John looking on (Matthew 17:1–9; Mark 9:2–13). In the second, the Apostles fail to cure a boy from demons and await the return of Christ (Matthew 17:14–21; Mark 9:14).


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: The upper register of the painting shows the Transfiguration itself (on Mount Tabor, according to tradition), with the transfigured Christ floating in front of illuminated clouds, between the prophets Moses, on the right, and Elijah, on the left, with whom he is conversing (Matthew 17:3). The two figures kneeling on the left are commonly identified as Justus and Pastor who shared August 6 as a feast day with the Feast of the Transfiguration. These saints were the patrons of Medici's archbishopric and the cathedral for which the painting was intended. It has also been proposed that the figures might represent the martyrs Saint Felicissimus and Saint Agapitus who are commemorated in the missal on the feast of the Transfiguration.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: The upper register of the painting includes, from left to right, James, Peter and John, traditionally read as symbols of faith, hope and love; hence the symbolic colours of blue-yellow, green and red for their robes.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: In the lower register, Raphael depicts the Apostles attempting to free the possessed boy of his demonic possession. They are unable to cure the sick child until the arrival of the recently transfigured Christ, who performs a miracle. The youth is no longer prostrate from his seizure but is standing on his feet, and his mouth is open, which signals the departure of the demonic spirit. As his last work before this death, Raphael (which in Hebrew רָפָאֵל [Rafa'el] means "God has healed"), joins the two scenes together as his final testament to the healing power of the transfigured Christ. According to Goethe: "The two are one: below suffering, need, above, effective power, succour. Each bearing on the other, both interacting with one another."


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: The man at lower left is the apostle-evangelist Matthew (some would say St. Andrew), depicted at eye-level and serving as interlocutor with the viewer. The function of figures like those at the bottom left was best described by Leon Battista Alberti almost a century earlier in 1435.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: Matthew (or Andrew) gestures to the viewer to wait, his gaze focused on a kneeling woman in the lower foreground. She is ostensibly a part of the family group, but on closer examination is set apart from either group. She is a mirror image of a comparable figure in Raphael's "The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple" (1512). Giorgio Vasari, Raphael's biographer, describes the woman as "the principal figure in that panel". She kneels in a contrapposto pose, forming a compositional bridge between the family group on the right and the nine apostles on the left. Raphael also renders her in cooler tones and drapes her in sunlit pink, while he renders the other participants, apart from Matthew, oblivious to her presence. The woman's contrapposto pose is more specifically called a "figura serpentinata" or serpent's pose, in which the shoulders and the hips move in opposition; one of the earliest examples being Leonardo da Vinci's "Leda" (), which Raphael had copied while in Florence.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: In the centre are four apostles of different ages. The blonde youth appears to echo the apostle Philip from "The Last Supper". The seated older man is Andrew. Simon is the older man behind Andrew. Judas Thaddeus is looking at Simon and pointing towards the boy.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: The apostle on the far left is widely considered to be Judas Iscariot He was the subject of one of only six surviving so-called auxiliary cartoons, first described by Oskar Fischel in 1937.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: The iconography of the picture has been interpreted as a reference to the delivery of the city of Narbonne from the repeated assaults of the Saracens. Pope Calixtus III proclaimed August 6 a feast day on the occasion of the victory of the Christians in 1456.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: Enlightenment philosopher Montesquieu noted that the healing of the obsessed boy in the foreground takes precedence over the figure of Christ. Modern critics have furthered Montesquieu's criticism by suggesting that the painting should be renamed to ""Healing of the Obsessed Youth"".


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: J. M. W. Turner had seen "The Transfiguration" in the Louvre, in 1802. At the conclusion of the version of his first lecture, delivered on 7 January 1811, as Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy, Turner demonstrated how the upper part of the composition is made up of intersecting triangles, forming a pyramid with Christ at the top.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: In a 1870 publication, German art historian Car Justi observes that the painting depicts two subsequent episodes in the biblical narrative of Christ: after the transfiguration, Jesus encounters a man who begs mercy for his devil-possessed son.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: Raphael plays on a tradition equating epilepsy with the aquatic moon ("luna", from whence "lunatic"). This causal link is played on by the watery reflection of the moon in the lower left corner of the painting; the boy is literally "moonstruck". In Raphael's time, epilepsy was often equated with the moon ("morbus lunaticus"), possession by demons ("morbus daemonicus"), and also, paradoxically, the sacred ("morbus sacer"). In the 16th century, it was not uncommon for sufferers of epilepsy to be burned at the stake, such was the fear evoked by the condition. The link between the phase of the moon and epilepsy would only be broken scientifically in 1854 by Jacques-Joseph Moreau de Tours.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: Raphael's "Transfiguration" can be considered a prefiguration of both Mannerism, as evidenced by the stylised, contorted poses of the figures at the bottom of the picture; and of Baroque painting, as evidenced by the dramatic tension imbued within those figures, and the strong use of chiaroscuro throughout.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: As a reflection on the artist, Raphael likely viewed "The Transfiguration" as his triumph. Raphael uses the contrast of Jesus presiding over men to satiate his papal commissioners in the Roman Catholic Church. Raphael uses the cave to symbolize the Renaissance style, easily observed in the extended index finger as a reference to Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. Additionally, he subtly incorporates a landscape in the background, but uses darker coloring to show his disdain for the style. Yet the focal point for the viewer is the Baroque styled child and his guarding father. In all, Raphael successfully appeased his commissioners, paid homage to his predecessors, and ushered in the subsequent predominance of Baroque painting.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: On the simplest level, the painting can be interpreted as depicting a dichotomy: the redemptive power of Christ, as symbolised by the purity and symmetry of the top half of the painting; contrasted with the flaws of Man, as symbolised by the dark, chaotic scenes in the bottom half of the painting.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: The philosopher Nietzsche interpreted the painting in his book "The Birth of Tragedy" as an image of the interdependence of Apollonian and Dionysian principles.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: The sixteenth-century painter and biographer Giorgio Vasari wrote in his "Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects" that "The Transfiguration" was Raphael's "most beautiful and most divine" work.


title: Transfiguration (Raphael)

text: Fragments of the Transfiguration appear on the cover of the "Renaissance: Desire" album mixed by Dave Seaman in 2001 and published by Ultra Records.


title: Corey Sevier

text: Corey Daniel Sevier (born July 3, 1984) is a Canadian actor. He is perhaps best known for his role on the Fox television series "North Shore" as Gabriel McKay and as Timmy Cabot in "Lassie".


title: Corey Sevier

text: Sevier was born in Ajax, Ontario, the son of Lynda and Bruce Sevier. Sevier scored a modelling job at the age of six months, winning a baby beauty pageant. As a child actor, he notably appeared on the "Goosebumps" television series episodes "A Night in Terror Tower" and "Cry of the Cat". He starred in the movie adaptation of Wilson Rawls' "Summer of the Monkeys". As a teenager, he played the role of Timmy Cabot in the 1997-1999 remake of the "Lassie" TV series, and also the character Dan in the "Little Men" TV series in 1998 and 1999. In addition, he was the English voice actor for Mega Man Volnutt in the 1998 video game "Mega Man Legends". He later starred in the Canadian series "2030 CE" as Hart Greyson. He briefly starred in the failed WB series "Black Sash" before landing his role on "North Shore". He starred in the movie "Decoys" and its sequel "". He starred opposite Elizabeth Berkley in the made-for-television movie "Student Seduction" which premiered on Lifetime in 2003. He also starred in the 2006 film "Surf School".


title: Corey Sevier

text: Sevier guest-starred on the show "Instant Star" for a two-episode arc as Hunter, an ex-convict out for revenge. In 2007 he appeared in an episode of "The Dresden Files" and in the film "The Secret". In 2008, he co-starred in "A Broken Life", appeared in an episode of "Smallville" and played a character called Horace Briggs in "Still Waters", an episode of "Murdoch Mysteries". Corey played the part of Carter in Ryan Little's 2007 film "House of Fears".


title: Corey Sevier

text: In 2011, he had a brief role in the mythological-adventure movie "Immortals" in which he played the role of Apollo.


title: Corey Sevier

text: Portraying fisherman Seth Gunderson, Sevier was part of the ensemble cast of "Cedar Cove", a Hallmark Channel original series based on the best-selling books by Debbie Macomber.


title: Capacitor plague

text: The capacitor plague was a problem related to a higher-than-expected failure rate of non-solid aluminium electrolytic capacitors, between 1999 and 2007, especially those from some Taiwanese manufacturers, due to faulty electrolyte composition that caused corrosion accompanied by gas generation, often rupturing the case of the capacitor from the build-up of pressure.


title: Capacitor plague

text: High failure rates occurred in many well-known brands of electronics, and were particularly evident in motherboards, video cards, and power supplies of personal computers.


title: Capacitor plague

text: A 2003 article in "The Independent" claimed that the cause of the faulty capacitors was in fact due to a mis-copied formula. In 2001, a scientist working in the Rubycon Corporation in Japan stole a mis-copied formula for capacitors' electrolytes. He then took the faulty formula to the Luminous Town Electric company in China, where he had previously been employed. In the same year, the scientist's staff left China, stealing again the mis-copied formula and moving to Taiwan, where they created their own company, producing capacitors and propagating even more of this faulty formula of capacitor electrolytes.


title: Capacitor plague

text: The first flawed capacitors linked to Taiwanese raw material problems were reported by the specialist magazine "Passive Component Industry" in September 2002. Shortly thereafter, two mainstream electronics journals reported the discovery of widespread prematurely failing capacitors, from Taiwanese manufacturers, in motherboards.


title: Capacitor plague

text: These publications informed engineers and other technically interested specialists, but the issue did not receive widespread public exposure until Carey Holzman published his experiences about "leaking capacitors" in the overclocking performance community.


title: Capacitor plague

text: The news from the Holzman publication spread quickly on the Internet and in newspapers, partly due to the spectacular images of the failures – bulging or burst capacitors, expelled sealing rubber and leaking electrolyte on countless circuit boards. Many PC users were affected, and caused an avalanche of reports and comments on thousands of blogs and other web communities.


title: Capacitor plague

text: The quick spread of the news also resulted in many misinformed users and blogs posting pictures of capacitors that had failed due to reasons other than faulty electrolyte.


title: Capacitor plague

text: Most of the affected capacitors were produced from 1999 to 2003 and failed between 2002 and 2005. Problems with capacitors produced with an incorrectly formulated electrolyte have affected equipment manufactured up to at least 2007.


title: Capacitor plague

text: Major vendors of motherboards such as Abit, IBM, Dell, Apple, HP, and Intel were affected by capacitors with faulty electrolytes.


title: Capacitor plague

text: In 2005, Dell spent some US$420 million replacing motherboards outright and on the logistics of determining whether a system was in need of replacement.


title: Capacitor plague

text: Many other equipment manufacturers unknowingly assembled and sold boards with faulty capacitors, and as a result the effect of the capacitor plague could be seen in all kinds of devices worldwide.


title: Capacitor plague

text: Because not all manufacturers had offered recalls or repairs, do it yourself repair instructions were written and published on the Internet.


title: Capacitor plague

text: In the November/December 2002 issue of "Passive Component Industry", following its initial story about defective electrolyte, reported that some large Taiwanese manufacturers of electrolytic capacitors were denying responsibility for defective products.


title: Capacitor plague

text: While industrial customers confirmed the failures, they were not able to trace the source of the faulty components. The defective capacitors were marked with previously unknown brands such as "Tayeh", "Choyo", or "Chhsi". The marks were not easily linked to familiar companies or product brands.


title: Capacitor plague

text: The motherboard manufacturer ABIT Computer Corp. was the only affected manufacturer that publicly admitted to defective capacitors obtained from Taiwan capacitor makers being used in its products. However, the company would not reveal the name of the capacitor maker that supplied the faulty products.


title: Capacitor plague

text: The non-solid aluminium electrolytic capacitors with improperly formulated electrolyte mostly belonged to the so-called "low equivalent series resistance (ESR)", "low impedance", or "high ripple current" e-cap series. The advantage of e-caps using an electrolyte composed of 70% water or more is, in particular, a low ESR, which allows a higher ripple current, and decreased production costs, water being the least costly material in a capacitor.


title: Capacitor plague

text: All electrolytic capacitors with non-solid electrolyte age over time, due to evaporation of the electrolyte. The capacitance usually decreases and the ESR usually increases. The normal lifespan of a non-solid electrolytic capacitor of consumer quality, typically rated at 2000 h/85 °C and operating at 40 °C, is roughly 6 years. It can be more than 10 years for a 1000 h/105 °C capacitor operating at 40 °C. Electrolytic capacitors that operate at a lower temperature can have a considerably longer lifespan.


title: Capacitor plague

text: The capacitance should normally degrade to as low as 70% of the rated value, and the ESR increase to twice the rated value, over the normal life span of the component, before it should be considered as a "degradation failure". The life of an electrolytic capacitor with defective electrolyte can be as little as two years. The capacitor may fail prematurely after reaching approximately 30% to 50% of its expected lifetime.


title: Capacitor plague

text: The electrical characteristics of a failed electrolytic capacitor with an open vent are the following:


title: Capacitor plague

text: Electrolytic capacitors with an open vent are in the process of drying out, regardless of whether they have good or bad electrolyte. They always show low capacitance values and very high ohmic ESR values. Dry e-caps are therefore electrically useless.


title: Capacitor plague

text: E-caps can fail without any visible symptoms. Since the electrical characteristics of electrolytic capacitors are the reason for their use, these parameters must be tested with instruments to definitively decide if the devices have failed. But even if the electrical parameters are out of their specifications, the assignment of failure to the electrolyte problem is not a certainty.


title: Capacitor plague

text: Non-solid aluminium electrolytic capacitors without visible symptoms, which have improperly formulated electrolyte, typically show two electrical symptoms:


title: Capacitor plague

text: When examining a failed electronic device, the failed capacitors can easily be recognized by clearly visible symptoms that include the following:


title: Capacitor plague

text: Industrial espionage was implicated in the capacitor plague, in connection with the theft of an electrolyte formula. A materials scientist working for Rubycon in Japan left the company, taking the secret water-based electrolyte formula for Rubycon's ZA and ZL series capacitors, and began working for a Chinese company. The scientist then developed a copy of this electrolyte. Then, some staff members who defected from the Chinese company copied an incomplete version of the formula and began to market it to many of the aluminium electrolytic manufacturers in Taiwan, undercutting the prices of the Japanese manufacturers. This incomplete electrolyte lacked important proprietary ingredients which were essential to the long-term stability of the capacitors and was unstable when packaged in a finished aluminium capacitor. This faulty electrolyte allowed the unimpeded formation of hydroxide and produced hydrogen gas.


title: Capacitor plague

text: There are no public court proceedings related to the alleged theft, as Rubycon's complete electrolyte formula remained secure. However, independent laboratory analysis of defective capacitors has shown that many of the premature failures appear to be associated with high water content and missing inhibitors in the electrolyte, as described below.


title: Capacitor plague

text: Unimpeded formation of hydroxide (hydration) and associated hydrogen gas production, occurring during "capacitor plague" or "bad capacitors" incidents involving the failure of large numbers of aluminium electrolytic capacitors, has been demonstrated by two researchers at the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering of the University of Maryland who analyzed the failed capacitors.


title: Capacitor plague

text: The two scientists initially determined, by ion chromatography and mass spectrometry, that there was hydrogen gas present in failed capacitors, leading to bulging of the capacitor's case or bursting of the vent. Thus it was proved that the oxidation takes place in accordance with the first step of aluminium oxide formation.


title: Capacitor plague

text: Because it has been customary in electrolytic capacitors to bind the excess hydrogen by using reducing or depolarizing compounds, such as aromatic nitrogen compounds or amines, to relieve the resulting pressure, the researchers then searched for compounds of this type. Although the analysis methods were very sensitive in detecting such pressure-relieving compounds, no traces of such agents were found within the failed capacitors.


title: Capacitor plague

text: In capacitors in which the internal pressure build-up was so great that the capacitor case was already bulging but the vent had not opened yet, the pH value of the electrolyte could be measured. The electrolyte of the faulty Taiwanese capacitors was alkaline, with a pH of between 7 and 8. Good comparable Japanese capacitors had an electrolyte that was acidic, with a pH of around 4. As it is known that aluminium can be dissolved by alkaline liquids, but not that which is mildly acidic, an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX or EDS) fingerprint analysis of the electrolyte of the faulty capacitors was made, which detected dissolved aluminium in the electrolyte.


title: Capacitor plague

text: To protect the metallic aluminium against the aggressiveness of the water, some phosphate compounds, known as inhibitors or passivators, can be used to produce long-term stable capacitors with high-aqueous electrolytes. Phosphate compounds are mentioned in patents regarding electrolytic capacitors with aqueous electrolytic systems. Since phosphate ions were missing and the electrolyte was also alkaline in the investigated Taiwanese electrolytes, the capacitor evidently lacked any protection against water damage, and the formation of more-stable alumina oxides was inhibited. Therefore, only aluminium hydroxide was generated.


title: Capacitor plague

text: The results of chemical analysis were confirmed by measuring electrical capacitance and leakage current in a long-term test lasting 56 days. Due to the chemical corrosion, the oxide layer of these capacitors had been weakened, so after a short time the capacitance and the leakage current increased briefly, before dropping abruptly when gas pressure opened the vent. The report of Hillman and Helmold proved that the cause of the failed capacitors was a faulty electrolyte mixture used by the Taiwanese manufacturers, which lacked the necessary chemical ingredients to ensure the correct pH of the electrolyte over time, for long-term stability of the electrolytic capacitors. Their further conclusion, that the electrolyte with its alkaline pH value had the fatal flaw of a continual buildup of hydroxide without its being converted into the stable oxide, was verified on the surface of the anode foil both photographically and with an EDX-fingerprint analysis of the chemical components.


title: Fit for a King (band)

text: Fit for a King, also known as FFAK, is an American metalcore band from Tyler, Texas formed in 2007. The band comprises guitarists Bobby Lynge and Daniel Gailey, vocalist Ryan Kirby, bassist Ryan "Tuck" O'Leary, and drummer Trey Celaya. They released two independent EPs entitled "Fit for a King" in 2008 and "Awaken the Vesper" in 2009. They also released one independent album, "Descendants", in 2011. After the band signed to Solid State Records, they released five studio albums through this label: "Creation/Destruction" (2013), "Slave to Nothing" (2014), "Deathgrip" (2016), "Dark Skies" (2018), "The Path" (2020) and "The Hell We Create", which was released on October 28, 2022.


title: Fit for a King (band)

text: Fit for a King was formed in Tyler, Texas in 2007 by Jared Easterling, Aaron Decur, Justin Juno, Jared McFerron, Alex Danforth and Jed McNeill. The band had performed locally and regionally and released two EPs in their beginning years. In 2009, the band decided to begin touring full-time, and McNeill and McFerron left the band to pursue their education. Ryan Kirby from the band Bodies Awake (based in Fort Worth) joined the band in 2010 to replace Mason Wilson, who had recently replaced Danforth as the frontman. Kirby's Bodies Awake bandmate Bobby Lynge joined the band to play guitar. The band tracked their first independent debut studio album, "Descendants", in 2011. With the release of their music video "Ancient Waters", the band started to gain a following. Bassist Decur left the band in 2011 to pursue a career in law enforcement and was replaced by Aaron Kadura who performed clean vocals alongside Easterling as well.


title: Fit for a King (band)

text: In July 2012, the band had signed to Solid State Records. They released their second studio album "Creation/Destruction" on March 12, 2013 which also their first album through this label. The album sold more than 3,100 copies in its first week of sales. "Billboard" charted "Creation/Destruction" at No. 175, No. 17 on the Christian Albums chart, and No. 6 on the Hard Rock Albums.


title: Fit for a King (band)

text: In 2013, the band released the redux of their independent debut studio album, "Descendants", which came out on November 25, 2013. "Billboard" charted "Descendants" at No. 38 on the Christian Albums chart, and at No. 8 on the Heatseekers Albums chart.


title: Fit for a King (band)

text: The band's third studio album, "Slave to Nothing", was released on October 14, 2014 along with three singles including "Slave to Nothing" featuring Mattie Montgomery of For Today. The band released their fourth studio album "Deathgrip" on October 7, 2016.


title: Fit for a King (band)

text: The band announced their fifth studio album, "Dark Skies", which was released on September 14, 2018. With this announcement the band also released the first single, "Tower of Pain", on June 1, 2018. This single was then followed by four other singles, "The Price of Agony", "Backbreaker", "When Everything Means Nothing" and "Oblivion".


title: Fit for a King (band)

text: On September 30, 2018, Bobby Lynge announced he would take a break from touring and partially part ways with the band on good terms, citing a need to be with his family and an interest in new business ventures. However, Lynge says he will still be involved in the writing process for the band's next album and he does not exclude to go on tour again with the band.


title: Fit for a King (band)

text: On March 13, 2020, the band unveiled a new single titled "Breaking the Mirror" along with an accompanying lyric video. On May 14, after unveiling some artworks the prior couple days, the band announced during the global COVID-19 pandemic a surprise collaboration with We Came as Romans. The collaboration included both bands' vocalists being featured on reworked version of their recent tracks and both bands will also release a limited merch line to promote the collaboration.


title: Fit for a King (band)

text: On July 8, the band announced that their sixth studio album "The Path" would be released on September 18, 2020. On July 10, the band released the second single "God of Fire" featuring Ryo Kinoshita of Crystal Lake. On August 6, the band released the third single "Locked (In My Head)".


title: Fit for a King (band)

text: On August 25, the band teased on their social media accounts that the fourth and final single titled "Annihilation" would be released on August 28. On that day, three weeks before the album release, the band released the single. On September 18, the day of the album release, the band released a music video for the title track. On April 9, 2021, the band unveiled another new version of their recent tracks with Silent Planet. On July 16, they dropped a new collaboration EP, "Guardians of the Path", with August Burns Red. On December 3, it was announced that founding drummer Jared Easterling had departed the band to play in Koe Wetzel's backing band. Later, it was announced that Trey Celaya of Invent Animate was the band's new drummer.


title: Fit for a King (band)

text: On June 23, 2022, Fit for a King released the single "Reaper" along with an accompanying music video. On August 10, the band unveiled another single called "End (The Other Side)" and its corresponding music video. They announced that their seventh studio album, "The Hell We Create", would be released on October 28, 2022, while also revealed the album cover and the track list. On September 8, the third single "Falling Through the Sky" was published along with a music video. On October 13, two weeks before the album release, the band released the fourth and final single "Times Like This" featuring Jonathan Vigil of The Ghost Inside.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is an arcade-style flight action game co-developed by Factor 5 and LucasArts. The first of three games in the , it was published by LucasArts and Nintendo and released for Microsoft Windows and Nintendo 64 in December 1998. The game's story was influenced by the "" comics and is set in the fictional "Star Wars" galaxy, taking place primarily between events in the films "Star Wars" and "The Empire Strikes Back". The player controls Luke Skywalker, commander of the elite X-wing pilots known as Rogue Squadron. As the game progresses, Skywalker and Rogue Squadron fight the Galactic Empire in 16 missions across various planets.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: Gameplay is presented from the third-person perspective and game objectives are divided into four categories: search and destroy, reconnaissance, rescue, and protect. The player can control five craft and each offers a unique armament arrangement, as well as varying degrees of speed and maneuverability. Bonus power-ups that improve these crafts' weapons or durability are hidden in different levels throughout the game. The player's performance is checked against three medal benchmarks after the completion of each level. Acquiring these medals promotes the player's rank and helps unlock hidden content.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: "Rogue Squadron"s focus on flight combat was directly inspired by a level in "" that allowed the player to pilot a snowspeeder. Working together during development, Factor 5 designed the game engine, the music, and worked closely with Nintendo, while LucasArts produced the game's story and gameplay and ensured it was faithful to "Star Wars" canon. Before the game's release, Factor 5 successfully appealed to Nintendo to release the Nintendo 64's newly developed memory Expansion Pak commercially. Consequently, "Rogue Squadron" was one of the first games to take advantage of the Expansion Pak, which allows gameplay at a higher display resolution.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: Upon release, critics praised the game's technical achievements and flight controls, but its use of distance fog and the lack of a multiplayer mode drew criticism. The game's sales exceeded expectations; by August 1999, more than one million copies had sold worldwide. It spawned two sequels developed and released for the GameCube—"" and ""—as well as "", a spiritual successor released for Windows and Nintendo 64.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: Unlike the that emphasizes space combat simulation, "Rogue Squadron" is a fast-paced, arcade-style flight action game. Each of the game's 16 levels introduces mission objectives that must be completed to progress to the next level. These objectives are divided into four categories: search and destroy, reconnaissance, rescue, and protect. Enemy aircraft are primarily composed of TIE fighters. Ground defenses are more varied and include three different walkers, laser and missile turrets, tanks, probe droids, shuttles, stormtroopers and speeder bikes.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: Gameplay is presented from the third-person perspective; a view from a craft's cockpit is available. The heads-up display features a health meter, a radar, and an ammunition count for secondary weapons. The player can control five craft: X-wing, A-wing, Y-wing, snowspeeder and V-wing. Each vehicle offers a unique armament arrangement, as well as varying degrees of speed and maneuverability. The game initially restricts the player to a particular craft for each level; however, after a level is completed, it can be replayed with any available craft. Levels set on non-atmospheric moons expose the player's craft to space; thus disallowing the speeder and V-wing (which are repulsorcraft) from being used; but as on other levels, the craft is vertically confined. Nine bonus power-ups are hidden in different levels throughout the game. These bonuses improve a craft's weapons or durability and are applied to each eligible craft for the remainder of the game.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: The player's performance is measured throughout the game, and performance statistics are checked after each level against three medal benchmarks. Each benchmark contains five categories: completion time, number of enemies destroyed, shot accuracy, number of friendly craft and structures saved and number of bonuses collected. If a player's performance exceeds one of the level's three benchmarks in all five categories, a medal—bronze, silver, or gold—is awarded on completion. Acquiring these medals promotes the player's rank and helps unlock hidden content.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: "Rogue Squadron" includes a number of unlockable secrets. The player can unlock three bonus levels: "Beggar's Canyon", "The Death Star Trench Run", and "The Battle of Hoth". These levels are made available when the player obtains all bronze, silver, or gold medals, respectively, on each level. Alternatively, they can be unlocked via passcode. Unlike the game's primary levels, the bonus levels are adaptions of events from the "Star Wars" films. "Beggar's Canyon" allows the player to reenact the race mentioned in "A New Hope", while "The Death Star Trench Run" allows the player to execute an alternate version of the film's climactic battle. In the "Battle of Hoth" bonus level, the player can join the Rebel Alliance's combat against Imperial troops, as depicted in "The Empire Strikes Back".


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: Several craft are available when unlocked. Both the "Millennium Falcon" and a TIE interceptor are initially present in the craft selection screen. However, neither may be selected until the player enters the correct passcodes or achieves all bronze or silver medals, respectively, on the bonus levels. Two other craft can be unlocked, but each is confined to a specific level. One is the T-16 Skyhopper in "Beggar's Canyon", and an AT-ST is playable in a basic demonstration level unlocked only via passcode. A playable model of a 1969 Buick Electra 225 based on a car owned by the game's sound designer, Rudolph Stember, is included in the game as an Easter egg.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: During "Rogue Squadron" development, ""—the first "Star Wars" film in more than 15 years—was less than one year from its scheduled release date. To take advantage of this marketing opportunity, Factor 5 included content from the upcoming film in "Rogue Squadron". Lucasfilm provided the developers with design art for the Naboo Starfighter, a ship prominently featured in the new film. These designs were used to create an in-game model. Because the game was scheduled to be released six months before the film, Factor 5 was required to keep the ship's inclusion a secret. As a result, most of the game's development team at Factor 5 and LucasArts were not informed of its inclusion. A complex scrambling system was developed to help hide the ship's code from gamers using cheat cartridges such as GameShark or Action Replay. More than six months after the release of "Rogue Squadron", LucasArts unveiled the code to unlock the Naboo Starfighter as a playable craft. The code has been named the Nintendo 64's most well-hidden code because of the length of time before its discovery.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: "Star Wars: Rogue Squadron" is set in the fictional "Star Wars" galaxy, where a war is fought between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance. The game's first fifteen levels occur six months after the Battle of Yavin—as depicted in "A New Hope"—and before the events of "The Empire Strikes Back". As the Empire gathers strength for an all-out assault on the Rebel forces, Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles form Rogue Squadron, a group comprising twelve of the most skilled X-wing pilots from the Rebel Alliance.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: The sixteenth and final level of the game takes place during "Dark Empire", six years after "Return of the Jedi"s Battle of Endor. The Rebel Alliance has established the New Republic, which now controls three quarters of the galaxy. After the deaths of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, the Galactic Empire collapsed, but was reborn under a mysterious new leader (who is actually a clone of Palpatine). Rogue Squadron, now under the command of Wedge Antilles, continues to fight the Empire to protect the newly formed Republic.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: The story is divided into four chapters, each of which starts with an opening crawl resembling those featured in the "Star Wars" films. Further story details are presented through the game's instruction manual, pre-mission briefings, character conversations during the game and in-game cutscenes. The game begins with Rogue Squadron briefly encountering the Empire at the Mos Eisley spaceport on Tatooine. The team executes escort and rescue missions on Barkhesh and Chorax, respectively.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: The Rebels learn that Imperial officer Crix Madine wishes to defect to the Rebel Alliance. The Empire launches an attack on Corellia, where Madine is stationed, to prevent his departure. Rogue Squadron, with the help of Han Solo and Chewbacca in the "Millennium Falcon", fights off the Empire and helps escort Madine safely off the planet. Rogue Squadron is joined by Gold Squadron, a group of Y-wings now led by Crix Madine; they are dispatched to the moon of Gerrard V to aid its quest for independence from the Empire. They encounter the 128th TIE interceptor Squadron and disable Kasan Moor's TIE. When Rogue Squadron tells Moor that she has been taken prisoner, she offers to defect and provide the Rebel Alliance with Imperial intelligence.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: With the help of Kasan Moor's intelligence, the Alliance launches three consecutive attacks on Imperial bases throughout the galaxy. After an assault on the Imperial Enclave, a facility on Kile II supporting the Empire's Naval operations, Wedge Antilles is ambushed by a group of TIEs and is taken captive. The Rebel Alliance tracks Wedge to an Imperial prison complex on the planet of Kessel. The remaining members of Rogue Squadron travel to Kessel and rescue him and other Rebel prisoners.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: With Wedge Antilles free and Rogue Squadron again at full strength, the Rebel Alliance turns its attention to a new Imperial threat — Moff Kohl Seerdon. Seerdon is consolidating Imperial power in preparation for an attack aimed at capturing Thyferra, a planet that produces the healing substance bacta. Rogue Squadron is ordered to disrupt his operation with hit-and-run missions against key targets on Taloraan and Fest. In retaliation, Seerdon attacks and holds a city on the planet of Chandrila hostage. Rogue Squadron and the Alliance strike back by initiating a Kasan Moor-engineered raid on an Imperial base located inside a volcano on Sullust. While still on Sullust, however, General Rieekan informs the Squadron that Moff Seerdon has used their raid as a diversion and begun his attack on Thyferra. With Seerdon in control of the planet's bacta and their own supply threatened, Rogue Squadron quickly reaches Thyferra, kills Seerdon and frees the planet.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: In the final chapter, the game moves into the future, six years after the Battle of Endor. Rogue Squadron, now under the command of Wedge Antilles, continues to fight the wounded Empire. On the planet of Mon Calamari, new Imperial weapons called World Devastators are destroying the planet. Rogue Squadron is deployed, disables all three Devastators and destroys the Imperial presence.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: After the success of "" on the Nintendo 64 in 1996, LucasArts began planning a follow-up. At the time, Factor 5 was developing a game engine to create large terrain maps for their planned sequel to LucasArts' "Rescue on Fractalus!" After LucasArts signed a three-game exclusivity deal with Nintendo, Factor 5 was allowed to convert their work on the new "Fractalus" sequel into a "Star Wars" game instead. The game's focus would be flight combat; this direction was inspired by a level of "Shadows of the Empire" in which the player flies a snowspeeder during the Battle of Hoth. "Rogue Squadron" and LucasArts production manager Brett Tosti stated, "That whole scene was actually the genesis for "Rogue Squadron" because everybody said, 'Why don't you do a whole game like that?' So we did." Factor 5 and LucasArts divided the game's development load. Factor 5 designed the game engine, the music, and worked closely with Nintendo, while LucasArts produced the game's content and ensured it was faithful to "Star Wars" canon.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: Factor 5 initially pitched a concept to allow gamers to play through missions similar to the fans' favorite action sequences from the "Star Wars" films. This proposal was rejected, however. At that time, Lucasfilm was not comfortable with video games drawing directly from the films nor would they allow original content to be incorporated alongside battles from the films. Consequently, the resulting game was almost completely set in the "Star Wars" Expanded Universe. The designers at LucasArts initially planned to adapt "Rogue Squadron" and "", a series of books and comic books set after the years of the original film trilogy, and have the game centered around Wedge Antilles. It was later decided that the game would instead focus on Luke Skywalker and primarily take place between the events of "A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back" as it was more commercially appealing.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: LucasArts began developing the story and gameplay in a setting that would include characters from the films participating in new, original missions using Factor 5's terrain map engine as the base. The development team's basic design plan was to combine the free-roaming style of "Rescue on Fractalus" with the on-rails gameplay of Atari's "Star Wars" arcade game. Initially, designing and refining the individualized flight controls for the game's various vehicles was difficult for programmer Mark Haigh-Hutchinson before breaking through to find the right balance for each. In May 1998, a demo of the game was displayed at E3, but the game was so incomplete at the time that Tosti considered it a tech demo. It rendered a basic heightmap and an immobile AT-AT model, while TIE fighters lacking artificial intelligence flew and fired in a predetermined path. When "playing" the demo for audiences, Tosti followed a very specific flight path of his own to give the illusion that he was actually battling with the TIEs. Despite the demo's barebones presentation, response from gamers was largely positive. In the final build of the game, many of the enemy fighters continued to follow predetermined flight paths as calculating flight paths on the fly required too much processing power.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: Late in development, the team realized that they were developing the game with a Nintendo 64 memory expansion in place at all times. Unable to run the game on a standard Nintendo 64, they began working on compression techniques to allow the game to run within the confines of the standard console. At the same time, Factor 5 appealed to Nintendo to release the newly developed memory Expansion Pak commercially. Nintendo was reluctant, expecting the technology to be reserved solely for hardware peripherals. However, after Iguana Entertainment also wanted to use the Expansion Pak to achieve a higher display resolution for "", Factor 5 was given the green light. Ultimately, "Rogue Squadron" was made to run on a standard Nintendo 64 but the Expansion Pak increases its resolution from 320 × 240 to 640 × 480.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: Lucasfilm was hesitant to grant access to the "Star Wars" library of sound effects to Factor 5 sound designer Rudolph Stember. As a compromise, the company provided Stember with sounds sampled at the relatively low rate of 22 kHz, half the standard rate. Stember objected, claiming that the clips sounded worse than effects he had lifted from VHS tapes for a previous "Star Wars" project. The game includes voice work from several notable people, including screen actors Olivia Hussey and Raphael Sbarge as well as voice actors Bob Bergen, Neil Ross and Terence McGovern. Instead of using Nintendo's default sound drivers, Factor 5 developed its own tool called MOsys FX Surround. The Factor 5 drivers use Nintendo 64 processors, but tax them less; advanced compression techniques were employed. As a result, the game includes over 80 minutes of high-quality stereo sound.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: In November 1998, a month before the game's scheduled release, LucasArts announced the worldwide agreement with Nintendo concerning three new "Star Wars" video games. It granted Nintendo the rights to market the games and hold exclusive, worldwide distribution rights for five years following each release. "Rogue Squadron" was the first game released under this agreement. To promote the release of the game, Mark Hamill, the actor who played Luke Skywalker in the "Star Wars" films, visited the Mattel Children's Hospital in Los Angeles to play the game with patients in a Starlight Children's Foundation's Fun Center.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: Many reviews compared "Star Wars: Rogue Squadron" to one of its inspirations, the Battle of Hoth flight combat level in "Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire", considered one of that game's best elements. "GamePro" remarked that "Rogue Squadron" "enhanced the flight model with true pitch, roll, and bank mechanics". IGN praised its inclusion of "upgrades, more enemies, better sound, and stunning second-generation graphics". The Nintendo 64 version received mostly positive reviews, and received an aggregate score of 85 percent from both GameRankings and Metacritic. "GamePro" named it one of the best games released in 1998. In a 2008 retrospective, IGN's Levi Buchanan stated that the game revived the "Star Wars" license on consoles through well-paced gameplay, a story tied into the "Star Wars" canon, and visuals that made it "one of the generation's top stunners".


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: The game's technical aspects were singled out for acclaim. Its visuals were called "respectable" in the standard resolution, but highly praised in high-resolution mode (achieved via the Nintendo 64's Expansion Pak). GameSpot remarked that in a higher resolution, "[the] textures of the landscapes, the ships, the lighting effects—everything looks so much better," while IGN's Peer Schneider said, "After playing the game in the optional high-resolution mode (640 × 480) once, it's impossible to go back to the still respectable standard resolution." Citing details such as decals, Rebel markings, R2 units, cockpit views, and exhaust flames, Schneider described the game's 3D ship models as "gorgeous". IGN's Matt Casamassina said that the game was the best-looking Nintendo 64 game to date.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: Reviewers also praised the game's sound design. Powered by the new Factor 5 audio drivers, "Rogue Squadron" features about 40 minutes of speech and 40 minutes of music. GameSpot's Ryan Mac Donald believed that the game's inclusion of extended voice work helped create a "movie-like" atmosphere. IGN noted that in addition to being technically impressive, the game's Dolby Pro Logic surround sound was an important gameplay element. The audio signals helps the player determine enemy positions and the direction of travel. IGN awarded the game three sound awards, including Sound Effects, Best Voice, and Best Overall Sound of 1998 on the Nintendo 64. The game earned a nomination for "Game of the Year" at the 2nd Annual AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards (now known as the D.I.C.E. Awards).


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: Some reviewers complained about aspects of the game's visuals; critics disliked the heavy reliance on distance fog. Another common criticism of the game was the lack of multiplayer modes. "GamePro" review called the omission a "serious, unforgivable sin"; Schneider believed that while adding these modes would have extended "Rogue Squadron" replay value, the game was still enjoyable for its medal reward system and a large number of secrets and unlockables.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: Although nearly identical, the game's PC version garnered lower review scores than its Nintendo 64 counterpart, with an aggregated GameRankings score of 80 percent. This version enjoyed many of the same praises for its gameplay, but handling and graphics were cited as problematic. Directly comparing the two versions, AllGame's Brad Cook wrote that the PC version's handling is more difficult than the N64 version. He believed the PC's "choppy" feel made it difficult to target enemies. In contrast to its opinion of the N64 version, IGN's PC review was not enthusiastic about the game's visuals. IGN staff remarked that "Rogue Squadron"s "graphics and special effects aren't spectacular" and that they had "seen better graphics" on the PC.


title: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

text: When "Rogue Squadron" was released in early December 1998, the title's Nintendo 64 incarnation was the second-highest-selling video game for the first half of the month (behind Nintendo's "") and the holiday season. PC Data, which tracked sales in the United States, reported that "Rogue Squadron" sold 584,337 units and earned $29.3 million in revenue by the end of 1998. This made it the country's ninth-best-selling Nintendo 64 release of the year. Delayed until after Christmas in the United Kingdom, the game was released mid-January and debuted as the second-best-selling game of the month, ahead of "Ocarina of Time". In August 1999, Nintendo added the title to its best-selling Player's Choice collection, while the PC version was re-released as a part of the "LucasArts Archive" Series in May 2001. The PC version was also released via digital distribution in 2015. The Nintendo 64 version sold over 1 million copies in the United States, and over 44,000 in Japan. "Rogue Squadron"s retail success was not anticipated by the game's producer Julian Eggebrecht, who said that the game sold "about 100 times better than anybody expected". He believed that releasing the game shortly after the theatrical re-releases of the original "Star Wars" films and only five months before the theatrical release of "Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace" helped contribute to the game's success. Two sequels were later developed and released for the GameCube—"" and ""—as well as "", a spiritual successor released for Windows and Nintendo 64.


title: Steve Maclin

text: Stephen Kupryk (born May 26, 1987) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Impact Wrestling, where he performs under the ring name Steve Maclin. He is also known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Steve Cutler.


title: Steve Maclin

text: On January 26, 2013, Kupryk made his professional wrestling debut at an Monster Factory Pro Wrestling (MFPW) event under the ring name Tommy Maclin, where he defeated Anthony Bennett. In MFPW, he won the MFPW Heavyweight Championship and the MFPW Tag Team Championship.


title: Steve Maclin

text: In 2014, Kupryk signed a contract with the WWE and began training at the WWE Performance Center. He made his debut under the ring name Steve Cutler on the July 3 episode of "NXT", losing to CJ Parker. In February 2018, he began teaming with Jaxson Ryker and Wesley Blake as The Forgotten Sons. The trio made their first televised appearance the August 29 episode of "NXT" in a backstage segment with general manager William Regal. Cutler and Blake represented the group in the 2019 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, where they defeated Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan in the first round and Moustache Mountain in the semi-finals before losing to Aleister Black and Ricochet in the final. At , Cutler and Blake competed in a fatal four-way ladder match for the vacant NXT Tag Team Championship, and despite interference from Ryker, the two were unsuccessful in winning. The group entered the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, but were eliminated in the first round by Imperium (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel).


title: Steve Maclin

text: On the April 10, 2020 episode of "SmackDown", The Forgotten Sons made their main roster debut, defeating Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado). On the May 1 episode of "SmackDown", they defeated SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston). This led to a fatal four-way tag team match also involving Lucha House Party, and John Morrison and the Miz for the title at Money in the Bank, where The New Day retained. The Forgotten Sons began portraying themselves as American patriots, with Cutler and Ryker highlighting their services in the Marines. However, the gimmick was dropped due to a controversial tweet by Ryker supporting President Donald Trump in the middle of the Black Lives Matter movement and the George Floyd protests, which led to backlash from backstage, social media, and within the fan base. The Forgotten Sons were then taken off television as a result. On the December 4 episode of "SmackDown", Cutler and Blake, now known as The Knights of the Lone Wolf, made their return by accompanying King Corbin to the ring as they helped him defeat Murphy. However, on February 4, 2021, Cutler was released from his WWE contract.


title: Steve Maclin

text: On June 3, 2021, it was announced that Kupryk, using the ring name Steve Maclin, signed a contract with Impact Wrestling. He made his in-ring debut


title: Steve Maclin

text: on the June 17 episode of "Impact!", defeating Jason Page. Maclin started a feud with Petey Williams, defeating him at Emergence and on the September 9 episode of "Impact!". Maclin then entered a tournament to determine the new Impact X Division Champion, where he defeated Williams and Black Taurus in the first round, only to lose to Trey Miguel in the final at Bound for Glory, when he pinned El Phantasmo. He got another chance at the title by defeating then-number one contender Laredo Kid on the November 18 episode of "Impact!", making it a three-way match at Turning Point. At Turning Point, Maclin lost to Miguel again when he pinned Kid. In December, Maclin kidnapped Miguel backstage and received another shot at the X-Division title at Hard To Kill, with the added stipulation that if Maclin lost, he would not get another title opportunity as long as Miguel was champion. At Hard To Kill, Maclin failed to beat Miguel, and could no longer challenge for the X Division Championship.